What Had Never Been Said In Saudi Arabia. A First For Tauran
By Sandro Magister
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, has been in the capital of Saudi Arabia since April 13, and will stay there until April 20, thereby repaying the visit made to the Vatican on September 20, 2017, by the secretary general of the Muslim World League, the sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa.
Welcomed by Prince Muhammad bin Abdurrahman bin Abdulaziz, vice-governor of Riyadh, Cardinal Tauran gave at the headquarters of the Muslim League, during his meeting with the sheikh Al-Issa, an address without precedent in the history of relations between Christianity and Islam, not because of the things that were said but because of the place where they were pronounced.
The U.S. military remains mired in countless wars in the Greater Middle East. Ironically – and tragically – it tends to combat Islamists that Washington either armed or birthed.
We, Americans, truly are a strange lot. Our government in Washington – ostensibly representative of "We the People" – speaks of peace, but wages endless war, prattles on about "freedom," but backs absolute monarchs and authoritarian strongmen the world over. A bipartisan array of politicians warns of the evils of radical Islamic (though Islamist is more accurate) terrorism; and yet, truthfully, the US once supported and/or funded those same extremists not too long ago. In some cases, and certain circumstances, it backs them still; until, that is, all those guns are turned on the US military, or those fighters threaten Washington’s (ever shifting) "interests."
I’m very much aware that what I’m going to argue here is not the way many from Middle Eastern origins regard the United States. The mere mention of “America” upsets some so much, pushing them over the edge. To many, hatred for America has becomea faith-like passion, very hard to change. Hence, my purpose here is not to change these people’s mind, nor am I trying to defend America, as it certainly does not need my defense! But for me this is a matter of principle and conviction, and it is my way of paying back some of the debt I personally owe to this great country. This is particularly true because I probably know more about America than many who criticize it claim they do. I have lived and worked in America for almost half a century, and I was fortunate enough to experience much of what life is really like here in America.
Mass inside the Arch Angel Michael Cathedral Asyut, EgyptRFI/ Pedro Costa Gomes
As Egypt's elections kick off on Monday 26 March for the next three days, Rfi goes to the southern city of Asyut, which has one of the largest Coptic populations in the country, to see if efforts by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have been effective in ensuring the safety of the Copts after recent terrorist attacks. Photos by Pedro Costas Gomes.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is still one of key points of discrepancies in the Balkans. Unfortunately, BiH cannot be called a full-fledged and sustainable state due to peculiarities of its political order, permanent political and economic crisis and complicated ethnic and confessional composition.
The first mass held in the Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland on 15th February, 2018. PICTURES: World Watch Monitor.
It is a special day for the Coptic community of Minya province, Upper Egypt, as a new church was inaugurated this morning in Al-Our village in remembrance of 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian Christian beheaded by the so-called Islamic State on the Libyan coast three years ago on Thursday.
Christians Warn Against al-Azhar Influence in Egypt’s Curriculum
By Claire Evans
01/25/2018 WashingtonD.C. (International Christian Concern) - During the last year, Egypt’s Christians experienced persecution in ever increasing waves. Though ISIS accounted for the vast majority of deaths, the militants are responsible for only a fraction of the various kinds of persecution facing the country’s Christians. Each incident of persecution has elements of uniqueness, but they usually stem from the same basic belief that Christians are not welcome in Egypt.
"Let us look... at the parallel legal system that is gradually creeping into the EU....The emergence of these enclaves, reinforced by elite policies of multiculturalism, group identity politics, and the deconstruction of Western heritage, has contributed to the fracturing of Western European nations and has weakened the overall sense of mutual responsibility for one's fellow citizens." — Andrew Michta, The American Interest, June 6, 2017
The roots of the radical Muslim behavior that is now sweeping Europe can be traced to elements of Islamic law and doctrine created in the 7th century that are being maintained today. These include polygamy for men; allowing men to buy and sell women as sex slaves or concubines; divorce rights [for men that] discriminate against women; insistence on a dress code for women that includes hiding their faces; and discriminatory inheritance laws.
