Video - Egypt - Father asks daughter to perform sexual acts with him, TV Cleric tells daughter to respect father.

Girl phones a religious expert concerned her father wants her to recreate acts he is watching in pornographic films. The expert tells her she needs to respect her father

Egypt - 37 killed in attack on vehicles carrying Coptic children visiting Minya Monastery of Anba.

💥 These are the 3 children who survived the coward terror attack in Menyah, #Egypt" pic.twitter.com/xzZrk2dcMO

— Hasan Sari (@HasanSari7) May 26, 2017

Egypt - 26 killed in attack on vehicles carrying Coptic children visiting Minya Monastery of Anba. (alAhram)

The death toll of an attack by unknown assailants on three vehicles carrying Coptic Christians on the way to Saint Samuel Monastery in the east of El-Minya governorate on Friday has reached 26, with 25 injured, a spokesman for Egypt's health ministry announced.

Egypt’s interior ministry released details on the attack, saying in an official statement that unknown assailants driving three 4x4 wheelers attacked by "randomly shooting" the bus carrying the Copts.

The ministry added that an official count of the final death and injuries toll was underway.

A cordon was imposed around the site of the attack, with security forces intensifying efforts to catch the culprits, according to the statement.

President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi called for an emergency security meeting to follow up on the attacks.

In a statement from the presidency, El-Sisi also instructed authorities to take all necessary measures to attend to the injured and arrest the assailants.

Egypt's Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek has ordered an extensive investigation to arrest the attackers, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported.

The injured have been transferred to nearby hospitals for first aid and will later be moved to Nasser hospital in Cairo, according to health minister instructions, state news agency MENA reported.

The prime minister and the ministers of health and social are heading to the attack scene in El-Minya.

Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb condemned the attack, while on a visit to Berlin, saying that "such attacks can never satisfy a Muslim or a Christian."

The ages of the victims ranged from children to over 60, the bishop of El-Minya told Egyptian private-owned TV Channel DMC.

The Bishop added that the vehicles attacked included a minibus and two cars.

The Minya attack is the latest in a series of deadly attacks on Egypt’s Christians, following the Palm Sunday Suicide Bombings.

The Copts were heading to Upper Egypt’s Minya Monastery of Anba Samuel the Confessor, located at western Adwa City. More here (Graphic Pictures).

💥 Aftermath of Menyah terror attack which killed, injured dozens mostly children. pic.twitter.com/tMUNJLP2ur #Egypt"

— Hasan Sari (@HasanSari7) May 26, 2017

Church official, confirms 35 Coptic Christians killed in attack on bus in #Minya, Egypt, they were ambushed by 2 cars with 8 gunman

— NieuwsBlog (@nieuwsblog) May 26, 2017

Most of the Coptic victims of the Minya attack are children. The bus trip to the monastery of st. Samuel was for kids.

— COPTIC NATIONALISM (@DioscorusBoles) May 26, 2017

So far, 35 children & elderly Copts have died from the Muslim attack in Minya, Egypt,.

— COPTIC NATIONALISM (@DioscorusBoles) May 26, 2017

#Egypt #Minya - Scene of the aftermath of the attack. A number of children have been killed in the attack. pic.twitter.com/Z5F4CZYdKn

— Terror Events (@TerrorEvents) May 26, 2017

Video - 'Moderate' Egyptian Sheikh of Al-Azhar on Jewish-Muslim Animosity: The Jews Started It.

Video - 'Moderate' Egyptian Sheikh of Al-Azhar on Jewish-Muslim Animosity: The Jews Started It.(MEMRI).

Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb said that it was the Jews who had started the animosity with the Muslims, by rejecting the message of the Prophet Muhammad. 

In a May 5 interview with Egyptian TV's Channel 1, Sheikh Al-Tayyeb said that the Jews “took actual measures to thwart, kill, and bury the Islamic call in its infancy.” 

Even though 1,400 years have passed since the advent of Islam, Sheikh of Al-Azhar said, “we still suffer from Zionist-Jewish interference in the affairs of the Muslims.”

ISIS leader in Egypt tells Muslims to avoid Christian gatherings

ISIS leader in Egypt tells Muslims to avoid Christian gatherings. (AN).

