Raymond Ibrahim: Shariah, Dhimmitude & the Copts

Raymond Ibrahim testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the House of Representatives. Reps. Frank Wolf and James McDermott presented "Under Threat: The Worsening Plight of Egypt’s Coptic Christians."

Raymond Ibrahim is a Middle East and Islam specialist, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum. A widely published author, best known for The Al Qaeda Reader (Doubleday, 2007), he guest lectures at universities, including the National Defense Intelligence College, briefs governmental agencies, such as U.S. Strategic Command and the Defense Intelligence Agency, provides expert testimony for Islam-related lawsuits, and has testified before Congress regarding the conceptual failures that dominate American discourse concerning Islam. 

Other witnesses included Kathy Fitzpatrick (Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State); Nina Shea (Director, Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute); Dina Guirguis (Member, Egyptian American Rule of Law Association); Adel Guindy (President, Coptic Solidarity International); and Cynthia Farahat (Egyptian political activist).

The following is Mr. Ibrahim’s testimony for the record and, below, is a transcript of his comments at the hearing.

Raymond Ibrahim: Testimony before the Tom Lantos Commission, December 7 2011. Click here for a PDF of his testimony for the record.

 

 

 

TESTIMONY OF RAYMOND IBRAHIM

TOM LANTOS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

 

Since the year 641, when Muslims invaded Egypt, the Copts-Egypt’s Christian, indigenous inhabitants-have been subject to persecution, discrimination, and over all subjugation on their homeland (etymologically, the word "Copt" simply means "Egyptian").[1] The result is an Egyptian culture and mentality that sees Copts as second-class citizens, or, in Islamic legal terminology, Dhimmis-"infidels" who are tolerated as long as they embrace their inferior status.

Whole books and treatises have been written on the treatment of Dhimmis (for instance, Ibn Qayyim’s authoritative 8^th century Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimma, or "Rulings for Dhimmis").  The idea of subjugating non-Muslims, aptly coined "Dhimmitude," comes from Quran 9:29: "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor forbid that which Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor follow the religion of Truth [Islam], from the People of the Book [Christians and Jews], until they pay the Jizya [tribute] with willing submission, and feel themselves utterly subdued."

The so-called Pact of Omar,[2] a foundational text for the treatment of Dhimmis, offers an idea of how this Quranic decree manifested itself in reality.  In order to maintain their Christian faith, among other things, conquered Christians had to agree to the following: 

We shall not build, in our cities or in their neighborhood, new monasteries, churches, convents, or monks’ cells, nor shall we repair, by day or by night, such of them as fall in ruins or are situated in the quarters of the Muslims … We shall not manifest our religion publicly nor convert anyone to it. We shall not prevent any of our kin from entering Islam if they wish it. We shall show respect toward the Muslims, and we shall rise from our seats when they wish to sit.  We shall not seek to resemble the Muslims… We shall not display our crosses or our books in the roads or markets of the Muslims. We shall use only clappers in our churches very softly. We shall not raise our voices when following our dead…  We shall not bury our dead near the Muslims. We shall not build houses overtopping the houses of the Muslims.

During the colonial era and into the mid 20th Century, as Egypt experimented with westernization and nationalism, Christian persecution was markedly subdued.  Today, however, as Egypt all but spearheads Islam’s resurgence-giving the world key figures and groups such as Sayyid Qutb, Hassan Bana, the Muslim Brotherhood, and al-Qaeda’s Aymen Zawahiri in the process-that is, as Egypt reclaims its Islamic identity, the Copts find themselves again under persecution.

Today, popular Muslim preachers on Egyptian TV openly condemn Christians, publicly calling for the return of Dhimmi status; Copts and their churches are almost always attacked on Friday, immediately after the weekly mosque sermons and to cries of "Allahu Akbar!" demonstrating the Islamic pedigree of the attack. 

None of this is surprising when one considers that even Egypt’s Grand Mufti himself, often touted in the West as a "moderate," recently classified all Christians[3] as "infidels," or kuffar,[4] a term that immediately positions Copts as enemies to be suppressed. 

