Testifying on Behalf of Egypt’s Christians

Raymond Ibrahim 14/12/2011 The following is Raymond Ibrahim’s written testimony submitted for the record at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s December 7 hearing titled “Under Threat: The Worsening Plight of Egypt’s Coptic Christians.” Since the year 641, when Muslims invaded Egypt, the Copts—Egypt’s Christian, indigenous inhabitants—have been subject to persecution, discrimination, and over all subjugation on their homeland (etymologically, the word “Copt” simply means “Egyptian”). The result is an Egyptian culture and mentality that sees Copts as second-class citizens, or, in Islamic legal terminology, Dhimmis—“infidels” who are tolerated as long as they embrace their inferior status