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One of the most interesting yet bitter aspects of censorship is the one exercised by the society against its writers, poets, and intellectuals. That censorship starts from the very close circles surrounding the creator and varies in its harshness according to the level of education, understanding of the creators' needs and the general cultural environment that surround the two parties.
Many of our great writers found themselves trapped within the harsh criticism of their families. Women in particular, as Neamat Al Beheiry; the novelist, once said- suffer from the husbands' censorship. The culture and tradition that give no room for women to express their feelings and experiences, curtail the female writers' right to work freely like any other male creator. But, the husband censorship is very close, tough and in most cases kills the creative attempts in its cradle.
The husband's patriarchal censorship might look mild compared to the conservative and radical Muslim readers who have been tracking every single word published by Nawal Sadawy. There are several court suits filed against the writer and the women activist. The many legal disputes against Sadawy reached the point of no return when the conservative audience asked the court to deprive her of the Egyptian nationality.
Men are no exception. Male writers may find themselves in the same trap of family-society censorship. In his first novel 'The Secret History of Noaman Abdel Hafez'', the great writer Mohamed Mostagab, who depicted the minute details of life in upper Egypt, found himself under tremendous pressure from his family because he echoed the impact of the negative traditions on inter-family ties in this part of the country. He was alienated by members of his big family who believed that he as a writer betrayed them by disclosing and bringing to the open the dark side of their traditions.
Dr Nasser Abu Zeid, is yet another well-known intellectual who was forced, by a court ruling to divorce her wife. Abu Zeid who was labeled as a non-believer and thus a non-Muslim by his radical colleagues and readers had to leave the country when the court rule passed.
Conservative readers were also far behind the censorship of a government institution like the Egyptian Public Institution for Books. The institution published a book by the distinguished intellectual Louis Awadh. The book, which focused on the Arabic language in its relation to Shariaa was printed in 1980 and a year later some journalist and a university professor started a campaign against it. The content of those articles sounded like a big debate between Muslims, represented by the journalist and the professor and a Christian who is in that case was Dr Louis Awadh.
The professor found a generous hand that served his cause when his articles against Dr Awadh were printed in a book by a Saudi publisher under a very long title, ''Refuting the Lies against the Quraan as a Mirical and its language created by the crusader and the westerner Louis Awadh.''
It is ironical that during the very early years of the past century, Dr Taha Hussein, has to face the same challenge when his book titled ''Pre-Islam Poetry'' was described as a blasphemy. The state attorney's investigation and accusations directed against the then highly distinguished thinker were unprecedented. Yet, his decision to close the case and never refer it to the court -though astonishing- was based on the fact that the intellectual has the right to think and double check what was seen as facts.
But, that was not the case in the mid-eighties when surprisingly a journalist found out that the well-known book ''A Thousand and One Night'' has profane phrases and disrespect the public taste. Moreover, one reader filed a suit against a publisher who reprints the old book and distributes it.
Shockingly enough, a police officer went out of his way to investigate the complaint and found in his turn another old book that discusses sex. The publisher was referred to the court and the case was accepted on its merit yet the publisher was found un-guilty.
Yet, the most surprising event was the one that involved the American University in Cairo. In 1998, a group of the university graduate students filed a complaint against a French professor who teaches Arab history for insulting Islam. The complaint was echoed in the daily paper of Al- Ahram when one of its leading writers, Salah Montaser, asked the university's board of trustees to confiscate the book written by the Orienatalist Maxims Rodensone on the prophet's life and taught by the French professor.
It was probably proved easier for the university to deal with the angry Egyptian intellectuals who denounced its stand when the board confiscated the book, fired the professor and publicly apologized than dealing with the angry the students and the local press.
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* Egyptian Novelists
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