WASHINGTON — The Egyptian regime of President Hosni Mubarak is said to be inciting the Muslim majority against the nation’s Christians.
A leading Middle East analyst asserted that the Mubarak regime has facilitated what he termed “severe persecution” by Muslims of Egypt’s Christian minority. Raymond Ibrahim, who lectures at the National Defense Intelligence College, said Egypt has transformed into the spearhead of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has intimidated the nation’s estimated eight million Coptic Christians.
“Indeed, recent events indicate that the Mubarak regime is intentionally inciting Egypt’s Muslims against the Copts,” Ibrahim said.
In an analysis for the Hudson Institute, Ibrahim, also associate director of the Middle East Forum, said Egypt, amid its crackdown on the pro-democracy opposition, has reverted to what he termed medieval persecution of the Copts. He cited accusations by prominent Egyptian scholars that Copts were aligned with Israel and stockpiling weapons and ammunition in monasteries.
“Israel is in the heart of the Coptic cause, preparing to wage war against Muslims,” Mohammed Al Awa, a prominent cleric and former head of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, told A-Jazeera satellite television on Sept. 15.
Al Awa warned that Muslims must halt the rise of the Coptic Church in Egypt. The Muslim cleric charged that Egyptian security forces have been banned from searching for weapons in churches and monasteries.
At the same time, Muslim leaders have been accusing the Coptic Church of abducting Christians who had converted to Islam and forcing them to return to their native faith. The accusations have sparked at least 10 mass demonstrations in Egypt since September 2010, with organizers vowing to massacre Copts.
“The Copts find themselves again in a period of severe persecution,” Ibrahim said. “And there appears to be no one to stop it — not even those most accountable: America’s friend and ally, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his government.”
Ibrahim’s assertions have echoed those of Copts and their co-religionists in the United States. Coptic activists in Washington have been lobbying Congress to protest the Muslim backlash in Egypt and pressure Mubarak to protect the Christian community. Egypt receives $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid.
Instead, Egyptian state-financed clerics have joined the anti-Coptic campaign. On Sept. 26, the state-controlled Al Azhar seminary, the seat of Sunni Islam, threatened Egypt’s Coptics with removal of their citizenship.
A leading Egyptian human rights activist, Magdi Khalil, has asserted that Egyptian security officers were participating in anti-Copt demonstrations. Khalil said the Copts were paying the price of the demise of the 82-year-old Mubarak and the ensuing political vacuum.
“As history teaches, whenever a majority group casts all its woes onto a minority group, great tragedy often follows,” Ibrahim said.
Leave a Reply