Summary of Muslim hate for Christians in 2012
Muslim Persecution of Christians: September, 2012
by Raymond Ibrahim
October 31, 2012
The aftermath of collective
punishment for Pakistan's Christians—the inevitable byproduct of the
notorious Rimsha Masih blasphemy case, concerning a possibly mentally
challenged, 14-year-old Christian girl falsely accused of desecrating a
Quran—was more dramatic than the blasphemy case itself. Indeed, knowing
what was in store for them, some Christians even held a symbolic
funeral procession, carrying a Christian leader in a coffin and digging
a grave for the "deceased."
Their apprehension proved too true—especially after another pretext for Muslims to riot emerged: the YouTube Muhammad video. After Friday prayers, Muslims attacked, killed, and robbed the Christians in their midst, who account for a miniscule 1.5% of Pakistan's population. St. Paul's Church in Mardan was attacked by hundreds of Muslims armed with clubs and sticks. After looting and desecrating the church, they set it on fire (see picture here). Next, Muslims raided a nearby church-run school; they looted and torched it, as well, and burned down a library containing more than 3,000 Christian books. Although the library also contained thousands of books on Islam—making the Muslim mobs' actions blasphemous under Pakistan's law—"the attack continued for more than three hours, with minimal efforts by the authorities to stop it."
Separately, gunmen on motorbikes dressed in green (Islam's color) opened fire on the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral in Hyderabad , where they murdered at least 28 people. Their immediate target appears to have been a nun, Mother Christina. Days later, unknown men reportedly threatened workers at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Hyderabad. "We will teach a lesson to the Christians," they said, and destroyed the hospital's windows and doors. Naeem Samuel, the bishop of Trinity Evangelical Church was assaulted, severely beaten, and injured as he exited his church.
Meanwhile, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, far from condemning such outrages, validated them by falsely accusing the Muhammad movie for all the violence—even as they exposed their double standards by refusing to denounce paintings offensive to Christians, such as "Piss Christ." The New York Times also exposed its bias by defending the anti-Christian "Piss Christ" as "art," while condemning the anti-Muslim Muhammad movie as hate-speech.
Categorized by theme, the rest of September's stories of Christian persecution around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and in country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.
Church Attacks
Bahrain: Long considered the most tolerant nation in the Arabian Peninsula, with a 30% non-Muslim population of foreign workers, Bahrain is the latest Muslim nation to exhibit intolerance toward churches: Sunni clerics strongly opposed the planned construction of a Catholic church, "in a rare open challenge of the country's Sunni king. More than 70 clerics signed a petition last week saying it was forbidden to build churches in the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam." One prominent cleric, Sheik Adel Hassan al-Hamad, proclaimed that "anyone who believes that a church is a true place of worship is someone who has broken in their faith in God."
Egypt: Kasr El-Dobara, the largest evangelical church in the Middle East, located in Egypt, was besieged by "unknown people" hurling "stones and gas bombs." The first gas bomb thrown at the church was described as an "error" by police, but it was soon followed by other bomb attacks, which lasted through midnight until early Friday. Worshippers locked themselves inside the church and put on masks to avoid gas poisoning. Some of those trapped inside looked for help by trying to contact politicians, journalists, and even the "moderate" Muslim Brotherhood. All the Brotherhood did was announce on TV that the attackers were not members of the Muslim Brotherhood. After the men conducting the siege finally left, and the trapped Christians finally came out, not a single police or security agent to counter the attacks or protect the church could be found.
Indonesia: The several-year-long campaign against GKI Yasmin Church took another turn for the worse, as authorities ordered the congregation to relocate—a demand that abrogated a previous agreement which had permitted the church to exist, provided that a mosque would be built next door, and to which the church had agreed. Moreover, a Supreme Court ruling in 2010 ordered the GKI Yasmin's building to be reopened; it had been shut down in 2008 by local Muslims who, along with the mayor, to this day still refuse to comply with Supreme Court ruling. As one church leader said, "The rule of law in Indonesia has collapsed." Since its forced closure, the congregation has been holding services in the street in front of its half-constructed building or in private homes.
Lebanon: Two unknown assailants opened fire on the Saint Joseph Church in the town of Bqosta near Sidon; they damaged the building's windows.
Nigeria: A suicide bomb attack on Saint John's Catholic Church claimed three lives, including those of a woman and a child; 44 others were seriously injured. Another report describes the typical aftermath of church attacks in Nigeria: "One month after gunmen opened fire inside Deeper Life Bible Church [August 7] … members of the church have yet to resume worship services and other activities. 'All of us are traumatized by this attack. [There is] no family in this church that is not affected by this incident,' said Stephen Imagejor, an assistant pastor whose wife, Ruth, was killed, and their two daughters, Amen, 12, and Juliet, 9, hit by bullets and hospitalized. In all, 19 died. Church members say they were attacked specifically because of their Christian faith. They may have been a target, they say, because some of the dead include former Muslims who had converted to Christianity. And in the aftermath. 'Many are now saying that they can no longer come to the church,' Imagejor said. 'But we will eventually try to see how we can get those of us that have survived the attack to return to the church for worship services. But, I do visit them to encourage them to remain steadfast in the faith in spite of the persecution.'"
Spain:
In Catalonia, a Catholic church was attacked by Moroccan Muslims, who,
along with two other Moroccan Muslims, have been detained and charged
with multiple assaults and robberies, including using clubs used to
rob, terrorize and beat local Spaniards.
Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytism
Egypt: The U.S. embassy in Cairo issued a press release saying it had "credible information suggesting terrorist interest in targeting U.S. female missionaries in Egypt. Accordingly, U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance." Also, an Egyptian court sentenced a Christian teacher to six years in prison after convicting him of the blasphemy of "insulting Prophet Muhammad"—and defaming the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt, Muhammad Morsi, on his Facebook page.
Maldives: Airport customs officials seized 11 books about Christianity from a Bangladeshi expatriate who came to the Maldives by way of Sri Lanka. Later the same day, another Maldivian national was caught with more Christian books, after he arrived in the Maldives also from Sri Lanka. The pair were handed over to police. According to the Maldives Religious Unity Regulations, "It is illegal in the Maldives to propagate any faith other than Islam or to engage in any effort to convert anyone to any religion other than Islam. It is also illegal to display in public any symbols or slogans belonging to any religion other than Islam, or creating [sic] interest in such articles. It is also illegal in the Maldives to carry or display in public books on religions other than Islam, and books and writings that promote and propagate other religions…"
Saudi Arabia: The hunt continues for a 28-year-old Saudi woman, Maryan, who embraced Christianity and fled the country, first gaining sanctuary in a Lebanese church, and then fleeing to Sweden. Earlier, the woman had said that, although she "was raised to hate Judaism and Christianity she has come to love those religions since finding peace in Christianity." Two men, a Christian Lebanese and a Muslim Saudi are accused of proselytizing, and helping her escape. Prosecuting lawyer, Humood Al-Khaldi, said that while in Islam it is clear that the penalty for apostasy is death, "the roles played by the two men, the Saudi and Lebanese, in making the girl become Christian should be taken into consideration," meaning that they, too, must be brought to judgment. Swedish authorities are actually helping to find her to extradite her back to Saudi Arabia to face Sharia justice, including possible execution.
