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Egypt minister: Niqab is not Islamic

Zaqzuq says in his book he will absolutely not allow spread of face veil culture in Egypt.
 

CAIRO - The Egyptian ministry for religious endowments has weighed into the debate on whether a Muslim woman should wear a face veil with a book arguing that it is not Islamic, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

The independent daily Al-Masry al-Yom published extracts of the book, entitled “The veil is a custom, not worship” by Religious Endowments Minister Mahmud Hamdi Zaqzuq, which the ministry will distribute to mosques.
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Letter From Iraqi Muslim Group Orders All Christians Out of the Country

(AINA) — A Christian bishop received a threatening letter written by Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Muslim group affiliated with al-Qaeda in Iraq. The letter ordered the Christians to leave Iraq en masse and stated it is sending a final warning to Christians in Baghdad and other Iraqi governorates to leave Iraq permanently.

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Freedom of Religion and Belief in Egypt

This report addresses a number of significant developments seen in Egypt in the field of
freedom of religion and belief during the months of July, August, and September of 2008.
It documents an expansion in the geographical scope of sectarian violence and tensions,
reaching from Shubra al-Kheima in Greater Cairo and the district of Atfih in Giza to Naga’
Hamadi in Qena, al-Fashn in Beni Soueif, and Samalut and Mallawi in Minya. The report
also documents interference by security agencies to prevent night prayers and vigils during Ramadan in some governorates and to unlawfully prevent the renovation of churches in the governorates of Beni Soueif and Qena.
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Egypt Bedouins sift through rubbish to survive

Bedouin squatters live on waste left from Egypt’s glitzy coastal tourist resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.
SHARM AL-SHEIKH, Egypt - Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt’s glitzy coastal tourist resort, may seem an unlikely home for Bedouin squatters, but they too live off tourism, or rather the waste left in its wake.

A 20-minute drive from the main highway takes you to a Bedouin squatter area on the city’s outskirts from where Nawal, a young woman, sets out early each day with her younger sister for the main refuse tip, to sift through rubbish.
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Al-Qaeda vows to hurt Obama’s US

The second-in-command of Islamic militant network al-Qaeda has called on Muslims to harm “criminal” America.

In a message purportedly from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda deputy accused US President-elect Barack Obama of betraying his Muslim roots.

He likened him to a “house slave” - who had chosen to align himself with the “enemies” of Islam.
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Bishop Bishoy: Coptic Church to Issue a Book to Respond to Azazil

By   Amr Bayoumi   

The Coptic Church has announced it has published a book to respond to the novel “Azazil” by Dr. Youssef Zaydan, director of the Center and Museum of Manuscripts at Alexandria University. 

Holy Synod Secretary and Damietta and Kafr Sheikh Archbishop Bishoy said the book [Response to Dr. Zaydan and his novel ‘Azazil’] would be on sale at the end of this month.
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Egypt must halt Israel gas deal

A court in Egypt has ordered the government to suspend gas exports to Israel, although it is not clear whether the ruling will be heeded.

It started piping gas to Israel earlier in 2008 under a deal to supply 1.7bn cubic metres a year over 20 years.
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Human Rights Activists Propose Parallel Project to NGOs Law

By   Wael Ali   

The former chairman of the Democracy Development Group, Naggad el-Baraei, has accused Social Solidarity Minister Ali el-Moselhi of seeking to take over NGOs in Egypt.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday to announce the stance of human rights organizations on the Law 84/2002 on associations - currently being amended by the National Democratic Party (NDP), he said the committee formed by the minister to amend this law is flawed, as most of its members are appointed by and close to the NDP and the government.
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St Mark of Alexandria

St Mark’s Church in Alexandria has a deep-rooted history. It dates back to St Mark who, from his base in Alexandria, helped spread Christianity further afield.
In his book on the history of the Alexandrian patriarchs, Anba Sawirus Ben Moqafaa, Bishop of Ashmonein and a major historian of the 10th century, wrote that a church had been in existence since AD62 at a place that since the pharaonic era had been called Bokalia, meaning ‘cow pasture’.
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Human rights to the rescue

MARED (Egyptians against Religious Discrimination) was recently joined by some 30 rights groups in issuing a declaration concerning the situation of the twins Andrew and Mario Medhat Ramsis.
“The verdict issued on 24 September 2008 by the Appeal Court of Alexandria, which stipulated placing the twins Andrew and Mario in their father’s custody, is another kind of discrimination practised against Copts in Egypt,” the statement said.
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U.S. Copts Association 2008-11-17 03:18:21

By   Wael Ali  �
The former chairman of the Democracy Development Group, Naggad el-Baraei, has accused Social Solidarity Minister Ali el-Moselhi of seeking to take over NGOs in Egypt.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday to announce the stance of human rights organizations on the Law 84/2002 on associations - currently being amended by the National Democratic Party (NDP), he said the committee formed by the minister to amend this law is flawed, as most of its members are appointed by and close to the NDP and the government.
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Al-Jihad’s Founder and Mufti Finishes off New Revisions

 By   Ahmed el-Khatib   

Sheikh Sayyed Imam, mufti and founder of al-Jihad organization in Egypt, has finished writing his new revisions. They come in response to the criticism leveled by the armed wing of this group abroad at his first revisions, which he wrote last year and dropped a bombshell worldwide.

