Radio Maria 2015 – 1/04 – 2015
In order to live together it is necessary to talk to each other and in order to talk to each other we need to get to know each other: doing so we take distance from fundamentalism.
1 – Overview of the Arab world
Getting to know each other:
- Demography, Poverty, Emigration
- School system, mnemonic studies, illiteracy, critical thinking?
- Prejudices towards local Christians Muslims bring with them from their young age, which are fuelled by the social context
- Laws that privilege Muslim citizens
2 -Religion and identity “Islam and us”-Cardinal Martini
Religion and civil status of the Mediterranean peoples are linked to the identity of the person; the Arab citizen feels his religious identity as a priority over his political loyalty. The concept of Islamic community (Umma) prevails over that of citizenship.
- Islam is not only personal faith, it is a very compact community reality, a watchword launched by some authoritative voice can recompose and lead back to unity (Card.Martini) Agnelli Foundation.
- To understand and manage the presence of Muslims in European countries need to comprehend the critical issues of cultural and religious minorities in the Middle East.
3 – Cultural project to eradicate fundamentalism
In order to create a peaceful coexistence, it is essential to create the conditions for immigrants to adhere to a cultural project, a minimum of knowledge of our social customs and habits, equality of citizens before the law, and the principles of the Christian majority religion in Italy to dispel prejudices. The lack of respect that Christians have for their religion consolidates in Muslims the idea of a cultural and social inferiority, whose implications are conceivable.
- Distinction between religion and marital status, Free to choose one’s religious status
- To train imam preachers to reread the Koran in its historical, sociological, anthropological, not literal context.
- No to privileged treatment
- Knowing Islam announce the gospel.
4 – How to reduce distances with Muslims in Europe?
- Women’s families live together every day.
- Social and parish communities, university school
- Service actions: education, literacy, language, jails
- Religious Virgin Mary – Mercy Jubilee
What positive influence can a proper integration of Islam in Europe have on us, on Arab Islam and on the churches of the East?
5 – Human rights Universal Declaration – UN-10 December 1948
It is clear that the best response to extremism is to create a united international front that relies on universal standards of freedom of belief and religion as an integral part of the identity of the individual – non-negotiable universal values.
6 – Conclusion
Only by valuing the dignity of the person and only by building peace in hearts we can lay the foundations of a bridge between religions for peace in the world.
Women: inequality between men and women
Besides a very few exceptions, the civil rights of women are halved compared to men in the Personal Status Act:
- In inheritance; a woman can inherit only half of the man’s share.
- In repudiation; a woman may be repudiated without notice
- In polygamy: a man can have up to four wives and the consent of the other wives is not required.
- Choice of the groom; a woman is unable to marry a non-Muslim.
- in the freedom of movement: women need husband’s permission to obtain a passport and expatriate, and in some cases even to hang out with other people.
- Restriction in the practice of certain professions: because women are not equal to men, they cannot judge men which mean they are not allowed to work as magistrate.
- Loss of children
- Testimony, two women must testify against a man
Religious freedom
- Cult
- Apostasy
- Wedding
- Family
Non-Muslims
A world apart in the 21st century: One cannot freely practice a faith other than Islam. The religious freedom of non-Muslims is one of the most delicate knots of the Sharia, the Islamic legal system applied in Arab countries to date. According to traditional doctrine, non-Muslims must observe precise conditions in order to be able to live within Dar el Islam, the Islamic world. But, as Goethe said, “It is humiliating simply to be tolerated.
Religious worship
- Prohibition of the construction of temples and churches, unless 10 conditions have been fulfilled which are difficult to implement. An edict of the caliph Omar 639d.c. still regulates the relations between Muslims and Christians and the permission to build Christian places of worship. It is confirmed by a decree of the Ministry of the Interior in Egypt in February 1934 that cites the 10 fulfilments to be able to issue a building permit.
- Religious worship (must remain discreet), rights and duties of non-Muslim citizens, are codified by the law on personal status.
Apostasy or conversions
It is not permitted to renounce the Muslim religion.
Apostate and blasphemer are punishable by physical/civil death.
Marriage to a Christian woman and children
Marriages – 2 Christian spouses. When within a couple who have contracted a Christian marriage one of the two spouses converts to Islam, the minor children automatically become Muslim, as Sharia law entrusts the education of the children to the religion considered perfect. Islamic courts deprive the Christian mother of her parental rights as it is considered as an attack on the security of the state.
Marriages – 2 Muslim spouses: cases of the man or woman who converts to Christianity: What happens?
In cases of inter-religious marriage, the law guarantees a predominant position to the Muslim spouse. The children, therefore, are practically Muslim.
Inheritance
A Christian cannot inherit from a Muslim. A Christian wife cannot inherit from her deceased relative.
There are also professions inaccessible to Non-Muslim citizens:
- Teach Arabic language and literature,
- Graduate in gynaecology,
- Access to public offices, (in Egypt, out of 300 central directorates of public administration and 400 directors-general of public companies, only 15 are Christian).
Moreover:
- Prohibition of freedom of interpretation of Sharia (ongoing case of Hesba in Egypt)
- Testimony on trial against a Muslim.
The concept of tolerance in early Islam was very similar to the Christian one of the same period. As Islamic law has not undergone any kind of evolution; even the concept of religious tolerance within the Muslim order has remained unchanged for centuries.
The relationship between Islam and Christianity in the Middle East indicates some critical issues related to the issue of cultural and religious minorities, of great importance also for understanding and managing the presence of Muslims in European countries.
Radio Maria 2015
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.