. . . . . . . . . . الاتحاد العالمى للاقليات من اجل السلام: Building a Church is a 'Sin' Against God, Says Egyptian Muslim Council

Friday, September 4, 2009

Building a Church is a 'Sin' Against God, Says Egyptian Muslim Council

By Mary Abdelmassih

A controversial Fatwa (Islamic edict) prohibiting the construction of new churches in Egypt has provoked considerable discussion and spiraled into a crisis, involving the Fatwa Council, Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh, Christian and Muslim religious personalities, and the media. It was also reported on 8/26/2009 that the jurists who issued the Fatwa are under investigation on orders of the Grand Mufti and the Justice Minister.The Fatwa (Arabic) in question was issued by the Al-Azhar affiliated "Dar el-Eftta" -- Fatwa Council for Islamic interpretations of laws in Islam. It stated "the will of a Muslim towards building a Church is a sin against God, just as if he left his inheritance towards building a nightclub, a gambling casino, or building a barn for rearing pigs, cats or dogs."It was issued in response to an inquiry sent to the Fatwa Council by Dr. Naguib Gabraeel, President of the Egyptian Union Human Rights Organization (EUHRO), asking its opinion as to what he read in an article written by a prominent writer about what was stated in a textbook taught to third year students, Muslims and Christians, at the Faculty of Law, Cairo University, on Inheritance and execution of wills. Gabraeel's inquiry pertained specifically to a quotation from the textbook "it is forbidden for a person to donate money for what would lead to sin, such as donating in his will money towards build a church, a nightclub, a gambling casino, towards promoting the alcohol industry or for building a barn for rearing pigs, cats or dogs." He went on to inquire "So what is the Shari'a position to what was mentioned especially concerning the will of a Muslim to donate for the building of a church or a monk's cell? If the answer is prohibition, aren't these houses where the name of God is mentioned? Is not Christianity a recognized religion according to the Egyptian constitution? There are also a lot of wealthy Copts and Coptic businessmen who donate towards the building of mosques."The Fatwa Council replied affirming the correctness of what came in the textbook and issued a Fatwa on September 10, 2008 (document number 1809), which is also published on its official website.To highlight the reason for this "sin" the Fatwa went on to state: "Salvation in the Christian religion is the belief in Jesus as Lord, where Muslims fundamentally disagree on it. Muslims believe that Issa [Jesus in Arabic] peace be upon him, is a slave of Allah and His Messenger, and that Allah is one. He begets not and He is not begotten and there is none like unto Him. So if it is seen that one sect has deviated from this absolute Monotheism, then according to that person's own religion he is forbidden to donate for the erection of buildings where Allah is not worshiped alone."According to Mohammed el-Maghrabbi, deputy chief of the Faculty of Law, and author of the controversial textbook, what he wrote is a principle agreed upon by all Islamic jurists. He added that a will, if devoted by a Christian for building a Church, is forbidden and sinful and is considered in Islam as separation from God. So it is also illegal if a non-Muslim wills his inheritance towards building a Church or a Synagogue.This Fatwa has shocked many as it classified churches with nightclub, gambling casinos, and places for rearing pigs and dogs, which are considered 'unclean' animals according to Islam and Muslims.Christians were angered and considered it a clear and explicit insult to all Christians. The renowned theologian Reverend Abdelmassih Bassit, Professor at the Coptic Orthodox Clerical Institute, called it "a shocking Fatwa."Gabraeel called on the government and Al-Azhar to state their position clearly on the building of churches, as well as prayer meetings held in premises even if they were 'unlicensed' as churches.On August 19, 2009, a delegation from EUHRO, headed by Dr. Gabraeel, paid a visit to Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, who said that the Fatwa was wrong and untrue and that Muslims can make voluntary contributions to build churches, as a church is a house for "worshiping and tolerance" and that "Shari'a does not prevent Muslims from donating to the building of a church, as it is his free money. He also affirmed that Al-Azhar does not object to the "unified law for building places of worship."Tantawi added that building churches should be left to the Christians and Muslims are not allowed according to Shari'a to interfere in other faiths, "because religion, faith and what a person believes in is a relationship between him and his God." He also called on the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa to hold the five jurists who issued the Fatwa accountable.Reactions to Tantawi's statements resulted in a crisis in the Islamic circles. Most Muslim leaders criticized him publicly and supported the Fatwa "as being issued by people qualified in Islamic Shari'a law" or "a Muslim should not donate to the building of a church when Christians do not believe in the religion of Mohammed, or him being a prophet."Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa gave the excuse that he never ratified the Fatwa. Nevertheless, his answer was not convincing as it was an official Fatwa issued by the authority headed by him, stamped and signed by five of the Council's jurists. He failed to give an opinion about it.Less than 24 hours after the EUHRO visit, Grand Sheikh Tantawi backtracked on his statements saying it was a misunderstanding on the part of the EUHRO delegation and the newspapers. He commented that what he meant was for non-Muslims to donate in their wills for church building and reaffirmed that it is forbidden for a person to donate money for the construction of "sinful" places, such as bars and nightclubs.The reason for his change of heart, according to the Egyptian independent newspaper Al-Destour, was that 'high sources' contacted the Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh and the Grand Mufti to resolve the crisis raised over the Fatwa "in order to avoid any sectarian strife or an inconsistency between Al-Azhar and the Fatwa Council."On his part EUHRO chief Dr. Gabraeel answered the Grand Sheikh saying that it is his right to change his mind but he cannot deny what he said during the visit, and that his statements were caught on the video recording of their meeting. He added that when Grand Sheikh Tantawi was asked by the delegation if a Muslim can donate from his own funds towards building a church, he answered that he is free to do so, and when asked if this was his personal opinion or the Shari'a stand on this issue, Tantawi answered that it was according to Shari'a Law. The video was sent to the media and was uploaded on all Coptic advocacy websites.Many Christians believe that this Fatwa has exposed the true stance of the religious authorities and the government towards churches, and the reason why it refrains from passing the long awaited bill on the "unified law for building places of worship," which would put an end to all problems related to building and restoring places of worship. It is also believed that since Islam views church building as a sin, passing this bill would therefore be in conflict with Shari'a Law -- which is the main source of legislation as stipulated in the Constitution -- and this would be something that the government would avoid at all costs.

