In a November 2 attack directed at both Christianity and at President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Islamist militants stopped two buses filled with Coptic Christians on a road outside of Minya, Egypt, and opened fire. These pilgrims had just left the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor and were on a road that had already seen the slaughter of twenty-eight Copts in May 2017.[i] One bus managed to break away with only a few wounded. The second bus was not so fortunate. All told, seven were killed and nineteen wounded. Among the dead were six members of a single family.[ii]

The Islamic State (ISIS) later claimed responsibility for the attack. This tragedy may indicate an unfortunate resumption in hostilities by these extremists who had not been heard from since last December, when a gunman took eleven lives at a church and at a nearby shop owned by Christians.[iii]

While the Islamic State maintains that the attack was a retaliation for the Egyptian imprisonment of their unidentified “chaste sisters,”[iv] most see a deeper purpose. They have always had enmity toward the Copts for their allegiance to Christ. However, these militants have also found a new Coptic fidelity to raise their ire—the Copts’ close relationship with President Sisi.

This past January 6, at a Christmas Eve service (the Copts celebrate Christmas on January 7) held in the Nativity of Christ Cathedral, Sisi stood next to Pope Tawadros II and declared to the thousands attending, “You are our family, you are from us, we are one, and no one will divide us.”[v] In many past regimes, words like this would have never been dreamed of.

Some are quite cynical about this relationship between Sisi and the Coptic Christians,[vi] seeing it as a sort of extortion scheme worthy of the New York mafia: As long as the Christian minority votes for the president, he’ll make sure nothing happens to them; however, if they pull their support, Godfather Sisi will put out a contract to whack them.

But recently, as part of a Christian delegation, I had the opportunity to sit with the Egyptian president, while he was in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. This meeting was a follow-up to the historic meeting we had with him last November at the Presidential Palace in Cairo. As I and others listened to him tell of the progress he had made since our last meeting, I did not see a mafia don, nor did I see a cold, calculating authoritarian. Instead, I sensed President Sisi is a man who is truly trying to reform his county. He has a genuine desire to stop terrorism, protect churches, and honor religious freedom for people of all faiths. When a member of our delegation affirmed him for his progress, the president responded to this group of evangelical leaders, “We’re making progress, but don’t stop praying for us.”

The November 2 attack reminds us that we must continue praying for Egypt. We must pray for protection for the Coptic Christians. We must pray for President Sisi and his efforts at reform. Most importantly, we must pray that the truth of Jesus Christ reaches into the hearts of the militant Islamists. Rather than pray for their destruction, we must pray for their redemption. Rather than pray for their eradication, we must pray for their reconciliation. Rather than pray for their death, we must pray for their eternal life.

---

[i] Walsh, Declan, and Mohamed Ezz. “ISIS Claims Credit for Attack That Kills Christians in Egypt.” The New York Times, 2 Nov. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/world/middleeast/egypt-coptic-christians-ambush.html.

[ii] Magdy, Samy, and Hamza Hendawi. “IS Attack on Christian Pilgrims in Egypt Kills 7, Wounds 19.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 2 Nov. 2018, apnews.com/ab57f46847f04e069a0494bf6e5dfff5.

[iii] Shaesha, Sayed. “Egypt’s Christians Bury Victims of Militant Attack.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 3 Nov. 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-security-funeral/egypts-christians-bury-victims-of-latest-militant-attack-idUSKCN1N80AD.

[iv] Magdy and Hendawi.

[v] Associated Press. “We Are One and No One Will Divide Us, Sisi Tells Egypt’s Copts.” The National, 6 Jan. 2018, www.thenational.ae/world/mena/we-are-one-and-no-one-will-divide-us-sisi-tells-egypt-s-copts-1.693284.

[vi] Fisk, Robert. “Egyptian President Sisi Will Win Again, Partly Thanks to the Christian Vote.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 26 Mar. 2018, www.independent.co.uk/voices/egyptian-president-election-abdelfattah-alsisi-christian-coptic-vote-a8273916.html.