Word: islam
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Shenouda aggressively resisted the increasing Islamization of the country: in 1977, for example, he called on Copts to undertake a four-day fast to protest proposed legislation that would make it a capital crime to renounce Islam. The bill threatened Christians who convert to Islam to avoid stringent Coptic divorce laws, then apostatize once proceedings are over. The bill was shelved. He also complained often and bitterly that the government did not do enough to protect Copts from violent persecution by Muslim fanatics. Last year, after a reported series of church burnings, attacks on clergymen and forced conversions, Shenouda canceled...
Shenouda's confrontational activities coincided with a marked increase in Islamic fervor and militancy among the country's Muslims, and in the wake of the violent incidents this spring and summer, some Copts began to fear for their physical safety. As Matta puts it: "All of us are in this dilemma, [because] Muslims feel Shenouda is a threat to Islam and the Koran. He was working against the line of the government and moderate Muslims." Most Copts feel that Shenouda's ouster is a tolerable price to pay for communal peace...
After the Arab conquest of 641, the Copts resisted the onslaught of Islam for two centuries. But as a result of periodic cycles of persecution under successive Muslim conquerors, and waves of immigration from Arabia, the Copts were reduced from a majority to a minority. Today, according to official census figures, they constitute less than 10% of Egypt's 43 million population (Copts complain, however, that they are systematically undercounted). They are the largest Christian entity in any Middle Eastern country, with small communities in the U.S. and Canada, South Africa, Australia and other countries...
Many Egyptian officials believe that the sort of militant Islam now enjoying a renaissance is not sufficiently attractive to the majority of Egyptians to pose a danger to Sadat's rule. But observers caution that should the religious militants ever link up with secular dissidents, they could prove to be a potent challenge indeed to the President...
Enthusiasts claim that Ebla could revise theories on the origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; alter many scriptural interpretations; make all current Bible translations obsolete; and require scholars to credit the Old Testament with greater historical accuracy. These and related matters are, of course, vital to millions of believers...