Egypt Jails Well-Known Critic of Islam

Ahmed Abdu’ Maher, author of 14 books on Islamic history and jurisprudence, was sentenced to prison by an Egyptian court for “contempt of Islam, stirring up sectarian strife and posing a threat to the national unity.”

According to a Nov. 19, 2021 report, “an Egyptian court sentenced an 80-year-old-intellectual earlier this week to five years in prison over his remarks on the early Islamic conquests.” Ahmed Abdu’ Maher, a high-profile lawyer, expert on Islam, and author of fourteen books on Islamic history and jurisprudence, was found guilty of “contempt of Islam, stirring up sectarian strife and posing a threat to the national unity.”

One of Maher’s chief “crimes” is his view on the seventh- and eighth-century Arab conquests — a view based on a close and correct reading of both Muslim and non-Muslim sources: that Arabs conquerors invaded non-Muslim regions — specifically the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain — and engaged in atrocity after atrocity; that, while “spreading Islam” was the motive Islamic later historiography attributed to the Arabs, their true actions belied a lust for rape and rapine; and that they overthrew and supplanted much more advanced societies, to the region’s lasting regret. ...

As the Nov. 19 report continues:

Maher’s position naturally goes counter to the mainstream Islamic presentation of the early Arab conquests, which are referred to as futuhat — literally, “openings” for the light of Islam to enter (or fatah in the singular, as the Palestinian group tellingly calls itself). In this context, every land ever invaded or seized by Muslims was done “altruistically” to bring Islam to wayward infidels, who are seen as the aggressors for unjustly resisting Islam. Or, in the words of an article titled “The Wisdom of Jihad,” published by Islam Question and Answer, jihad does not “only and simply mean to kill non-Muslims"; rather, "[t]he kuffaar [non-Muslims] whom we fight will themselves benefit from jihad. We strive against them and fight them so that they will enter the religion of Allah which is acceptable to Him, which will lead to their salvation in this world and in the Hereafter.”

Maher questions the supposed altruism of the early Arab-Islamic conquests.

Maher made his position especially well known back in early 2017, when the Muslim world was in an uproar after the announcement of President Donald Trump’s “Muslim ban” (as referred to by Trump’s woke enemies). Then, Maher had posted a video on YouTube (since removed, naturally, though not before I had translated relevant excerpts, which follow):

Simply put, Maher asked the clerics of Islam what, precisely, they were complaining about. All that Trump had done is ban immigration from Muslim nations closely associated with terrorism. What if he actually treated Muslims in America the way Muslims have always treated non-Muslims under their authority — the way Islamic law, sharia, demands — that is, in a manner far worse than simply banning immigration from terrorist nations in the interest of self-preservation?

For having such views and asking such questions, Maher has just been sentenced to five years in prison — the maximum penalty — in accordance with Article 98 F of the Egyptian penal code, which states:

Nor is Maher’s case an aberration; as the Nov. 19 report says, "[s]everal other intellectuals, writers, and public figures have stood trial or received verdicts over the past few decades for their views under the infamous anti-blasphemy law.”

Egypt’s President Sisi is now Maher’s only hope of avoiding prison.

On Nov. 29, Maher appeared on BBC Arabic. He refused to offer an apology, insisted that all he had done is relay history and ask commonsensical questions, and urged Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi — now his only hope, as Maher’s recent five-year-imprisonment sentencing is final and cannot be appealed before a higher court — to consider pardoning him. ...