Kareem Amer has been sentenced to prison for four years: three years for ‘insulting Islam’ and an additional year for ‘insulting the Egyptian President’.

The Egyptian government and Al-Azhar University are obviously keen to track down and jail Egyptians who seem to damage the reputation of Islam. Hence, Muslims members of the Free Kareem Coalition would like to bring to their attention a couple of recent events in Egypt that are harming the peaceful image of their religion.

Just as the government and Al-Azhar have been swift in jailing Kareem Amer (and recently suing a feminist for a fictitious play), we look forward to their speedy reaction to the following ‘blasphemous’ incidents that attack the reputation of Egypt and its Muslim inhabitants.

A. Anti-Semitism on Egyptian television (Quick link)
B. Misogyny & Gender Inequality in Court (Quick link)

A. Anti-Semitism on Egyptian television: Egyptian Researcher Muhammad Al-Buheiri: Jews Still Use Christian Blood to Bake Passover Matzos.

On February 25, 2007, Egyptian Nile Culture TV aired an interview with an Egyptian researcher who said that:
- The Jews have been using Christian children’s blood to bake Passover matzos since the Middle Ages, and they still practice this ritual today;
- The Jews ‘skillfully control’ the media (the interviewer was happy to agree); and that
- The Jews are cursed by God because they adopt Judaism and practice Judaic rituals.

You can view translated excerpts from this interview (with thanks to MEMRI TV):

- Video: Egyptian Researcher Muhammad Al-Buheiri: Jews Still Use Christian Blood to Bake Passover Matzos

- Transcript: Available here.

Excerpts:

Interviewer: They sacrifice Christian children… When was it? In what century?

Muhammad Al-Buheiri: It has been substantiated since the Middle Ages.

Interviewer: Since then?

Muhammad Al-Buheiri::: Yes.

Interviewer: My question is: Until when did it happen?

Muhammad Al-Buheiri: That is the question we must ask. Have the Jews, with all their extremists, especially in Israel, given up… Have they given up these customs and religious rituals, which are important to them? There were very many cases. There were similar cases in Syria. There were similar cases in 1700 and 1800. Such children were abducted.

Interviewer: I have another question. Who are the people who prepare these matzos? Are they Jewish extremists or moderates? As a researcher specializing in inter-faith dialogue, do you believe this still occurs in Israel? I’m rephrasing the question.

Muhammad Al-Buheiri: I believe it does, because these are religious rituals.

[…]

Interviewer: In some Israeli newspapers and media, we have seen that they take an Israeli hen or rooster, and shed its blood, and they say that this is a form of Israeli sacrifice that brings blessing. We have witnessed this on several occasions. The question is why this important book, Bloody Passover, provoked the Jews throughout the world, who said that this renowned Israeli historian is anti-Semitic.

Muhammad Al-Buheiri: First of all, we should be aware that the Jews always implement a rule they consider basic: A loud voice is capable of erasing the truth.
Interviewer: A loud voice?

Muhammad Al-Buheiri: Yes.

Interviewer: They are quite loud, aren’t they?

Muhammad Al-Buheiri: Precisely. If they attack somebody, they announce in the media and propaganda tools, which they control so skillfully, throughout the world… They turn the facts upside down. They turn the attacker into the attacked.

Interviewer: The media are controlled by the Jews.

[…]

Interviewer: Your response is very important, because it will make us consider the Jews in Israel in a different light - that they are not the accursed Jews, that they are not the Jews mentioned in the Koran. What do you think?

Muhammad Al-Buheiri: No, the fact that they are the accursed Jews is not restricted to any geographical region. This is because of their religion. If you believe in this religion, you believe some instructions that contradict the true religions and the instructions of monotheistic religion, and therefore, you deserve this curse. So this issue is not connected to any specific geographical region, but to an ideological theory.

B. Misogyny & Gender Inequality in Court: Egyptian judge says women judges un-Islamic.

Excerpt from Al-Khaleej Times:

Egyptian judge says women judges un-Islamic
(AFP)
3 March 2007

CAIRO - Egyptian women must not sit as judges because it would be against Islamic law or Sharia as they would have to spend time alone with men, a male Egyptian judge was quoted as saying on Saturday.

A woman judge would ‘contradict Article Two of the constitution’ which states that the principal source of legislation is Sharia, judges’ syndicate president Yahia Ragheb Daqruri was quoted as saying.

The judges’ syndicate position ‘is based on the consensus of doctors of law and the principles of Sharia,’ the Al Masri Al Yom daily quoted Daqruri as saying.

‘When a woman works as a judge, her work requires her to be alone in a room with two or more male judges to deliberate… Is this appropriate?

‘Citizens and others present (in court) will be surprised by the presence of a woman judge. A woman judge will also become pregnant at some point, and that will certainly have an impact on the judiciary’s prestige and on judges’ public image,’ he said, without elaborating.

‘Giving birth can also have an impact on the cases she is dealing with being dealt with correctly,’ he said, again without elaborating.

Muslim members of the coalition are deeply offended by the misrepresentation of their religion in Egypt, and look forward to condemning other incidents that are deemed contradictory to Islamic values.

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