Aside from the fact that practically every week an account of Muslims attacking Copts emerges-whether the destroying of churches, the killing of Copts for wearing crosses, the abducting, raping, and force-converting of Coptic girls-perhaps nothing exemplifies their plight as the following governmental, that is, institutionalized, stipulations:

According to the Second Article of the Egyptian Constitution,[5] Sharia law-which is based on the anti-Christian words of the Quran and prophet Muhammad as contained in the Hadith-is "the principal source of legislation"; and since Dhimmitude is part and parcel of Sharia law, expectations for Copts to behave as subdued, second-class citizens, or Dhimmis, becomes implicit.  For instance, and in accordance with the aforementioned stipulations of the Pact of Omar, it is next to impossible for churches to be built.

The Egyptian government likewise makes it next to impossible for Muslims to convert to Christianity (apostasy is a crime under Sharia). Among the more popular cases are Mohammad Hegazy[6]: he tried formally to change his religion from Muslim to Christian on his I.D. card-in Egypt, people are identified by their religion, again, as stipulated in the Pact of Omar -only to be denied[7] by the Egyptian court.  Conversely, it takes mere days for Christian converts to Islam to change their religious I.D.

Most recently, several aspects of the Maspero massacre revealed the Egyptian government’s inherent hostility to its Christian citizenry:

Soldiers screamed "Allahu Akbar!"[8] and cursed "Infidels" as they approached and attacked Coptic protesters; a video of an Egyptian soldier boasting that he shot a Christian in the chest is greeted by the crowd around him with "Allahu Akbar!"[9]; and after the incident, Dr. Hind Hanafi, president of the University of Cairo, recommended separating wounded Christians from wounded Muslims admitted into the hospital, thereby institutionalizing religious discrimination, even in hospitals.[10]

Aside from these formalized aspects, Egyptian officials are notorious for turning a blind eye to Muslim mob attacks on Christians and their churches.  In fact, it is this governmental complacency-or complicity-regarding attacks on Christians that that caused Copts to demonstrate at Maspero in the first place, before the government, including through the use of snipers, death squads, and tanks that intentionally ran over protesters, initiated the bloodbath that followed.

Anyone familiar with Muslim doctrine and history, especially as it applies to Egypt and the Copts, will find none of the above surprising; rather, the treatment of Copts in the Medieval era and their treatment today demonstrate great continuity-from the destruction of churches to the subjugation of Christians. 

However, because there was a lull in this animosity, from the colonial era when Islam was on the wane, to just a few decades ago, most Westerners, deeming events closer to their time and space more representative of reality, ignore the continuum of history and doctrine dealing with persecution, and thus fail to comprehend what is otherwise so obvious and open for the world to see.  This is exacerbated by the fact that the articulators of knowledge-the media, academia, and apologists of all stripes-in the name of multiculturalism and political correctness, have made uncomfortable truths all but unknowable.   

In short, the evidence of Muslim persecution of Christians in general, persecution of Egyptian Copts in particular, is overwhelming-doctrinally, historically, and current events.  What is lacking is a Western paradigm that can accept-and act upon-this evidence.

 

APPENDIX A

The following two reports discuss the Maspero Massacre and the events leading up to it, namely, the destruction of yet another Coptic Church, and provide proper context to the plight of Egypt’s Copts.

Report 1: Egypt-Destroying Churches, One at a Time

What clearer sign that Egypt is turning rabidly Islamist than the fact that hardly a few weeks go by without a church being destroyed, or without protesting Christians being attacked and slaughtered by the military?

The latest chaos in Egypt-where the military opened fire on unarmed Christians and repeatedly ran armored vehicles over them, killing dozens[11]-originates in Edfu, a onetime tourist destination renowned for its pharaonic antiquities, but now known as the latest region to see enraged Muslims destroy a church.

This church attack is itself eye-opening as to the situation in Egypt. To sum, St. George Coptic Church, built nearly a century ago, was so dilapidated that the local council and governor of Aswan approved renovating it, and signed off on the design.

It was not long before local Muslims began complaining, making various demands, including that the church be devoid of crosses and bells-even though the permit approved them-citing that "the Cross irritates Muslims and their children."[12]

Coptic leaders had no choice but to acquiesce, "pointing to the fact that the church was rebuilt legally, and any concessions on the part of the church was done for the love for the country, which is passing through a difficult phase."

Acquiescence breeds more demands: Muslim leaders next insisted that the very dome of the church be removed-so that the building might not even resemble a church-and that it be referred to as a "hospitality home." Arguing that removal of the dome would likely collapse the church, the bishop refused.

The foreboding cries of "Allahu Akbar!" began:[13] Muslims threatened to raze the church and build a mosque in its place; Copts were "forbidden to leave their homes or buy food until they remove the dome of St. George’s Church"; many starved for weeks.

