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Muslims rush to restore torched Egypt church
By Sami Aboudi
CAIRO | Wed May 25, 2011 3:36pm EDT
(Reuters) - Mohammed Fathi worked his brush gently over an icon of Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, removing soot from its surface inside a church gutted in an attack by Islamist militants this month.
“It takes a lot of careful work to do that,” Fathi said. “We have to do a lot of tests with chemicals to try to restore the icon to its original condition.”
The 26-year-old is one of a vast group of mostly Muslim craftsmen tasked with restoring St Mary’s Church in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba after militants set it on fire on May 7.
Egypt’s military rulers have ordered its restoration at a time when tensions between Christians, who account for about 10 percent of Egypt’s population, and Muslims are on the rise.
Attacks have triggered protests and pose a challenge for Egypt’s new rulers, under pressure to impose security while seeking to avoid the tough tactics against Islamists used by deposed President Hosni Mubarak.
The ground floor of the four-storey church was gutted in the fire, destroying 10 out of 27 old icons beyond repair.
Wednesday, a team of mostly Muslim restorers – working for one of Egypt’s biggest construction firms known as The Arab Contractors – huddled in one corner, using special chemicals, paint and brushes to rescue the remaining paintings.
“My job is to restore historic art pieces, be they Muslim, Coptic or Jewish,” Fathi said.
Malak Gerges, a 56-year-old church driver who was inside the church at the time of the attack, recalled how bearded Islamists led a group of young men into St Mary’s, opened fire on icons and set the building ablaze.
He said he and his younger brother Saleh tried to hide in the corridor behind the altar but the militants found them.
“They dragged me out and threatened and abused me,” Gerges told Reuters.
He said he did not know what happened to Saleh, an attendant who helped look after the church, until rescue workers found his burned corpse inside the church. According to an investigation report, there was a wound on Saleh’s throat, he said.
reuters.com/article/2011/05/25/us-egypt-church-idUSTRE74O7CA20110525
By Sami Aboudi
CAIRO | Wed May 25, 2011 3:36pm EDT
(Reuters) - Mohammed Fathi worked his brush gently over an icon of Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, removing soot from its surface inside a church gutted in an attack by Islamist militants this month.
“It takes a lot of careful work to do that,” Fathi said. “We have to do a lot of tests with chemicals to try to restore the icon to its original condition.”
The 26-year-old is one of a vast group of mostly Muslim craftsmen tasked with restoring St Mary’s Church in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba after militants set it on fire on May 7.
Egypt’s military rulers have ordered its restoration at a time when tensions between Christians, who account for about 10 percent of Egypt’s population, and Muslims are on the rise.
Attacks have triggered protests and pose a challenge for Egypt’s new rulers, under pressure to impose security while seeking to avoid the tough tactics against Islamists used by deposed President Hosni Mubarak.
The ground floor of the four-storey church was gutted in the fire, destroying 10 out of 27 old icons beyond repair.
Wednesday, a team of mostly Muslim restorers – working for one of Egypt’s biggest construction firms known as The Arab Contractors – huddled in one corner, using special chemicals, paint and brushes to rescue the remaining paintings.
“My job is to restore historic art pieces, be they Muslim, Coptic or Jewish,” Fathi said.
Malak Gerges, a 56-year-old church driver who was inside the church at the time of the attack, recalled how bearded Islamists led a group of young men into St Mary’s, opened fire on icons and set the building ablaze.
He said he and his younger brother Saleh tried to hide in the corridor behind the altar but the militants found them.
“They dragged me out and threatened and abused me,” Gerges told Reuters.
He said he did not know what happened to Saleh, an attendant who helped look after the church, until rescue workers found his burned corpse inside the church. According to an investigation report, there was a wound on Saleh’s throat, he said.
reuters.com/article/2011/05/25/us-egypt-church-idUSTRE74O7CA20110525
While a fallen-away catholic in a baptist faith, I used to watch Jack Vamp Impe Ministries show and remember him saying that there are Muslims who are more devout to the bless Maray than the Christians-in other words, about the painting years ago on the Blessed Mary done inappropriately in the ?New York museum caused and uproar among many Muslims-and I have known a muslim personally who was awesome! A wonderful person to work with from a very loving family in Morocco. Not like the extremists who gives the wrong image of who they are. Yes-there are many good muslims who have high regards to the christian faith, the people, the history. I love reading stories such as this-shows that both sides can get along