Background:

Dr. Saʿd al-Dīn ʾĪbrāhīm born on December 3, 1938, is one of Egypt’s leading human rights and democracy activists. He is also known for his outspoken critique on former president Ḥusnī Mubārak. Dr.ʾĪbrāhīm discusses the presence of many syndicates active in Egypt, including the Muslim Brotherhood movement and their interest of implementing Sharīʿah Law in the country.

Side A:

There are 22 syndicates or professional unions that are different from trade unions, active in Egypt. ʾĪbrāhīm mentions the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation that desire to gain power and influence in order to implement the Islamic Sharīʿah law in Egypt. The movement began in 1928, and although started out as a peaceful one, quickly became violent for the duration of 40 years, according to ʾĪbrāhīm. He argues that they are now (in 1995) working peacefully again to pursue their goal.

The parliamentary elections were scheduled for November 1995. ʾĪbrāhīm says many journalists upon arrival in Egypt ask questions about the possibility of Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood of winning the elections, provided that these were fair and not corrupt. ʾĪbrāhīm disagrees and believes the Muslim Brotherhood would not exceed 20% of the popular vote, this being the worst case scenario for secularists. The ruling party National Democratic Party (NDP) would not win as they do now, but would win a plurality of the popular vote; ±40%. ʾĪbrāhīm believes the rest of the votes would go to the Nasserists (leftist/socialist) and to Ḥizb al-Wafd (Wafd Party – liberal).

The Islamic Sharīʿah states that one must not portray any of the prophets in human form or let them be played by mortals. In this sense, freedom of artistic expression in Egypt has often been disputed, whereby many cases have shown the intervention of the Azhar or independent clerics that disagree with artistic content. Islamic Sharīʿah is the main source of legislation in Egypt’s judicial system. However, this does not conclude a full implementation of Sharīʿah in the country as there are still many secular laws that originate from the French and the British. ʾĪbrāhīm states that Article II in the Constitution states that Islam is the official religion of the Egyptian state and major source of legislation. Hereby, he mentions the case of Yūsuf Shāhīn’s film Al-Mohāger (The Emigrant). Shāhīn was taken to court for his controversial film that allegedly depicted the Biblical story of Joseph. While Shāhīn denied and argued it to be a coincidence, a shaykh argued there was a stunning resemblance. The court sensed the public’s opinion being supportive of Shāhīn and his case was dismissed. Many clerics labelled Shāhīn an apostate, while others believed banning the film was a violation of the right to have freedom of artistic expression. ʾĪbrāhīm believes that the judges looked at the context of the case in association with the alleged violated law rather than strictly following the constitution word for word. He praises the judges for having acted this way.

Furthermore, the 1992 incident of the Siege of Imbābah, a popular area in Cairo where at one time militant Islamists reigned, is brought up. Ever since the police intervention, ʾĪbrāhīm considers Imbābah to be free of terrorism. He, however, does not neglect the fact that the area is still a slum whereby petty crimes such as theft, but also gambling and the abusing of drugs are still on-going.

Side B:

Continuation of side A:

ʾĪbrāhīm is active with several human rights organisation including the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR), this organisation defends the rights of several minority groups in Egypt such as the Coptic Christians. The organisation encourages Copts to be more involved in daily life as Copts have a tendency of withdrawing and isolating themselves, which only further segregates society. The AOHR stands with freedom of expression and do not like anyone to impose their views on another. ʾĪbrāhīm argues he wants to reopen the Egyptian mind and have Egyptians be more involved in dialogue. The process might be slow, but it can never go wrong. Dialogue is the way of the future says ʾĪbrāhīm.