Then, after Friday prayers on September 30, some three thousand Muslims rampaged the church, torched it, and demolished the dome; flames from the wreckage burned nearby Coptic homes, which were further ransacked by rioting Muslims.

This account of anti-church sentiment in Egypt offers several conclusions:

First, the obvious: animosity for churches, demands that they be left to crumble, demands to remove crosses and stifle bells, are an integral part of Islamic history and dogma.[14]  That church attacks in Egypt always occur on Friday, Islam’s holy day, and are always accompanied by religious cries of "Allahu Akbar!" should be evidence enough of the Islamist context of these attacks.

Because there was a lull in this animosity from the colonial era to just a few decades ago, most Westerners, deeming events closer to their time and space more representative of reality, incorrectly assume that church toleration is the rule, not the exception in Islamic history, which has more frequently been draconian to churches, and is back: "the Muslim Brotherhood announced immediately after the revolution that it is impossible to build any new church in Egypt, and churches which are demolished should never be rebuilt, as well as no crosses over churches or bells to be rung."[15]

This is also why Muslim authorities are complacent, if not complicit. According to witnesses, security forces, which were present during the Edfu attack, "stood there watching." Worse, Edfu’s Intelligence Unit chief was seen directing the mob destroying the church.[16]

As for the governor of Aswan, he appeared on State TV and "denied any church being torched," calling it a "guest home" (a common tactic to excuse the destruction of churches[17]). He even justified the incident by arguing that the church contractor made the building three meters higher than he permitted: "Copts made a mistake and had to be punished, and Muslims did nothing but set things right, end of story."[18]

Equally telling is that perpetrators of church attacks are seldom if ever punished. Even if sometimes the most rabid church-destroyers get "detained," it is usually for show, as they are released in days, hailed back home as heroes (this, too, goes back to Muslim dogma).

This year alone has seen the New Year church attack, which left 23 dead;[19] the destruction of the ancient church of Sool,[20] where Muslims "played soccer" with its sacred relics; the Imbaba attacks,[21] where several churches were set aflame; and now Edfu, wherein, as usual "none of the attackers were arrested."[22]

Indeed, three days after Edfu, Muslims attacked yet another church.[23]

Aware that they are untouchable, at least when it comes to making infidel Christians miserable, anti-Christian Muslims have a simple strategy: destroy churches, even if one at a time, safe in the knowledge that, not only will they not be prosecuted, but Egypt’s military and security apparatus will punish the infidel victims should they dare to protest.

Report 2: Egypt’s Massacre of Christians: What the Media Does Not Want You To Know

Western media coverage of the recent massacre of Coptic Christians in Cairo, Egypt-in which the military killed dozens of Christians and injured some 300-was, as discussed earlier, deplorable.[24] It merely repeated the false propaganda of the complicit state-run media, without checking facts. Since then, further proofs of the lies and brutality surrounding the massacre have emerged; they are compiled in the following report which consists of facts and videos from Arabic sources-many of which have not appeared in the Western media.

This report documents: 1) the activities of the Supreme Military Council of Egypt and de facto ruler; 2) the lies and duplicitous tactics of both the Military Council and its media mouthpiece, Egyptian TV; and 3) the anti-Christian sentiment pervading all aspects of this incident.

The Egyptian Military

Along with a new report by Magdi Khalil asserting that the day before the planned march, a "death squad" of snipers hid atop buildings and shot at protesters, armored vehicles intentionally chased after and ran over protesters, killing and mutilating many.[25] Videos captured by witnesses included:

o   A high-speed armored vehicle willfully plowing over unsuspecting Christian demonstrators.[26]

o   Another armored vehicle chasing protesters, and a soldier opening fire into the fleeing crowds.[27]

o   High-speed armored cars running amok in the middle of the crowds, including chasing protesters on the curb, as well as soldiers beating protesters.[28]

o   More eyewitness testimony attesting to the brutality of the massacre, and they are many, and the victims include Muslims. Videos: 1[29]  2[30]  3[31]  4[32]  5[33]

The Tactics of the Military Council (or "War is Deceit")[34]

After the incident and notwithstanding crushing evidence, Egypt’s Military Council held a news conference wherein senior official, Mahmoud Hegazy,[35] spun lie after lie: he stated that the military would "never, never" run over civilians; that the very idea was "impossible, impossible!" and "Shame on those who accuse the Egyptian military of such things!… Never has our military run over a single person, not even when combating the Enemy [Israel]."[36]

Hegazy portrayed the Christian protesters as the aggressors, attacking and killing "honorable" soldiers. To prove his point, he showed an image of a protester on top of a stalled armored vehicle, throwing a rock at the soldier inside, and a video of a military vehicle-that he claimed was hijacked by a protester-driving wildly into the crowd.