CAIRO: ISIS’s leader in Egypt has warned Muslims to stay away from Christian gatherings as well as government, military and police facilities, suggesting that the militant group will keep up attacks on what he referred to as “legitimate targets.”

In April, two Daesh suicide bombers killed at least 45 people at churches in the cities of Alexandria and Tanta, one of the bloodiest attacks the country has experienced in years.

“We are warning you to stay away from Christian gatherings, as well as the gatherings of the army and the police, and the areas that have political government facilities,” the leader, who was not named, said in an interview in Daesh’s Al Naba weekly newspaper published on Telegram.

Militants are increasingly targetting religious minorities, a challenge to President Abdel Fattah Al Sissi, who has promised to protect them from extremism.

Islamic State has been turning its sights on targets outside its base in the Sinai, putting more pressure on the government and presenting extra challenges for security services.

Once Again Copts in Egypt are targeted during their Christian Holy days by Islamist Terrorists, at least 21 dead and 50 injured.

The youngest Coptic martyr today from the Islamic explosion at the church in Tanta. RIP little angel. pic.twitter.com/6nk1Sb6Drd

— COPTIC NATIONALISM (@DioscorusBoles) April 9, 2017

Once Again Copts in Egypt are targeted during their Christian Holy days by Islamist Terrorists, at least 21 dead and 50 injured. (Ahram Live updates).

Islamic State claims Credit for attack on Coptic Church, #Egypt #Tanta pic.twitter.com/rjjbTzBEEl

— Jasmine Opperman (@Jasminechic00) April 9, 2017

15:10  Al-Ahram Arabic news website reports that Gharbiya governorate security chief Hossam El-Din Khalifa has been relieved of duty after the church attack in Tanta left dozens dead and injured on Sunday.

15:17 The health ministry updated the death toll in the attack on the Mar Gigis Church in Tanta to 27. The number of injured stands at 78.

This puts the combined death toll from the Tanta and Alexandria attacks at 45.

15:00 Death toll in Alexandria cathedral bombing reaches 18, Health Minister Ahmed Emad tells ON TV news channel.

14:50 The IS group claimed responsibility, through their social media affiliate accounts, for Sunday's churches' explosions in Egypt, which left at least 36 dead and dozens injured in both Nile Delta's Tanta and the coastal city of Alexandria. 

14:30 Egypt’s interior ministry has issued a statement about the Alexandria attack: they say a suicide bomber had planned to blow up himself using an explosive belt inside the church, but the security force assigned to protect the cathedral stopped him,.

The interior ministry also said that Pope Tawadros was inside the cathedral leading the prayers in the Palm Sunday service, but that he was not harmed in the attack.

A police officer and a policewoman, as well a low-ranking police officer, were killed while preventing the suicide bomber from entering the cathedral, the ministry said.

13:59 The casualties from the attack at Alexandria’s Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral have reached 11 dead and 66 wounded after the suicide bombing in the vicinity of the cathedral, according to a new update from the Health Ministry.

13:56 French President Francois Hollande has expressed solidarity with Egypt following the deadly bombing at the Mar Girgis Church in Tanta that left 26 people killed and 72 others injured, AP reports.

In a written statement after Sunday's attack, Hollande said, "One more time, Egypt is hit by terrorists who want to destroy its unity and its diversity."

He said France "mobilizes all its forces in association with the Egyptian authorities in the fight against terrorism," and offers condolences to the families of the victims.

13:56 According to Al-Ahram Arabic, security forces have dismantled two explosive devices at Sidi Abdel Rahim Mosque in Tanta city. The mosque, which includes a Sufi shrine, is considered the second most important mosque in city.

13:50 The US Embassy in Egypt condemned “the heinous, reprehensible terrorist attack against peaceful worshippers at Saint George’s Church in Tanta on one of the holiest days of the Christian year.”

“The United States stands firmly with the Egyptian government and people to defeat terrorism,” the Embassy said in a statement on Sunday.

13:47 Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek has arrived at Tanta’s Mar Girgis Church.

13:41 The Tanta Coptic Orthodox Bishopric has published the names of 22 victims of the Tanta church attack. So far, the names released by the Church are all those of men.

