As often happens to Christian cemeteries in Muslim nations — whether at the hands of “ISIS” or the hands of “angry youth” — “the tombs of the Copts [Egypt’s indigenous Christians] are being turned into garbage dumps.” This was the urgent and recent message from Fr. Ayoub Yousef, who heads the Coptic Catholic church of […]
In Egypt, officials incite — and then cite — Muslim violence as reason not to renovate or build churches
Security forces in Upper Egypt recently arrested 10 Coptic Christians for trying to build a wall around a piece of vacant land in order to expand their current church into the territory or possibly even build a church. A church already exists in the village of Abu Hannas in Samalout, Minya; but, according to Father […]
Egypt: Christian pastor arrested for preaching Christ to Muslims
A Christian pastor was arrested in Egypt on the charge of preaching Christ to Muslims. On August 10, Arabic media reported that Islam Dayf, chief prosecutor in al-Minya governorate, ordered the imprisonment of Methat A., 37, who serves as a pastor of a church in the area. He is charged with preaching the Gospel and […]
Muslim man stabs and drowns Coptic Christian woman
A Muslim man stabbed a Christian woman with a knife multiple times and then threw her body into a canal last week in Egypt. The Coptic Christian woman, Gamila Basilious, was 48-years-old and married, living in the Ibrahmiya region of Minya. According to police reports, the man, Mahmoud Hassan Abdulhamid, came to her door inquiring […]
Egypt: Muslims prevent Christians from praying in Coptic home
It is not enough that Muslims in Egypt prevent Christians from building or even renovating churches, but, as in other Muslim majority nations, when Christians merely meet in one of their homes, Muslims still attack and prevent them. After Muslims in Egypt rioted and engaged in anti-Christian violence at the proposition that a church be […]
Egypt: Muslim mob attacks church honoring Christian martyrs of Islamic State
“It is not permissible for Christians to build or repair churches.” — Egyptian Shaykh Sa’id ‘Abd-al-‘Athim “Non-Muslim subjects…are forbidden to build new churches.” (Reliance of the Traveller 011.5; o119-10) “Minya church commemorating beheaded Egyptians attacked,” by Mahmoud Mostafa, Daily News Egypt, March 29, 2015 (thanks to Patrick Poole): …On Friday, scores of mostly young Muslims […]
Egyptian security forces foil jihad terrorist attack on Coptic Christmas celebrations
This plot may have been foiled yesterday, but it was unlikely to have been planned for yesterday, as Copts celebrate Christmas on January 7. In any case, it is noteworthy that the jihad plot was organized by “a 50-year-old deputy headmaster of a secondary school in the Minya governorate.” Yet again we see that […]
Egypt: Churches burned by Muslim mobs last year still in ruins
Even if the army is sympathetic, it can’t do very much for the Christians: Islamic law forbids Christians to build new churches or repair old ones, so if the army helps the Christians very much, it will be faced with the return of the Muslim mobs who destroyed the churches in the first place. “The […]
Egypt: Salafi plan to expel Christian Copts
The Islamic State’s expansion has stepped up Salafi aspirations for an Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East—including in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya—and the expulsion of the Christian populations from their countries of origin. According to the Justice Organization for Development and Human Rights, a Salafi plan exists in Egypt—allegedly backed by the U.S. and certain […]