In an ironic article, Egyptian author Alaa Al-Aswany describes what it is to be "a Muslim in Britain," metaphorically referring in fact to the state of the Copts in Egypt, who suffer from severe persecution and discrimination. The following are excerpts.[1]



Alaa Al-Aswany [2]

"Being a Muslim in Britain means knowing from the get-go that you are different. As a schoolboy, your young fellow pupils give you curious and bewildered looks as you leave the room when its time for religious studies. If you go elsewhere to attend a class on religion along with some fellow Muslims, you must stick close to them and get their protection so that nobody will make fun of your religion or hurt you.

"Being a Muslim in Britain means that many people do not like your religion or recognize it. When you utter your name that reveals your religion, you generally get a negative reaction, from coldness to overt hatred. Being a Muslim in Britain means being superfluous, marginal and suspicious. Only rarely will someone consider your rights or your dignity. It means that you must study and work during your religious festivals, because the state throws sand in our eyes and recognizes only one festival as an official holiday, whereas your other religious festivals are ordinary days as far as the state is concerned, and have no [special] significance. Recall how many times you had to attend an important class or a meeting at work during a [Muslim] holiday, and how many times your children's holiday fun was ruined by having to take a test on that day.

"Being a Muslim in Britain means putting every effort into your studies knowing that, in all likelihood, you will not get a diploma, even if you deserve one. During oral exams at the university, when the examiner reads out your Muslim name, he will scowl and give you a lower grade than your fellow students. Even if you get the highest grades [in the class], the administration will refuse to appoint you as a teaching assistant, because you are a Muslim. Those blocking your appointment will generally be religious folk observing the commandments of their faith, [people] who consider you an infidel not worthy of enjoying the rights they enjoy.

"Being a Muslim in Britain means being ready to emigrate at a moment's notice. [It means] choosing the names of your children and their schooling based on the country to which you will have to emigrate should you be targeted by extremists. It means never attaining a high position in your country, no matter what your qualifications. You can never be president or prime minister, an army commander or a member of the security forces... [for], in the eyes of the state, you are a traitor who may form ties with the enemies that share your religion.

"Being a Muslim in Britain means going through hell [if you want] to build a mosque in which to worship. In many cases, the state and the extremists will prevent you from building one, for the laws of the state impose limitations that can turn the construction of a mosque into a difficult task. [In fact, these laws even] limit you in renovating or refurbishing any part of the mosque, even the water [pipes], unless you obtain several permits from the authorities. The extremists in Britain view the building of any mosque as a brutal attack on their faith and honor. The minute you start building [one], hundreds of extremists will appear and attack it and burn it, and [also] attack you, your family and your children, [while] cursing you for being infidels. All this, just because you want to build a house in which to worship Allah. The cops will let them do as they like, and will arrive on the scene to write a report only later, after the criminals have left.

"Being a Muslim in Britain means living in danger of being driven from your neighborhood at any moment. All it takes is for the extremists to send you some death threats giving you one or two days to leave. [Then] you will have to take your family and children and move someplace far away. If you ask the cops for help, they will say: 'We advise you to leave for a while, because, to be honest, we cannot protect you.'

"Being a Muslim in Britain means living in constant danger of massacre. If you demonstrate in demand of your rights, the security forces will run you over with their armored vehicles. If you leave the mosque with your fellow [Muslims] on a holiday, extremists will surround you and kill you. If some trader quarrels with a Muslim customer from your neighborhood, the quarrel will quickly escalate from a business dispute into a religious war. Then the extremists will attack the homes of the Muslims, burn them and kill [those inside]. The police will arrive too late, as usual. They will apprehend some of the attackers, but, no matter how many Muslim are killed, the murderers will get off with light sentences, or be acquitted.

"Being a Muslim in Britain means that, if you happen to live in a poor neighborhood, all it takes is for a neighbor to stand under your window and shout 'this infidel curses our religion on Facebook.' Your extremist neighbors will take this as a signal to attack, and will surround your house and hurt you and your family while crying out religious slogans. This will happen even if you never did curse their religion on Facebook, and even if many of your attackers have no idea what Facebook is. After every attack, state officials will come forth to say some pretty words over the blood of the victims...

"Being a Muslim in Britain means getting used to hearing your religion disparaged everywhere: on TV, in the streets and on the Underground. The majority of priests call your Muslim religion 'heresy' and 'error,' and warn their followers to avoid any contact with you or your family and [even] not to console you after a death [in the family] – for Muslims do not deserve sympathy and are destined for hell and for a bitter ending. [These priests] will forbid their followers to greet you on your religious holidays, because that means recognizing your clearly heretical religion.

"Being a Muslim in Britain means seeing an extremist tear your holy book in front of the [television] cameras and say that he will send one of his grandchildren to urinate on it. You must accept this public humiliation, and the extremist will be released after a formal trial, [held with] his supporters surrounding the courthouse while hurling invective at your religion.

"Being a Muslim in Britain means that anyone may insult your religion, because you are a Muslim. Yet if you criticize the religion of the majority they will throw you in jail for many years on charges of 'insulting a religion.' Thus you will discover that, in Britain, 'insulting a religion' means insulting the religion of the majority, whereas the religion of the minority is free game; anyone may insult it, disparage it or tear its holy book with impunity.

"As a Muslim in Britain, you must ask a girl's religion before falling in love with her, else your love story will end in tragedy. If you fall in love with a girl from a different religion, thousands of extremists will see this as a grave insult to their honor which only your blood can expunge… In their eyes, you are in infidel who must not contaminate a girl of their religious [community]...

As a Muslim in Britain, you must accept that freedom of worship is a one-way proposition. If a Muslim converts to the religion of the majority, the state will congratulate him, welcome him and remove every obstacle from his path. Yet if the opposite occurs, and someone converts to the religion of the minority, the [new convert] will have to flee the country as soon as possible, because if he stays, extremists will kill him out of what they consider their religious duty.

"Finally, as a Muslim in Britain, you must not be saddened by all this injustice. Do not hate your country or leave it. Remember how beautiful and tolerant Britain was before it was invaded by extremist ideas supported by petrodollars. Remember that we [Muslims and the majority] always co-existed in Britain, ate and drank [together], shared happy times and difficult times, and defended our homeland with our lives and souls. Remember that for every extremist there are ten tolerant people who grew up respecting the beliefs of others. They suffer from the attacks of the extremists as much as you do. Do not leave Britain, which you love. Stay and defend it. Dig your in heels and place your hand in ours, and let us liberate our country from the gang of extremist savages that are trying to take it over.

"Dear reader, this article contains a deliberate error. Please exchange the word 'Britain' with 'Egypt,' the word 'Muslim' with 'Copt,' and the word 'mosque' with 'church,' and then read the article over to discover what it means to be a Copt in Egypt today. Then I hope you will call all the Copts you know and wish them a merry Christmas.

"Democracy is the solution."