Is Priest Who Inspired Video Worth All The Rage?
Nervana Mahmoud argues that a rational, mature, intellectual response — not blind anger — is the way to handle anti-Islam clerics like Zakaria Boutros, who's seen as an inspiration to those who made the infamous video. There's no silencing those who challenge Islam, but one can gracefully stand up to the challenge, she writes.
As more details have come out about the men behind the anti-Islam video that enraged parts of the Muslim world, it was disclosed that they are devotees of Zakaria Boutros, a fiery priest who for years has been on a mission to discredit Islam and its Prophet Muhammad.
What makes Boutros unique is his approach? The 77-year-old Egyptian did not just study Christian theology; he claims that has devoted his life to studying Islam, the Quran, Muhammad’s sayings and Islamic jurisprudence. He has researched both medieval and contemporary Islamic texts, and he has done this all with the aim of finding “alleged” inconsistencies and exposing what he believes to be a “fake” religion.
In view of the violence over Innocence of Muslims, I think it's crucial to shed some light on the man who's made a career of denigrating the Prophet of Islam. (It's also important to state there's no proof that Boutros is directly behind the anti-Islam video, and he has denied any ties to it.)
First, it's important to highlight that he doesn’t belong to the main Egyptian Coptic Orthodox church. The TV channel al-Hayat has stopped broadcasting his program since July 2010. He now has his own TV channel, Alfady. It's also worth mentioning that there are others (mainly work on Al Hayah channel) who preach Christianity in the Arab world and openly challenge the Islamic faith.
