Franze:
Impressing images, thank very much Exoflare, the “islamic tolerance” in pure state.
Stabbing of nun sparks tension in Alexandria, EGYPT.
By Maamoun Youssef
Egypt - A Muslim student stabbed and seriously wounded a Coptic novitiate nun inside a church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria on Wednesday amid tensions about a theatre performance considered offensive by Muslims, a police official said.
Police arrested the male and are now questioning him over the incident, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Father Augustinous, head of the St Gergis church where the attack happened, said the assailant was aged in his early 20s and stabbed the novitiate nun in her chest with a knife as a prayer service finished.
The victim, aged in her mid-40s, was in a serious condition after undergoing surgery on her injured lung, Augustinous said.
A male worshipper behind the novitiate nun was also attacked but suffered a minor injury.
“After stabbing the nun and the other worshipper, the attacker knelt to the ground and prayed as if he was thanking God for finishing a task,” said Augustinous, who did not witness the incident but recounted versions of the attack given by other people in the church.
The incident follows a protest on Friday by over 1 000 Muslims outside the church against the distribution of DVD copies of a drama performed inside the church in 2003 entitled I Was Blind But Now I Can See.
The drama features a Christian university student who converts to Islam when a group of Muslim men promise him money.
When he becomes disenchanted with his move, the men threaten him to stop him from returning to his original faith.
Augustinous denied that the church or anyone related to it distributed the DVDs and said the play was performed only once to coincide with the Coptic New Year.
“But the drama was not offensive to Islam, because the converted Christian student was saved by his Muslim friend,” he said.
Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 70-million. Christian-Muslim relations usually are fairly smooth in Egypt, though violence flares from time to time, particularly in small southern communities, and some Copts complain of discrimination.
The play and the protest reflect the charged atmosphere between Muslims and Christians in Egypt, where accusations of forced conversions are routine.
In December, angry Copts protested in Cairo for four days and clashed with police when the wife of a priest fled her home in the south to convert to Islam.
