What are the Copts Doing in Egypt?
by Mohamed Salmawi, as printed in El-Masry Elyoom Newspaper
There is a devil who says that the victim is the cause of
the crime, not the person who committed the crime. And along came the incidents in Alexandria last week to prove the truth of his statement. Why would Copts meet to pray in more than one church at the same time other than to incite anger in Muslims who are protective of their religion?
That’s why when a devout Muslim saw Christians openly
praying in a church in Hadra, he was overcome with patriotic feelings and
attacked them. Then he went to another church on the other side of the city and found more Christians praying, so he attacked them too. And he went to a third church and found exactly the same thing. But why should we blame him for what he did?
We know from declarations made through the years by our
religious leaders and the media that Egypt is a Muslim country. In 1971, didn’t
Sadat find that the Constitution says Egypt is a Muslim country? And then,
finding that was not strong enough for him, didn’t he add that Sharia should be
the principal source of law? Isn’t it true that anyone who does not believe in
Islam is an infidel, as is being broadcast from mosques day and night? Then what did this good Muslim, who was merely protecting his religion and his country, do wrong? He just did what the government told him to do – to purify the country of all non-Muslims.
It is not enough to secretly make obstacles for Copts when
they want to build or repair churches or to apply for a sensitive – or
insensitive – job in the government. If that’s all that is being done, then the
government is not doing its duty. And so a good citizen, in order to safeguard
his religion and his country, decided to take matters into his own hands
according to his religious instruction, which directed him to right a serious
wrong. He did it not with his heart and his tongue, but with his hands. And in
that way, this good citizen proved that he is a patriotic Egyptian – I mean
Muslim, of course. For it is the Copts who are causing the problems in Egypt. If they weren’t here, there would be no sectarian fighting.
The Church says that there are 12 million Copts in Egypt.
But the government, which is always trying to minimize the size of problems,
claims there are no more than 5 million. The question we have to ask frankly is, no matter what their numbers, what are the Copts doing in Egypt? Is it enough
that their ancestors built the pyramids? And some temples in Upper Egypt? Does that give them the right to live here with us in this great land? Egypt doesn’t have room for all of them. And the Copts had plenty of time – many, many years – to immigrate with their dignity in tact. Some did and achieved high-ranking positions in Canada, the United States, Australia and Europe, where they became so famous that people started to address them as Egyptians. We have no problem with that. The problem we have is that we don’t understand why the rest of the Copts didn’t go too. Then we wouldn’t have all of these problems.
The disappearance of the Copts would free up so many
segments of the economy that we are in dire need of. Look at how many jobs would open up and how many housing units we could seize! It would be just like the Israelis seizing the homes and belongings of the Arabs in Palestine. Israel, too, is a religious country whose constitution specifies that it is a Jewish nation. If Israel still has not succeeded in uprooting the invading Arabs from
their land, we cannot accuse the Israeli government of not putting forth its
best effort to do so.
In the meantime the Egyptian government has been so nice
that it has not seized housing, but merely discriminates against the foreigners
– that is to say the Copts – without kicking them out of the country, putting
them in jail or killing them like Israel does to the Palestinians. For this
reason the government should not object to this loyal, patriotic citizen doing
what needs to be done, and it certainly shouldn’t accuse him of being insane
when he does it.
Comments
did you understand what salmawi meant by this article or you're one of the people who were keep sending emails that salmawi is against the copts????????
since it's such a sensitive topic--and since i actually know people who could have written the article (meaning they really DO think christians should leave egypt)--i can certainly understand the people who were disgusted and frightened by this article, and would suggest that greater care be taken when writing satirical pieces.
thanks for your comment..
sally
And putting this up with the series of other articles on your blog without mentioning it is satire is a bit manipulative too, wouldnt you say?
first off, this site is not a connected series, not by a long shot.
the only thing the entries have in common is that i posted them here!
second of all (and everyone who is a daily reader can back me up), i am the one person in all the world that will defend islam (or any other religion) and your right to be a muslim until the day i die.
read my book (mid-east meets west).
watch my tv show. (30 minutes with..)
watch my documentaries or listen to my lectures.
mission 1 in my work is to let people know that ALL X's AREN'T X!
All arabs aren't muslim, all muslims aren't arab, all egyptians aren't muslim, all "copts" aren't orthodox.. the list goes on.
read the archives of the antisocialite, and you'll see that i've been equally critical of christians and orthodox christians, and that the only time i assess a religion or discuss it in depth is when it's my own religion.
finally, the cartoons were banned (which is the opposite of here, where the article was printed), and the article (whether it's satirical or not, which it's not my business to make that claim, btw) is well-written, so i'm running it here to present a different perspective.
for the record, i do know some people in egypt who feel this way (they could have written the article non-satirically). sure, it puts a strain on our friendship, but we're friends nonetheless.
for anyone else who wants to make a comment on my running of this article, please make sure you know the aim of this blog before you start going on.
btw, poly, it seems i've addressed both of your comments, the one here and the one in my inbox.
may God bless you and keep you,
sally bishai
Saying that you know people who "could have written the article non-satirically" is not really getting us anywhere. Anybody knows somebody that does something thats supports whatever point they are trying to make, no? ;)
I dont remember my deleted comment, but thanks for answering that too.
Peace out,
re: knowing someone who X, i agree, everyone on earth seems to pull someone out of their back pocket at the most suitable of times. in this case, however, i'm not bluffing, as this man (in particular) has been quoted in the international media! bonus points if you can figure this out.. ;)
finally, the only reason i even brought him up is to demonstrate and prove (i mean support) my contention that there are people who think this way, and thus, i could understand the frightened reaction that many copts have displayed upon reading the article.
many thanks for your continued interest in this discussion, and inshallah, may you one day become a moderately-regular follower of the blog!
all the best,
sally b
Cheers