By Mary Abdelmassih

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The Cultural Genocide of Egypt's Christian Copts By Mary Abdelmassih

The Egyptian Government, In a new step in long-term and premeditated process of obliterating Coptic identity and history, has decided to change the name of the Coptic village of Deir Abu Hennis, in the Upper Egyptian province of Mallawi, Minya. The village was founded in the 4th century AD on the grounds of the Monastery of St. Hennis the Short, a much revered Coptic Saint. The new name chosen by the Government is "Valley of Peppermint."
More than four thousand Coptic villagers demonstrated on Thursday June, 11 against this forced change, vowing to fight to the end to keep the name of their village. They carried banners with slogans such as 'Let us all die and May Abu Hennis live for ever' and "We, the inhabitants of the village refuse the change in the name of our village and we want it to remain as it is. It is our right and our demand"
The inhabitants of the village, who are 100% Copts, are not only angry because the Minister of Justice,issued an order to change the name of their village into "Valley of Peppermint," but because this decision was made on 4/12/2009, but they were informed on 6/9/2009.
Upon hearing of the news, the Copts in Deir Abu Hennis village sent on 6/9/2009 a plea to all concerned authorities and Coptic NGOs, expressing their anger at this decision. They made a petition which was signed by 35,000 village inhabitants.
They believe that this change in the names of Coptic villages is premeditated and did not come as a result of a whim on the part of the local council, otherwise why does the Minister of Justice get involved, even though this does not gall under his jurisdiction.
In an effort to pacify the villagers, the Governor of Minya immediately contacted the director of Mallawi City Council and sent him to the village to try and calm the angry crowd, and promised to reverse decision of the Minister of Justice to change the name of the village. However, he told them that this will require some time and promised to try to have this done by next Thursday.
Attorney Dr. Naguib Gibraeel, President of the 'Egyptian Union' Organiztion for Human Rights filed a petition against the Minister of Justice, the Governor of Minya, the Minister of Culture and the Prime Minister in his capacity as head of ministers and governors, to stop the change in the name of the village of Deir Abu Hennis. His plea was founded on grounds that this decision is an obliteration of the Egyptian identity and the Coptic history as an integral part of the history and civilization of Egypt.
Numerous Egyptian satellite channels including OTV, owned by Coptic tycoon Saweiress, filmed the demonstration and interviewed the demonstrators. According to Free Copts reporters, State Security tried to prevent the media and attempted to confiscate the video tapes, but were prevented fom doing so by the villagers.
The government tried previously in 1964 to change the name of the same village, also to "Valley of Peppermint", but faced with the villager's opposition, it reversed its decision and the order was cancelled through a Presidential decree issued in 1979.
Dr. Gibraeel has been protesting for several years against the changing of Coptic names, whether of streets, squares or areas and substituting them with Islamic names, which has been going on for some time, and spreads all over Egypt from Aswan to Alexandria. To raise awareness of this on-going phenomenon, he previously filed petitions against the Governor of Cairo for substituting Coptic names of places of interest with Muslim ones around Cairo.
Coptic Bishop Thomas of El-Qussia Diocese, Upper Egypt, gave a lecture last July at the Hudson Institute entitled "The Experience of the Middle East's largest Christian community during a time of rising Islamization." He talked about the dilemma of the Copts who kept their Christianity, and identity as Egyptians who have their own culture, in the face of their fellow citizens who have adopted an Arab culture and identity. "Now when you look at a Copt, you don't see only a Christian, you see an Egyptian who is trying to keep his identity versus another imported identity that is working on him," he said.
As a reaction to this lecture more than 200 articles appeared in the Egyptian Media attacking Bishop Thomas, asserting the Arab and Islamic identity of Egypt, others called for putting him on trial charged with 'treason', while one Imam called for his death.
Dr. Gibraeel also appealed today to the Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, responsible for safeguarding the cultural heritage of Egypt, asking for his intervention. A meeting is scheduled between them on Thursday, 6/18/2009.
The village of Abu Hennis is placed on Egypt's tourist map, and tourists come from all over the world to visit it as part of the history and culture of the Copts of Egypt going back to the 4th century AD. "It represents an assault on the country's national wealth, and gives rise to sectarian tensions, as the name of Deir (Monastery) of St. Hennis the Short, is a source of religious pride to the Copts, and part of the history of the martyrs of the Coptic Orthodox Church," he said.
As a warning, Dr. Gibraeel vowed that if this matter of Deir Abu Hennis village is not resolved, he would bring the matter to UNESCO, being the responsible authority for safeguarding cultures and civilizations. This would be a source of great embarrassment to Egypt and its Minister of Culture who is presently one of the contenders for the President of UNESCO, while in his own country 600 years of Coptic history and culture is being obliterated.

