2 - Reflections, Christians in the arabic world, Islam and prescriptions

R015 - Flash comments / Milano 2

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30/11 – 2006

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Some on the evening of 30 Nov 2006 in Milan 2:

On the basis of my personal experience, I would like to bring some corrections to some of the statements made by those who have intervened with you:

Infibulation and similar practices:

Is this a religious duty? During the UN Conference on Population in Cairo (1994), under pressure from NGOs, the Egyptian powers pronounced themselves as follows:

The mufti (Tantawi) still in office said no. The Azhar sheikh said it was a religious duty. Who is right? What is the dictum of Islam? The government then prohibited it but the practice continued especially in rural circles. (Most of our immigrants come from the countryside).

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2 - Reflections, Articles, Islam and prescriptions, Political Islam

R029 - MODERATE ISLAM?

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Notes 1998

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The editor of a Saudi publication recently wrote: not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims; massacres against children and civilians are perpetrated in the name of God (Allah) the Merciful Clement. Already in 2002, the most famous Muslim religious leaders justified the martyrdom actions of the mujàhidìn, finding their foundation in the Koran and in the tradition of the prophet. The daily events of the war in progress increasingly report that the control of the population remains with the ulemas and the immams of the mosques; they have become the privileged interlocutors of the western governments. It is clear that the fight against religious fundamentalism can only be won with the contribution that the Muslim religious leaders in the Arab countries could give, and all the means should be adopted by the countries concerned to obtain their adhesion.  The various public initiatives of dialogue undertaken by Christian organizations in the West can only bear fruit if they are replicated in Islamic countries. It is essential that the The EU must also ensure that the path of dialogue is followed in Islamic, Arab and non-Arab countries.

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2 - Reflections, Christians in the arabic world, Islam and prescriptions

R037 - Islamic Veil

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Fax – 24/02 – 2002

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To: Paolo Mieli

From: Giuseppe Eid

Object: Islamic veil

Your conclusion, forcibly hasty, might seem uninformative towards the general public that appreciates you.

Egypt, at the time of the acquisition of its independence in 1922, had elected the first parliament in its history, and Mrs. Hoda Shaaraoui, the first woman to enter the first elected parliament, threw in public the “veil” she wore. (Her nephew is in Milan).

In the eyes of men this veil means submission of the woman, property to be hidden from the eyes of strangers, property subject to her husband, external sign of her purity of heart, with the anxiety of separation between the sexes that can lead to the closure of the woman.

A captivity created by centuries of social pressure, customs that have little to do with the dictates of the Koran of the seventh century.

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2 - Reflections, Islamic cult centers and Mosques, Islam and prescriptions

R038 - Infibulation: yes or no?

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Reflections – 30/1/2004

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Giuseppe Samir Eid

Emma Bonino is making a silent revolution from within Arab societies through women, but she is only half right when she says that at the Cairo Conference she took away all alibis from those who justify the practice on religious grounds.  In the Conference itself, in fact, Gad El Hak, the then head of Azhar, justified the practice as a religious duty. The fact is that the voices are still discordant and they must be taken into account. Going back to Italy, I agree that our country must adopt strong principled behaviour without leaving room for compromises and ways out, taking away any credibility from the values to which the country has adhered.  A parallel action of conviction must be taken towards the centers frequented by immigrants, including religious ones:  to make the difference between a request to adhere to a religious imperative, unanimously recognized as such, and others that concern customs and traditions prevalent in the Islamic world, and more precisely the Arab one, the main source of Muslim immigration. Coexistence must be based on values and certainties, and if we hide the foundations of our culture, what integration can we hope for? A clear willingness to accept the rules on the part of those arriving from abroad is certainly necessary, but if the host society does not have a clear idea of its identity it will not be able to integrate, on the contrary, it will be frightened by the new in which it sees a threat to its own security.

In my opinion, only if an initial “hard core” is guaranteed, can foreign communities amalgamate, integrate with the founding elements. There is a basic identity which cannot be ignored in order to plan new forms of society. Brava Emma Bonino to whom I hope to find effective support from both Italian diplomacy and the European Community.

Giuseppe Samir Eid

Free web translation from the original in Italian

The published articles intend to provide the tools for a social inclusion of the migratory flow, shed light on human rights and the condition of life of Christians in the Islamic world from which the author come from. Knowledge of the other, of cultural and religious differences are primary ingredients to create peace in the hearts of men everywhere, a prerequisite for a peaceful coexistence and convinced citizenship in the territory.