Strong Egypt Party to march today against Morsi's expanded powers.

Strong Egypt Party to march today against Morsi's expanded powers.(AO).The Strong Egypt Party, headed by former Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh, has called for a march Saturday to voice opposition to President Mohamed Morsi's constitutional decree issued Thursday. According to a statement released by the newly-launched centre party, the march is scheduled to move from Cairo University at 4pm, heading to Tahrir Square. The statement noted the party's refusal of several articles of the Thursday constitutional declaration, including placing presidential decisions beyond judicial challenge and shielding the current Constituent Assembly and Shura Council from risk of dissolution. The party nevertheless stated that they are pleased with Morsi's decision to sack the prosecutor general, and his promise to put again on trial those previously accused of involvement in the killing of the protesters during the January 25 Revolution. "We will never join any protest or march with any members of the former regime," said the party's statement, noting their objection to any assault on individuals or buildings. Meanwhile, dozens remain in Tahrir Square to protest the president's decree.Read the full story here.

Egypt - Coptic Pope cancels visit to Alexandria due to security concerns.

Egypt - Coptic Pope cancels visit to Alexandria due to security concerns.(A).Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros postpones his visit to the Holy See in Alexandria just two hours before he was supposed to embark on the trip on Saturday. This was to be the Pope's first visit to Egypt's second-largest city since his anointment on 18 November. Hundreds of Copts had already gathered in front of St Mark's Church to welcome the Pope before the short-notice cancellation. A church source tells Al-Ahram Arabic-language news portal that the Pope's first governorate visit will still be to Alexandria. On Friday, Mahatet Raml - where St Mark's Church is located - saw violent clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents. A group of anti-Brotherhood protesters stormed and vandalised the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party office. Thousands marched in rival protests across Egypt on Friday in response to the highly-controversial decree issued by president Morsi, who hails from the Brotherhood. The president issued a constitutional declaration, shielding the Upper House and the Constituent Assembly, as well as any of his decrees from judicial oversight. Morsi's constitutional declaration was denounced both locally by Morsi opponents as well as internationally by the United Nations and the European Union.Read the full story here.

Egypt - Former Muslim Brotherhood member: "it is not permissible for Mursi to make himself like a God."

Egypt - Former Muslim Brotherhood member: "it is not permissible for Mursi to make himself like a God."(AA).Words and expressions such as pharaoh, god, despot and assassin of democracy filled Egyptian media coverage on Friday to brand President Mohammed Mursi following his sudden snatch of sweeping powers. While Nobel laureate Mohammed ElBaradei described Mursi as Egypt’s new pharaoh, a prominent lawyer who defended Muslim Brothers in Hosni Mubarak’s jails for 15 years has branded the new Mursi as a God.
“Mursi today usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt’s new pharaoh. A major blow to the revolution that could have dire consequences,” ElBaradei wrote on his Twitter account.” Tharwat el-Kherbawy, lawyer and former Muslim Brotherhood member who split from the group in 1999 wrote on his twitter account that those who accept Mursi's decisions were "slaves" and those who cheer for him were "mutants." He said it was “not permissible for Mursi to make himself like a God” with all those powers amassed in his hands. 
Kherbawy added that even The Prophet Mohammed did not have as much powers as President Mursi currently holds. 
While many supporters of Mursi insist that the president’s move to render all his decisions irrevocable by any authority, including the judiciary, was a necessary step to moving the country forward, opponents from liberal and revolutionary forces warned his move was a dangerous backward leap into another dictatorship, potentially worse than its predecessor. Leading Muslim Brotherhood member Essam al-Arian said that Mursi's decisions were aimed at supporting democracy and protecting the goals of the revolution. Amr Hamzawy, a liberal member of the dissolved parliament, in a Twitter post commented on Mursi’s latest decisions, saying that Egypt was heading toward "an absolute presidential tyranny.” After yesterday’s presidential decrees, Egypt seems to be left with two solutions. One, trust that Mr. Mursi will not misuse his powers and live with him as a “reformist dictator” until a strong alternative to the Brotherhood is established. Or, watch and count on outside powers to do the job for Egyptian liberals.Hmmmm......“One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.” ~ George Orwell, 1984. Read the full story here, more here.

[Warning to Israel]Egypt Independent details new powers seized by President Morsy.

[Warning to Israel]Egypt Independent details new powers seized by President Morsy.(IMRA).

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: A warning to Israel: President Morsy is a political speed chess master who enjoys an intimate understanding of America thanks to the many years he spent there. He has already done perhaps more in Egypt in the short time he has been in office than his Turkish brothers achieved over many long years.

