Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 144 | Wed 01 Feb 2012

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By Elizabeth Kendal

In an Islamic State, a Jew or Christian may keep their religion as
long as they live in total submission to the Islamic order. Known as
‘dhimmis’, these subjugated second-class citizens are without basic
fundamental human rights. Any resistance, and their life and property
are forfeit. In accordance with Islam, no Islamic State will ever
prosecute Muslims for killing and/or looting Christians who demand
their human rights. This impunity creates gross insecurity.

* ESCALATING VIOLENCE, THEFT & EXTORTION

On 20 January a Muslim mob chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ went on a pogrom,
attacking and torching properties belonging to Copts in the village of
Rahmaniya-Kebly, Nag Hammadi, in Upper (southern) Egypt’s volatile Qena
Province. According to Mary Abdelmassih of the Assyrian International News
Agency (AINA), security forces were present but reportedly did not
intervene and the fire brigade turned up 90 minutes late. Miraculously,
nobody was killed or injured. It is understood the pogrom started with a
Muslim suggesting that a Coptic-owned hut be torched to make way for a
mosque. This was no joke nor idle threat, with the trend towards
escalating incidents of Muslim appropriation of Coptic properties for the
benefit of the Muslim community.

AINA also reports that some 4000 mostly Coptic residents from the village
of Bahgourah, a suburb of Nag Hammadi, are presently staging a sit-in at
the Nag Hammadi police headquarters to protest the lack of security
arising from police laxity. This was triggered by the 26 January attempted
kidnap and ultimate brutal slaying of Coptic building contractor Moawad
Asaad Samaan and his son Asaad (26) by a Muslim criminal gang angered by
Moawad’s failure to pay protection money. According to Bishop Kyrollos,
Bahgourah’s Copts ‘are continuously being subjected to terror and
kidnapping’.

* ESCALATING KIDNAP, RAPE & FORCED ISLAMISATION

Hundreds of Christian girls are forcibly Islamised every year in Egypt. As
Coptic activist Mark Ebeid explains, the Salafi ultra-fundamentalist
Muslims ‘believe strongly that converting a Christian Infidel is in some
ways like earning a ticket to paradise — not to mention the earthly
remuneration they get from the Saudis’. Generally, the Christian girls are
kidnapped and pack raped over many days. During this time they are
brainwashed to believe they could never return home because of the shame
they would bring on their families. The girls are then married off to
Islamists and accepted by the Muslim community. The Christian parents
frantically searching for their abducted daughters are obstructed at every
turn. Today, the Islamisation of Egypt is being facilitated post-Mubarak
by the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and a massive influx of thousands of
Salafis returning from exile and being released from prison. Along with
this there has been a marked escalation in forced Islamisation of Coptic
girls. It appears that organised Islamisation rings are consolidating due
to the overt protection they are receiving from police and prosecutors.

In early December 2011 Coptic teenager Amira Gamal Saber (16) disappeared
from Saft-el-Khamar village, Minya Province. The head of security in Minya
confirmed her kidnapping but failed to act. On 15 January a man named
Mohammad Ahmed Ibrahim phoned the family demanding a ransom. After Amira’s
mother was permitted to speak with her daughter on the phone, the family
travelled to Giza with the ransom money. Once there they were directed to
the police station where they were informed that government prosecutors
were handling the case. In the court, a bearded prosecutor Boulaq El
Dakrour, backed by 12 more bearded lawyers [Salafis do not shave], told
Amira’s parents that their daughter wanted to convert to Islam. He ruled
therefore, that Amira be sent to a state-run care facility in Giza until
she turns18 and may legally profess Islam for herself. Amira was
subsequently sent to a home affiliated to the Sharia association in Giza.
Her father is appealing to the Attorney General.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT —

* the Holy Spirit will draw Egypt’s wounded, anxious Christians ever
closer to him.

* Egypt’s Christians will learn to look to and depend on the LORD; may he
answer their cries and may the devil have no victory over them.

* God will reveal himself in Egypt as the One who judges, rules,
compensates, loves and saves.  (Isaiah 40:10,11 ESV)

* the LORD will not only preserve but build his Church in Egypt (Matthew
16:18), ahead of the day when he will say, ‘Blessed be Egypt my
people.’ (Isaiah 19: 25b ESV)

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SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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GROSS INSECURITY INCREASES FOR CHRISTIANS IN EGYPT

Islamisation is advancing across Egypt post-Mubarak, facilitated by the
Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi ultra-fundamentalist Muslims. As the Islamic
order is established, Christians are reduced to second-class citizens
without fundamental human rights, their lives dependent on their total
submission to the Islamic order. Any resistance and their lives and
properties are forfeit in accordance with Islam. Murder, theft and
extortion are becoming commonplace, as is the abduction, rape and forced
Islamisation of young Coptic girls. These crimes are being committed with
impunity, in accordance with Sharia. Thus Christians are finding their
security is deteriorating dramatically and rapidly. The case of Coptic
teenager Amira Gamal Saber (16), abducted and forcibly converted in early
December 2011, is being appealed to the Attorney General. Please pray for
Egypt and its Christians.

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We suggest that churches and fellowships using the above Summary might
also provide a copy of the listed prayer points to be used in their
worship by people who are leading in prayer.

For more information, updates and helpful links see Elizabeth Kendal’s
blog ‘Religious Liberty Monitoring’ <http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com>.

Previous RLPBs may be viewed at <http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/>.

This RLPB was written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious
Liberty Commission (AEA RLC) by Elizabeth Kendal, an international
religious liberty analyst and advocate, and a member of the AEA RLC team.

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