As an academic who knows Arabic (and also Urdu) and studied various Islamic movements you should know better that the prohibition of celebrating non Islamic festivals is not a verdict unique to "radicals" but is common among all Islamic jurists. Jurists have gone as far as condemning Muslims from congratulating non-Muslims on their festivals. Tolerance is one thing and condoning festivals with underlying perceives blasphemous is another.
Yet doesn't it seem that we are overestimating Egyptian Muslims celebrating Christmas? besides what are these "Some reports say that around 500,000 Christmas trees will have been sold this year in Egypt by 25 December--"
what are the sources? besides its a forecast not an actual number so it appears from the article, and we can end the argument here. but for the sake of the argument...
Aren't there malls, hotels, beach resorts, restaurants embassies,companies,banks, schools, and various institutions etc, which all buy Xmas trees other than non-Muslim workers in them that buy them, all these places if Egyptian want to appear secular/western.
I don't think any Muslim would celebrate Christmas except for a few westernized "middle-high" and "high" class folks, sort of like the people you see in the American University of Cairo who have a hard time speaking in Arabic to start with. and its always a good opportunity for perverted young Egyptian men to get drunk and lucky with the opposite gender.
other than that the whole Muslim Egyptians escaping puritan wrath and what not is grossly over estimated.
and on another note what about tyranny of the minority over the majority? where is freedom of religion when the Coptic church kills and detains numerous Copts who converted to Islam including late Kamilia Shehata and the way the church acts as a state within the state ?
of course western media hardly ever reports such things, but again you know Arabic you should be following Arab media.
much more could be said but this post is very biased 🙂
here is a good follow up article
http://onislam.com/english/culture-and-entertainment/media/450434-the-wider-context-of-alexandrias-tragedy.html
ahh should have said it from the very begging as you did Dr,
it is indeed "an extremely mysterious statistic" more like far fetched 🙂
As an academic who knows Arabic (and also Urdu) and studied various Islamic movements you should know better that the prohibition of celebrating non Islamic festivals is not a verdict unique to "radicals" but is common among all Islamic jurists. Jurists have gone as far as condemning Muslims from congratulating non-Muslims on their festivals. Tolerance is one thing and condoning festivals with underlying perceives blasphemous is another.
Yet doesn't it seem that we are overestimating Egyptian Muslims celebrating Christmas? besides what are these "Some reports say that around 500,000 Christmas trees will have been sold this year in Egypt by 25 December--"
what are the sources? besides its a forecast not an actual number so it appears from the article, and we can end the argument here. but for the sake of the argument...
Aren't there malls, hotels, beach resorts, restaurants embassies,companies,banks, schools, and various institutions etc, which all buy Xmas trees other than non-Muslim workers in them that buy them, all these places if Egyptian want to appear secular/western.
I don't think any Muslim would celebrate Christmas except for a few westernized "middle-high" and "high" class folks, sort of like the people you see in the American University of Cairo who have a hard time speaking in Arabic to start with. and its always a good opportunity for perverted young Egyptian men to get drunk and lucky with the opposite gender.
other than that the whole Muslim Egyptians escaping puritan wrath and what not is grossly over estimated.
and on another note what about tyranny of the minority over the majority? where is freedom of religion when the Coptic church kills and detains numerous Copts who converted to Islam including late Kamilia Shehata and the way the church acts as a state within the state ?
of course western media hardly ever reports such things, but again you know Arabic you should be following Arab media.
much more could be said but this post is very biased 🙂