Tammam: The revolution and religion
Issandr El AmraniFor my money there is no better Egyptian analyst of the religious scene than Hossam Tammam — he's a specialist on Islamists, but what he writes here goes for the Coptic Church too.
Any discussion of the status of Islamists in a new Egypt makes little sense if it’s based on the same data that was previously used to study religious movements, and if it ignores the fact that Egypt has witnessed a revolution that destroyed many of the old features of its religious scene.
The revolution was not just directed against the autocratic, repressive and corrupt Egyptian regime, which relied on an alliance of money, power and corruption. It was also directed against the official religious establishment and its discourse that supports this regime, either directly or indirectly.
The Egyptian revolution has completely reconfigured the religious scene and clarified the public’s position towards religious institutions and discourses in the country. The result has been surprising. No one expected that religious Egyptians are capable of overriding the powers of religious institutions and of challenging religious discourses that they suddenly perceived as part of a corrupt and repressive regime.
The official religious establishments--both Islamic and Christian--have been the biggest losers in the revolution.
Personally, I hope this episode gets people to consider their religious leadership and moves them to move to either change church (or for Muslims ignore al-Azhar) and ignoring religious issues when addressing politics.
Reader Comments (8)
Thanks for sharing a link to this piece. I'll be sharing the piece with folks back here in the states. Conservatives here especially have a bad habit (whether they believe the fiction or not is hard to tell--some do, while others care more about politics than truth) of conflating religious devouts with the religious institutions. This is egregious, and the revolution has, as Mr. Tammam has helped explain here, shown that the Egyptian people are perfectly capable, desiring even, to think independently of the Church's or clerics they are under. When given a real source of hope for tangible liberties, rights and freedoms, the people are perfectly capable of shifting authorities to their proper places.
Very informative reporting, despite the too-confident and hyperbolic language about "complete reconfiguration" and the blanket labeling of the MB as peaceful.
I wanted to enjoy this site, but then see you accept ad revenue from NewsMax. Sorry, that taints the site's objectivity and can't be taken seriously.
Sorry Chris, how do I accept revenue from NewsMax again? If it's something that popped in the Google ads, they're automatically generated - I have no control over them. Otherwise I'd ban all the ads from Israel.
Nice article, I think that the revolution was helped immensely by the coverage and realtime feedback of people on the net, to such an extent that the authorites were left helpless despite the advantage of weapons, their own propaganda, and even shutting down ISPs. resulting in such things as the release of that Journalist, and hopefully more to come...I wish the same happened with the Iran revolution, and people were informed then as we are now. Perhaps it might not have taken the austere Theocratic direction it has. They like China, enjoy a nice internet buffer, a nice firewall, but I recall American Poet Robert Frost once said.., There is something about a wall, that nature does not like, that it does not let it stand too long.
I agree..there is something about a wall, that the most intrinsic and natural instinct , freedom, will not let stand either. When a religion or belief system or state engages in the same wall building and shackling of freedom and desecrating human dignity and life in its name , or hiding its sins, it cannot stand. Technolgy and the Abilty to think independently has passed the old guard.. I think even the MB, as well as PTB see that as well.
God Bless
Manny
Kabbar Demagak!!!!!
Thank you for your article.
We all know by now that neither the Coptic Church nor Al-Azahar has anything to do with the revolution. This uprising is a direct reaction to what has been happening in Egypt and in the rest of the Arab world since the inception of these so called governments. The upraising has nothing to do with any of the political parties that have been around (although all of them have had some influence).
It is all the O.U.T. whether you are an Islamist, a Christian Crusader, a Royalist, an anarchist or any other ist or er for that matter.
Whether Christian or Islamic,a strong faith[a real CREDIBLE faith]does not need any type of human government.Participation is needed in one's beliefs and not just an objective stance or some such writings by people claiming their true faith and then acting as though they never had ANY! When a person's religion is made mandatory for all,it shows not only the shallow direction their belief system takes,but also the simple fact that good cannot be bad and vice versa.How can the world's civilizations live together under coercion?Any religion must be GOOD in its deepest tenets and subjecting people to believe as I believe[or any belief]is quite obviously,not GOOD.Just selfish!
What makes a certain religion GOOD? As any faith (holder) could claim that their religion is a GOOD one, let us think outside of the box a bit as I firmly believe that that any person should be only judged based on what they have been contributing/or contributed to humanity or to their people to a lesser extent, not based on what religion they believe in. let us take some of the Arab leaders for example:
Husni Mubarak- Muslim
Saddam Husain- Muslim
G.W. Bush II- Christian
Shamir - Jewish
All of the above choose portions of their respective faiths as they see fit.
The point is, the problem is not with any one particular religion, it is Humans and their cruel, selfish, and gluttonous nature leading to O.U.T. which won’t last forever, as nothing stays the same!!!!!