On June 12th, the Copts celebrated the feast of the holy apostles. This feast commemorates the martyrdom of St. Paul and St. Peter. It is a liturgical feast in honor of their martyrdom in Rome at the end of the first century. Ever since the Christians have been suffering and murdered in the name of Jesus Christ and the Coptic Christians have been no exception. For 20 centuries, the Copts have suffering from intermittent waves of persecution by the Roman and Muslim rulers. Moreover, they were recently called (the primary target and favorite prey) by ISIS. This explains several terrorist attacks against the Copts most of which ISIS has claimed responsibility of. The group also called on its supporters to continue targeting the Copts.

Gas prices went up this week in Egypt along with the temperature, and led the suffering of the citizens to increase as well. The new raise in gas prices led all prices to increase and the Egyptians just accepted this and continued their lives. I was surprised to hear a poor Egyptian citizen praising the recent decisions considering them helpful to the poor. I dont understand how raising the prices of everything including electricity bills and imposing new taxes may help the poor. Moreover, I dont understand how can the poor think this positive way and ignore their suffering!

For years, prices in Egypt are going up and never stop increasing. This is indeed very hard if you think about it. But the real problem is that about 30 percent of Egypt’s population lives below the poverty line and the increasing prices make them suffer more and more. Yesterday, the government announced that there is no intention to raise the prices of gasoline, diesel and butane gas. Yet, today the Council of Ministers of Egypt approved petrol new price list imposed on gasoline, diesel and butane gas.

London has recently witnessed several terrorist attacks, most of which ISIS has claimed responsibility for, but this week there was another attack against the Muslim community in London as man rams car into crowd killing one and injuring 12 Muslims as they were leaving a mosque after performing special prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. The victims were innocent people as always, but this time, the terrorist attack targeted Mulim people coming out of a mosque. Indeed, the Muslim community was shocked to have its share of the terrorist attacks in London. The horrible incident reminds us of several attacks against Copts in Egypt; Nag Hamadi, Warraq and the Saints Church in Alexandria to name a few, but the reaction of the Muslim majority in Egypt was a little bit different from the one of the Muslim minority in London though the attacks are similar.

An Egyptian parliamentary committee was scheduled to meet this week to debate a law that would ban parents from using “western names. This has happened before in several countries including the Saudi Arabia that banned 50 names in 2014 including Alis, Lynda and Eline! Advocates of the new law said that using such Western names and abandoning Arabic ones will lead to an undesired and radical change in the Egyptian society and culture. Thus, they prefer names like Ali, Omar and Abu Talib which came originally from the Arab peninsula, rather than Mina and Ramsis that came from our Pharonic ancestors.

One day before the holy month of Ramadan started, I wrote that Coptic Christians love this month and share the celebration of this month with Muslims considering it more cultural tradition than a religious one. Yet, the terrorist attack in Minya hours after publishing the article decided to change that. Those terrorists decided to kill 29 innocent people including children who were going to visit St. Samuel monastery that Christians should remember they are the favorite prey of the terrorist groups that kill in the name of Islam. Moreover, it decided to ruin the celebrations of that holy month, just like it did couple of years ago when they killed Egyptian soldiers in Rafah while they were eating their breakfast.

Muslims will start fasting the holy month of Ramadan tomorrow. This is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Prophet Muhammad according to Islamic belief. However, in Egypt Muslims and Christians share the celebration of this month and consider it more cultural tradition than a religious one. Copts enjoy this month and share such festival including the charitable giving and many times fasting during the day, most of the Copts only drink water and abstain from food during the day.

Couple of days ago, Egypt was breathing love and tolerance during the visit of Pope Francis. Yet, this week the smell of hatred and contempt of religion came out with statement of former deputy of Al-Azhar who announced that Christians are infidels and Christianity is a corrupt doctrine. Salafist Call and several extremists in Egypt supported statements of Sheikh Salem Abdul Jalil assuring that it is impossible to explain Islam without talking about Christianity, which means they have to attack it in order to explain Islam. Christians from one hand have the right to believe in God the way they want as long as they don’t hurt other people. On the other hand, Muslim extremists believe they have the right to believe in God the way they want even if they hurt Christians, violate the constitution and divide the community. They say it is a matter of faith, not relationship.

In hard times, it is very hard to find peace or to be thankful. This is true when it comes to medical or financial hardships. However, the bible tells us to be thankful in all circumstances. This is a wonderful way to enjoy life, even in the time of tribulation. It is indeed a matter of faith to seek peace in such hard time. St. Paul invites us in Colossians 3:15-17: And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Copts are Christians, and Christians should follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. God indeed calls his people to live in unity with one another, so it is important to make every effort to live together in harmony with other fellow believers. This is the truth mentioned in the holy bible. “Let us, then, be guided by the teachings and the example of the Apostle Paul, who writes: “[Make] every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph 4:3-6). These verses were quoted in the last paragraph of the joint statement issued by Pope Tawadros and Pope Francis in which they stated that they would not hold baptisms for members of one church wishing to join the other.

As Al-Azhar peace conference is held in Cairo this week, several times did the Islamic scholar Islam Buheiry appear in Egyptian media explaining how does Al-Azhar, the great Islamic institution that was founded more than 1000 years ago, supports the Islamic State terrorist organization and its activities instead of facing it by refusing to call it infidel and teach its ideology in its universities. This comes months after Egypt’s president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi called for “revamping religious speech in accordance with the tolerant Islamic religion. The Egyptian president called on the Awqaf Ministry and Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni authority in the country, to do more to combat extremist ideology and promote a moderate understanding of Islam.

