Christian-Muslim Affair Tests Egypt’s Revolution
- Posted on May 15, 2011 at 8:46am by
Scott Baker
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Firemen fight a fire at a church surrounded by angry Muslims in the Imbaba neighborhood in Cairo late Saturday, May 7, 2011. (AP Photo)
CAIRO (AP) — It started with a Christian woman who wanted a divorce to marry her Muslim lover. With divorce strictly banned by Egypt’s Coptic Christian Church, she found no other way but to convert to Islam.
And so began a chain of events that led to an explosion of sectarian violence in Cairo that left 15 people dead, a church in flames and a nation even more uncertain of its path after overthrowing an authoritarian ruler of 30 years.
For many Egyptians, last weekend’s bloodshed was a depressing reminder that their revolution — which initially infused the country with an unprecedented democratic spirit — is under threat from Egypt’s deep social ills and religious strife.
At the same time, the episode pushed Egypt’s transitional military rulers and civilian government to take the first steps in decades toward addressing some of the root causes of the discord, including long-held grievances of the Christian minority.
A closer look at the woman at the center of the story, however, suggests that will be a long journey yet.
Twenty-five-year-old Abeer Fakhri was only seeking to escape an abusive marriage and marry her Muslim partner, a relative said in an interview in recent days.
Late last year, the couple fled from their home village deep in southern Egypt to a northern Nile Delta city. In similar cases, women have been killed by their own families for having an affair with a man from another religion.
Her family located her and handed her over to Church officials, she said in an Internet interview aired in the past week, and her Muslim partner responded by rallying Islamic hard-liners in the Cairo district of Imbaba and claiming that his Muslim-convert wife was imprisoned in a local church.
The result was disastrous.
In video recorded by individuals during last Saturday and Sunday’s mayhem and posted on YouTube, bearded Muslim hard-liners known as Salafis and hired thugs wielding swords are seen storming Imbaba’s Virgin Mary Church, destroying pews, smashing windows and tearing religious pictures. One fact-finding mission said that the attackers slaughtered the church’s Christian guard and set his body on fire before burning the whole church.
A short distance away, the mob tried to storm the Mar Mina Church but were held back by Christians who formed a human shield around the church and fought for hours.
Instead, the attackers set fire to two six-floor buildings and damaged several shops while exchanging gunfire and firebombs with Christians. Dozens of armored vehicles and hundreds of soldiers flooded the district, but the fighting raged for hours.
Fifteen people were killed and more than 200 were injured.
Once a hotbed of Islamic militancy, Imbaba is a mix of middle- and lower-class neighborhoods occupied by government employees, seasonal workers and unemployed youth who live in garbage-filled slums.
Barefoot children chase stray dogs in unpaved alleys that wind among gloomy warrens of red brick houses. Christian migrants from southern Egypt compose a big part of the district and clearly identify themselves with crosses drawn on the exteriors of their houses.
In this neighborhood, talk of a Muslim woman being abducted in a church and forced to return to Christianity was like pouring oil on fire.
Fakhri, in a video clip posted on the website of an Islamic group, recalled how she pleaded to her Muslim partner, Yassin Thabet, over the phone for help and gave him her location. Thabet, a minibus driver, knew that to get her out of the church, he would need help from powerful Islamist hard-liners.
She said in a phone conversation with a TV network that the church didn’t hurt her, “but only talked to me about why I am leaving my religion after the 25 years I remained a Christian.”
In Imbaba, she was taken by the church to live in “a room with no windows.”
“I couldn’t get out. They always lock the doors and I stay in,” she said.
After leaving her Christian husband, Fakhri wed Thabet in an informal marriage recognized by Islam but not by Christianity. She was detained in the past week for questioning over allegations of polygamy.
In her home village, Fakhri’s cousin, Eid Hanna, said that she has been married since 2008 and that her Christian husband repeatedly beat her up. “She rarely stayed at her husband‘s place and most of the time she was at her parents’ house.”
Hanna, a 41-year-old baker, said that a priest tried to mend relations between the two but it didn’t work.
Conservative Egyptian families — both Christian and Muslim — perceive conversion as a social stigma. It is also religiously prohibited.
Father Abanoub Tharwat, deputy bishop in the southern city of Assuit, said he deals with dozens of cases of women converting to Islam. Most of the cases are driven by “women fed up with their husbands and who want divorces or women who had extramarital relations and want to cover it up.”
He said the church does not go after the women to force them to return to Christianity, but added that the church interferes when the motive for conversion is not purely religious.
Islamic extremists view church intervention as “abductions” of Muslims and they accuse the church of torturing them and keeping them in underground cells.
