During the visit by Nigerian Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye to Egypt on June 12-17 to hold a workshop titled Sectarianism, Dialogue and Tolerance, in association with the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT), a meeting was arranged for them with Bishop Yuhannā Qultah, Deputy Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church.
The meeting, which took place on June 16, 2011, was organized by Dr. ‘Imād Karam, Cornelis Hulsman, Editor-in-Chief of the Arab West Report (AWR), and Hānī Labīb, Director of CIDT.
The meeting envisaged some phrases that represent values and principles that need to be promoted and thoroughly discussed in light of their importance in the Egyptian society nowadays.
“Religion was made for the good of mankind, not the other way round”.
“There’s a significant difference between faith and religion, definitely the same difference between the genuinely devout and the ostensibly religious”.
“Real piety is a form of worship, not a habit”.
“Christianity has asserted that the kingdom of heaven lies within each and every human, not outside”.
“Sufis say that God resides within each and every human being”.
“The tragedy that lies in our Arab world is that man is scorned”.
These were phrases made by Qultah, Ashafa and Wuye, over which the people who attended the meeting have generally agreed.
On June 19, 2011, Hulsman, Labīb and Christopher Marshal, a political science researcher and an intern from the Santa Barbara University in the United States, paid a visit to Qultah for a discussion on current developments within the Egyptian society now.
The Coptic Catholic prelate said he was immensely optimistic about the future, listing a few reasons for his optimism:
- Freedoms of expression and opinion increased remarkably that there is no one now beyond criticism, including public figures as well as Christian and Muslim religious leaders.
- This is the first time the Egyptian state, through the armed forces, re-builds a church that was destroyed (in reference to the church in Sūl village, Atfīh) and restores another that was set on fire (in reference to the Virgin Mary Church in Imbābah).
- For the first time in Egypt, there is now a debate at the highest political levels regarding a unified law to build houses of worship.
Qultah said all these developments assert that Egypt is going in the direction of a civil state, regardless of the problems taking place in the country these days.
The ideas contained in this article are daring but need further promotion for they are exploring a better future for Egypt and Egyptians, Muslims or Christians.
