Raymond Ibrahim:
This is difficult to answer, as there are several variables and contexts. For starters, emigration is not the solution for most Copts; not only is it impractical for 10 million people to pack up and leave, many Copts do not wish to abandon Egypt, seeing it as their home more than Muslims; some even say they would rather die than abandon their motherland. Their best bet is for a secular and free government to form; the sort of government the youth who initiated the Revolution wanted. Of course, with each passing day it becomes clear that it is the Islamists, the Muslim Brotherhood followed by the Salafis, who will play the greatest role in shaping Egypt’s future. Still, there are many secular Egyptian’s who oppose the Islamists just as much, if not more than the Copts. Copts need to—and often do—ally with these parties, which stress, not “Muslim” or “Christian” as an identity, but “Egyptian.” For the bottom line is, an Islamist government will not only be bad for Christians, but secularized Muslims as well, and these are not an insignificant group. Likewise, though this is out of the hands of Copts and seculars, U.S. diplomacy could help empower the former, though the Obama administration appears more interested in aiding Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood. So, overall, it is a bad situation, though only the future can tell what will ultimately happen, though one is not optimistic.
What Does The Future Hold? [Afterthoughts by Wolff Bachner]
The fate of the Copts is the same as that of every Christian society in the Middle East living under the domination of Islam. Despite the portrayal of Islam as the ‘Religion of Peace and Tolerance” that Western Leaders and mainstream media constantly parrot like brainwashed Dhimmis, the truth is far different. Christianity in Muslim countries is experiencing its death throes at the hand of Islam. Lebanon has dwindled down from an 84% Christian majority to a 35% Christian Minority with hundreds more Christians fleeing the country every day. Iraq’s once vibrant Christian community has been reduced to less than 200,000 and according to Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, “Iraq’s ancient Christian community has run out of time and will disappear soon.” Echoing Archbishop Warda’s words was Rev. Jean Benjamin Sleiman, the Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad, who said, “I fear the extinction of Christianity in Iraq and the Middle East.”
While Iraq and Lebanon have been in the midst of upheaval and war for decades, Egypt has been at peace since the early 1970′s and the horrors of civil war cannot explain the destruction of Egypt’s Coptic Community. The long suppressed Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis, now freed from Mubarak’s tight leash on those advocating for Sharia and a Muslim Caliphate, have risen to the forefront of Egypt’s political and religious life. When Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, the leader of the Coptic faith, died on March 17th, 2012, the Islamic leadership of Egypt was quick to condemn him in the vilest fashion possible. Prominent Egyptian Muslim cleric, Wagdi Ghoneim, said, “Praise be to Allah. With the grace of Allah, the head of unbelief and polytheism, known as Shenouda, died yesterday, may Allah exact revenge from him. God’s worshipers and the trees and the animals were all relieved by his death.”
This sort of bigoted, hateful Muslim rhetoric is not only reserved for those of the Jewish faith, who are routinely condemned to death and annihilation by one Islamic Imam after the other. Leading the current onslaught against Christianity in the Middle East, is Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, the highest official of religious law in Islam, who said, “It is necessary to destroy all the churches in the region.” He reminded his listeners, that according to Mohammed, no other religion besides Islam can be allowed on the Arabian Peninsula.
The leaders of the West may deny the truth about the plight of non-Muslims in the Middle East. The leaders of the various sects of Christianity can remain as politically correct as ever. Doing so will not stop the eventual destruction of Christianity in the Middle East. Their denial will not stop the Egyptian Army from using their tanks to run over Copts peacefully protesting the burning of their churches by Muslim mobs, resulting in the death of 24 Copts on October 9, 2011. They will not stop Muslim religious authorities from calling for the burning of every church in the Middle East. Their willful ignorance of the modern Islamist supremacist movement will simply result in the death of all non-Muslim religions in the Middle East, as called for by Mohammed himself in the Qur’an. Until the world stops ignoring Islamist hatred of all other religions, the violence and oppression will only continue. It is time for Western leaders to understand that we are at the turning point in human history. The clash of civilizations, Western and Muslim, is real and it is just beginning.
Footnote: If you would like to read Mr.Ibrahim’s full testimony on the Copts before the United States Congress, refer tohttp://www.raymondibrahim.com/10855/under-threat-the-worsening-plight-of-egypt-coptic. His testimony is quite illuminating and a real eye opener for those of us who do not have access to this information.
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