Source: Tampa Bay Online
Associated Press 27 Dec 2010
CAIRO - The wives of two Egyptian Coptic priests, forbidden by the church from divorcing their abusive husbands, desperately sought another way out by converting to Islam.
When their intentions were discovered, police handed them over to the church and their whereabouts since have been unknown.
The cases caused a furor at home that spilled over the borders and turned deadly when al-Qaida in Iraq cited the women as the reason behind the bloodiest attack ever on Christians in Iraq — a five-hour siege of a church in October that left 68 people dead.
It was a stark example of the schism between Christians and Muslims that runs through the Middle East and periodically erupts into violence.
"Amid the current sectarian discord, the timing is perfect for al-Qaida to show it is defending Islam and to exploit the situation to rally extremists against the churches," said Ammar Ali Hassan, an expert in Islamic movements.
Wafaa Constantine, 53, and Camilla Shehata, 25, lived in remote rural towns and enjoyed prestige as devoted and pious wives of conservative Coptic priests. But behind that veneer, a lawyer and a church official said the women were trapped in abusive relationships.
Both tried to seek a divorce through church channels, but hit a dead-end because the Coptic Orthodox Church forbids divorce. The rule is enforced even more strictly against the wives of priests. And they decided to rebel, not only against their husbands, but against the whole religion.
They sought to convert to Islam, something viewed as a disgrace in their community. The Coptic Church considers those who convert to other religions such as Islam dead, making the marriage contract invalid.
Though Egyptian religious authorities say the women never succeeded in converting, the controversy in both cases escalated with angry protests by Egyptian Christians, who accused Muslims of abducting the women and forcing them to convert.
That galvanized Muslim hard-liners in Egypt who protested and accused the church of holding them against their will and forcing them to convert back to Christianity.
Al-Qaida in Iraq turned it into a cause célèbre when it cited the women as the reason behind the Baghdad church siege. The group followed with more threats against Iraq's Christian minority, creating such fear that most Christmas celebrations in the country were canceled.
Egypt's Christian minority, estimated at about 10 percent of the country's 80 million people, has grown more religiously conservative over the past three decades, as has Egypt's Muslim majority.
Egypt's Salafi movement — extreme conservative Muslims — have long accused the Coptic Church here of conspiring to "Christianize" Egypt.
Though Salafis in Egypt reject violence, their doctrine is only a few shades away from that of groups such as al-Qaida. Both adhere to a strict interpretation of Islam said to have been practiced by Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
Salafis set up dozens of websites and Facebook groups to spread the word about the two women.
Hossam Aboul Boukhar, the founder of the website, KamiliaShehata.com, said the Shehata case is not an Egyptian matter anymore but "an Islamic cause." And he listed other women in similar situations.
"It is a phenomenon. The new Muslims, our sisters, are in misery because they are being tortured and imprisoned. We don't know what is going on inside the churches," he said.
