Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Jayson Casper considers the attack in Alexandria and the resulting sectarian demonstrations which arose in its wake. He explores some of the contextual issues and finds hope in an interfaith effort promoted by a dialogue group in the city. Even so, efforts to find meaning in the tragedy must go further…

Drs. Hulsman and Dr. Burslem provide a detailed report on Muslim-Christian relations based on a review of Dr. Hugh Goddard’s book, commenting on a number of issues including Western perceptions, mis-interpretations, and examples of recent incidents involving Muslims and Christians.

The author comments on the speech given by a retired Israeli Mossad officer called Avi Lipkin, who gave many lectures in Switzerland and many other European countries under the auspices of a suspicious Christian organization called "The Friends of Israel." Libkin started his latest lecture in Bern with Sura 5:51.: "O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and Christians for friends." The author argues that Libkin avoided many other verses that mention Jews and Christians with love and respect. He elaborates on these verses and gives many examples from Islamic history proving the same point

Osama Salama´s words are sharp, full of anger about Coptic emigrants. People in Egypt, other Arab countries, Europe, the US and Israel itself protest against the Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians. But where are the voices of the emigrant Copts and Arab Christians? We checked the Copts Daily Digest over the period of March 1 - April 5 and made an overview with excerpts of all contributions. Is Osama Salama´s conclusion correct?

Su’louk [plural sa’aleek] is a word that was used - in pre-Islamic times - to describe marginalized people who belonged to an insignificant tribe or an unimportant village.
Some people have created a form of fiqh called Al-Wilaya wa Al-Bara’a [the submission (to a leader (wali), group, ideology, etc.) and the disassociation (from others, society, family, etc.)]-
Al-Welaya wa Al-Bara’a concept is based on a verse from the Qur’an in which God asks Muslims not to associate with Jews and Christians. They took the verse out of its historical context and interpreted it. That is why their interpretation of the verse is incorrect.

In his book “Al-Walla wa Al-Baraa” [infidelity and renouncement], Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahry collected a number of verses to prove that any true Muslim must not be loyal to pagans and People of the Book and to renounce non-Muslims and take them as enemies.



That is why the Qa’eda organization insists on portraying their war against America as a religious war between the Qa’eda and the USA. They insist that America is launching a crusade against Muslims and thus Americans are fighting Muslims for their faith

Reforming the religious discourse is a must. Reforming Islamic jurisprudence requires interpretation based on reason not the text, and modernization not traditional ways, so that jurisprudents and Islamic scholars can find in Islam new rules and modern principles to motivate the reason and inspire creativity. Muslims should differentiate between shari’a and fiqh. Then, they would clearly find out that a lot of what they consider to be God’s rules are only jurisprudents’ views and visions.