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 Grand Imam of al-Azhar Tantawi dies during Saudi visitEgypt's top Muslim cleric dies of heart attack
Egyptian religious leader Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, the grand sheikh of al-Azhar, has died of a heart attack during a visit to Saudi Arabia, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported on Wednesday. Tantawi, 81, was in Riyadh to attend the King Faisal awards ceremony, it said. Tantawi's moderate views has rankled hard-liners. more.... |
 A barometer of religious intolerance
There is no surer measure of Egypt's transforming identity over the last half century than its treatment of its Coptic Christian minority, which comprises about 10 percent of the country's 80 million citizens. As Egypt becomes less Arab and more Islamic, removing itself ever farther from former president Gamal Abdel Nasser's brand of left-leaning secular nationalism (not to speak of the liberal cosmopolitanism that prevailed from the 1920s through the revolution of 1952), the latest signs from t more.... |
 Freedom matters
Sometimes we wonder why the world takes such an acute interest in our affairs. What difference does it make, we ask, whether we observe human rights, respect women, or avoid sectarian strife? Why is it, we ask, that Egypt is always on the spot? Why does the world get so uptight about Nagaa Hammadi? more.... |
 Egypt: Ancient Monastery Called a Sign of Coexistence
An eight-year, $14.5 million restoration of St. Anthony’s Monastery, said to be the world’s oldest Christian monastery, was officially unveiled by Egypt on Thursday. Officials said the 1,600-year-old monastery, in the Red Sea Mountains, was evidence of Christian-Muslim coexistence. The unveiling came a month after Egypt’s worst sectarian violence in over a decade, in which gunman killed seven people outside a church on Coptic Orthodox Christmas Eve. “The announcement we are more.... |
 World's oldest monastery in Egypt opens doors for pilgrims
Saint Antony, also known as Anthony the Great and Father of All Monks, was the first known ascetic going into the wilderness. He was born in 250 AD to a Christian family in Egypt. After the deaths of his parents, he sold his property, distributed money among the poor and became a hermit. more.... |
 Egypt restores monastery, touting religious harmony in wake of drive-by shooting
ZAAFARANA, Egypt — Egypt's chief archaeologist unveiled on Thursday an extensive renovation of the oldest monastery in the world, touting the work at the 1,600-year-old site as a symbol of peaceful coexistence between the country's Muslims and Christians.It's the message Egypt's government has been emphasizing ever since a lethal drive-by shooting at a church a month ago in a southern town: No troubles here — dismissing new worries over sectarian divisions between Egypt's mainly Muslim populatio more.... |
 Ancient monastery's restoration hailed as symbol of interfaith peace in Egypt
APA- Cairo (Egypt) The Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawas revealed on Thursday the discovery of the oldest Coptic antique under St. Anthony’s Church, ( a cell for monks ) dating back to 400 AD with paintings in the ancient Coptic language, at the oldest monastery in the world. more.... |
 World's oldest monastery restored
The monastery is believed to be 1,600 years old. The government-sponsored restoration project cost over $14m (£8.9m) and took more than eight years. The monastery is a popular site for Coptic Christian pilgrims. The restoration comes soon after Egypt's worst incident of sectarian violence in a decade, when six Copts were shot dead on Christmas Eve. more.... |
 Archaeological discovery in Egypt under the world’s oldest monastery
APA- Cairo (Egypt) The Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawas revealed on Thursday the discovery of the oldest Coptic antique under St. Anthony’s Church, ( a cell for monks ) dating back to 400 AD with paintings in the ancient Coptic language, at the oldest monastery in the world. more.... |
 Activists protest religious discrimination
Egyptian secular activists staged a sit-in Wednesday in downtown Cairo calling on the state to end discrimination against Egypt's Christian minority and to bring security officials that have failed to address sectarian crimes to justice.The protest was organized by the newly-established National Committee for Combating Sectarian Violence (NCCSV), a loose coalition of non-governmental organizations and secular political parties, formed last month to combat the threat of sectarian violence in Egyp more.... |
Local Egyptian community seeks support for religious freedom back home: Robert L. Smith's Global Village
Members of the local Egyptian community look longingly back to a homeland that gave them a distinct heritage and that inspires their summer cultural festival. These days, they also look home with concern and outrage. Egyptian-Americans in Northeast Ohio are largely Coptic Christians, descendants of the ancient Egyptians who populated the Nile Valley before the coming of Islam. more.... |
 Will America Help the Persecuted Copts of Egypt?
