Now Lebanon
20/08/2014

Concerned Christians
By Nadine Elali

Christians in Tripoli are working to maintain the city's reputation for religious diversity

A series of events signaling the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Tripoli have raised concerns among the city’s Christian community. The burning of the al-Saeh library earlier this year and the attacks on Makiya Café during the month of Ramadan, followed by a series of decisions including a ban on alcohol advertising have reinforced a stereotype that Tripoli harbors extremist Islamic groups.

“The question of whether or not we should be afraid for the Christians in Lebanon and in Tripoli, particularly, is one for the security forces to answer,” Father Shukri Khoury told NOW. “These attacks are due to the deteriorating security situation, not to the rise of fundamentalism.”

Khoury said that since the implementation of the security plan in Tripoli, people have regained their faith in the security forces. But he says that there are huge numbers of non-Lebanese living in the country today who are not part of the social fabric and that their presence can be used by foreign groups to sow alienation and division and fuel sectarian strife among the country’s various communities. 

Earlier in July, the Islamic State (IS) reportedly consolidated its control over vast areas of Syria and northern Iraq. Its militants are said to have imposed harsh Islamist values on citizens and have driven hundreds of Christians from their homes. Whether the Islamic State’s capture of the Lebanese border town of Arsal earlier this month represented a calculated attempt by the group to expand its reach into Lebanon or whether it was in retaliation for the detention of their leader by Lebanese Armed Forces, it managed to raise fears that the IS wants a foothold in the country.

“Their threat is not only to Christians in the country but to the country as a whole,” said Khoury, “and it’s up to our state and its institutions to step up, take charge, and protect its people.”

For its part, Khoury told NOW, the Antonin Maronite Order has been endeavoring to comfort the Christian community by strengthening its presence in the port city and expanding its schools and landmarks. The schools, he said, offer free education so as to enroll as many children as possible without any discrimination based on sect or race. “The only way to instill values of coexistence is through education,” he added, “in order to preserve the social fabric of Tripoli and its diversity.”

Tripoli activists told NOW that they believe there is a movement to intimidate Christians in the city with the intention of driving them away. But many, they say, have become aware of it and have been quick to denounce arrangements or moves that may be interpreted as “IS-like” or that otherwise be detrimental to the city’s religious diversity.

Georges Droubi, a social activist and teacher living in Tripoli, told NOW that rumors such as jewelry sellers in the city being prevented from selling crucifix pendants and Christian icons have affected Christian residents. Although the jeweler’s union immediately denied that any jewelry seller had been threatened in Tripoli, the damage, Droubi said, had already been done.

“These rumors are horrible,” he said. “They do harm to the city, both socially and economically, and feed into the propaganda that Tripoli harbors terrorists.” Droubi said that Islamist groups make up roughly five percent of the city’s total population, and with a population of 600,000 persons, he explained, five percent is a rather small number and is not representative of Muslims in general.

“Tripoli’s social fabric and diversity cannot produce extremist groups. Throughout its history, whenever such groups were established, it was only a little while before they fell apart. And even back then, they didn’t represent a threat to Christians’ existence,” he said, referring to the Islamic Unification Movement (Tawhid) in the 1980s.

Nabil Atra agrees with Droubi. Atra, a lawyer and native of Tripoli, told NOW that the media is also to blame for the fear it is instilling in people by exaggerating events. “It portrays the city,” he said, “as if we’re living on another planet.”

“I am often asked by my Beiruti friends about the situation in Tripoli and they are always surprised when I tell them that – as a Christian – I don’t feel threatened living here.”

Despite the rise in fundamentalism, Atra says he believes there is no threat to Christians living in Tripoli. “There have been no societal abuses, or any discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief or practice,” he said. “Christian MPs in Tripoli get more than 90,000 votes and Christians don’t have a high voting rate, so the majority who vote for Christians are actually Muslim. I am a municipality member and we were seven Christians out of 21, and we got more votes than the Muslims.”

“There is a movement propagating this idea of the IS being in Tripoli, and that Muslims in Tripoli are all extremists,” he said, “but it is all propaganda. There is no IS here in Tripoli, and residents, both Christians and Muslims, denounce any IS-like behavior.”