These are the types of laws that Muslim communities in Europe are pushing for and adhering to, and they are based on inequality of gender, religion, ethnicity and social status. In sharia law, there is no freedom of religion, speech, thought, artistic expression or the press...There is no united protection for all people. Justice is different for Muslims and non-Muslims, for men and women... There is no democracy... Jews and Christians are dhimmi, third-class citizens...
WITH STREET protests raging in Iran and North Korea’s dictator appearing to offer a rare olive branch, President Trump chose to dedicate his first tweet of 2018 to . . . Pakistan. “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the past 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit,” he virtually bellowed. “They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” Not surprisingly, the outburst caught Pakistan’s elected government by surprise; emergency cabinet meetings and angry rebuttals from senior Pakistani officials soon followed.
From countering Iran and its proxies to working directly with Israel, Egyptian survey respondents seem remarkably willing to follow Washington's lead on multiple regional issues.
As President Trump rolls out his plan for confronting Iran, a credible new poll in Egypt reveals that this posture enjoys a remarkable degree of public support in the most populous Arab country. A mere 1% of Egyptians rate Iran's regional policies favorably, and in the ongoing intra-Arab dispute with Qatar, two-thirds agree that "the most important issue" is "to find the maximum degree of Arab cooperation against Iran."
On Monday, Americans observed a solemn remembrance of the lives lost in the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney says victory will be tough to achieve unless the U.S. gets serious about specifically identifying the enemy as radical Islam and getting Muslim leaders to publicly condemn the perpetrators.
The Coptic Egyptian Church celebrates the Coptic New Year (Anno Martyrus), or year of the martyrs on 11th of September. The Coptic calendar is the ancient Egyptian one of twelve 30-day months plus a "small" five-day month—six-day in a leap year.
The months retain their ancient Egyptian names which denote the gods and godesses of the Egyptians, and the year’s three seasons, the inundation, cultivation, and harvest, are related to the Nile and the annual agricultural cycle. But the Copts chose the year 284AD to mark the beginning of the calendar, since this year saw the seating of Diocletian as Rome’s emperor and the consequent martyrdom of thousands upon thousands of Egypt’s Christians.
منذ تفتحت عيناى على الحياة كانت امى تحاول ان تعطينى الدفعة الاولى من التعليم حتى استطيع ان اسبق الزمن فى حياتى المدرسية. كانت امى اول معلم فى حياتى ورغم انها لم تكمل من تعليمها غير الثالثة الابتدائي (الاولى الاعدادى الآن) ولكنها كانت قديرة فى كل العلوم حتى هذا المستوى. ولها يرجع الفضل فى تفوقى فى اللغة العربية على اقرانى. وقد علمتنى القراءة قبل ان ادخل المدرسة. وكنت اشترط عليها ان تقرأ موضوع المطالعة مرتين قبل ان اشرع انا فى القراءة وكان هذا كفيلا ان اخمن الكلمات الصعبة التى تستعصى علي قراءتها.
Child cries besides the coffins of his parents, who were killed in the Minya Bus Attack on May 26, 2017 (Ibrahim Ezzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
On the morning of May 26, Mohsen Morkous, a 60-year-old Egyptian-American Christian from the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, was traveling with his two sons, a grandson, and dozens of others to a religious retreat. Their bus convoy was ambushed by Islamic State (also known as ISIS) jihadists in Egypt’s rural Minya Province. The men and boys were separated from the women, forced off the bus, and commanded to recite the shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith. When they refused, 28 of them, including Morkous and seven family members, were shot in the head at point-blank range.
Coffins are carried to the funeral of Egyptian Christians killed in Palm Sunday bombings.
Twelve seconds of silence is an awkward eternity on television. Amr Adeeb, perhaps the most prominent talk show host in Egypt, leaned forward as he searched for a response.
“The Copts of Egypt … are made of … steel!” he finally uttered.
Moments earlier, Adeeb was watching a colleague in a simple home in Alexandria speak with the widow of Naseem Faheem, the guard at St. Mark’s Cathedral in the seaside Mediterranean city.