A concern for Israelis: did our leadership act as fellow chess players in the series of moves that ended with Egypt - according to the understanding - acting as judge for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, or were they instead tic tac toe players?]
The president's new powers Heba Afify Amira Ahmed Lina Attalah Egypt Independent Fri, 23/11/2012 - 01:23 http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/president-s-new-powers .
President Mohamed Morsy has often celebrated the fact that he has seldom used his legislative powers, using that fact as an index of his care not to abuse his expansive authorities.
Those powers were acquired by the president in August after he canceled a constitutional addendum drafted in June by his predecessors, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, to claim legislative authority following the dissolution of Parliament that same month.
But a new constitutional declaration issued on Thursday night actually harnesses more power for Morsy, which he says he is trying to avoid.
“The constitutional declaration announced by Morsy is a way of raping the country, and wholly abrogates the role of all judicial authorities,” says Wahid Abdel Meguid, a former Constituent Assembly speaker who withdrew last week.
“No leader confident in his popular support would go as far as to abolish the very idea of the state in order to protect himself.”
The seven-article declaration renders the president's decrees and laws immune from appeal or cancellation. It also protects both the Shura Council and the Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly from dissolution by any judicial authority, and further protects the assembly by extending its mandate to draft the constitution to eight months instead of six, as stipulated in an earlier constitutional declaration.
Two cases against the Shura Council and the Constituent Assembly are currently awaiting a court ruling, but those cases will now be voided by the declaration.
The new constitutional declaration also gives immunity to all decisions and decrees issued by Morsy since he was took office on 30 June and until the ratification of a new constitution, thus protecting those decisions from judicial or any other type of revision.
Further, Morsy granted himself the exclusive right to take any measures he sees fit to protect the country's national unity, national security and the revolution.
Morsy also added a new chapter to the ongoing feud over terminating the prosecutor general by sacking the Abdel Meguid Mahmoud and appointing Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah in his stead for a four-year term.
Morsy’s previous attempt to sack the Mubarak-era prosecutor general was immediately reversed after it stirred a wave of wrath from the judiciary, which considered the move an infringement on its independence. The prosecutor was conventionally immune from executive intervention.
Readings differ on what is at stake in tonight’s declaration, but for several politicians, especially those from the non-Islamist camp, the constitution is the target.
The current Constituent Assembly, born out of the dissolved Parliament, has experienced continuous hiccups with a series of resignations by members who say there is little accord over the process.
“The decisions of Morsy deliver a clear deterring message with regards to the constitution. The message is whoeverwants to stay can stay, and whoever wants to go can go. This is a confrontational attitude," says Mohamed Naeim, member of the political bureau of the Socialist Democratic Party, whose representatives have withdrawn from the assembly.
"My assessment is that the Brothers want to make no concessions in the constitution writing process, and this is showcased in the lack of seriousness in their attitude in the ongoing conflicts in the assembly," he adds.
Asked whether the Brothers can afford to put a constitution to referendum without guaranteeing a certain level of agreement, Naeim says he doesn't trust any electoral process to be handled under the expansive powers of a president whose political affiliations are aligned with the Islamist majority of the Constituent Assembly.
Aside from concerns about the constitution, some see Morsy’s latest move as as targeted at the unresolved feud between the president and the judiciary, with Morsy sending a debilitating blow to the public prosecutor, the Supreme Constitutional Court and other judicial authorities.
“This is the start of the rule of an individual who has all the powers and has the right to cancel the supervision of the judiciary and devalue the decisions of the court,” says lawyer Amir Salem, adding that immunity from judicial oversight is a third layer of power Morsy has claimed for himself, in addition to executive and legislative authorities.
“I don’t think these are spur of the moment decisions — Morsy doesn’t compromise on his views and he has made it clear since the start of his term that he will not accept any restraint to his power,” says Mostafa Kamel al-Sayed, political science professor at Cairo University.
Before today’s decree, Morsy had lost two rounds in an ongoing battle with the judiciary.
In June, the Supreme Constitutional Court overruled Morsy’s decision to reinstate the Parliament that the court had dissolved.
Morsy had to give in to the will of the judges again in October when they rejected his attempts to pressure the prosecutor general to resign.
“After failing to dismiss the prosecutor general, Morsy couldn’t accept defeat and was waiting for the right moment to get rid of him,” says Kamel.
Salem said dismissing the prosecutor general — a figure who is by law immune to executive intervention — and appointing a new one without the approval of the Supreme Judicial Council is a grave breach of judicial independence.
Backed by solid public support, judges are already challenging Morsy’s decisions, signaling the start of another fierce round between the two sides instead of what the president hoped would be an end to the battle.
“I expect a grueling crisis between the judiciary and the prosecution on one side and the president on the other after this constitutional declaration ,because it represents a dead end for everyone,” Salem adds.
Morsy’s new declaration was described by many as an attempt to pay lip service to revolutionary demands while strengthening his grip on power. The timing is right, with street battles raging in downtown Cairo since Monday and protesters expressing anger over the impunity of the perpetrators of attacks against protesters.
Alongside his declaration, on Thursday night Morsy also ordered the reinvestigation of all cases in the killing of protesters in which figures of the old regime are implicated.
Shortly following the constitutional declaration, Morsy also issued a new law for the “protection of the revolution” to regulate the retrials. The law states that if investigations reveal new evidence against the accused, new trials would be held, overseen by a so-called “revolution protection” prosecuting body formed of judges with one-year terms.
Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, commented on his Twitter account that the article only focuses on the toppled Mubarak regime’s violations and ignores those of the military regime, which presided over several incidents of violence against protesters throughout the transitional period.
Finally, in what was described as Morsy’s carrot, the president also ordered dispensing exceptional pensions to those injured during the revolution.
“Offering cash to the revolution’s victims and retrials for their attackers seems designed to placate street activists,” writes professor of political science, and expert on Egypt’s constitutional issues, Nathan Brown for the Arabist blog.
Meanwhile,it is feared that Article 6 of the declaration, which empowers the president to take any necessary measures if he feels the revolution, national unity or national security are in jeopardy, could give the president a free hand to violate rights and freedoms.
“This is a declaration of martial law under the disguise of an article in the decree,” says Salem. “Anyone deemed to be against the revolution, whatever this means, will be prosecuted and punished.”
Several pundits expressed particular concerns over the implications of such a loose stipulation, particularly in regards to the freedom of the media, an issue that has caused tempers to flare recently with several cases incidents of journalists summoned to court on defamation charges and the confiscation of media licenses.
Gehad al-Haddad, advisor to Morsy’s Freedom and Justice Party, described the clause as a “pre-emptive clause that may or may not be used. Time will tell.”
Different interpretations were given as to why Morsy was emboldened to make such moves. For some, his successful brokerage of a truce between the government of Hamas and Israel, which raged a war on the Gaza Strip last week, is said to have empowered him to make strong domestic moves.
“Internationally, he has just won plaudits for his role in ending the fighting between Israel and Hamas; that likely offers him a bit of insulation from international criticism and some vague domestic capital for showing Egypt’s centrality,” writes Brown.
Since claiming them, Morsy has used his legislative powers to approve amendments to several laws, including one which granted amnesty for some crimes committed during the 25 January revolution. He also approved a 15 percent raise to public employees and a similar increase in pensions, amendments to the education law and health insurance for children under school age, passed controversial university bylaws and increased the penalties for smuggling petroleum products.Hmmmm.......Hmmm……Obama: Mr. Obama told aides that he considered Mr. Morsi a straight shooter who delivered on what he promised and did not promise what he could not deliver.Read the full story here.

EGYPT'S NEW PHARAOH! - 'Morsi is Mubarak,' protesters chant as violence flares in Egypt.

