Chaos at Tahirir Square

by Tom Wisley

Chaos reigned at Cairo’s Tahirir Square first in January 2011 against President Mubarak then again on January 25, 2013, when demonstrators took to the streets demanding the government step down. Confronting them were those supporting the Muslim Brotherhood believing that Mr. Morsi had been elected democratically and fairly. 

Photos courtesy Tom Wisely

Chaos reigned at Cairo’s Tahirir Square first in January 2011 against President Mubarak then again on January 25, 2013, when demonstrators took to the streets demanding the government step down. Confronting them were those supporting the Muslim Brotherhood believing that Mr. Morsi had been elected democratically and fairly. 

They claimed the opposition to Morsi acted as a mob and branded their actions as an illegal coup. Foreign governments piled on and some (the United States among them) agreed that the Morsi administration was legitimate. 

The voices of the people, however, could not be silenced. Accurate figures are difficult to validate, but it was reported that as many as twenty-six million Egyptians, both Muslims and Christians, demonstrated against the Morsi administration. 

Among those voices was Noor Abdallah (pseudonym), a leader of one of the Christian churches in Cairo. Noor had lived in a North African country, where he had been imprisoned and tortured for his faith. He survived and was released, but remained in the country, determined not to leave unless he was deported, or “the Lord led” him to leave. In spite of the dangers of arrest, he continued his work for another year and then returned home when he felt his task was completed. Today, he is a church leader in one of the largest evangelical churches in Cairo.

I listened to Noor’s story, noting the impact he has had on his contemporaries. What can we learn from those like Noor, who are living in the land of the martyrs? What are our friends in the Middle East and Africa actually experiencing? What can be learned without passing their experience through a Western worldview? 

To accomplish this, I asked Noor to allow an interview so others could hear his story and gain an insider’s view of events. We met in January 2015. These are his replies to my questions. 

The Interview 

Tom (TW): I understand that both Muslims and Christians in Egypt marched together in their demonstration against the Brotherhood administration. What is the significance of this seemingly united front? 

Noor (NA): Most Egyptians felt that their country was being stolen from them. Moderate Muslims usually deny that the Muslim Brotherhood members are ‘true’ Muslims. They would say that they are ‘pretenders’ or ‘stealers’ of religion. Before the Revolution on the 30 of June, 2013, the Muslim Brotherhood and their president, Morsi, tried by all means to change the identity of Egypt from being simply Egyptian, Paranoiac, Coptic, and finally Islamic, to make it just Islamic. 

They manipulated the writing of the constitution, dominated the political parties, and even tried to demean the Christian minority in many ways. The Egyptians did not like that. And even the Muslims who were deceived to give their votes to the Brotherhood realized their mistake and decided to rebel against them. Changing the identity of Egypt was unacceptable. The feeling that we had been fooled was unacceptable as well. 

TW: During the Morsi administration there were reports of churches being burned and Christians being abducted, especially young women. Has that changed since the new post-Morsi administration? 

NA: I believe it has changed significantly. During the Morsi administration Christians were ignored, their feasts were ignored, the Orthodox Cathedral was attacked, and crimes against Christians were simply ignored. The General Sisi understood the importance of incorporating the Egyptian Christian in the fabric of the political process of change. Therefore, during the Revolution against Morsi, and as the General Sisi proclaimed that the army would take control of the authority and deliver it to the highest judge, who is the head of the Supreme Court in Egypt, to become an interim president for one year before presidential elections, General Sisi made sure the Pope Tawadros II was seated beside the Sheik of Al Azhar, and the prominent political leaders who supported the Revolution of the people. This showed how much this man, even before he was elected as a president, understood the importance of Christians and their value in the life of Egypt. 

In a historical action that has never been done before, after he was elected president, President Sisi went to the Copts Cathedral of Saint Mark to greet the Copts in their Christmas Mass. This has widely impacted the Egyptian Copts, and gained Sisi a huge love in their hearts. It is clear that this new president understands how to deal with Christians in a respectful way. 

