Farag Foda was born near Damietta in the Nile Delta . He worked as professor of agriculture . He wrote numerous books and contributed as a columnist to the Egyptian magazine '' October '' . Foda wrote during a time of Islamic revival and growing influence of Islamism , both violent and non-violent . In Iran , Islamists had overthrown the Shah in 1979 . In 1983 , Hezballah suicide bombers destroyed the barracks of the American and French troops stationed in Beirut , killing hundreds . In Egypt , Marxist intellectuals ( such as Muhammad Imara or Tariq al-Bishri ) converted to Islamism . Long out of fashion , beards became common , and hijab " became the norm rather than the exception in universities and government " offices . In the early 1980s , Islamic radicals assassinated president Anwar Sadat and attacked Coptic churches and homes , and extorting '' jizya '' ( Islamic protection tax ) from Coptic Christians . ( From 1992-1998 , the group that assassinated Foda fought an insurgency against the Egyptian government during which at least 796 Egyptian policemen and soldiers , Al-Gama ' a al-Islamiyya fighters , and civilians including dozens of foreign tourists were killed . ) Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Yusuf al-Qaradawi blamed the extremist violence in part on the failure to give Islam " the place it deserves in government , legislation and guidance . " Among the few who defended secularism and ‘ Western ’ human rights , was Farag Foda . Foda was noted for his critical articles and trenchant satires about Islamic fundamentalism in Egypt . In many newspaper articles , he pointed out weak points in Islamist ideology and its demand for Sharia law , asking how it would deal with specific problems such as the housing shortage . He specifically criticized leading Islamist figures — pointing out that Anwar al-Jundi had praised the secularist , anti-Muslim Brotherhood regime of Gamal Abdel-Nasser in a 1965 book , or that Muhammad al-Hayyawan , a Muslim Brotherhood leader who had attributed the 1988 Armenian earthquake to God ’s punishment of the ‘ atheist ’ Soviet Union , had not offered an explanation for the 1990 earthquake in Iran
1990 earthquake in Iran
1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake
Farag Foda