Hegazy’s deceit lies in the fact that the "hijacked" vehicle running amok, and the one stalled and attacked by a protester, were one and the same vehicle: Al Dalil revealed that both vehicles had the same identification number.[37] In other words, when the vehicle in which a soldier was chasing and running over protesters finally stalled, the protesters then attacked it. Egypt’s leaders willfully manipulated the footage to exonerate themselves and portray the Copts as violent aggressors.

Several eyewitnesses, including Muslims, further stated that, to hide the "evidence," they saw soldiers hurling the mutilated bodies of those run over into the nearby Nile River.[38] 

As Copts have long suspected, the "thugs" (al-baltagiyya) who always appear in protests attacking Christians seem to be men whom the military uses to create an excuse to open fire and exercise brutality. Muslim eyewitnesses say they saw the thugs coming with State Security:[39] Al Dalil showed a video clip of a soldier exposed dressed as a civilian, interspersed among Coptic protesters, and other videos showing the thugs cooperating with the military.

A video[40] might offer the greatest proof: Days before the massacre, when Copts were protesting the destruction of their latest church,[41] around 20 Egyptian soldiers and security personnel captured a protester and mercilessly beat him (while calling him an "infidel," to put the beating in context).[42] Mixed among the military (camouflage uniforms) and security (black uniforms) is what appears to be a plainclothes civilian, who proceeds to stab the Christian protestor in the head with a knife several times; the victim later received 20 stitches. The plainclothesman is most likely a member of the military or security, dressed as a civilian for stealth purposes, otherwise he would not have been able to move among them so casually.

The Role of the Egyptian State Media (or "War is Deceit")[43]

"Egyptian TV"-demonstrating, unsurprisingly, that state-run media always serve dictatorial regimes-merely propagated the lies of the Military Council.

Even as armored vehicles were mowing down Christian protesters, Egyptian TV broadcast footage of reporters saying, "Help, the Copts are killing our heroic, patriotic soldiers and burning Qurans!" One segment on Egyptian TV had an outraged reporter condemning Christians-"as if they were the Israeli enemy"-for killing "our noble protectors [soldiers], who never once fired a single shot."[44] As a result, many Muslims took to the streets brutally attacking Christians and their property.

Egyptian TV also lied by saying three soldiers died at the hands of Copts: officials at the TV station later confessed to making it up.[45] That, however, did not stop a barrage of op-eds in Egypt blaming the Christians for their own massacre.[46]

Due to Egyptian TV’s misinformation, several Egyptian reporters unequivocally condemned it. Anchorwoman Dina said: "I am ashamed that I work at this despicable TV channel… Egyptian TV was effectively calling for civil war between Muslims and Christians… Egyptian TV has proven that it is a slave to those who rule." Another news anchor, Mahmoud Yousif, announced that he "washes his hands of what Egyptian TV is broadcasting."[47]

Anti-Christian Hate

Although it should be clear that anti-Christian sentiment fueled this latest Muslim slaughter of Christian minorities, a few specifics follow:

• Soldiers screamed "Allahu Akbar!" and cursed "Infidels!" as they approached and attacked the protesters[48]-which of course is not so unexpected when one considers that, even in olden times and in movies, the Egyptian military was called the Jihadiyya (the organization that wages holy war).
• A video of a soldier boasting that he shot a Christian in the chest is greeted by the crowd around him with "Allahu Akbar!"[49]
• After the incident, Dr. Hind Hanafi, president of the University of Cairo, recommended separating wounded Christians from wounded Muslims admitted into the hospital, thereby institutionalizing religious discrimination, even in hospitals.[50]

Conclusion

A massacre at this level never occurred during the thirty-year reign of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and yet Mubarak is being charged with "crimes against Egyptians." What about the Military Council? It has committed greater crimes-even though it has been in charge for less than a year. Saddam Hussein was condemned by the international community for using chemicals on his own people; where are the international community, the media, and the so-called human rights groups when it comes to a government running over its own civilians with armored vehicles and having "death squads" of snipers shooting at them?

