A diverse group of people recently held a rally in Boca Raton to show support for those seeking democracy in Egypt. Photo courtesy of Stephanie El Maadawy
By C. B. Hanif
The whole world was watching.
The faith world was watching — including spiritually minded folks in our little corner of the world — as inconceivable events unfolded in the land of the pharaohs.
While Egypt’s relatively peaceful transition almost universally has been admired, the Egyptians, however, are hardly out of the sands — er, woods — yet.
Here in South Florida, Fady Anise, a deacon for St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church in Pompano Beach as well as an attorney, probably spoke for many when he said folks are “generally optimistic that things will become better for the Coptic Christians who have been persecuted, and Egyptians generally. Because we are not just Copts, we are also Egyptians. We not only care about our people there, but for all the Egyptian people. We love them all.”
Even more optimistic is Stephanie El Maadawy of Boca Raton, who organized a recent rally there joined by diverse citizens in support of those striving for democracy in Egypt.
“What I had hoped for Egypt was for them to have a clean slate, and that’s exactly what they’re getting,” she said. “They’re starting a new constitution, they’re going to have a new set of written laws, and they’re going to vote on them. And that’s exactly what my goal was for them, for them to decide their fate.”
El Maadawy emphasized that she’s traveled to Egypt and “I married into an Egyptian family. So I know exactly what kind of people they are and what to expect for the new Egypt, and I’m not concerned at all,” she said.
“Under (former President Hosni) Mubarak’s reign, Coptics were persecuted,” she added, “and that’s why they’re still hostile about it. But in the new Egypt I doubt it will repeat itself. I think Egyptians are smart enough to include everybody. There are people of all religions and backgrounds in Egypt, and I think Egyptians know better than to persecute any group of people anymore. That’s not their way. They’re not going to cast anybody out.”
Looking ahead, the challenge of liberty for the region and world suggest focusing even more on the needs of the majority rather than the ideology of the few.
One gauge in majority-Muslim Egypt will be the degree to which life improves for the needy, for women and for religious and other minorities.
When this column last visited Egypt, President Obama had just delivered his historic Cairo University address. We playfully had accused him of stealing InterFaith21’s theme: “For uniting people of faith — or no particular faith — in the 21st Century.”
It seems the Egyptians have taken the hint. One excellent sign was in the YouTube video of Christians protecting praying Muslims from rocks being thrown by thugs.
Before that, an article (http://english.ahram.org.eg) reported that Muslims had turned out in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass, offering themselves as “human shields” for Egypt’s Christian community against militants.
Many Egyptians said they suspected the government had been involved in the extremists’ attacks to keep people divided. Millions of Egyptians have since changed their Facebook profile pictures to the image of a cross within a crescent, symbolizing an “Egypt for All.”
Egypt’s success is by no means assured. The peaceful emphasis, however, echoed a familiar line: “Your eyes won’t believe what your mind can’t conceive.”
So sang the Jones Girls in their 1980s classic, Nights Over Egypt. Now there’s a chance that Cairo’s Tahrir Square one day may rival Egypt’s pyramids as a tourist attraction, if not one of the wonders of the world.
And for new generations, Nights Over Egypt may become an ode to Tahrir Squares around the world.
C.B. Hanif is a writer and inter-religious affairs consultant. Find him at www.interfaith21.com.
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