Every now and then, we hear Muslims sheikhs discussing if it is permissible to congratulate Christians on their feasts. The answer varies between acceptance as co-citizens and rejection as infidels. The latest version of this shameful discussion came about Dr. Magdy Yacoub, and if his many charitable works may lead him to enter the paradise. I wonder if the clergy in our country have found the sole keys for the kingdom of heaven and, thus, became its guardians. How do they know things that are exclusive to God! They decided that God will allow billions of people to perish since they followed different religion to know Him! The surgeon who treats everyone without questioning their religion, race, sex, social or economical level, and transfers his knowledge to other doctors in order to allow more and more people to be treated, they decided that he has to perish since he is not good enough to join the paradise of the terrorists of ISIS! I call those sheikhs to stop insulting God and trade on religion. Let the people worship God the way they like till they meet with God in the other life.

The days of this week started with love and concluded with humanity. We have seen live examples of love, humility, and generosity in the love of Egypt. The start was on Friday, February 14th, which marked Valentine s Day, and it was a special day for the Egyptian community in Australia, which welcomed the presence of Egyptian guests in their humanitarian mission to support the poor of Egypt. The great writer and thinker Dr. Khaled Montaser and the great artist Ahmed Helmy and Judge Amir Razmy. I had the honor of receiving them at the Sydney International Airport. I can t express how busy their schedule was and how hard did they work to raise donations for the poor. This visit was organized by the Shepherd of Egypt association, which brought joy to the Egyptian community in Sidney. This is from one hand. On the other hand, Sir Magdi Yacoub was honored by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, on Thursday with the scarf of “Mohammed bin Rashid for humanitarian action” during the ceremony of Arab Hope Makers. During the ceremony, EGP 360 million (AED 88 million) donations were also raised for the new Cairo Heart Center inaugurated by Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation. All these achievements was in one week showing the world how the Egyptians love their country and love humanitarian work.

Coronovirus not just spreading fears about health issues and possibilities for death but also spreading fears and worries about the impact of this virus on the global economy especially that this virus mainly appeared in one of the biggest economies in the world which is China. Coronovirus already started to have a big impact on the market not just in Egypt and the middle east but the whole world including the American market.

We exalt you, the Mother of the true Light. We glorify you, O Saint, the Theotokos (Mother of God). This is a unique prayer we recite daily in the prayers of the Coptic Church seeking consolation, strength and hope. Father John Nassif, priest of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Chicago, said in his article We glorify you, O Mother of True Light is unique among all churches of the world, in which we honor the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and glorify the Lord Jesus, who is the head of the Church, its pride and steadfastness. This unique prayer is of Coptic origin and has no Greek origin and is not found in any other church in the world other than the Coptic Church. It was not written in the Council of Ephesus as some books claimed. This confusion may have come from the main topic discussed by Ephesus Council, which is the Mother of God. The prayer is part of the Liturgy and not the Nicene creed. Rather, it is a special prayer said before it. Therefore, it was called the introduction of the Nicene Creed. Yet, it introduces many details about the Christian faith. We don t know its writer, but we need to search for him. We exalt you, the Mother of the true Light. We glorify you, O Saint, the Theotokos, for you brought forth unto us the Savior of the whole world; He came and saved our souls. Glory to You, our Master, our King, Christ, the pride of the apostles, the crown of the martyrs, the joy of the righteous, the firmness of the churches, the forgiveness of sins.

It is scary to imagine myself inside a plane, and I see some passenger entering the cockpit and take the place of the pilot or his assistant to drive the plane even for one moment. It is scary because we know that this means of transportation is very sensitive and complicated. Any error may end with massive disaster that takes no more than several seconds. It is scary to see a pilot like Ashraf Abu Al-Yusr turning a blind eye to what he learned about flying and the sensitivity of the plane and its software, leaving one of the public to take the place of his assistant in the plane s cabin at the time of its flight to put his hands on the control of the plane. He even gave excuse that he turned on the autopilot, but it is also known that manipulating the controls may turn the autopilot off and cause a real disaster. Both the pilot and the celebrity are rich, but have no responsibility and both of them should be held accountable for such big mistake. We should show them no mercy since they could lead to disaster just to have fun and take a photo!

