Background:

This Conference was held at the Ibn Khaldūn Center for Development Studies in the event of the second conference on minorities. Several speeches were given especially on Coptic rights in Egypt and related to the Muslim Christian incident of 1996 in Kafr Dimyān (Delta) and the terrorist attack inʿIzbat Aqbāṭ, Asiyūt.

*For more information on the Ibn Khaldūn conference, please refer to the tapes: Conference Ibn Khaldūn on Copts rights I, II, III, IV and VI

http://arabwestreport.info/en/conference-ibn-khald%C5%ABn-copts-rights-i

http://www.arabwestreport.info/en/conference-ibn-khald%C5%ABn-copts-rights-ii-0

http://www.arabwestreport.info/en/conference-ibn-khald%C5%ABn-copts-rights-iii

http://arabwestreport.info/en/conference-ibn-khald%C5%ABn-copts-rights-iv 

http://arabwestreport.info/en/conference-ibn-khald%C5%ABn-copts-rights-vi 

Side A:

Mr. ʿĀdil Ḥusain, Islamist journalist and oppositional political activist, continued on tape V his demonstration on how some foolish Christians and Muslims agitate the population which led to incidents of discords and recurrent attacks. He thinks that representing Christians as victims all the time is wrong and contributes to the complication of the situation. Both parties have their mistakes. He criticized the poor participation of Christians in political life. Reforms are really required not through petitions but through real and strong participations. Islam is a key component of the society and of the solution to the discussed issues. Denying that fact is according him a step further from the solution.

Leading Coptic thinker Dr. Mīlād Hannā, highlighted the importance of accepting differences and called for a tolerance between the Civil and Islamic ideologies. 

Ms.Yvit, employee at Ibn Khaldūn Center for Development Studies explained that the population awareness on political participation is very poor. She expressed the need to raise this awareness among the population. She also raised the question of the possibility to imposing a quota for the Christian’s representation at the Parliament.

Mr. Sulaymān Shafīq, Coptic journalist and researcher, insisted on the importance to considering the Copts’ cause as an Egyptian one on the first place, confirming that Copts are subject to discrimination because of their religion and not their political opinions or affiliations. He also expressed his total rejection of the Al-khat al-hamāyūny [Hamāyūny Decree]. 

Side B:

Dr. Rif‘at al-Sa‘īd, author and President of the National Progressive Unionist Party (Tajammu Party) started his speech by denying the existence of the so-called Islamic project and enumerated multiple Islamic historical facts that support his statement. As for all the discussions on minorities and the majority of the society, he expressed that there is no place for such distinction as the society cannot tolerate such divisions. Thus, he talked about a fātwa published in 1980 in Al-Daʿwa magazine of the Muslim Brotherhood. This fātwa concerned the regulations of the construction of Christian churches in Islamic countries. Such fātwas have contributed in poisoning the Egyptian society. His insisted that such forms of Islamism such as Ahl al-Ḥal w al-'aqd and other similar ideas has nothing to do with the core of Islam. Therefore, Dr. Rif‘at al-Sa‘īd said that the first step toward finding solutions is by separating religion from the sphere of politics.