and varied. Their best exemplification could be found in the speeches given by Muslim shaykhs in the Coptic churches and by Coptic priests in mosques.
and Copts, after the murder of BOUTROS GHALI. The agitation culminated in the holding of the COPTIC CONGRESS OF ASYUT in 1911, and the EGYPTIAN CONFERENCE OF HELIOPOLIS at which the demands and the allegations of the Coptic Congress were refuted.
future of the Copts would be after independence, the answer was "their status will be our status, they will have the same rights and the same duties, with no difference between any of us, save in personal achievement."
membership. The Wafd adopted a strong nationalist attitude. This attracted the enmity of the king, who did not wish his own authority to be weakened by too strong a political party, and of the British, who had their own reasons for not having an Egyptian party with strong popular backing.
Thus the Wafd, in spite of being the largest and most popular party, was in power relatively few years from 1919 to 1952, as it was constantly fought by the other parties. In their fight for power, the other POLITICAL PARTIES did pay lip service to national unity, but they were often activated by different interests and paid less attention to the cause of national unity.
decide for minority representation in both chambers of Parliament.
minority representation, after protracted discussion.
religion is a matter between man and his God. They understand that minority rights protection could have branded them as not being an integral part of the national community.
various extremist Islamic movements, the call for Islamic legislation to be applied in Egypt, the increase of Islamic pressure against the Christian minority, and the violence perpetrated by Islamic pressure groups. These last deserve special mention, because they are directed not only against Christians but also against the Muslim religious establishment, which they accuse of laxity and indifference in their call for Islamic legislation. In fact, it could be said that they are directed less against Christians than against their own establishment. Christian rights are always carefully recognized, in words if not always in deeds.
The example of the Sudan, where Islamic law is stringently applied in the North and where it has caused a renewal of the civil war in the South, does not augur well for the future.
Constitution of 1923 and subsequent revisions.