In the aftermath of the revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak, the Christian minority has been demanding a better position in society. At the same time, Muslim hard-liners who have risen to prominence are using anti-Christian rhetoric to boost their campaign to bring about an Islamic state in Egypt.
“We feel that there is a big plan plotted by the Islamic extremists to take the country backwards,” Father Tharwat said. “If things remain as they are, Christians here are ready for martyrdom.”
Some observers say that behind the attack on Imbaba’s Christians are groups that seek to undermine the revolution: a combination of Mubarak loyalists, members of his disbanded National Democratic party and hard-line clerics with ties to the former state security apparatus.
Military officials, quoted in daily papers, shared that view, blaming ruling party remnants, but without naming anyone.
Under Mubarak, authorities had tried to brush sectarian violence under the rug, forcing feuding Muslim and Christian clans into grudging agreements while failing to address the root causes of the violence or arrest perpetrators.
The scale of the violence in Imbaba led the country’s military rulers to act.
More than 200 people — Muslims and Christians — were arrested and sent for trial before military tribunals.
At least two public fact-finding missions have been launched to pin down details of how the violence happened.
And the military and transitional civilian government moved to address some of the policies that Christians say relegate them to second-class status in Egypt. Among them are restrictions on where Christians can build churches, in place even though they make up an estimated 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 80 million. Most of them are Copts.
On Wednesday, the government formed a National Justice Committee that has 30 days to draw up a law for the building of places of worship with the same rules for Muslims and Christians. The committee will also look into reopening nearly 50 churches shut down under Mubarak’s rule for reasons seen by Christians as discriminatory.
The government also promised a law banning sectarian incitement and protests in front of mosques or churches and the committee will look into handling all issues relating to conversions.
Christian activist-lawyer Amir Ramzy called the moves “a happy surprise” for Christians.
“These demands have been there forever and no government felt the urge to meet them. In 30 days, we will have what we have been asking for for 30 years,” he said. “These were the seeds of sectarian tensions and this is the right way to uproot them.”
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Comments (61)
HOOT
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:32pmKill a muslim save a Christian .
Report Post »ED4237
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 3:25pmOnce again these people in the mideast can not live with anybody that is not muslim and neither can the other religions in the region. Thought that the revelutions going on were about peace and democracy.
Report Post »eramthgin
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 3:03pmThere goes that peaceful religion of Islam again. Get some snap folks. Anyone notice the signs at the London protests over UBL’s death last week? Many professionally produced signs with the slogan “Islam will dominate the world”. That is the objective your choices are 1) Convert, 2) Execution (beheading), 3)Resistance. If your choice is one or two you can just wait it out. If it is three you had better start soon.
Report Post »TopOfTheMuffin2u
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 2:10pmThis is a cultural issue. It is not Christian vs. Islam. There will never be peace because even within the religions there are factions and tribal behavior.
Report Post »TaterSalad
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 1:25pmAllah…the “Perfect Man”? Far from it. He was a “perverted killer”!
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/12/perfect-man-of-islam.html
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 1:04pmThey are a wild donkey of a man.
Report Post »papa2thdoc
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:30pm“Religon of peace” my ruddy bumm.
Report Post »trooper
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:15pmBacon grease napalm bombs is the way to get the cleansing going, maybe all the muslimes will kill them selves at a faster rate.
Report Post »spotster
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 11:36amall mosques should be eliminated here now before too late
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 11:31am“For many Egyptians, last weekend’s bloodshed was a depressing reminder that their revolution — which initially infused the country with an unprecedented democratic spirit — is under threat from Egypt’s deep social ills and religious strife.”
I thought we’d already established that it was the deep social ills and religious strife that were driving this revolution, that the revolutionaries are setting their sites firmly on Israel next, that they are not rallying for democracy, they are rallying for theocracy. It would be more apt to state, “Egypts deep social ills and religious strife are under threat from the few democratic revolutionaries looking to patch up decades of repression against minorities.”
“The government also promised a law banning sectarian incitement and protests in front of mosques or churches…”
Isn’t that what union meeting halls are for? And didn’t Trumka and other Hard Left Labour Unionists in America and elsewhere trumpet their support for this “labour uprising” in the early days?
So the bomb throwers and sword wielders will just meet in front of the union halls to start their sectarian incitement and protests and then march to the target thereof and simply burn it to the ground. Problem solved. There was no sectarian incitement or protests in front of the house of worship.
And people question why my faith lies in Atheism.
Report Post »MilesF
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:12pmYou make some very good points. I am troubled that the new law would “solve” the problem of protests in front of houses of worship leading to violence by simply banning protest in front of houses of worship. Period. Next they’ll solve the problem of protests in front of government buildings leading to violence by banning all protests in front of government buildings.
