FOREIGN MISSIONS IN EGYPT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22064, 21 September 1933, Page 11

FOREIGN MISSIONS IN EGYPT

ASPECTS OF THE PRESENT SITUATION Accoi'ding to information received from authoritatave sources, mission work in Egypt has entered upon the most critical stage in its history, and it ,may be that within the next few months changes will be introduced which will vitally affect its future. The efforts which are being made by its enemies are not due primarily to religious fanaticism. Rather _ are they political. Since the declaration of its independence in 1922, the Government of the country has been entirely in the hands of Egyptians themselves. The present Prime Minister. is probably the ablest man in the country, but though he has practically no opposition in Parliament, in the country he is vastly in the minority, maintaining his position by an almost ruthless use of power. While it is difficult to justify his actions on any grounds, there can be no doubt that he has ruled the country with great success, having regard to the ’ifficulty of the times. The Opposition will use any stick to beat the Government, and in recent years it has been a favourite plan to urge upon it the necessity of introducing measures to curtail the liberties of missionaries and charging it with lukewarmness in religious affairs when it fails to do so. The Government, which is of course, Moslem, .is most anxious to stand well with Europe, and to take steps which might* savour of religious intolerance would be most impolitic at the present time. By an unscrupulous use of the daily press on the part of the Opposition, the greatest possible publicity is being given to "various incidents” in mission work until an ignorant public opinion has been so exasperated that the Government has been .forced to take steps. A commission is being appointed with a view to regulating the activities of missions. The Government is calling to its councils the heads of the various missionary bodies, and every consideration is being shown to them, but it cannot bo denied that from a Christian standpoint the situation is most serious in view of recent happenings in Turkey and Persia. An immediate effect of the newspaper campaign has been the setting in motion against Christian converts of the old canon law of Islam. The law of Apostasy ordains that every pervert is guilty of capital crime, and must meet death by stoning. In an enlightened country the execution of such an absurd measure is unthinkable. The law, however, only applies to men. The position of Moslem women as laid down in several specific cases which have been fought out in the courts during the last three or four years, one of them as recently as June last, is that they are always under the guardianship of their families until they are past marriageable age. During the present agitation numbers of Moslem children under Christian guardianship have been handed over to their Moslem relatives, and in one case, of a woman convert married to a Christian, the marriage has been declared invalid, and the Christian husband charged with abduction! The position is that no Christian woman convert, married since conversion or not, is safe, but may at any time be called upon to return to her Moslem family.