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( part two ) The 1990s debating religion, gender, and the performing artS in the public Sphere T he early 1990s, and particularly 1992, were a turbulent period in Egyptian history. Egypt was targeted by a series of terrorist attacks on Copts, policemen, and foreign tourists. The writer Farag Fuda was assassinated in 1992. The moderate Muslim Brotherhood moved from the periphery to the center and enhanced its influence through electoral victories in professional groups such as the Lawyers Association, over which the Brothers won control in 1992. The Mubarak regime began to hunt down “Islamists,” “extremists,” and “terrorists” and blurred distinctions among them. The government’s tolerance of the public activities of the Brotherhood came to an end (Wickham 2002, 200). In October 1992, Egypt was struck by an earthquake. It struck greater Cairo, an immensely populated area. An estimated 560 people lost their lives, many thousands were injured , and innumerable people became homeless due to faulty structures and the corruption of construction companies (Badawi and Mourad 1994; Farag 2002). The expanding Islamist service sector was the first to arrive and assist the Cairene poor, further emphasizing the state’s inefficiency and negligence. The earthquake was interpreted by Islamists and many other believers as a sign of God’s wrath at the corrupted condition of Egypt (Sullivan and AbedKotob 1999, 91). Egypt was also struck by an incessant stream of “repentant” artists. In the 1990s—with a peak in 1992—the “caravan” of retiring artists increased at a staggering speed: Shahira, ʿAfaf Shoʿib, and Madiha Hamdi veiled and retired, soon to be followed by Soheir al-Babli, Soheir Ramzi, Sawsan Badr, Farida Saif al-Nasr, Mona ʿAbd al-Ghani, Hanan, ʿAbir Sabri, ʿAbir Sharqawi, and several others. As we will see in the coming chapters, to suggest a relationship between the “repentance” of artists and “extremism,” as well as the earthquake and “repentance,” is to take part in a heated debate ( 90 ) The 1990s about the reasons behind the retirement and veiling of so many famous performers during a short period of time. The battle between the regime and the “extremists” was no longer limited to the military, political, and social field. In the cultural arena confrontations were taking place as well, including the destruction by militant Islamists of billboards advertising theater plays, and attacks on theatrical groups, performers, and video shops (Ramzi 1994). As Zubaida noted, conservative Islamists attempted to impose religious authority on culture and society, which meant a quest for “the moralization of the public space, the imposition of ritual observance, and the censorship of cultural and entertainment products” (2002, 19). Whereas the militant attacks could be discounted as “terrorist extremism,” the general Islamic revivalist campaign for morality in society and art was less easily dismissed by opponents and the government. “Street censorship”—that is, the interventions of nonstate actors in the cultural field—became a common practice. Religious authorities, journalists, and lawyers tried to constrain cultural products and imposed conservative religious values (Mehrez 2008, 7). They were accorded ample space by the state, since it was trying to profile itself as more religious than the “extremists ” (Tadros 1994). The government was at the same time opposing and accommodating various strands of Islamists, depending on shifting evaluations of the danger they were perceived to pose to the regime (Hirschkind 2006, 61–62). Yet the regime also used the cultural field to present a modern image of Egypt (Mehrez 2001). Within this tense climate the “repentance” and veiling of many actresses, singers, and dancers proved to be a complex and sensitive issue. The “repentant ” artists accordingly became objects of intense media debates. Conservative Muslims and Islamists capitalized on the “repentance” and veiling of artists to promote their views on morality for Egyptian society. These views were contested by secularists and liberals, and were met with ambiguous responses by the regime.The artists also increasingly used the media to counter the attacks on them by liberals and secularists.1 They partly aligned themselves with the Islamists, but were also somewhat uncomfortable with certain strict views on art and gender, views that became more diversified and liberal among strands of Islamists in the second half of the 1990s. Initially pious role models, they increasingly became objects and subjects of great national concern. The fierceness of the disputes indicates that issues of central importance were at stake.The veiled actresses became icons around which to debate national, religious, and cultural identity. Gender, the family, and “the position of women” are generally...

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