Is Secularism the answer to Egypt's Sectarianism?
Egypt has always been known as an Islamic country where Muslims, Christians, and Jews peacefully co-existed. Today this is no longer the case. Is secularism the solution?
Voice of Egypt reported the recent Muslim-Christian sectarian strife about turning an old clothes factory into a church in the area of Matareya:
Voice of Egypt added:
ايه حكاية كل شوية مظاهرة لأن المسيحيين بيعملوا كنيسة من غير ترخيص؟
و سؤال للمرة المليون امتي هيتطبق قانون دور العبادة الموحد اللي بقاله ٢٠ سنة في أدراج مجلس الشعب؟
علي الأقل ساعتها لو حد بني كنيسة من غير ترخيص يبقي يستاهل اللي يجراله لأن ما عندوش حجة انه يمشي قانوني
و ساعتها اللي هيتظاهر علشان كنيسة بتتبني يبقي ما عندوش حجة غير انه مش بيحب يشوف كنايس.. فيبقي قدامنا حاجة من اتنين يا نفهموا ان الكنيسة مش بتتبني لتدمير الأسلام و ان الناس بتخش تصلي جواها مش تلعب قمار و لو ما قدرش يستوعب ممكن يسافر السعودية.. هناك مفيش كنايس
The dilemma gets worse as The Religion Virus sheds light on another debatable issue:
Here is a story is so absurd it requires almost no comment. It seems Egypt may ban organ transplants between people unless both are the same religion (Christian or Muslim). The ban is supposedly to cut down on wealthy Christians buying organs from destitute Muslims, but it doesn't take a genius to see through the ruse. It's nothing more than religious discrimination at its worst.
On a brighter side, Mona Eltahawy was faced with the following questions:
What does a Muslim look like? What does a Muslim home look like? And just who exactly makes up the Muslim mainstream? These questions came to mind after I took part in a panel discussion in New York City recently called “American Muslims”. It was meant to highlight the diversity of Muslim voices and experiences in the United States.
Two women from the audience were later overheard saying “They’re trying to convince us they’re the mainstream? They’re not the mainstream.” That, coupled with a question during the Q&A on “what does a Muslim home look like” (read: it can’t possibly look like a home I would recognize got me wondering against whom my co-panelists and I were being compared.
I’m quite sure it’s Angry Bearded Muslim Man. And Covered in Black Muslim Woman.
Angry Bearded Muslim Man is easily recognizable. He is usually yelling “Allahu Akbar” and burning something – an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush, an American flag or an Israeli flag, preferably all three.
Angry Bearded Muslim’s female counterpart is Covered in Black Muslim Woman. She either walks silently behind Angry Bearded Muslim or she is the subject of countless books, magazine articles and documentaries about the miserable plight of Muslim women. While I do not doubt for a second that terrible abuses of women’s rights are sadly too often justified in the name of Islam, it is incredibly frustrating to feel one is always on the losing end of the authenticity battle. It feels at times as if I’m not Muslim enough simply by virtue of not needing to be rescued from an evil, abusive father, brother or husband.
The next time I’m asked how representative I am, I will ask back “What kind of Muslim do you want?” and quietly celebrate that I am obviously not what they had in mind.
And Ahmed El Masry wrote an apology to his Christian friend
قلت له كيف؟ قال لي اولا في الاسلام النصارى اموالهم علينا حرام ودمهم علينا حرام و عرضهم علينا حرام
بل لا يصح ان نسكب خمرهم او نقتل خنزيرهم ان كان ملكهم و من حقة علينا في الاسلام ان نساعدة ان كان فقيرا من اموال المسلمين و نتصدق عليه و نحميه وله مثل ما لنا والا نهدم لهم كنيسة و لو تزايد عددهم في مكان تبنى لهم كنيسة لتستوعب هذا العدد و ان سافر للخارج و ظلم في شيء في دولة اخرى يقوم من اجله جيش الدولة الاسلامية بنفسه ان لم يرد له حقه “مفهوم المواطنة ” لانه واحد منا و لا يجوز التعدي عليه بالقول او على دينه و لعل قول رسول الله عليه الصلاة والسلام ” من اذى ذميا فأنا خصيمه يوم القيامة ”
صديقي المسيحي
اعتذر لك عن نفسي فديني يمنعني الا افعل
I asked him how come and he replied saying that in Islam it is forbidden (haram) to take money from Christians we are equally not allowed to shed their blood or to taint their honor. We are not allowed to forbid their wine or kill their pigs. It is our duty though, as Muslims, to help our fellow Christian with money if he was poor. We ought to protect them and treat them equally. We should not destroy their churches; on the contrary, if they grow in number in an area, we should build them a church. This is the true meaning of citizenship in Islam and our prophet says: “He who harms a Christian or a Jew will find me his opponent on judgment day”.
My dear Christian friend I apologize to you for my religion forbids me not to.
Without borders shared a post about secularism in Spain saying:
“The presence of these symbols in areas … where minors are being educated can promote the idea that the state is closer” to Roman Catholicism than other faiths, the judge said in his ruling.
In his call for a secular Egypt, the blogger says:
2 comments
O-Zen
http://lemag-o-zen.blogspot.com/2009/01/since-egypt-is-following-fda-rules.html
Ethical topics might just pretend to produce within a sort of reconsidering that we are all made of the same flesh and blood !
But they do not mean that I* accept the initial message which is about “organ transplant” as an accepted medical practice in “non-sterile zone”.
sec cul cul sec for national patriotism.
religions are like cars. both are a two edge sword, you can use it to make your life easy, or to kill someone. at the end of the day, you can not blame the car or the knife. When will we start using our cars to go to work instead of comparing them to others? when will we see that “Kind” does not matter, all knifes cut and all cars can be used to reach the same destination. when will we learn that identifying our self with a religion, nationality or football team can ruin our ability of enjoying the game and seeing the big picture. Being fanatic about religion means fear of loosing it, means failure to understand the universal message of compassion.