Among those killed in the Palm Sunday service attack in Tanta is Samuel George, the head of Tanta Court.

According to Al-Ahram Arabic’s correspondent in Tanta, Mohamed Mabrook, the explosion at the church targeted the front rows in the church hall.

13:30  The death toll from the deadly blast in the proximity of Saint Mark’s Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria has reached six, with 33 injured, the health ministry announced.

Al-Ahram Arabic website’s reporter in Alexandria said that three policemen are among the dead, including Adel El-Rakiby the head of the police department in Atarin district.

13:20 A suicide bomber is believed to be behind the Tanta church explosion, a security source in Tanta told MENA, adding that police are currently examining the remains of a suspect found at the scene.

13:05 At least two were killed, 21 injured in explosion at the Saint Mark's Church in Manshiya in Alexandria, state TV reported.

A suicide bomber has detonated explosives outside Saint Mark’s Church in Alexandria’s Manshyia district, Angelious Izhaq, the secretary of Pope Tawadros told ONTV.

Izhaq confirmed that the Pope, who is in Alexandria for Palm Sunday service, was unharmed. 

13:00 A suicide bomber has detonated an explosion outside Saint Mark’s Church in Alexandria’s Manshyia district, Pope Tawadros secretary Angelious Izhaq told ON TV.

12:54 Eyewitnesses in Alexandria told Ahram Online that an explosion has been heard near Saint Mark’s Church in Manshyia district near downtown Alexandria.

12:44 Lebanese Prime Minister Saad El-Hariri condemned the attack through his official Twitter account, expressing his condolences to Egypt and the victims of the attack, which he described as "an attack on the values of all religions".

Meanwhile, Jordanian government spokesperson Mohamed El-Momeny descried the "horrible terrorist attack", saying that it is intended to undermine stability and cause sectarian strife in Egypt. He stressed his country's support for Egypt in fighting terrorism.

The foreign ministries of Qatar and Bahrain have also issued statements condemning the attack, expressing their condolences for the victims, while rejecting violence and terrorism.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also issued a statement condemning the attack, according to Extra News channel, expressing to El-Sisi the solidarity of the Palestinians with the Egyptian people.

12:30 Catholic Pope Francis has decried Sunday’s deadly blast during Palm Sunday celebrations, just weeks before his planned visit to Cairo, AP reported.

"My deep condolences to my brother, Pope Tawadros II, the Coptic church and all of the dear Egyptian nation," the pontiff said, adding that he was praying for the dead and wounded. Word of the bombing came as Francis himself was marking Palm Sunday in St. Peter's Square.

The pontiff asked God "to convert the hearts of those who spread terror, violence and death, and also the hearts of those who make, and traffic in, weapons."

12:28 President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has called for a National Defence Council meeting in response to the attack on Sunday, according to state TV. The National Defence Council is made up of the prime minister, the speaker of parliament, the minister of defence and the commanders of the Egyptian armed forces, and is chaired by the president.

12:45 According to Al-Ahram Arabic correspondent Mohamed Mabrook in Tanta, there have been minor confrontations between security personnel and the families of victims seeking to enter the scene of the bombing to check on their relatives.

An informed security source said that security services believed a suicide bomber to be behind the attack, according to Mabrook. The security source added that “a severed head” believed to belong to the “suicide bomber” was being “inspected”.

12:35 The health ministry in Gharbiya says the death toll in the Tanta church attack has risen to 25, and puts the number of injured at 71.

11:55 Security forces have started to question eyewitnesses about the attack, while securing surveillance cameras in the area in order to view video footage, with a view to quickly identify the attackers, a security official told Al-Ahram Arabic news website.

11:40 Al-Azhar, the world's highest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, strongly condemned the attack, calling it an “outrageous crime” against all Egyptians.

“This terrorist attack is devoid of all the principles of humanity and civilization,” the Islamic body said in a statement, adding that “the aim of this cowardly terrorist bombing is to destabilize the security and stability of our dear Egypt and the unity of the Egyptian people.”

Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayyeb stressed Al-Azhar’s solidarity with the Egyptian Church in the face of terrorism and his great confidence in the ability of the security forces to track down the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

11:35 Egypt’s Prime Minister Sherif Ismail is heading to the scene of the attack.

