Minarets of a mosque and the cross above a church are seen at the agricultural road which leads to the capital city of Cairo, Egypt, April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh - RC11420D7D70

Egyptian Muslims and Christians do live in harmony in most areas, but it’s not a matter of debate that many areas still have a lot to work on. Just yesterday, 7 Christians were killed and 14 wounded in a terrorist attack on a bus heading toward a Coptic monastery in Minya, Egypt.

It seems like every time an attack that is targeted towards Christians happens, we, Muslims, take it upon ourselves to state that the event does not represent Islam. Some take it even further to claim that the ones who died are Egyptians and not Christians.

While this might come out of good intentions, it is still extremely problematic and insensitive. Christians in Egypt are targeted, and in situations like these, are fearing for their lives. The last thing they need to worry about is offending a Muslim and acknowledge that “this does not represent Muslims”.

We understand that this Islam is not your Islam, and that you do not associate yourself with them, but they are still Muslims. We need to start acknowledging the fact that these people were attacked and killed because they are Christians, and while you, a Muslim, might not agree with their killing, other Muslims sadly might do.

If you still fail to see why Muslims should not involve themselves with Christians tragic events, let us put this into a simpler example.

Your younger brother, whom you don’t like because he’s problematic, but still don’t bother to scold, burnt down your neighbor’s house. You go to them and claim that your brother does not represent your family and that because the smoke from the fire is bothering you, then this was an incident bothering all of the building, not just your neighbor.

You see where we’re going with this?

A very similar situation to what is happening to Egyptian Christians is the “Black Lives Matters” vs “All Lives Matter” in the United States of America. Supporters of the BLM movement obviously know that all lives matter, but they started this movement due to the fact that when an African American loses his life for no reason, excuses are built to make it seem like a trivial event. This is not something that white Americans go through, which means this movement does not involve them and they need to learn to back off.

We’re not asking you to join the army and go fight ISIS to help Egyptian Christians, but how about giving them the space to grieve? Acknowledge the fact that the attacks are, in fact, targeted towards Christians and not “Egypt”.

In simple words, don’t make everything about you, and let them grieve in peace.