The Egyptian athlete Samar Hamza has recently won a gold medal in wrestling in Algeria, and she became the African champion in wrestling. Her medal was not the first for her, but she still dreams of earning an Olympic medal. Yet, her dream has become closer to the reality as she was qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Though Egypt has won several medals in wrestling, no woman has ever achieved an Olympic medal in the sport. Since Amsterdam 1928 to Rio de Janeiro 2016, Egypt won eight Olympic medals in wrestling. I wish the best of Samar and all Egyptian athletes who work hard to get medals and achieve new records for their country.

Many people in Egypt attacked the Singer Hassan Shakoush and his song, just like they should attack all negative scenes and attitudes in our streets. They should have strongly rejected sexual abuse of young girls, raping children by religious scholars, kidnapping children and trading their organs, extremism that invaded the minds and souls of our youth, corruption and bribery, drug and antiquities smuggling and high rates of divorce. These are samples of what should have been strongly rejected by our community. I don t blame Mr. Shakoush for his low taste in music since his only crime now is singing! He expressed his feelings and invited others to be happy among many reasons to be sad. In fact, people liked their songs and enjoyed it. I remember here the initiative taken by Maestro Selim Sahab who made a great music band of homeless people. I invite those who attacked Shakoush to listed to the words of his song and think what would they do if a super star had presented this song instead of Mr. Shakoush. I know they would have enjoyed this song, but they prefer to attack even before they think.

Love is a nice word to say but it s a hard act to practice. You can find a lot of people talking about love and how it s important and that we can t live without love but unfortunately we don t see them practice this love in their life. Love her not necessary to the wife only but to the family and to others. On this day we all wish to have someone to love and be loved but if we have this one sometimes we become carless to take care of it.

Egyptians have made several achievements in fencing and many of them won international competitions. In that account, we may hear about champions like Adham Moataz, the European gold medal for the fencing for young men, and Medhat Moataz, owner of the world bronze medal for the fencing. Now, there is a new generation of Egyptians who is not satisfied with achieving local titles, but works hard to win international competitions and the sky has become their limit. Fencing was the first Olympic game for the Egyptians to participate in when Ahmed Hassanein Pasha traveled to participate in the Stockholm Games in 1912. Yet, they waited exactly one hundred years before winning the first Olympic medal when Alaa Abu Al-Qasim won the London Games in 2012. I see a bright future for that game in Egypt with young competitive people seeking glory and working hard to raise the flag of their country. Greetings to the Egyptian fencing heroes and those responsible for reviving the sport in Egypt.

Many people talk about love, but they don’t really realize what it is. Creative American novelist Raymond Carver described love as spiritual feeling, physical relationship or familiarity. It is several feelings that we have each time differently. I myself have fallen in love several times and experienced this feeling in various ways. At the age of 13 years old, I fall in love with the daughter of the neighbors, who lived with her family on the first floor of the building. She was incredibly beautiful, or so I saw her. I didn’t see her much except through coincidence meetings at the entrance to the building, or when she paid my sisters a short visit. One day, I played a small role in a TV series, and she met me and was very proud of me. my heart couldn’t stop beating and I realized ever since that love is a story that can’t be explained. By time, I realized that she was simply an ordinary girl, but I saw her outstanding because I loved her, even because I didn’t know her very well. It looks like we love more when we know less! My father told me a funny story about a girl that he saw her face from her window on his way to school, but finally realized she was a doll! Love is what we believe it is and we see our beloved person as we want to see and not as he or she really is!

