By Sally Bishai
Hosni Mubarak may have recently passed the Hamayouni buck to his 26 governors, and actually—for the first time in over 30 years!—appointed a Copt as one of those governors, but that doesn’t mean that church-building in Egypt has gotten any easier.
For those of you who don’t know, the Hamayouni Decree is an Ottoman relic that was created to protect Copts, but ended up being morphed into a law that requires Copts to have the president’s signature in order to build a church. Or fix a broken toilet.
A little over two months back, however, Dear Hosni enacted a little something that would put the power to fix (or not to fix) in the hands of his governors, only one of whom is a Copt (and was only appointed this year).
Some have taken this as a sign that Christians in Egypt will finally be (somewhat) free to build their churches in a more timely manner (seeing how the president can be a bit time-consuming, and signing Hamayouni requests might not have been Number One on the Presidential Priority List).
Maybe that’s why a group of Copts had begun converting a house into a church—without, some say, official permission.
A lack of official permission, however, did not give rights of destruction to a group of 10 young Muslims. Uncaring of this, the young men—who were later arrested, together with the owners of the house—set fire to the building materials or the structure of the church-to-be.
Or, at least, that’s how the story began. More recent accounts have the attackers listed as “Muslim extremists,” rather than “young men,” and claim that the attacks were to do with stopping a church celebration, rather than efforts to halt church construction.
This excerpt of an exclusive report from U.S. Copts Association sheds new light on the case (commentary to follow):
“According to eyewitness reports from U.S. Copts correspondents, on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 at 6:30 PM, a group of Copts gathered for prayer at Holy Virgin Mary Church in the village of Udayasaat, Luxor, al-Qina Governorate. The Coptic villagers were celebrating Holy Theophany eve. Almost five thousand extremist Muslim residents opposed to the Copts’ worship flooded the premises, cutting off the street’s electricity and brandishing weapons including small swords, knives, axes, and heavy metal chains.
Coptic worshippers remained trapped behind the walls of the church as attackers set fire to the property.. Although local police officers had arrived at the scene, eyewitnesses describe as minimal the police’s efforts to break up the mob and shield the churchgoers from further assault. Some accounts have reported Luxor police General Mohammed Nour informing the church priest, “[The police] didn’t come to protect you; we came to prevent you from praying.”
Police did not immediately allow injured Copts to seek treatment at the nearest hospital; authorities also discouraged Coptic victims from reporting the source of their injuries in the official hospital records required by law.
Despite local extremists’ attempts to block ambulances carrying Coptic victims, the injured were eventually admitted to a hospital, where some remain in critical condition. 42-year old Kamel Shaker Maglaa was reported dead after admittance to the hospital. Mr. Shaker Maglaa’s skull had been broken by an assailant’s axe. Eyewitness accounts have also reported the death of an unnamed thirteen-year old male Coptic child from a heart attack believed to have been exacerbated by panic over the attacks.”
Perhaps the most interesting bit of information in this entire report is the part about “al-Qina.” For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with my daily weigh-ins (for shame!) Qina (or Qena) is a governorate that was the recent recipient of Egypt’s first and (currently) only Coptic governor, Magdy Ayoub Iskandar. (The last time we had a Copt for governor was after the 1973 war, when Sadat appointed Fouad Aziz Ghali as governor of the province of South Sinai.)
So perhaps the actions of the Copts were the results of their thinking that they were finally safe and free to be able to gather and pray, since they (ostensibly) had someone in government on their side (for once)?
But I wasn’t there, so I can’t say. Others, however, were, and can. And so, I again offer a snippet from the best-informed English-language site for Coptic advocacy on the web, U.S. Copts Association:
“Sources say the Saint Mary Church was targeted by cohorts of extremist government officials Modeer el Amn and Ali Al-Udaisy, whose father had in 1968 burned the church to the ground. Although the church was rebuilt in 1969, the Egyptian government has refused to grant the Coptic community a license to worship in the building. Coptic villagers numbering over 1500 have been forced to hold clandestine prayer meetings in the church.
Long-standing restrictions on church construction, renovation and use—including stringent requirements for special gubernatorial permits—have forced several Coptic communities throughout Upper Egypt to worship and hold ceremonies in private homes and even the streets.
“Coptic villagers continue to face the most extreme forms of hate crimes, from arson to gang attacks resulting in murder,” said Michael Meunier, president of the U.S. Copts Association. “We are further grieved by this indication that President Mubarak’s recent ‘reforms’ on church construction and renovation have proven insufficient to provide Coptic populations with adequate houses of worship. Numerous Copts are forced to worship in clandestine meetings upon regional governors’ rejection of Coptic church licensing requests.”
Unfortunately, this riot—and the inequality that caused it—is only one of dozens that have happened in the past few years, each bringing with it destruction, injury and death.
Unfortunately, these fallen don’t make up even one percent of Egypt’s 21st Century Coptic martyrs. (You don’t even want to know about the fatalities from the 20th Century!)
And, unfortunately—unless Egypt undergoes a radical change, and soon!—these faithful, who are now in Paradise with their Creator, will not be the last to die for their faith!
