“In 1984, my son was posted on a military deployment and we were not hearing from him,” recalls Mikhail.

At a ceremony of erecting a handmade minbar, he shared his anxiety with the imam, prayer leader. “They all passionately prayed for my son’s safety. I cried in thankfulness when he returned safe and sound after two days,” says Mikhail, adding that he slashed his value of services in minbars by one third from then onwards.

"The incident proved that I am on the right path," he says with optimism and joy.

Not everyone is happy with Mikhail’s work. Recent surge in tensions based on religions are affecting his peace of mind as well.

He says that Adel Faraj, one of his Christian neighbors, asked him to stop working for mosques. “When I turned down the advice, he stopped me from placing woods and finished parts of minbars under his house as thieves may use them to beak in,” Mikhail recalls in shock as both have been neighbors for decades.

Some six years ago, a group of Christian fanatics destroyed his workshop and two minbars.

“Those who resort to such violent acts to forcibly change others behavior do not believe in any religion,” he announces his judgment.

“We have lived together in Egypt and no one can separate Christians and Muslims from each other,” says the master craftsman despite threats to life and business.

More recently, he moved his family and workshop to a nearby building owned by a security agency. He thought that this neighbor will give him some security. Mikhail was terribly wrong. After the massacre of Nag Hammadi church killings, his workshop was destroyed for the second time. Ironically, this time under the nose of security officials but anyone neither helped nor investigated the matter later.

Girgis Mikhail, the carpenter’s cousin, has yet to receive compensation for his destroyed grocery shop. He blames inefficiency of police against rowdy dacoits and thieves for vandalism of his shop instead of giving it a religious color. “Criminals do not differentiate between Muslims or Christians,” Girgis explains.

Uncle Mikhail refuses to give up hope. “The new covenant after the Egyptian revolution would be better than the past when we had too much ‘security’ and media was branded as ‘spoiler and the instigator of the violence’.”

The aged Egyptian believes in fruits of the Revolution. “Throughout the entire month of uprisings, we felt safer due to the absence of security forces.”

Mikhail says not a single brick was stolen or a window pane was broken in any mosque or church despite demonstrations.

“This is true reality of the Egyptians,” Uncle Mikhail says with a winner’s smile.

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