I knew him as Monir and hired him to work with me a long time ago, when I was with a mini-computer company in Massachusetts. After I left that firm for a career move, I lost track of Monir for years. A legal immigrant to this country, Monir is Egyptian. He was a most pleasant person, intelligent, easy to work with, quick with a smile, and effusive with laughter. (For reasons of security, I am not revealing his full name.)
In his home country, he was part of an ancient Egyptian minority known as Coptic Christians, a branch of Christianity which predates the time of Islamic culture by centuries. In Egypt, Copts are a minority of about 10% within a Muslim population of about 78 million people.
Looking to reconnect again after years of separation, I called my old friend and arranged to meet with him and my previous boss, both of whom lived in Framingham, Massachusetts at the time. It was a great afternoon, one spent at Monir’s home reliving old memories as colleagues and genuine friends.
Much later, when I tried to reach Monir again, I found out that he had decided to return to Egypt.
I thought of Monir on Friday morning, as I read a report that Sunni Muslims shot and killed six Coptic Christians and a Muslim guard, as well as injuring other Copts over a crime allegedly committed by one of their own. The attack with automatic weapons happened as Coptic Christians were leaving Midnight Mass after celebrating Christmas, which for them is on January 7th.
A newspaper report quotes a Sunni Muslim official as claiming that the attack was not religiously motivated, but that “The concept of revenge is strong in southern Egypt . . .”
It certainly is.
Note: Information for this post originates from an article by Sheeren El Gazzar of The Wall Street Journal, as well as from another source.
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