EGYPT'S NEW PHARAOH! - 'Morsi is Mubarak,' protesters chant as violence flares in Egypt.(EI). At least 18 protesters were injured in clashes on Friday across the nation, including two in Tahrir Square, Health Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Amr told Al-Masry Al-Youm. The two protesters were transferred to Qasr al-Aini Hospital, Amr added. No deaths have been reported. One protester was also injured outside the presidential palace in Heliopolis and was then transferred to Mansheyet al-Bakry Hospital, Amr reported. Twelve protesters were injured in Alexandria during clashes between pro and anti-Morsy protesters, and were transferred to Ras al-Tien Hospital, according to the ministry. In Mahalla al-Kubra in Gharbiya, three were injured and transferred by private car to Mahalla Public Hospital. Typical injuries included cuts, bruises and fractures, Amr said. The Ministry of Health announced that 35 protesters were injured from Thursday evening into Friday afternoon in the course of ongoing clashes on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, bringing the total injured to 187 cases since the clashes began on Monday evening. Twenty-four protesters injured in those clashes are still receiving treatment in the hospital. Hmmmm......."I, Morsi, am all powerful. And in my first act as being all powerful, I declare myself more powerful still. But don’t worry — it’s just for a little while." ~ Nathan J. Brown.Read the full story here.


17:05 The Salafist Nour Party announces in a press statement that it accepts President Morsi's Constitutional Declaration.
However, the party added, it has reservations about Article 2 which says presidential decisions cannot be overturned by the judiciary. This is against the party’s principles, the statement says.


Follow live updates for Friday rallies here

Egyptian 'Muslim Brotherhood' President Mursi absent at enthronement of Pope Tawadros II.

Video - Enthronement Liturgy of H.H. Pope Tawadros II.



Egyptian 'Muslim Brotherhood' President Mursi absent at enthronement of Pope Tawadros II.(AA).President Mohamed Mursi was absent at the installation ceremony of the new Coptic Pope Tawadros II on Sunday to the dismay of Christians who fear being sidelined in the new Islamist-led Egypt. Pope Tawadros II was installed at Cairo's Abbasiya Cathedral in a ceremony attended by Christian leaders from several countries as well as Egyptian public figures. A church source had told Reuters: “We don’t know why Mursi will not attend but it is a major event and nothing should stand in the way of him attending ... Christians always had a strong feeling that he does not want to come.”
A presidential source said there had been no government announcement regarding Mursi’s plans. Mursi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly said he is the president of all Egyptians but Christians cite recent cases of religious intimidation by radical Islamists, such as a raid earlier this month on a party to promote interfaith harmony, as a sign of things to come.
Coptic rights activist and lawyer Peter el-Naggar said: “President Mursi’s decision not to attend comes as a surrender to pressures that some (ultra-orthodox Islamist) Salafi groups and others put on him.” “The presidency has previously announced that the president will attend if he got invited, and he was invited,” he said.
Pope Tawadros II told Reuters earlier this month that a constitution being drafted by Egypt’s politicians must be inclusive and that the church would oppose any text that only addressed one part of the Muslim-majority nation. Tawadros told Al Arabiya earlier this month that the security situation, not the dominance of Islamists, is what prompts Egyptians - Christians and Muslims alike - to leave the country, new. Tawadros said since country’s 2011 revolution, the security situation compelled Egyptians to emigrate, rebuffing claims that Coptic Egyptians are leaving the country more than Muslims. While Shariah (Islamic law) is not applicable to Christians in Egypt, Tawadros rejected article 2 in the constitution , which states that the “principles” of Islamic Sharia law are the main source of legislation. He said article 2 will not grant Christians in Egypt their rights. The marginalization of Christians is what has compelled his predecessor, Pope Shenouda III, to take more of a political role.Hmmmm.....To busy with Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Hamas and Erdogan.Read the full story here.

Egypt's Government and Media Conspire against Christian Copts.

Egypt's Government and Media Conspire against Christian Copts.(MiddleEastForum). By Raymond Ibrahim. Gatestone Institute. November 2, 2012.

From top to bottom, from the Muslim Brotherhood president to the Muslim Brotherhood-monitored media, the lies concerning Egypt's Christian minority—whether presidential lies that claim they are cared for, or whether media lies demonizing them—continue unabated. Some recent examples follow:
After two Christian boys were earlier arrested for allegedly blaspheming a Quran and were subsequently released, the Egyptian media, following the claims of the Muslim Brotherhood, credited President Morsi with their release: Ikhwan Web, the Brotherhood's official English website, and the website of its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, both ran with a report titled "Morsi Orders Release of Christian Boys Held for Desecrating Holy Quran in Egypt, the opening sentence of which reads: "Two Egyptian Coptic boys are freed from juvenile detention, at President Morsi's instructions…" This magnanimous narrative was widely disseminated in the media, including in the West.
Yet, according to the lawyer of the two Christian boys, Guirgus Bebaway, "the claim that Morsi interfered to have the two children released is simply false …. President Morsi had nothing to do with the Release of Nabil Nady Rizk, 10 years old, and Mina Nagui Farag, 9 years old," the two boys who "were taken to a different place until the situation calms down in their village," where wild riots and protests had ensued.
Likewise, Morsi's visit to Sinai—where, among other signs of jihadi infiltration, Christians were recently attacked and displaced—was trumpeted by the Western media as proof of his commitment to protect the Copts. For example, in a report titled "Egypt's president visits Sinai to 'reassure' Copts," AFP wrote "Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi visited the Sinai peninsula on Friday to meet with and reassure Coptic families who fled from the town of Rafah after receiving death threats, his Facebook page said" (emphasis added).
Yet, according to the Coptic bishop of Sinai, although he and many Coptic representatives were eager to meet with Morsi, they were never allowed an opportunity, but rather were kept in the lobby with Sinai's Bedouins and others, where they all got to hear the president declare some platitudes concerning the equality of all Egyptians from afar—platitudes that seemed so generic that Bishop Qazmaan remarked "we cannot determine the sincerity of his words."
Finally, because Egypt's Copts were recently denied justice concerning last year's Maspero Massacre—when the Egyptian military slaughtered Christians protesting over the constant attacks on their churches, including by running them over with armored vehicles, only to be exonerated in court—they congregated again around Maspero both to protest and mark the anniversary of the incident. And, just as the Egyptian media had demonized the protesting Christians during the original Maspero Massacre—falsely claiming that Copts were attacking and killing Egypt's soldiers, which even the Western media ran with—the media again turned victim into persecutor in its coverage of the anniversary.
For example, a TV anchorman for El Qahira station, while covering the anniversary march, asked "why rehash all this?' and, in the non-sequitur of the year, claimed that whenever Copts demonstrate and call for their rights, "only one nation, one people" profits: Israel. Thus, once again, Egypt's Christian minority, who seek only equality, were portrayed as "traitors," more interested in empowering foreign powers than in helping build Egypt. He even broadcast non-violent scenes from last year's massacre—not the ones of soldiers shooting at and running over Christians—asking, "What's the big deal"?
The sister of one of the slain Copts from the massacre, Mina Daniel, further confirmed all this, saying that the media "continues to be corrupt"; that she was invited to be interviewed by one station, which proceeded to edit and delete her words; and, in short, "nothing has changed … the same thing that happened last year during the massacre, when the media claimed Copts were attacking the military is happening today… this is a catastrophe, and we continue to suffer from the same story."
Indeed, despite all the media propaganda, whether straight from Egypt's president or from Egypt's mainstream media, it is business as usual for Copts: they are portrayed as disloyal troublemakers, who, nonetheless, are cared for by the government—when the truth is the exact opposite.

