Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

It is surprising to find a Coptic, religious author, who cherishes his Christian faith, defending Islam. That is what the Egyptian intellectual Nabil Luqa Bebawy actually did. He stood up to the false claim that Muslims spread their call through the edge of the sword and forced people to join Islam.

The fair Coptic writer cited the conditions Copts lived before Islam. Orthodox Christians were brutally tortured at the hands of Byzantines. The number of Copts who were killed during the rule of the Byzantine emperor Diocletianus [284-305 AD] is estimated up to one million Coptic Egyptians. The is why the Orthodox Coptic Church called that age the age of martyrs and the Coptic calendar starts at this age.

When Islam came to Egypt, all conditions changed dramatically and Copts witnessed an age of freedom that they had not known before. About the Jizya imposed on non-Muslims, Dr. Bebawy says that they were part of the “security pact” made between Muslims and Copts. Jizya was a tax paid in exchange for exempting Copts from joining the Islamic army.

Finally, Dr. Nabil Luqa Bebawy stresses that the ill practices of some Muslims rulers in dealing with Copts are individual behaviors that have nothing to do with Islamic teachings.

• See art. 11: Pope Shenouda addresses the Sixteenth conference of the Higher Council for Islamic Affairs.