EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANS SUFFER FOR EUROPE'S CONFRONTATION WITH ISLAM

April McLennan

In both Egypt and Europe, individuals are becoming the victims of attacks that are the result of tensions between Islam and Christianity.

Dressed in orange jumpsuits, with plastic wire bounding their limbs. These men of God could have been mistaken for criminals. Their necks hanging over their chest, blades digging into their throats, they refused to deny their faith despite the knowledge that their short lives were coming to an end. Twenty of the severed heads belonged to Egyptian Christians.

These men were used as propaganda symbols by Islamic State. The orange jumpsuits were forcibly worn as a symbol of the clothing the prisoners wear at Guantanamo Bay, in order to represent the human rights abuse that occurs in this detention camp by the Western perpetrators in alliance with their ‘Western values’.

Despite there being a small minority of Christians in Egypt, with 90 percent of the population being Muslim and only 10 per cent Christian, these execution style killings still occur, with 128 Christians being killed last year.

Reporting on religion

The reporting on the radical militant Islamist groups responsible for these killings in Egypt has been portrayed in European media in a way that has led to European individuals confirming preconceived, incorrect stereotypes of “violent Muslims” and that “all Muslims are terrorists.” Despite the fact that only 2 percent of the 1,000 terror attacks that occurred in Europe in the past five years were committed by Muslims.

ISLAM

Islam is an Arabic word that means “peace”, “security” and “surrender.”
There are approximately 1.5 billion Muslims world-wide.
The Quran is the most memorised book in the world.
Islam puts emphasis on the importance on being kind to one’s parents, “Paradise lies beneath the feet of your mother.”
The religion teaches kindness towards your neighbours, Muslim and non-Muslims.

The twenty-one Christion Copts lined up to be executed by a radical militant Islamist group. Image Source: Flickr

Information Sourced from: https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/mind-blowing-facts-about-islam/284989

When the offender of a violent crime happens to be Muslim, the internet explodes in a frenzy of moral panic, extreme mass media coverage and unwarranted hostility towards all Muslims.

An example of this type of media portrayal was printed in September of 2005, when Jyllands-Posten Daily published 12 cartoons of Mohammed; the profit is portrayed with weapons as well as holding a bomb inside his turban.

This led to outrage across the world as angry protestors took to the streets burning Danish flags and setting fire to diplomatic offices. There was also a boycott of Danish products that led to a decrease in export sales.

One of the cartoons that was printed in the Jyllands-Posten Daily newspaper.

Image Source: Flickr

Another justification for non-Muslim Europeans labelling Muslims in a negative light is due to radical militant Islamist groups circulating their own media content, this has tainted the average Muslims depiction to the public.

Julie Shain, Research Director of the anti-terrorism organisation, Counter Extremism Project, explains that Islamic State recruiters are releasing videos daily and simultaneously over several different platforms.

They put out very skilful videos, very high-tech videos. We have a lot of evidence today that individuals are being radicalised through watching beheading videos and watching lectures by extremist clerks,” she says.

The Islamic state also released a magazine called DABIQ with Issue 15 being titled ‘Break the Cross’, it contains content relating to why radical militant Islamist groups hate Christians.

It reads: “We continue dragging you further and further into a swamp you thought you’d already escaped only to realize that you’re stuck even deeper within its murky waters… you can continue to believe that those “despicable terrorists” hate you because of your lattes and your Timberlands, and continue spending ridiculous amounts of money to try to prevail in an unwinnable war, or you can accept reality and recognize that we will never stop hating you until you embrace Islam, and will never stop fighting you until you’re ready to leave the swamp of warfare and terrorism through the exits we provide…”

This type of literature is responsible for the continued brain washing of the vulnerable members of society as well as the incorrect notion that all Muslims believe this writing. It can increasingly be found all over the internet.

Shain says, “It’s happening on a simultaneous basis (the uploading of content) and they are beginning to adapt as social media companies are forced through EU regulation or other public pressure to change their policies. These groups (radical militant Islamist groups) are remaining nimble and are continuing to put out high definition content through a variety of platforms.”

European Christian and Muslim relations

Tension between the Egyptian Christians and Muslims has been transferred into European culture, specifically the way that European Muslims are treated not only by European Christians but also by the general population.

In retaliation to the Parsons Green Tube bombing, that left 29 people injured, a man attempted to murder an 12-year old school girl and a Muslim women in an act he later told his family was “doing the country a favour.”

Paul Moore, 21, was filled with hate as he lined the front and back wheels up on his Volkswagen to ensure that all four tyres would crush the women wearing a headscarf, laughing as he did so.

The woman was later identified as Zaynab Hussein, a Somali mother who had just dropped her children off at school before becoming the victim of this revenge attack. Hussein suffered fractures to her spine and pelvis, as well as a broken leg.

Two women wearing niqab’s. Image Source: Herry Lawford

After his first attack Moore sped towards a 12-year-old school girl that was also wearing a headscarf and of Somalian descent. He clipped her with his vehicle, luckily she suffered no life-threatening injuries.

In court, prosecutors explained why Moore had targeted his victims, "He did not know her. He tried to kill her purely because of the colour of her skin and because of her perceived Islamic faith as she was wearing a hijab.”

Yet, the targeting of Muslim women’s facial coverings remains topical today as it did in 2010 when a dispute over their identity occurred, leading France to introduce a law that bans people from covering their face in public places. Although this makes it illegal for anyone to cover their face with hoods and balaclavas, this also includes burqa’s, niqab’s and other face veils.

France was the first European country to ban face coverings, but other countries have begun to follow suit.

Some members of the public may feel that they are doing Muslim women a favour by liberating them, releasing them from their prison of cloth. And some Muslim women do find the burka ban as a new-found freedom. However, others are left feeling stripped of part of their identity and beliefs, vulnerable and exposed, with the clothing that once made them feel safe and comfortable being stripped away from them.

Looking towards the future

Europe is thought of as a forward thinking and accepting community. However, the Egyptian Christian and Muslim relations have had an extremely negative impact on the way that Muslims are framed.

This has left many Muslims in Europe feeling excluded, discriminated against, economically overlooked and frustrated. Instead of being included and accepted into society they are faced with poor educational opportunities, unemployment (70 percent of the Muslim population are unemployed in some European cities), and low-grade housing. These conditions can lead to a life of crime, violence, drug use and radicalisation. As well as the European Muslim population feeling that they want to completely disregard ‘Western’ norms and values.

Although relations between Muslims and Christians are still quite tense, many religious leaders aim to defuse this situation by encouraging communications between Christian and Islamic leaders. In a speech at an international conference for peace in Cairo, Pope Francis said that the Muslim and Christian religious leaders in Egypt need to join forces in constructing a new civilization of peace by declaring, “a firm and clear ‘no’ to every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out in the name of religion and in the name of God…affirm the incompatibility of violence and faith, belief and hatred.”

A protestor waving an Egyptian flag: representing religious unity of Islam and Christianity with the symbols of the crescent and the cross. Image Source: Alisdare Hickson