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

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Egypt - Two Muslim Women assault Christian woman cut of her hair on metro.

Egypt - Two Muslim Women assault Christian woman cut of her hair on metro.(EI).Two niqab-wearing women assaulted and forcefully cut the hair of a Christian woman on the metro Sunday, the third such reported incident in two months, raising fears of a growing vigilante movement to punish Egyptian women for not wearing the veil in public.
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights said in a statement that the assaulters called the Christian woman, who is 28 years old, an “infidel" and pushed her off the train, breaking her arm. The Christian woman reported the incident to the police and filed a medical report to confirm the assault. EOHR Director Naguib Gabriel urged the interior minister to address the recurring attacks on unveiled women before it becomes a common practice. Last week, a woman wearing the niqab cut the hair of a 13-year-old Christian girl, Maggie Milad Fayez, in the metro.
That same week, an Egyptian court gave a female teacher in Luxor with a six-month suspended prison sentence for cutting the hair of two 12-year-old girls after they refused to cover their heads. Mainstream religious scholars say wearing the veil is compulsory for Muslims, but that no one can be forced to wear it. Muslim Brotherhood leaders have repeatedly said they will not apply a strict interpretation of Sharia with regard to women’s dress. Opponents of President Mohamed Morsy, who resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood when he took office, say these incidents prove that Islamists are attempting to impose strict Sharia laws under his rule. Egypt is home to more than 8 million Christians, the largest such national community in the Middle East.Hmmm.....Obama: "The Future Must Not Belong to Those Who Slander the Prophet of Islam"Read the full story here.

Thousands of Islamists protest for sharia in Egypt.

Thousands of Islamists protest for sharia in Egypt.(JPost).CAIRO - Thousands of Islamists rallied in Cairo on Friday to demand immediate introduction of sharia and called on President Mohamed Morsi to resist opposition to Islamic law.
Islamists, Liberals and non-Islamists have locked horns over what civic freedoms women, Christians and minority groups will enjoy under a new constitution being drafted by an Islamist-dominated panel.
The constitution is supposed to become the cornerstone of democratic transition after the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak last year. Without it, the country cannot hold elections to replace a parliament that a court declared void in June.

Islamists on the panel are aiming to reach consensus over the constitution, but Friday's rally brought together groups with little representation on the body - including the Salafist Front, its political arm the People Party, the Gamaa Islamiya and its Building and Development Party.Many waved banners with the words "God's law is our constitution," as demonstrators chanted "The people demand God's law implemented."

Asked what implementing sharia meant for them, many said it involved eradication of corruption and loose sexual behavior, modesty in men and women's dress, and improved living conditions.
Morsi's ruling Muslim Brotherhood, which says it favors only a gradual introduction of sharia, and the ultraconservative al-Nour Party refrained from participating. Both are well represented in the 100-strong constitutional panel.
"We are not coming out to oppose the assembly but to tell it and president Morsi that sharia must be implemented immediately not later. I voted for Morsi to implement God's sharia," said Hassan Abdel Maqsood from the city of Minya.
Another protester demanded a more unequivocal reference to sharia in the constitution. The current draft talks of implementing "the principles of sharia."
"We do not want the misleading word 'principles'. The assembly should not listen to the secularists and the small elite. These people have other motives and want the country to live in chaos," said Mohamed Salama of the Gamaa Islamiya.
Pressure is mounting on the constitutional panel to finish its job by December 12. Should it fail, Morsi may have to use his legislative powers to find a way out.
Analysts say Morsi is torn between pleasing Islamist hardliners who voted him into power and gaining national and international legitimacy.
"President Morsi is in a bind and must please disparate groups," Ammar Ali Hassan, an Islamist analyst, told Reuters.
"He cannot do it without changing his discourse. He tells liberals and the international audience that Egypt is a moderate, modern and civil state. But to his Islamist backers across the country he must say that sharia will be implemented."
Hmmmm.......Aren't you glad Obama helped remove that 'evil dictator' Mubarak?Read the full story here.

Egypt - Salafis storm Coptic Church property claim it as a Mosque.

Egypt - Salafis storm Coptic Church property claim it as a Mosque.(DNE).The diocesan headquarters of the Coptic church in Shubra Al-Kheima was stormed by Salafis on Monday after afternoon prayers. The group raised a banner reading “Rahma Mosque” and remained on the premises until prayers at dawn, when the Interior Ministry intervened and removed the group. The Salafis took over an area of the diocese headquarters used for services, that had been governmentally licensed, and claimed it as a Muslim place of worship, said Bishop Morcos of Shubra in a telephone interview on Al-Tahrir channel.
“We want to know what the government will do.” “They claimed that the land is owned by a Muslim, despite the issuance of permits for the service building of the church,” said the Maspero Youth Union (MYU) in a statement.
“As a party and coalition refuse any assaults, because they provoke sectarian strife,” said Amir Boshra, a member of the Free Egyptians Party (FEP) and the MYU. “We don’t want things to escalate, but there are Muslims and Christians and parties who are against this situation, and will resolve it by force if necessary.”
The Salafi group left after dawn prayers, said Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). “This episode is part of a series of attacks surrounding the role of Christian worship after the revolution,” the MYU said. 
The group blamed the government and security apparatus of being slow to act and sustaining their complicity in attacks on Copts and their churches. “The Coptic youth feel intense anger and disappointment as a result of the recklessness of the regime in dealing with such incidents and perpetrators,” said the MYU. 
The Coalition of Copts in Egypt called on President Mohamed Morsy to act against the perpetrators and pre-empt future similar situations, asking him and the Interior Ministry to implement frameworks that would allow them to act more rapidly to sectarian incidents. The Egyptian Social Democratic Party also condemned Monday’s events in a statement, calling for the intruders to be punished, but also expressed appreciation for police and security forces that had worked to remove the Salafis early Tuesday morning.
Bishop Tawadros, who was selected as the Coptic Orthodox church’s 118th pope on Sunday, stated in a television interview on Monday that the state needed to take stronger steps to make Egypt’s Christians feel safer, calling the displacement of Copts “unacceptable.”Hmmm......"Christians are 'protected' under Sharia law".Read the full story here.