American actor Morgan Freeman said in his interview at “Scoop with Raya” TV show that he visited Egypt several times, and he remembers the most that many cars didn’t have side mirrors. He may be right as many cars do not have side mirrors in Egypt as part of many other negative sides to poverty and retardation in Egypt which I don’t deny in my developing country. Here is another interesting thing: Couple of years ago, Freeman was part of an advertising campaign to promote tourism in Egypt and he has visited several monumental places and unique sightseeing that he could not remember about Egypt. He could only remember the broken side mirrors of Cars! However, I don’t blame him for this as we should promote our strength points and touristic places better than this, not only abroad, but also for the tourists who visit our country.

The Coptic Christians really appreciate martyrdom and many of them hope one day they will go to heaven as martyrs. This fact coincides with the terrorist attacks that have been targeting Coptic churches for years at feasts to turn the prayers into funerals and the celebrations into mourning. As a Copt, I should say that losing one’s life is considered heavenly gift for the martyr, and we have always been proud that the Coptic Church has offered a lot of martyrs since its very beginning. I believe such appreciation to martyrdom in the Coptic Church comes as sacrificing one blood was considered the greatest offering and sacrifice to make. However, I believe that there are even greater sacrifice and continues suffering that can be more painful than martyrdom.

As the expression “Copts of the Diaspora” has bad reputation in Egypt, some people called to replace it by “Egyptians of the Diaspora” to describe the Coptic community in the West. Indeed, they are true Egyptians even if they live far away unlike those who live in an Egyptian soil and know nothing about belonging to this land and are willing to destroy this country and divide it for the sake of fanatic ideas. In his meeting with representatives of the Egyptian community in America, President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi called the Egyptian community in America to support their homeland in such difficult time, and I am sure they are going to.

The disappearance of a Coptic minor girl has recently become a normal incident in Egypt. Thus, it was not strange to hear that a Coptic minor girl called Marina Nashaat has disappeared recently in mysterious circumstances and there was no real investigation concerning her disappearance as reported by her father. However, there were several strange attacks against Coptic women that occurred this week including two slaying attempts and kidnap attempt to a Coptic minor girl from her house by hundreds of people under the sight of the police. Furthermore, it is very strange that these attacks were somehow connected to covering their heads by hijab as this is the main way to differentiate between Christian and Muslim women in Egypt along with cross tattoo or necklaces. Two Coptic women were attacked with white weapons, one of them in Warraq and the other in Mansiet Nasser, and both were not covering their heads indeed. Yet, they were lucky to survive the savage attack and the matter is currently under investigation by Egyptian police.

I said before that the Egyptians are known for being religious; however this doesn’t mean they have to forget about their suffering with the high prices, unemployment, health issues, education and extremism and so on, and only think about religion. Yet, among their daily suffering, they have time to think about the religion of actresses and rumors about their conversion from one religion to another. Recently, there were rumors about conversion of two Muslim actresses to Christianity, namely Elham Shahin and Nashwa Mostafa. This came after Shahin told a story about a miracle conducted by St. Mary to her mother and later Mostafa had combined the name of Allah with the Holy Spirit in her speech during the 65th session of the Egyptian Catholic Center Cinema Festival chaired by Father Botros Daniel in the presence of a galaxy of artists and media figures.

The Egyptians are known for being religious and being attached to their religion. Thus, they are willing to sacrifice even their lives to defend it. At many times, such love and belonging was interpreted as accepting a miserable life no matter how bad is it. Therefore, many times did the Egyptians accept being occupied and bad governments without really fighting against them. Furthermore, being manipulated by rulers who trade on religion to achieve their own interests was a common mistake in the Egyptian history.

American movie star Will Smith arrived to Egypt on Sunday morning with his family for a short visit while the megastar Amitabh Bachchan will be attending the Luxor African Film Festival in Egypt this month. This should mean that Egypt is safe now and is open for tourists as such visits promote tourism and support foreigners’ visits to Egypt. Smith chose to visit the Pyramids with his family while Bachchan will be accompanying his wife Jaya Bachchan and daughter Shweta Nanda to visit Luxor, which has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-air museum", as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city. Immediately opposite, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples and tombs of the West Bank Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.

International media was talking on February 21, 2017 about the visit of Lionel Messi, the famous Argentinean football star who signed with the Egyptian program TOUR N’ CURE to be its ambassador. He came at the face of an initiative to promote the North African country as a medical tourism destination for hepatitis C patients. The program offers hepatitis C patients, from all over the world, with an effective and affordable treatment package.

If you are among the people seeking positive news in Egypt, you will be glad to hear that US dollar decline against the pound and registered 16 EGP especially as the dollar declined against the pound at unprecedented rates since the flotation on 3 November 2016, to hit EGP 16.00 on Tuesday compared to EGP 19.50 mid-December 2016. Those who stored the dollar are heading to the banks to sell their stock before they lose their profits as economists are advising to not buy dollars in the coming period, because they expect its further decline in the short term.

Couple of years ago, President al-Sisi promised that Egypt will be a great country once again like it used to be in the past. In a study prepared by PWC, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Egyptian economy is expected to grow to be stronger than Canada in 2050. This will only happen if many reforms are carried out in Egypt to face corruption, and nepotism. These reforms can’t be carried out away from the people who should work harder and change their mind from This study is very similar to Egypt's vision 2030, which is an optimistic Sustainable Development Strategy to develop Egypt by the year 2030 that many people underestimate. All Egyptians are dreaming that Egypt will be one of the greatest nations all over the world. Thus, stop dreaming and start working.