Finally, if this report testifies to crimes against humanity, consider what it says about diplomacy: If Egyptian leadership lies and deceives to suppress its internal "infidel" citizens-whose "crime" was to object to the continual destruction of their churches[51]-how credible can it be to external "infidels," such as the U.S.?

 

APPENDIX B

The following list of articles and reports by the author further discuss the plight of Egypt’s Copts:

• Popular Sheikh: Christian Copts are "Infidels"; "Allah’s Curse on Them"
• Muslim Persecution of Christians: October, 2011
• Egypt: Desire for Money-Jizya-Prompts Attacks on Christians
• Why Does the Crucifix ‘Provoke’ Muslims?
• Top Muslim Declares All Christians ‘Infidels’
• Hillary Clinton Promises to Save Egypt’s Christians?
• The Egyptian Military’s Crimes Against Humanity
• Islam’s Uninterrupted History of Forced Conversions
• Running for Their Lives
• Why ‘Christian’ Persecution?
• Egypt: Why Are Christian Girls Converting to Islam?
• Casual Hate
• Egypt: Christian Girls Kidnapped and ‘Sold’
• Conversion, Adultery, and Savagery Strike Egypt
• Islamists Project Islam’s Worst Traits onto Christians
• Muslim ‘Inferiority Complex’ Kills Christians
• Islam’s Christian Scapegoats
• The Silent Extermination of Iraq’s ‘Christian Dogs’
• Destroying One Koran vs. Destroying Many Christians
• No ‘Revolution’ for Egypt’s Christians
• Egypt’s Identity Crisis
• Is an Egyptian "Democracy" a Good Thing?
• Is the Media ‘Fair and Balanced’ on Christian Persecution?
• Egypt Cuts a Deal: Christians Fed to Muslim ‘Lions’
• Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?

 

 

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TRANSCRIPT OF RAYMOND IBRAHIM’S TESTIMONY

TOM LANTOS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

DECEMBER 7, 2011

 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m taking somewhat of a different approach. I think one of the best things to begin to understand the situation for the Copts and how it’s being exacerbated is – excuse me – is to establish context, for starters. And the fact is, what we are hearing about tonight – or today, I’m sorry – is about a phenomenon that has been going on for about fourteen hundred years. This is not something new. The sort of – and so the key to understand to where we are today is to establish the continuity from former centuries past. And the amazing thing is, when you look at history – and this is my field, history and doctrine, when you look at these two – especially history, you will find that what happened to the Coptic people when Islam invaded Egypt in the 7th Century, and as recorded by reliable Muslim historians, medieval Muslim historians who had no great love for the Copts, when you look at these texts, you will find that they are identical to what is happening today. And there’s – I mean, it’s – the parallels are just outstanding how just identical they are. And I’ll just give you some examples. Of course, there’s the attacks on Copts in general. That has been going on. Attacks on churches. I was reading the other day from a medieval source, a primary source from a Muslim who talked about in one emir’s reign in that time they destroyed three thousand churches. Abduction of girls. Christian girls and rape. And forced conversions. Plunder as expectations from second-class citizen Copts, taking what’s called the jizya, collective punishment.

All of these have past precedents for fourteen hundred years and are well documented in Islam’s own historical texts. Now when you look at that and you bring it to today and we fast forward to the 21st Century and what we’re seeing today, to me, this is the key. Now you understand that this is not an aberration. What we’re seeing. This is not something strange. But rather part and parcel of Islamic history, especially in Egypt. And I’m mentioning to you Islamic primary sources and I think that’s important because these are not sources that were written by, you know, polemicists or Christians or non-Muslims, but by Islam’s own most authoritative and revered historians and theologians. And they make it unequivocally clear that Islam, from its entrance into Egypt, decimated the Coptic people and their churches and all but their civilization. There were a few, of course, times when it was better and then it would get worse. And, you know, one guy – one, for example, person, he’s known as Al-Maqrizi and he’s one of the most popular and authoritative historians of Egypt, medieval Egypt. And he, again, while you read it and you see that he’s a very faithful Muslim and he has no great sympathy for the Copts, he is so objective and he declares all of these points that we are talking about today. So the reason I bring this to you, again, is to show that the continuity is there. This is nothing new. This is nothing strange. Now we come up to – I mentioned a little bit of history, I’d like to quickly discuss some doctrinal issues.

