After the defeat of 1967 , a huge rumor came across Egypt that the the "Virgin Mary" appeared in El-Zeitoun Church in Old Cairo in year 1968 exactly. It is said that her apparition began to take place over the domes of the Virgin Church at El-Zeitoun area in old Cairo on the eve of the 2nd of April ,1968
The rumor was strengthened by eye witnesses and images ,oh yes images that were published in newspapers like Al-Ahram like this one on the left
which was published in May 1968 , the apparition was said to take place for a whole year
A Whole year people in Egypt were in a wonder , you see the Virgin Mary is sacred in Christianity , She is very sacred for the Muslims too , she is our lady "Mariam" peace be upon her and her son , she is from the first ladies of heaven , so you can imagine the size of the reaction , thousands from Muslims before Christians went to see the "Virgin Mary" on a daily basis in El-Zeitoun. Rumors said that even President Gamal Abd El-Nasser himself went to see the apparitions if they were real or not , the rumors were enforced by the existence of a big luxury official black car with black curtains and dark window glasses that you can't see who is inside it .
Of course no one can be sure if that apparition took place or not , I mean it is 39 years difference between now and then and all the black and white photos are not a proof at least for me , the photos if you see are not that obvious
But people needed at that time because after the defeat they needed to know that heavens bless them and every thing will be okay ,the proof on that what the Rev.Father Boutres Gayed ,the last rector of the Virgin's church at El-Zeitoun in the Church's official website said about his opinion why the Virgin Mary appeared in 1968
"It is my personal belief that the Virgin has a sacred mission that indicates serious events to come and promises a lot of good to our country."
I don't need much to say , "a lot good to our country" = "We are going to get back Sinai and get the Israelis out of our country"
As I said people needed something to believe ,or to give some hope that everything would be all right , you see people see what they want to see
ON THE SAME LEVEL LIKE THE PEOPLE;THE REGIME THEN WANTED THE PEOPLE TO BE DISATTRACTED
Yes the Regime of Nasser at that time needed the people to be distracted in something instead of blaming and wondering about the defeat of 1967 ,what and who caused it , in fact any regime in the world like Nasser will use the same technique distraction in the same circumstances,you are having the worst military defeat ever ,part of your land is occupied and your army commander is conspiracies against you , yes people adores you as an idol but one day they will wake up and tell you that it is your fault Mr.President
People needed something like this at that time and the regime needed something like this at that time
Well it seems that after 39 years people are still in need to something like this and the regime still is need for something like this
In the last couple of weeks there was a lot of a talk about a "Tree" in the "Miser-Ismailia" highway near "El-Sindbad" fair land, this tree has names "Allah-Mohamed-Taha" on its tree trunk
"Allah" SWT is the name of our God in Islam , "Mohamed" PBUH is name of our Prophet in Islam , "Taha" is one of the names of "Prophet Mohamed" in the Holy Quran.
You can imagine what happened thousands want to see the tree ,I mean thousands not hundreds , already it created a traffic jam there ,not to mention that just few miles from the tree is the Camp "Anti-Riots" forces in Cairo.
Pictures began to be taken for the tree , TV shows and newspapers made reports about it , it was the talk of the town
Here is the picture from Al-Arabya.net
Some believed that it was a nature work or in other words ,a miracle from God
Despite it looks from the pictures to be engraved but eye witnesses said that it wasn't engraved.
The traffic jams and behavior of some people made the District attorney in "Nozha area" where the tree is located asks for the experts help , people began to act so silly in fact in a way against Islam from going to have bless from it ,to touch it and so on ,taking leaves from , it is said that there are photographs for this "Blessed tree" for 10 E.P each !!!
Experts from the "Faculty of Agriculture" from "Ain Shams University" went and saw it and said that it was n't a nature or a miracle work , it was a human work . It was engraved from 6 month at least by someone human , and as the tree is a camphor laurel and that type if it is injured the color of the place where it is injured will become brown
Here is a movie from a Mobile phone I found it online ,there are many of those videos thanks to the mobile phones cameras and technology
Seriously there are some calls now to cut this tree as it will be a well of Myth and chaos and so on , taking an incident that happened in the Caliph Omar Ibn El-Khatab when he ordered to cut a tree people began to be blessed with because Prophet Mohamed "PBUH" touched it and despite this tree was a real miracle as after his touch , strange things came out of it like a good incense not like the "Our blessed tree" but Ibn Khatab decided to cut it for fear it would spread the Myth culture which the Islam fought ,it was a daring decision.
Some say that the government now is in dilemma whether to cut the tree or leave ,they fear that if they cut the tree ,people will be angry and thus an campaign made in media and in newspapers last week took place warning from the dangers of the myth culture ...etc
You know in the 1980s and early 1990s ,there was an image that was very popular in Egypt of a forest , a group of trees shaped the phrase "No god but Allah ,and Mohamed is the Messenger of Allah" which is the primary testimony or the words of faith in Islam , the number one pillar of Islam ,people talked about this forest and that it is in Germany and so on and then it turned out it was n't a miracle ,it was a fantastic art work made by a German artist who converted to Islam !!
It is the same but there is a difference of course that with the existence of the media it became the talk of the town
Seriously I believe the "blessed tree" is the same like the Virgin's apparition a fabrication by the government to keep the people's attention in some place else
In fact many of the events that the media is putting under the spot light that doesn't deserve all this attention ,overestimating them are also from the fabrications of the government ,as I look to it more and more I find that scandals like the "Hala show" and "Farouk and the veil" are overestimated scandals by the order of the government to keep people busy in discussing other things from real important issues
Real Important issues like the constitution amendments
About the search of miracle , why do we look inside ourselves like what God ordered us in the holy Quran to see the real miracle ??
Do you know how many cell in your brain dies in every thing you do or even think per second ??
This is a real miracle
For those who can read Arabic I recommend that you read for the historian and Writer Gamal Badouy this essay
Sources :
- Filbalad : Man made
- Al-Arabya
- El-Zeitoun Church
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