minorities even one-tenth of the rights accorded to non-Muslim minorities by Islam, instead of undertaking the mass murder of men, women, and children, this would be a step forward for humanity. The verse on jizyah, verse 29 of Surat al-Tawbah, which the defendant opposes, is not subject to discussion. The judgment stated that the questioning by Abu Zayd of the permissibility in Islam of the ownership of slave girls, is "contrary to all the divine texts which permit such provided that the required conditions are met", and that the legitimacy of owning slaves is considered "religiously proven without doubt". Court of Appeals head Judge 'Abd al- 'Alim Musa and his fellow jurists declared Abu Zayd to be "a threat to national security, saying that by attacking Islam, he had attacked the state on which it is founded." The conservative religious interpretation of the court was evidenced a month after the ruling, when Judge Alim told an Egyptian magazine that Muslims are required to believe in spirits, devils, and the throne of God. In examining Abu Zayd's work and the charge against him of disbelieving in Jinn, scholar Michael Cook notes that Abu Zayd did not explicitly deny the existence of jinn, but explained their reason for being in the Qur'an as part of an appeal "to existing Arab conceptions of communication between genies and humans". Since jinn "were part of the culture of the Arabs at the time when the Quran was revealed" (and still are very much a part of Arab folk culture), without their inclusion "the notion of divine revelation" would have been difficult to accept. Motivation In addition to Abu Zayd's innovations in interpreting the Quran, his background as a critic of Islamic fundamentalism, and of Islamic investment companies in particular, (for one of which Abdel-Sabour Shahin had been a religious advisor), is thought to have played a part in motivating his opponents. Promotion at Cairo University The irony of the story occurred when Cairo University promoted Abu Zayd to full professor and the academic committee wrote: After reviewing the works submitted by Dr. Abu-Zeid in his application for promotion, examining them both individually and as a whole, we have reached the following conclusion: his prodigious academic efforts demonstrate that he is a researcher well-rooted in his academic field, well-read in our Islamic intellectual traditions, and with a knowledge of all its many branches — Islamic principles,