Death to Churches Under Islam: A Study of the Coptic Church, Part I

By Raymond Ibrahim

Christians throughout the Islamic world are under attack.  Unlike Muslim attacks on Christians, which are regularly confused with a myriad of social factors, the ongoing attacks on Christian churches in the Muslim world are perhaps the most visible expression of Christian persecution under Islam. In churches, Christians throughout the Islamic world are simply being Christians—peacefully and apolitically worshipping their God.  And yet modern day Muslim governments try to prevent them, Muslim mobs attack them, and Muslim jihadis massacre them.

To understand the nature of this perennial hostility, one must first examine Muslim doctrines concerning Christian churches; then look at how these teachings have manifested themselves in reality over the course of centuries; and finally  look at how modern day attacks on Christian churches mirror the attacks of history, often in identical patterns.   The continuity is undeniable.

Because tracing and documenting the treatment of churches across the thousands of miles of formerly Christian lands conquered by Islam is well beyond the purview of this study, a paradigm is needed.  Accordingly, an examination of the treatment of Christian churches in Egypt suffices as a model for understanding the fate churches under Islamic dominion.   Indeed, as one of the oldest and largest Muslim nations, with one of the oldest and largest Christian populations, Egypt is the ultimate paragon for understanding all aspects of Christianity under Islam, both past and present.  [For a complete survey of the fate of Christians and their churches throughout the entire Muslim world, both past and present, see author’s new book, Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians.]

Muslim Doctrine Concerning Churches

Sharia law is draconian if not hostile to Christian worship.  Consider the words of some of Islam’s most authoritative and classic jurists, the same ones revered today by Egypt’s Salafis.  According to Ibn Qayyim author of the multivolume Rules for the Dhimmis, it is “obligatory” to destroy or convert into a mosque “every church” both old and new that exists on lands that were taken by Muslims through force, for they “breed corruption.”  Even if Muslims are not sure whether one of “these things [churches] is old [pre-conquest] or new, it is better to err on the side of caution, treat it as new, and demolition it.”

Likewise, Ibn Taymiyya confirms that “the ulema of the Muslims from all four schools of law—Hanafi, Shafi‘i, Maliki, Hanbali, and others, including al-Thawri, al-Layth, all the way back to the companions and the followers—are all agreed that if the imam destroys every church in lands taken by force, such as Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Syria … this would not be deemed unjust of him,” adding that, if Christians resist, “they forfeit their covenant, their lives, and their possessions.” Elsewhere he writes, “Wherever Muslims live and have mosques, it is impermissible for any sign of infidelity to be present, churches or otherwise.”

Echoing the words of the jurists that the church is “worse than bars and brothels” and “houses of torment and fire,” in August 2009, Dar al-Ifta, an Al Azhar affiliate, issued a fatwa likening the building of a church to “a nightclub, a gambling casino, or building a barn for rearing pigs, cats or dogs.”….

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Why Orthodox Muslims Like to Blow People Up

By Citizen Warrior

The more orthodox the Muslim — that is, the more devout, the more committed to the teachings of the Koran and Hadith and the example of Muhammad— the more motivated the Muslim will be to kill non-Muslims. Why?

There are several reasons. The selfish one is because it’s the only way toguarantee passage to Paradise. A Muslim can be devout, pray five times a day, make the pilgrimage to Mecca, etc., and still have to face judgment (with a chance of not making it to Paradise). But if he or she dies while killing non-Muslims, there is no judgment. The Muslim who dies in jihad goes straight to Paradise.

Another (less selfish) reason is that any Muslim who dies in jihad gets to intercede with Allah on behalf of seventy of his relatives. That’s a big motivation for a would-be Muslim martyr. He will be able to help his mother, father, brothers, cousins, etc., get into Paradise. This also at least partly explains the assistance jihadis get from their less-courageous relatives.

The goal of orthodox Islam is to bring the whole world under the rule of the law of Allah, by peaceful means if possible, but by war if necessary….

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Defense in the Age of Jihad

By Clifford D. May

….What happened in Boston last week was terrible and terrifying — precisely the outcome terrorists seek to achieve. But it could have been worse. It was worse on September 11, 2001, and it will be worse again if we let down our guard, if we stop taking the fight to those sworn to destroy us, and if we refuse to understand who they are, what they believe, and what they want.

They have told us — over and over — that they are waging what they call a jihad. The policy of the current administration, and to a great extent the previous administration as well, has been to avoid such terminology. One notable exception: Just before she stepped down as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton spoke with rare candor. “We now face a spreading jihadist threat,” she said, adding, “we have to recognize this is a global movement.”

 

Yet so many people — in government, the media, academia — refuse to believe this, or at least refuse to acknowledge it. I was on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal this week debating Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. She declared, “There is no global war. . . . There is no global jihadist movement.”….

 

….Spending: By all means, the U.S. military should pursue efficiencies and prioritize. But now is no time to slash the defense budget.

Iran: No threat is more serious than that represented by Iran’s theocrats. They believe they are waging a global revolution, and they regard nuclear weapons as essential to the outcome. The world’s leading sponsors of terrorism, they also brutally oppress their own citizens — which should indicate what they will do to you and me, given a chance. If economic pressure and diplomacy continue to fail, more draconian measures must follow.

North Korea: Kim Jong Un is a roaring mouse, but he is demonstrating American impotence — no doubt that’s high on his to-do list. His bellicose rhetoric has prompted President Obama to boost missile defenses on the West Coast, but it will require a much more comprehensive missile-defense system to create the “nuclear umbrella” that Reagan dreamed of and Clinton — yes, again, Hillary Clinton — promised. A complete halt to Western aid and trade with North Korea might force China’s leaders to accept responsibility for the enfant terrible.

