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.

Education in Egypt needs to be amended sooner than later. Sisi always keep asking to renew the religious speech but never mentioned to renew the education method and approaches. Education for Egypt should be the first priority not the last one. Sisi started to spent Billions of Egyptian pounds in building the new capital and different projects and forget that to build a new society you have to start with building their brain.

Pope Francis’ visit to Egypt brought seeds of unity and love, but Christians decided to refuse the decisions of unity between Catholic and Coptic Orthodox Churches. Moreover, the dark forces in Egypt decided to beat all the results of this visit by declaring Christianity a corrupt doctrine and declaring Christians as infidels. Statements of Sheikh Salem Abdul Jalil violate the successive constitutions of Egypt starting with 1923 till the current one since they state that Egyptians are equal before the law and enjoy equal civil and political rights. Unfortunately, Sheikh Salem and his supporters didn’t start such attitude, as other Sheikhs like Yasser Bohamy used to issue fatwas that are documented on the official website of the Salafist Call. Yet, the great disaster is that such explanations come out from Sheikh Salem, who was a member of the committees to renew the religious discourse, and Sheikh Abdullah Rushdie, Secretary of Religious Affairs in the Future Party, who have strong ties with the regime, which shows that the attitude of calling the Copts infidels is taking an official form.

I know that there is still a controversy over the statements of Sheikh Salem Abdul Jalil, especially after he confirmed today on CNN that he did not apologize for saying that the Christian faith is corrupt. I suffered from depression and grief, not only because my faith was insulted, but because I cannot bear to hear more explosions of terrorist attacks against more churches. God indeed has chosen the righteous people to be His martyrs. Few years ago, I watched Professor called Ahmed Abdo Maher attacking our faith, but today he denounces hatred and sedition. Therefore, I feel God hand is working.

Today, is the sixty-ninth anniversary of the setback of the Arabs. The Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian and Egyptian armies joined together against the Israeli army, but they were defeated. The four armies fought against one army for Palestine, but they lost and failed to destroy the Zionist entity as they claimed. Israel won more lands than before the war, and Egypt, without the treaty of 36 with Britain, would have lost the Suez channel to Israel. The Palestine crisis began with the Partition Plan of November 1947, and ended in March 1949, when the last Arab country signed truce agreements with the so-called Zionist enemy and Zionist gangs! The Arabs underestimated the Israeli army and they lost. They were many, but had less efficiency. The Israeli soldiers had participated in the Second World War, as its soldiers were fighters in Allied armies.

Long long time ago El-Sisi requested to review religious speeches and speakers; but we still have glitches every where! What is the hold and where are the glitches no body knows we all see and feel something is still wrong! When we see Al Alazhar leader makes decisions and dismiss speakers or dismiss and prevent some of them you feel we started the correction path but like it or not you see those dismissed guys being guests in several TV talk shows here or there and still spreading their wrong ideologies you must wonder what is WRONG?

Among the turbulence and political instability, I would like to take the time to focus on another aspect of our country, tourism. Only recently, a group of archeology students discovered 17 new mummies in central Egypt. Using radar technology, the students were able to locate the burial chamber of mummies, which they believe go back as far as 1500 years, the time of the Roman Empire. Why is this important? I'm focusing on this, because I read something quite interesting in the news. A writer was discussing the implications of this find, and that perhaps Egypt itself has means to try and lure tourists back to it's natural heritage. The country is basically advertising for itself and trying to get back on the world stage but for different reasons. Currently, all people hear about and speak about is the political instability, the persecution against the Copts, the rising prices and inflation. This is the first positive thing to emerge from Egypt for a long time.

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.

I was in Alexandria at the time of the terrorist bombings that targeted the Church of St. George in Tanta and St. Mark Cathedral in Alexandria on Palm Sunday. I was with my wife on our way to the Cathedral of St. Mark to deliver a letter to His Holiness Pope Tawadros in order to hold an interview with him for Fountain of Love magazine on the occasion of his visit to Australia in August. We were only a few meters away from the terrorists when we heard the sound of a loud explosion accompanied by the sound of broken glass and people screaming. The place was full of chaos as police were evacuating the area.

Many times did the media, intellectuals and clerics repeated the phrase “Terrorism has no religion”. The truth is: “Terrorism has an ideology made from wrong interpretation of religious texts. Many people claim that terrorism has no religion and forget about its religious origin that enables the terrorists to kill police men and soldiers who protect this country in addition to innocent Coptic citizens. Nowadays, terrorism all over the world decided to have certain rules and ideology. Terrorists depend on religious texts and mix them with extremism and hatred to make new religion. We are now witnessing bloody terrorism and political violence confined to a great ideology. Intellectual terrorism and bloody terrorism are two sides of one coin that is sweeping the world. Therefore, we have to search for the reasons for such phenomena.

