These phenomena came to mind as I was reading Yusuf Zeidan s novel Azazeel , which raised a number of questions about the use of religion and spiritual beliefs in politics throughout man s history.

The novel includes a bloody scene in which Hebatia (a distinguished scholar in mathematics, logic and astronomy born in Alexandria in c380) in March was stopped by an extremist Christian mob on her way home, then tortured, dragged along and brutally killed, rejecting her plea for clemency. The mob brutalized that prominent scholar and burnt her at the instigation of a religious power who looked at logical thinking and knowledge as danger to their authority, without knowing anything about the ideas she promoted.

The history of fundamentalism repeats itself

As the writer recreates this bloody scene he wants to remind us that history repeats itself one way or another, as some scenes in history continue up to the present time. The scene brings back to memory many similar recent incidents, such as the stabbing of the novelist Naguib Mahfouz by a young man who didn t read a single word from his or others works, but was told the man was an unbeliever. Before that the Egyptian writer Farag Fouda was assassinated upon a fatwa from extremist leaders. These are just two examples of many bloody scenes all over the Arab and Muslim world in which many innocent Muslim and non-Muslim lives were lost at the hands of extremist armed groups on similar grounds. Most of those who carried out such murder and destruction operations and suicide bombings were totally ignorant or brainwashed by those who masterminded the terrorist attacks.

The bloody scene also reminds us of the incidents of murder and intimidation in which the Taliban in Afghanistan were involved, in addition to the destruction of world heritage sites two statues representing Afghanistan s main historic landmarks on the pretext that art is prohibited in Islam.

My personal belief is that in recounting this and other historical incidents in his novel, the author does not mean to give an account of the history of the Coptic Church in Egypt, but rather to portray extremist ideas and inter-communal violence in the name of religion far from the noble ideas and human values of the prophets and their scriptures, pointing out that this historical phenomenon is not confined to a particular religion or sect.

Who is omniscient(who knows the absolute truth)?

These and other incidents raise an extremely important issue: Who regard themselves as exclusively omniscient? I remembered a verse by the poet Abulalaa Almaari about certainty as I was looking at the spiritual and intellectual transformations which the novel hero Hiba , the monk, underwent during his spiritual journey to Upper Egypt and on to Alexandria and Syria, looking for the truth of existence through religion. He led a life of chastity and piety and was eager to learn from senior monks, but he was later shocked by his human reality as he was seduced by a woman while he was lying on the beach after swimming. She turned his life upside down, as she made him enter the world of pleasure and give up monasticism, but soon afterwards she turned against him when she failed to make him change his religious belief. She was killed later as she was trying to prevent the mob from killing Hebatia in that bloody incident. He wished he would lose his sexual desire for ever in order to continue his life of worship and theology, but many questions often occurred to him out of uncertainty rather than certainty.

In several instances the novel gives examples of issues in thinking, philosophy and theology and the essence of good and evil as they cross the mind of the novel hero or in dialogues with the Christian clergy at different stages of his life. Some of the clergy showed tolerance and respect for reason and freedom of conscience the essence of religion; others were extremists and narrow minded, either due to ignorance or rejection of free thinking to achieve an end, which is usually authority and wealth, ignoring the noble values of the revealed religions. This certainty which some claim to possess, as the novel shows, has led to the authority of the clergy who do not seem to have religious or spiritual motives but seek to influence the common people and wield their authority, which is usually purely temporal political rather than religious and allies with the ruling emperor against their religious dissenters.

The prophets tolerance

The novel tackles this issue in more than one instance, the most striking of which is the scene in which the writer cleverly reduces the deep concept of turning religion into profit and authority, as the narrator, the monk says, I looked at the ragged dress in the statue of Jesus, then the embroidered robe of the bishop! Jesus s clothes are torn and shabby and his chest and most of his organs are bare; the bishop s are gold embroidered and cover almost all his body. The bishop holds a mace whose brightness makes me think it is pure old. Jesus carries the thorns of the crown of suffering on his head; the bishop the diocesan gold crown. Jesus looked submissive as he sacrificed himself on the sacrifice cross; Kirollos holding the reins of the skies and the earth.

