THE UNLIKELY SHOCK!!

The death of Pope Shenouda III of Egypt shocked me in a way that I asked myself if I were a Christian! And I am sure that my feeling will inversely shock some of my fellow Muslims!

Despite the fact that a human being had just passed away, it was a bit painful to me. Shenouda was from Egypt the only country in the world that is second to my country for the love of my heart. This is the country of the great Islamic teaching center Al-azhar Al-shareef, the spiritual light that guided Muslims for over a millennium. A center that I once believed, given the veneration my parents and teachers had for it, was as sacred as the Ka’ba in my childhood days.

It is the institution that produced great Imams and scholars who personified tolerance and peaceful coexistence with people of different faiths. Among whom the contemporaries of our time include Dr. Imam Ahmed Al-tayeb, Imam Sharawy, Sheikh Ghazali, Dr. Qaradawi, Dr. Helaly, Dr. Suad Salih, and many more.

Reading their works or listening to them broadens one’s understanding of Islam and how it is the only religion that accepts the will of God of pluralism not only in the form of different faiths but within itself. It is those people and the Islam Al-azhar Al-shareef represents that teach us the respect and humane treatment of people of different faiths.

The death of Pope Shenouda comes at a time when Egypt is at crossroads and the voices of intolerant extremists represented in the petrodollars propagated Saudi Wahhabism and Occidentalized Christianity is getting louder. Pope Shenouda, notwithstanding his unwavering support of Mubarak regime and denunciation of 25 January revolution, always remained moderate voice against those extremists. This fact and the uncertainty of how his successor will turn out to be is what has shocked me and the fear of the unknown is something natural in the trying times.

Some of the decisions of the late Pope were many times in agreement with the Fatwas of Al-azhar Al-shareef, among which was forbidding Muslims and Coptic Christians going on pilgrimage to the occupied holy city of Jerusalem so as not to legalize the Zionist occupation of the holy land.

His departure took me back to the days Imam Sharawy lived and his wisdom filled interpretation of Quran. I remembered a scene in a film about his life where Eid Al-adha coincided with Eid-Al-azraa, a day celebrated for Virgin Marry in the Coptic calendar. On that particular day, some ordinary peasants in his village of Daqahliya were very furious of Christians celebrating alongside them. The debate got heated for days before the occasion but luckily the Imam arrived in the evening on the eve of the Eid Al-adha to spend the great day in his village, and after noticing the showdown he invited both parties and told them how Quran has a high regard for Virgin Marry and Jesus Christ and that he thought it was a blessed coincidence which called for a collective celebrations to show the homogeneity of his people despite their different faiths, which both teach humane treatment for others and spiritual fulfillment.

May the Almighty Allah make the successor of Pope Shenouda a wise man who will always stand by his countrymen and Al-Azhar Al-shareef against extremism