In the past few weeks, our class has been focused on the Holocaust and the struggle for Jews. We watched two documentaries, one which was filmed during the liberation of the Jews and another that focused on the flashback memories of two Auschwitz survivors. Though all Jews were persecuted, those that study and practiced anything in the humanities or arts were targeted first. Sadly enough, we still see this conflict in other religions.
I came across an article that contrasts a bit with the situation of the Jews but resounds some similarity. In Egypt, there has been a rise in cases called Hisba. ”Hisba is a lawsuit filed by an individual who volunteers to defend society from anyone whose words or deeds he considers harmful to Islam.” Now, this is different than the main reason why Jews were tortured but there are a lot of underlying connections. Jews that were writers, artists, musicians, anything that had to do with influences other than German were especially targeted. They were also forced to learned manual skills to become useful for the Germans.
The focus for Germans was to eliminate the Jewish all together. But where that could not be done, they had to at least be silenced. Any Jew knew better than to open their mouth and say anything, let alone anything against the Reich. One of the women followed in the second documentary reminisced about how, even as a little girl, she knew that she should not open her mouth to say one word. Jews never spoke up in fear of being killed. The main difference between then and now, is that these Muslims in Egypt are not as afraid to voice an opinion anymore.
In one case, there is a suit asking the Egyptian government to take away a writing prize and nationality from a writer, Sayed El-Qimni, because of his views on religion and mythology are “blasphemous.” There is another case against a prominent feminist writer, Nawal El-Saadawi. She created a civil organization centered around the separation of state and religion. An Islamic lawyer is charging her with contempt of Islam, with hopes of a sentencing her to jail. There is also another case against Saadawi, for marrying a man thought to be ‘atheist.’
These Muslims are trying to undo what has always been a problem in the world somewhere. Jews are finally finding resolve for what happened in the past but there are still prejudice stereotypes against them today. Then another religious conflict, and then another, and then another arise. Will it ever end? I suppose, as long as people cannot accept that there is more than one kind of person, no. In the end, aren’t we all made of same components though? Does believing, or not believing, in the same or many gods, really make us that different in the core? I do not think so, but the world’s people have yet to understand that.
McGrath, Cam. “RIGHTS-EGYPT: Invoking Religion Against Liberals,” <http://www.ipsnew.net> accessed Oct.19.2009.
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 29, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Ream
I thought this post was very interesting. I did not know this was going on in Egypt. I can believe it though, because it seems like there is always something going on like this somewhere in the world all the time. I think this is just something not covered in our media here just because the media doesn’t really want people to know about it maybe. It is good that these Muslims are voicing their opinion and doing something now before things could possibly get worse for them. If things do get worse, who knows what can happen? I don’t think things like this will ever end because they have been going on for as long as people can remember. There has always been disputes and oppression to certain people. The Jewish of Egypt were oppressed in the days of Moses. Stripping people of their rights and not letting them do the simple things that they should be allowed to do is wrong and it creates problems. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in their situation. I would be upset if someone tried to take away a prize I won or told me who I could and couldn’t marry.
November 25, 2009 at 4:45 AM
thebore44
Stephanie,
Pretty Amazing isn’t it? It seems that much of the world’s conflicts are centered on religion and religious disputes. I think that you picked a very interesting issue that introduces some very pressing and controversial issues. I also think that connecting this current situation to Jews during the Holocaust is very appropriate.
Currently I am taking a class in Islamic history and we discuss current issues like this one. Throughout history we see the oppression of many groups of people and the silence of their voices. It is devastating to see this oppression still happening today. Even with progressive 21st century ideologies, groups of people continue to be silenced and oppressed. So I wonder, are we able to learn from our history and put a stop to this oppression? While history never repeats itself it surely echoes and this is a loud echo from the past. The worst part is that the oppressors and the oppressed are the same group of people. The Holocaust was conflict between two different groups of people, but in Egypt it sounds like they are silencing their own people. So while this situation mirrors that of the Holocaust, it also has distinct differences.
Therefore, I have to ask, do you think action should be taken to rebel against this oppression? If so, what kind of action does this involved? Do you think it could get as severe as the Holocaust of won’t society let it get that far? I think that you bring up some great ideas in your blog that are worth questioning a exploring.