One of the most exciting things to me about the Middle East, which comes with much sadness and confusion as well, is the religiously charged atmosphere. The majority of Egyptians, Muslims and Christians alike, devoutly practice their religion. Social pressures exist to follow the rituals of one’s own belief and to be fully committed to one’s religion. I have asked a question of many Christians and Muslims here. “How do you identify yourself and how do you rank those identities?” Almost every Egyptian has told me, “I am a (Christian or Muslim) first and then an Egyptian.” Every Egyptian identifies with one of these two religions and has usually been born into that religion. But despite being born into their beliefs, most are much more committed to their faith than your average religious American.
There have been many different opinions about how the two religions are viewed here and how they relate to each other. Each group sees the other differently. It has been hard to put my finger on the religious climate here due to the diversity of opinions about Christian persecution, moderate Islam, and what the true nature of Islam is. There have been three different groups that we have heard from predominantly about religion, the Christians, Muslims and Muslim background believers in Christ. I will detail the majority opinions that I have heard but keep in mind that this is all from my own experiences. We have heard from all three groups in formal settings and I also have personal friends in each as well.
The Christians here are mostly Coptic, which is not only the Orthodox tradition but also the ethnic group that they belong to. Most see themselves as being persecuted every day by the Egyptian government (which is completely Muslim) through discriminatory laws and they feel that their Muslim neighbors see them as “unclean” and second-class citizens. I have heard from other Christians that they are completely accepted by their Muslim neighbors and each is left to worship in their own way, but this viewpoint is not the opinion of the majority (from my experience). The Coptic Church teaches the values of being persecuted and honors the saints who have been killed for their faith. They believe that they are in an age of persecution and fear the day that Egypt becomes an Islamic state (like Iran) and they are made strangers in their own land. Many are migrating to the West to escape this persecution. The persecution is felt most from the Egyptian government and the Muslim Brotherhood (the powerful group that would surely win any free election in Egypt, but wish to implement Shariah law in Egypt).
The Muslims that I have come in contact with seem very tolerant and moderate. We recently met with Islam Online, a group working to educate Westerners as well as native Muslims about a more loving Islam. It seems that extreme views of hating “infidels” have been scaled back on the streets of Egypt since the 1990’s. Many influential preachers in Egyptian Islam have preached the values of love for their Christian brothers and I have seen a real passion in some Muslims for drawing the two communities together. Since I have been here I have prayed in a mosque beside Muslims and fasted during Ramadan with them. They have also shown themselves more than willing to talk about the love of Jesus (who is one of their prophets and the 2nd most influential person in Islam, however Christians and Muslims differ on his divinity). My Muslim friends have a great respect for all of our commitments to our faith and have not tried in any way to convert us to Islam. When asked about radical Islam and jihad and violence in their religion, they are quick to condemn that as “not true Islam”. They say that they misinterpret the Qur’an and reject them as followers of the same God that they pray to. Overall, I have met many tolerant, loving Muslims who live a beautiful life in service of God, just living it out in different ways than I do and under a different creed.
The third group is the most interesting and probably the most enlightening on the situation between the two religions. These are the former Muslims who have converted to Christianity. They prefer to be called Muslim Background Believers. Much of the persecution of Christians has to do with the inability to legally change your religion from Islam to Christianity. When an Egyptian gives up Islam, their family and community reject them. The culture here is very restraining here as far as religious freedom goes. We have heard from two different people who left Islam for Christianity and began to preach the gospel to their friends and were jailed for it in the 1990’s. They have since been left alone by the state and continue to work to gain followers for Christ (which has been fairly successful given the impossible culture). Their faith has been amazing to hear about! Some continue to perform Islamic rituals as a structure for their Christian worship, such as the five prayers and Ramadan, as well as the zakat (the required giving of money to the poor).
They can offer the best perspective on each religion as they have been believers in each at one point, and still partly having a foot in each world (living in an Islamic culture, as Arab Christians). One man sees Islam as a very dangerous religion and claims that tolerant loving Muslims misinterpret the Qur’an. The true ideology of Islam is the heaven and hell, infidel and believer faith that we see in the West, he claims. He says that moderate Muslims deviate from the true Islam (as they would say radicals are not following the true Islam). However he was very happy with the moderate Islamic viewpoint towards Christians but said,” Islam has theoretical love and tolerance, but does not practice it.” For example, many Muslims say that whatever religion one practices is ok, but force their children to be Muslim. He also made a wonderful point about the Islamic view of heaven and hell and eternal rewards for the deeds done on earth, rather than the Christian viewpoint of heaven and hell depending on a loving relationship with Jesus.
In conclusion, I believe that there are different Islams out there. Some do persecute Christians and treat them as second class citizens. Al Quaeda wish to kill Americans under their interpretation of the Qur’an. Our Muslim teacher sees Christians as her brothers and sisters and we will all be in heaven someday. Each person’s Islam is different. I think that the Islam may be more open as one is better educated. Most of my Muslim friends here are highly educated and fully accepting of Christianity and reject radical Islam. All in all, Islam has different faces.
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