Egypt’s new pope Tawadros II opposes constitution addressing ‘one part’ of nation.

Egypt’s new pope Tawadros II opposes constitution addressing ‘one part’ of nation.(AA).The new Coptic Orthodox pope said on Monday that a constitution being drafted by Egypt’s politicians must be inclusive and the church would oppose any text that only addressed one part of the Muslim-majority nation.
Pope Tawadros II, picked on Sunday in a ceremony steeped in the traditions of a church that predates Islam’s arrival in Egypt, also said that Christians should be more active in seeking to shape Egypt’s politics after last year’s revolt.
The 60-year-old pope, the 118th to lead a church that traces its origins back to the early era of Christianity, has taken the helm when many Christians who make up about a tenth of the nation’s 83 million people are alarmed by the rise of Islamists.
Christians had for decades felt shoved to the margins of society and politics. Yet, even though many joined the uprising to oust Hosni Mubarak, they now worry they will be pushed further aside by Islamists who the former president repressed.
“The beauty of Egyptian society is the presence of Muslims beside Christians. Diversity is strong and beautiful,” the pope said in an interview at a desert monastery, where a day earlier he learned his name had been picked out of a glass bowl by a blindfolded boy in an elaborate ceremony at a Cairo cathedral.
Three names, selected in a vote, had been put in the bowl for choosing the man who would replace Pope Shenouda III, the figurehead for Egypt’s Orthodox Christians for four decades.
Bearded, bespectacled and wearing the long black robes of a priest, the new pope said Egypt’s diversity should be reflected in the constitution being drawn up by a 100-person assembly, which is dominated by Islamists but also includes Muslim and Christian religious leaders, liberals and other politicians.
“If a good constitution is presented in which every person finds himself (represented), there is no doubt Egypt will develop,” said the pope, who trained in Egypt and Britain as a pharmacist before being ordained into the priesthood.
“But if the constitution addresses one part of the community and ignores another it will take society backwards,” he said, speaking quietly and carefully in a room surrounded with pictures of his predecessor, whose death in March left many Christians feeling bereft after he had been in charge so long.
Adding context to his comments, the pope was speaking from Anba Beshoy monastery, one of several in Wadi el-Natrun, northwest of Cairo, that flourished as Christian desert retreats when Muslim conquerors from Arabia were expanding their influence across Egypt and North Africa.
Asked what he would do if the constitution was too heavily loaded with Islamic references, the pope said: “We will make an objection.” 
He did not specify what he would deem too Islamic and said he would not urge his flock onto the street in protest, a common call by Islamists and others since Mubarak’s overthrow.
“The church does not play any political role at all,” he said. “If religion and politics meet, they ruin each other.”
Even though the church would not take political action, the pope said there were kindred voices among more liberal politicians and moderate Muslims who have also objected to what they say are Islamist efforts to dominate the drafting process.
Yet, the new church leader said it was time for Christians independently to play a bigger part in politics to secure their rights, as any citizen should, after years of retreating from the public arena and leaving the church to act as advocate.
Although Tawadros insisted he was continuing the work of Shenouda, his comments suggested a shift from his predecessor who was criticised by some Christians for becoming too politicised and aligning himself too closely to Mubarak.
Without referring to individuals, the pope said he welcomed promises by Islamist politicians but wanted “something on the ground.” He pointed to issues such as the longstanding demand of Christians to make it as easy to build a church as a mosque.
But he said he was optimistic for the biggest Christian community in the Middle East, saying Christians would not be deterred by adversity. “The Christian person is like a palm tree - when you throw a stone at it, it drops its dates,” he said.Read the full story here.

Canadian Coptic Christian linked to anti-Islam film seeks protection.

                                                 Jacques Attalla, left, and Nader Fawzy, right

Canadian Coptic Christian linked to anti-Islam film seeks protection.(Yahoo).A Coptic Christian activist say he fears for his family's safety after being accused of playing a role in the notorious anti-Islam film that has sparked violence throughout the Muslim world. Nader Fawzy, speaking at a news conference in Toronto on Saturday, said he has been the target of threats emanating from Egypt over the Innocence of Muslims trailer released on the internet over the summer. Fawzy has long been an activist for Egypt's Coptic Christian community, which makes up one-tenth of that country's population.
Fawzy said his name appeared in a published list of people involved in the film, an action he says amounts to a fatwa, or religious edict. He told reporters on Saturday he believes the Egyptian government put his name on the list out of revenge for his work as a Coptic activist. 

“Once there is a fatwa, you don’t know who is coming to kill you, to shoot you," he said. "It’s not just about the Egyptian government anymore. There is no safety at all. Once the fatwa is published, anyone can come to kill me or my kids or my family in Egypt.” 

 The Egyptian government has issued arrest warrants for both Fawzy and another Egyptian-born Canadian, Jacques Attalla of Montreal, claiming they were involved in the film. Both Coptic Christians deny having anything to do with it. But the men fear that being named in the warrants has made them targets for Muslim extremists, who've been encouraged by senior clerics to kill all those connected to the film. Egypt's prosecutor general has issued arrest warrants for a number of Coptic Christians, primarily living in the United States, for alleged involvement with the controversial film, made in California. Fawzy said he can't let death threats by extremists intimidate him into silence about the treatment of Coptic Christians in Egypt or about the arrest warrant against him. "I have to say it and say it loud," Fawzy told The Canadian Press on Friday.
"If they start with [silencing] me today, they will continue with everyone in western world. Maybe you tomorrow, maybe after tomorrow someone else." Following Saturday’s news conference, Fawzy went inside 42 Division headquarters of the Toronto Police Service. The CBC’s Natalie Kalata reported that Fawzy intends to ask police for special protection in light of the potential threat to his life.Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, who stood by Fawzy's side during the news conference, has also been critical of the Harper government’s response to the situation, saying Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird should have spoken publicly about it.Hmmmm......"Fawzy said he can't let death threats by extremists intimidate him into silence about the treatment of Coptic Christians in Egypt."The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. Read the full story here.

