What is the Future of Political Islam? Examining Egypt and Turkey

Egypt's tourism industry is being crippled by social conflicts

Political Islam is showing its face in Egypt and Turkey. Unrest, riots, a clampdown on civil society and journalists in jail are only the tip of the iceberg in the growing polarization between various groupings within complex societies.

Both Turkey and Egypt have dynamic cultural industries including recording artists, television and acting. The influence of these industries spreads far beyond the geographical boundaries. The world is watching closely.

Tourism in Turkey influences a large percentage of its GDP

What is the future of political Islam, given the experience in Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria? Democracy, which was supposed to take root with the "Arab Spring" and the long period of economic stability in Turkey, is being sorely tested.

Egypt is preparing for future elections and there is ongoing fear that the process will not be smooth. Will the military take the helm once again, this time through elections?

Turkey also faces elections this year. First municipal elections will take place and some pundits forecast the election of a mayor in Ankara who will not represent the governing AK Party's candidate. The recent defection of eight AK Party members in Parliament, with the forecast of "others about to resign as well" represents a threat to the Prime Minister's popularity.

Ongoing conflicts generate a fear that the Turkish government is going to dominate the justice system, "which would be a step backwards"|, according to the European Union.

This article from Al Monitor looks beneath the surface of daily "news events" to examine the future of democracy in just two of the region's complex societies.

Read

Saudi Arabia: Is Change Coming? Or, Will everything stay the same?

A very insightful article comes from the pen of Fahad Nazer, who observes the difference social media is beginning to make in Saudi Arabia. Read more

Praying for Egypt - the fight against terrorism

"As the Egyptian people were preparing for the celebration of the 3rd anniversary of the 25 January 2011 Revolution, and rejoicing after the passing of the new Constitution, the Islamists (Muslim Brotherhood and other groups) threatened that they would demonstrate, yet again, in protest of the removal of former President Mursi.

"This morning Egypt woke up hearing the news of several bombs in Cairo; 12 people were killed and dozens injured. It is clear that the terrorist groups are now targeting the police and the army. The day before, six police were shot dead by a group of terrorists at a check-point in Upper Egypt. The Egyptian Security is doing its best to bring security within the streets of Egypt, yet, as you know, terrorist attacks are very difficult to predict and not easy to avoid. The question that needs to be answered is: why have these terrorist attacks happened throughout Egypt only after the removal of former President Mursi? What is the link?
         
"Many Egyptians believe that during the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, many extremist groups flourished. Many members of these extremists were pardoned by Mursi and released from prisons. They immediately became in

"These terrorist attacks stirred both anger and determination within the Egyptian people. After the attacks, people gathered from everywhere at the site of the bombing to shout against those groups who committed these criminal and savage acts, and also against the Muslim Brotherhood who supported these groups. Many have expressed their determination to support the police and the army in their war against terrorism.

"All churches in Egypt condemned these attacks, including the Anglican Church, and encouraged the Egyptian people to fight terrorism and do their best to build the country.

"My hope and prayer is that the international community would stand in solidarity with the current Egyptian Government in its fight against terrorism. I know that most countries have condemned these bombings, but condemnation needs to be accompanied by more practical actions.

"Please continue to pray for our beloved country Egypt.

--The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis is Bishop of Episcopal / Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa and President Bishop of the Episcopal / Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East
volved in the political life in Egypt. Under the current interim government, there is no space for such extremist groups.

Christian Communities Being Destroyed in the Middle East: Who Cares?

Two persistent themes emerge from the Middle East.

Prince Charles - an often underestimated, consistently thoughtful figure. "For 20 years," he said in a recent speech, "I have tried to build bridges between Islam and Christianity and to dispel ignorance and misunderstanding. The point though, surely, is that we have now reached a crisis where the bridges are rapidly being deliberately destroyed by those with a vested interest in doing so." Here


First: Ancient Christian Communities are being destroyed (Nestorian, Coptic, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant - all the way around).