“Egypt is determined to eliminate these terrorist groups,” cabinet spokesman Ashraf Sultan told state-owned TV channel Nile Live.

11:33 Political forces and activists have made calls for donations of blood to help the victims of the ‎attack. Health ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed told state-run TV that donations of blood are ‎welcome, with one blood bank in Tanta and another in Cairo accepting donations.‎ More here.

Video - Egyptian Theater Student Explains Refusal to Undergo FGM Despite Pressure: Your Body Is Your Own.

Egyptian Theater Student Explains Refusal to Undergo FGM Despite Pressure: Your Body Is Your Own.(Memri).

Iman Hussein, an Egyptian theater student, was interviewed by the Egyptian DMC TV channel on the issue of female circumcision. She recounted that at the age of 10 or 11, she had discussed it with her mother and told her that this was her "own private matter," resisting pressure mounted by relatives and acquaintances. Hussein sent a message to young girls: "Your body is yours... In order to avoid the pain of sexual harassment, FGM, or things like that, you must confront it with all your might." The interview aired on February 12.

Iman Hussein: I was raised in a place called Bashayer, where my mother used to work. We were educated against FGM, and I knew my rights on this matter. Later, when I went to school, my friends were undergoing this operation. I told my mother that my friends at school were undergoing female circumcision, and I started discussing this with her. I told her that this was wrong because this is a part of the body. My mother always said to me: "This is your body, and nobody can touch it."

First Interviewer: How old were you?

Iman Hussein: I was 10 or 11 years old.

First Interviewer: At such a young age...

Second Interviewer: Right.

Iman Hussein: Then my mother's friends at work started to ask her: "Why haven't you done the operation to your daughters yet?" Some of our family members, like my grandmother, also raised the issue. I said to my mother then: "This is up to me. You can't do this." I'm into theater, and I watched some shows about FGM...

First Interviewer: And you must have heard stories from your friends at school.

Iman Hussein: Yes, one of them told me that she could not move for 3 or 4 days, and was hemorrhaging. Stuff like that. I was very scared, and I tried to imagine myself in such a situation. Besides, I am small, not like my friends, who are...

Second Interviewer: You are petite.

Iman Hussein: Yes... My mother's friends and our relatives told me that after the operation, my body would develop and I would put on some weight. But I didn't want that. I wanted to stay the way I am. This is my own private matter. So I told my mother that I was not doing this. She was also against it, but every now and again, she would say: Maybe we should consult a doctor? But I said: No way. What doctor are you talking about?! Why should I let a doctor see me? This is my own private matter.

Second Interviewer: Iman, we'd like to hear your message to girls your age or younger, who might find themselves in this situation one day.

Iman Hussein: Your body is yours. You are the one who will have to deal with the pain and everything. In order to avoid the pain of sexual harassment, FGM, or things like that, you must confront it with all your might. Our body deserves to be protected from these things.

Second Interviewer: I salute your courage and your position against all the pressure.

French company Total preparing to drill off Cyprus for natural gas, says ministry source.

French company Total preparing to drill off Cyprus for natural gas, says ministry source. (Famagusta).

Total, along with Italy's ENI and Exxon Mobil, was awarded licenses for hydrocarbons exploration by Cyprus last month.

The ministry source said Total plans to drill in block 11 of Cyprus' exclusive economic zone, which shares a boundary to the south with the giant Egyptian Zohr natural gas well, the largest ever field discovered in the eastern Mediterranean.

"We do not know yet when the drill will start, but we were notified that it will be soon," the source said.

The Zohr discovery by ENI reinvigorated interest in the eastern Mediterranean natural gas as the drilling was done in carbonate layers, whereas previous successful natural gas drilling was carried out in lime layers.

A Total official said recently that the company's interest in Cypriot block 11 was prompted by its proximity to the Zohr discovery, estimated to contain 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Cypriot experts have said that block 11 sits on an undersea mountain range known as Eratosthenis, which was considered to be the source of all hydrocarbons in the eastern Mediterranean.

