It’s hard to stay grounded in the wake of Egypt’s uprising: there are too many issues demanding attention, too many dissonant energies and unfortunate events, sectarian violence the most disturbing among them. In recent years, scandals have emerged surrounding Christian women who allegedly left their husbands and converted to Islam, having fallen for Muslim men. The details are never clear: ask a Christian, and they will say the woman was kidnapped and forced to convert. Ask a Muslim, and they will say the woman was imprisoned by her family and priests before the romance could be consummated. Such stories are fuelled by rumour and a penchant for melodrama – a titillating combo of taboo sex, viral machismo and religious pride.
It happened again in May. The protagonist’s name, Kamelia, echoed throughout the nation, heralding another distraction from more urgent matters, including the parliamentary elections scheduled for September, where religious factions are manœuvring for position. The polemic approached the danger point with angry protests by Muslims, demanding the woman be allowed to convert, and Christians (a minority in Egypt) saying she never wanted to in the first place. I discussed the matter with a group of well-heeled Egyptian friends. ‘Who cares about Kamelia, or who she sleeps with? We never bothered with such things before,’ said one woman. ‘No siren,’ I remarked of Kamelia’s nondescript appearance. ‘And yet,’ one man noted, ‘this was the face that launched a thousand beards.’ The situation wasn’t funny, but we all laughed like mad. The next day 15 people were killed in a poor Cairo neighbourhood, where purportedly fundamentalist Muslims attacked a church in Kamelia’s name.