Second: No body seems to care. Follow these stories and see what you think. (I could multiply these stories with incidents from many other countries in the region.)

Egypt:  Here

Iraq: Here

Iran: Here

Nigeria: Here

Beatings + burning homes + loss of jobs + prison + death = persecution.

How should these Christians respond?

How should / can Christians of any tradition in the West respond?

An Anglican bishop from The Gambia probably says it best - Forgive, as Jesus forgave those who persecuted him. Here (Perhaps this Christian leader's gentle words indicate why the Christian faith is spreading throughout the developing world so quickly. Hint: Christian character in face of hardships.)

Part of his Christmas message: Jesus’ greeting of peace is associated with him showing them his wounds. Peace invariably comes at a great cost. Despite the appalling cruelty he had experienced, Jesus was able to forgive his torturers and executioners. Indeed, he was able to plead with God for their forgiveness.

Such forgiveness is exceptional. True forgiveness does not come easily, and does not even recall past wrongs – however awful these may be. I firmly believe it comes only as a gift from God. This in turn allows the peace and joy only God can give.

Turkey: Is a marriage of a minor below age 15 a sexual crime?

By Burak Bekdil Read more

2009: Hüseyin Üzmez, a columnist for the Islamist daily Vakit, was convicted and imprisoned on charges of having sex with a 14-year-old girl, but was released from prison after a court suspended his 13-year sentence. After his release, Mr. Üzmez defended the Islamic rules that he said permit girls to wed under the legal age of 16. Justifying sex with a 14-year-old girl, the 78-year-old Mr. Üzmez said, “A girl who has reached puberty, who is having periods, is of age according to our [religious] belief.”

Saudi courts declined to nullify a marriage between a 6-year-old girl and a 58-year-old man. Later, Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti, Sheik Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik, insisted that girls are ready for marriage by age 10 or 12. “Good upbringing,” the mufti reasoned, “makes a girl ready to perform all marital duties.”

2010: Turkey was shaken by the surfacing of alleged serial rapes in Siirt, including cases of adults raping minors and minors raping toddlers, killing one. The mayor of the same town said: “This is a small town and almost everyone is related to everyone. We’ve closed the case after consultations with the governor, the police and the prosecutor.” And a Cabinet minister criticized the media for reporting rapes “that had occurred a year ago.”

A few days later, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife, Emine Erdoğan, a local from Siirt, told an audience of dignitaries in Brussels: “In our culture and civilization, which has a great historical background, family and motherhood are sacred.”

Pew research found that 16 percent of Turks think death by stoning should be the appropriate sentence for adultery.

2011: The government-controlled broadcast watchdog RTÜK fined a TV channel for “pairing a 15-year-old girl with a 45-year-old man in a matchmaking show.” RTÜK said the show had broadcast an example of child abuse by fixing a marriage between an underage girl and an adult. The watchdog also noted that the show had violated the regulation that states “broadcasts must not be against society’s national and spiritual values and the Turkish family structure.”

2013: Researchers from Gaziantep University found that almost 40 percent of marriages in Turkey are child marriages. The literacy rate of child brides is just 18 percent. A Turkish scholar pointed out that Interior Ministry figures pinpoint the number of girls under 18 who married over the past three years at 134,629, while in 2012 only 20,000 families applied to the courts for permission for their under-16-year-old daughters to get married.

2014: Kader Erten, a girl who was forced to marry at the age of 12 and gave birth to two children, was found dead of gunshot wounds in unclear circumstances.

Ayşenur İslam, the recently appointed minister for family and social policy, said, upon Kader’s death, that the legal age for marriage in Turkey was 18. Marriage involving a minor below the age of 15 constituted sexual crime and child abuse. However, she explained, most underage marriages were “innocently motivated” since “a mother who had married at a young age thought her daughter, too, could marry at young age.”

RTÜK was right. Pairing a 15-year-old girl with an older man in a marriage show on TV is really against Turkish society’s national and spiritual values and the Turkish family structure.

January/22/2014