Todd Wintner on Pluralism and Identity Issues in Egypt

By: Todd Wintner

October 1, 2006

It has been over fifty years since Nasser first attempted to forge a cohesive Egyptian identity under the banner of “Arab nationalism.” Today, the Egyptian people continue their struggle to address the issue of pluralism and its implications for the Egyptian state. A short conversation with a taxi driver or afternoon walk through Coptic Cairo is all a foreigner needs to become conscious of the legitimation crisis looming alongside the state’'s delicate policies for addressing diversity. As dissatisfaction with the current regime continues to bubble under the surface of autocratic rule, it has become increasingly clear that the state will need to seek a new vision of Egyptian identity, ideally one that incorporates both Egypt'’s strong Islamic influence and the nation’'s history of religious pluralism. As long as the state fails to address this growing social crisis, the door remains wide open for others, namely the Muslim Brotherhood, to enter the political arena with their own definition of the Egyptian identity; —one that likely will come about at the expense of religious tolerance and any chance for future democratization.
In fairness, the Egyptian identity crisis is as much rooted in the country's complex history as it is in the failures of the current political regime. A quick exercise involving Egyptian students from an introductory history course helps to prove this point. For most of the students, Egypt could not be defined without the term Arab, an understandable assertion in a nation formally named the Arab Republic of Egypt and home to the headquarters of the Arab League. There was far less consensus in the classroom, however, when it came time to define the term Arab. Understandably, the label's most ancient meaning, the domesticators of the camel, was not a popular choice. Those who tried to attach a linguistic definition to the term quickly found frustration in the list of Arab-identifying peoples whose native language is not Arabic, but rather Nubian, Burber, or other indigenous tongue. A similar fate faced those who attempted to attach an Islamic association to the term Arab, a definition exclusive of Coptic, Jewish, and other non-Muslim communities that have also identified with the label throughout history.

Not surprisingly, many students tried to steer clear of the question altogether, choosing instead to identify with Egypt's pharaonic or Mediterranean ancestry. In breaking from the Arab-Islamic hegemony that has dominated much of the Middle East since the Middle Ages, however, this more ancient definition of the Egyptian people also threatens the bonds that have connected Egypt to its Arab neighbors, both economically and politically, throughout recent history. Understandably, this definition, while undoubtedly pointing towards unique aspects of Egyptian identity, also failed to win consensus among the class.

In the absence of a cohesive social force, it should not come as a shock that many Egyptians, including many university students, are turning away from Egypt's recent history of secularization and rediscovering a sense of unity in the vision of an Islamic state. From the foreigner's perspective, this change is manifest both in subtle social transformations, such as the increased veiling of women in the city, as well as in more direct political demonstrations on the streets of Cairo.

On one hand, to claim that an increase in Islamic identity is inherently a threat to Egyptian pluralism would prove ignorance of both Qur'anic teachings and the attitudes of most Egyptians. That said, it would be myopic to ignore the very real tension many of Egypt's minorities have expressed regarding the rise of more extremist ideologies, which have continued to grow in popularity over the past couple of years. Increased violence, including recent terrorist attacks against Coptic churches in Alexandria, has led many to share their desire to seek asylum outside of Egypt. This reality also faces other non-Muslims, who continue to face increased enforcement of Islamic law.

For most Cairenes, there appears to be little question that Mubarak's regime is tearing at the seams. As recently brought to light in Egypt's controversial but influential film, The Yacoubian Building, increased economic stagnation and perceived social decay will only further the questions surrounding modern Egyptian identity. What is up for debate, however, is what type of regime will replace Mubarak in power and, more importantly, what role religious pluralism will play in its new vision for the Egyptian state. Inevitably, foreign pressure and internal crackdowns will fail, on their own, to bar Egypt's extremist parties from political office. Rather, it appears that it will only be through the birth of a competing, more tolerant vision of Egyptian identity that these religious tensions will be settled without the iron fist of autocracy, thus allowing both pluralism and democracy to coexist within the Egyptian state.
Opens in a new window