Blessed be Egypt my people

Happy returns to all the Egyptians

Today we celebrate Christmas. I hope that it will be a happy holiday for all Egyptians, Christians and Muslims, and all congratulations to Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Mark. 

We congratulate the Egyptian copts on Christmas Day, as the Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb  wished that this year would be a happy year for all Egyptians, stressing that the exchange of congratulations and visits reflects the love and affection among us, and confirms the depth of the relations that bring together Egyptians, Muslims and Christians, and their cohesion in a unified fabric.

On this glorious day, I pray to God that goodness, blessing, and security will spread throughout our country, and that God will bless our people as he promised us, and such as what happened on Friday, March 12, 1976, when worshipers found the Bible open to the book of the Prophet Isaiah, “Blessed be Egypt my people,” floating on the the roof of the Nile opposite the Church of the Virgin Mary. I pray to God to save us from the seditions, and their evils after the evil powers tried to strike our internal unity a decade ago, and their attempt failed but axis of evil is again testing these days the solidity of the belonging of our brothers in Palestine in their land and trying to turn Gaza into a scorched earth to force its people to be displaced to Sinai, the conspiracy was exposed in the face of the steadfastness of the valiant Palestinians and the unity the Egyptians over the heart of a man who has a firm will!

I pray to God on this happy occasion that it will be a day when we spread love and peace among us, and reject discord, so that Egypt remains for the Egyptians a human civilizational building and its foundation and pillar is justice, love among the people of the country which was blessed by the father of the prophets, Abraham, and in which prophet Moses was born and raised up, and to which the Virgin Mary took refuge, seeking safety with her son Jesus, peace be upon them. 

Oh God, preserve our unity, and help us to be proud of our Egypt, which is characterized by the righteousness which God ordered us to do:"Allah does not forbid you from dealing kindly and fairly with those who have neither fought nor driven you out of your homes. Surely Allah loves those who are fair.

My prayers to God is that the new year will be a year that has a happy outcome, and a year that will spare our nation the scourge of wars and hatred, and will increase mutual affection, love, and cohesion among all sectors of the Egyptian people.  Happy returns.