In a recent article for the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, correctly observed that,
Few things foster a sense of common humanity as much as the adherents of one religion offering warm holiday wishes to members of another. Yet some people reject this geniality on principle. Islamists—Muslims intent on returning to a medieval law code—despise any holiday not sanctioned by Islam. This archaic and bigoted attitude provides context for the New Year’s Day massacre in New Orleans that left 14 dead and dozens injured. Islamic theologians of the Middle Ages set out the general approach. Ibn Taymiya (1263-1328) argued that joining non-Muslims in their festivals is equivalent to “agreeing to infidelity.” His student Ibn al-Qayyim (1292-1350) specified that congratulating non-Muslims on their holidays “is a greater sin than congratulating them for drinking wine, having illegal sexual intercourse, and so on.”
The examples he gave (mostly from Western countries) of violent incidents over the past few years are quite pertinent.
Indeed, seldom does a Christmas approach without some Muslim “warning” fellow Muslims against congratulating the infidels during their celebrations. This past Christmas was no different.
Just a few days ago, a popular Algerian soccer player in Egypt, Ahmed Qandousi, offered several such warnings on his Instagram. In one he wrote, “I am a Muslim: I do not attribute a son to God. This is my doctrine. Nor do I celebrate with those who attribute a son to God.” In another he wrote, “Your celebration of the New Year, O Muslim … only exposes the extent of your ignorance concerning your religion and the weakness of your doctrine.”
Qandousi’s remarks were such that they provoked several Coptic Christian groups in Egypt to launch a campaign demanding that such a divisive figure, who is not even a citizen, be banned from participating in Egypt’s sports: “We also demand,” the campaign adds, “that the Minister of Interior deport this player to his country, Algeria, as Qandousi mocks the Christian religion, incites hatred against Christians, and mocks the celebration of New Year’s Eve. In addition, he constitutes a crime of contempt for religions, a threat to national unity, and incites sectarian strife, which is punishable by law.”
So far, no action has been taken by the club or the authorities.
To be sure, if the shoe was on the other foot—if a Christian publicly mocked (however unthinkable that might be) or urged fellow Christians not to recognize Muslim holidays in Egypt—being “deported” or “punished by law” would be the least of his worries.
But of course, for the Copts of Egypt, being told that they celebrate a false holiday is the least of their worries come Christmas time. More alarming are the violent attacks on them and their churches that not unfrequently spark out during this festive season.
The most recent one occurred last Christmas Eve in Egypt (which, according to the Orthodox calendar, occurs on January 6—thus, January 6, 2024): Muslim fanatics torched a prayer tent in the village of Mansheyet Zafarana in the Abu Qurqas district, Minya Governorate (images of this “tent church,” before and after the fire, below).
This was déjà vu. Exactly five years earlier, on Christmas Day, 2019, Muslim fanatics torched the actual church building that had once stood in that village. So for last year’s Christmas, Coptic Christians set up a prayer tent with chairs inside, near where their torched church once stood, in an effort to celebrate Christ’s birth. Not ones to concede to such a small concession, fanatic Muslims torched that church tent as well.
This incident is hardly the first time that fanatic Muslims torch, not just churches, but church tents specifically set up for holiday worship, both in Egypt and several other Muslim nations (as noted here). As one example, after 45 years of waiting, the Christians of Nag Shenouda, Egypt, finally got a permit to build a church in 2016. Some local Muslims responded by rioting and burning down the temporary tent that those Copts had erected to worship under (a different incident from this similar one). Denied, the Christians of Nag Shenouda celebrated Easter in the street, to Muslims jeers and sneers (picture here).
All of this is to say nothing of the many lethal terror attacks to target Coptic churches in Egypt during Christmas and other Christian holidays. Examples follow:
- After Christmas Eve mass, 2010, six Christians were shot dead while exiting their church.
- During New Year’s Eve mass, 2011, a church in Alexandria was bombed; at least 23 Christians were killed. According to eyewitnesses, “body parts were strewn all over the street outside” and “were brought inside the church after some Muslims started stepping on them and chanting Jihadi chants,” including “Allahu Akbar!” (Allah is greater).
- On April 12, 2015, Easter Sunday, two explosions targeting two separate churches took place in Egypt. Although no casualties were reported—hence no reporting in Western media—large numbers could easily have resulted, based on precedent.
- On Sunday December 11, 2016, a cathedral in Cairo was bombed during mass; at least 27 churchgoers, mostly women and children, were killed.
- On April 9, 2017, Palm Sunday, two Christian churches were bombed during mass; at least 50 worshippers were killed.
As for the most recent holiday-timed attack mentioned above—the torching of a prayer tent on Christmas Eve in Mansheyet Zafarana on January 6, 2024—it should be noted that, after the fanatic Muslims had burned the original church building that stood in place of the tent in 2019, the Copts had applied through the official channels for a permit to rebuild it. Six years later, authorization has yet to be granted by the presidential commission that handles such matters in Egypt.
Also, the church building that was torched on Christmas Day, 2019, in Mansheyet Zafarana, was only one of many that were attacked by extremist Muslims or closed down by complicit authorities during that time. As such, the reader is left with a trip down memory lane, based on contemporary reporting of what was happening to Coptic churches in Egypt during Christmas of 2019:
An Islamic terror plot to bomb a packed Christian church on the evening of January 6 [2019], when Coptic Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas, was foiled by police. According to one report, “[F]our explosive devices were planted around the Church of the Virgin Mary and St Mercurius in … Nasr City. Three were removed safely but the fourth, concealed in a bag, exploded when police bomb disposal technicians attempted to deactivate it. Police Major Mostafa Ebeid was killed in the blast, which wounded two other officers and a bystander. The explosion was the latest in a series of incidents apparently targeting Egypt’s Coptic Christian population, occurring the day before Orthodox Christmas eve”….
More generally, between late December and early January, authorities forcibly shut down four more churches in Egypt after angry Muslim mobs rioted to protest their existence. In one instance, on Friday, January 11, more than one thousand Muslims surrounded the St George Church in Minya and demanded its immediate closure. Not only did authorities comply, they evicted the two priests who were holed up inside the church and hauled them off in a vehicle used for garbage. The move prompted “an elated response from a jubilating, gloating mob,” along with triumphant cries of “Allahu Akbar!” (“Allah is greater!”)
Police “behaved with the priests as they would with killers,” one human rights lawyer said. “What happened frightened us,” added another clergyman. “I am a priest and it is possible for the police to cuff me if the extremist neighboring Muslims protest or gathered in front of my church. Things are getting worse, but let us pray to make God keep us in peace.”…
A January 15 report discussing this attack comments that, “In total, Egyptian authorities have closed four churches within the last four and a half weeks. No formal procedures against the attackers of these churches have begun.”
As mentioned, Christmas in Egypt is celebrated on January 6-7, meaning it is too early to know how fared the Copts this Nativity season. One hopes it is better than usual.
SOURCE: RAYMOND IBRAHIM