Report Post »Bro Geo Too
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:40pmForgive me for going off the subject, but I’ve been curious–what the caliber and what brand of HP’s?
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 11:11amThe trouble is when you have someone reporting their version of the truth without hearing it from the two people involved in this “affair” it sheds absolutely no real light on the issue.
Why haven’t we seen these two people interviewed?
This report leaves more questions than it answers, and this article‘s title’s premise is absurd, to say the least.
Report Post »integrican
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 10:48amUpright, speaking, Desert Monkeys!!!!!!
Report Post »Joshua Tyler
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 10:48amWouldn’t it be great if both the Christians, and the Muslims of the world, converted to the unorganized religion of America’s Founding Fathers, Deism? What would they have to fuss about if they weren’t trying to convert each other to their own preferred mythology?
Report Post »teachermitch32
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 11:31amYou are mything the truth thumwhere in your life.
Report Post »Joshua Tyler
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:45pm“You are mything the truth thumwhere in your life.” – TeacherMitch32
That “mything truth”, evidently, was missing from the lives of the primary Founding Fathers, of America, as well. I will gladly, and proudly, team up with that wisdom.
Report Post »nomercy63
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 10:36amThose that fail to stand with Israel, this is what you will face there is nothing standing between you and them without Israel. This is what Israel has been fighting for years. Things are escalating more and more violence weapons so on. The stage is set for WWIII where do you stand, you can’t sit in the US and say oh wow I am safe.
Report Post »let us prey
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 10:24amAnother love affair with the muslims happened with Ghengis Khan. The only ruler who almost ended Islam. He did not know their hatred came from the writings of islam. After defeating them on the battlefield he eventually embraced it, and became part of the psyche he opposed.
Report Post »Sounds like we are falling into the same trap. When our own govt is teaching tolerance for islam and we have thousands of mosques here in our country something has gotta give.
Liberal_Atheist_Critical_Thinker
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 10:02amWait a minute – a Christian de-converted to marry a Muslim? Oh I get it – she wasn’t a True Christian ™ in the first place. Of course.
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:14pmWhat do you mean “de-converted”? Are you claiming that she was a Muslim in the first place? If so, as in many of your posts, you are wrong. As often happens but much more so in the Middle East, it is more a matter of heritage then it is a matter of religious conviction. If you are born into a Christian family more then likely your family has been Christian for well over a thousand years. What is interesting is that what seems to be normal when Islam is involved, the burning of places of religion and the murder of people. It seems to be one sided with the followers of the religion of “peace”, the Muslims doing almost all of the killing and burning.
Report Post »TheGreyPiper
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:32pmPlease, don’t feed the troll.
Classic trolls:
“By Jove, I’m glad to see you,” said Ransom….“I say—you’re all right, aren’t you? You got through the barrage without any damage?” ….
“To tell you the truth, Ransom,” I said, “I’m getting more worried every day about
the whole business. It came into my head as I was on my way here—”
“Oh, they’ll put all sorts of things into your head if you let them,” said Ransom lightly. “The best plan
is to take no notice and keep straight on. Don’t try to answer them. They like drawing you into an interminable argument.”
C.S. Lewis “Perelandra”
Report Post »drattastic
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:42pm@RICK
Report Post »Why do you waste your time trying to teach that idiot anything? He cares nothing about truth ,common sense or reason. You might as well try and enlighten an inbred dog.
cloudsofwar
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:57amAnother basket case muslim country. Now that they got ride of there ruler I’m sure they will have peace. 17 century anyone? Watch out Israel.
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:38amMore from the religion of peace. ON his show last week Glenn Beck revealed that he personally has to spend over 1 million dollars a year for security. What was funny is when he related that is first death threat came shortly after 9-11. He received a phone call from a Palestinian who stated that Islam is the religion of Peace and if Glenn Beck kept criticizing Muslims he was going to cut his head off. I’m sure that somehow that made perfect sense to a Muslim.
Report Post »momprayn
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:32amYes, that’s an interesting thought — what will Hillary, corrupt, treasonous, clueless Obama & gang say when the Muslim Brotherhood takes over (but they’re “democratic”) & have this country added to the list of those who are determined to destroy Israel – no peace treaty even remotely considered. Why do people equate “democracy” with “freedom/justice”. ..it’s mob rule. The question is – or should have been — what does this “mob” want ruling? Hint — they are mostly Muslims — therefore, and as they have even stated (but seemingly ignored by our biased media) – they want “death to America and Israel”….Sharia law, etc. It is virtually impossible to have Muslims and Christians to live peacefully with each other. It’s not only the Musliims that are “messed up” & murderous, it’s the “Christians” who are not really living by the New Testament scriptures either. This doesn’t take some “brain” to figure out. But we’re in for the same mess here if we let it spread…site: http://www.actforamerica.com
Report Post »ares338
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:19amAhhh….I love the smell of Democracy in the morning!!!!
