Category Archives: Coptic persecution

Al Azhar Scholar: Christian Copts Will Pay Jizya

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Raymond Ibrahim:

By on March 6, 2013 in Islam
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Jihad Watch

During a recent interview, Dr. Mahmoud Shu‘ban, a professor at Egypt’s prestigious Al Azhar University, made clear that the Copts, Egypt’s Christian minority, will pay the jizya—what is often referred to in the West as an Islamic “poll tax.” According to the Al Azhar professor, “If non-Muslims were to learn the meaning of ‘jizya,’ they would ask for it to be applied—and we will apply it, just like Islam commands us to.” His logic is that, if Christians pay the jizya, they would buy for themselves “protection,” hence why they themselves should want to pay it.

Dr. Mahmoud Shu’ban

Most Western apologists for Islam also claim that jizya money was historically paid to protect conquered dhimmis, though they often imply protection from outside enemies, non-Muslims. In fact, the jizya was/is protection money from surrounding Muslims themselves—precisely Shu‘ban’s point: pay up and maybe your churches won’t be burned and your girls routinely abducted; because you are not paying, you are not protected from such things and have no right to complain.

Incidentally, this Shu‘ban is the same scholar who went into hysterics on live TV, insisting that an Egyptian Muslim man who tore a Koran “deserves to be struck by the sword in a public place—and as soon as possible; as soon as possible; as soon as possible!”

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Copts Protest Church Attack in Egypt — Church Attacked Again

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AINA:

Posted GMT 2-18-2013 23:6:45

(AINA) — Hundreds of Copts rallied on Sunday evening against the torching of St. Georges church in Sarsena on Friday (AINA 2-16-2013), as well as the escalation of destruction of churches by Muslims. Several Coptic rights groups organized a march from Shubra, a densely populated area in Cairo, to the High Court building in downtown Cairo, to “demand justice” as the organizers said.

Demonstrators demanded the Sarsena church be rebuilt and the perpetrators be prosecuted, in addition to the assailants of previous attacks on the churches during the last two years since the ousting of Mubarak. They also demanded an end to the customary “reconciliation” meetings forced on Copts by the authorities, in which Copts lose all their rights.

“We are going down to the streets for the church torched in Fayoum,” said Yvonne Mosad, PR of Maspero Coptic Youth Union, “and against the customary reconciliation meetings held every time something takes place against the Copts. We want the application of the law.”

The Coptic demonstrators included a large number of children accompanying their parents. A large number of liberal Muslims joined the demonstration.

The marchers chanted “Maspero, Maspero,” calling for the completion of their march to the State radio and TV building in Maspero, the site of the massacre that killed 24 Copts and injured over 300 (AINA 10-10-2011).

According to officials, the attack on St. George’s Church was triggered by a Muslim family living next to the church, who complained about the sound coming from the church during mass on Fridays and Sundays. The Muslim family has been living next to the church for 15 years and had not complained previously. During the attack on Friday, Muslims voiced the real issue, which was the church is “an unlawful neighbor to the Muslims who live adjacent to it and must therefore be moved.”

The Tamiya security chief said in an interview on Al-Hayat independent Egyptian channel that the torching was not of a church but a small room annexed to the Coptic community center and the church wanted to build it without a license. He also said that what was torched was a single wooden chair. But the church said it is not a community center but a proper church.

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#MyJihad – Beheading Copts

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H/T SDAMATT

. . smite above the necks, and smite every finger of them!” — Koran 8:12

There’s a gruesome double murder mystery in New Jersey.

Police say who did it’s not a mystery because someone is under arrest but the mystery is why the accused killer cut of two men’s heads and hands.

The victims are reportedly from Jersey City, but their remains were found buried in a town southwest of Philadelphia.

On the streets of Jersey City along Bergen Avenue, to the naked eye it’s not obvious.
But to members of the close knit Coptic Orthodox church the pain is real.

“It’s a shock, something like this doesn’t happen to people like that,” a resident said.

Now they know two members of the church have been brutally murdered. Continue Reading →

Abducted Egyptian Christian Girl Possibly Smuggled to Libya

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H/T Mary A

AINA:

Posted GMT 2-2-2013 1:26:15          Bookmark and Share

(AINA) — Hundreds of Christian Egyptian girls having been abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men since the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. But the case of 14 year old Sarah has become symbolic, bringing to confrontation Muslims groups, whose members are implicated in the kidnappings, and the Coptic Church and human rights organizations.