The news about the impending drilling comes as efforts to solve the Cyprus problem are nearing a peak, with guarantor countries Greece, Turkey and Britain joining in discussions about security arrangements.

Turkey objects to drilling by Cyprus without the active participation of Turkish Cypriots, who pulled out of the government and the state 53 years ago.

The discovery of natural gas in Cyprus' continental shelf by United States-based Noble Energy and nearby discoveries by Israel is considered by analysts to be a factor strongly influencing Turkey's interest in solving the Cyprus dispute.

Cyprus and Egypt signed a framework agreement last August for the transfer of natural gas discovered by Noble Energy via pipe to Egypt's liquefaction terminals. The gas field, about 85 km off Cyprus' southern shores, is estimated to contain 4.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Some analysts say that Turkey counts on joining in on the proceeds from the gas by offering facilities for a gas pipe through its territory to Europe.
An alternative route for the pipe is from the gas fields to Cyprus and Greece and from there to Prindisi in southern Italy.

This route had originally been excluded because of the high cost involved in the project which calls for a pipe 2,000 km long, most of it on the sea bed, capable of a yearly capacity of 12 billion cubic meters of gas.

But recent revised estimates by the European Union lowered the cost to around 5 billion euros, which is considered by specialists to be a viable proposition.

The director general of the energy ministries of Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Italy are to meet in Brussels on Monday to consider plans for the project.

Their talks will prepare a meeting of the Energy Ministers of the four countries scheduled for next month in Jerusalem.

Outrage as photos emerge of Egyptian 7 and 4 year old children ‘engaged to be married’.

Outrage as photos emerge of Egyptian 7 and 4 year old children ‘engaged to be married’. (AA).

News of the ‘engagement’ of two Egyptian children – announced by the seven-year-old boy's father - has sparked uproar for what could potentially be among the youngest victims of child marriage.

The issue of forcing young children into engagement or marriage is an ongoing problem in Egypt as the government claims it is to enforce harsh penalties to counter the practice.
The engagement ceremony photos of Zain, a 7-year-old second grader, and his 4–year-old cousin Faridah hit the internet by storm and provoked a debate on social media over the ‘rights’ and wrongs of the practice.

According to some tweets from sources close to the children's family in the al-Qalyubia province, Faridah’s father selected his nephew as the future husband for his daughter as an “incentive for excelling academically at school,” a decision that apparently received the backing of the family.

According to other sources, a dowry of $,1000 (18,000 EGP) was paid to the girl’s family with the agreement that both children would wed when they reached legal age.

Video - Egyptian TV Host Moussa Congratulates Trump: 'The Muslim Brotherhood Have Bought all the Anti-Diarrhea Drugs in Egypt'.

Egyptian TV Host Ahmed Moussa Congratulates Trump on Victory: The Muslim Brotherhood Have Bought all the Anti-Diarrhea Drugs in Egypt. (Memri)

Egyptian TV host Ahmed Moussa hailed President-elect Donald Trump's victory, saying that he had "taught a lesson" to Clinton and the Obama administration, the "allies of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood."

Clinton, he said, had "planted the seeds of terrorism in the Arab world and the Middle East." 

Reassuring his audience that Trump's problem was with the terrorists, not the Muslims, he mocked the Muslim Brotherhood, saying that following Trump’s victory, "they bought up all the anti-diarrhea drugs in the country." Moussa made the statements on his Sada Al-Balad TV show on November 9.

'Saudi Arabia Deviated from True Islam, Acting against Islamic Teachings': spokeswoman of the Muslim Association of Greece.

Muslim Brotherhood follower Anna Stamou

'Saudi Arabia Deviated from True Islam, Acting against Islamic Teachings': spokeswoman of the Muslim Association of Greece. (IFPnews).

According to a report by IRNA, as translated by IFP, Anna Stamou,(Stamou says she was born an Orthodox Christian but "found the answers to her questions" in Islam ) the press officer and spokeswoman of the Muslim Association of Greece, said on Wednesday, November 2, that Saudi rulers have moved away from Islam since a long time ago, and are acting against the teachings of Islam.

She referred to the ban imposed by Al Saud regime on women’s driving, and said such a ban is only exercised by Saudi Arabia, and no Muslim country has prohibited its women from driving.