Somalia: Muslims shot three converts to Christianity. The men had converted while in Ethiopia in 2005, but when Muslims began noticing they were not serious about attending mosque prayers, the men were attacked by "militants," who burst into their home and opened fire. Similarly, another family that had embraced Christianity fled their village after receiving death threats. Still another convert, who fled to Kenya, said "Pastors and Christians are very afraid. I know people, mainly Christian converts, who had to leave their homes and their families because of pressures from these terrorists." The messages of the Islamists include statements such as, "Stop your harmful ideologies and preaching to the Muslims," and, "Some Somali Muslims are already affected by this cancer of Christianity… they will be under the sword of the mujahedeen (holy warriors)... We know where you are... We ask Allah to help us make his purpose reign... We are reaching millions of youth to join our jihad against the enemy of Islam and to terrorize by any means we can to make them understand that they are nothing but lowly infidels."
Uzbekistan:
A disabled Christian woman, who walks with crutches, and her mother
were brutally beaten with sticks in a violent police raid on their
home. The officers turned the home upside down, seizing Bibles and
other religious literature. At the police station, officers tried to
pressure them to accept Islam, saying it was better than Christianity,
and that a married man could marry them because Muslim men are allowed
to have four wives. When the women refused to comply, the officers beat
them again. The court ordered the destruction of the literature.
Dhimmitude
[General Abuse and Suppression of Non-Muslims as "Tolerated" Citizens]
Bangladesh: A new report indicates that some 300 Christian children were recently abducted and forcibly converted to Islam: So-called intermediaries visit poverty-stricken communities, where they convince families to send their children to a mission hostel, charging them the equivalent of US$ 500 to $1,200 for school and board. "After pocketing the money, the intermediaries sell the children to Islamic schools elsewhere in the country 'where imams force them to abjure Christianity.'"
http://www.asianews.it/files/img/BANGLADESH_OK.jpgThe children are then instructed in Islam and beaten; after full indoctrination, they are asked if they are "ready to give their lives for Islam," presumably by becoming jihadi suicide-bombers.
Iran: Pastor Behnam Irani, imprisoned for "holding house church services and leading Muslims to Christ," continues to suffer health problems, while receiving no aid: "First, his eyesight is dimming and he has not been given access to a doctor to get prescription lenses. Second, he has a bleeding ulcer in his intestines. This has caused him to have bloody stool, vomiting blood, resulting in unconsciousness at one point. Third, from an accident several years ago, he had metal placed in his knee, and according to a family member it needs to be replaced every so often."
Syria: Christians fleeing to the Lebanese border are still being targeted, kidnapped, and in some cases murdered for ransom money. One report said 280 were held hostage by "armed gangs" taking advantage of the chaos of the war. Some of those kidnapped are later found slaughtered on the road.
Turkmenistan: A new report indicates how "the situation [for Christians] has got markedly worse since July and we don't know why." Among other reports, Christian homes were raided and Bibles confiscated; Christians were threatened for not participating in Muslim prayers; they lost their jobs and businesses; Christian children are being harassed and discriminated against in schools. In one instance, "secret police officers raided a flat where five elderly Christian women had gathered for worship, as was their regular practice. They were so frightened by the incident that they have stopped meeting together."
Uzbekistan:
A former Uzbek Muslim who converted to Christianity and eventually
became an active Protestant house church leader, was subsequently
persecuted by the state, and fled with his family to Kazakhstan.
Uzbekistan wants him to return to face charges that he practiced
religion "outside state regulation." Because of its evangelical nature,
Protestantism is banned in Uzbekistan. His case now rests before the
country's highest court, which has yet to set a hearing date.
Pakistani Dhimmitude
Pakistan continues to show that it is one of the absolute worst nations for Christians and other non-Muslims; it requires its own section for September:
A 16-year-old Christian girl, Shumaila Masih, was gang-raped for hours by Muslims—joining the countless Christian girls and boys raped and murdered in Pakistan. Three Muslim men met her on the street, trying to persuade her to go with them. When she refused, she was forcibly abducted and taken to the home of one of the men, who took "turns raping her for hours. The attack took place at 11 am, in broad daylight, but no one intervened to save Shumaila, despite her desperate cries and pleas for help." Around 5 pm, her father and his cousins began searching for her; when they came to the rape-house, they heard her cries and rushed to it: "At the sight of the men, the three young Muslims fled, leaving Shumaila naked and in pain on the bed."
According to a new report, as many as 2,000 women and girls from various minority sects, especially Christianity, were forcibly converted to Islam through rape, torture and kidnappings, and 161 people were charged with blasphemy in 2011. "The actual number is larger as many cases go unreported… For instance, policemen are involved in more than 60 percent of sexual abuse cases of street children."
A separate report discussing the murder of a Christian youth by Muslims, notes that "Christians are harassed by criminal gangs and Islamic terrorist groups of ethnic Pashtuns: armed to the teeth, the militants enter the area to collect jizya [extortion money imposed on Christians and Jews, according to Quran 9:29]. Militants raid houses, steal and abuse women and children for fun. The local population is terrorized."
Another 16-year-old Christian girl, Sumbal, a maid working for Muslims, was "beaten harshly" by the family with "pipes and iron rods … afterwards, she was taken to the washroom and terribly tortured there." When the child's parents learned of the incident, they went to retrieve their daughter but were told by the family that they did not know her whereabouts. According to Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association: "Yet again we have violence against a teenage Christian maid. The fact that the family are refusing her mother access is very disturbing. What are they covering up? Is it the fact that the girl was murdered, as in a recent case where a senior lawyer in the same city tortured to death a young Christian girl servant? Is it to try and concoct a story about her condition, or has she been raped and forced to marry and convert as so many young Christian girls are?"
Soon after a Muslim opened a madrassa [Islamic school] near where Christians held their tent church worship, Muslims began harassing the Christians; they sprayed bullets on the Christians' homes saying things like, "Convert to Islam or leave this neighborhood." The Muslims also tried to trick a pastor into admitting he proselytized Muslims; and they gather in front of the church and harass Christian girls as they exit after services.
About this Series
Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:
1.
To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if
not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
2. To show that
such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that
it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.
Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.
Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.
Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Muslim Persecution of Christians: June 2012
“Muslim Brotherhood prevented the Copts, at gunpoint, from voting"
Posted by Raymond Ibrahim
July 30, 2012
Gatestone Institute
U.S.-backed rebels are committing
Christian genocide in Syria, where they are sacking churches and
issuing threats that all Christians will be cleansed from rebel-held
territory. A mass exodus of thousands of Christians is taking
place, even as mainstream Western reporters like Robert Fisk demonize
those same Christians for being supportive of the secular regime.
The bloody jihad waged against
Nigeria’s Christians, which has seen hundreds killed this year alone,
now includes plans to kill Christians with poisoned food, as part of
the Islamic organization Boko Haram’s stated goal of purging Nigeria of
all Christian presence.
During Egypt’s presidential
elections, Al Ahram reported that “the Muslim Brotherhood blockaded
entire streets, prevented Copts from voting at gunpoint, and threatened
Christian families not to let their children go out and vote” for the
secular candidate.
Meanwhile, under President Obama,
the U.S. State Department, in an unprecedented move, purged the
sections dealing with religious persecution from its recently released
Country Reports on Human Rights. Likewise, the Obama
administration insists that the Nigerian crisis has nothing to do with
religion, even as Obama offered his hearty blessings to Egypt’s Muslim
Brotherhood president, in the midst of allegations of electoral fraud.