TW: You are a Christian leader in Egypt. What are you doing to survive and be effective as a follower of Jesus Christ? 

NA: I believe the most important thing for us as Christian leaders in Egypt is to live as a light for God in our community. We do this by our actions, words, and loving relationships to fellow Christians and Muslims. When Muslims come to ask us about our faith, we share what we believe with them, and we call them to believe in it. We call them also to search for the truth themselves. 

Dedication for living our beliefs and not denying them may cost us a lot, but I believe there is no alternative. Christ died for us, how could we deny him? We need to remain as light for this country by our words and deeds. We also pray for the safety and security of our country and people. When we look around us to countries like Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, we believe that the Lord has miraculously saved Egypt from a huge civil war between Muslim extremists on one side and moderate Muslims and Christians from the other side. We believe that God used our prayers to save our county. 

TW: What is the current mood of Christian Egyptians in the aftermath of Morsi? What is the level of fear among their communities? What is hopeful in this situation? 

NA: After Morsi’s ousting and detention, many Christian churches were burned because the Muslim Brotherhood accused Christians of pushing the Revolution, which is foolish. Other Muslims refuted these claims and protected some of the churches from burning. 

Now Christians feel protected, honored, and appreciated. After the brutal killing of twenty-one Egyptian Copts by ISIS in Libya, on the following day, the National Defense Council sent the Egyptian Armed Forces to bomb the camps of ISIS in Libya, and the government announced seven days of mourning. Christians have never felt more proud in their country. They felt that the president and the government appreciated the slaughtered Christians and avenged for them just as they would other Egyptians. 

There are still many equality challenges related to making the building of churches easier and other legal issues that need long-term fights. There is also a problem of equality that is related to culture, because many Muslims (although they may not be violent) are extremist in their thinking. They demean Christians, treat them badly, and may even hurt them verbally. This is a cultural issue that needs to be addressed on many levels: the legal level, education level, national planning level, and governmental level. Equality should be incorporated over all these levels to change the quality of life of the Christians. 

TW: The expansion of ISIS/DAESH and its possible connection with Boko Haram seems more threatening than ever. How is this impacting or affecting the churches in Egypt? Has anything changed since this union? 

NA: Unfortunately, most of the churches in Egypt are afraid of ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other Muslim extremist movements. This fear has made most Christians take the reaction of isolation, trying to make the Church the substitute identity. So instead of considering ourselves Egyptians, we would consider ourselves Christians. Our primary identity is not for the country, but for the Church. 

Some churches, however, pray for God to intervene, protect Egypt, and open the eyes of Muslims all over the Arab World for the truth about Islam. We can say that these three reactions (fear, isolation, and prayer) are active in one way or another throughout all the churches. 

My local church in Egypt believes that we are the beacon of light that can protect Egypt by seeking God’s intervention for the political issues. We also believe that God has used, and is still using, these prayers for his glory and to bring many to his knowledge in our region and our country. 

TW: What, in your judgment, is the future of the Church in general in Egypt? 

NA: I believe that there will be different people and different colors in the Egyptian Church in the future: 

• some of the churches and groups of believers will grow more in witnessing for the Lord,
• some churches and groups will continue to pray and intercede for Egypt and for the Arab world, 
• some churches will grow into more isolation as persecution increases, 
• some churches will grow in unity together as they find common ground to work on and pray for, and last,
• there will be an increasing number of MBBs (Muslim Background Believers), which has already begun.

What Do We Learn?   

Over the months, I’ve been wondering what we can learn from this chaos. Are there lessons, principles, or actions we can extrapolate from the suffering of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East? I think there are at least five things that are helpful to consider. 

