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Egypt: Islamists
vs. Copts
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As Egypt's presidential elections come to a
close, with the Brotherhood claiming presidential victory, the future of
Egypt's indigenous Christians, the Copts, looks bleak.
Earlier, after the first presidential
elections of May 23-24, any number of Islamists denounced them,
bemoaning that it was the Copts who were responsible for the secularist
candidate Ahmed Shafiq's good showing.
Even though Shafiq is a "remnant"
of the Mubarak regime, which Copts
suffered under, he is widely seen as the much lesser of two evils. As one
Copt put it:
"What did they want us to do? Whoever says that supporting Shafiq is a
crime against the 25 January Revolution, we ask him to advise us whom to vote
for? The sea is in front of us and the Islamists are behind us."
Regardless, Abu
Ismail, the Salafi presidential candidate who was disqualified, expressed
"great disappointment" in "our Coptic brethren," saying
that "I do not understand why the Copts so adamantly voted for Ahmed
Shafiq," portraying it as some sort of conspiracy between the Copts, the
old regime, and even Israel: "Exactly what relationship and benefit do
the Copts have with the old regime?"
Tarek al-Zomor, a prominent figure of the
Gama'a al-Islamiyya—the terrorist organization that slaughtered some 60
European tourists during the Luxor Massacre—"demanded an apology from
the Copts" for voting for Shafiq, threatening that "this was a
fatal error."
To an extent, of course, Islamist attacks on
Copts were due less to Coptic votes for Shafiq, and had more to do with the
usual animosity for Christians—an animosity that seems to seek any excuse to
attack them. By virtue of their greater numbers, many more Muslims did in
fact vote for Shafiq than did Christians; even the Islamic Sufi Council of
Egypt expressed its support
for Shafiq instead of for the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate who advocates
Islamic Sharia law.
Realizing that threats—with which Copts are
well acquainted—would not prevent Christians from voting for the secular
candidate, in a campaign that borders on the comical if not absurd, Islamists
began imploring the Copts to vote for the Brotherhood's Morsi—who some say vows
to return the Copts to bondage. Islamist kingpin Yusuf
al-Qaradawi himself called on politically-active Muslims to go and meet
with the Copts and "explain to them" how they have nothing to fear
from an Islamist president, and convincing them that "Shafiq will be of
no use to you."
Most adamant was popular TV personality
Muhammad Hassan, a cleric who appeared several times assuring Copts that they
have "nothing
to fear from the application of Sharia," which he portrayed as the
best guarantor for their safety and freedom. A day before the elections, Hassan
implored the Copts "to elect Sharia and vote for Dr. Muhammad Morsi,
promising them peace and security, and that they would live in prosperity
under Sharia law."
Sheikh Muhammad Hassan is, incidentally, the
same cleric who says Islam
forbids Muslims from smiling to infidels—except whenever Muslims need to
win them over. One week before he began beseeching Copts to vote for Sharia,
he was in Saudi Arabia making disparaging
comments about "those who say Allah has a son," the Koran's
condemnatory language for Christians.
What does all this mean? For long, the
various Egyptian regimes and Islamist organizations have downplayed the
numbers and significance of the nation's Christians, the Copts, sometimes
saying they amount to as few as 5% of the total population—a statistic which
many Western resources quote without hesitation. Others, however—some pointing
to the Coptic Orthodox Church's birth and death registry—say Egypt's Copts
amount to up to 20% of the total population. Based on the Islamist response
to the first presidential elections, such a figure may not be so farfetched.
Either way, Copts constitute the largest
Christian bloc in the Middle East—a circumstance that has other implications.
As seen during the presidential elections, large numbers of Christians may
help stave off, or balance out, the Islamization of Egypt.
But if Egypt's government does go
Islamist—and early presidential elections indicate it is—fears of persecution
on a grand scale become legitimate precisely because of the Copts' large
numbers, which will work against them under an Islamist regime : millions of
powerless Christians will be seen as troublesome and unwelcome infidel
enemies, now not just by "extremists," but by the government as
well—which, as history teaches (e.g., millions of Christian Armenians under
Muslim Turks) is often the first step to genocide.
Raymond
Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center
and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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