Video – David Horowitz BLASTS the Obama admin for not standing up for free speech against Islamic Nazis

Video - "Arab Fall" - The Mocked Prophet.

The Collective Punishment of Egypt's Christian Copts.

The Collective Punishment of Egypt's Christian Copts.(MiddleEastForum). By Raymond Ibrahim. Coptic Solidarity. September 6, 2012.

Last month saw Egypt's latest large-scale "collective punishment" of Christian Copts. It started when a Christian launderer accidently burned the shirt of a Muslim customer, which led to a brawl between the two Egyptians (first reported here). The next day "the Muslim, with approximately 20 of his followers, went to the Christian's home to attack him. Expecting this, the Christian was prepared and climbed to the highest point of his roof, hurling Molotov cocktails at the Muslims." One Muslim man was injured and later died in a hospital. Before he died, between 2,000-3,000 Muslims attacked the Christians of the village, leading to an exodus of approximately 120 Coptic families. AINA has details of the aftermath:

The sectarian crisis in the village of Dahshur escalated on August 1 after the burial of the Muslim man who died yesterday in hospital. Hundreds of Muslims torched and looted Coptic businesses and homes despite hundreds of security forces being deployed in the village. Eyewitnesses reported that security forces did not protect most Coptic property... "As 120 families had already fled the village the day before after being terrorized, the businesses and homes were an easy game for the mob to make a complete clean-up of everything that could be looted," said Coptic activist Wagih Jacob. "The security forces were at the scene of the crime while it was taking place and did nothing at all." After the violence, the family of the deceased Moaz Hasab-Allah said that destroying Coptic property is not enough and that Copts have to "pay for their son's death" with lives.

Collectively punishing dhimmis—the barely tolerated non-Muslim infidels indigenous to the lands conquered by Islam—for the crimes of the individual is standard under Islam, and a regular occurrence among Egypt's native Christians. Other examples include:

• Jan, 2012: A mob of over 3,000 Muslims attacked Christians in an Alexandrian village because a Muslim accused a Christian of having "intimate photos" of a Muslim woman on his phone. Terrified, the Christian, who denied having such photos, turned himself in to the police. Regardless, Coptic homes and shops were looted and set ablaze. Three Christians were injured, while "terrorized" Christian women and children, rendered homeless, stood in the streets with no place to go. As usual, it took the army an hour to drive 2 kilometers to the village: "This happens every time. They [security] wait outside the village until the Muslims have had enough violence, then they appear." None of the perpetrators were arrested. Later, in an effort to empty the village of its 62 Christian families, Muslims attacked them again, burning more Coptic property. According to police, the Muslim woman concerned has denied the whole story, and no photos were found.
• Nov, 2011: Similar to the above story in Dahshur, the inadvertent killing of a Muslim by a Christian in a fight started by the Muslim when he torched the Christian's home resulting in the "collective punishment of all Copts in the majority Christian village." Two Christians not party to the altercation were killed; others were stabbed and critically wounded. As usual, "after killing the Copts, Muslims went on a rampage, looting and burning Christian owned homes and businesses." Again as in Dahshur, despite all this "Muslims insist they have not yet avenged" the death of their slain co-religionist; there were fears of "a wholesale massacre of Copts." Once again, many Christians had fled their homes and were in hiding.
• Apr, 2011: When Muslims falsely blamed the deaths of two Muslims on a Christian, one Christian was killed, ten hospitalized, an old woman thrown out of her second floor balcony, and Christian homes and properties plundered and torched.
• Nov, 2010: When a teenage Christian youth was accused of dating a teenage Muslim girl, 22 Christian homes were set ablaze to Islam's war cry of "Allahu Akbar." During the attack the Muslim mob threw fireballs, gasoline, and stones at Coptic homes and detonated Butane Gas cylinders.

It is telling that in all the above examples, Christians were attacked either because 1) they fought back against Muslims or because 2) they were rumored to have relationships with Muslim women. In fact, both of these are banned. Among the many stipulations Christians had to agree to when they capitulated to the invading armies of Islam in the 7th century, and as captured in the Pact of Omar, was never to raise their hands against a Muslim—even if the latter was the aggressor—and never to have relations with Muslim women. If they failed to follow these rules as well as many others, their lives—and the lives of their surrounding coreligionists—became forfeit.
As Mark Durie points out in his book on dhimmitude, The Third Choice: "Even a breach by a single individual dhimmi could result in jihad being enacted against the whole community. Muslim jurists have made this principle explicit, for example, the Yemeni jurist al-Murtada wrote that 'The agreement will be canceled if all or some of them break it' and the Moroccan al-Maghili taught 'The fact that one individual (or one group) among them has broken the statute is enough to invalidate it for all of them.'"

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

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"Blasphemy" only when against Muslims? - A group of Muslim girls protesting in Sydney hold a picture of late Coptic Pope Shenouda face in a toilet.

"Blasphemy" only when against Muslims? - A group of Muslim girls protesting in Sydney hold a picture of late Coptic Pope Shenouda face in a toilet.Hmmm....I wonder if this qualifies for 'hate crime' in Australia?HT : CopticNationalism And @DaliaEzzat_

Video - Muslim Cleric Tears Bible At Protest Outside the US Embassy in Cairo.

