CAIRO // Caustic statements from prominent Christian and Muslim clerics, combined with a series of weekly street protests, are contributing to a divisive sectarianism in Egypt.
Although violent confrontations between members of different faiths are not common in Egypt, they remain frequent enough that many Egyptians are concerned that clashes will occur.
"The number of sectarian violent incidents over the past few months has not been very high," said Hossam Bahgat, the founder and director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a Cairo-based advocacy organisation.
"But strangely, with this relative decrease in violent incidents there has been this rise in societal tensions and sectarian polemics."
The spark that ignited this latest feud came from the curious story of Camillia Shehata, the wife of a Coptic priest in Upper Egypt. Mrs Shehata, 25, ran away from home in late July, it was reported, because of a dispute with her husband.
Police found her in Cairo and returned her to her family. But the rumour mill was already in motion: Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's population of about 80 million, began to demonstrate. They accused Muslims of having kidnapped her and forcibly converting her, an accusation that Egyptian Christians have levelled against Muslims in the past, often after Christian women convert to Islam to marry Muslim men.
But when Ms Shehata hid herself from the media, conservative Muslim activists altered the Christians' narrative. Every Friday for the past several weeks, outraged Muslims have taken to the streets to demand that the Coptic Church "release" Ms Shehata, whom they believe had embraced Islam, prompting the Church to hide her from public view.
Either because of or in spite of the mutual hostility, Bishop Bishoy, the secretary of the Coptic Church's Holy Synod and a well-known voice of conservatism among Copts, made provocative statements last month that led even more Muslims to take to the streets.
As the controversy around Ms Shehatta reached its nadir in late September, Bishop Bishoy commented that, among other things, Muslims are "guests" of Egyptian Christians, whose presence in Egypt predates that of Islam.
As placards denouncing Bishop Bishoy appeared among the protesters, Pope Schnouda, the church's leader, apologised for the bishop's remarks.
Bishop Bishoy himself clarified his remarks, insisting that they were not aimed at inciting anger or insulting Islam.
The Pope was reported to have appealed to the ministry of awqaf, or religious endowments, to halt the weekly protests outside Coptic churches.
Salim Abdel Gelil, a deputy minister of awqaf, said the ministry has made efforts to mollify both sides, but added that the government's hands are tied: all the ministry can do is reason with an increasingly incensed public.
"As a ministry, we confront this thought by another type of thought because we believe that thought cannot be confronted except with other thoughts. We delivered this message through mosque podiums and through the media. It's a message of tolerance and acceptance of others," Sheikh Salim said. He was to have appeared on a Christian satellite channel last Friday to discuss the dispute.
But many Christians are wondering why the government has not done more to stop the protests. Egypt's security forces are notorious for using heavy-handed tactics to subdue political protesters, but security has been relatively light during the weekly demonstrations against Christians.
Emad Gad, a Christian and a political analyst at the Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said: "I think the minister of awqaf, Hamdy Zaqzouq, is a very positive and objective man. But the main problem is the body of al awqaf, the theocratic machine of al awqaf. At the end of the day, they don't play an objective role."
Mr Gad blamed the dispute on the government's education system, which he said propagates chauvinism in its classrooms and textbooks. He also pointed to the rise of Salafism, whose ultra-conservative notion of Islam is beamed into homes across the Middle East through religious satellite channels.
Rights groups such as Mr Bahgat's EIPR have joined in, appealing for calm. Members of the Coptic clergy and imams from Egypt's Salafi movement, which has led the anti-church protests, declined to comment for this article because they do not want to deepen the antipathy.
But much of the damage, it seems, has already been done. After all, the memory of a shooting in January that killed six Copts and a Muslim security guard outside a church in the town of Naga Hammadi is still fresh in Egyptians' minds.
Mr Bahgat said: "We won't be surprised if a violent attack takes place in the next period. Normally people do [these protests] in the wake of violence.
"It's positive that this time, people are sensing the danger without people dying or houses burning yet."
mbradley@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
THE DETAILS
Director: Milan Jhaveri
Producer: Emmay Entertainment and T-Series
Cast: John Abraham, Manoj Bajpayee
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