Categorized by theme, June’s
assemblage of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world
includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed in
alphabetical order by country, not severity.
Church Attacks
Egypt: Because many visitors
were in attendance, Muslims surrounded a Coptic church during Divine
Liturgy “demanding that the visiting Copts leave the church before the
completion of prayers, and threatening to burn down the church if their
demand was not met.” The priest contacted police asking for aid only to
be told to comply with their demands, “and do not let buses with
visitors to come to the church anymore.” Christian worshippers exited
halfway through liturgy to jeers outside. As they drove away, Muslims
hurled stones at their buses. Also, repairs to a Coptic church
that was torched and gutted a year ago by rioting Muslims were woefully
inadequate, leaving the congregation with a staggering debt from
further necessary repairs.
Indonesia: A Muslim mob of 300
wrecked a store that was being used for a Sunday church service on the
pretext that it had not obtained “permission to hold Mass.” The
mob wrecked the first floor of the store, breaking windows and damaging
furniture. Police stopped them before reaching the third floor,
where some 60 Christians had congregated. None of the
Muslims were arrested, although 12 Christians were taken into custody
for questioning. Separately, in compliance to calls by Islamic clerics,
authoritiesordered 20 churches to be torn down, following the closure
of 16 smaller Christian places of worship in the same district last
month. The congregations continue to hold services inside their
sealed-off buildings as other members stand guard outside.
Iran: Authorities ordered the
closure of yet another church in the capital, Tehran, “amid a
government campaign to crack down on the few recognized churches
offering Farsi-speaking services,” according to a human rights group.
The church originally served Assyrian background Christian members;
however, “due to an increasing number of Farsi-speaking
believers—mostly MBBs [Muslim Background Believers]—it [the church] has
become a cause of concern for the authorities and they now ordered it
to shut down.”
Kashmir: A 119-year-old church was
torched by Muslims. The local bishop “said that the Muslim
fundamentalists want Christians to leave the state… He said that the
church had filed a case with the police but had been advised not to
‘play up’ such incidents.” Christian minorities “are coming under
growing threat from Kashmir’s Muslim majority. A Christian human rights
group in India said that over 400 Christians have been displaced as a
result.”
Kazakhstan: Land use regulations are
being exploited “as a means to prevent religious communities and their
members exercising freedom of religion or belief.” Most recently,
authorities “forced a Methodist church to ‘voluntarily’ close and fined
the wife of the Church’s Pastor, who further paid for an announcement
in newspapers saying the church was ‘liquidating itself,’” simply
because “We do not want more punishment from the authorities.”
Nigeria: Islamic militants
attacked several churches during every Sunday of the month with bombs
and guns killing dozens of Christian worshippers, and critically
wounding hundreds, including many children. Growing numbers of
Christians “dare not” attend church services anymore, even as reports
suggest that some police are intentionally abandoning their watch prior
to such attacks.
Sudan: Authorities bulldozed
two church buildings to the ground and confiscated three Catholic
schools, as a response to the secession of South Sudan in July 2011,
saying that such buildings are associated with now unwelcome, largely
Christian South Sudanese in the Islamic-ruled country. Another
church building belonging to the Full Gospel Church was destroyed in
the same area two months ago, also on the claim that it belonged to
South Sudanese.
Turkmenistan: An Evangelical
church in the Muslim-majority nation was raided by authorities: “All
adult believers at the meeting were questioned about their faith and
all of their Christian literature was confiscated.” Their
literature was returned two weeks later.
Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytism
Egypt: A Christian student handing
out Christian literature in Assuit University “raised the ire of Muslim
students,” resulting in clashes on campus, “amid shouts of sectarian
chants,” leading to many injuries. Likewise, a Salafi leader
declared on Egyptian TV that Muslims have no right “to convert to
Christianity.”
Iran: Five months after five
Christian converts were arrested, their condition and fate remain
unknown. They are accused of “attending house church services,
promoting Christianity, propagating against the regime and disturbing
national security.” Being imprisoned for 130 days without word “is an
obvious example of physical and mental abuse of the detainees….
one of the prison guards openly told one of these Christian detainees
that all these pressures and uncertainties are intended to make them
flee the country after they are released.” Also, a young Iranian woman,
who recently converted to Christianity and was an outspoken activist
against the Islamic regime, was found dead, slumped over her car’s
steering wheel, with a single gunshot wound to her head.
Pakistan: A banned Islamic group
filed a blasphemy case against a 25-year-old mentally retarded
Christian man. Muslims had converted him to Islam two years
earlier, to use him as a pretext to annex his Christian village. In the
words of a witness: “These people (Muslims) do not let us live. We are
poor but are working hard to survive. On the night of the incidence a
mob of Muslim clerics gathered [around] our colony to burn us all
because of the blasphemy Ramzan [the retarded man] committed. Everyone
was very scared. We all have small children in our houses and we didn’t
know what to do. The mob surrounded our colony and raised a slogan to
burn all the houses, they had torches in their hands and petrol in the
cans. We called police and thank God police arrived just in time.
Saudi Arabia: Thirty-five Ethiopian
Christians arrested in December for praying in a private home remain
jailed, even as Saudi officials offer contradicting reasons for their
arrest. Meanwhile, they have been beaten and subjected to
interrogations and strip searches. Saudi Arabia formally bans all
religions other than Islam. However, in 2006, Saudi authorities told
the United States that they would “guarantee and protect the right to
private worship for all, including non-Muslims who gather in homes for
religious practice.”
Sudan: A Muslim woman divorced her
husband, a convert to Christianity, causing the court automatically to
grant her custody of their two sons. When the father tried to visit his
children, his wife threatened to notify authorities. “They might
take the case to a prosecution court, which might lead to my sentencing
to death according to Islamic apostasy law—but I am ready for this,”
said the Christian. “I want the world to know this. What crime have I
done? Is it because I became a Christian? I know if the world is
watching, they [Sudanese authorities] will be afraid to do any harm to
me.”
United States: Two Christian men in
Saint Louis, Missouri received death threats from Iran’s Islamic
Revolutionary Guard, apparently for converting to Christianity and
preaching it. One of the men formerly served in the Revolutionary
Guard and was once even assigned a suicide mission against Israel,
before converting and immigrating to the U.S. “The two men believe that
Islam is a religion that could easily radicalize a Muslim into a
terrorist.” Likewise, in Dearborn Michigan, Christian demonstrators
exercising their free speech rights were stoned by Muslims shouting
“Allahu Akbar!”
Dhimmitude [General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of Non-Muslims as “Tolerated” Citizens]
Indonesia: “The number of violations
of Christians’ religious rights in Indonesia reached 40 in the first
five months of the year, nearly two-thirds the amount of anti-Christian
actions in all of last year,” according to the Jakarta Christian
Communication Forum. The Christian minority in Indonesia faced 64
cases of violations of religious freedom last year, up from 47 in
2010.” Violence against Christians also increased.
Mali: “Islamists in control of
northern Mali are enforcing a strict version of Sharia law that
victimizes Christians, women and other vulnerable groups.” The radicals
took control of northern Mali in April after ousting the armed forces
of the government. “All the Christians have left Timbuktu (the
main city in north Mali) because of the Sharia law as well as because
of the presence of people linked with al-Qaeda,” said a Christian
leader who fled from northern Mali.
