The Tokyo Tower 333 Meters High
Islamilainen haasteet
If you are interested in the Coptic Church, refer to the following link to "The Story of The Coptic Orthodox Church in Africa In our present time" though it seems to have been compiled in early 1990's.
http://www.copticafrica.org/books/Book%201%20English.pdf
However, note that ancient religions of Egypt were wiped out by the Roman Empire under authority of Christianity or the Vatican. But, Islam has not completely wiped out Christianity from Egypt.
CHAPTER I: Back to History
What is at stake is Islam.
Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Turkey, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia are all faced with the challenge of whether or not Islam can survive in the 21st century or Islam can help Muslims cope with the ever increasing European/American dominance and the emerging power of China and India.
From a geopolitical point of view, the Islamic world is far closer to Europe than India and China are.
Any effective and productive influence of the European Civilization, including the Industrial Revolution, must have reached the Islamic world earlier than other Asian regions. The Islamic world should have adopted Western science and technology to advance in the industrial field and catch up with Europe and North America as early as the 19th century. But, Islamic states could not. It looks like as if they had opted to stick to traditional practices and conventions of their religion rather than to change interpretation of their religious creeds and make it easy to introduce Western science and technology.
However, what is at stake is not only Islam as observed in Egypt.
For example, when the Roman Empire got weakened, lost hegemony, and finally collapsed, Egypt did not venture into establishing its own hegemony over the Mediterranean. Instead, it was the Arabian Peninsula where new power emerged with a new religion. The ancient glory and power of Egypt could not make a comeback. And, Egypt could not even occupy a leading position in Islam when Islamic forces were dominant over Christian Europe before the Industrial Revolution that started in England. Any ancient glory having been enjoyed by peoples living in regions from Egypt to Mesopotamia and Iran has not been fully revived. They got subject to Islam to maintain their regional and tribal integrity over vast areas from Northern Africa to Pakistan; yet their Islam did not help them fully cope with the European Civilization.
So, Islam was effective till the Industrial Revolution started in Europe. But, power of Islam has not given them superiority over Europe. Their ancient glory, observed before the appearance of Islam, neither helped them in the modern era. So, what would help those Muslims in this century?
Is Islam useless? Are the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamia Civilizations useless? Are North Africans, Egyptians, Arabs, Iranians, and Muslims destined to be helpless forever against the European/American Civilization while they are given a tremendous amount of crude oil by Allah? Are they alone helpless while India and China are drawing strong attentions from the City and Wall Street?
To what should those people living in Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Turkey, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia turn?
This is the true agenda of today.
Check the state of the Near and Middle East under occupation by Turkey:
Check the state of the Near and Middle East under occupation by the U.K.:
Or we may think that no matter how glorious its past might be, if a nations has suffered too much dominance by other nations, it cannot become a leading power in the world. If it is an Islamic nation, it must be.
CHAPTER II: State of The Gap
According to UNDP's 2009 statistics and Japan's 2004 data, the American rich and the American poor are twice more separated than between the Japanese rich and poor.
And, the gap between the rich and the poor in Egypt does not look so wide:
COUNTRY.....*......Gap b/w Richest 10% to Poorest 10%
Brazil.....*......40.6
S. Africa.....*......35.1
Mexico.....*......21
USA.....*......15.9
Philippines.....*......14.1
UK.....*......13.8
China.....*......13.2
Italy.....*......11.6
Russia.....*......11
Spain.....*......10.3
Canada.....*......9.4
France.....*......9.1
Poland.....*......9
India.....*......8.8
JAPAN.....*......8
Korea.....*......7.8
Egypt.....*......7.2
Germany.....*......6.9
Pakistan.....*......6.3
Note: Each figure means a ratio on incomes b/w the two groups.
(http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/honkawa/4650.html)
If the gap between the rich and the poor is the major cause of the current uprising in Egypt, a kind of revolution must be happening in America.
Anyway, many Japanese companies place its central office to supervise the whole operation in the Middle East in Cairo. Japanese concerns with the situation in Egypt is strong. News papers and TV stations in Japan report daily incidents happening in Cairo.
Japanese critics point to two factors: the Internet and globalization of market economy. Again, Islam and the ancient Egyptian glory are at stake, since the Internet and globalization of market economy are products of the modern-Christian America.
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Once a king of ancient China asked Mencius, "Teacher, what should a master keep in mind?"
Mencius answered, "A master should ennoble his resolution. He has to rely on righteousness and act according to justice. Righteousness does not allow killing of a single innocent man. Justice does not allow stealing anything from others.
If only a man ennobles his resolution based on righteousness and justice, he can be qualified as a great man."
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbbRkHazUIg&feature=related
Look like a kind of Egyptian women, don't they?)
Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.