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:30amI love a good republic, for which it stands…………………………….
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 10:02amI love the Republic, and will do so more when we are finished Restoring her to the place she is to be in the world. A shining light on the hilltop for all to see.
Report Post »LVMerrily
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 11:50amIs this what Democracy looks like?
Report Post »psst
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:12amHmm!
Report Post »So this Christian Coptic woman wanted to marry her Moslem luva!!
Shouldn’t this Moslem man told her he wan not interested in Christian pootang?
It takes two (2) to tango.
I mean if a Moslem woman wants to marry a Christian Coptic or even a white Western male. She’s dead.
Seems to me a double standard. Ohh! But‘ that’s Ok. Mohammad said the Moslme male can get pootang from any and all religion.
This woman’s family locarted her and turned her over to the Christian Coptic Church.This IS all crazy.
Let these Arab sort all this crapola out amongst themselves.
I am tired of hearing about Moslems and Arabs in general.
These crazy people will still be killing each other long after all of us is dead.
Just let them be.
sbeejustsaying
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:36pmThis is strange. A muslim man has an affair with a married Christian infidel. She leaves her Christian husband (still married to him) and marries the muslim and converts to Islam. The Christians bring her to the Christian church to change her mind about leaving the church and return to her first husband. A large group of Muslims kill 15 and wound 200, burn down buildings and create havoc over this woman who was a married, christian infidel. Just give them one little itty bitty tiny excuse to mame and distroy. Besides they aren’t even that keen on women.
Report Post »sbeejustsaying
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:38pm@PSST you are right.
Report Post »psst
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 1:42pm@Sbejust
Report Post »Strange indeed.
But then again, she may be an Egyptian Helen Of Troy
And her Christian husband’s name is Menelausabu and the moslem dude was Paris-bin-laden
Bob_R_OathKeeper
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:06am“We are one nation here” LOL, yeah, whatever moron. We are one nation here too, which is laughable also.
Report Post »Dale
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 10:23am“…the Christian minority has been demanding a better position in society.”
Report Post »—————
I can’t think of a better way than to kidnap a convert. I condemn the violence, but the church had no right detaining an unfortunate woman fleeing an abusive relationship. Perhaps they should more aggressively pursue resolving conflicts, or grant divorces.
Dustyluv
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:06amChristian activist-lawyer Amir Ramzy called the moves “a happy surprise” for Christians.
Wonder how suprised he will be when they cut off his head?
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:28amThere may be other parts of him that go missing first.
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 10:19amWhere is Gloria Allred when you need her?
Report Post »chiefparker
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:02amDistrust based on race or creed is satan’s game.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:10amSo for that matter is strife, envy, greed, anger, hatered and so much else. Unfortunatly it is something old Satan is very good at.
Report Post »hud
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 11:24amYeah,and the best way to trust and verify is with a loaded gun in your hand, and even that doesn’t deter their insane behavior
Report Post »NOBALONEY
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 8:59amThere’s no test here. They have been threatening the 196,000 Coptics for centuries,
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:11amSeriously ?????????
Report Post »Do we need a test for this ???????
Hello !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HillBillySam1
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:15amThe shedding of blood is the only resolution that they understand and that they will continue to abide by. As Egypt continues to take a hard-line Islamic turn, we may soon see another Rwanda take place in every city in Egypt. I wonder if Hillary Clinton will refer to whoever gains final control over the new “Egyptian Democracy” a “reformer”?
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:18amNo test is needed, the facts speak for themselves; there is violence going on…nothing more really is needed to be “Tested.”
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:36amLamont Obama can pick-em ……………..
Report Post »insight
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 9:39amIt looks like some people need to be under strict rule. One more reason showing whats good for us might not good for others. Its time for us to mind our own. Plus, now it looks like I’ll never get to see the pyramids
Report Post »hud
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 11:27amInsight—that’s good insight
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:27pmThe Japanese did not invade The mainland US because there was a gun behind every tree. When muslins try to cause problems in the US, We need to prove there is a person with a gun behind every tree ready for them.
Report Post »APatriotFirst
Posted on May 15, 2011 at 12:38pmThis christian church doesn’t sound too christian to me…….lock her up? Why not let people choose what they want withour fear of a church interfereing? If a person wants to change from christian to islam, it is their decision.
Report Post »Same thing with relatives…..leave people alone.
Get out of the 5th century and grow up.
nsatalla
Posted on May 16, 2011 at 4:43amThe Copts in Egypt are about 15% of the population (about 85 millions): that comes to about 13 million Copts in Egypt…
Report Post »