“I don’t know based on which Islamic teaching they prevent women from driving,” she added.

“Another case of Saudi rulers’ deviation from Islamic teachings is that Muslim women are not allowed to benefit from their legal inheritance, while in Islam women should also receive inheritance.”*

“Freedom of speech and thought are among the teachings of Islam, but people in Saudi Arabia are deprived of the right to express their views. Saudi citizens are not allowed to play a role in their destiny,” she added.

She further pointed to the West’s efforts to spread Islamophobia, and said that Saudi rulers are adding fuel to such efforts by depriving their citizens of their basic rights, while Islam is the religion of peace and peaceful coexistence of followers of all religions.

“Islam has always encouraged its followers to having peaceful coexistence with other human beings, and has introduced religious minorities in Islamic countries as the integrated part of Muslim countries’ citizens with equal rights,” Stamou noted.

Hmmm......Islamic laws concerning female inheritance.......
* As usual the truth is a completely different story:
 1. She is a hardcore Muslim brotherhood groupie.
2. She is deceitful on what the Koran teaches.

Allah, the Exalted, stated in the Glorious Qur'an:

(Allah commands you as regards to your children's (inheritance); to the male, a portion equal to that of two females.)

[4:11]

Those who misunderstand Islam claim that Islam does injustice to women in terms of inheritance. They opine that it is unfair to grant the male a double to that of the female even though they are children of the same parents. Allah, the Exalted, offered a full and detailed method of women's inheritance in the Qur'an and Sunnah, and if an unbiased student of knowledge reflects on the details, he or she will discover the fault of this opinion.

To begin with, Allah has determined all the shares of all the relatives in respect to their relationship to the deceased. As He the Most Wise said:

(There is a share for men and a share for women from what is left by parents and those nearest related, whether the property is small or large, an obligatory share.)

[4:7]

Allah has stated three types of shares for a woman's inheritance as follows:

1. A woman will have an equal share as that of the man.
2. A woman will have an equal share to that of the man, or a little less.
3. A woman will have half the share of a man.

This means that the minimum of her shares is half, and considering that a female has no continual financial responsibilities as a child, sister, wife or mother, and these responsibilities are always on the men of the family, this is very generous indeed.

More here.

Video - N.Y.-Based Egyptian-American Activist Ayat Oraby Calls for Economic Boycott of Copts: The Crescent Must Always Be on Top of the Cross

N.Y.-Based Egyptian-American Activist Ayat Oraby Calls for Economic Boycott of Copts: The Crescent Must Always Be on Top of the Cross. (Memri).

In a video posted on her Facebook page on September 21, New York-based Egyptian-American activist Ayat Oraby called the Coptic church "a gang, striving to establish a Coptic mini-state," and "a full-fledged mafia," and described Pope Tawadros as "a criminal." Oraby called upon Muslims to participate in an economic boycott of Copts, saying that: "They must be made to understand that the crescent must be on top of the cross."

Related: I seem to recall her name, and a quick search revealed her 'Muslim Brotherhood hatred' for the Copts.

EGYPT - The four Coptic students sentenced for allegedly insulting Islam flee to Switzerland

EGYPT - The four Coptic students sentenced for allegedly insulting Islam flee to Switzerland. (Fides).

The four Coptic students sentenced to five years in prison in February for allegedly insulting Islam in a video flee to Switzerland, where they will seek asylum.

The Egyptian Ministry of Justice had promised to reconsider the court case (see Fides 08/03/2016), but then there had been no positive developments.

The boys left Egypt in April, moving to Turkey, where they lived in hiding for five months. In early September - according to what was reported by one of them to Morning Star News - the boys, with the help of organizations engaged in the defense of human rights, obtained a special humanitarian visa and reached Switzerland.

"We are grateful to the Swiss authorities and our partners who helped us to reach Switzerland", said Daniel Hoffman, executive director of Middle East Concern, one of the agencies involved in the expatriation of the four boys.

As reported by Hoffman, Switzerland was "the first and only country" to respond positively to the request - also presented to other nations - to accommodate the boys and prevent them from having to end up in Egyptian prisons.