Pakistan: Police are siding
with the Muslims accused of beating a pregnant Christian woman, causing
her to miscarriage twins, and gang-raping her 13-year-old Christian
niece. “Muslim criminals believe police and courts will give
little credence to the complaints of Christians in the country, which
is nearly 96 percent Muslim,” adds the report. The Christian
family is “paying a huge price for being poor … and for being
Christian,” said the uncle: “What can we expect from the police
when they are not paying heed even to the court orders? They are
distorting facts and have even gone to the extent of accusing a
13-year-old [raped girl] of committing adultery with three men.”
Another Christian politician’s ID mistook him for a Muslim, causing him
to insist “on the floor of the Punjab Assembly that he was born a
Christian and appealed to them and the media not to indulge in
propaganda against him that could incite Muslim extremists to kill him.”
South Africa: More than 70 students
were kicked out of the Coastal KZN As-Salaam campus dormitories and are
currently homeless, because campus officials tried to make them observe
Islam, including by banning Bibles, which the students resisted. “All
we wanted was to be free to practice our own religions and not be
forced to follow Islam, but now we have been punished by being deprived
of safe accommodation,” said one student.
Turkey: Thousands of devout
Muslims prayed outside Hagia Sophia—formerly Christendom’s greatest
cathedral now a museum—shouting, “Allahu Akbar!” and demanding the
building be opened as a mosque in honor of the jihadi sultan who
conquered Constantinople in the 15th century.
About this Series
Because the persecution of
Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic
proportions, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed to
collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that
surface each month. It serves two purposes:
1. Intrinsically,
to document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if
not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
2. Instrumentally,
to show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and
interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.
Accordingly, whatever the anecdote
of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including
hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy and blasphemy
laws; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam;
theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (tribute); overall expectations for
Christians to behave like cowed “dhimmis” (barely tolerated citizens);
and simple violence and murder. Oftentimes it is a combination thereof.
Because these accounts of
persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from
Morocco in the west, to India in the east, and throughout the West,
wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone
binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law,
or the supremacist culture born of it.
Muslim Persecution of Christians: May 2012
"Death to Christians!"
by Raymond Ibrahim
June 28, 2012
Gatestone Institute
Unlike
those nations, such as Saudi Arabia, that have eliminated Christianity
altogether, Muslim countries with significant Christian minorities saw
much persecution during the month of May: in Egypt, Christians were
openly discriminated against in law courts, even as some accused the
nation's new president of declaring that he will "achieve the Islamic
conquest of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert
to Islam;" in Indonesia, Muslims threw bags of urine on Christians
during worship; in Kashmir and Zanzibar, churches were set on fire; and
in Mali, Christianity "faces being eradicated."
Elsewhere
in sub-Saharan Africa—in Nigeria, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, the Ivory
Coast—wherever Islam and Christianity meet, Christians are being
killed, slaughtered, beheaded and even crucified.
Categorized
by theme, May's assemblage of Muslim persecution of Christians around
the world includes, but is not limited to, the following accounts,
listed in alphabetical order by country, not severity. Note: As
Pakistan had the lion's share of persecuted Christians last month, it
has its own section below, covering the entire gamut of
persecution—from apostasy and blasphemy to rape and forced conversions.
Church Attacks
Indonesia encountered several church-related attacks:
• A mob of 600
Muslims threw bags of urine, stones, and rotten eggs at the
congregation of a Protestant church at the start of Ascension Day
service; they shouted profanities and threatened to kill the pastor. No
arrests were made. The church had applied for a permit to construct its
house of worship five years ago. Pressured by local Muslims, the local
administration ordered the church shut down in December 2009, even
though the Supreme Court recently overruled its decision, saying that
the church was eligible for a permit. Local Muslims and officials are
nevertheless demanding that the church shut down.
• After protests
"by hard-line groups including the Islamic Defenders Front," nearly 20
Christian houses of worship were sealed off by authorities on the
pretext of "not having permits." The authorities added that, to
accommodate the region's 20,000 Christians, only one church may be
built in the district in question.
• The Muslim mayor
who illegally sealed the beleaguered GKI Yasmin church, forcing
congregants to worship in the streets, has agreed to reopen it—but only
if a mosque is built next door, to ensure that the church "stays in
line." "As well as opposition from the mayor, the church has faced
hostility from local Muslims, who have rallied against them [the
Christians], blocked them from accessing the street where the church is
situated and disrupted their outdoor services. It is unlikely that they
will suddenly embrace the Christians," according to the report.
France:
Prior to celebrating mass, "four youths, aged 14 to 18, broke into the
Church of St. Joseph, before launching handfuls of pebbles at 150
faithful present at the service." They were chased out, although,
according to the report, "the parishioners, many of whom are elderly,
were greatly shocked by the disrespectful act of the youths of North
African origin."
Kashmir:
A Catholic church made entirely of wood was partially destroyed after
unknown assailants set it on fire. "What happened," said the president
of the Global Council of Indian Christians, "is not an isolated case,"
and follows the "persecution" of a pastor who baptized Muslims. "With
these gestures, the Muslim community is trying to intimidate the
Christian minority."
Kuwait:
Two months after the Saudi Grand Mufti decreed, in response to a
question on whether churches may exist in Kuwait, that all regional
churches must be destroyed, villa-churches serving Western foreigners
are being targeted. One congregation was evicted without explanation
"from a private villa used for worship gatherings for the past seven
years;" another villa-church was ordered to "pay an exorbitant fine
each month to use a facility it had been renting…. Church leaders
reportedly decided not to argue and moved out."
Zanzibar:
Hundreds of Muslims set two churches on fire and clashed with police
during protests against the arrest of senior members of an Islamist
movement known as the Association for Islamic Mobilization and
Propagation. Afterwards, the group issued a statement denying any
involvement of wrongdoing.
Pakistan: Apostasy, Blasphemy, Rape, Forced Conversions, and Oppression
• A 20-year-old
Christian man was arrested and charged with "blasphemy"—a crime
"punishable with life imprisonment"—after vengeful Muslims accused him
of burning a Koran soon after a billiard game. The Muslims kept
taunting and threatening him, to which the Christian "dared them to do
whatever they wanted and walked away." Days later came the accusation
and arrest, which caused Muslim riots, creating "panic among
Christians," who "left their houses anticipating violence."
• Two years ago,
after a Muslim man converted to Christianity and told his wife, she
abused and exposed him, resulting in his being severely beaten. "No one
was willing to let me live the life I wanted [as a Christian]—they say
Islam is not a religion of compulsion, but no one has been able to tell
me why Muslims who don't find satisfaction in the religion become
liable to be killed." He eventually divorced, escaped, and remarried a
Christian woman. Now that his family has again discovered his
whereabouts, they have resumed threatening him. According to his wife:
"Every other day, we receive threatening phone calls…They are now
asking him to abandon us and renounce Christianity, threatening that
they will kill me and our child."