Copts of Egypt: more than political pawns for ISIS and el-Sisi
Professor Mariz Tadros
Power and popular politics cluster co-leader
Institute of Development Studies
University of Sussex
Recent attacks on Copts cannot be understood exclusively as militant resistance to authoritarianism in Egypt.
A Coptic mass following recent church bombings. PA Images. All rights reserved.
When ISIS claimed responsibility for the recent bombings of two Coptic churches in Egypt, and named the suicide bombers involved, it also issued yet another warning to the “crusaders.” It said: “the bill between us and them is very great and they will pay for it with rivers of their children’s blood, God willing.”
Copts of Egypt: from survivors of sectarian violence to targets of terrorism
Professor Mariz Tadros
Power and popular politics cluster co-leader
Institute of Development Studies
University of Sussex
Recent bombings mark a new era in the religious targeting of Copts – one which is qualitatively different from previous patterns of sectarian violence.
Funeral of victims of Tanta city church bombing. PA Images. All Rights Reserved.
It is customary for Copts – Egypt’s roughly 9 million strong Christian population– to celebrate Palm Sunday at church, waving palm fronds and singing joyful chants that go back to ancient times to commemorate Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, days before his crucifixion. They did not expect the service to be interrupted by bodies being ripped apart.
On 9 April 2017, in the second largest church in the city of Tanta, a suicide bomber approached the alter and blew himself up. At least 29 people were killed and 71 injured, some gravely. Three hours later, a suicide bomber tried to enter St Mark’s Church in Alexandria where Pope Tawadros, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, was presiding over a service. The man was stopped by police, and denoted his bomb outside. At least 18 people died, with 35 wounded.
A dangerous message is being sent to the Muslim world by the West: There is nothing that moderate Muslims or anyone else should fear from radical Islamic terrorism! Look at us Western governments! We are bringing in refugees who cannot be vetted even if they are ISIS infiltrators. In fact, we in the West are so goodhearted that we are encouraging many organizations to operate legally in the West under the banner of the Muslim Brotherhood -- even organizations that are sympathetic to the terrorist group Hamas and that are pledging to overthrow us!
The West, by taking all the Syrian refugees, is emptying Syria of any kind of resistance to the Caliphate (ISIS). The West's compassion, by taking in the refugees escaping ISIS, will end up leaving only the radicals to rule unopposed in Syria and Iraq. This, in US foreign policy, is not compassion; it is gross negligence and reckless endangerment.
"Tough love" is badly needed when dealing with the Muslim world. We must say: No, we cannot accept your jihadist aspirations. We cannot accept you forcing your way of life on the world; your way of life is unacceptable to us. Before you send your refugees, you must end your "us against them" jihadist culture. The civilized world no longer finds your aspirations for an Islamic Caliphate tolerable.
The Sunni Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has boasted that key U.S. Middle East ally Saudi Arabia is the top provider of terrorists for the jihadist group in Iraq, reports Fox News, citing Iraqi military sources.
Sunni Saudi Arabia shares an estimated 500-mile-long border with war-ravaged Iraq.
Nevertheless, Fox News reports that the Saudi jihadists crossed into Iraq over the border the country shares with both Turkey and Syria.
The news outlet learned from unnamed Iraqi intelligence sources that jihadist from the Saudi kingdom comprise nearly one-third (up to 30 percent) of all ISIS terrorists in Iraq, adding that “Saudis comprise the largest single contingent of ISIS fighters, with Russian Chechens making up the second-largest contingent.”
Is it safe to go to Egypt? The short answer is “yes”. If you have glanced at your country’s travel warning for Egypt, go back and read it carefully – there are no travel warnings in place for Cairo, Alexandria, Red Sea, Luxor, Aswan or Nile Cruises – in fact those areas have a green light.
Egypt is as safe as anywhere else in the world, and safer that many western countries.
Like anywhere you go in the world, be it a metropolis, a small town or even the quiet countryside, you use common sense. You should do in Egypt what you would do at home. What NOT to do:
A Coptic mass following recent church bombings. PA Images. All rights reserved.
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