Ramadan: Islam’s ‘Holy Month’ of Christian Oppression

The month of Ramadan, which ended earlier this week, proved to be a month of renewed Muslim piety on the one hand, and renewed oppression of non-Muslim minorities on the other. In Nigeria, for example, Islamic militants are living up to the assertion that “Ramadan is a month of jihad and death for Allah,” proving that killing Christians is not only reserved for Christian holidays like Christmas andEaster – when militants bombed churches killing dozens – but is especially applicableduring Islam’s Ramadan.

Usually, however, Ramadan-related oppression has to do with Muslim perceptions that Christians do not “know their place”—either because the latter openly do things forbidden to Muslims during Ramadan, or because they dare object to the things Muslims do during Ramadan.

When it comes to these aspects of dhimmitude, Egypt offers countless examples, past and present, simply because it houses the Middle East’s largest Christian minority, the Copts, and thus offers more opportunities for the intolerant face of Ramadan to reveal itself. Two recent examples follow:

First, according to Coptic websites, on July 27, a diabetic man in Egypt was driving his car in Maadi, a suburb of southern Cairo, when he was struck with great thirst, “which he could not bear” (a side-effect of diabetes, further exacerbated by Egypt’s July weather). He pulled over near a public water source and started drinking water. Soon three passers-by approached him, inquiring why he was drinking water (among the many things forbidden to Muslims during daylight in Ramadan). (...)