• A new report
indicates that "on average, eight to ten Christians are being forced
every month by fanatic Muslims to convert to Islam, mostly in the
provinces of Sindh and Punjab. The victims of forced conversions are
often girls from poor backgrounds who are then subjected to harrowing
and traumatic ordeals. Most of the girls are vulnerable and unable to
defend themselves against extremists because their community is
deprived, defenseless and marginalized. Christians, who constitute
about two percent of the Pakistani population, are paying a high price
for being a part of the minority community." Two such cases from May
follow:
• In an attempt to
force her to drop charges against them for raping her 13-year-old
niece, a band of Muslims severely beat a pregnant Christian woman
causing her to lose female twins to miscarriage. The rapists came when
all male members of the Christian household were out working and beat
the women "mercilessly." "They murdered our children, they raped our
daughter. We have nothing left with us," lamented an older family
member. As usual, police ignored both cases: both the raped Christian
girl and her beaten family.
• A 14-year-old
Christian girl was abducted and forced to convert to Islam by her
uncle, who himself had earlier converted. Pakistani police refused to
liberate her, and said she converted of her own free will. According to
her father: "After converting, my brother is conspiring against our
family and kidnapped Mary with deception."
• The
investigation into the murder of the nation's only cabinet-level
Christian, Shahbaz Bhatti, has become mired amid suspicions of a
possible cover-up. Lax investigations, a series of freed suspects, and
lack of coordination across law enforcement organizations have stalled
the case after the March 2, 2011 slaying of the federal minister for
Minority Affairs, who was an outspoken critic of, and targeted by,
those who support Pakistan's "blasphemy" laws.
• Christians are
being threatened and abused for trying, since 1947, to save their
community's graveyard. Despite failing to produce any proof, a retired
Muslim official who claims he "recently discovered" that the land
really belongs to him has already built a boundary wall, reducing the
graveyard to less than a third of its original size, and turned the
seized land over to agricultural use. Police, as usual, are failing to
react.
Dhimmitude [General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of non-Muslims as "Tolerated" Citizens]
Egypt:
A court verdict that was criticized by many human rights groups as
"unbelievable" and "extremely harsh" towards Christians was decided
according to religion: all twelve Christians were convicted to life
imprisonment, while all eight Muslims—including some who torched nearly
60 Christian homes—were acquitted, all to thunderous cries of "Allahu
Akbar!" ["Allah is the Greatest!"] in the courtroom. Another Muslim
judge in Upper Egypt dismissed all charges against a group of Muslims
who terrorized a Christian man and his family for over a year,
culminating with their cutting off his ear in a knife attack while
trying to force him to convert to Islam after they "falsely accused
him" of having an affair with a Muslim woman. And a new report
describes the plight of Coptic girls: "hundreds of Christian girls …
have been abducted, forced to convert to Islam, and forced into
marriage in Egypt. These incidents are often accompanied by acts of
violence, including rape, beatings, and other forms of physical and
mental abuse."
Eritrea:
Activists taking part in a protest outside the Eritrean embassy in
London revealed that "Some 2,000 to 3,000 Christians are currently
detained in Eritrea without charge or trial… Several Christians are
known to have died in notorious prison camps," and "thousands of
Eritreans flee their country every year," some falling "into the hands
of abusive traffickers, and are held hostage in torture camps in the
Sinai Desert pending payment of exorbitant ransoms, or the forcible
removal of organs."
Ethiopia:
A Christian man accused of "desecrating the Koran" spent two years in
prison, where he was abused, pressured to convert to Islam, and left
paralyzed. Now returning home, he has found that his two young children
have been abducted by local Muslims: "My life is ruined—I have lost my
house, my children, my health. I am now homeless, and I am limping."
Greece:
Abet Hasman, the deputy mayor of Patras who recently passed away, left
a message to be revealed only in his obituary—that, although born to
Muslim parents in Jordan, he was "secretly baptized" a Christian
(demonstrating how some Muslims who convert to Christianity, knowing
the consequences of apostasy, choose secrecy).
Indonesia:
A predominantly Christian neighborhood was attacked for several days by
"unidentified persons," who set fire to homes and cars. Dozens of
Christian families fled their homes, "many fear[ing] the involvement of
Islamic extremist groups."
Iran:
A prominent house church pastor remains behind bars, even as his family
expresses concerns that he may die from continued abuse and beatings,
leading to internal bleeding and other ailments; authorities refuse to
give him medical treatment. Also, the attorney of Youssef
Nadarkhani—the imprisoned Christian pastor who awaits execution for
apostasy—was himself "convicted for his work defending human rights and
is expected to begin serving his nine-year sentence in the near
future." Meanwhile, in a letter attributed to him, the imprisoned
pastor wrote: "I have surrendered myself to God's will...[and I]
consider it as the day of exam and trial of my faith...[so that I may]
prove my loyalty and sincerity to God."
Jordan:
After the Jordanian Dubai Islamic Bank decreed that all females must
wear the hijab, the Islamic veil or be terminated, it fired all female
employees who refused to wear the hijab—mostly Christians, including
one Christian woman who had worked there for 27 years. There are
suspicions that this new policy was set to target and terminate the
Christian employees, as it is they who are most likely to reject the
hijab.
Lebanon:
A 24-year-old woman, the daughter of a Shiite cleric, who was
"physically and psychologically tortured by her father for converting
to Christianity three years ago," managed to escape and be baptized by
a Christian priest—who was himself then abducted and interrogated to
disclose the whereabouts of the renegade woman. In like manner, Muslim
assailants fired gunshots at the house of another priest and at a
church -- "part of an escalating pattern of violence against local
Catholics," in the words of the region's prelate.
Macedonia:
After some Muslims were arrested in connection to a "series of murders
of Christians," thousands of fellow Muslims demonstrated after Friday
prayers, shouting slogans such as "death to Christians!," and calling
for "jihad."
Mali:
Ever since the government was overthrown in a coup, "the church in Mali
faces being eradicated," especially in the north, "where rebels want to
establish an independent Islamist state and drive Christians out….there
have been house to house searches for Christians who might be in
hiding, church and Christian property has been looted or destroyed, and
people tortured into revealing any Christian relatives."
Nigeria:
Muslim gunmen set fire to a home in a Christian village and then opened
fire on all who tried to escape the inferno, killing at least seven and
wounding many others, in just one of dozens of attacks on Christians.
Sudan:
Without reason, security officials closed down regional offices of the
Sudan Council of Churches and a much needed church clinic for the poor;
staff members were arrested and taken to an undisclosed location:
"Their families are living in agony due to the uncertainty of their
fate."
Syria:
Jihadi gunmen evicted all the families of a Christian region, "taking
over all the homes of the village, occupying the church and turning it
to their base."
Uzbekistan:
Police raided a Protestant house-church meeting, claiming "that a bomb
was in the home." No bomb was found, only Christian literature which
was confiscated. Subsequently, 14 members of the unregistered church
were heavily fined—the equivalent of 10-60 times a monthly salary—for
an "unsanctioned meeting in a private home." Between February and
April, 28 Protestants were fined and four were issued warnings for the
offence. Three Baptists were also fined for not declaring their
personal Bibles while crossing the border from Kazakhstan into
Uzbekistan. Fines and warnings were accompanied by the confiscation of
religious literature.
About this Series
Because
the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to
reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was
developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of
persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:
1.
To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if
not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
2. To show that
such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that
it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.
Accordingly,
whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a
specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian
symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam;
apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death to
those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial
tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians
to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens;
and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.
