After brutal attacks on non muslims by terrorist groups, it has been typical to hear people say something along these lines; "why doesn't the Muslim community take a definitive stand against terrorists"? This was many times my own reaction. Now, it wasn't as if individuals and representative organizations within the Muslim world didn't decry terrorist acts, many did. But those verbal repudiations either were received as tepid or worse, were offered alongside criticisms of US foreign policy that made those offering them sympathetic to the terrorists point of view, negating the impact of such repudiations.
Egypt's Muslim majority however, by showing up at Coptic Churches to participate in New Year's Mass and thereby placing themselves under the same threat of death as Egypt's Christian minority, communicates their good will and desire for peace in a way mere statements of abhorrence for violence could never do. For Muslim populations elsewhere, whether in the majority or the minority, this is the template to follow to make a convincing statement against radical muslims using violence and terror to achieve their political objectives.
