By Nader Shoukry – Watani –
What took place in the village of Tal al-Qibliya in Egypt’s Minya Governorate—where Coptic Christians were attacked because extremists rejected their constitutional and legal right to pray, and where electricity to their church was deliberately cut off—reveals a far deeper crisis than a local disturbance. The incident was first brought to public attention by Bishop Macarius of Minya in an urgent social media appeal, a step he resorts to only when he believes a situation has become sufficiently dangerous to require immediate intervention. Security forces later restored order and arrested several suspects, but the events exposed a much more fundamental problem: the persistence of hate-based ideology within Egyptian society.
To date, the response to this problem has remained largely superficial. Public officials routinely speak of brotherhood, love, and national unity during times of crisis, only for those messages to fade once the immediate tension subsides. Meanwhile, the underlying disease remains untreated because its roots have never been addressed. Misguided ideas, absorbed over many years, continue to shape the thinking of some members of society and are passed from one generation to the next.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi himself has repeatedly addressed this issue. On more than one occasion he posed a simple but profound question: “What harm does another person’s prayer do to you?” He has affirmed that every individual has the right to worship freely, that every citizen has the right to a place of worship, and that respect for others is a cornerstone of a modern state. Yet the reality suggests that these messages have yet to take root as a genuine social culture.
Some religious and media discourse continues to inflame sectarian feelings by exploiting religious emotions rather than confronting the ideological roots of extremism. Over many years, these narratives have instilled hostility toward those of different faiths, portraying them as unbelievers or enemies who should be rejected, excluded, or even attacked.
This rhetoric is no longer confined to sermons or religious lessons. It has spread widely across social media, where even unrelated events are increasingly given a sectarian dimension. The author cites the recent football match between Egypt and Argentina as an example. On social media, Lionel Messi was denounced by some users as a “kafir” (“infidel),” while Egypt’s victory was celebrated by others as a religious triumph rather than a sporting achievement. A football match thus became, for some, a religious confrontation—an illustration of how deeply sectarian thinking has penetrated everyday public discourse.
The events in Tal al-Qibliya, however, require reflection on several particularly alarming issues that go well beyond the customary official statements issued after sectarian incidents.
Children Learn Hatred Before They Learn Citizenship
Videos documenting the attack reveal one of its most disturbing aspects. Women—mothers—can be seen throwing stones at their Coptic neighbors while their children stand behind them doing exactly the same thing, chanting slogans filled with hatred.
This is not an isolated phenomenon. Similar scenes have appeared during previous sectarian incidents, where women, children, and adolescents are often pushed to the forefront of the violence. Afterwards, it becomes easy to dismiss the participants as “just children” or “a group of youths,” while adult men remain in the background, less exposed to legal accountability.
Yet this is arguably a far more serious crime than the physical attack itself.
These children represent Egypt’s future. When a child participates in an attack against the home of a Coptic neighbor—or watches his mother throw stones while treating such behavior as perfectly normal—he absorbs those ideas during the most formative years of his life. What attitudes will he carry into adulthood? How will he view his Coptic classmate at school, his colleague at university, or his coworker later in life?
In this way, society is planting the seeds of future hatred. The real danger is not merely damage to homes or vehicles, but the creation of another generation conditioned to reproduce the same hostility. The most alarming aspect of the Tal al-Qibliya events, therefore, is not the stones that were thrown, but the ideas planted in the minds of the children who threw them.
What Harm Does Another Person’s Prayer Do?
No convincing justification has ever been offered for denying another citizen the right to pray.
What harm is caused by people gathering peacefully in their place of worship to pray for peace and well-being? What threat is posed by a neighbor who simply wishes to worship? What does society lose when every citizen exercises a constitutional right to freedom of religion?
These questions remain unanswered, particularly as similar incidents continue to recur—especially in Minya Governorate—underscoring the need for a serious reassessment.
The continued reliance on customary reconciliation sessions after sectarian attacks has produced no lasting solution. After every incident, local religious leaders gather, speeches about love and tolerance are delivered, handshakes are exchanged, and the violence is often attributed to vague “foreign conspiracies.” Yet months—or a few years—later, another village experiences the same crisis. This recurring cycle demonstrates that these responses function only as temporary palliatives while leaving the underlying problem untouched.
The State and Civil Society Are Missing from the Battle for Hearts and Minds
The events in Tal al-Qibliya also expose a broader failure on the part of both the state and civil society. Many villages remain effectively isolated from meaningful intellectual and cultural development. Government institutions have failed to promote the values of citizenship, tolerance, and acceptance of others, while civil society organizations have played only a limited role in addressing these challenges. The incident demonstrates that efforts to counter extremism and promote enlightened thinking have yet to reach many rural communities in any meaningful way.
