Muslims and Christians unite in prayer as clerics and speakers remind us of those who have died
MUSLIMS PRAYED with Christians yesterday in Tahrir Square at the heart of Cairo. A priest from Egypt's ancient Coptic rite held high a cross, read verses from the Bible and in a deep, sonorous voice led hymn singing. The mostly Muslim throng joined in, familiar with the Arabic phrases the faiths share. They closed by rendering softly, then belting out lustily the Egyptian national anthem, Beladi(My Country), concluding with the cry: "We are united, Christians and Muslims, we are all Egyptians! Hurriyah, hurriyah! Freedom, freedom!"
Muslims performed the noon day prayer before the Copts held a second prayer meeting. A woman in red standing next to Irish Ambassador Isolde Moylan and me translated the words of the priest.
“He told Mubarak, our churches were attacked when you were in power . . .
“Now that there are no police in the street and we have revolution, our churches are safe, our people are safe.” The cleric mentioned the bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria during a Mass on January 1st that killed both Christians and Muslims.
Another man took the microphone and spoke of the 300 “martyrs” who have died since hundreds of thousands of democracy advocates seized control of Tahrir Square on January 25th and demanded that Mubarak and his entire regime resign. “You do not speak of the martyrs, Mubarak, but you cannot ignore them,” the speaker shouted.
In the crowd were some of the walking wounded. Men with bandaged heads or plaster casts on their arms, a man with his ankles bound in gauze. They were among the defenders of the square when it was attacked by pro-Mubarak elements last Wednesday night. At least 5,000 have been wounded during 13 days of mass action.
We paused to speak to young men gathered near a stall selling tea. Like many other welcoming Egyptians, Amin, a bearded member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was delighted to see Irish visitors. He was keen to make his point to Isolde who had come in listening mode: “In the West they try to scare people by saying the brotherhood wants to make Egypt like Iran. This is a lie. We are Sunnis not Shias. We do not want rule by clerics. We want democracy. We want freedom.”
As we left the square and made our way back to the Nile-side corniche, Isolde observed: “All the EU countries have been calling on the Egyptian government to listen to what the people of Egypt are saying, so I felt it is important to come here to hear the messages from Tahrir Square myself.”
Early in the morning, Copts gathered for Mass at the Church of the Virgin Mary in the residential district of Zamalek. Warmth and incense embraced us as we entered the pristine church, softly illuminated by stained glass windows.
The rich voice of the white-clad priest called the faithful, who had removed their shoes and left them in the pews, to communion. They filed silently to the front – women in chic dresses and white lace mantillas, men in suits and ties. One or two men wore traditional kaftans with scarves round their necks. The flat metallic sound of cymbals and tambourines rang out in celebration.
On the porch outside the church, three 16-year-old youths said they wanted the protest in Tahrir to cease. They were eager to regain their lives. A woman wearing a brocade jacket observed: “I think the young people are right to change the government.”
Amir, 27 years old, remarked: “For 30 years we have never seen such changes. We want [the democracy protests] to end in the right way.” As he spoke, the priest was distributing pieces of crusty bread and more people were arriving for another Mass.