The word dhimmi, which was not known before, but has become somewhat famous nowadays and including a new coinage of it, which is dhimmitude – and I think that’s all good, because these words need to come out in the open. I think it’s also a little bad, because they’ve been somewhat taken out of context and popularized inaccurately, but the word itself in fact is integral to Islamic law. The word dhimmi. And from the beginning of Islam’s entry into Egypt and the other non-Muslim territories, dhimmi is a person, a non-Muslim, who of course does not accept Islam, wants to maintain their religious identity, in this case the Christian Copts, but to do so, they have to accept several debilitating and humiliating circumstances. And this goes to the Koran. The Koran itself, Koran 9, surah 9, verse 29, says to Muslims, fight the people of the book – and these, of course, include Jews and Christians – until they pay the jizya, which basically means tribute, to their overlords, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves utterly subdued. Now this is the Koran and to Muslims, the infallible word of God that transcends all time and is applied back then in the era that I’m discussing and to many Muslims today applies to today and needs to be upheld vis a vis people like the Copts, non-Muslims. So what it ultimately means is – this concept of dhimmi is someone who does not want to become a Muslim, who willingly has to accept second class citizen status, and whose rights ultimately depend on the goodwill of the Muslim overlords.

And another seminal treatise that was written and goes back and it’s called The Pact of Umar, named after either the first khalif or probably another khalif by the same name, but this pact, again, when you read it, it was what Christians had to sign in order to not be molested and destroyed. And among the things that it says is number one, we cannot – we Christians cannot build or repair our churches. We cannot practice our religion openly. We must show respect to Muslims. We must not offend Muslims. It even says we shall rise from our seats when they wish to sit down. All of this was enforced then, all of it is coming back now in strong force. Now, all of it has been now, for example, the issue of churches in Egypt. As you see, there are always being attacked, they are always being destroyed. As far as the government is concerned, it’s like pulling teeth just to try to get a permit to repair a church. And again, this goes to this. These pacts and these doctrines, which are so little known in the West and which seem to be just some – you talk to people about it, they hear these words and they think these are just some sort of throwback from ancient history, they’re really not that relevant today, but they’re immensely relevant to those and to the practitioners of the faith who think of these as divine institutions of their religion. And then there’s another aspect to all of this. I’ve discussed the historic and the doctrinal aspects of keeping Copts and others, non-Muslims, suppressed. But there’s a word that’s not well known at all and it was coined – in a few decades ago – and it’s called Islamicate. And what Islamicate means is that just because Islam teaches, let’s say X, Y, and Z, but as a culture, a Muslim need not necessarily be a religious or a pious Muslim to start doing these things. Because they become ingrained and permeate the culture. So seeing a Copt as, for example, a second class citizen, whether you’re a secular Muslim or not, these sorts of things feed into the culture and the worldview of the general populace of Egypt. And so the radical Muslim, of course, will be more hostile and more fierce. But even the general Muslim or the people in the military who do not identify themselves as radicals, because of the fourteen hundred years of these institutionalized forms of discrimination, these ideas have become just part of the worldview of so many people in Egypt, unfortunately. And, but usually it became into sort of discrimination.

But now as you see these Islamist parties, not just the Salafists, who are getting, you know, lots of, I think, twenty percent of the vote, and what are they doing? They’re going beyond little things like just discrimination. And now they want to reinstitutionalize things like the jizya. Which again goes back – this goes back to that Koranic verse I read, which says fight them until they pay tribute. Jizya means paying tribute, which is a way of acknowledging that you are a second class citizen and you’re buying your life. Because you’re paying for it, you’re being blackmailed. And so now these people who are being voted into the new government of Egypt, the Salafists, are calling openly for the return of jizya. And of course, it’s not just a matter of money, but with the return of jizya comes all of these other aspects of quote/unquote dhimmitude. To be expected of Copts. Which includes no more churches at all whatsoever. No more – you have to hide your religious identity. No crosses in public. And so forth. And all of these other types of debilitations. Now, and then you have the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood, of course, the problem is, I think there’s so many people who see the Brotherhood and the Salafists as sort of, you know, one’s moderate and one’s radical. That’s, of course, a joke. The Muslim Brotherhood – a better way to see it, or to give you an American analogy is you can think of them as the Muslim Brotherhood are the Democrats and the Salafists are the Republicans. In other words, they’re two faces of the same coin. Because in America, Democrats and Republicans, of course, have different viewpoints. But they are all based on the same source and they’re all based on the same paradigm. And it’s the same for these Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood. Whatever their little differences are, they all go back and trace their sources to shariah law. Which is not very – which is clear cut what it says. But also, the Muslim Brotherhood are a little smarter than the Salafists. Because they know the game and they know they’re not going to sit up now and start talking about institutionalizing jizya. Or dhimmi status for Copts. They’re not going to say that now. Whereas the Salafists will say it now. But at any rate, now you have these two groups who are about sixty percent – who won sixty percent of the votes. And their opinions of the Copts go straight back to what I was discussing from fourteen hundred years ago. Which is this worldview that they are there to be plundered, kept suppressed, and their churches destroyed. And this is why we’re seeing it all now.

