The Concept of Freedom of Belief and Its Boundaries in Egypt: The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Baha'i Faith Between Established Religions and An Authoritarian State

Abstract

A number of new religious communities have been emerging in Egypt since the second half of the nineteenth century. The most important of them—both numerically and in terms of the attention they attract—are the Baha'i Faith and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Both groups have been officially dissolved and face strong opposition from the established religions as well as a number of legal problems. Egyptian courts have dealt with Baha'is and Jehovah's Witnesses in a number of contexts, and have on these occasions had to discuss the question of how the principle of freedom of belief, which has been part of all Egyptian constitutions since 1923, affects the status of religious minorities not recognised by the state. Their arguments allow interesting conclusions not only about the prevailing understanding of the principle of freedom of belief, but also about the relationship between Islam, the Coptic Orthodox Church and the state.

Keywords:

• Egypt
• Jehovah's witnesses
• Baha'is
• Islam
• Copts

Notes

1. Egyptian law differentiates between freedom of belief and freedom of religion; freedom of religion is perceived as a broader concept than freedom of belief. Only freedom of belief is guaranteed in the Constitution (cf. p. 153).

2. Interview with Taha ‘Abbas (name changed), Amir of the Egyptian Ahmadiyya community. Interview conducted by the author in Cairo (20 October 1999).

3. Interview with Taha ‘Abbas.

4. See http://www.adventiststatistics.org/stats_y_stats.asp?FieldID=C10153 and view=y_stats and StartYear=1959 and EndYear=1961.

5. Interview with ‘Adil Mansur (name changed), Egyptian Baha'i living in Europe. Interview conducted by the author in London (7 September 1999) (http://bahai-library.org/asia-pacific/country%20files/egypt.htm).

6. See http://bahai-library.org/encyclopedia/abulfadl.html.

7. See http://bahai-library.org/encyclopedia/abdulbaha.html.

8. Interview with ‘Adil Mansur.

9. Interview with ‘Adil Mansur.

10. See http://bahai-library.org/asia-pacific/country and 20files/egypt.htm.

11. Interview with Émile Ra'fat (name changed), head of a community of Jehovah's Witnesses in Cairo. Interview conducted by the author in Cairo (30 January 2000).

12. Interview with Émile Ra'fat.

13. Interview with Émile Ra'fat.

14. See http://www.hrwf.net/newhrwf/html/egypt2002.html.

15. See http://www.copticpope.org/Audio/arabic_audio/theology/sabtieen_advantest/sabtieen_advantest.html and http://copticpope.org/Audio/arabic_audio/theology/witnesses/witnesses.html (accessed 16 May 2001). The site (http://www.copticpope.org) has been reorganised since, and the audio files have been replaced with more recent sermons. Nowadays, numerous audio files and articles are available for registered users that do not specifically deal with Jehovah's Witnesses, but mention them frequently; for example, in sermons on ‘false prophets’.

16. The reason for this is the Ottoman government's decision to banish Baha’ Allah to Palestine in 1868.

17. See http://bahai-library.org/writings/bahaullah/gwb/013.html.

18. Interview with Émile Ra'fat.

19. See http://bahai-library.org/asia-pacific/country%20files/egypt.htm.

20. E-mail by ‘Adil Mansur, 26 June 2002.

21. The Jehovah's Witnesses have never been mentioned in this context.