Christians of Egypt owe their steadfast faith to one of the youngest apostles of Jesus Christ, the Saint Mark the Apostle who came from faraway lands to Alexandria until his shoes were dilapidated. As the Egyptian cobbler was fixing St. Mark’s shoes, he was injured and called on the one God to save him. St. Mark decided to introduce him to Christian faith. St. Mark started to spread Christianity in Alexandria to face the wrath of the pagans and the Romans.

Yes we are at war but where is the enemy? We all know Egypt is at war on TERROR, However, we on the title does not just refer to Egypt the referee here includes Syria, Iraq,, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia Kingdom, Yemen, Libya, and the middle East in General this area is at a continuous war since ever! Great we identified who are the “We” but wars in general need an enemy so who is that ENEMY? Watching the news for a few moments will immediately suggest the Enemy is none other than Israel! But R.I.P Sadat, Begin and Carter in Camp David agreed that 1973 war was the last war which means Israel can not be the enemy any more! For the negotiations leading to the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty, see Camp David Accords. For the summit in 2000, see 2000 Camp David Summit.

It seems that we will keep talking about the Egyptian Economy for long time. Lately the Central bank of Egypt has decided to raise the interest rate again for the third time in a row. The president of the central bank and its committee seems insisting in not listening to any advice from the economists except from international monetary fund. The measurements that the central bank tries to take, I believe will lead Egypt to declare Bankruptcy sooner or later. It’s impossible and insane to increase the interest rate to curb the inflation, while you don’t have any other source of foreign currency after tourism stopped and the productions decreased.

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.

I would like to thank Mr. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for inviting His Holiness Pope Francis of Rome to bless the land of Egypt and its people. I also thank His Holiness Pope Francis for his visit. Moreover, I would like to thank those who contributed to the success of this event, especially the organizers and the Egyptian armed forces and police. The Egyptian people have welcomed the Pope and attended the divine Liturgy. Millions of Egyptians and people around the world watched the visit and the speech of the Pope that was full of love and tolerance, calling for peace and renouncing the violence and terrorism.

I ask everyone to be careful and not to follow the rumors concerning the joint statement of Catholic and Orthodox Churches. We should trust our leaders whom cling to the right faith and shall change nothing in that account. We should also realize that we have so much in common. This joint statement of Catholic and Orthodox Churches was written carefully to express the teachings of the holy bible, and those who attack the statement have not read it carefully. We should appreciate such efforts that lead to the unity of the church, the body of Jesus Christ as the strength of the church comes with love, peace and good news for all.

Dr. Sahar Nasr, Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, said that Upper Egypt is one of the most important areas that will have investment incentive in Egypt. She added that several meetings were held with the investors to monitor their needs. Moreover, a mega project will be held in Upper Egypt funded by a World Bank loan of $ 500 million. The first installment will be 125 million dollars to improve the living conditions of Upper Egypt.

This last week was full of events I had loads of comments but time had run out and not going to miss this week article because I was unable to decide which most important event should be reflected in my weekly article? Not gone a miss my meeting with my readers -if any- even if I had to make my shortest weekly article! First comes First We started the week with the 4th youth annual convention and they had shown -the youth- so much awareness of almost all events but they are still youth which by default means lack of education knowledge and expertise! It shows clearly in 1st day when first questions or comments or demands to the president-you name it as you like- were about clearance to pass from unsafe zones to safer one and the president did not properly understand its hidden meanings his response was just an apology which is not the correct response! We need first to remind the readers or people in general :- WE ARE AT WAR!

We can’t ignore the visit of Pope Francis without pausing and thinking about the implications of this visit, and what this visit could do for Egypt in general, and more specifically for the Christians around the world. We can’t deny that this visit will open many doors that were closed before. One of these doors, is “hope.” I consider hope the most important door for Egyptians and for everyone around the world. When I say hope, I mean the hope for living in peace, not clashing between civilizations as Samuel Huntington was trying to portray in his book by the same name, “Clash of Civilizations.”

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.

As Pope of the Vatican will visit Egypt on April 28-29, he will meet with Sheikh of Al-Azhar and Pope Tawadros in Cairo. On that occasion, heads of the Muslim Sunnis and the Catholic and Orthodox Churches will meet, and I find this a great opportunity to announce a major humanitarian initiative of coexistence. The three of them can declare a mutual code of ethics, humanity and respect.