Written by Dr. Pat

Alex’s Arabic name means “justice”.  On a street corner in Egypt, Alex and a Muslim neighbor were talking.  The Muslim, Ali, was saying that Christianity is bad.  Alex explained that Christianity was good, that Jesus Christ changed his life for the better.  Ali then went to the police and accused Alex of trying to convert him to Christianity, which is against the law.

Alex was brought to the police station and charged with “making too much noise”.  Christians are often accused of this because there is no way to disprove such a vague charge. The police even tried to get Alex’s neighbors to testify against him. 

Alex was put in the local jail with six large, aggressive Muslim men.  Alex said to them, “God’s peace be with you, the typical Muslim greeting, but they rejected his peace offering.  Instead, one of the men kicked Alex in his chest breaking one of his ribs.  They then began to beat Alex.  He is a slight young man with no hope of fighting them off.

As he fell to the floor, the Muslims punched and kicked him repeatedly.  His glasses broke.  The beating went on for over 2 hours until finally Alex lost consciousness.  When he finally opened his eyes, four and a half hours had gone by.  While he was still sitting on the ground, barely able to move or to see through swollen eyes, the men poured a bucket of human waste over his head and told him to greet Ali for them!

The police officer then took Alex out of the jail cell area and with mock contrition, said “Sorry for this, but we arrested you by mistake.  Wrong man, so sorry”.  Then, they let him go.

His wife came and brought him to the hospital.  But the torment was not over. While he was still in a cast, the police from another station called him in and made it clear that they, too, knew of his “crimes” and asked if he needed to learn more “lessons”. They accused him of saying bad things against the Muslim holy book, the Koran that Alex denied.

When I met with Alex, I asked him what his “crime” was and he admitted that he was trying to share Christianity with a Muslim.  But he was simply sharing about his life and said nothing against Islam.

Pray for Alex and his family as they live for Christ in a hostile land.

A Ministry to Persecuted Christians