الأربعاء، ديسمبر ٢٨، ٢٠٠٥

Imagine....

Imagine if you will, your neighbors break into your house, steal your money, beat you up, harass your kids...

Then they do it again....and again.

Obviously you keep reporting them to the police.

But every time you report them, the police sit YOU down and start lecturing you about the law, and that the law says stealing is a crime...so is battering and harassment..Etc. So you see these things can't have happened because they're against the law.

Ridiculous plot isn't it? Yet it does happen every day in Egypt.

Coptic girls disappear...mostly minors. Then their families are summoned to the police station where they are informed their daughter has converted to Islam and married a Muslim. Sometimes the families are allowed to see their daughters, sometimes they're not even told where the girls are.

You see in Egypt, the law says no minor can change religion except with their guardian's permission. Also, any person wishing to convert must be allowed a session with a religious instructor (a priest) before the conversion is official. Apart from the fact that a minor can't marry without a guardian's permission.

So given all the above, you'd think it's a clear cut matter. The law has been violated and the perpetrators have to be brought to justice. Right? Wrong!

Why? Well, there are 3 problems facing the Copts in Egypt:
1) The fundamentalists: they hate all that is civilised and different from them. A bunch of people so entrenched in ignorance. They think it's their duty to strike terror in the hearts of all who don't share their beliefs. In order to do this, they kill Copts (have you heard of Al Kosheh massacre?) burn their homes, churches businesses, and of course kidnap their daughters and sometimes wives and forcibly convert them.

2) The government: they have a great philosophy when it comes to the Copts "don't know, don't care". It doesn't concern them because the Copts have never really spoken up or complained before. We've been a pretty tame quiet bunch you see. And of course there are the matters of corruption and bribes.

3) Good, moderate Muslims: You might wonder, why are they a problem? Well they're the ones who are so fond of telling US how great Islam is and that no way would a true Muslim commit such crimes, and that these people are not true Muslims....Etc.

They're the people I want to direct this message to.
Believe me, we know about the Quranic verses that say you shouldn't force anyone to believe, and that Christians and Jews are people of the book and Muslims have to be good to them... (la ikrah fi el deen, and Allah yahdy man yasha'a) we know all that...we studied it at school and know it like the back of our hands.

But what good does that do us? Do you really think those fundamentalists give a damn? You think they're there going
-"Listen Mustafa, we go at dawn and burn that guy's shop...you know he's a Copt, and infidel...he deserves it"
-"No wait here Hassan. It says here that Copts are people of the book and we have to be good to them. Besides he's a neighbor and the Prophet talked about 7Aq el gar"
-"oh ok...we'd better not then"

please guys, we know you're good people and you have the best intentions. But your denial of our plight hurts just as much as the actual abuse we suffer. At least admit there is a problem so we can all solve it together.

الاثنين، ديسمبر ٢٦، ٢٠٠٥

تريدين الإرتباط بمسلم؟ رساله مفتوحه

أختى فى المسيح...
سلام و نعمه
أولا أعتذر عن عدم تمكنى من اللغه العربيه... سامحينى فأنا أعيش فى الغربه منذ أكثر من 15 عام.

كثر الكلام فى مصر عن إختطاف البنات المسيحيات و أسلمتهن. شئ محزن بل و مفزع حقا. ولكن كثرت الإدعاءات أيضا أن إسلام البنات هو يتم بإرادتهن و بدون أى ضغط. بل قرأت تعليقا من فتاه قبطيه تزعم أن فتيات مسيحيات يجدن الامان فى الزواج من المسلم. و هذا هو ما أردت أن أتكلم عنه.

أولا: الموضوع مش موضوع تعصب دينى. لا يوجد حق رده فى المسيحيه و السيد المسيح لم يرغم أحد أبدا أن يؤمن به. فإذا كان بإرادتك الإسلام فعلا فليكن ذلك بناء على إقتناع شخصى بهذه العقيده.

ثانيا و الأهم: أتذكر ما قالته صديقه مسلمه زمان " البنت اللى تبيع دينها علشان واحد راجل مالهاش أمان لانها ممكن تبيع أى حاجه"
يعنى إحذرى يا أختى الحبيبه... حتى اللى ممكن تتنازلى علشانه عن المسيح مش هيآمنلك.

إحذرى أيضا من إدعاءهم بإنك تستطيعى البقاء على دينك. كيف يمكنك البقاء على مسيحيتك و انتى محرومه من تناول الجسد و الدم و الشركه الروحيه؟ كيف تبقين على إيمانك و أطفالك يتربوا على إيمان آخر. لا تصدقى أبدا الصوره الرومانسيه لهذه الزيجات التى قد تكونى رأيتيها فى أفلام و مسلسلات. الواقع سيكون قاسى و صعب.
الأم داءما أول من تعلم أطفالها الصلاه و الإيمان. إزاى هيجيلك قلب تحفظى اولادك القرآن بدل ما تحكيلهم عن حياة السيد المسيح؟

فى أحد البرامج التى تعرضها الفضاءيات سؤل شيخ "لماذا يمكن للمسلم أن يتزوج مسيحيه و لا يمكن للمسلمه أن تتزوج مسيحى؟" كانت الإجابه أن الإسلام يعترف بالمسيحيه و العكس غير صحيح. و الرجل سيد البيت و البيت يتبعه هو. فكيف للمسلمه أن تتزوج ما هو أدنى منها و تتبعه. أدنى يا أختى الحبيبه. هذه نظرتهم لنا. فكيف ترضى لنفسك هذا الذل؟

أخيرا تذكرى أخواتك اللى فعلا إتخطفوا و أُجبروا على الإسلام و العيش فى الهوان. هن ضحايا التعصب و الكراهيه. يعنى حرام ندّى المجرمين عذر علشان يقولوا "ما هى فلانه إتجوزت مسلم بإرادتها"
الرب يقوى إيمانك و يثبتك فيه.
أخلص تحياتى

الخميس، ديسمبر ٠٨، ٢٠٠٥

Watch it and Weep

http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ClipMediaID=90173&ak=null
Watch it and weep over the loss of innocence. That's what little Egyptian children are learning?? Instead of love, they teach them hatred? A little girl, not much older than my own little girl swaddled in a veil and talking about "hate"....what a disaster. Where are her toys and colorful books and childhood fairy tales and nursery rhymes and games with her little friends??

I'm not against teaching children about their religion and faith. In fact we're buying a children's illustrated Holy Bible for our daughter for Christmas. But to completely rob a child of all the joy and innocence like this is a crime.

The big disaster is that a lot of Muslims will tell you "so what? Jews kill Arabs every day in Palestine. What about what they teach their kids from Talmud about hating Muslims (although that doesn't make sense because I suspect the Talmud was there before Islam came about)"

The fault in that logic (if you can call it that) is that by the same token, all Americans should teach their kids to hate Muslims after September 11. All Australians should have also done so after the Bali bombing. All Copts should teach their kids the same as a result of what we suffer everyday at the hands of our Muslim Egyptians...Where would it end?

American, European and Aussie kids went out and collected donations to help Tsunami victims and Pakistani earthquake victims without a thought of what religion they are...At the time where the Saudis who are obscenely rich as well as staunchly Muslim sat around watching. In the mean time little Egyptian girls are being taught to judge others and hate those different from herself before they are even taught how to read or write.

And they wonder why the world thinks they are backward?!