Sherif Gadallah, a lawyer from Alexandria has submitted a report to the public prosecutor, against the president of the court of appeal, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque, the interim Pope of Alexandria as well as President Mohamed Morsy requesting the exclusion of Copts from the committee in charge of forming Egypt’s constitution, claiming that Orthodox Copts are not representative of Egypt’s Christian population, because they are simply not “nassara”, a substitute term employed by Salafists to refer to people of Christian faith, this term has developed pejorative connotations, being used by those who loathe Christians the most; the use of which often justified by the fact that the term “Christian” was never mentioned in the Quran.
According to Mr. Gadallah Orthodox Copts are not “Nassara, or even Christian”, they can be counted among the “polytheists” which makes them non-representative of Egypt’s Christians.
Mr. Gadallah bases his request on purely Islamic grounds. He states that the essence of all heavenly religions is that “Allah is one and there is no God but Him”, and that the prophets of Allah; Moses, Eissa [Arabic for Jesus] and Mohamed, are but humans sent by Allah to pass along His message to His Creatures, so if a certain denomination of a certain religion claims that their prophet is the “son of God” or “is God”, it is then considered infidel and a dissident of that religion. Gadallah goes on to ask the Grand Mufti to have Al-Azhar issue a clear statement about the verdict of Sharia regarding Copts who claim that Jesus is the son of God.
Gadallah has also advised the Grand Imam to be very careful before making his statement, because if he recognized Orthodox Copts as a Christian denomination, he will have to recognize any Muslim group saying that Mohamed is the son of God as Muslims, rather than the dissidents of the true faith and infidels that they are.
Gadallah has generously welcomed the presence of Orthodox Copts as a part of the texture of the homeland, but not as Christians, only a “human faction living in Egypt”.
In his notice, Gadallah also demanded President Morsy to separate between the religious powers of the Coptic Patriarch and his worldly ones; so that he can teach the followers of his denomination the principals of their faith.
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Translated by CS from Al-Wafd newspaper (via http://coptreal.com/WShowSubject.aspx?SID=65007)