That s the crux of the matter: Prophets and messengers were sent to save people from tyranny and promote fraternity, tolerance, peaceful coexistence, cooperation and love. All revealed religions share the same religious values. We can find a number of signs which show as if they related to Christianity only, but in point of fact they apply to Islam and all religions as well. One of these signs is the narrator s reference to his visit to Jerusalem as a monk says to him, My son! Don t enter Jerusalem the moment you reach the land of Palestine. Don t enter Jerusalem unless you are spiritually prepared for pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is nothing but a journey for preparation. Travel is nothing but a revelation of the holy order kept in the essence of the spirit. This paragraph shows that there is a common philosophy of pilgrimage in both Islam and Christianity, despite the difference in destination and rites.

However, this spiritual loftiness as found in religion is absent in the history of using religion in politics and authority. Such enterprises that profit from satellite channel and phone fatwas are conclusive evidence of the wealth, authority and popularity achieved. The logic of fatwa seems to be one of jurisprudence but in fact it is one of authority which goes in one direction from profiteers from religion to individuals who do not have the right to question the fatwas, which is contrary to the spirit and essence of real religion.

During the periods when the Islamic State was powerful in terms of politics, economy, creativity and knowledge the religious authorities showed tolerance, encouraged dialogue and allowed individuals to challenge jurists, as the latter are human beings who may give good or poor opinions and are not infallible.

The clergy: an office not known in Islam

With political changes and succession of states, the values of religion declined and the authority of the clergy reigned. This post was never known for he duration of Islam s colourful history, either during the Prophet s or the Caliphs times, but it was established when rulers dominated peoples and thus needed monks to subject people to their power. Clerics have become infallible and omniscient and may not be challenged. They are not tolerant towards those who don t share their opinions and charge them with infidelity (Takfeer), but if they show tolerance this is limited to refraining from inflicting harm.

There are many new signs today of the authority of clerics as represented in the so-called Takfeer sheikhs , who are keen to change writers, intellectuals and artists with infidelity. These sheikhs behave as if they were the only omniscient granters of indulgence. They don t engage in dialogue or argue with those who disagree with their opinions and use the ruler s authority to suppress them. It is on the efforts of such sheikhs that states and governments were established and outdid the power of the most oppressive regimes and rulers who were toppled in the name of religion itself. That s why satellite channel clerics who profit from their fatwas have acquired some sort of sanctity and they use the media to win popularity as heroes and stars. Islam has never supported today s scenes of sanctity. The revealed religions were not meant to create holy symbols, and prophets were human beings like everybody else. That s why they were sent to people to guide them.

The novel presents many important ideas about profiteering from, and using politics in religion against a background relatively different from Islam, but there is real significance here. The writer s reference to an era of Christian conflict bears relevance to the current conflict in Muslim communities, some of which are dominated by the clergy who annihilate their dissenters morally and deny people the right to choose their lifestyle.

It goes without saying that besides these extremists there are certainly many Muslim reformist symbols who preserve the essence of true religion away from whatever does more harm than good. But these symbols are in the minority in terms of popularity and greed for influence and authority by any means at the expense of value. It is these respected figures that should be engaged in communication with the public in the media. TV cultural programmes should present such a service that appeals to people s minds rather than the herd instinct, instead of supporting what they think is their cause while they are in fact manipulated by various interest groups.

Such demagogy which starts from Pakistan and covers Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Algeria and Morocco has done damage to the Islamic world, wasted its resources and wealth incredibly, halted its development progress and education programmes and spread ignorance. It has also presented the Muslims image worldwide as just an angry mob without achieving any real objectives, or a group of murderers who kill their dissenters in cold blood.

Contrary to the views of some readers, Azazeel should not be looked at as an attack on the history of the Coptic Church in Egypt. It is not a history book to be judged as such, but a novel which portrays man s everyday reality today, the same reality that man grasped in times immemorial and in difference places. The enormous popularity of the novel among people from all walks of life as indicated by the several reprints within a short period of time is evidence that readers, myself included, found in the novel what directs attention to the present circumstances and similar not identical views and events. We have to learn lessons from what happened to others and take the necessary action before it is too late.