Al Arabiya News: Musa Furber.
It has been reported that the Egyptian cabinet is considering taking legal action against those who use religion to incite violence. Beyond incitement to violence, there may even be a case that such irresponsible statements fall under Egypt’s blasphemy law, which clearly states “whoever makes use of religion in propagating […] extreme ideas for the purpose of inciting strife, ridiculing or insulting a heavenly religion or a sect following it, or damaging national unity.” Abdullah used religion to justify and excuse the sexual harassment and rape of Christian and Muslim protestors. Shaaban and Ghoneim’s statements used religion to justify killing opposition leaders and protestors.
Statements from three popular Egyptian religious preachers have left the Egyptian public in an uproar. One of the statements justifies sexually assaulting female protesters, another calls for murdering leaders of parties in opposition to President Mursi, yet anothercalls on the president to crack down heavily on protestors – before private citizens take matters into their hands. The irony of this situation is that from a religious perspective, the uproar against these statements is far more justifiable than the statements themselves.
Categories: Africa, Egypt, Extremism, Islam, Islamists, Middle East, Muslim Leaders