Eid al-Adha this year coincides with the fasting of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Egypt and the Muslim pilgrims are performing the most important rituals of Hajj. This rituals are commemorating the sacrifice offered instead of Abraham s son. This story is repeated in Egypt where hundreds of thousands have offered their sons for the sake of the homeland. The sacrifice of Abraham s son and the son of the Virgin are spiritual examples for many fathers and mothers who sacrificed their children as martyrs to Egypt from the battle of Ain Jalut till the 1973 war against the Zionist enemy as well as those who were killed in several terrorist attacks. The church glorifies the Virgin Mary for her vital role in the incarnation of Jesus Christ and the salvation of mankind. Hence, more than one hundred feasts and festivals are celebrated of the Virgin. During the fasting of the Virgin and the celebration of al-Adha (the sacrifice) feast, we mourned martyrs and celebrated great heroes. This is normal in Egypt where pain and proud are mixed in the Egyptian personality. Not to mention that most of our victories came while our fasting since we believe that victory over the self precedes victory over the oppressor. We do mourn our martyrs praying to God to repose their souls. May God grant us happiness and joy that we fear its outcome. We pray in Egypt that God makes the outcome of joy good. The virgin Mary is truly adored by the Egyptians and more than 10 big festivals are held for her that are attended by millions of visitors. More than 500 churches and 7 monasteries are named after the Virgin Mary. The church also celebrates her nine times a year in addition to other fixed celebrations. The Holy Quran also celebrates St. Mary and a whole chapter of Quran carries her name in addition to another chapter carries the name of her family, in addition to may verses of the Quran that tells her story and glorifies her and her son. Al-Imran verse 42 reads: Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! Allah hath chosen thee and purified thee- chosen thee above the women of all nations. May her blessings be with us all, Amen.

Fan Jameel (beautiful art) Foundation, which supports heritage, education and arts, announced the implementation of a one-month summer program for the revival of traditional crafts in the tourist village of Tunis, Fayoum Governorate. Over the course of four weeks, the youngsters engage in a program of workshops focusing on the unique heritage of Fayoum Governorate. These workshops include Islamic arts, copper works, printing, and ceramics, which is one of the most popular activities in Fayoum. This free program is the first major project of Fan Jamil outside Cairo. The foundation was established in 2009 and offers a two-year program of handicrafts and design arts in a joint project between Fan Jamil, the Prince Charles School of Traditional Arts Foundation and the Cultural Development Fund of Egypt. It is worth mentioning that the village of Tunis offers the finest Egyptian hand-made pottery products.

Again, we see more innocents died in a terrorist attack and not just innocents, but sick people hardly can leave and walk to save their lives. I refer to the terrorism attack happened in down town Cairo, Egypt in front of the national cancer care. There is no doubt that Egypt has weaknesses in the security measures taken all over the country. I don t imagine that a car full of bombs can go downtown Egypt without any one investigation from the security. I believe that no country can have security 100%, however, taking the necessary measures to prevent terrorist attack is very important especially in a country like Egypt.

What will state officials say after reading these views, and will Egypt s women continue to be treated as intimate parts of the human body or simply genitals. Their hair is seen like a real sex organ though God has created it on the top of their body like a crown and shouldn t be hidden by hijab or niqab. I am talking in that topic though I am not a Muslim man, but this sectarian dress cause damage in my homeland and affects citizenship badly though it doesn t have a strong base in the Holy Quran.

Take me to Jabal al-tit, Where St. Mary will give me power… These are quotes from a song in the celebrations of the Virgin Mary in Upper Egypt last May. The celebrations included making tattoos of crosses, sacrifices, festivals and songs. The scene was in Samalout, Minya, where Muslims and Christians shared the celebrations in wonderful national unity. The celebrations last for 7 days in the Monastery of Our Lady in Minya that was blessed by the visit of the Holy Family 2000 years ago. About 2 millions visit the monastery in May, which is known as the festival that is celebrated after Easter till the resurrection feast.

After judge Khalid Khafaji, Vice-Premier of the Council of State Commentary, issued a ruling to ban demolition or selling of churches, I need to express my happiness and gratitude to the honorable judge for several reasons: Such ruling proves the importance of worship houses and proves equality between Muslim and Christian houses of worship. It also annuls the claims of the extremists that churches are places of infidelity. Such ruling expresses policy of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi of equality among the Egyptians. Such message should also reach the officials who support the extremists in Egypt and treat Christians differently.