Unconventional warfare: Jihadists at home and abroad should be made to continually look over their shoulders — in that posture, it is more difficult to organize complicated, mass-casualty attacks. Drones have proven an effective tactic — not a strategy — against terrorists and their masters in such remote and dangerous places as Waziristan and Yemen. The president should continue to use them — under defined rules and with congressional oversight.

Intelligence: To stay a step ahead of our enemies requires a steady flow of actionable intelligence. That, in turn, requires apprehending — not killing — terrorists whenever possible and interrogating them effectively. That has not been happening lately. Had Dzhokhar Tsarnaev been designated an “enemy combatant,” as advocated by senators Kelly Ayotte and Lindsey Graham, among others, it would have been possible to interrogate him extensively and perhaps obtain life-saving information about other terrorists and other plots. After that, he could have been transferred to the criminal-justice system for trial. The Obama administration decided instead to tell Tsarnaev that he has “the right to remain silent.”

Toward the end of the Khorasan video, the narrator extols the glorious jihad that is to lead to the final triumph of Muslims over infidels. He declares, “No one can stop that jihad!” Actually, I believe America can — with the right defense strategies and structures. Seeing the threat through unclouded eyes would be the first step.

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The Nice Muslim Family Next Door

by Nonie Darwish

The neighbors of the Chechnyan Muslim family whose sons were responsible for the Boston Marathon terror attack said they were stunned by the news and that this nice Muslim family was known for its generosity and kindness. Many Americans often ask, “What about the Muslim family next door? They are really nice people.”

Some of the nicest people I know are Muslims, but that must never blind us from understanding the risk we are taking when we allow the building of hundreds of mosques financed by Saudi Arabia, as well as millions of Muslims to migrate into America at a time of a fierce, if sophisticated, desire by Islamist groups to spread Islam throughout the world, and to radicalize impressionable youths by stoking anger against the Western nations, people and values.

The existence of nice, educated Muslims should also never blind us from seeing the deep problems within the ideology of Islam and its jihadist goals. Muslims themselves admit that Islam is more than a religion – that it is, in fact, a state, legal system and a military institution—with the goal, as one’s holy duty, of bringing Islam to the rest of the world, a desire often enshrined deep in the hearts of Muslims.

Even though our visible problem is with the Muslim jihadists, the so-called “moderate” Muslims have often been silent enablers and defenders, perhaps from inertia, misinformation or fear of reprisals against them, including death threats to them and members of their family should they speak out.

Terrorists could never be as powerful as they are without the prayers, and especially the material support, of Islamic nations, governments and people. A Muslim Egyptian friend — one of the nicest people you will ever meet — visiting in 1994, was crying in front of the television while praying for the people of Chechnya to declare independence from Russia and declare their country an Islamic State ruled by Sharia law.

The critiques of Islam by this author are never written for the purpose of condemning people; naturally, there are good and bad people in every culture. My deep concern springs from the ideology of Islam: it has had such dark implications on Islamic society, forcing many, otherwise perfectly fine people, to enact unthinkable terror, as others stand silently by. Islam is the only religion that requires its followers to kill those who do not believe in Allah, and to take revenge in the name of Allah. In the Quran, holy vengeance and retaliation are commanded for Muslims: ”O ye who believe! Retaliation is prescribed for you. He who transgresseth after this will have a painful doom.”
 [Koran 2:178]. Or: “We shall take vengeance (Muntaquimun) upon the sinners.” [32:22] The translation of the Arabic word “Muntaquimun” meaning vengeance is often watered down in translation by using the word punishment or retribution instead.

It was frustrating and unsettling to hear the aunt of the two terrorists stating, from Toronto, Canada, that her two nephews were “set up,” and the terrorists’ father, Anzor Tsarnaev, stating in various interviews with ABC and other stations, first that his son should give up peacefully; then that the son who was killed was framed; then that the son who was not killed should tell the truth; then warning that if the US kills his son: “all hell will break loose.”

Having grown up Muslim, I would urge Americans to demand more from the so called “moderate” Muslims, instead of giving them a pass for their silence, which appears a complicit defense of jihad. For too long, with some courageous exceptions, moderate Muslims hear no evil, see no evil and do nothing about it. They stand defiant, behaving as if they were victims, while the cries of Christians suffering under Islam in the Middle East are ignored. (Most Jews were forced out years ago. As the saying in Arabic goes: First the Saturday People, then the Sunday People)….

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Genocidal Muslim Country Warns of Genocide if Europe Doesn’t Accept Muslims

By Daniel Greenfield

Turkey not only committed genocide against Christians, but it still lies about it and locks up its citizens who even mention the genocide. It’s also violently anti-semitic under its current Islamist government.

So that means the time is right for its government to hypocritically warn Europe that the failure to accept Muslim immigrants could lead to another Holocaust.

European countries will face new humanitarian tragedies leading to mass killings of people if they continue in their failure to embrace tolerance toward different cultures and religions, President Abdullah Gül has warned.

“Islam and migrants have been a reality in Europe for centuries. As long as the continent of Europe doesn’t approach segments which are different from the majority with tolerance, particularly in regards to religion, an occurrence of new inquisitions and Holocausts, as well as incidents evoking Srebrenica, are probable,” Gül said yesterday.

No doubt Turkey could be a model of tolerance for Europe.

Turkey has huge numbers of Kurdish political prisoners, some locked up for merely speaking their language or singing nationalistic songs.

Turkey not only refuses to acknowledge its Armenian genocide, but Erdogan, its thuggish Islamist leader, threatened Armenians with ethnic cleansing if they keep complaining about it.

And oh yes… Turkey has been carrying out surveillance of its Jewish community….

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