A Bright Spot In One "Cradle Of Civilization"

"A cradle of civilization is a location where civilization is understood to have emerged. Current thinking is that there was no single "cradle", but several civilizations that developed independently, with the Fertile Crescent (Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia), Ancient India, and Ancient China understood to be the earliest." [Emphasis original.] [1]

The bright spot today is the new Egypt.  An article published by Agenzia Fides  reported "what Sheikh Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam, current Gran Mufti of Egypt, said during his speech on a television program conducted by the journalist Hamdi Rizk.  The Egyptian Grand Mufti, in his speech, indicated Egypt as the Country with a Muslim majority where more public resources are used in the construction of Christian places of worship..." in an article entitled Grand Mufti Shawki Allam: "There is no objection to building churches with Muslim money. [2]

This is in contrast to other countries that are burning or tearing down Catholic churches mentioned in two previous blog posts dated 7/18 and 7/20.

Quoted below is from the same article cited above [3]:

The Egyptian Grand Mufti also intervened on the reconversion of the ancient Hagia Sofia Basilica in Istanbul ordered by Turkish authorities. In this regard, Sheikh Shawki Allam said it was illegal to convert a church into a mosque, declaring that in the history of Egypt no Christian place of worship has been transformed into a Muslim place of worship.

...

In June, as reported by Fides (see Fides, 10/6/2020), the Egyptian "House of Fatwa" had gone so far as to define the same Ottoman conquest of Constantinople as an "occupation", marking as an unfortunate event the transformation of the Basilica of Haghia Sophia into a mosque.

Even the Holy Family fled to Egypt to escape Herod [4]:

... behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him.

Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod:

That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son.

But Egypt is not apolitical, just like every other country on the planet.  Aljezeera  reported that "Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Russia have been backing Haftar's eastern-based forces in the conflict [in Libya], while Turkey supports the [UN-recognised Government of National Accord] GNA" in an article entitled Egypt's parliament approves troop deployment to Libya. [5]

Libya is a mess because "[o]n 17 March 2011 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1973, with a 10–0 vote and five abstentions including Russia, China, India, Brazil and Germany.... In the weeks that followed, American forces were in the forefront of NATO operations against Libya. More than 8,000 American personnel in warships and aircraft were deployed in the area. At least 3,000 targets were struck in 14,202 strike sorties, 716 of them in Tripoli and 492 in Brega. The American air offensive included flights of B-2 Stealth bombers, each bomber armed with sixteen 2000-pound bombs, flying out of and returning to their base in Missouri in the continental United States. The support provided by the NATO air forces contributed to the ultimate success of the revolution." [6]

Are the Libyan people any better off today after NATO's invasion than when Muammar Gaddafi was in charge?  "If ever a nation can be said to be cursed by its own natural resources..., it is Libya. Despite having the largest oil reserves in Africa, and the tenth largest in the world, around a third of the population live in poverty." [7]  Where is NATO now having left a third of Libya's people in poverty after bombing their country?

If Libya can become more like Egypt rather than Turkey and the war-happy NATO countries, then perhaps the world will become a bit more civilized.


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_civilization#:~:text=A%20cradle%20of%20civilization%20is,understood%20to%20be%20the%20earliest., quoted without references and hyperlinks.
[2] http://www.fides.org/en/news/68386-AFRICA_EGYPT_Grand_Mufti_Shawki_Allam_There_is_no_objection_to_building_churches_with_Muslim_money
[3] Ibid.
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A13-23&version=DRA, quoted without references.
[5] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/egypt-legislators-vote-deploying-troops-libya-200720141515828.html
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya, quoted without references and hyperlinks.
[7] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/libya-poverty-corruption-a8451826.html