On Sunday, September 30 Sarah Ishaq Abdelmalek, born on August 1, 1998 in the town of el-Dabaa, 130 kilometers from Mersa Matrouh, was on her way to school with her cousin Miriam, when they stopped at a bookshop. Miriam went ahead of Sarah to school, leaving Sarah behind. Sarah never made it to school and no one has seen her since then. Her father was hesitant at first to contact the authorities for fear of harm to his family and his other children by the Salafi Muslims, who have a large presence and influence in Mersa Matrouh and Alexandria. He finally filed a report with the police on October 20, accusing 27 year old bookshop keeper and Salafist Mahmoud Abu Zied Abdel Gawwad, a married man and father of children, of abducting Sarah and marrying her against her will (AINA 11-2-2012).

“Sarah was smuggled across the borders to Libya with the help of the Interior Ministry,” said Ebram Louis, founder of the Coptic non-governmental organization Association of Victims of Abduction and Enforced Disappearance (AVAED), which handles cases of abducted Coptic minors. Louis blamed the interior ministry for all the disappearances of Coptic minors, saying the ministry colludes with the Muslims.

The recently elected Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II said the kidnapping and forced conversion of Sarah is a “disgrace for the whole of Egypt.” During a meeting with a delegation of the Journalists Syndicate Council at Anba Bishoy Monastery in Wadi Natrunon on November 12, he said “Can any family accept the kidnapping of their daughter and her forced conversion?”

The Pope dismissed the term “emotional ties” for what is happening among young men and girls from different religions, cited as the apparent cause of conversions by the Salafists. In an interview with Al Ahram Daily he said it is “sentimental coercion of girls who have not reached adulthood.” The Pope said it is now common among Coptic families not to send their daughters to school because of fear kidnapping and forced conversion. Anba Pakhomios, the bishop of Mersa Matrouk, said Coptic families are increasingly choosing not to send their girls to public schools, making them study at home and only go to school during the examinations.

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Muslims attack Christians in Egypt

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Christian Today:

Thursday, 24 January 2013, 10:28 (EST)
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Thousands of Muslims from Marashda and surrounding villages attacked eight Coptic homes and businesses, including five pharmacies, which were looted and torched. Coptic-owned cars were also torched.

According to a story by Mary Abdelmassih of the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), the attacks were caused by rumors that a 55-year-old Coptic man, Nader Masoud, sexually assaulted a 6-year-old Muslim girl.

The attacks on the village, which has a mostly Christian population, started with several Coptic businesses being torched and the Church of Abu Fam having its cross demolished and glass smashed.

AINA reported that Anba Kyrollos, Bishop of Nag Hammadi, said a medical check of the Muslim girl proved her “virginity,” but the attacks “took place after the Muslims knew of the medical verdict and the sexual assault was only a rumor.”

Bishop Kyrollos said Masoud turned himself in to police for his own safety. …

 

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Report from Egypt: Violent clashes outside Al-Marshada Church in Upper Egypt

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The following report has no link for reference. It was in an email to me from Asaad Alepti, an Egyptian Copt activist now living in Australia. Typically his information is quite reliable.

Eeyore for Vlad

UPDATE: AINA

————

Violent clashes have erupted between security forces and lawless Muslim protesters outside Al-Marshada Church in Upper Egypt, as police attempted to arrest individuals storming the building, following the alleged sexual assault of a six-year-old Muslim girl by a Coptic man.

As the violence mounted, an Al-Marshada village Imam Sheikh Ali Hafez called on local youth to form security committees to prevent looters from breaking into shops owned by Coptic Christians.

Al-Marshada church, which is located in Qena governorate, closed its doors Friday morning pre-empting another attack by the angry protesters who marched to the church following Friday’s prayers.

The church had already been raided at dawn and a number of shops in the village were torched by Muslims who claimed that a 45-year-old Coptic shop owner molested a six-year-old Muslim girl.

However, a number of the Muslim villagers deny the accusations saying that the shop owner has been always friendly to the young girl and treated her as his own child. Eyewitnesses further added that the false accusations were circulated by the girl’s salafists neighbours and not by her family, the salafists in the area object to the prescence of any churches in the district stating “a mosque will be built in its place”. Muslims in the distriict have also been warned against befriending or trading with the “Coptic infidels.”

Bishop Kirollos of Naga Hamadi told Al-Ahram Arabic language news website that the young girl has received a medical check-up and it was proven that she is still a virgin.

Bishop Kirollos added that the priests have handed the accused shop owner over to the police for his own protection, as they feared he will be killed.

“The terrified priests have locked the doors of the church in fear of further attempts to raid the building,” said Kirollos who added that some protesters have repeatedly tried to break through the security barrier surrounding the church and threatened to kill the priests.

Security forces have been blocking the entrances and exits of Al-Marshada village and the church all day in an attempt to avoid further clashes.