It seems that US and China will not reach to a trade deal anytime soon. US Recently imposed another Tarries on China for about 10%. China in return will impose more tariffs on US products. In fact, that will hurt the marker so much and the whole world might get worse because of this war. The tension between the biggest largest economies is not the only tension we can witness now. The tension expands to middle east between Iran and the US, US and North Korea, the US and Russia. I m not pessimistic but the atmosphere around us might lead to a world war if we didn t use the negotiation as a tool instead of the threats and confrontation. The US, China, and Russia has to hold a summit that help them to get rid of their differences and try to stand for the real challenges face them.

The Egyptian Ministry of Emigration is launching a campaign to encourage Egyptians abroad to visit Egypt aiming to improve the tourism industry. However Egypt is indeed full of great touristic places and sightseeings; we do need to make the best of them in order to make the tourists enjoy their visit more. In the Netherlands, I visited a number of museums that are few decades old, but the government is really using them and planned to make visiting them fun as well as an easy task with nice bus system and a decent tour guide that you can find in the streets.

Evangelization of Christian faith in France came at the hands of St. Lazarus, who had to flee from the Jews who persecuted him severely after he was resurrected from death. He fled to France where he started evangelizing. Father Benjamin of Muharraq monastery said in his article Evangelization in France that St. Lazarus came to France with his sister Martha and Mary. As a result of the severe persecution, they boarded a ship from Palestine and sailed through the Mediterranean Sea to the coast of the city of Lyon, which is considered the first Christian capital in France. In the church tradition in France, Mary after preaching in Marseilles settled in the area of Mount Saint-Boum, which is far away 60 km from the city of Marseilles, where there is a cave where she spent about thirty years in prayer and worship until her departure, and this place was turned into a monastery for the Dominican monks. St. Lazarus went to the island of Cyprus where he was ordained by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas as the bishop of the town of Caitone. Lazarus lived for more than thirty years after the Lord raised him from death. He was buried there for the second and last time. The remains of the Saint are located in Marseilles, Where Lazarus was the patron saint of many French cities and his name was called on many places. There is a large railway station in Paris named Saint Lazarus. In the city of Aition there is a large cathedral in the form of a cross of three Altars bearing the name of Saint Lazarus and St. Mary and St. Martha. The evangelization of the Christian faith is a message to every human being in every time and place. We must learn from the early missionaries love and giving in order to spread the word and win the souls.

In the context of the responses to the articles of the Holy Family Journey to Egypt, I publish today an article by Samuel Iskandar, archeologist. He says: The majority of the peoples of the world seek reasons to develop their countries, but we insist or love backwardness. We see the civilized world using any event or monument to make the best of it. They may lack many elements of urbanization and progress, but their people work hard to achieve such development. On the other hand, we have a lot of monuments, but with our negligence and foolishness, we waste many opportunities to success. Unfortunately, this is our reality since we indeed lose many opportunities by bad management and wrong or no planning.

British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson won the presidency of the ruling Conservative Party in Britain, prompting the British queen to commission him to form the government. Johnson s is known as the English version of Trump with his foolish and irresponsible responses and irresponsibility. Johnson is willing to move out of the EU even without an agreement break-set without deal The European legislator refuses to negotiate a new agreement just like the European Commission. Thus, he only try to get Britain out without agreement, which is a real catastrophe for the British people. Going out without an agreement would mean a complete collapse of the British economy. Thousands or even millions of Englishmen would lose their jobs. Hundreds of major European industrial companies with factories in Britain would have to withdraw from Britain and drug companies are no exception, which might cause the death of many patients who will not find their medicine. So the British find themselves inclined to repeat the dreaded referendum, in which they voted in favor of the exit, including the Remainers now group, who regretted accepting the divorce and want to take their yes back! In fact, Johnson has a mission impossible between changing the mind of the Europeans or changing the mind of the British Parliament to accept no agreement scenario that will bring a disaster to the economy and health sectors. Another war may erupt between the Northern and Southern Irelands, which could result in another war such as the one that was interrupted by the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In short, I hope that the English version of Trump wouldn t cause more disasters in the world.

After Iranian shoot the US drone and pirated the British boat. After the weak reaction of the American and the English people and the whole world towards these Iranian actions, we should ask ourselves these questions: Are Iranian superpower? or they are right in defending their country and their interest. I imagine if Syria or Libya did any of these actions and what would be the reaction of the US and the world. Moreover, Trump tries to convince the world that he cares about 150 Iranian to be killed and he didn t care about thousands of people the American killed in Iraq , Syria and Libya.