Because
these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages,
and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and
throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that
one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of
Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.
Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Muslim Persecution of Christians: April 2012
"The police are also involved in this."
by Raymond Ibrahim
May 18, 2012
Gatestone Institute
As Easter, one of the highest
Christian holidays, comes in April, Christian persecution in Muslim
nations—from sheer violence to oppressive laws—was rampant: In Nigeria,
where jihadis have expressed their desire to expunge all traces of
Christianity, a church was bombed during Easter Sunday, killing some 50
worshippers; in Turkey, a pastor was beaten by Muslims immediately
following Easter service and threatened with death unless he converted
to Islam; and in Iran, Easter Sunday saw 12 Christians stand trial as
"apostates."
The
persecution of Christians has come to regions not normally associated
with it. As in Nigeria, Muslim militants are now also running amok in
Timbuktu, Mali—beheading a Christian leader and threatening other
Christians with similar treatment. Sharia law has been imposed,
churches are being destroyed, and Christians are fleeing Timbuktu in
mass.
Categorized
by theme, April's assemblage of Muslim persecution of Christians around
the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts,
listed in alphabetical order by country, not severity:
Church Attacks
Azerbaijan:
A church in the Muslim-majority nation has "become the first religious
community to be liquidated by a court since the country's harsh new
'Religion Law,' requiring all previously registered religious
institutions to re-register, came into force in 2009. Greater Grace
Protestant Church in the capital, Baku, "was stripped of its
registration at a 15-minute hearing on 25 April. The decision, which
was made in the absence of any church representatives, makes any
activity by the church illegal and subject to punishment."
Indonesia:
Gunmen opened fire on the GKI Yasmin church, causing much damage, in
the latest attack on the building, which has been illegally sealed off
by authorities since 2008 in response to Muslim demands. Another
Protestant church unlawfully sealed off by the authorities—despite
meeting all requirements for a permit—was met with violent opposition
from Muslims when its members tried to hold a service on the street in
front of their sealed-off church building. Muslim residents made death
threats, played loud music, and rode a motorcycle through the
congregation. A church spokesman said: "We are constantly having to
change our location because our existence appears to be unwanted, and
we have to hide so that we are not intimidated by intolerant groups… We
had hoped for help from the police, but after many attacks on members
of the congregation, we see that the police are also involved in this."
Kenya:
Two separate grenade attacks on churches took place: 1) Muslims threw
grenades into an open-air Christian church gathering, killing a woman
and a boy, and wounding some 50 other Christians: Muslims had been
holding a meeting near the gathering, and Christians could hear their
preachers railing against Christianity right before the attack took
place. 2) In a separate incident, a Muslim man pretending to be a
worshipper at a church threw three grenades during service, killing a
27-year-old university student and injuring 16. The terrorist, who,
according to eyewitnesses, appeared to be of Somali origin, "looked
uncomfortable and always looked down. He threw three hand grenades and
only one exploded. He took off, and he fired in the air three gunshots."
Nigeria:
An early morning attack on a Christian church service left at least 16
people dead: Jihadi gunmen on motorcycles stormed Bayero University in
the city of Kano Sunday morning during a Catholic mass held in the
school's theater hall, hurling improvised explosive devices, and
opening fire as people fled. "The attack follows a string of violent
incidents against Christians in the predominantly Muslim north."
Sudan:
A Christian compound in Khartoum was stormed by a throng of Muslims
"armed with clubs, iron rods, a bulldozer and fire," the day after a
Muslim leader called on Muslims to destroy "the infidels' church."
Shouting "Allahu Akbar!" ["Allah is Greater!"], and "No more
Christianity from today on—no more church from today on!" the jihadis
stormed the Bible school bookstore, burning Bibles and threatening to
kill anyone who tried to resist. "What happened could not be
imagined—it was terrible," said an eyewitness. "They burned all
furniture of the school and the church as well." As usual, "Police at
the compound stood back and did nothing to prevent the mob from
vandalizing the compound."
Tunisia:
Members of the Christian Orthodox Church in Tunis, one of very few
churches in the nation, are being "abused" and receiving "threatening
messages." Church members are "living in a state of terror," so much so
that the Russian ambassador in Tunis specifically requested the
nation's Ministry of Interior to "protect the church." The abuse has
gotten to the point where "Salafis covered the cross of the church with
garbage bags, and told the church members that they do not wish to see
the vision of the Cross anywhere in the Islamic state of Tunisia."
Separately, a Muslim burst into a church to deliver a letter from an
Islamist party inviting the archpriest to convert to Islam or to take
down the church's crosses and pay jizya, the Islamic subjugation tax.
Apostasy and Blasphemy: Death and Prison
Algeria:
A Christian was sentenced to five years in prison for "shaking the
faith" of Muslims. He had discussed his faith with a Muslim man at a
food court when the Muslim became angry and accused the Christian of
"insulting Muhammad." Police arrested the man and found a large amount
of Christian material in his apartment. The judge gave him the maximum
sentence of five years in prison, even though the prosecutor himself
had recommended a lesser sentence.
Bangladesh:
A former Muslim prayer leader who converted to Christianity was
"welcomed by threats and violence." Members of his Muslim community
"beat him almost to death," causing him to be hospitalized for almost
two months: "the same Muslims who followed him and held him in high
esteem when he was their imam now cannot accept his new status."
Egypt:
Two incidents of "blasphemy" convictions took place: 1) A juvenile
court sentenced a Coptic Christian teenager to three years in prison
for allegedly "insulting Islam," on claims that he posted unflattering
cartoons of Muhammad on Facebook. When the incident came to light,
Muslims rioted, fire-bombing his home and at least five other
Christian-owned homes. 2) Another judge upheld a six-year prison
sentence for a Christian convicted of "blasphemy": after a Muslim had
told the 49-year old Christian convict that Jesus had illegal sex with
at least ten women, the Christian countered "by stating that Muhammad,
the founder of the Islamic religion, had more than four wives—a view
commonly held by Islamic scholars." Police subsequently arrested him
and, in a 10-minute mock trial with no defense attorney present, the
judge sentenced him to six years in prison for "insulting the prophet."
Iran:
A Christian convert from Islam has been sentenced to six years in
prison. Originally arrested in December 2010 as part of a major
crackdown on the country's house church movement, "the married father
of two has been held in the notorious Evin prison ever since, spending
several months in solitary confinement," and likely goaded to return to
Islam. He is accused of "action against the regime's security, being in
contact with foreign organizations and religious propaganda." In short,
according to Iranian Christians, "his 'crime' was practicing his
Christian faith."
Pakistan:
Two incidents of "blasphemy" charges occurred: 1) A Christian man was
arrested and charged with "blasphemy" for rescuing his 8-year-old
nephew from a beating at the hands of Muslim boys who sought to force
the boy to convert to Islam. "Seeing the attack from a distance, Masih
[the man] shouted and rushed to the scene, rescued his nephew and then
went to his work as a painter. Soon after the incident, a Muslim mob of
about 55 led by the village prayer leader besieged Masih's house," and
insisted that "the blasphemer" be turned over to them. After being
threatened and harassed by Muslim inmates and jail officials, he was
eventually released from prison. 2) The mother of a newborn baby has
been illegally jailed for over a month: authorities have failed to file
a charge sheet within the mandatory 14-day period against the
26-year-old Christian woman accused of "blaspheming" the prophet of
Islam. The woman was arrested after neighbors accused her of "uttering
remarks against Muhammad."
