THE COPTIC ISSUE
- The status of the Copts in Egypt.
- The Copts in Diaspora.
- The Patriarch between the hammer and anvil.
- What is the solution ?
THE STATUS OF THE COPTS
It is obvious that the Copts in Egypt have been under suffocating conditions since the Junta of 1952. The fact that the Junta members were also members of the Secret system of the Moslem Brotherhood was demonstrated and emphasized in every aspect of their activities and decisions.
Imbued with hate and prejudice against non-Moslems in the country they issued several decrees to expropriate the property of these groups be it capital, corporations or land. In addition they resorted to exclude these groups from any gainful activity through discriminatory decrees.
Inflamed by the Arab-Israeli hostilities and enraged by the overwhelming defeat in their wars with Israel, they wanted to blame their misery on the religious minorities as escape goats. The Jews wound up leaving the country to their newly established homeland smuggling their wealth by the help of the Saudis who exacted an exorbitant price for the transaction, reportedly 50% of the smuggled funds in return for the service. With the paucity of talents and capital the economy went in shambles. The Government decided to “confiscate” the minorities wealth - under the guise of nationalization - as a hedge against attempts to transfer their wealth abroad, albeit with the help of the Moslem Saudis.
With full control on the economy, the Copts came to the conclusion that their best bet is to move abroad, a move that was initially welcomed by the Junta leaders and their patrons the Moslem Brotherhoods. The emigrants managed to establish themselves abroad through hard work and achievements and it dawned on them that they have brothers and sisters still straggling under the yoke of persecution in Egypt.
THE COPTS IN DIASPORA
Naturally feeling for their kin and kith they decided to take action on their behalf, as they should and they stepped up to the plate to fulfill their obligations towards their ethnic relatives. They chartered some organizations whose purpose of existence was to speak up on behalf of the hostage Copts. Because of the extremely oppressive conditions in Egypt, when an infringement on their rights occurred the Copts found it futile to say anything or to do anything. The only option available to them was patience. Our Moslem brothers - who got habituated to this state of non-expression - got a shock to hear our protests abroad and our demands for our rights in a manner that they never experienced before. It was almost as a culture shock for them. For a while they were in a state between the confused and the baffled. They were befuddled, at a loss on what to do about this phenomenon. After wracking their brains they remembered the adage of Umar Ibn El-Khattab; “The Copts hold their clergy in a status of Divinity. Accommodate the clergy and they will control the Copts for you.” I do not want to delve into the particulars, causes or merits of this attitude because it will veer us out of the main subject. The only thing I will say in this respect is that times have the magic of inducing changes on fast held beliefs and traditions. Yes we respect and venerate our clergy on matters of faith and creed as we should but on matters of our rights and the welfare of our people we formulate our own approach to the problems at hand. I simply will not obey the clergy if they ask me to ignore the plight of my people. Chances are that I probably will revolt against the way they are tackling the problem. My sincere advice to the Clergy is to stay out of the turmoil or learn how to recover our rights in return for some concessions. Don’t just give it away for free. If you succeed in releasing the imprisoned priest, the imprisoned Abdel Fattah (Or Abd el Kerim) who criticized the aggression against the churches in Alexandria, obtain the freedom of the kidnapped Christian girls now held as sex slaves by some Moslem thugs, have them undergo psychiatric counseling and have free contact with their parents and have the criminals punished for their crimes, we may be willing to honor your plea with us. If you come to us with nothing to show in return for our accommodations, do forget any co-operation on our part.
Through a twist of history Egypt found itself ruled by a megalomaniac president who was consumed by his ego enhancing lofty fantasies. His fantasies catapulted the country in many counter productive wars that were ill conceived and as a result, the country suffered a series of setbacks which ransacked its social stability and economy. It plunged the country in a state of chaos. His erratic behavior drew the ire of his masters at the time who in their sense of repugnance to his demeanor characterized the country as a whore who wants to court many lovers. His ego was severely bruised and he decided to switch masters. In preparation for this he picked an inept and unpolished opportunist to become the vice president of the country. And so it passed that after the death of Nasser The Moslem (That was the only qualification he had) president MUHAMMAD Anwar El-Sadat inherited the reign of a country saddled by so many fiascos that he had to cling to a straw to get out of this mess. And so it was when the Russians refused to entrust their latest weapons developed to the hands of the Egyptian army, Sadat threw a fit and expelled the Russians out and in a theatrical move he declared his readiness to go to any length to have peace with the enemy (Israel), which in fact was virtually a call to the USA to come to his succor. America heard the plea and through the good offices of the head of Saudi intelligence (a bit of an oxymoron) Ahmad Adham, Sadat started a career as a vassal of the Wahhabi regime of Saudi Arabia, developed his personality as a sycophant tyrant, and an ally of the USA. Sadly, Egypt became a center of influence for the Saudis and they exported their Wahhabi cult to the country which now became a virtual satellite of Saudi Arabia.
