Couple of days ago, Egypt was breathing love and tolerance during the visit of Pope Francis. Yet, this week the smell of hatred and contempt of religion came out with statement of former deputy of Al-Azhar who announced that Christians are infidels and Christianity is a corrupt doctrine. Salafist Call and several extremists in Egypt supported statements of Sheikh Salem Abdul Jalil assuring that it is impossible to explain Islam without talking about Christianity, which means they have to attack it in order to explain Islam.
Christians from one hand have the right to believe in God the way they want as long as they don’t hurt other people. On the other hand, Muslim extremists believe they have the right to believe in God the way they want even if they hurt Christians, violate the constitution and divide the community. They say it is a matter of faith, not relationship.
It is easy for the extremists to charge Christians with infidelity and blasphemy knowing they are inciting other Muslims to attack and even kill them. Here, I would like to differentiate between being disbeliever and being blasphemer.
It’s known that Christians believe in God even though they don’t believe in Islam. Having such faith in God should be a reason for love and tolerance with Coptic Christians only if we seek coexistence and unity. However, if we seek hatred, we can have as much as we want of it even with people with the same beliefs. Do you believe in God? Then, you should know that He is love!
