Communication to the Egyptian Attorney General by Dr.Seti Shenouda, and Father Morcos Aziz against governmental book atone Christians

      Communication to the Egyptian  Attorney General by   
 Dr. Seti Shenouda, and Father Morcos Aziz  against governmental  book atone Christians

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http://www.arabwestreport.info/ar/comment/reply/15804

Apostasy revisited 
Watani International
28/1/2007
By :   George Riyad

The author discusses the uproar surrounding a book authored
by a prominent Islamic scholar, and the harsh critique directed
.against Watani for questioning the book

The furor over the book The Sedition of Apostasy (Takfeer)
between Shiites, Wahabis, and Sufis, authored by prominent
Islamic scholar Mohamed Emara, and published by the Supreme
Council of Islamic Affairs which is affiliated to the Ministry of
Religious Endowments, has not subsided. In his book, Dr Emara
pronounced Christians and Jews as infidels or apostates who, as
such, have earned a “sharie or Islamic legal ruling that warrants
spilt blood [killing the apostate] on earth and an eternity in
hell.”ApologiesIn its last issue in 2006, and under the title “A
Christmas Gift” authored by Robeir al-Faris, Watani International
was the first to raise the issue of the book, which sold at the
heavily subsidised price of one Egyptian pound. It sold out in a
matter of 24 hours, and Watani asked why was the State,
whose budget is financed by Christians as well as Muslims,
?subsidising books which propagate such detrimental thought

Some two weeks later, and following widespread clamour in the
media, and complaints submitted to the prosecutor-general by
lawyer Naguib Gabrail, Father Morqos Aziz, and Dr Seti Zaki
Shenouda, Dr Emara sent Watani a hand written apology
declaring that: “the harm caused to others because of the
words published warrants an explicit, unequivocal, candid
apology on my part.” The Ministry of Religious Endowments
issued a statement that it had withdrawn all copies of the book
off the shelves and planned to destroy them. It pledged to
publish a new edition of the book, free of the insulting phrases.
The ministry explicitly apologised to Copts for the affront, and
announced it rejected any insult directed at them.UnwittingIn his
apology to Watani Dr Emara claimed that the clause on the
“licence to kill” is not his own, but had been used by Huggat al-
Islam Sheikh Abu-Hamad al-Ghazali in his millenium-old book
Faysal a-Takfeer baynal-Islam wal-Zanadiqa (The Dividing Line
in Apostasy between Islam and Heretics), and that he, Dr
Emara, had unwittingly inserted it in his book. A thorough
reading of the book, however, reveals that references to the
licence to kill non-Muslims are multiple, varied, and—even if
mostly extracted from Islamic references—can in no way be
.”described as “unwittingly inserted
On page 29 of his book, Dr Emara writes: “Those who belong to
the Sunna and Jamaa’a, representing 90 per cent of Muslims,
adopt a clear-cut, unequivocal, and decisive stance. They reject
considering anyone who testifies that ‘There is no god but God,
and Mohamed is his prophet’ as an infidel. The testimony
secures full protection of blood [life] property, and rights.” This
stance is repeatedly referred to in Dr Emara’s book, specifically
on pages 32, 36, 41, and 43. Dr Emara thus makes it very clear
that the safety of an individual, his or her property, and rights
may be secured if, and only if, that individual endorses the
Islamic testimony.Beyond the scopeAs though this were not
enough, Dr Emara declares on page 38: “I say;” please note this
is Dr Emara’s own personal opinion, “I say that most Roman or
Turkish Christians [meaning foreign Christians or those who live
in areas remote from Muslim lands] who have never heard of
daawa (call to join Islam) are excused because they never
heard of Mohamed. But those Christians who intermingle with
Muslim people and live in Muslim countries, and have heard of
Mohamed, his character, and the miracles of his message, are
the atheist infidels.” Dr Emara goes on to write that Christians,
Jews, Magi, and idol-worshippers are infidels “as explicitly
written in the Book [Qur’ān] and unanimously agreed upon
.”(within the umma (Islamic nation
All the above came within the context of a book which bore the
title The sedition of takfeer, or apostasy between Shias,
Wahabis, and Sufis, implying that the infidelity or apostasy of
Christians, Jews, or otherwise lay beyond the scope of the book.
This was highlighted by Watani when it first wrote about the
issue, and later by Dr Emara himself in his apology. So what
business did the book have to pronounce Christians, Jews, or
?others as infidels
If this is how a prominent Islamic scholar such as Dr Emara
thinks, how can we blame young Muslims who have never had
the time or the means to delve deep into their religion for
?adopting extremist, fanatic thought