Video - Muslim Cleric Tears Bible At Protest Outside the US Embassy in Cairo.(Aina).By Mary Abdelmassih.During the demonstration which was held in front of the American Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday, 9/11, a Muslim cleric named Abu Islam tore and burned the Holy Bible in front of thousands of Muslims. His action was met with applause and anti-Christian cheers from the demonstrators. Before leaving the demonstration and getting into his car, he told the crowds "next time I will urinate on it."The video above shows the Muslim cleric tearing the Bible. The video says:

• 0.02 "the overwhelming Book, the Book of Truth and Peace. The place for these words and this book is over the heads because it is the real inspiration... (He places the Koran on his head) voices chanting Allahu Akbar.
• 0.30 He Says: message to the Egyptian Christians. Out of respect and politeness to the Egyptian Christians we will not do the same like what they did to our God's book , we will be generous towards you today and say we will respect you "momentarily." We will respect this book which is in the Arabic language.
• 0:54 Demonstrators'chants "Coming, Coming O Islam"
• 1.09 Abu Islam holds another bible and says: This is the book the dog Terry believes in, as well as those dogs with him the Egyptian Christians in America.
• 1.19 Abu Islam: Today I can only TEAR IT APART. He starts tearing the bible and throwing the leaves towards the mob, amid chants of Allahu Akbar and "Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Mohammad is coming."
• 2.06 Abu Islam saying: to all the cross worshippers around the world we will not keep quiet . Today, we tore it.
• 2.13 a man in blue beside him burns the bible raising it for everyone to see.
• Abu Islam: Salamu Aleycom (Peace be with you) and leaves, with mob chanting "Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Mohammad is coming." "Governing, governing, O Koran." "Coming, Coming O Islam."

Dr. Mustafa Maraghy, professor of law and Islamic law at Cairo University, filed a complaint with the Attorney General against the cleric, whose real name is Ahmed Abdullah. The complaint cited Abdullah, who is the owner of the TV channel the Islamic Nation, for contempt of religion, disturbing public security and peace.

Dr Maraghy, who is the chairman of the Coptic Coalition, said that tearing and burning the Holy Bible, which all Christians in the world believe in, is a "villainous and barbaric act." He added that it is not permitted at all to defame religions. "The same hurt feelings we felt by the film which insulted the prophet is the same that we felt by this criminal act," he said.

He vowed that the Coptic Coalition will not ignore such "ignorant people" but will prosecute them. The Maspero Coptic Youth Union has called on President Morsy to intervene immediately to put an end to any efforts which would kindle the fire of sedition between Muslims and Copts.

Another complaint was also filed this morning against Abu Islam by Karam Gabriel, lawyer with the Copts of Egypt Coalition, for his recent burning of the Holy Bible as well as his previous insults to Christianity through his books and through his Islamic Nation TV Channel.

The Coalition, which has among its members Muslims and Copts, has issued an official statement condemning the film insulting the Prophet of Islam. Magdy Saber, spokesman for the Union, condemned Abu Islam's tearing and burning of the Bible in front of the Copts who were present before the US Embassy, where they had gone in support of their Muslim brothers regarding to prophet's film.

Saber demanded from officials to take the necessary measures to prevent sedition among the Egyptians. "If we condemn the film-makers of the prophet film who live outside Egypt," he said, "we should also condemn this disgraceful act in Egypt, stressing the need to punish Abu Islam for his irresponsible actions."

In an interview today with The Mohit newspaper, Abu Islam denied burning the Bible, he said "I tore it apart and threw it to the demonstrators to step on it with their shoes." He added, "Next time I will make my grandson urinate on it, as the saying goes, an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth and the starter is at fault."

Commenting on the fact that the film producers do not represent all Copts and the masses of the American people and therefore their holy book should not be insulted in response, Abu Islam said "if someone one did something, everyone bears the guilt and bears the outcome. Did not all Muslims bear the pain of what Osama bin Laden did? Did not all Muslims bear the pain of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman being described as a terrorist? Let them taste from the cup the Islamic world had to drink."

"Until now we have not heard any condemnation from any Muslim organization or Al-Azhar," said Coptic activist Mark Ebeid, "as our church did concerning the Prophet film. We have hope that the Church will say something about our Holy Book."

"The Exodus from Egypt" - More than 100,000 Copts applied for immigration to the U.S. and Scandinavian countries.

"The Exodus from Egypt" - More than 100,000 Copts applied for immigration to the U.S. and Scandinavian countries.(AA).Egyptian Christian lawyer Mamdouh Ramzi warned of the repercussions of the immigration of Copts outside Egypt for fear of persecution at the hands of the Islamist government. “More than 100,000 Copts applied for immigration to the United States and Scandinavian countries,” he told Al Arabiya’s al-Hadath al-Masri (The Egyptian Event). “The immigration of such large numbers of Copts constitutes a grave threat to Egypt’s demographic structure.”
The flood of immigration applications on the part of Egyptian Christians was paralleled with decrees welcoming them on the part of destination countries. According to Essam Ebeid, head of the Coptic Association in the Netherlands, the Dutch Minister of Immigration issued a decree on June 11 allowing Copts persecuted in Egypt to seek asylum in the Netherlands.

“The Dutch government sees that the Egyptian government is not protecting its Coptic citizens and that is why this decree was issued,” he said.

The death of 24 Copts in clashes with the army in front of state TV in October 2011, Ebeid explained, was the main reason behind issuing the decree. “Add to this a series of other incidents that were seen by the international community as discriminatory against Copts.” For Medhat Kelada, head of the Union of Coptic Organizations in Europe, the Dutch degree is a stigma for the Islamists of Egypt and particularly President Mohammed Mursi for their inability to protect Coptic citizens. Kelada slammed Mursi for pardoning several Islamists guilty of criminal charges while not doing the same for any of the Copts detained for political reasons or in the aftermath of sectarian incidents. “What is happening during the time of Mursi is not different at all from what used to happen at the time of Mubarak.” Kelada cited the example of Coptic families evicted from their houses following sectarian clashes in several Egyptian villages and about which several reports that reached the international community were written.Hmmmmm.....Aren't you glad Obama helped remove that 'Evil Dictator' Mubarak?Read the full story here.

Egypt: Kill a Christian, Collect a Reward

Egypt: Kill a Christian, Collect a Reward.(MiddleEastForum).By Raymond Ibrahim. Gatestone Institute. September 4, 2012.

Recently an Egyptian Muslim posted a YouTube videotape of himself cursing Islam, its holy book, the Koran, tearing the latter to pieces and throwing it in the garbage. Excerpts of what he said follow:

There it is, Allah's book, this is the basic catastrophe. I don't know what day it is of this disgusting month of Ramadan! You are making the tearing of the Quran such a big and dangerous thing... it is instinctive to tear this book, those sons of [profanity] think they can threaten me and challenge me to tear the Quran, but I want to prove to them that they are nothing and what is the big deal in tearing this book!! There it is [he starts tearing the Quran] in the trash. Are you feeling better now! You cannot touch a hair on my head! We keep blaming Hamas and Gaza, but it is not them, it is this son of [profanity] book that I am stepping on right now. That book is the source of all evil and the real catastrophe. There is nothing new here, it is not Omar Abdel Rahman, Abbud or all the others; it is this garbage that is causing us to run in a demonic never-ending circle that will never end.