Al-Masry Al-Youm will publish this new book by installments starting from next Tuesday, one year after al-Jihad’s revisions and on the eleventh anniversary of the famous massacre in Luxor.
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4,300-year-old pyramid discovered in Egypt

Egypt’s culture minister says five metres pyramid discovered at Saqqara necropolis outside Cairo.
CAIRO - A 4,300-year-old pyramid has been discovered at the Saqqara necropolis outside Cairo, Egypt’s culture minister said on Tuesday.

Faruq Hosni made the announcement at a press conference in Saqqara, an ancient burial ground which dates back to 2,700 BC and is dominated by the massive bulk of King Zoser’s step pyramid, the first ever built.
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Ali Eddin Helal: Egyptians Do Not Want Democracy

By Khalifa Gaballah
Helal National Democratic Party (NDP) Information Secretary Ali Eddin Helal said the Egyptian society is against the government’s attempts to turn to democracy. He added that most of the Egyptian people expect the State to be more interventionist and that when the State says it wants decentralization, they consider it a plot. He referred to an opinion poll carried out by the Cabinet of Ministers which showed that people expect the government to be in charge of everything.
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Syria uncovers ‘largest church’

Archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be the largest ancient Christian church in Syria.

The remains of the building, thought to date back some 1,500 years, were found in Palmyra in central Syria.

A small amphitheatre and two rooms for Christian rituals were also found on the site of the church.

Palmyra, 220km (135 miles) north-east of Damascus, was an important Roman-era desert stop for caravans travelling to Mesopotamia and Persia.
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HRW Calls on Egypt to Stop Using Shoot-To-Kill against African Migrants in Sinai

By   Fathia el-Dakhakhni    13/ 11/ 2008

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized Egypt for using “shoot-to-kill” against African migrants and refugees that attempt to cross into Israel along the porous Sinai border.

It also criticized the Israeli government for forcibly returning those migrants to Egypt, which is considered an “unsafe country for migrants”, as HRW put it.
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Egypt halts doctor visas to Saudi

The Egyptian government says it has placed a ban on Egyptian doctors going to work in Saudi Arabia in the wake of two medics being sentenced to jail.

Rauf Amin Mohammad al-Arabi, who had worked for the royal family for 20 years, was sentenced to 15 years in jail and 1,500 lashes.

He and Shawky Abd-Rabbu were convicted of prescribing morphine to a princess - who then became a drug addict.
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New clashes erupt between Coptic Christians and Muslims

Cairo, (AKI) - Minority Coptic Christians have clashed with Muslims in southern Egypt, according to Christian MP Ibrahim Zanuni quoted by pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat. The violence erupted at a Muslim funeral on Tuesday in the Coptic majority village of al-Tayba in al-Maniya province after Muslims accused Copts of throwing stones at mourners praying at a funeral, Zanuni said.

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Coptic Culture

Ancient Egyptian Literature, Part VII

by Ed Rizkalla

 “Didactic literature” is one of the most important genres of ancient Egyptian literature. In this article the writer, with the grace of Christ the Lord, continues the review for this type of ancient Egyptian literature to help shed more light on some of the Coptic cultural traits, values and norms. Ancient Egyptian literary creations outline several common themes, e.g. “Justice” or “Maat”. The literature of the Middle Kingdom includes several Didactic compositions including the tale of the “Eloquent Peasant”. The main theme for the “Eloquent Peasant” is “Maat”, and equality of all people before the law regardless of their back ground, social status, wealth, or rank. The tale has other important themes, such as the ancient Egyptians’ esteem for fine speech, and literary creations. Thus, the tale sheds more light on the Coptic cultural attribute for the respect for education, knowledge and love of wisdom.
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Sectarian violence erupts in Tayyiba, Minya

In the aftermath of a minor dispute

By Tereza Kamal

Last Tuesday saw yet another incident of sectarian violence erupt in the village of Tayyiba, in Samalout, Minya, Upper Egypt. Security authorities imposed a curfew on the village following a spate of violence during which the Muslim villagers waged an attack against the homes and shops of the Coptic villagers. Some 50 Copts and 10 Muslims were detained pending investigation.
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