I DON'T OWN THE BIBLE. THIS STORY IS INSPIRED BY THE PLIGHT OF COPTIC CHRISTIANS IN EGYPT AND THE HOPE THAT GOD WILL COME TO THEIR AID.

Cairo, Egypt. July 22, 2018

Uzma Al-Maleki was walking home from the marketplace after buying the food for that week. Normally, her father would be the only one to leave the house, considering that seven out of ten Christian girls who walked the streets of Cairo alone would be kidnapped, beaten, raped, forced to convert to Islam, and forced into a marriage. In that order. However, it simply couldn't be helped. Uzma's father worked at a local factory for long hours with little pay and her younger sister: Suma, was too young to go out alone. So, the burden fell on Uzma to go to the market to buy whatever the family needed, whether it be clothes or food or whatever. As Uzma walked through the streets, people couldn't help but steal a glance. She was extremely pretty. She had long flowing hair, beautiful tanned skin, and a sweet set of chocolate brown eyes. As she walked home, she saw a group of Muslim men sexually harassing a Christian girl that Uzma had talked to before at church. Her name was Amina Assad. She had been raised with a single mother who raised her in the faith of Islam. When she was 17, she had met another girl named Sarah, who was a Coptic Christian. Despite their different faiths, the two girls became friends and despite the risk, Sarah shared her faith with Amina. Amina realized the truth of the love of Jesus Christ and when she turned 18, she converted to Christianity. Uzma had been there the day she had been baptized into the Coptic church. Amina had referred to it as the happiest days of her life,so far.

"I feel like a whole new person, Uzma." Amina said after the ceremony. That was the day that Uzma and Amina became friends. Over the next couple of years, the two girls had become close. Not as close as Uzma was with her sister Suma, but still pretty close. It pained Uzma to see her friend having to suffer so, but she dared not try and aid her. If she tried to break up the group, they would most likely turn on her. Then who would care for her sister and father? With a heavy heart, Uzma offered up a prayer to God that Amina would get out of this attack in one piece and then, sadly went on her way.

After what almost anyone would consider to be an exceptionally long walk, Uzma finally made it back to the house she shared with her father and sister. It was a rather plain house, plain but nice. As she walked inside, she saw her sister Suma, reading from her Arabic bible. She looked like a smaller and as she thought, more plain version of Uzma. The main difference was that Suma's hair was curly, whereas Uzma's hair was straight. With Uzma being 18 and Suma being 16, she felt that she was simply not as pretty as her older sister, although Uzma and their father tried to assure her that this was not the case.

"Guess who's back from the market?" Uzma asked as Suma looked up at her.

"Uzma!" Suma cried as she rushed up and hugged her older sister tightly. Uzma put the groceries on the table so that she could return the hug. "I was so afraid that I would never see you again!"

"It's all right, I always come back to you and Ab*." Uzma replied as she kissed her sister on the forehead. "You don't have to worry all the time." Suma dried a tear from her eye.

'Didn't you hear the news?"

"What news?"

"Aisha is dead." Suma explained as Uzma gasped. Aisha was another girl from their church and she was Suma's best friend. She had been born into a Coptic Christian family and had a deep love of the Lord.

"What happened?" Uzma asked as she sat down with her sister. Suma dried her eyes as she told Uzma the story she had heard.

"Aisha was walking through the streets alone when a group of Muslim boys came at her. They...demanded that she praise Allah in front of everyone, but she refused and insisted that Jesus was her Christ. Then...they stripped her naked...and then..." Suma could not continue, it was simply too horrible to put in to words. At that moment, Uzma and Suma gave thanks to God that they had not been forced to watch such an atrocity.

"Then what happened?" Uzma asked.

"Once they had...finished...they gave her a choice: convert to Islam or die." Suma continued. "Apparently, she told them that she was dead already. So they stomped on her until she died." Uzma cried for her sister's friend. She couldn't even imagine what Aisha had felt during her last hour of life. Or maybe, she just didn't want to. As Uzma and Suma began making supper in order to get their minds off these unpleasant things, their father came home.

"Ab!" The girls cried as they rushed to greet their father. Basil Al-Maleki, the head of the household, was a strong man with grey hair on his head and a decent mustache. He was also a kind man who loved his daughters. He granted them far more freedom than most Arabic parents did, but he always made sure that he was their father and not their friend. He worked for a mining factory and his job was to load, move and break stones all day, every day.

"My beautiful daughters!" He exclaimed as he scooped them up in his arms. Seeing his daughters at the end of each day was what got Basil through the all the hard work he did to put food on the table. "How are you?" he asked.

"We're all right." Uzma replied as she set the table for dinner. "How was work?"

"It was hard, but I got through it, just like I do every day." He replied as every sat down to a hearty dinner of Mulukhiyyah: A silmy green soup that didn't taste good unless it was cooked just right. It was an ancient Egyptian dish and it was the meal they had most often, since they could not afford anything extravagant.

"This Mulukhiyyah is so delicious, Uzma." Suma said as she took a spoonful.

"No one but my eldest daughter can cook it so well." Basil added as Uzma blushed. "By the way, Hosni wanted me to tell you that he said hello. Suma blushed as Uzma gently teased her. Hosni was a local Coptic Christian boy who harbored a deep crush on Suma. He was only one year older than her. He and Suma had talked many times and they wanted to be with each other, but Basil forbade it. He had told Hosni that he was to wait until she was 17 to being courting her.

"How is he?" Suma asked.

"He got into a scuffle with a couple of Muslim boys, but he held his own." Basil replied as he took a swallow of soup. As they ate, Uzma wondered why the Muslims hated them so much, they had done nothing except attempt to worship Jesus in peace. Uzma thought things were bad now, but sadly, she had seen nothing yet.

NEXT TIME, CRAP HITS THE FAN FOR THE AL-MALEKI FAMILY. REVIEWS NEEDED.