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January 07, 2011

Muslims in Egypt Serve as Human Shields to Protect Copts

One hopeful counterpoint to the New Year's Day attack against the Two Saints Church in Alexandria was offered by Muslims who served as human shields outside Coptic Churches throughout Egypt during yesterday's Christmas masses. Ahramonline reports:

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.�?

In the days following the brutal attack on Saints Church in Alexandria, which left 21 dead on New Year’ eve, solidarity between Muslims and Copts has seen an unprecedented peak. Millions of Egyptians changed their Facebook profile pictures to the image of a cross within a crescent – the symbol of an “Egypt for All�?. Around the city, banners went up calling for unity, and depicting mosques and churches, crosses and crescents, together as one.

Posted by dvz at January 7, 2011 05:20 PM

Comments

I've read about this in several articles and all I can say is; AWESOME.

Here's hoping the mainstream media picks it up.

Posted by: Red at January 8, 2011 01:35 AM

These folks are braver than the article implies, since they know very well the terrorists will just as easily kill them for being "apostate" Muslims who associate with "infidel" Christians as kill the Christians themselves. So they aren't really protecting the Christians -- they are declaring that they are willing to die with them.

Posted by: Skeptic at January 10, 2011 01:57 AM

I think there is more of this going on in the world than we know about, and it is good for all of us to hear these kinds of stories. Here is another take of Muslims and Christians united: http://republicanifi.com/news/Muslims-in-Egypt-serve-as-human-shields-to-protect-Christians-1516435.html

Posted by: Claire at January 12, 2011 09:07 PM

I am starting to believe Obama's will curry favor with the Muslim world is to simply give it time to become a super caliphate which will subjugate Europe and wipe out Israel.

Posted by: Betty Standen at February 2, 2011 01:05 PM

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