Noses & Tummy tucks

“War is deceit,” but there are still some scruples about nose jobs. Nose jobs are deceit as well, but in that case, it’s a bad thing.

There are some serious points to take away from this story, however. One is that those who are legislating Sharia will still act above it, because power corrupts. Those who think Sharia will be free from or immune to corruption will be sadly mistaken.

The other is the impulse to legislate against private behavior and decisions: the nose job is against Sharia. There is a difference between finding something vain and distasteful, and possibly making it illegal somewhere in the future. “Egypt Salafi MP resigns after carjacking injuries turn out to be from a nose job,” from Agence France-Presse, March 6:

Cairo // An Egyptian Salafi MP was forced to resign from parliament and from his party after claiming that he was injured in a carjacking, when he had in fact had a nose job, his party said yesterday.A bruised and bandaged Anwar Al Bilkimy appeared on television last week saying how gunmen beat him and stole 100,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh61,000).

But doctors and medical staff at a hospital in the Cairo suburb of Sheikh Zayed came forward and said that the MP, who belongs to the ultra-conservative party Al Nour, had in fact been undergoing rhinoplasty at the time.

In a statement on its Facebook page, Al Nour said its chief Emad Abdel Ghafur had gone to see Mr Bilkimy today and confirmed that the whole story had been “made up”.

Mr Bilkimy “has resigned from the party and from parliament,” the party said.

The MP is also to “offer a formal apology to the doctors at the hospital, the party, all members of parliament, the media, security forces and to all the Egyptian people,” it said.

Egyptian prosecutors had launched an investigation into the affair, asking staff at the hospital to provide Mr Bilkimy’s medical records and demanding a forensic examination.

Mr Bilkimy’s claims of an attack came as Egypt struggles with insecurity since a popular uprising toppled president Hosni Mubarak last year, with a rise in carjackings, robberies and violence on the streets.

More from the Associated Press:

… The problem with that is that his party follows a strict line of Islam that forbids cosmetic surgery as meddling in God’s work.It was especially embarrassing for al-Nour, just weeks after a surprisingly strong showing in Egypt’s parliamentary election, where it captured a quarter of the seats by championing one of the world’s strictest interpretations of Islam, similar to Saudi Wahhabism.

Al-Nour had to issue an apologetic statement admitting one of its brand-new lawmakers with the beard of a religious Muslim had lied about such an issue….