A lot of people complain about having to get up early to go to church on Sunday. Many would complain if their car was broken and had to walk to church. But in some parts of the world, people are just happy to be able to get to church safely without being kidnapped and held as a hostage by Muslims.
Such is the case of what happened recently in Egypt, where a young Coptic Christian woman was kidnapped by Muslim terrorists as she was walking to Church:
A young Coptic woman in a suburb of Cairo, Egypt remains missing after her disappearance last week from an area where Muslim attacks against Christians have surged, sources said.
Suzan Ashraf Rawy, 22, left for work by foot from her home in Al Khosous on the morning of June 5 but never arrived at the Coptic Orthodox church where she is employed, they said. The Virgin and Pope Kyrillos Church is walking distance from her home.
“When she did not return home that evening, her mother called the church,” an area Christian leader said. “That is when she discovered Suzan did not arrive at the church in the morning. It is expected that she has been abducted.”
The alleged abduction would be the third kidnapping in the area of Al Khosous, a predominantly Christian town on the outskirts of Cairo, since the accidental shooting of a Muslim on May 30.
Two other young Coptic Christian women disappeared without a trace after the May 30 incident. The families of the women suspected to have been kidnapped have received no communication from alleged kidnappers, the sources said.
Area Muslims have long disfigured Christian women for not wearing veils by throwing acid on them, but there has been a surge in such attacks in the past few weeks, sources said.
Rawy’s family informed police, and her picture has been posted on social media in search of any leads. Relatives and police have found no clues regarding her disappearance.
Fear has seized Coptic Christians in the area, with women afraid to leave their homes. One of the church women’s meetings, which Rawy attended, has been suspended until further notice out of fear for the safety of the participants.
“We need to pray for peace to prevail, and that the people behind the abductions and the attacks be stopped,” the area Christian leader said.
The apparent precipitating incident involved a fight over money. A Coptic Christian identified only as Bishoy drew a gun during the fight on May 30 and accidentally shot a Muslim bystander, killing him, sources said. Bishoy was taken into police custody, where he remains awaiting manslaughter charges.“Since then, the Muslims started to wage revenge attacks on the Christian community living there, especially the women,” the Christian leader said.
Egypt is ranked 21st on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2017 World Watch List of the countries where is it is most difficult to be a Christian. (source)
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