Thousands of Egyptian Muslims Show Up as "Human Shields" to Defend Coptic Christians From Terorism

Saturday 08 January 2011

by: Zaid Jilani | ThinkProgress | Report

On New Year’s Day, a devastating terrorist bombing at a Coptic church in Egypt killed 21 people and injured 79 others. Although the identity of the culprits was not known, it was assumed that they were Muslim extremists, intent on targeting those they saw as heretics. Religious tensions immediately rose in the country, and angry Copts stormed streets, battled with police, and even vandalized a nearby mosque. The riots and heightened tensions between the Muslim and Coptic communities was likely what the terrorists wanted — to divide the Egyptian community and create sectarian strife between different religious groups.

Yet by Coptic Christmas Eve, which took place Thursday night in Egypt, things had changed completely. As Egyptian Copts attended mass at churches across the country, “thousands” of Muslims, including “the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak,” joined them, acting as “human shields” to protect from terrorist attacks by extremists. The Muslims organized under the slogan “We either live together, or we die together,” inspired by Mohamed El-Sawy, an Egyptian artist:

Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held outside. From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as “human shields” for last night’s mass, making a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic militants and towards an Egypt free from sectarian strife.

“We either live together, or we die together,” was the sloganeering genius of Mohamed El-Sawy, a Muslim arts tycoon whose cultural centre distributed flyers at churches in Cairo Thursday night, and who has been credited with first floating the “human shield” idea. Among those shields were movie stars Adel Imam and Yousra, popular preacher Amr Khaled, the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak, and thousands of citizens who have said they consider the attack one on Egypt as a whole. “This is not about us and them,” said Dalia Mustafa, a student who attended mass at Virgin Mary Church on Maraashly. “We are one. This was an attack on Egypt as a whole, and I am standing with the Copts because the only way things will change in this country is if we come together.”

Al Jazeera English covered the attacks and reported from the site of one of the solidarity events where Muslims and Christians stood side by side, protesting discrimination against Copts and calling for an end to violence. Watch it:

It is a frequent complaint among opinion makers in the United States that the global Muslim community does not condemn and prevent terrorism. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has even said that Islam needs a civil war similar to the one the United States fought in order to deal with its extremists. But the truth is that moderate and progressive Muslims all over the world are battling extremism. Here in the United States, one-third of al-Qaeda related terror plots have been broken up thanks to intelligence provided by Muslim Americans. It is up to the press to report these positive stories and not exaggerate the sway that extremists hold over the global Muslim community.

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Comments

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This is a great story! Thank

Sun, 01/09/2011 - 14:51 — Isaiah (not verified)

This is a great story! Thank you, together we can change our world.

Love and Peace!

The real thing!

Sun, 01/09/2011 - 16:38 — Anonymous (not verified)

I would like to think this

Sun, 01/09/2011 - 18:14 — Jeff F (not verified)

I would like to think this is a real story. Did this really happen? Aljazeera's site does not seem to have the information that was posted in the above article. In fact the following article states that Coptics asked the Muslim community to stay away from their churches on Christmas: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/20111704759563917.html

Can anyone provide a link to verify Truthout's article?

Oops! My mistake. This story

Sun, 01/09/2011 - 18:33 — Jeff F (not verified)

Oops! My mistake. This story was in ahram.org.eg, not Aljazeera.

I wonder if American conservative talk show hosts and GOP leaders would be
willing to do the same as what the Egyptian Muslims did for the next Democratic town hall meeting in Arizona?

I think we should publicly ask them to and watch the responses.

I love your idea Jeff F! I

Sun, 01/09/2011 - 19:32 — Uppity Woman (not verified)

I love your idea Jeff F! I wonder how we could make such a request strongly enough that it had to be answered so we could watch the results.

Every Muslims I have ever met has insisted that anyone who is actually Muslim would never use violence or murder to achieve..., well, anything.

This causes me to believe that it isn't people of the Muslim faith committing terrorist acts.

If is not Muslims doing all the killing they are accused of, then that begs the question: Who is behind all this killing?

Thanks so much for this

Sun, 01/09/2011 - 20:00 — Mark Husk (not verified)

Thanks so much for this article. It is refreshing and inspiring. We here in the US need these articles desperately in our main stream news. It is our duty as human beings to support each other and strive for peace regardless of race, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation.

