Minister 'confirms' alcohol prohibition on Islamic holidays

[DJKeefy]

Egypt's tourism minister 'confirms' alcohol prohibition on Islamic holidays beyond Ramadan.

Along with month of Ramadan, Egyptians won't be able to purchase alcoholic beverages during 4 other major Islamic holidays, according to new decision by minister of tourism, which seems to simply confirm an older decree.

Egyptian Tourism Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour has decided that prohibitions on the serving of alcoholic beverages to Egyptian citizens would be applied on all major Islamic holidays and not just during the fasting month of Ramadan, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported on Sunday.

Serving alcohol to Egyptians during Ramadan has long been banned in Egypt out of respect for the holy month, during which Muslims tend to strictly abide by Islamic prohibitions and doctrine. According to Islamic precepts, the consumption of alcohol is strictly forbidden at all times.

Abdel-Nour has reportedly decided to apply the prohibition on four other days of the year: the Islamic New Year, the holiday commemorating the Israa and Me'rag, Prophet Mohamed's birthday and the day of Arafa.

According to MENA, Abdel-Nour's decision was made out of respect for "the feelings of Muslims."

The serving of alcohol to Egyptians by restaurants or bars on any of these days, the decision stipulates, will result in severe legal sanctions.

However, serving of alcohol to Egyptians on any of the aforementioned days has been banned for over 30 years.

An owner of a popular mid-town restaurant-bar told Ahram Online that he does not fully understand how the new decision would affect his business.

"My license of more than 20 years has prohibited me from serving alcohol to Egyptians during Ramadan and on those four holidays anyways, so I don't know what the minister's decision is about," he said.

Since the election last month of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi as president, speculation has been rife that Islamist political forces would seek to ban the sale of alcohol altogether.

Parliamentary elections late last year saw the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the ultra-conservative Salafist Nour Party collectively capture roughly three quarters of the seats in the People's Assembly (the lower house of Egypt's parliament).

The concerns of the country's liberals and secularists, however, were eased somewhat after the democratically-elected People's Assembly was abruptly dissolved in June after a constitutional court ruled that the law governing last year's legislative polls was unconstitutional.

But fears of theocratic rule in Egypt were renewed once again after the Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi was inaugurated as Egypt's first freely-elected president last month.

Morsi has yet to appoint a new prime minister, who, along with the president, will be responsible for drawing up a new government.

In the meantime, Egypt's interim cabinet – led by Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri – is expected to remain in place until the appointment of a new government.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/48444.aspx

[Ra-Mont]

A little muscle-flexing, perhaps?

[Horus]

I think it is certainly muscle flexing, the best way is to start by reminding everyone that these laws already exist, that way you cannot be accused of bringing in draconian measures if people oppose the enforcement, you just reply that it is already the law and are only enforcing it. the next step is to issue a new edict that says if you are an observant Muslim then you are not compelled to serve alcohol even to foreigners on these days and on it goes, you just keep adding another tier of restrictions to the point where it is banned altogether as being un Islamic. That of course is a decision for the rulers of Egypt and who are we to argue against what after all will be the will of the people who voted these people into power in the first place. The fact that it will drive away tourism and cause hardship in many areas is something that these same voters will have to live with, the brutal truth of the matter is this, if you wish to have a strict Islamic society similar to Iran, then wave goodbye to your tourist industry. People are fickle and will just go elsewhere, there are many places in the world I would like to visit, but not all are within my grasp for many reasons. I consider myself fortunate that I have fulfilled my ambition many times over of visiting the monuments of Egypt, I have visited most of the main sites from Giza to Abu Simbel and if I never visited any of them again then I will be satisfied with what I have seen and die a happy man. As for the places I have not yet visited, well if Egypt is off the list then maybe somewhere else like Machu Picchu in Peru or even the Nasca Lines, maybe even the Terracotta Army in China, my list would be endless.

[DJKeefy]

Why all Egyptians, should that not be Muslims only, dont the Christians have rights?

[Horus]

Not quite sure what you mean Keefy? Certainly the Christians and all the other religious and none religious groups have rights and of course they make up at least 10% of the Egyptian community. However it is the main voting block who are Islamic and they elected the new Egyptian government, not unlike in the UK where the majority of voters are either Labour or Conservative so the minority parties rarely get to influence anything in politics, unless you count the current situation where the Liberal party tail is wagging the Tory party dog, but this situation is unusual.

So I’m afraid that whatever the Islamic voters want they will always get as they are in the majority. It may go against what Christians or other groups would want, but whenever you have a religious state as the new Egyptian one certainly is, then your laws are influenced by religion, which in this case is Islam.

Secularism on the other hand separates religion from politics and asserts the right to be free from religious rule and teachings and also the right to freedom from that governmental imposing religion upon the people. Also within that state the government is supposed to be neutral on matters of religious belief so could not impose any laws based upon religion. Egypt’s government is not Secular it is religious and even more so since the MB were elected and I am afraid that minority views are rarely considered with this form of government. You only have to look at Syria where a minority religious group is actually imposing its will on a majority religious group for no other reason than they are in control, I feel sorry for these minority groups, but I fear they will not do well under this new rule.

[DJKeefy]

Thanks Horus, You give me the answer.

So I’m afraid that whatever the Islamic voters want they will always get as they are in the majority. It may go against what Christians or other groups would want, but whenever you have a religious state as the new Egyptian one certainly is, then your laws are influenced by religion, which in this case is Islam.

Yet its no problem for tourists at the moment to get alcohol

[Horus]

Yet its no problem for tourists at the moment to get alcohol

I wouldn't take bets on that being the case in say 5 years or so.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Quite agree this is muscle flexing and quite agree that all of the laws already on the books but not adhered to will be brought back out and everybody given a gentle yet obvious reminder of what IS already written.

I believe it is all subtle moves to move towards a more Islamic state and Egypt in a few more years into the future will be totally different from what it is today. From what I'm seeing I think this new gov't dually democratically elected will plot a slow but steady course to get it to where it wants to go. I also think until the Copts in Egypt make up a majority their needs will not be considered. Highly doubt this new government is going to be overly concerned about tourists either.