Egyptian sociologists and the literati have long warned of a possible explosion of anger in Egypt due to the deteriorating socio-economic conditions of the country together with the absence of political and human rights. But no one ever imagined that this steam of anger would eventually emerge in the form of a sectarian violence. Do the recent criminal acts directed against some Christian citizens at the Alexandria church on the New Year's Eve or on a Cairo-bound train from Assiut some days later reflect a hidden hatred between the Egyptian Muslims and Copts? Or is it just a deep sense of despair, anger and injustice that has mistaken its target?In last week's article I cited to some wrong practices of the Coptic Orthodox Church pertaining to irresponsible acts and sayings of some Christians and their clerics that gave the impression the Copts are being treated as if they were above the law. Nevertheless, I still believe in the theory that sectarian sedition has always flourished in societies, which are suffering general injustice and backwardness. Therefore, the present tension between the Egyptian citizens " Muslims and Copts " should be settled by adopting a unified stand on all forms of injustice from which the entire society suffers, so as to enforce real social, economic and political reforms in the country. Only then, would all citizens, regardless of their religion, enjoy equal rights of citizenship, especially given that neither the Constitution nor the Islamic Sharia (religious law) has any discriminatory article. Herein emerges the idea of the ‘Family Home'council that has been suggested by the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayyeb, stipulating that the council is formed from noted Egyptian Muslims and Copts. They will debate different problems facing society in order to propose solutions that would be referred to the State authorities for consideration. The significance of this idea is that the council was suggested before the deadly attack on Al-Qiddissine (Two Saints) Church in Alexandria. Accordingly, it was not a temporary reaction to the incident to allay the anger of the Coptic citizens who felt deep pain at a crime that had targeted them on the steps of their church. Instead, it is a wise suggestion made by the enlightened Muslim scholar who has recently assumed the highly esteemed position of Sheikh Al-Azhar and commands real respect from the public. To view more closely the idea and his general way of thinking, the following are excerpts from an interview Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayyeb gave to Al-Mussawar weekly magazine two days before the Alexandria bombing. “There is no religion or philosophical or social ideology in the world that respects Christianity and Judaism as Islam does,” el Tayyeb said. He referred to the Prophet Mohamed's first thinking of Habasha (now in Ethiopia) as the ideal shelter for his early Muslim followers to be protected from the infidels of Quraish in Mecca. “If the Prophet (PBUH) had any doubt about the honesty of the Christian King el- Nagashi in protecting the Muslims he would not have sent them to him. “In addition, he made the Pact of Al-Medina with the Jews of Al-Medina al-Munawara (giving them full citizenship rights with the Muslims) and there was his good treatment of the Christians of Najran delegation. Although they refused his call to Islam, they were well received and hosted by him and his followers and were even allowed to perform their prayers in a side of his mosque. The Prophet gave them and all Christians after them the promise of protecting their souls, possessions and churches.” Q: Does this mean that the Muslims are requested to defend the places of worship of non-Muslims such as churches? “Definitely, and by contemplating verses 39 and 40 of Suret Al-Hajj, one would see that the Qur'an has not only mentioned mosques but the other places of worship of Christians and Jews, which means that the Muslims are requested to defend churches and synagogues too.” Q: But Christians complain of the difficulty of creating their churches in Egypt and of not enjoying the same financial support the State offered Muslims to create their mosques. “This is not true as the Christian waqfs [religious endowments] are now being run by the [Coptic Orthodox] Cathedral. [They provide] Christians with sufficient finance to build their churches, at a time when the Muslim waqfs are now in the hands of the State and Muslims do not get even 10 per cent of these funds to create or maintain their mosques. “And if there are difficulties the Christians face in creating new churches, we can debate this with other problems at the Family Home (Council) to reach settlement and issue a joint recommendation to the authorities concerned to enforce.” Q: What is your comment on the repeated threat made by al-Qaeda to target Orthodox churches in Egypt? “The one that targets a church to harm it would be like one who bombs a mosque. The church is under the protection of Al-Azhar, all Muslims and Islam.” Q: Some Christians have expressed their concern at the constitutional article that describes Egypt as an Islamic state. What is your opinion? “Of course, it is an Islamic state. But you should differentiate between an Islamic civil state and a religious theocratic state never known in Islamic history. Describing Egypt as an Islamic state is expressing the identity of the Egyptian society and state in an Arab Islamic region. If Egypt is not an Arab Muslim state what it would be? Taking off this description of Egypt would be as if skinning it from its nature.” Q: Some Copts view considering the Islamic Sharia as a source of legislation, as a kind of injustice to them. “Many enlightened Copts have responded to this claim, affirming that the Islamic Sharia protects them more than any other constitution. Those who call for cancelling this article wish that we could borrow some legislation concerning marriage and inheritance from the West, but this would mean giving up our identity.” Q: Some Copts complain of not enjoying the right to join Al-Azhar University. “Al -Azhar doesn't accept students from the governmental secondary schools simply because education at Al-Azhar university requests long knowledge of different religious sciences that is only acquired by students of Al-Azhar institutes of primary and secondary education. “So requesting that a Coptic child join Al-Azhar institutes would be an injustice as it would request him to learn the Holy Qur'an by heart and study different schools of Islamic Law, rules of Arabic grammar and many other branches of Islamic knowledge. This would end with him doubting his faith or suffering painful ideological conflict, a matter that disagrees with freedom of faith.” ([email protected])
