By Raymond Ibrahim – Coptic Solidarity –
Another incident indicative of the state of affairs for Egypt’s Christian minorities, the Copts, recently occurred.
After opening his modest carpentry shop north of Cairo one morning, Mina, 34, tuned in to listen to the Coptic mass, though—and all things considered—by keeping the volume very low.
It was not enough. A Muslim man identified only as Harika—literally, “firebrand,” and described in reports as an “extremist” and a “bully”—barged into the shop at the head of a gang and began verbally and then physically abusing Mina. “You Christian!—you son of a [various extreme obscenities! Did we not tell you before never to play this stuff in our area?!”
Harika and the other thugs proceeded to smash up Mina’s workshop and even stabbed the Christian several times with a switchblade knife, causing injuries to his face, arms, and body.
The ordeal did not end before the Muslim gang made Mina swear to close shop and leave the region. Although they indicated they would return his belongings—including money plundered from the cash register and his mobile phone—when he returned on the following day to take his belongings and permanently close shop, they reneged and kept their “jizya.”
Another beating began when he protested. His younger brother, Barsoum, 27, and sickly father, who accompanied him but were waiting outside, ran to his aid, only to be beaten and stabbed as well. Mina was “mutilated” and sustained several new injuries. His father and brother also suffered severe stab wounds, including to their necks, chest, and thighs.
As the three Christians fled towards their home, a neighbor helped them get in and sealed the door—only for the Muslim gang to continue the assault, pelting the home with empty bottles, stones, and other missiles, “as if they were at war,” observes the report.
Soon police came and arrested everyone—including the innocent victims. While in prison, and as usual, the Christian victims were pressured into “reconciling” with their Muslim persecutors and told that if they did not, if their assailants ended up doing even a single day of prison time, once released, they would target the Christians’ womenfolk and set their home on fire.
With little choice, and no help from the authorities, the Copts conceded and “reconciled” with their persecutors, who all went scot-free on the following day.
Such is just another day in Muslim Egypt, and the great price some Christians have to pay merely for listening to what in the West would amount to “Christian music.”