Meanwhile, head of security in Qena Salah Mozeed said that investigations are ongoing, adding that the girl’s family will be brought in for questioning.

Family Jailed In Egypt For Becoming Christian

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Sky news:

A mother and her seven children are jailed for 15 years for converting to Christianity and changing their names.

Egyptian Muslims and Christians celebrate Coptic Christmas eve mass, at Tahrir Square in CairoEgyptian Christians celebrate Coptic Christmas mass in Tahrir Square, Cairo

Egypt family jailed Beni SuefThe family were jailed in Beni Suef

  • A mother and her seven children have been jailed for 15 years in Egypt for converting back to Christianity.

Nadia Mohamed Ali and her children Mohab, Maged, Sherif, Amira, Amir and Nancy were sentenced at the criminal court in Beni Suef, 70 miles south of Cairo.

Another seven people involved in the case were also sentenced to five years in prison, according to reports.

Nadia was born a Christian, but converted to Islam when she married husband Mohamed Abdel-Wahhab Mustafa 23 years ago.

He later died, and she planned to convert back to Christianity along with her family.

In 2004, after converting back to Christianity, they attempted to get new identity cards with their Christian names on them.

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Muslims Demolish Church Building in Egypt

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AINA:

(AINA) — Hundreds of Muslims came out of mosques today with hammers and destroyed a social services building belonging to the Coptic Church while chanting Islamic slogans. Security forces arrived after the building was completely razed. The 100 square meters social services building in the village of Fanous, Tamia district in Fayoum province, 130 KM south west of Cairo, had all the necessary government permits; it had a reception hall on the first floor and a kindergarten on the second.

But the Muslims insisted that it would become a church.

A meeting had taken place beforehand between the village mayor and elders from Muslim and Coptic sides and it was agreed that only the first floor was to remain and the second be demolished.

Mosques in surrounding villages called on their microphones this afternoon on Muslims to go and help their Muslim brethrens in the village of Fanous, because Christians were “building a church.” According to rights activist Nader Shukry of Maspero Coptic Youth Organizations, nearly 5000 Muslims took part in demolishing the church property with their hammers, while shouting “Allahu Akbar.” He said no one was arrested, not even the imams who called on Muslims to demolish the building; their calls fall under the crime of “enticement to violence.”

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Islamic Caliphate? Growing Persecution of Coptic Christians Under Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood

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Catholic.Org

Egypt’s new constitution “prepares the way for an Islamic caliphate,” according to the acting leader of Coptic Catholics, who is among three bishops to condemn the document as a fundamental attack on human rights.
Bishop Kyrillos William, Administrator of the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria

Bishop Kyrillos William, Administrator of the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria
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CAIRO, EGYPT( Catholic Online) – The history of Christianity in Egypt dates back to the visit of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph to that land. (Matt. 2) It predates any claimed Islamic history in that land. To the Christians who live in that historic land, the history of the Christian Church is the history of Egypt.

The Evangelist Mark brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Egypt in 61 A.D. and planted the Church there, deep in the soil of that land of martyrs and saints. Egypt has a proud, long, unbroken and vital Christian heritage. We must pray for, stand with, and defend Christians in Egypt as hostility toward the Christian faith grows under the Morsi regime.

The majority of Christians in Egypt are Coptic Orthodox. The very word “Copt” comes from an early Greek name for Egypt. Christianity and Egypt have a long and holy history. In addition, there is a strong, ancient and devout community of Coptic Catholic Christians. The relationship between the two Churches is strong – and growing stronger under the persecution which they face together.

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Egyptian Cleric Threatens Egypt’s Copts with Genocide

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Rightside News:

From Right Side News
Reads: 313

“The day Egyptians…feel you are against them, you will be wiped off the face of the Earth.” — Dr. Wagdi Goneim

Mohammed MorsiEgyptian President and Islamist Mohammed MorsiIslamic leaders continue to portray the popular protests against President Morsi and his recently passed Sharia-heavy constitution as products of Egypt’s Christians. Recently, Muslim Brotherhood leader Safwat Hegazy said in an open rally, as captured on video:

A message to the church of Egypt, from an Egyptian Muslim: I tell the church — by Allah, and again, by Allah — if you conspire and unite with the remnants [opposition] to bring Morsi down, that will be another matter…. our red line is the legitimacy of Dr. Muhammad Morsi. Whoever splashes water on it, we will splash blood on him.”

