How the death of Mina Danial is symbolic to Copts

If I died, take me to Tahrir. These were the last words uttered by a bloodied Mina Danial as his friends rushed him from Maspero to the hospital. Mina was shot by a bullet that invaded his chest and exited his body from his lower back. He later succumbed to his injuries and passed away. His will was fulfilled on a sad Monday night and the last place Mina went to before going to his final resting place was Tahrir square.

I cannot help but marvel at the amount of symbolism that Mina’s death holds for the Christian community in Egypt. Mina’s evaded death during the 18 days of the revolution yet he got killed 9 months after a revolution that was supposed to prevent such deaths. I believe Mina’s tragic story carries several messages to Coptic Christians as they ponder their future in their ancient homeland.

First, it was believed that Christians did not take part in the revolution of January 25^th because they heeded to the call of their Pope who urged otherwise. This is partially true. Just as millions of Muslims remained at home, millions of Christians did the same thing. A poll right after the revolution found out that the vast majority of Egyptians did not take part in any of the protests that took place all over Egypt.  In addition, many Christians’ rightly felt very worried at what the future might hold for them if the Mubarak regime fell. What we know is better than what we don’t know, goes the Egyptian proverb.

However, surrendering to the fact that Christians were not represented in Tahrir would be totally unfair to those who disobeyed the Pope and did participate. It would be totally unfair to those Christians who got killed during the revolution such as Mina Hilal whose memorial pictures graced Tahrir for several months. And of course it would be unfair to Mina Danial who fought the Mubarak regime when no one ever expected Egyptians could rise up against their dictator.

The second symbolic message is the life of Mina himself. He was a young political activist before the revolution. Along with his Muslim fellow activists, he fought the Mubarak regime even if a large portion of Christians thought that this regime would protect them against an unknown future. Mina left the confines of the church walls and participated in his country’s public life, and gave an example of how to love a country that you, as a minority, cannot find justice in. After his death, his sister said “I had many reasons to hate Egypt, but Mina always taught me how to love it.”

The blood of Mina calls out to Christians to follow in his footsteps. To get out of their churches, their ghettos, and join their Muslim fellow countrymen in changing the future of this country even if it looks bleak today. There is simply no other alternative.

There are millions of Muslims out there who long to embrace their Christian countrymen as they make their first steps towards returning back to public and political life. These are the same Muslims who carried Mina’s coffin from the cathedral to Tahrir square.