A Religious Minority in Post-Revolutionary Egypt

Amani El Sehrawey

In recent weeks, the violence between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Egypt has brought international attention to the increasing fragmentation of post-revolutionary society in the country. Since the fall of the oppressive Mubarak regime, Salafists, or Islamic fundamentalists, have arisen from virtually nowhere, having been suppressed during the Mubarak years. Their belief in the establishment of an Islamic Egyptian state governed by Shari’ah, or Islamic law, is problematic, given the presence of an estimated 5 to 10 million Copts in the country. Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt have been generally good, but since the revolution, numerous attacks on Christian churches and alleged assassination attempts against the Coptic Pope have led to much bloodshed.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview Farida* a close family friend and practicing Coptic Christian on her opinions on being a religious minority in Egypt, and how things have changed since the revolution. She was reluctant to allow me to interview her at first, worried that she might be arrested.

Things are very uncertain after the revolution, as the direction of the country in the future is as good a guess as anyone’s leading into the September Parliamentary elections. Should the Ikhwan, the political movement seeking to establish an Islamic state and recently allied with the Egyptian Salafists, gain power, Farida could find herself in trouble for expressing her views on religious tolerance in the country.

When I first asked Farida if I could interview her on religious tolerance in Egypt, she responded with a throaty laugh, “Religious tolerance? There is none in Egypt.” Even before the revolution, she claims, as a Christian she has always felt a sense that she was treated as second class. A successful upper-middle class career woman, Farida claims, at times she feels the garbage man is treated with more respect than she is, simply because he is Muslim. Egypt still remains a very class based society even today, and this “bad attitude towards Christians” Farida describes is indicative of the social biases Christians face in this predominantly Muslim country.

Things have gotten much worse for Christians in Egypt after the revolution. In addition to the more obvious issues of religious violence due to the increase in religious fanaticism in the country, attitudes towards religious tolerance have taken a turn for the worse, according to Farida. She notes that this Easter holiday, whereas before she would have received an Easter card or greeting from her thirty or so Muslim colleagues, this year 70% did not, because “the Salafists are saying it is forbidden to do so, as if sending a card would make them an unbeliever”.

Additionally, Farida said people say horrible things to her in the streets because she does not cover her hair in the Islamic higab. Also, after revolution many Christian girls nearly 50 girls (17-18 years old) were kidnapped and after a few weeks they appeared to announce that they were Muslims, even though they were not”. Furthermore Farida notes “[d]uring any Christian sit-ins the army always shot at them without waiting to understand their complaints yet they had completely different reactions to Muslims holding similar protests. It was because they were Muslim”.

Under Mubarak, there were problems, undoubtedly, but “not like it is now. Violence in Imbaba, and the discrimination today did not happen then.” The majority of Copts, including Farida, want a secular state, and would prefer Mubarak to return to power. Farida notes many Christians are seeking to leave the country and emigrate to Europe or North America while they have the chance.

The previous regime, corrupt and brutal as it was, at least was a known entity. The future remains very uncertain. For Christian Egyptians, the bright optimism of the January revolution has begun to fade in the face of religious intolerance and sectarian violence.

*Name has been changed to protect the anonymity of the interviewee.

-Amani El Sehrawey is an undergraduate student studying International Relations at Boston University and interning at the American Islamic Congress in Cairo, Egypt.