The violent persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt is becoming harder for the free world to ignore. This is true thanks to thousands of Copts who recently expressed their decades of frustration and anguish in street protests across the globe. One moving example took place in West Los Angeles, Calif., last month. With American flags in hand, over a thousand Copts peacefully demonstrated. One boy simply said, “It is very dangerous in Egypt that is why we need America to help us.” more.... |
 Americans “concerned” with religious freedoms in Egypt
CAIRO: The Chairman of the Committee of Religious Freedoms of the U.S. Congress Leonard Li, said that the State Department is “concerned” with the status of religious freedoms in Egypt, adding that the department expressed during the last three years a number of related concerns about the increasing incidents of violence against religious minorities, especially Christians, after an increase in violent incidents in recent years. more.... |
Egypt Christians call for right to build churches
CAIRO -- Egyptian activists have protested in front of parliament and called for legislation giving Christians equal rights as Muslims to build houses of worship. The demonstrators, both Muslim and Christian, were also protesting Wednesday against the sectarian strains in the country, particularly in light of a Christmas Eve slaying of six Copts and a Muslim guard outside a church in southern Egypt. more.... |
 Lebedev ropes in Egyptian tycoon to help buy Indy
Alexander Lebedev, the Russian owner of the London Evening Standard, appears poised to bring a billionaire Egyptian partner into his proposed takeover of the Independent and Independent on Sunday newspapers. According to the Guardian - which recently reported that Lebedev (above), a former KGB spy, is looking to replace Indy editor Roger Alton with Rod Liddle - the Russian tycoon wants to bring Samih Sawiris in on the deal. more.... |
 Texts and Coptic textiles
Coptic textiles are notable for the richness of their decorative motifs: geometric patterns, human figures, birds, animals, fish, flora, mythological themes, Nilotic and marine scenes, episodes from the Old and New Testaments, and crosses. “The works featured in the exhibition offer a dramatic view into the lives of the owners and makers of these garments and texts through the fragile pages of papyrus and delicate woven textiles,” Dr Jamieson said. more.... |
 Shari'a in favour of minority rights in Egypt
Over the past decades, numerous polls have demonstrated that the majority of Egyptians want shari'a-or Islamic principles-applied to parts of their country's legal system. Egypt's constitution reflects this: Article 2 of the constitution states that shari'a is the principle source of legislation. more.... |
 Egyptian Parliament Speaker Falsifies Facts About Christmas Eve Shootings
Cairo (AINA) -- In an interview with BBC Arabic on January 31, 2010, Dr. Fathi Sourour, speaker of the People's Assembly (parliament) said that the Nag Hammadi shooting of Christians on Christmas Eve was a single criminal act, with no sectarian dimensions, prompted by the "death" of a Muslim girl as a result of being raped by a Copt (video). more.... |
 Doctor Zhivago says Egypt improving on religious tolerance
CAIRO: Legendary Egyptian actor Omar Sharif believes that Egypt has made huge steps towards religious tolerance in recent years and that his home country is doing “well” because there is “no huge resentment between people of different religion.”The 77-year-old was speaking before a capacity audience of nearly 700 at St John’s Church in Maadi during its second annual Caravan Festival of the Arts on Monday night, whose theme this year is ‘Harmony – East & West’ – focusing on building bridges betwe more.... |
 The Sawiris family: from entrepreneurs to media owners .. Egyptian billionaire poised to join Lebedev in Independent deal
The Sawiris family is the wealthiest in Egypt, running a conglomerate with global interests that stretch from mobile phones in North Korea a new hotel resort in Switzerland.One of the Sawiris brothers is also an investor in a highly influential Egyptian newspaper and the owner of TV interests. more.... |
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