The Orphan Scandal: Christian Missionaries and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood

Fascinating and very well researched. This is a "must read" for any western Christian who wishes to understand the animosity expressed by radical Islamic organizations toward the evangelizing efforts of non-Egyptian Christians from the US and Europe. It reads like a detective novel, but the events and people were real, and the consequences of one apparently minor disciplinary faux-pas were dramatic and far-reaching.After re-reading Heather Sharkey's "American Evangelicals In Egypt: Missionary Encounters in an Age of Empire," Baron's work is a gripping read and serves well as a complement, expansion and capstone to the more comprehensive view in Sharkey's work. I had an only partial understanding about the intimate relationship that the Muslim Brotherhood had with the efforts on Western Evangelical Missionaries. Indeed, it seems that the benevolent medical, educational and other social work of these missionaries was deeply appreciated and benefited Egypt greatly--that is until the "orphan scandal" that occurred under the watch of a "maverick" Christian mission effort in the Suez region. Indeed, I wonder whether any positive contribution to the welfare of orphans, widows and other members of the underclass of Egyptian society in the Modern Age would ever have been undertaken by the Muslim umma in Egypt if it weren't for the century of efforts by Western evangelicals; conversely, I wonder whether any of the negative, violent consequences of the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and its ideological offspring (Al Qaeda, the Taliban, etc.) would ever have occurred if it weren't for the fact that a foolish and naive young Finnish substitute instructor physically disciplined a strong-willed 14-year-old Muslim girl. One minute of ill-advised physical contact set off a powder keg that resulted in a chain-reaction of consequences that endure to this day. To express it more hyperbolically, this one "sneeze" set off a nuclear bomb of epic proportions.

Very insightful book. But the chapters vary in quality

As Raymond Ibrahim stated at the Middle East Forum's Middle East Quarterly in the Spring 2015, in 1933, Turkiya Hassan, an orphaned Egyptian, Muslim girl, was beaten by a matron at a Swedish missionary school. School authorities later contended that the "rude and aggressive" 15-year-old was ordered "into a room for private chastisement" at which time the girl "showed fight and seized the cane" from the matron who soon "regained mastery of the situation and … considerably roused, hit the girl with the stick where she could." The girl, however, claimed that she was beaten for refusing to convert to Christianity—a story sensationalized by a nascent Muslim Brotherhood in order to foment anger and distrust for missionaries in Egypt while aggrandizing itself as a substitute.Baron of City College of New York takes this minor incident and magnifies it in such a way as to portray the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood as a complete byproduct of aggressive missionary schools in Egypt. The problem is that the evidence she marshals for this claim is flimsy at best.The book suffers from three main flaws. The first is myopia: If the incident is such a cause célèbre for the rise of the Ikhwan, why do modern Islamists, who habitually claim historic grievances against the West, never mention it? (Though they likely will now with the publication of this book.) One searches the Arabic-language Internet in vain for "Turkiya Hassan."Second, Baron is guilty of indulging in anachronistic moralizing. Emotive language proliferates about the whipping of the "rude and aggressive" teenage girl—in a nation and in an era where such disciplining was the norm—as a traumatizing event for Egypt. Yet Hassan's story received attention not because she was beaten but because she claimed to have defied forced conversion.The final defect is blatant bias on the part of the historian. While Baron presents some of the Christian mission's arguments, it is clear whose narrative she follows: The book is dedicated to "all the Turkiyas." She shows no reservations for the motives of Islamists and nationalists who sensationalized this incident, but she is cynical and mistrusting of the Western women who dedicated their lives to caring for Muslim orphans. Thus, we are told, "When the [Egyptian] locals did not turn out in large numbers to hear their message, [Western] evangelicals started building schools, hospitals, and later orphanages to guarantee a captive audience." Further, Baron ignores Islam's role in creating so many destitute orphans in Egypt in the first place: Adoption is forbidden according to many interpretations of Shari'a.Not only does Baron exaggerate the significance of this incident, portraying it as the greatest catalyst for the rise of Islamism in Egypt, she also appears ignorant of the true nature of the Brotherhood as seen in her own time. For all of her claims that the Ikhwan defended Muslims from Christian "predators," the true nature of the group is easily ascertained by looking at its current status in Egypt: banned by fellow Muslims—not Christians or Westerners—for its treachery and terrorism.

A thoroughly researched and very informative read. The author's approach to understanding the way that the orphanage scandal in 1933 unfolded gave a sense of balanced assessment of the varying stories. The relationship between the evangelical activities and the response of the various Muslim societies (the Muslim Brotherhood in particular, but also the Defence of Islam League, al-Azhar, and the Egyptian government) is fascinating and compelling. Very worthwhile read.Part II, "Unintended Consequences", was well reasoned for the most part, but left me with a sense that the author was at times applying modern Western values in her assessment of the response of some parts of Egyptian society. Where there is documentation (personal letters, contemporary publications in newspapers, etc.), the line of reasoning was excellent and I have no complaints. There were a number of times however, where dots were connected that do not strike me as being clearly reflected in modern Egyptian thinking, let alone thinking from 100 years ago.Having said that, I do very much recommend this book.

This book is very informative and a great read. Its narrative is woven around the compelling drama of an orphaned Egyptian girl, presenting a balanced, fascinating view of Christian missions in Egypt and what the author demonstrates is the related rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. The girl was beaten in June 1933 while living at a missionary orphanage, apparently for not accepting Christianity; the Brotherhood, trying to reduce the missionaries' religious influence on Muslim children, began providing for Egyptians the same social services that the missions themselves had been furnishing. Time with this book is time well spent, providing a worthwhile view of a crucial historical moment.