These communities require sustained engagement—not only through security measures, but also through civil society organizations, cultural institutions, youth initiatives, and educational programs capable of fostering coexistence before violence erupts, rather than responding only after the damage has been done.
The aftermath of such attacks also requires psychological and social rehabilitation. Children who participated in the violence need help rebuilding a value system based on respect and coexistence, while those who were terrorized—whether trapped inside their church or inside their homes—require genuine psychological support. Such traumatic experiences are not easily forgotten.
The author recalls having witnessed similar sectarian incidents firsthand, observing the profound fear experienced by children and the long-term emotional scars left behind. A child who watches his mother bleeding after being struck by stones, or sees his father assaulted before his eyes, carries memories that cannot simply be erased. These children need professional psychological support if they are to recover from such trauma.
The Rule of Law Must Prevail
The consistent application of the law has become imperative.
Accountability must extend beyond those who physically carried out the attack. Those who incited and nurtured the ideas that motivated it must also be held responsible. People who lived peacefully alongside their neighbors for years do not suddenly turn against them without the influence of ideas deliberately cultivated over time—ideas that transformed neighbors into perceived enemies simply because they exercised their right to pray.
Applying the law is therefore not merely about punishing those who threw stones, vandalized vehicles, or attacked homes. It is about protecting Egypt’s future. Every time those who incite hatred escape accountability, the likelihood of future attacks increases. Every time sectarian violence is resolved through informal customary settlements rather than judicial accountability, society sends the dangerous message that such crimes can ultimately be managed without meaningful legal consequences.
Firm and impartial enforcement of the law against everyone who participated in, incited, or organized these attacks is therefore the only genuine guarantee against their recurrence. It is also essential to safeguarding every citizen’s right to live in safety and to practice his or her religion freely, as guaranteed by Egypt’s Constitution and laws.
A Wake-Up Call
The events in Tal al-Qibliya should not be viewed as merely another village dispute that ended once calm was restored. They are a warning that Egypt’s real struggle is not only against those who throw stones, but against the ideas that put those stones into their hands.
The security services succeeded in restoring order, arresting suspects, and stabilizing the situation—an essential role that should not be underestimated. But the real challenge begins only after the violence has ended.
What happened in Tal al-Qibliya is not an isolated incident. It reflects the growing reach of hate speech in recent years, to the point where it has become part of everyday discourse on social media, in parts of the media, and even, at times, within certain religious messages that continue to portray those of different faiths not as fellow citizens but as adversaries.
This rhetoric now extends far beyond sectarian crises themselves. Sporting events are turned into religious contests; news involving public figures of different faiths becomes an occasion for sectarian abuse; social media platforms are saturated with inflammatory content, misinformation, and messages that encourage discrimination based on religion. Increasingly, people are judged first by their faith rather than by their humanity or their citizenship.
Most troubling of all, this rhetoric does not remain confined to online platforms. It spills into the streets, the schools, and ultimately into the minds of children. It then reappears in the form of stones thrown at a neighbor’s home, attacks on worshippers, or efforts to deny citizens the right to practice their religion. Every hate crime begins with an idea. Every idea begins with words. And words, once repeated often enough, eventually become actions.
Confronting hate speech is therefore no longer merely an intellectual or academic exercise, nor the responsibility of any single institution. It has become a matter of national security, central to protecting Egypt’s social cohesion and future. Just as terrorism is confronted through law and security measures, hatred must be confronted through education, responsible media, enlightened religious discourse, and a vibrant civil society capable of reaching the communities most vulnerable to extremist influence. Incitement to hatred should be criminalized, the long-overdue Independent Anti-Discrimination Commission should be established without delay, the values of citizenship should be instilled in children from an early age, and the law should be applied rigorously against all who incite, promote discrimination, or spread falsehoods that fuel sectarian conflict.
Protecting Egypt requires more than restoring calm after each crisis; it requires eliminating the conditions that give rise to those crises in the first place. Nations are not defeated by diversity but by incitement. Diversity itself is not the threat. The real danger comes from those who turn diversity into fuel for hatred.
Egypt’s true battle today is therefore not only against the individual who throws the stone, but against every ideology that places the stone in his hand.
A nation that protects every citizen’s right to worship freely, respects religious diversity, and confronts hatred through law, education, and public awareness is the only nation capable of securing its future and preventing such tragedies from recurring. Strengthening national unity and the country’s social fabric remains the strongest safeguard against those who seek to exploit internal divisions.
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