DID THE PRIEST'S WIFE CONVERT?

Last month, a religious controversy shook the Land of the Pharaohs involving what for us would be a minor, or perhaps local, matter:  the apparent conversion of a Christian woman to Islam.  But seeing that the country was Egypt and the woman was the wife of a Coptic priest, the issue led to street demonstrations, arrests, accusations of religious discrimination, the "seclusion" of the Coptic Pope and the eventual intervention of President Hosni Mubarak.  Although this story has received fairly wide coverage, it's worth re-examining, if only to see how sensitive a role religion plays in the Muslim world and the dangers--all-too-apparent in Iraq--that occur when societies divide themselves along sectarian lines. 

The problem started on November 27, when Father Joseph Moawad, living in the village of Abul-Matameer, about 90 miles north of Cairo, reported that his wife, Wafaa Constantine, 48, was missing.  At the time, Father Moawad was in Alexandria, seeking medical treatment for diabetes.  On December 1, Constantine showed up in a Cairo police station and announced that she had left home and wanted to change her religion, according to Egyptian authorities, "of her own free will and without anybody's interference."

But interference is what she got.  The police informed Constantine that she had to first consult a priest before her conversion became official.  She agreed, and on December 2, the provincial governor of Beheira--where Abul-Matameer is located-- informed the regional archbishop of her decision and that she was ready for questioning by the church.  Nevertheless, Egyptian police did not release her, claiming that her life was endangered by angered Copts.

Copts make up between five to ten percent of Egypt's population, and relations between the nation's Christian minority and Muslim majority have generally been calm.  In the December 10 edition of FrontPage magazine, however, Robert Spencer quotes a spokesman for Jubilee Campaign, a U.K.-based Christian human rights group that  "attempts to force Christians to convert to Islam in Egypt are on the increase and the methods are getting increasingly varied and well organized."  (It should be noted that under shari'a, Muslims who leave their faith are guilty of apostasy, the penalty for which is death.)

When Constantine did not show up at Abul-Matameer, many Copts grew alarmed.  Rumors spread that Muslim radicals had kidnapped and drugged the woman, forcing her to convert.  Others said she had fallen in love with a Muslim colleague at work who had convinced her the only way she could continue the affair was to embrace Islam.  Still more began talking about a "clash of religions" and airing long-standing grievances with the Egyptian government.  At the same time, more reasonable voices argued that the woman's decision was purely a personal matter.  One bishop told Cairo's Al-Ahram Weekly that it involved a "crisis in her marital life" stemming from the fact that her husband had lost both his legs to diabetes:  Egyptian law forbids divorce in cases of adultery or conversion, so Constantine may have felt that "becoming a Muslim would be the only solution."

No matter.  On December 7, 1,000 Copts gathered at the main Cairo cathedral and a riot ensued.  Stone throwers injured 21 policemen, who in turn arrested 34 people.  In the upper Egyptian village of Munqateen, clashes between Christians and Muslims in which crowds attacked Christian homes and businesses and torched police cars led to the arrest of 25.  Concerned by the rising tensions, the Coptic leader Pope Shenouda III contacted Hosni Mubarak's office to ask for the President's intervention.  Soon afterwards, the police contacted the church and informed the Copts they would present the woman for an interview the following day. 

On December 8, Constantine, under police supervision and in the care of nuns, moved to a monastery in Cairo where a committee of priests questioned her.  That day, however, Pope Shenouda went into "seclusion," declaring his intention not to resume his duties until the government resolved "problems relating to the Copts"--specifically, as one bishop told Al-Ahram, "discrimination against Copts, restrictions on church construction and the forced conversion of Christian girls." On December 14, Constantine appeared before an Egyptian prosecutor accompanied by two lawyers from the church and announced her intention to remain a Christian.

Now it was the Muslims' turn to be outraged.  Noting that the Copts had refused to let the woman leave their custody, and even gave her job in the monastery, many charged that  the church had forced her to remain a Christian.  The fact that she appeared before the prosecutor-general in the company of lawyers added fuel to their suspicions.  An Egyptian judge accused the state of violating Constantine's freedoms by holding her "captive" in the monastery.  Others accused Pope Shenouda of using Constantine's marital confusion to put pressure on the government to accede to the Copts' demands. 

If so, the Pope was at least partially successful.  On December 22, the Egyptians released 13 rioters, mainly because they were young students who needed to take their exams.  This in turn mollified the Pope, who emerged from his "seclusion" in a Cairo monastery. 

Recriminations, however, are still flying.  Al-Ahram quotes a "prominent Coptic thinker" named Rafiq Habib who criticizes the both the government and the church for their dealings over the Constantine situation.  At a time when Islamist movements threaten Egyptian society, he argued, the fact that secular authorities yielded to the Copts when they used religion to cudgel the authorities "will have dangerous repercussions"--not the least of which will be to stir up sectarian anger among Muslims.  "All should be equal before the law, without any distinction," he said.

Thus ended l'affaire Constantine.  There's no word of her reunion--if there was one--with Father Moawad, or why, exactly, she sought to convert, and then re-convert.  "I was born a Christian," she reportedly told authorities, "and I will live and die a Christian."  If nothing else, she discovered that for a priest's wife, it's difficult to do anything else. 

Comments

[New Jordans]

Excellent post. It makes me realize the energy of words and pictures. I learn a lot, thank you! Wish you make a further progress in the future.

[cpap]

Yeah, copts make up between five to ten percent of Egypt's population, and relations between the nation's Christian minority and Muslim majority have generally been calm.

Sam Nisbett