Cairo, special correspondent - Member Referral Office of the Muslim Brotherhood, former MP Saad Al-Hoseiny multiply citations of verses from the Koran to illustrate his point: Christians and Muslims can live in harmony in Egypt. The attack against a Coptic church in Alexandria the night of the New Year's Eve is a "crime, rejected by religion and reason." Having strongly condemned the attack as early as 1 January, the first opposition force in Egypt, banned as a political party but relatively tolerated, has been rather muted.The Muslim Brotherhood and stayed away from the heated debates which agitate the country. These concern mainly the responsibility of the authorities as to the weakness of security measures around the church of the Two Holy Alexandria. In a paper published Wednesday, January 5 by the Referral Office, the highest political body of the Brotherhood, the Muslim Brotherhood out of this silence.
They express their concern about the "danger" that threatens the country: the inter-tear. It should, they write, be careful "not to fall into the trap set by the perpetrators, which is to accuse all Muslims of having committed." They also support the thesis of "conspiracy" behind the attack, they embraced thesis immediately after the attack.
They still insist on the proximity between "People of the Book." This is a priority for the Brotherhood, which advocates political Islam: displaying an image of moderation against Christians, to cut the rug out from under his critics. The latter accused him of taking part in the radicalization of Muslim society in Egypt.
"The Muslim Brothers are in a very awkward position. They are accused by the state and other political forces to hold sometimes discriminatory or violent speech against the Copts. They want to be very careful in the context current to erase that image, "said Diaa Rachwan, an expert on Islamist movements at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
While tensions have crystallized between Muslims and Christians, since the attack, the Muslim Brotherhood are also looking to send a conciliatory message to the attention of the Copts, the majority looks with fear or hostility. "The position of the Muslim Brotherhood against Copts has not changed in eighty years of existence: it is based on respect.
The Christians are son of Egypt," argues Saad el-Hoseiny. "The issue of the Copts is not a priority for the Muslim Brotherhood. But they have never considered enemies. They have always sought to promote the image of tolerance towards the Copts," said Diaa Rachwan the researcher. Recent example of this political line, the Muslim Brotherhood had immediately taken a position, after the threats against the Coptic Church, 1 November 2010, Islamic State of Iraq, an Iraqi group affiliated with Al Qaeda.
They claimed that "the protection of places of worship of all children of the monotheistic religions is the mission of the Muslim majority." A position that the Muslim Brotherhood resume today. They caution, at the same time, against "interference" that constitute external initiatives in support of Christians of the East, raised in Europe after the wave of outrage at the attack.
The call Sunday, January 2 by the Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, the European Union to take on the theme of violence and discrimination against Christians in the world does not. "Why EU leaders have they not seen fit to intervene in the falsification of the 2010 Egyptian parliamentary elections, and why do they react now?", Carried away the former MP Saad Al-Hoseiny.
"This is the Arab's responsibility to ensure security of Christians of [East]. Any foreign interference would only worsen relations on the ground." Laura Stephan
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- Egypt's Muslims support Coptic Christians on religious holiday - CNN (07/01/2011)
- Egypt's Copts: A closer look at Coptic Christianity (05/01/2011)
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