The contents of Fides are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Video - Egyptian Philosopher - Islamic Fundamentalism Will Play a Role in the Destruction of USA

Video - Egyptian Philosopher - Islamic Fundamentalism Will Play a Role in the Destruction of USA. (MEMRI).

Egyptian philosopher Mourad Wahba expressed his views on the dangers inherent in religious fundamentalism in two TV interviews that aired on August 8. Speaking on Egypt's Channel 1 TV channel, he said that the Arab culture was "backward" and that Egyptian mentality needed to be "liberated" from the religious fundamentalism present both in Islam and in Christianity. In a Mehwar TV interview, Wahba said that he had warned of the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism back in the 1980s, when he foresaw that it would play a role in the destruction of the Soviet Union and later of the U.S. "There is inadequate awareness in the U.S. of the dangers inherent in fundamentalism," he said. Channel 1 (Egypt)

Mourad Wahba: Our culture is backward.

Interviewer: Right.

Mourad Wahba: I am generalizing. Our culture is backward. and tries to distance itself from the West, purporting to have some sort of exceptionalism, a special identity. This exceptionalism...

Interviewer: But this is meaningless.

In 1986, or rather, before 1988, the American philosopher John Somerville told me that he would like us to organize an international conference together, and invite Soviet and American philosophers to attend, because the world was under threat of a nuclear war. I liked the idea, and we organized a conference in St. Louis, in the US. At the conference, I told the philosophers that I expected religious fundamentalism, especially Islamic fundamentalism, to play a role in the destruction of the Soviet Union, and after that, to play a role in the destruction of America. That, in my opinion, would free up planet Earth for an Islamic Caliphate. That was the view I expressed in St. Louis in 1986, with the Soviet and American philosophers. They told me that I was a pessimist, and that it couldn't happen. Then, in 1991, the Communist bloc fell, and in 2001, America began to fall with the destruction of...

Interviewer: The World Trade Center…

Mourad Wahba: That's right. To this day - and you can see this for yourself - America is undergoing an internal struggle, and it will continue to face difficulties, because it does not understand the violence of religious fundamentalism.

In the days of Obama... I've written an article about Obama, titled: "A Fundamentalist in the White House," in which I consider Obama to be a fundamentalist, who has six advisors from the Muslim Brotherhood. Now that the US has awoken, you can see the internal struggles raging within it, along with the suicide-bombers. All this is because there is inadequate awareness in the US of the dangers inherent in fundamentalism.

Video - Egyptian MP: 'Egyptian Men Suffer from Impotence, Can’t Satisfy Sexual Urges of Uncircumcised Women.'

Egyptian MP Ilhami Agina Supports FGM: Egyptian Men Suffer from Impotence, Can’t Satisfy Sexual Urges of Uncircumcised Women. MEMRI

Egyptian MP Ilhami Agina was interviewed on Al-Hayat TV following an earlier statement in which he had expressed support of female genital mutilation because, he claimed, over 50% of Egyptian men suffered from impotence and were incapable of meeting the sexual urges of uncircumcised women.

The TV interview turned into a wrangle when host Tamer Amin struggled to defend the virility of Egyptian men, “the most manly men in the whole world,” in his words.

The interview aired on Al-Hayat TV on September 3.

Muslim Brotherhood members converting to ISIS in large numbers inside Egyptian jails.

Muslim Brotherhood members converting to ISIS in large numbers inside Egyptian jails. (NPR).

In the name of fighting terrorism, authorities in Egypt are jailing people for offenses as small as a Facebook post or being at a protest.

Deen, a 47-year-old father and freelance journalist who runs a consulting business, spent five months in a maximum security prison. He was never charged and was finally released in March. What he saw inside scared him: young men, many who hadn't committed crimes, became hardened radicals over the course of their confinement.

"In jail, they become ISIS," he says. "And this is very horrible. Many people — not one or two or three, many."

Many of those whom Deen knew in jail were supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, a party forced out of power in a coup and then outlawed. They were imprisoned by the thousands.

"And I saw even members of Muslim [Brotherhood] become ISIS now," Deen says. "Some of them spent three years now without any real accusation in this very hard condition — so they become thinking that violence is the solution."