1. Look at the history of the Church. This chaos in Cairo reminds us once again that Caesar is no friend of Jesus. Lest we fall into a bog of ‘prosperity thinking,’ we need to recall that the history of the Church is a checkered one. Here are just a few examples of this:

• The persecution of the disciples following the death of Jesus 
• Titus’ destruction of Jerusalem and the subsequent scattering of Jews and followers of Jesus
• Fast forward to Hitler’s wholesale slaughter of Jews and imprisonment of the Confessional Church pastors and others in the 1930s and 1940s
• Contemporary persecution of Egyptian Christians in the Middle East and Africa by ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and other related terrorist groups
• Tertullian in the year 197 wrote, “The blood [of martyrs] is the seed of Christians.” As difficult as it is to understand, the Church has been strengthened more by persecution than by prosperity.
   

2. Persecution provides common ground for unity and solidarity. During my visits to Cairo over the past two years, I’ve observed more unity and less emphasis on the differences between Orthodox Christians and Christians of other denominations. Even in this last series of demonstrations against President Morsi, Christians of all denominations and even Muslims marched together in solidarity against the obvious attempts of the Brotherhood to usurp the government. 

During violent clashes at Tahirir Square, both Christian and Muslim doctors worked together to assist the injured. The famed church was turned into a ‘clinic’ of sorts to treat the wounded who were harmed in the square less than one hundred yards away. One thing I’ve observed is that persecution often brings otherwise warring parties together for a common cause.

3. Persecution highlights the importance of ethically-fit and biblically-informed leaders. Christian pastors, educators, and parents were faced with tough choices not just in Cairo, but also in all of Egypt. The choices they had to make transcended mission and organizational vision statements. Like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Confessional Church in Germany, they had to be based on a sound biblical and theological foundation. Bonhoeffer wrote Cost of Discipleship within the context of chaos in Berlin. Essentially, it is a study of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:7). He and the pastors he led through those difficult times did so from the biblical nutrition of scripture. 

Similarly, pastors and leaders of the churches in Egypt (although not having cited the Sermon specifically) spoke of the encouragement and strength they gained through their studies in conflict management, biblical ethics, and other courses they had been taking.

4. Instead of being passive, the Church needs to contribute to resolving the conflict. One Egyptian leader put it this way: “Stop being neutral. The church can play a very positive role in resolving conflicts” because the Egyptian (Coptic) Church has a great influence on all Christians, and in being proactive it will encourage all churches. She added, “It’s very important to encourage dialogue between Muslims and Christians.” She suggests organizing conferences where Christians invite Muslims in order to hear their point of view in an attempt to find win-win resolutions that don’t compromise Christian values.

5. Stop being afraid of Muslims. Several Christians said both directly and indirectly that it is important to start educating the churches and the younger generations that Muslim people are also Egyptians. One person explained, “We need to be open to them and start breaking the fear that grew up in the heart of every Christian from his childhood.” Kaser El Dorbara Church in Cairo is an example of this proactive posture in overcoming fear. During the demonstrations against Morsi, both Muslim and Christian doctors and nurses worked together to treat both Christian and Muslim people injured in the square. It’s a positive example that I believe has become a model for churches elsewhere.

Conclusion

Although Jesus lived during the tyrannical rule of the Caesars, his strongest words were not against them, but against those who prevented others from entering the Kingdom of God. While he could have railed against the injustice of Rome, he chose his strongest words against the Pharisees. He condemned their missionary movement as making their converts “twice more the children of hell than they themselves were” (Matt. 23:15).

One of the healthiest characteristics I’ve seen among the Christians I’ve met in Egypt these post-Morsi days is an almost palpable sense of conviction that “never again” will we be intimidated by the Brotherhood, coupled with a healthy attitude of forgiveness and desire for reconciliation.  Some find it easy to forgive and some do not. But most know they ought to forgive and are trying to do so. Perhaps this kingdom attitude is one that we in the West can and should emulate.

. . . .

Tom Wisley served in Southeast Asia for twenty-five years and travels extensively, most recently with Development Associates International to Africa, Egypt, and India. He holds a PhD in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Seminary. He and his wife, Sandi, have four children.

EMQ, Vol. 52, No. 3 pp. 292-297. Copyright  © 2016 Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMQ editors.

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