Egypt ready to open 'new page' with Iran

[Somalina]

CAIRO — Egypt, which has had turbulent relations with Iran for more than three decades, says it is ready to open a "new page" with the Islamic republic, Egyptian media reported Tuesday.

"Egypt has opened a new page with all countries of the world, including Iran," Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi was quoted as saying by the local media.

"The Egyptian and Iranian people deserve relations which reflect their history and civilisation, provided they are based on mutual respect of state sovereignty and non-interference of any kind in internal affairs."

Arabi's remarks came during a meeting with Iranian official Mojtaba Amani who handed him a letter from Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.

 

The meeting is thought to be the first between officials of the two nations since the ouster in February of Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising.

 

In his letter, Salehi urged Cairo to explore ways to develop relations between the two countries, the reports said.

He has also invited his counterpart to visit Tehran, while airing a wish to visit Cairo himself.

Iran broke off diplomatic relations with Cairo in 1980 after the Islamic revolution, in protest at the recognition of Israel by Egypt.

 

Since then the two countries maintain only interest sections in their respective capitals.

Under Mubarak, Egypt -- the most populous Sunni Arab state -- had worked to check the influence of Shiite Iran in the region amid concerns in several Arab countries over Tehran's nuclear ambitions and support to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.

[Somalina]

Taking the law into their own hands

 

Monday, 04 April 2011

 

Mohsen Araishi

When someone who’s been shut up in a dark room for many years is suddenly exposed to the bright light of day, his vision is hazy and blurred; he can’t properly see the things around him.

 

Like a bull in a china shop, he tramples anything in his path. Likewise, the Salafis (latter-day, die-hard Muslims, who adhere to outdated dogmas) went underground (if they weren’t arrested and consigned to a dungeon) for long decades, to avoid the outrages committed by the security men under former regimes in Egypt.

 

When their demon (State Security) was disbanded and the rusty doors to their cells were flung open, they rushed outside to enjoy their first taste of daylight in decades.

 

Like raging bulls, they charged across the country, bowling over anyone and anything that happened to get in their way.

 

They don’t seem to be ready to tolerate anyone, who might question their anachronistic ideas and teachings, exhumed from ancient Islamic history.

Nor do they appear to be content to discussing things with their opponents: they seem determined to take the law into their own hands to compel moderate Muslims and non-Muslims (Copts in particular) to feign appreciation for their dogmatic ideas.

 

They attacked a Copt in the Upper Egyptian city of Qena for leasing an apartment he owns to a woman alleged to be a prostitute. The Copt had his ear cut off because he ignored the Salafis when they told him to kick the woman out of the flat.

 

She too suffered outrageously. Her furniture and other belongings were thrown into the middle of the street and torched. She was told to migrate to a neighbouring village and that, if she comes back, she’ll be killed next time.

 

The Salafis’ leader says that they are purging the community of “sinners and infidels”. None of these Salafis can claim to be any better than the alleged prostitute.

 

To make matters worse, because she’s getting on in years and her charms are fading, she has reportedly ‘hung up her boots’, retiring from the world’s oldest profession. Perhaps the Revolution, too, inspired her to take this commendable step.

 

Last week, Salafis attacked villagers in Fayoum Governorate, south of Cairo, torching an off-licence run by a Copt.

 

According to police, one person was killed and eight others injured when villagers clashed with Salafis, who wanted to shut the store down on the grounds that alcohol is condemned in Islam, because of its detrimental effects on people’s reasoning.

 

Surely his Muslim customers " not the owner" should have been told to stop imbibing. The Copt has nothing to do with this Muslim prohibition.

 

Hours after being given the freedom to express themselves unscathed, Salafis organised demonstrations in Cairo calling for the release of Camilia Shehata, the wife of a Coptic priest, who has allegedly converted to Islam and is being held somewhere by the Orthodox Church, against her will.

 

Also calling for Mrs Shehata’s freedom, the Salafis demonstrated outside the State Council, which is hearing the case of the alleged abduction of the Coptic woman.

 

Paradoxically, the Salafis haven’t been campaigning on behalf of other political fundamentalist detainees, who have spent years in jail for their beliefs.

 

Also, in their outrageous competition to manipulate Islam and its moderate devotees, the Salafis having been describing their participation in the recent referendum on constitutional amendments as a religious battle, which Islam must win.

 

They used mosques as platforms to agitate the masses and exhort them to vote in favour of the constitutional amendments, telling them that they would be going against their religion (Islam), if they voted ‘No’.

 

They even told the voters that the ballot box was a steppingstone to Paradise! In the meantime, the Salafis loudly celebrated the results of the referendum, declaring: “Islam has won and Muslims have confirmed their devotion to their religion.”

 

It was disappointing and disgusting that one Salafi, Sheikh Mohamed Hussein Yacoub, should smiled slyly as he implied that Copts, moderate Muslims and liberals (who rejected the constitutional amendments) were free to migrate overseas if they so wished.

 

The scene in Egypt is now a mosaic of religious overtones and groups. They include the Muslim Brotherhood (a fundamentalist group trying to burnish its image and disassociate itself from its militant manifesto of the past), moderate Copts, represented by the Orthodox Church, and radical Copts at home and overseas, who are campaigning ‘to get back Egypt from the hands of the Muslims’.

 

*Published in the EGYPTIAN GAZETTE on Apr. 3, 2011.