The Plight of the Afghan Woman

The vast majority of Afghanistan's population professes to be followers of Islam. Over 1400 years ago, Islam demanded that men and women be equal before God, and gave them various rights such the right to inheritance, the right to vote, the right to work, and even choose their own partners in marriage. For centuries now in Afghanistan, women have been denied these rights either by official government decree or by their own husbands, fathers, and brothers. During the rule of the Taliban (1996 - 2001), women were treated worse than in any other time or by any other society. They were forbidden to work, leave the house without a male escort, not allowed to seek medical help from a male doctor, and forced to cover themselves from head to toe, even covering their eyes. Women who were doctors and teachers before, suddenly were forced to be beggars and even prostitutes in order to feed their families.
Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, many would agree that the political and cultural position of Afghan women has improved substantially. The recently adopted Afghan constitution states that "the citizens of Afghanistan - whether man or woman- have equal rights and duties before the law". So far, women have been allowed to return back to work, the government no longer forces them to wear the all covering burqa, and they even have been appointed to prominent positions in the government. Despite all these changes many challenges still remain. The repression of women is still prevalent in rural areas where many families still restrict their own mothers, daughters, wives and sisters from participation in public life. They are still forced into marriages and denied a basic education. Numerous school for girls have been burned down and little girls have even been poisoned to death for daring to go to school.

Who are we

The World Minorities United for Peace is a non-profit organization established June 5th, 2009. Our motto is a verse from the bible: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Our goal is to establish peace for all the minorities in the Middle East and around the world as well. We believe that peace in Israel, which is a minority in the Islamic Middle East, will cause peace in the whole area. That’s why we believe that minorities in the Middle East and in Israel should unite together for peace.
We believe that peace for the minorities in the Islamic countries should be an international goal for the whole world. Peace is meaningless if countries keep signing treaties for human rights and religious freedom while Islamic countries do not enforce the implementation of such treaties.
The Minorities include:
- The Copts and the Baha’is in Egypt.
- Christians in Iraq
- The Maroonites in Lebabon
- Christians of Darfur in Sudan
- Christians in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran.
- Bosnia
- Returning the region of Crete to Greece.
- The disarming of all fanatic Islamic groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and others. We believe that those who are not working for peace are working against it. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

. . . . . . . . . . الاتحاد العالمى للاقليات من اجل السلام