For the next three weeks (I left on June 19) Egyptian papers teemed with coverage of what was developing into a constitutional crisis — demonstrations, letter-writing, rallies, the whole nine. Those who supported the secular character of the Egyptian state — Muslim or Christian — argued that in the name of equality(Muslims are free to divorce and remarry) and human rights (marriage is a fundamental right) the Coptic Church should either issue the licenses or be forced to do so by the state. The most interesting position, however, was that of the Church itself. In addition to religious freedom it invoked sharî’ah in its defense! Time and again,
Church officials publicly invoked such sharî’ah maxims as, “When confronted with People of the Book (Jews and Christians), adjudicate among them on the basis of their own religion.” The Coptic patriarch, Pope Shanoudah III, even went so far as to quote the Qur’ân directly in his weekly sermon: “Let the People of the Bible adjudicate according to what God revealed therein. And whoever does not adjudicate in accordance to what God reveals, they are among the corrupt” (5: 47). As if these statements were not explicit enough, in an interview published on 10 June in the official Ahram newspaper, Pope Shanoudah stated plainly and without equivocation,
“We simply ask the judges, if they want to reconcile with the Church, to apply the Islamic sharî’ah.”It would be disingenuous, of course, to read more than tactical sophistication into the Pope’s and the Church’s position. After all, Pope Shanoudah did not rush out to sign up with the Muslim Brotherhood. Still, their statements and protestations make it clear that he and
the Church understood that under sharî’ah they would enjoy the right to preserve their way of life as Christians and that the rules governing Muslims do not automatically extend to non-Muslims.
http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/08/dr-sherman-jackson-western-views-of-shariah/
