Two Measures and Two Scales in the Arab World

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The recent murder of a Egyptian who was Muslim occurred couple of weeks ago in Dresden , Germany had made great news in Egypt and in the Arab world. The Germans handled the murder in the normal way that news of this sort is normally handled.

This murder is a clear example of how Arabs and Muslims see and act towards certain facts. At first, one thing had to be clear, a murder is a murder in a civil society. Murder does not have a religion nor skin color. Any one who commits murder has to be judged and sentenced as per the law. Furthermore, the murderer has also the rights to defend himself.

The 32-year old woman followed her husband to Germany to be with him during his continuing education. It seems that she had an argument with a 28-year old man in a public park when she requested that he allow her son to play on the swings. The woman was dressed in a head covering (hijab) which is uncommon in the western world. Instead of letting the little boy play the man called harassed her by calling her a terrorist. This was brought to trial where the man was fined €750.00. He was in the process of trying to appealed the sentence and fine but was not being successful and sought out the woman murdering her with a knife. In any other civilized country, this would be the end of the story. However, like the Teddy Bear fiasco in Sudan , this is not the end. Egyptian press is calling for blood.

Perhaps the world needs to examine this violent attack as being more than a typical violent action. We need to come to an understanding the real dimensions of this tragedy, that it is very clear that the ways of life in the west are being violated due to a new invasion - using a weapon which is called "political correctness" to undermine common sense and civil rights for all. The following are the points to the above named incident:

The lady went to Germany with her son to join her husband who was continuing his education from Max Blanc, a German institution.
The lady went to a public park with her son.
A German man was in that park to spend some time and relax.

How can we imagine this incident evolving? Perhaps, the lady asked politely or arrogant for the man to move from the swing for her child to play on them. However, this is not the issue. Could the issue is that the German man felt somewhat anger over seeing a woman wearing a symbol of terrorism (in his mind). The man refused the child to play on the swings. This is not the issue. The issue is the way some people may feel towards others. The main question -- how does a citizen feel about immigrants?

Let's look at the flip side of things. It is well known that a western woman visiting any country of Muslim majority has to respect the local laws and behave accordingly. She has to don a hijab, she can't be driving on her own and must always be in the company of men. However, here in the west, we notice that a Muslim woman may be wearing the traditional head covering however, she was not obeying the tenants of her faith. She spoke to a stranger - a man who was not Muslim. This woman was using freedoms that are not awarded to her in her own land by speaking to the strange man.

Recently in Italy , thousands of Muslims refused to honor local law and culture by brazenly prayed in the plaza of “Il Duomo” in Milano and next to Coliseum in Roma, while Copts in Egypt (and Christians under Muslim rule in other countries) get arrested for praying in their houses! The interesting thing was the so called Arabic media which managed the matter looked at things differently which, in itself is reminiscent of how the Nazis looked upon things. Some of the Arab media claimed that the German man was Jewish to demonstrate that the hate is coming from Jews (and connecting this to the Palestinians in Gaza to be the victims of Jews.). Other media outlets indicated that he is a Christian to allow them to find a justification of murdering Christians in the Muslim world and bring more oppression which occurs to Copts in Egypt .

They tried as always to take the maximum advantage of a normal incident to justify all and any aggression against non Muslims.

After this incident many Muslims in Germany protested carrying signs asking “What was her sin to be killed?” They have every right to ask this question -- as I ask the same -- what were the sins of the Jews, Christians and others who are persecuted due to being non-Muslims? WHY ARE YOU MURDERING MY PEOPLE?! Let's look at the slaughter:

Thousands of innocent (Americans and Non-Americans in the tragedy of September 11, 2001;
Thousands in bombings of trains, subways, discos, pizzerias, etc. in Spain , England , Malaysia , Indonesia , and many other countries;
Children in Breslan , Russia , Mumbai , India ;
Jews because they are Jews;
Copts of Egypt that suffered in over 1,400 years of occupation. Thousands upon thousands in last few years:
What was the sin of 83 Copts killed and burned alive in “Zawia Al Hamra ” Cairo ”?
What was the sin of 23 Copts killed and burned alive in “Kosheh in Upper Egypt ?
What was the sin of the monks of Abua Fana that were attacked by Arabs under the protection of the Mubarak regime?

To the Political Correctness world, the answer is very simple, those are not Muslims, so who cares. The man who killed that Muslim lady is sitting in jail waiting to be judged. How many murderers of non-Muslims were judged or are in jail? The answer is NONE.

Personally, I feel disgusted when I see and read certain comments from journalists that supposedly are at a decent level of cultural knowledge. An honest journalist may easily find a clear difference between a single persons actions and a group of barbarians attacking a church, like what happened at "Ain Shames" Cairo last year.Interesting how we never see or hear any high ranking Egyptian official make any comment when a Copt is killed in Egypt or when an attack occurs against civilians who are not Muslims in any part of the planet. This Egyptian woman was an average person within the country. At her funeral only the presence of Mubarak and his first Minister was missed. In fact three ministers, high ranking police and military officers, and six thousand people were present for the funeral. Now in Egypt , a street will be renamed for her so she can be always in martyrdom!

Martyr, yes now she is known by the name THE HIJAB MARTYR which shows just what the mentality of these people are.

Muslims are asking for an apology for the killing of this Egyptian woman! While I do not condone what happened I have to ask, what about the millions of Copts killed without any reason in their homeland?

I think it is the right time for Copts to ask not only for an apology, but demand civil rights and respect in their own homeland! It's time not to be silent but to shout to the whole world so the world should understand the true tragedy that the Copts have been suffering from (as well as many non-Muslims) without any “Politically Correct” involvement.


Dottore Architetto Ashraf Ramelah
President
www.voiceofthecopts.org
www.lavocedeicopti.org