In the first day of the fasting of Jonah the Prophet, it is said that he is the son of the widow who was raised by Elijah the Prophet from death. God has called him to carry the message of repentance and salvation of the Kingdom of Assyria, whose capital was Nineveh (Mosul) in the State of Iraq. It was the Kingdom of Assyria that destroyed the Kingdom of Israel in the year 722 BC. In the story of Jonah the Prophet, it is an explicit and clear declaration that God s love for man exceeds the awareness and mind of human beings. He is the all-loving Creator, the long-suffering, merciful, and compassionate who wants everyone to know the way and the truth and be saved. Many times does the Holy Spirit visit us and call us to repentance and salvation by people and many means of media. It is His love that sought to save the people of Neneveh and calls us to repent every single day of our life. On the other hand, we find Jonah thinking they don t deserve repentance and they will never know God. Thus, he flee to another city His thinking was limited and he was worried more about this own dignity as a prophet. Yet, God didn t lose hope in them and decided to save them by all means. In that account we realize that one s selfishness may lead to disobedience for God s commandments. The Prophet Jonah lost time and money in his attempt to escape. He also needed to repent just like the people of Neneveh and he didn t realize that God exists everywhere. The story of the people of Neneveh was recorded in history and their repentance was taken as a role model by many people including the Coptic people who are currently fasting for three days to learn from their repentance. God is waiting for us just like He waited for the people of Neneveh.

With what s going around in Syria, Iran , Iraq, is it possible to see an end to this tunnel. Unfortunately, Turkey is going on its own way to destroy Syria in the name of Kurdish people. Russia is so burdened that Turkey bought a lot of weapons from it and it s a good market for Russian weapons. Iran is involved in many conflicts in the region and can t leave these countries after all what Iran did.

The monastery of St. George for nuns in ancient Cairo issued the largest and most comprehensive encyclopedia in Arabic documenting the biography of of the Saint. His Holiness Pope Tawadros II said that it is the greatest Arabic reference in the history of recording the biography of this great martyr. The book is a study in 96 manuscripts written in five different languages which are Coptic with its dialects, Bahriya, Syriac, Greek, Abyssinian and Arabic. These have been translated into the Arabic language, and many of these manuscripts date back to the sixth century. The study has varied in this book consisting of twelve chapters including a study on the icon of the saint, a study on the melodies about the saint. The book introduced new facts about the saint like the king who tortured him was Danyanus and not Diocletian, and that he was martyred in Iraq in 268 not in Lebanon 302 AD as it was known before. Indeed, we are proud of this distinguished work that proves that the church and monastery can be a spirtual universities providing great scientific research.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations accused all member states of not implementing Security Council and international law decisions on international and non-international armed conflicts taking place in Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Syria. He said that such violations proved the failure of the Berlin Conference to impose the ban on supplying weapons to Libya. Egyptian people were proud to find their President among leaders of the world, some of whom proved to be insane. Now, Turkey has established a military base and sent more than 1500 fighters to Libya based on an agreement with the Siraj government and its terrorist parties to combat the second terrorist party Haftar! Now, the Egyptians are proud to find their country occupying the ninth place in the world armaments. It is true that the international law did not prohibit the possession of weapons but rather banned the export of arms to areas of conflicts in order to achieve international peace and security. In short, Peace is not possible without weapons and power.

Through an important press investigation on examples of the retreat of the role of cultural houses in Al-Watan newspaper, the editor mentioned the burning of Bahr Aazam culture house in Giza as an attempt to attack culture houses and enlightenment. Yet, the house was rebuilt and expanded 8 years later to include many segments, galleries, grand library and open areas. I was thrilled to hear the comment of Dr. Inas Abdul Dayem, Minister of Culture, on the library that it includes about 7500 books in various knowledge, sciences and literature, and the last floor includes an open area for open cultural activities. She added that several books and magazines in Braille for the blind offering adults and children culture and knowledge. Media has to support cultural work in Egypt unlike ministers of Media and culture competed under Mubrak regime. Finally, the General Authority of Cultural Palaces is one of the cultural institutions with a prominent role in providing cultural and artistic services. It is an Egyptian body that aims to participate in raising the cultural level and directing the national awareness of the masses in the fields of cinema, theater, music, literature, folk and plastic arts. It provides activities of children, women and youth in the governorates.