More recently, Dr. Wagdi Ghoneim — who earlier praised Allah for the death of the late Coptic Pope Shenouda, cursing him to hell and damnation on video — made another video, entitled, “A Notice and Warning to the Crusaders in Egypt,” a reference to the nation’s Copts, which he began by saying, “You are playing with fire in Egypt, I swear, the first people to be burned by the fire are you [Copts].” The video was made in the context of the Tahrir protests against Morsi: Islamic leaders, such as Hegazy and Ghoneim, seek to portray the Copts as dominant elements in those protests; according to them, no real Muslim would participate. Ghoneim even went on to say that most of the people at the protests were Copts, “and we know you hid your [wrist] crosses by lowering your sleeves.”

The heart of Ghoneim’s message was genocidal: “The day Egyptians — and I don’t even mean the Muslim Brotherhood or Salafis, regular Egyptians — feel that you are against them, you will be wiped off the face of the earth. I’m warning you now: do not play with fire!”

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Muslims Attack Coptic Christians in Egypt After Mass

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AINA.Org

(AINA) — Yesterday Muslim Salafis assaulted Christians after Sunday mass, angry that Christians from neighboring villages who have no churches attend mass in the village of Tala, el Fashn, in the Beni Suef Governorate. The pastor of St Georges Church Father Cheroubim Chehab could not go out of church for hours after mass.

Eyewitnesses reported that as Christians left the church, they found a huge mob of mostly young Salafi Muslims waiting for them, armed with batons. The assault lead to 5 Copts being hospitalized after suffering broken limbs, and the torching of two cars which transported the congregation from the other villages.

The pastor of the church contacted the police, asking for help, however, they appeared hours later, only after Dr. Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization, complained to the ministry of interior against el Fashn police and told them that no forces appeared in the village, and gave the names of six of the perpetrators and asked whether the police in el Fashn are afraid to arrest them. “I want the whole world to know,” he said, “that a priest and his congregation are presently held captives in their church, afraid of the Salafi Muslims surrounding the church.”

Cheroubim said that he looked from the roof of the church and the mob, from Tala and neighboring villages, was huge. “80% had beards.” He said that he stayed inside the church as he “wanted no friction with the Muslims nor with the angry Copts, who wanted me to take other steps.”

Later in the afternoon high officials from the security and police departments in Beni Suef arrived to the village for a reconciliation meeting, and while they were preparing for the meeting, Muslims went into Coptic homes and attacked the inhabitants. Five were hospitalized.

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Muslim Egyptian Woman Cut Hair of Christian Schoolgirl in Subway

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AINA:

(AINA) — 13-year-old Coptic girl Maggie Milad Fazez filed a police complaint in Zaytoun, a suburb of Cairo, against a veiled woman who secretly cut her hair during their journey on the subway. The child said that as she entered the crowded train car she inadvertently pushed the veiled woman to go inside, which led to a verbal exchange between them. The veiled woman told Maggie, who has long hair, “You don’t know what I will do to you.”

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Egypt veiled women cut off “infidel” Christian’s hair, throw her out of metro

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| 13 November 2012 | 0 Comments

Bikyamasr:

A nigab-clad woman holds an Egyptian flag at a protest in Tahrir Square.

CAIRO: A Christian woman reported that she had her hair cut off by two veiled women inside the Egypt’s capital city Cairo’s metro and thrown out of the car while being called an “infidel.”

Copts United, which reported the incident on its website, said the unnamed woman also suffered a broken arm from being thrown from the car.

The Coptic Christian advocacy group said this was the third such incident on the metro in the past 10 days and nearly at the same location.

Naguib Gebrael, the head of the Egyptian Federation for Human Rights, reportedly called the ministry of interior to “find a way to arrest those veiled women who belong to the Organization of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” an underground movement that is not officially sanctioned or supported by the government.

This is not the first such hair-cutting occurrence in the country over the past few weeks.

Earlier this month, an Egyptian court in southern Egypt handed out a 6-month suspended sentence in a child abuse case that had sparked outrage among liberals and supporters of freedom of religion.

The teacher, Eman Abu Bakr, was convicted of child abuse after she cut off the hair of two schoolgirls who did not wear a traditional higab, or headscarf.

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Two Egyptian Christian Boys, 9 and 10, Accused Of Defamation Of Islam

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AINA:

(AINA) — Two Coptic children were detained on charges of Defamation of Islam. Mina Nady Farag, 9, and Nabil Nagy Rizk, 10, both from the village of Ezbet Marco in Beni Suef, were arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center until Sunday, pending investigation into a complaint submitted by the village Muslims. The children will appear again before prosecution on Sunday.

Nabil’s father told Copts United that his son does not read or write. He said the children were searching in a pile of trash to find “something useful” when they came over a plastic bag with torn papers. They were stopped by a Salafi sheikh, who took the children to church to report them to the priest. “He insisted that the priest stop mass and come outside to talk to him,” said a resident of the village. The priest went out and chided the two boys.

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