Now I started earlier by saying that somewhat – we’re here having a hearing about a phenomenon that’s been going fourteen hundred years. So why are we having a hearing? Why is this new? It’s new because we – it’s sort of, this goes to somewhat of intellectual history, but if you look at what happened the last two hundred years with the colonial era, when the Western powers invaded and colonized the Muslim world, what happened then is, and this is a fact, that so many of the Muslims turned their back on Islam, in a way. In other words, they were just secular and Islam was something that, you know, was not taken seriously. And this is well known. And a perfect example, of course, is Ataturk, who abolished the caliphate in 1928, I believe, and he, of course, this was the nation which was the head of the Muslim world. So right at the early 20th Century, what you had is Muslims were experimenting with Westernizing and secularizing and modernization and nationalism. This is what happened. Now during that era, yes, Coptic persecution was markedly subdued. And this is also a fact. The discrimination, the subtle things, they were still there. But the sort of wholesale attacks that we’re seeing today were really not that present. Now what this has done, though, because this sort of – or this new approach, went on for a few generations, is it’s created a Western worldview that does not see the earlier precedents or the past history. So now, in history classes, when we discuss – when we discuss the history of the Middle East and Egypt, we just start talking about the Muslim world or from about the 1900s and the 20th Century, where no, there wasn’t a lot of persecution and, if anything, the paradigm is that the West was the evil oppressive force and the Muslim world was not. So this, I think, has created an intellectual hurdle to understand what’s really going on.

And of course it’s exacerbated tremendously by the Western mainstream media, which some of my colleagues have pointed out, never really reports the truth or really equivocates. They use the term sectarian strife. When you have a few thousand Muslims who go burn down a church and they call that sectarian strife, which in my mind, suggests, you know, two equal – equally powerful forces, like Sunnis and Shias killing each other. And that’s not the case. But the media tries so hard to come off neutral. And I even remember during the Maspero massacre where, you know, the tanks were intentionally running down and mowing over Copts and killing them and opening fire, FOX News, which is considered the, you know, the conservative balanced one, was telling us about how soldiers were crying as they watched Copts attack their fellow soldiers. Okay, and so – and then, you know, the holders and articulators of knowledge in the West have completely undermined reality. And the same goes with academia. Academia, especially area studies, seems to exist solely now just to put the best spin on things and to make, you know, if, you know, your area of study is the Muslim world, none of these things that we’re talking about, these historical aspects, these primary sources, Koranic and historical, that I’m quoting, you’ll never hear these. And I know from firsthand experience, I was at Georgetown, for instance, for awhile, and every class was based upon how either the Islamic world has been abused or how, you know, we have to understand them, we have to appease them and this sort of thing. So it is unfortunate that we have all these intellectual hurdles that are making something that is fourteen hundred years old and so obvious to anyone who has studied this and looked at this, it’s unintelligible to us today. And we have to have a hearing to even start talking about it. And it is because of all of these forces, you know, whether they’re intellectual history and sort of anachronisms or whether it’s the mainstream media and political correctness run amok or academia. But this is the situation we’re at. And there’s nothing new. But I think the only – the good news apparently is that we’re still in the early stage. There’s still many Egyptians in Egypt, including Muslims who are not of that variety who are not the Salafists or the Muslim Brotherhood and so we are not exactly in the medieval era where it’s a wholesale massacre. And so I think there is some light at the end of the tunnel. And what needs to be done, of course, is to support and as my colleagues all said, the aid must be conditional upon these sorts of things.