While this latest Koran desecration is a reminder that there are everyday Egyptians who are sick of the Talibanization of Egypt, a recent talk show on Al Hafiz channel concerning this incident is an indicator of what is in store for them.
After the video of the man tearing the Koran was played, one of three guests, a bearded and white-robed Dr. Mahmoud Sha'ban, visibly shaken by what he had just seen, said:

Someone like him must receive the punishment he deserves—and it is death. He is an apostate… It is clear from what he says that he is a Muslim, and must be killed as an apostate. As for that act itself, it is an infidel act, and he deserves to be struck by the sword in a public place—and as soon as possible; as soon as possible; as soon as possible. It must be announced and photographed and disseminated among the people, so that all the people may know that we respect our Koran and its words from Allah, and whoever insults it, receives his punishment from Allah. If people like him are left alone, they will only get bolder and bolder.

The next guest, Sheikh Abdul Mohsin, said: "I support the words of Sheikh Mahmoud [who just spoke], that this man must be killed fast, that he may be an example to others, so that all learn that we have reached a new phase in respecting Islam and the holy sanctity of the Koran and Sunna. This man has become an apostate and must suffer the penalty in front of the people."
The third and final guest, Dr. Abdullah, was somewhat critical of the first two Islamic scholars—not because they called for the man's death, but because, by focusing on the fact that the man had apostatized, it seemed as if they were exonerating non-Muslims: "The issue of killing him is not limited to his being a Muslim and then apostatizing. No, it is known to us from the Sharia that whoever insults the Prophet or tears the Koran, his judgment is death—whether he's a Muslim or non-Muslim, or non-Muslim."
Later, a listener called in saying, "Just so you know, if I ever meet one of these people, their life is void—they're simply dead." The talk show host, who agreed that the man must be slain, responded with some moderate talk about letting the state handle such people, to which the first sheikh, Dr. Mahmoud Sha'ban, erupted in rage:
"Man, we're talking about the religion of Allah! The religion! The religion!! The woman who insulted the Prophet, he voided her life! There were ten people at the conquest of Mecca whose lives the Prophet also voided!"
When the host tried to get a word in, the cleric exclaimed: "I am the sheikh, not you. I am the sheikh, not you! I am the sheikh! Hear me to the end, before I get up and leave!!"
Dr. Abdullah tried to mediate by clarifying to the host: "Do you know what the word 'void' [hadr] means [in Islamic jurisprudence]? It means it is the right for anyone who meets them [those who insult Islam] to kill them."
Simply put, the host was wrong to think that those who insult Islam should only be killed by the state. Any good Muslim can—and should—kill them, wherever he finds them. Of course, with a Muslim Brotherhood president in office, whether those who offend Islam are killed by the state or by Islamic vigilantes becomes somewhat semantic.
Already under President Morsi's first two months, Islamists have become more emboldened—whether by pressuring women to wear the hijab, killing a Muslim youth for publicly holding hands with his fiancée, or disseminating flyers that call for the total genocide of Egypt's Christian Copts—flyers that even openly included names and mosque contact points for those Muslims who wish to collect their rewards for killing Christians.

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

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In Egypt as Elsewhere: Political Islam is NOT the Solution - IT IS THE PROBLEM.

Muslim Brotherhood poster in 2011, “Islam is the solution; together for reform; Muslim Ikhwan carry goodness to all peoples”.[1]

In Egypt as Elsewhere: Political Islam is NOT the Solution - IT IS THE PROBLEM.(CopticNationalism).BY DioscorusBoles.

“Islam is the solution”, is the Islamists’ slogan: by this they mean Islam will save Egypt from all its social, economic and political problems. Of course that is nonsense – Islam, and by Islam I mean political Islam, is not the solution, but part, a huge part, of the problem. But not too many people in Egypt have sufficient courage or intellectual honesty to say that.
Those who believe political Islam is not the solution are either terrorised into muttering what they don’t believe, making them hypocrites, or beating round the bush by criticising the Islamist experiments in our modern age, whether in Iran, Saudi, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia or Sudan, but immediately adding the caveat: “The problem is not in Islam; the problem is in those who implement Islam [wrongly]”, thereby assisting in the repetition of the failed, horrible previous Islamist experiments in the hope of getting it right.
One can understand to some extent the cowardice and dishonesty of these peoples: the Islamists are out there to terrorise them, and can condemn them easily as renegades (mortad’deen), which is punishable by death in Islam.[2]
Cowardice and dishonesty in Egypt saves one’s life; however, it will not save Egypt from destruction: from the Islamists’ dictatorship, oppression of all including women, restriction of human rights and fundamental freedoms, failed economy, terrorism, unnecessary wars, ostracisation, polarisation, divisions, civil wars, and the risking of Egypt’s territorial integrity.
The future of Egypt cannot be expected to be different from that of its south neighbour Sudan if it implemented Sharia – Sharia is the same whether in Egypt or Sudan, and will bring about with it the same outcomes wherever it is implemented.
No, Islam is not the solution;[3] Islam is the problem. If Egyptians don’t come to that conclusion early, Egypt will be lost.
This writer does not do cowardice or intellectual dishonesty; he does not get intimidated, and he does not mince his words – but he is not anti-Islam, by which I mean non-political Islam, and he is not anti-Muslims: he has no quarrel whatsoever with the Muslims’ private beliefs; he believes that there are good Muslims as there are bad Christians; and he trusts that the Just Almighty accepts all good people whatever religious or non-religious background they come from. But he stands firm on this believe: that political Islam is evil, and that the Islamists are the number one threat to Egypt’s democracy, progress and national unity.

---

[1] Egypt Independent 7 October 2011: http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/political-parties-blast-brotherhoods-islam-solution-slogan

[2] The penalty of apostasy in Islam is included in Sunna, i.e. the traditions of Prophet Muhammad.

[3] Again, the writer talks about political Islam here. He does not get involved in discussion of the non-political aspects of Islam. Some may regard criticism of Islam, political Islam, as disrespect – our answer is: if you want to rule us by your religion, you must accept its criticism.