Hosni Mubarak may have recently passed the Hamayouni buck to his 26 governors, and actually—for the first time in over 30 years!—appointed a Copt as one of those governors, but that doesn’t mean that church-building in Egypt has gotten any easier.
For those of you who don’t know, the Hamayouni Decree is an Ottoman relic that was created to protect Copts, but ended up being morphed into a law that requires Copts to have the president’s signature in order to build a church. Or fix a broken toilet.
A little over two months back, however, Dear Hosni enacted a little something that would put the power to fix (or not to fix) in the hands of his governors, only one of whom is a Copt (and was only appointed this year).
Some have taken this as a sign that Christians in Egypt will finally be (somewhat) free to build their churches in a more timely manner (seeing how the president can be a bit time-consuming, and signing Hamayouni requests might not have been Number One on the Presidential Priority List).
Maybe that’s why a group of Copts had begun converting a house into a church—without, some say, official permission.
A lack of official permission, however, did not give rights of destruction to a group of 10 young Muslims. Uncaring of this, the young men—who were later arrested, together with the owners of the house—set fire to the building materials or the structure of the church-to-be.
Or, at least, that’s how the story began. More recent accounts have the attackers listed as “Muslim extremists,” rather than “young men,” and claim that the attacks were to do with stopping a church celebration, rather than efforts to halt church construction.
This excerpt of an exclusive report from U.S. Copts Association sheds new light on the case (commentary to follow):
“According to eyewitness reports from U.S. Copts correspondents, on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 at 6:30 PM, a group of Copts gathered for prayer at Holy Virgin Mary Church in the village of Udayasaat, Luxor, al-Qina Governorate. The Coptic villagers were celebrating Holy Theophany eve. Almost five thousand extremist Muslim residents opposed to the Copts’ worship flooded the premises, cutting off the street’s electricity and brandishing weapons including small swords, knives, axes, and heavy metal chains.
Coptic worshippers remained trapped behind the walls of the church as attackers set fire to the property.. Although local police officers had arrived at the scene, eyewitnesses describe as minimal the police’s efforts to break up the mob and shield the churchgoers from further assault. Some accounts have reported Luxor police General Mohammed Nour informing the church priest, “[The police] didn’t come to protect you; we came to prevent you from praying.”
Police did not immediately allow injured Copts to seek treatment at the nearest hospital; authorities also discouraged Coptic victims from reporting the source of their injuries in the official hospital records required by law.
Despite local extremists’ attempts to block ambulances carrying Coptic victims, the injured were eventually admitted to a hospital, where some remain in critical condition. 42-year old Kamel Shaker Maglaa was reported dead after admittance to the hospital. Mr. Shaker Maglaa’s skull had been broken by an assailant’s axe. Eyewitness accounts have also reported the death of an unnamed thirteen-year old male Coptic child from a heart attack believed to have been exacerbated by panic over the attacks.”
Perhaps the most interesting bit of information in this entire report is the part about “al-Qina.” For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with my daily weigh-ins (for shame!) Qina (or Qena) is a governorate that was the recent recipient of Egypt’s first and (currently) only Coptic governor, Magdy Ayoub Iskandar. (The last time we had a Copt for governor was after the 1973 war, when Sadat appointed Fouad Aziz Ghali as governor of the province of South Sinai.)
So perhaps the actions of the Copts were the results of their thinking that they were finally safe and free to be able to gather and pray, since they (ostensibly) had someone in government on their side (for once)?
But I wasn’t there, so I can’t say. Others, however, were, and can. And so, I again offer a snippet from the best-informed English-language site for Coptic advocacy on the web, U.S. Copts Association:
“Sources say the Saint Mary Church was targeted by cohorts of extremist government officials Modeer el Amn and Ali Al-Udaisy, whose father had in 1968 burned the church to the ground. Although the church was rebuilt in 1969, the Egyptian government has refused to grant the Coptic community a license to worship in the building. Coptic villagers numbering over 1500 have been forced to hold clandestine prayer meetings in the church.
Long-standing restrictions on church construction, renovation and use—including stringent requirements for special gubernatorial permits—have forced several Coptic communities throughout Upper Egypt to worship and hold ceremonies in private homes and even the streets.
“Coptic villagers continue to face the most extreme forms of hate crimes, from arson to gang attacks resulting in murder,” said Michael Meunier, president of the U.S. Copts Association. “We are further grieved by this indication that President Mubarak’s recent ‘reforms’ on church construction and renovation have proven insufficient to provide Coptic populations with adequate houses of worship. Numerous Copts are forced to worship in clandestine meetings upon regional governors’ rejection of Coptic church licensing requests.”
Unfortunately, this riot—and the inequality that caused it—is only one of dozens that have happened in the past few years, each bringing with it destruction, injury and death.
Unfortunately, these fallen don’t make up even one percent of Egypt’s 21st Century Coptic martyrs. (You don’t even want to know about the fatalities from the 20th Century!)
And, unfortunately—unless Egypt undergoes a radical change, and soon!—these faithful, who are now in Paradise with their Creator, will not be the last to die for their faith!