Philippines:
Two pastors were slaughtered by Muslim assailants: 1) A former Muslim
who became a Christian pastor was murdered in front of his wife in his
home: "My husband staggered into our bedroom and I was shocked because
he was full of blood," she recalled. "I brought him to the hospital
right away. He was operated on for eight bullet wounds, but did not
survive." The Philippines is a mostly Christian nation, but in the
south, "Muslim fundamentalists are trying to build an Islamic state.
Christians there face persecution and even death…. This year, at least
four house churches closed down after their pastors and lay leaders
were killed by Muslim extremists." 2) Another pastor was shot in the
head five times, killed by two unknown gunmen in front of his teenage
daughter.
Dhimmitude [General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of non-Muslims as "Tolerated" Citizens]
Egypt:
A recent "reconciliation meeting" between members of a sword-wielding
Muslim mob that earlier brutalized a Christian school proved to be
"nothing less than an attempt at legalized extortion." In exchange for
peace, members of the mob that stormed the school last month without
provocation—holding two nuns hostage for several hours—demanded in the
meetings that the school sign over land that included the guesthouse
they attacked. "Human rights groups and Coptic rights activists say the
meetings are just a way to pressure powerless groups and people into
giving away what little rights they have." Likewise, the judges
appointed to investigate the Maspero massacre, which claimed the lives
of 27 Christians and injured 329, closed the case, due to "lack of
identification of the culprits." As one Christian lawyer put it: "We
said all along that it [the investigation] was just a show and this is
the outcome we got."
India:
Muslims stormed and terrorized a home in which a Christian prayer
meeting was being held, and beat the Christians, including a
65-year-old widow. The Muslims "called them pagans as they kicked,
slapped and pushed the Christians…. The Christians were running in all
directions for their lives, including the children who were crying in
fear" as one Muslim, "brandishing a sickle, chased many of them,
hurling all kinds of insults and attempting to mi=ureder them all…. 500
Muslims had gathered and were watching in amusement as the extremists
chased and harassed the Christians for about 90 minutes."
Iran:
Historical Christian monuments, including churches and Christian
cemeteries, continue to be destroyed or allowed to fall into a state of
decay as the Islamist authorities try to wipe out the country's
Christian heritage: "It seems that Islamic Republic officials,
unsuccessful in stopping the growth of Christianity among the people by
pressuring them, arresting them and banning Christian converts from
attending church services, want to destroy historical Christian
monuments to totally wipe the Christian heritage from the face of Iran."
Pakistan:
Yet another study demonstrates that Pakistani school textbooks "promote
religious fanaticism, discriminate against minorities and trigger
religious conflicts." Christians and Hindus "are obliged to learn the
basics of Islam"—studying the Koran is mandatory—while their own
religions are openly denigrated. Even in subjects such as social
science and linguistics, "about 20% of the content is linked to Islam";
and non-Muslim students receive "bonus points" if they excel in Islamic
studies.
Syria:
Almost the entire Christian population—nearly 60,000—of the city of
Homs, the nation's third largest, have fled as fighting between the
government and anti-government, largely Islamist forces continues.
Reportedly only 1,000 Christians remain. Opposition forces are
attacking churches and other Christian centers; "Muslim neighbors are
turning on the Christians. Christians have also suffered kidnapping and
gruesome murders. Some Christian families, unable to pay a ransom for
their relatives' release and fearing that they may be tortured, have
been driven to ask the kidnappers to kill their loved ones at once."
Tunisia:
After the Russian ambassador stood up for an Orthodox church under
attack (see above, under "church attacks"), the Russian school located
behind the church as well as the Christian cemetery in Tunis were
vandalized. The walls of the school and religious frescoes were smeared
with fecal matter, while the cemetery's crosses were destroyed.
Meanwhile, the new "Arab-spring" government has shown its "manifest
indifference with regard to minorities' right to protection."
Turkey:
The nation's Greek Orthodox citizens living on the island of Gökçeada
(Imbros) in the north Aegean cannot buy property on the island, though
it is an easy matter for Muslims: "The Land Registry office has
admitted to preventing non-Muslims from buying property, citing a
National Security Council (MGK) decision, but refused to give further
details."
About this Series
Because
the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to
reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was
developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of
persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:
1.
To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if
not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
2. To show that
such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that
it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.
Accordingly,
whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a
specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian
symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam;
apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death to
those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial
tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians
to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens;
and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.
Because
these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages,
and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and
throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that
one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of
Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.
Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Muslim Persecution of Christians: March 2012
"It is necessary to destroy all the churches of the region." Saudi Grand Mufti
by Raymond Ibrahim
April 25, 2012
Gatestone Institute
The war on Christianity and its
adherents in the Muslim world rages on. In March alone, Saudi Arabia's
highest Islamic legal authority decreed that churches in the region
must be destroyed; jihadis [holy warriors] in Nigeria said they "are
going to put into action new efforts to strike fear into the Christians
of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women"; American teachers in
the Middle East were murdered for being Christian or talking about
Christianity; churches were banned or bombed, and nuns terrorized by
knife-wielding Muslim mobs. Christians continue to be attacked,
arrested, imprisoned, and killed for allegedly "blaspheming" Islam's
prophet Muhammad; former Muslims continue to be attacked, arrested,
imprisoned, and killed for converting to Christianity.
The
extent of this persecution is virtually unknown in the West, due to the
mainstream media's well-documented biases: the mainstream media knows
that if they do not ignore or at best whitewash the nonstop persecution
of Christians under Islam, their narrative of Islam as the "religion of
peace" would be quickly undermined. Last month alone, the New York
Times ran an anti-Catholic ad, but refused to publish a nearly
identical ad directed at Islam; the BBC admitted it mocks Jesus but
will never mock Muhammad; and U.S. sitcoms have been exposed as bashing
Christianity, but never Islam.
Categorized
by theme, March's batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around the
world includes, but is not limited to, the following accounts, listed
in alphabetical order by country, not severity:
Apostasy, Blasphemy, and Proselytism: Death and Prison
Egypt:
A Christian man accused of insulting Islam's prophet Muhammad was
sentenced to six years in prison. Although under Egyptian law
"defamation of religion" is a misdemeanor, punishable by a prison
sentence of one month to three years, the judge doubled the sentence to
appease Muslims, including an angry 2,500-strong mob that terrorized
the courtroom, and demanding death for the Christian. Similarly, an
"anti-Christianization course" was initiated by an organization
"specializing in the resistance to Christianity," so that Muslims will
not be "throw[n] under the feet of the Cross." According to an
instructor, "Recurring attempts at the university in Aswan to convert
Muslims to Christianity or provoke them with misleading information was
the impetus behind the course."
India:
A young woman was attacked and thrown out of her home "for daring to
give thanks for healing in Christ's name" in a predominantly Muslim
village; "her parents helped Islamic extremists to beat her nearly
unconscious": In a village where "hard-line Muslims have threatened to
kill the 25 families who initially showed interest in Christ, leaving
only five frightened Christian families," the woman was attacked when
returning from church, and called "pagan, among other verbal abuses."
