“We cannot differentiate between corruption in general, and the arousal of religious fitnahs. It is always said that corruption feeds on discrimination. I say this on the occasion of the al-‘Umrāniyyah events,” Khalīl writes.

“I always return to the report made by the late Dr. Jamāl al-‘Utayfī following the al-Khānkah fitnah ta’ifiyah in 1972, in which he said that the events occurred because of violations on both sides. Muslims had built a number of mosques with no licenses, which prompted a number of Christians to transform their homes into houses of worship and to build a church, which provoked the feelings of some people. It is a pattern that has been repeated throughout Egypt on a 'why not us' basis," the writer says.

Khalīl adds:

“The corruption of local government has prompted people to take the law lightly and to be negligent about its application, damaging the dignity of judicial rulings.”