I used to like the Egyptian Minister of Immigration Nabila Makram as I though she is a bright face that is able to represent Egypt and to make the Egyptian abroad regain belonging to their home country. She joined the Diplomatic circuit and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993. Ever since she moved in various countries representing Egypt. Recently, she was speaking at a meeting with Egyptians living in Toronto, Canada, when she made a throat-slitting gesture to express what will happen to those who criticize Egypt. "We will not tolerate anything to be said about it. Anyone who says anything [negative] about Egypt abroad will be cut" said she. We do love Egypt, but I hate such bad message to be sent abroad, especially by a minster in an official speech. I think that such message should have been "We accept criticism, and we are ready to discuss our problems in order to reach solutions

On the occasion of opening of Naguib Mahfouz Museum in Al-Azhar district, I remembered the day 14 October 1994 in the Nile Street in Agouza and under the giant eucalyptus tree, where a friend of the great writer Naguib Mahfouz was waiting to pick him up in order to take him to the weekly seminar at the Casino of the Palace of the Nile. At five o’clock, Mahfouz leaves his office and meets with his friend. Suddenly, a man holding a knife attacks Mahfouz inside the car and stab him in the neck trying to slain him before the assailant flees. Mahfouz was moved quickly to the police hospital very close to his house. Two days later, the police arrested the perpetrator Mohammed Naji, who said he tried to kill Mahfouz because he defamed Islamic religion in the novel ‘The children of our neighborhood’. He added that he doesn’t regret doing this. Mahfouz said commenting on the success of the police in arresting the offender: "The police may have won a battle ... but I am afraid that the entire society has lost the war." I will visit the museum with my family since the novels of Naguib Mahfouz are stories of the Egyptian society and its longing for justice and freedom and its struggle against tyranny and backwardness.

Another attack by followers of ISIS in Minya in a village that was originally inhabited by Coptic monks, just like Egypt was inhabited once by Copts. The village of Koum al-Raheb my have had several churches, but now it has only one that was shut down though it used to serve Copts from 7 other villages. Just imagine their suffering now after this church was also shut down. Furthermore, the fanatics decided to gather and set some properties of the Copts on fire and intimidate them. When can such persecution, hatred, intolerance and racism come to an end? Such rejection and intimidation comes in the name of God! The constitution and law are ignored and the funerals of the Copts are held in the streets. They claim that Omar refused to pray in a church to prevent Muslims from taking over it, but none of them show us Omar s behavior and good deeds. We demand the reopen of the church and build other churches in the other villages, since Egypt is not your own property. We demand our right in building churches in a villages full of mosques and other Islamic service buildings. Our demands are supported by the Egyptian constitution and law. We don t hate you, even though you may not hesitate to kill our children. We have taken too much, but let s hope we will finally see justice.

The Algerian team won the African Nations Cup in football after beating Senegal 1-0. The match was played last Friday evening at the Cairo International Stadium in the final of the championship which was organized by Egypt from June 21 to July 19. Despite the loss of the Egyptian team and its early exit from the tournament, Egypt was able to achieve several important victories and proved before the whole world its ability to host such big events. It is worth mentioning that after the withdrawal of Cameroon, which was due to host it, Egypt decided to take the challenge and enter the competition to organize the tournament in a record time. Egypt has come under great challenge and has taken on the huge responsibility of organizing this great African tournament from the first moment, after gaining the confidence of the African Union s executive office on January 8 this year, the third biggest tournament in the world. The Egyptian political leadership was keen to provide all the factors of success for the championship, both from the infrastructure of roads, stadiums and hotels as well as security, media and public. This led to the presence of the Arab and African fans in stadiums to follow up the African teams. Egypt has been able to leave a good image through the wonderful organization of the tournament, to assure the world of its capabilities, infrastructure and security. The whole world praised the Egyptian success and the testimony of the President of the International Federation of Football (FIFA) and the African Union proves such good impact. The African Football Confederation decided to hold the annual celebration of the selection of the best player and African team in Hurghada, Egypt, in January 2020, which reflects the confidence in Egypt s ability to host international sporting eventss.

Recently the IMF announced that Egypt might be qualified for another loan from the IMF. It s very well known that any loan will cause more hurt to the people because these kinds of loans has conditions and these conditions is to cancel all kinds of financial support to Egyptians. Egyptians already suffer from inflation and living tight because of these loans and it seems that the regime don t care about how does the Egyptian feel about such loans.

I am not a big fan of football, but since the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) is hosted in Egypt, football has become one of my favorite topics. There are many facts concerning the event some of them look good like the decent organization of the event and some may look bad like Egypt s shock elimination from its 1-0 defeat against South Africa at AFCON.

The Bible is like a crown on our heads for its valuable commandments and heavenly wisdom. Staying close brings life and staying away is death. In his article "The Holy Bible in the Coptic Church", Pope Shenouda III explained to us the importance of the Bible and its great impact on our lives. The prophet David says that the commandments of the Lord kept him alive and gives him heavenly wisdom”.