Each day which past we remain shock by the news coming from the middle east and Maghreb, awful and inhuman acts of violence that many identified as terrorist attacks, is increasing unceasingly.
We share the expression of “terrorist acts” bearing as shadow and aiming towards an inter-confessional violence.
We would like to reflect and analyze some of these heinous acts with focus on facts and reactions from religious and political leaders in order to discover causes or reasons and aims of such horrible events.
In 2006, since a Shiite shrine in Samarra in Iraq was bombed, inter-confessional fighting erupted and claimed thousands of lives. In Baghdad, eleven coordinated car bombs rocked Shiite districts across the Iraqi capital in a certain Tuesday, killing at least 36 people and wounding another 320. Those attacks came just two days after Al-Qaeda gunmen stormed a church in the heart of the capital and took dozens of worshippers hostage, with 46 of them killed and 60 wounded in a drama that ended with a raid by Iraqi special forces.
The Alexandria bombing was an attack on Coptic Christians carried out a few minutes into New Year's Day 2011, in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. At least 21 people died in the attacks, all of them Coptic Christians. About 72 others were injured. This was the deadliest act of violence against Egypt's Christian minority in a decade, since the Kosheh massacre in 2000 left 21 Copts dead.
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Events’ Background
Going through Egyptian daily newspapers, it come out that in the months prior to the massacre, the religious ambiance in Egypt had been clouded by Muslim-Christian tension, in particular regarding the public allegation made by Mohammad Salim Al-Awa that the Coptic Orthodox Church was storing weapons in churches and monasteries and the fear of some Muslims that the Coptic Church of holding two Christian women who supposedly converted to Islam trying to return them to Christianity, in reference to Kamilia Shehata and Wafaa Constantine, who had allegedly converted to Islam from Christianity. A wave of Muslim protests against Copts followed these allegations, including calls to boycott Coptic businesses and products. The Synod of Coptic priests in Alexandria described these allegations as "anti-Christian mobilization and lies."
Two weeks before the bombing an Islamist website called for attacks on a list of Egypt's churches, and included the church that was hit.
Al-Qaeda affiliate the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) also threatened the Coptic church, accusing it of holding against their will two priests' wives they say had converted to Islam. And last December, Al-Qaeda-linked website Shumukh al-Islam had Al-Qiddissin (The Saints) church in Alexandria, where Saturday's bombing took place, on a list of targeted Coptic places of worship.
This same group in Iraq with ties to Al Qaida announced a few months before the Alexandria massacre that all Christians in the Middle East were now considered "legitimate targets" in response to the alleged accusation that the Coptic Church was holding the two women as hostages.
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Latest reactions from religious and political leaders
Pope Benedict XVI of the Roman Catholic Church denounced the attacks in his New Year address. He also appealed for religious freedom and religious tolerance in the Middle East, and urged world leaders to defend Christians against discrimination, abuse and religious intolerance which are today striking Christians in particular.
Pope Shenouda III strongly condemned the "criminal assault", blaming it on "forces that wish no good for Egypt". The Pope also called upon the government to "speedily arrest and prosecute the perpetrator of this criminal act." His personal secretary said the incident had "severely grieved us, because it is very alien to the love and harmony in which the nation lives".
President Hosni Mubarak promised in a televised address that terrorists would not destabilize Egypt or divide Christians and Muslims. He said the attack "carries evidence of the involvement of foreign fingers" and vowed to pursue the perpetrators.
The Egyptian government issued a statement immediately following the bombing blaming "foreign elements" for the planning and execution of the bombing. But Many Egyptians expressed their disappointment regarding the government's claims that Al Qaida and foreign elements were behind the massacre, seeing those claims as a way for the government to evade the issue of growing sectarian divisions in the country.
Copts were deeply aggrieved by this attack, many believing that the Egyptian state security's failure to deal firmly with past attacks on Christians contributed to this attack, more than 100 Christians protested the following morning near the church that was attacked, chanting: “We sacrifice our souls and blood for the Holy Cross" and the heart of the Copts is on fire". They called upon the Egyptian government to ensure the rights of the Christians in "life, prayer and work". In Cairo, about 4,000 Christians and Muslims demonstrated against terrorism in the predominantly Christian neighborhood of Shubra. The demonstration lasted for six hours and was joined by both government and opposition members of the Egyptian parliament and a number of political figures.
The Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm wrote: “ Do not say that the criminal are not egyptian. They are Egyptian Muslims who are putting the nation on one hand and Islam on the other, and favoring the hand of Islam over the nation.”
The top cleric in Alexandria, the Patriarchal Vicar Hegumen Ruweis Marcos denounced the lack of protection in front of the church, stating he was surprised to find only three soldiers and one officer guarding the church at such a sensitive time in spite of the recent numerous threats against Copts.
The Synod of priests in Alexandria unanimously criticized the lax attitude of the Egyptian authorities towards the public expression of hatred against Coptic Christians. In a statement issued by the Synod, the priests said that the attack on the church was "the result of anti-Christian mobilization and the lies recently propagated against the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal called on Christians to show courage in the face of the attack, declaring that "This latest massacre must lead us to reflect on our vocation as Christians in this region, which cannot be allowed to turn its back on the Cross".
Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams condemned the bombing, declaring that "The New Year's Eve attack on Christians in Alexandria is yet another dreadful reminder of the pressure Christian minorities are under in the Middle East, echoing the atrocities we have seen in recent weeks", in reference to the attack on the church of Our Lady of Salvation in Iraq, carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).
“This is not just an attack on Copts, this is an attack on me and you and all Egyptians, on Egypt and its history and its symbols, by terrorists who know no God, no patriotism, and no humanity,” said Sheikh Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt. (See Chicago Tribune, January 4th).
Ahmed al-Tayeb, current Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Egypt’s seat of Orthodoxy, condemned the bombing which he qualified as “act of atrocity not allow by Islam”. An act like this is wholly condemnable in Islam. Muslims are not only obligated not to harm Christians, but to protect and defend them and their places of worship,” he said.
He paid a visit to the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III to offer condolences and renewed his condemnation of the bombing, he said Azhar, the highest institute in Sunni Islam, would form a joint committee with the Coptic Church to resolve disputes between the communities. But his good will toward the Christians however, also include a strident criticism towards His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI who as many other religious and political leaders had appealed for the concrete and constant commitment of leaders of nations to protect Christians in the Middle East, in what he termed a ''difficult mission''.
Instead in Al-Tayeb's mind the Pope's request was an "unacceptable interference in Egypt's affairs." Further, said al-Tayeb, "I disagree with the Pope's view, and I ask why did the Pope not call for the protection of Muslims when they were subjected to killings in Iraq? Anyway, His recent Peace Day Message, is a proof and confirmation that the Holy Father Benedict XVI's concern for the religious freedom of Christians has always been within the context of his concern for the religious freedom of all people, not only Christians.