We must identify and support the liberal voices. Because they are our friends. The idea of saying, you know, democracy, using that word and, you know, everything has to stop before that word, is ridiculous. Because what’s being – what’s happening in Egypt is democracy means the people are going to bring the sort of government that they want. And ostensibly that sounds good and fair. But what is – when they bring a fascistic government, you know, Hitler, for instance, the people brought him to power. The people had support for him. So that doesn’t mean we should – what I submit, then, is we should not always be – stand beholden before the word democracy as if it’s this sort of sacrosanct thing. We have to understand it’s a mode of government. But what really matters is what the people themselves do create with this mode once they’re empowered.

 

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copt#Etymology

[2] https://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pact-umar.asp

[3] https://www.raymondibrahim.com/10608/top-muslim-declares-christians-infidels

[4] https://www.raymondibrahim.com/10742/grand-mufti-distorts-word-infidel-to-dupe-infidels

[5] https://www.uam.es/otroscentros/medina/egypt/egypolcon.htm

[6] https://www.meforum.org/2631/dissident-watch-mohammed-hegazy#_ftn5

[7] https://archive.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news%E2%8C%A9=en&length=long&idelement=5209&backpage=archives&critere=&countryname=Egypt&rowcur=25

[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKaGr75r34w

[9] https://www.youtube.com/user/thecopticmartyrs?gl=US#p/u/15/qyn2Yow1aN8

[10] https://islamexplained.com/UVG/UVG_video_player/TabId/89/VideoId/791/037—-.aspx

[11] https://news.yahoo.com/24-dead-worst-cairo-riots-since-mubarak-ouster-232452205.html

[12] https://www.light-dark.net/vb/showthread.php?p=4939#post4939

[13] https://www.aina.org/news/20110908193725.htm

[14] https://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pact-umar.asp

[15] https://www.theblaze.com/blog/2011/09/20/who%E2%80%99s-in-charge-of-the-holy-sepulchre/

[16] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8zlWL35PE4&feature=player_embedded#!

[17] https://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/two-churches-torched-in-indonesia/456930

[18] https://www.light-dark.net/vb/showthread.php?p=4939#post4939

[19] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12101748

[20] https://www.raymondibrahim.com/8968/no-revolution-for-egypt-christians

[21] https://www.raymondibrahim.com/9595/muslim-inferiority-complex-kills-christians

[22] https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Attacks-against-Coptic-churches,-part-of-a-plan-to-expel-Egypt%E2%80%99s-Christians-22828.html

[23] https://www.aina.org/news/20111004183833.htm

[24] https://www.raymondibrahim.com/10498/the-egyptian-military-crimes-against-humanity

[25] https://www.dostor.org/opinion/11/october/17/58242

[26] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1sbJehl-ms

[27] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo0qxrg0Ink&feature=related

[28] https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=gI4T1UUoOt0

[29] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsP2qqBf-0I

[30] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo51tpAWgyE&feature=related

[31] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2tJBygSFys

[32] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBZ0Xbk8xUQ

[33] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVZYYzr5WHk&feature=related

[34] https://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/052-sbt.php#004.052.269

[35] https://www.copts.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3358&Itemid=1

[36] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5TbgK8Mlkk

[37] https://islamexplained.com/UVG/UVG_video_player/TabId/89/VideoId/800/038—-.aspx

[38] https://www.light-dark.net/vb/showthread.php?p=9936#post9936

[39] https://m.elfagr.org/dailyPortal_NewsDetails.aspx?nwsId=8178&secid=10

[40] https://www.youtube.com/user/thecopticmartyrs?gl=US&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2Fthecopticmartyrs%3Fgl%3DUS#p/u/28/IXYgzHRYRxQ&has_verified=1

[41] https://www.raymondibrahim.com/10492/egypt-destroying-churches

[42] https://www.aina.org/news/2011109123846.htm

[43] https://www.meforum.org/2538/taqiyya-islam-rules-of-war

[44] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7m08JJdxao

[45] https://bikyamasr.com/45280/egypt-state-television-admits-to-making-up-news-over-soldiers-deaths/

[46] https://www.aina.org/news/20111017175249.htm

[47] https://www.arabnet5.com/news.asp?c=2&id=113867

[48] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKaGr75r34w

[49] https://www.youtube.com/user/thecopticmartyrs?gl=US#p/u/15/qyn2Yow1aN8

[50] https://islamexplained.com/UVG/UVG_video_player/TabId/89/VideoId/791/037—-.aspx

[51] https://www.hudson-ny.org/2489/egypt-destroying-churches