THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIV, Issue # 133, June 20, 2012
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
EGYPT -- ISLAMISTS VERSUS COPTS:
An Animosity That Seeks Any Excuse to Attack
By Raymond Ibrahim
THE EGYPTIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: ISLAMIST ATTACKS ON COPTIC CHRISTIANS -- FOR THE MOST PART, A REFLECTION OF THE USUAL ANIMOSITY
THAT ADHERENTS & PRACTITIONERS OF MILITANT ISLAM HOLD FOR CHRISTIANS -- THE EXPECTED CONSEQUENCE OF THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT FALLING
UNDER THE CONTROL OF ISLAMISTS? SUBJECTION OF EGYPT'S COPTS TO GENOCIDE
FULL STORY:
As Egypt's presidential elections come to a close, with the Muslim Brotherhood claiming presidential victory, the future of Egypt's indigenous Christians, the
Copts, looks bleak.
Earlier, after the first presidential elections of May 23-24, any number of Islamists denounced them, bemoaning that it was the Copts who were responsible for the
secularist candidate Ahmed Shafiq's good showing.
Even though Shafiq is a "remnant" of the Mubarak regime, which Copts suffered under, he is widely seen as the much lesser of two evils. As one Copt put it:
"What did they want us to do? Whoever says that supporting Shafiq
is a crime against the 25 January Revolution, we ask him to advise us
whom to vote for? The sea is in front of us and the Islamists are
behind us."
Regardless, Abu Ismail, the Salafi presidential candidate who was disqualified, expressed "great disappointment" in "our Coptic brethren," saying that "I do not
understand why the Copts so adamantly voted for Ahmed Shafiq," portraying it as some sort of conspiracy between the Copts, the old regime, and even Israel:
"Exactly what relationship and benefit do the Copts have with the old regime?"
Tarek al-Zomor, a prominent figure of the Gama'a al-Islamiyya — the terrorist organization that slaughtered some 60 European tourists during the Luxor Massacre
— "demanded an apology from the Copts" for voting for Shafiq, threatening that "this was a fatal error."
To an extent, of course, Islamist attacks on Copts were due less to Coptic votes for Shafiq, and had more to do with the usual animosity for Christians — an
animosity that seems to seek any excuse to attack them. By virtue of their greater numbers, many more Muslims did in fact vote for Shafiq than did Christians;
even the Islamic Sufi Council of Egypt expressed its support for Shafiq, instead of for the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate who advocates Islamic Sharia law.
Realizing that threats — with which Copts are well acquainted — would not prevent Christians from voting for the secular candidate, in a campaign that borders
on the comical, if not absurd, Islamists began imploring the Copts to vote for the Brotherhood's Muhammad Morsi — who some say vows to return the Copts to
bondage. Islamist kingpin Yusuf al-Qaradawi himself called on politically-active Muslims to go and meet with the Copts and "explain to them" how they have
nothing to fear from an Islamist president, and convincing them that "Shafiq will be of no use to you."
Most adamant was popular TV personality Muhammad Hassan, a cleric who appeared several times assuring Copts that they have "nothing to fear from the
application of Sharia," which he portrayed as the best guarantor for their safety and freedom. A day before the elections, Hassan implored the Copts "to elect
Sharia and vote for Dr. Muhammad Morsi, promising them peace and security, and that they would live in prosperity under Sharia law."
Sheikh Muhammad Hassan is, incidentally, the same cleric who says Islam forbids Muslims from smiling to infidels — except whenever Muslims need to win
them over. One week before he began beseeching Copts to vote for Sharia, he was in Saudi Arabia making disparaging comments about "those who say Allah
has a son," the Koran's condemnatory language for Christians.
What does all this mean? For long, the various Egyptian regimes and Islamist organizations have downplayed the numbers and significance of the nation's
Christians, the Copts, sometimes saying they amount to as few as 5% of the total population — a statistic which many Western resources quote without
hesitation. Others, however — some pointing to the Coptic Orthodox Church's birth and death registry — say Egypt's Copts amount to up to 20% of the total
population. Based on the Islamist response to the first presidential elections, such a figure may not be so farfetched.
Either way, Copts constitute the largest Christian bloc in the Middle East — a circumstance that has other implications. As seen during the presidential elections,
large numbers of Christians may help stave off, or balance out, the Islamization of Egypt.
But, if Egypt's government does go Islamist — and early presidential elections indicate it is — fears of persecution on a grand scale become legitimate precisely
because of the Copts' large numbers, which will work against them under an Islamist regime: millions of powerless Christians will be seen as troublesome and
unwelcome infidel enemies, now not just by "extremists," but by the government as well — which, as history teaches (e.g., millions of Christian Armenians under
Muslim Turks) is often the first step to genocide.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Egypt, Arabs, & the Middle East
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
North Africa -- The Arab States of Islamic North Africa
The Middle East & the Arabs
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Raymond Ibrahim, a historian of Islam, Islamism and the Middle East, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom
Center, an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum, a guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College, and
the editor of The Al-Qa'ida Reader, a collection of tranlations of key texts and documents of the Islamist movement.
Ibrahim's translations of the religious texts and political propaganda comprising this collection help readers comprehend
the origins, development, history, and serious danger of the Islamist war doctrines of Usama bin Laden and Ayman
al-Zawahiri, the Founders of Al-Qa'ida.
The foregoing article by Raymond Ibrahim was originally published by Gatestone Institute, June 20, 2012, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(URL: http://www.meforum.org/3268/egypt-islamists-vs-copts)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
June 20, 2012
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