The Egyptian Muslims did

Sun, 01/09/2011 - 20:29 — Robert (not verified)

The Egyptian Muslims did what a large number of American "Christians" seem unable or unwilling to do: reach past the superficial differences and fear to find the commonality and underlying truths. We are one people of different beliefs, races, characteristics and circumstances. Whatever the differences, we are one people. Live and let live. Respect and protect. An attack on the rights and freedoms of "one of them" is an attack on the rights and freedoms of all of us.

What a unique fusion of

Sun, 01/09/2011 - 22:10 — Anonymous (not verified)

What a unique fusion of democracy and religion. How unlike this Nations of Fox News Idiocy, Hate, and Intolerance!

01:29 Though I am not a

Sun, 01/09/2011 - 23:54 — Anonymous (not verified)

01:29

Though I am not a Christian, I am offended by your insinuation that American Christians are more bigoted than Egyptian Muslims. You don't see a lot of "human shields" in this country, because none are needed. Let's compare:

Muslims in the United States:
--Are rarely targeted for their religion (Muslims account for only 8 percent of religiously motivated hate crime victims; Jews in comparison account for 70%, and despite this, the US is one of the best countries in the world for Jews to live.)
--Are not fleeing the country; in fact, are migrating to this country in droves;
--Practice their religion freely, building mosques all over the place without restriction (with perhaps a few exceptions to the rule here).
--Participate in government and other positions of authority.

Christians in Egypt:
--Are heavily persecuted for their religion; a genocide is under way;
--Are fleeing the country when they can;
--Face heavy restrictions for building and even repairing churches;
--Are restricted from senior positions of authority.

In addition, Christians or anyone in America can convert to Islam, while a Muslim in Egypt who converts to Christianity will face death threats and legal problems.

00:32 You are being taken

Mon, 01/10/2011 - 00:03 — Anonymous (not verified)

00:32

You are being taken for a fool. Muslims say that Muslims never kill anyone, and you believe them? Doesn't it strike you as something of a self-serving claim? Sheesh. Read the biography of Mohammed sometime (a non-whitewashed version) and then ponder the fact that the Quran calls him an excellent example of moral conduct.

23:33 You are seriously

Mon, 01/10/2011 - 00:25 — Anonymous (not verified)

23:33

You are seriously delusional if you think the plight of Arizona Democrats in any way compares with that of Egyptian Copts. What's the next comparison: Arizona Democrats are just like the Jews in Nazi Germany? The Armenians in Ottoman Turkey? The Tutsis in 1994 Rwanda?

It is so odd to me that

Mon, 01/10/2011 - 07:59 — FR Tothus (not verified)

It is so odd to me that people find it so important what imaginary being someone else believes in.

00:32 You're being

Mon, 01/10/2011 - 12:40 — Anonymous (not verified)

00:32 You're being taken:

Christians don't kill, or didn't kill throughout their history? Have you ever heard of the Inquisition, or the Salem witch killings? Or all the religious wars fought among christian nations? The catholic religion has more blood in its hands than any other institution, even more than the U$A government, no easy feat.

truthout, Please note: This

Tue, 01/11/2011 - 01:17 — cdw3 (not verified)

truthout, Please note:

This story is indeed very moving and I look forward to passing it on. However, misspelling a word in the title (the title!?) damages your credibility.

I admire the work done by truthout and hope you keep on keeping on but this kind of sloppy editing damages your credibility and we very much need you to be credible. Thank you.

To Emory Jones: Do you have

Tue, 01/11/2011 - 11:09 — Rick (not verified)

To Emory Jones: Do you have any evidence to support your claim "there weren't very many Muslims at all."? My personal opinion is we (the United States/U.S. citizens) have more to fear from fundamentalist Christians and other domestic terrorists than we do from almost any Muslim, even the radical fundamentalist variety. "When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." -- Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) - I usually add: And probably riding an elephant drinking a cup of tea.

This article is from ahram

Wed, 01/12/2011 - 07:47 — Fouad Mansour (not verified)

This article is from ahram online website. The link is
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3365.aspx

Can anyone confirm how many

Wed, 01/12/2011 - 19:37 — Chrissy (not verified)

Can anyone confirm how many Muslims actually were involved? In the video at 1.10m the reporter says, "Just a few hours before midnight DOZENS of Muslims and activists turned up..." - while "dozens" can give us a bit of hope, it will take "thousands" doing this sort of thing to bring about real change and unity. I doubt I will see it in my lifetime but..... ?

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