THE PATRIARCH BETWEEN THE HAMMER AND THE ANVIL
After kissing the hands of the Israelis and the Americans, Sadat felt adopted by his new masters who were so eager to see some semblance of the peace in this strategic area. They lavished him with praise, approval and funds to keep him committed and loyal. This was Sadat’s game plan; if he acts in a sycophant manner with the Americans, they will close their eyes about Egypt’s dismal record on human rights and he can continue with his plan to eliminate Christianity from Egypt. Both MUHAMMAD Anwar El-Sadat and Zul Fiqar Ali Bhutto sponsored the secret resolutions of the second Islamic summit which called for the elimination of Christians and Christianity from the Middle East by the year 2000. But God had other plans than his. Both he and Bhutto had their lives ended in the most disgraceful way. After his return to Pakistan General Zia Ul-Haq overthow Bhutto and ignoring international appeals to spare his life, he had him hanged in the early hours of the day shackled in chains and led barefooted to the gallows. Later on Sadat was fatally shot by the hands of the people he trained to kill the Christians.
Sadat’s first skirmish with the Expatriate Copts came to a head when he went on a rampage of arrests and incarcerations of his political opponents and used the opportunity to confine the Patriarch in a monastery. The American Coptic Association waged a counter campaign demanding the release of the Patriarch until Mubarak under the scepter of losing the aid had to annul the Sadat decree in haste. The suspension of the aid threatened the status of Egypt as a solvent nation and a state of bankruptcy loomed over Egypt.
Initially the government decide to ignore this victory as irrelevant, however with the continued persistence of the Coptic Organizations abroad to stand firm on their demands, Egypt realized that confrontations will lead to dead ends with the Copts abroad. So they decided to fight the Copts from within. First they used some traitors to praise the government for its dishonorable deeds, denying the existence of any misdeeds. Then they decided to use the Church against its people abroad. There is no doubt that the Church in Egypt faces an extremely high pressure to distance itself from the Copts abroad. As rational people, we must acknowledge this fact. Coupled with this pressure the government started a campaign to absorb the church in its ranks as a component of the state. Thus the Church is bound to lose some degrees of freedom when dealing with Coptic issues and would eventually tie its hands about the problem. It is this maneuver that worries me most and we should do every thing possible to counter the effects of this policy.
To its credit, the Orthodox Church have – since its early history – insisted on the separation of the Church from the state. Even when the state was officially a Christian entity, the Church was opposed to the merging of the two. It always insisted on maintaining its independence from the secular and ruling authority. This was always the traditional position of the Church and we should strive to keep it this way.
Thus it is very important for us to keep a distance between the Church and the State in order to maintain the independent nature of the Church. How can we do this in face of the extreme pressure on the Church to respond to the deceptively friendly overtures of the State.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION
The answer is; to exert a counter pressure on the Church demanding that she exacts concessions from the government in return for her accommodations to the government. We should rebuff her appeals for silence in no uncertain terms. Our revolt on the inappropriate actions of the Church must be loud and clear. It must be heard in all the Islamic capitals of the region. If we have to defend our rights we must use all tools available to us. Defending one’s rights is no place for civilities or niceties. If necessary we must assail the Wahhabi practices in the region even to the extent of threatening the stability of the Saudi regime. Even it was replaced by another Wahhabi regime we lose nothing because we will have to continue to deal with the same problem while we induce that element of revolt over the Wahhabi practices in the domestic arena. Absurd stories like the arrest of a brother and a sister who met on the street and the booking of the sister as a prostitute and the lashing of the brother fifty (50) lashes as a man soliciting sex makes you rather cry and furious. It will make you even rather furious to know that the girl was stoned to death and when her father got mad (and who wouldn’t) and attacked the authorities on the issue of his daughter, he was beheaded. These are the joys of life under Wahhabi rules. The Arabs of the peninsula must be boiling with anger. We should give them a voice abroad and encourage them to explode against this brutal absurdities. We must also serve Egypt notice about our determined intentions to end the travesty of religious hallucinations going on in Egypt right now. We should not be apologetic about that and we should not offer any apology in the future about our actions.
In brief, we must position the Church between the hammer and the anvil to straighten its political course of action. We should not only demand a correction of the violations, we should insist on punishing the perpetrators as a pre-condition for conciliation.
G. R. SCHAROUBIM