Conferences of Al-Azhar institution held under the slogan of renewing religious discourse is only an attempt to improve its image without a real desire to change the current situation. The current religious discourse is a terrorist speech that intelligently selects its words, so that people may think it is different from ISIS and Al-Qaeda. In fact, Al-Azhar is only a political tool and an intellectual terrorist arm of institutions described as terrorist in Europe, such as the Organization of Islamic Countries. Claiming that it represents Islam gave it bigger role than it deserves that it became a state within a state. Thus, its public fund should stop and its schools and universities should be transferred by law into regular educational institutions. The war on terrorism must bear in mind that terrorism inhabits this edifice called Al-Azhar that claim to be moderate, but is too far from moderation. Sheikh Al-Azhar s boycott of the speech of the President of Cairo University is more like wasting his blood only because the university president dared to demand the renewal of the Islamic mind before renewing the language of the speech. Sheikh of Al-Azhar decided to move to protect the entity that generates billions of dollars even it becomes the biggest challenge before developing the Egyptian society.

Building a future is not something easy or an easy process. A person has to evaluate his abilities and try to see how he can achieve his goals using these capabilities. The same thing for any country, any country must set goals based on its capabilities and the abilities of their people. Unfortunately, with whats going around the world right now from wars and chaos, countries exhaust their resources not in building futures but on contrary in running futures for the coming generation.

After everyone thought it came to an end, Trump decided to declare his peace plan causing great controversy among supporters and denouncers. Yet, nobody tried to read the situation through its two parties, one of them is approaching elections at the end of the year to be re-elected President of America, and is in bad need to get the support of the Jewish lobby in America. The second party is the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has been Prime Minister of Israel since 2009 and will enter this year an election to secure in which he tries to secure a majority in the Knesset, who almost lost his majority in the previous elections. He is also facing charges of corruption that may lead him and his wife to prison. On the other hand, we can find the recipients of the offer are seeking protection from Iran, such as the Gulf countries, and more countries are threatened, divided, torn apart or seeking American protection and fund. The Palestinians are also divided without a state and work under a weak government. Even Egypt is threatened by the Renaissance Dam though it offered a lot to the Palestinian cause. In short, the general situation for everyone is bad, and if it is a deal it is an electoral deal for its sponsors, and a protection deal for the Arab party. Politics is now a trade to give and take.

I had written an article 7 years ago on our beloved news website (Copts united) about the story of the 9 years old child Abd al-Masih who was acquitted by Beni Suef misdemeanor court from charges of stealing 5 loaves of bread from a bakery. The owner of the bakery filed a lawsuit against the child and got a ruling to place him in a juvenile rehabilitation centre. The child was in fact working at the bakery and the rules allow him to take the bread he needs. This case revealed corruption of our rules since some people claimed honor and justice to condemn the child, and others took it as a sectarian case since the child name is Christian and translated slave of Christ!

It is unfortunate that we find some important values collapsing in our society, with many people with no culture leading media and spreading ignorance in the community. We can see such danger when we ask our youth about the great Egyptian writers and thinkers like: Muhammad Abdo, Taha Hussein, Al-Akkad, Tawfiq Al-Hakim, Naguib Mahfouz, Sayed Darwish and Salama Moussa. They don t even realize who they are as if we are infected with some virus to destroy our cultural identity. Those writers are the authentic cultural symbols who presented enlightenment ideology and participated in building this country. Now, the media is presenting bad models who lack knowledge and morals as well. This happens with the retardation of education, culture and art. This makes me say that our cultural identity is in danger since it is a number of cultural and epistemological accumulations, including the knowledge that comes from the traditions and customs of the family and the community surrounding it. I think that there is a plan to destroy our cultural identity, which is implemented slowly and effectively. Thus, we have to take care before we lose our customs, traditions, civilization and history.