Today he sleeps on the floor, with no mattress, in a cell with 10 other people. He told me that ISIS members imprisoned with him try to recruit him frequently. He says there are more than 100 ISIS members inside, and they openly sing Islamic State chants together at night. They bring him food. They talk to him about his father, who was killed in 2013 along with nearly 1,000 others, when the government crushed two sit-ins in Cairo.

They tell him he should take revenge.

When he refuses, he says, they threaten him and call him an unbeliever. He's afraid of them.

"I'm stuck in a circle," he says. "The Egyptian government from one side and ISIS on the other." Read the full story here.

Egypt's al-Azhar 'Moderate' Grand Imam: "apostasy punishment should be death".

Egypt's al-Azhar 'Moderate' Grand Imam: "apostasy punishment should be death". (Australian)

About six weeks ago, in a televised address during Ramadan, the leading Muslim cleric in Egypt, Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar University in Cairo, who is hailed as one of the leading “moderate” teachers in the Islamic world, denounced apostasy from Islam as “grand treason”.

He stated categorically: “Those learned in Islam and the imams of the four schools of jurisprudence consider apostasy a crime and agree that the apostate must either renounce his apostasy or else be killed.”

This prominent cleric has been a critic of Islamic State, of Salafist radicals and of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was appointed by former dictator Hosni Mubarak as grand mufti of Egypt and has been welcomed by Pope Francis to the Vatican.

Yet here he is backing condign penalties for apostasy from his religion. Pew Centre surveys across the Muslim world show that many Muslims do not support such penalties, although most Muslims in Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Malaysia do so.

In (Sunni) Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Somalia, as well as (Shia) Iran, death for apostasy is official state policy and has been defiantly defended against UN principles of the universal human right to freedom of religion. Hmmmm.....there is no Islam 'Light', Islam is Islam. Read the full story here.

Video - Muslim Mob Attacks Copts in a Beni Suef Village in Egypt following Rumor about Church Construction

Muslim Mob Attacks Copts in a Beni Suef Village in Egypt following Rumor about Church Construction

A video, which was posted on YouTube on July 22 and and which circulated on social media, shows a Muslim mob throwing stones at families in the village of Saft Al-Kharsa in the Beni Suef governorate.

The video was shot from the balcony of one of the Coptic families. According to reports, the attacks followed the Friday sermons at the local mosques and were instigated by rumors that Copts had converted their homes into churches.

albawaba.com reported that the tension started when security forces apprehended Ishaq Fahim, a Copt whose home was used as a church since the nearest church is in another village, 10 km away.

The security forces warned Fahim against using his home as a church. Following the attacks, Fahim was arrested along with the Muslim rioters, and the security forces demanded that he sign a commitment that he would not turn his home into a church.

Related: EGYPT - Still delays for the approval of the law on the construction of churches

EGYPT - Coptic Archbishop: sectarian attacks increase, one every ten days

EGYPT - Coptic Archbishop: sectarian attacks increase, one every ten days. (Fides).

An appeal to ask the police to enforce the law protecting citizens from any sectarian discrimination was launched yesterday by Anba Makarius, Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of Minya, after the series of incidents which in recent weeks have again recorded a sharp rise in cases of violence suffered particularly by Egyptian Christians.

Now – highlighted Coptic Orthodox Archbishop - such violent attacks from the assault on homes to targeted kidnappings for ransom, are continuing at an average of one every ten days.

In recent times the assault on homes of Christian families perpetrated in the village of Karm el Loofy have been recorded, (see Fides 09/07/2016), the burning of a kindergarten run by Christians and that of crops belonging to Christian owners, occurred in two villages in the governorate of Minya.

The worst incident in recent weeks was the murder of Rafael Moussa, Coptic Orthodox priest of the church of St. George, perpetrated by an armed commando in Al Arish, a coastal city in North Sinai that is only about twenty kilometers from Gaza. Jihadist groups have claimed responsibility for the murder, calling Father Rafael an "infidel fighter."

Video - Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb: In Islam, Unrepentant Apostates Should Be Killed; Homosexuality Is a Disease

Video - Egyptian Astrologist Predicts the End of the World, Muslim Cleric Assaults Him with a Shoe.