The mob also harassed and threatened the Christian woman who had
allegedly "lured" her to convert to Christianity.
Iran:
In a rare crackdown on a concentrated area, in what is seen as a tactic
to discourage Muslims from attending official churches, authorities
have arrested 12 more converts to Christianity living in the country's
third largest city of Isfahan, Among the latest known Christian
converts detained in the Isfahan area is a man who was reportedly taken
into custody on March 2 while returning home from his work: "Security
authorities raided his home and seized him without explanation."
Iraq:
An American teacher was shot to death by an 18-year-old student at a
private Christian academy. He "was a devout Christian who frequently
praised Christianity and prayed in the classroom, and his friends in
Washington said his evangelism is what motivated him to teach in Iraq."
According to students, "Mr. Jeremiah's hands were still folded in
prayer when he fell;" others say a day before the shooting [there was]
"a heated discussion…during which the pupil threatened to kill the
teacher because of conflicting religious views." In an interview, the
father of the pupil condemned Christian evangelists, portraying them as
"more dangerous than al-Qaeda."
Malaysia:
After religious police raided an event at a Methodist church over
"fears that Muslims were being converted," Muslim officials created a
seminar called "Strengthening the faith, the dangers of liberalism and
pluralism and the threat of Christianity towards Muslims." After the
title of the conference was criticized, a lawmaker said the reference
to Christianity would be removed, but the seminar's content would
remain unchanged: "The seminar is part of the right of Muslims to
defend the faith of its practitioners from any action which may lead to
apostasy. It is our responsibility," he said.
Pakistan:
A Muslim mob attacked a 60-year-old Christian woman who converted to
Islam, only to reconvert back to Christianity six months later: she
"was tortured—her head shaved—and paraded through the streets,
garlanded with shoes." Soon after, she received more threats of "dire
consequences" from Islamic clerics, fleeing region with her family.
Likewise, a 26-year-old Christian woman, mother to a five-month-old
girl, was falsely accused of "blaspheming" Muhammad and arrested. A few
days prior, some of her relatives who had converted to Islam pressed
her to do the same: "She refused, telling them that she was 'satisfied
with Christianity and did not want to convert,' and was arrested of
blasphemy soon thereafter."
Yemen:
Al-Qaeda gunmen fatally shot an American teacher. The terror network's
affiliate in Yemen issued a message saying, "This operation comes as a
response to the campaign of Christian proselytizing that the West has
launched against Muslims," calling the teacher "one of the biggest
American proselytizers." He was shot eight times on a Sunday.
Church Attacks
Bethlehem:
One week after the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority [PA]
told an audience of Evangelical Protestants that his government
respected the rights of its Christian minorities, the PA declared a
Baptist Church illegal, adding that birth, wedding, and death
certificates from the church were no longer valid. A pastor noted that
"animosity towards the Christian minority in areas controlled by the PA
continues to get increasingly worse. People are always telling
[Christians], 'Convert to Islam. Convert to Islam. It's the true and
right religion.'"
Egypt:
Some 1,500 Muslims—several armed with swords and knives and shouting
Islamic slogans—terrorized the Notre Dame Language School in Upper
Egypt, in response to false claims from local mosques that the private
school was building a church: "Two nuns were besieged in the school's
guesthouse for some eight hours by a murderous mob threatening to burn
them alive;" one nun suffered a "major nervous breakdown requiring
hospitalization… The entire property was ransacked and looted. The next
day the Muslims returned and terrorized the children. Consequently,
school attendance has dropped by at least one third."
Iran:
The Armenian Evangelical Church in Tehran is the latest church to be
ordered to cease holding Persian services on Fridays. The officers
serving the notice threatened church officials, saying that "if the
order is ignored, the church building will be bombed 'as happens in
Iraq every day.'" As another report summarizes, "Christians and
Churches in the Islamic Republic of Iran are now banned from preaching
the Gospel to non-Christians, holding Persian language services,
teaching and distributing the Bible, or holding Christian classes."
Iraq:
Even though Kirkuk's church was recently restored after an earlier bomb
attack that killed a 13-year-old Christian boy, the "reopening
celebration was but a brief respite in the ongoing suffering of Iraq's
Christian community, signaled by two further attacks": Another church
in Baghdad was bombed, killing two guards and wounding five, and the
body of a Christian was "found riddled with bullets in Mosul. He had
been shot nine times at close range. The freelance photographer had
been kidnapped four days earlier. Iraqi Christians are often targeted
by kidnappers for ransom."
Kenya:
A band of Muslims launched a grenade attack on a crowd of 150
Christians attending an outdoor church meeting, killing two and
wounding more than 30. "Human-rights groups say that the Muslim
attackers were hyped into action by a militant Muslim preacher holding
an alternate rally only 900 feet from the Christian gathering. Further
reports say that the Muslim preachers were slandering Christianity and
that members of the Christian group could hear the Muslim speakers."
Nigeria:
A Boko Haram suicide car bomber from the Islamist group Boko Haram
[Arabic translation: "Western Education is a Sin"] attacked a Catholic
church, killing at least 10 people. The bomb detonated as worshippers
attended Mass at St. Finbar's Catholic Church in Jos, a city in which
thousands of Christians have died in the last decade as a result of
Boko Haram's jihad, and where, less than two weeks before, another church was attacked, killing three.
Saudi
Arabia: The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, one of the Islamic world's
highest religious authorities, declared that it is "necessary to
destroy all the churches of the region." He made his assertion in
response to a question posed by a delegation from Kuwait, where a
parliament member recently called for the "removal" of churches: the
delegation wanted to confirm Sharia's position on churches with the
Grand Mufti, who "stressed that Kuwait was a part of the Arabian
Peninsula, and therefore it is necessary to destroy all churches in
it," basing his verdict on a saying (or hadith), of Muhammad.
Sudan:
Sudanese aerial strikes were aimed at church buildings in some regions.
Churches in the Nuba Mountains are holding worship services very early
in the morning and late in the evening to avoid aerial bombardments
intentionally targeting their churches. The Khartoum regime is "doing
everything possible to make sure they get rid of Christianity from the
Nuba Mountains—churches and church schools are the targets of both the
Sudanese Armed Forces and its militias," said an aid worker.
Dhimmitude [General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of non-Muslims as "Tolerated" Citizens]
Denmark:
In a Muslim ghetto in Copenhagen, a refugee from Africa had his door
kicked in several times and was threatened by a group of "youths" who
accused him of being "both black and Christian," and who then tried to
extort money from him. Police said they could not guarantee his safety;
he was eventually found in tears living in the streets.
Egypt:
Christian families in the Minya province are "living in terror:"
Salafis threatened to kidnap any Christian girl not wearing the hijab.
Parents are keeping their daughters indoors, and missing school.
Similarly, a Christian boy was abducted; his kidnappers were demanding
a large ransom from his family. Further, a court in Edfu sentenced the
pastor of a church that was torched by Muslims to six months in prison
for violating the height of the church -- which had received a license
and was still under construction when it was torched by a Muslim mob in
September – and he was ordered to remove the allegedly excess height.
Iran:
After complaints about the display of Christmas trees and Santa Clauses
in the streets of Tehran during the Christmas season, an official
warned that the municipality will begin to seize such symbols:
"Building facades in Tehran should be controlled by the municipality
and the display of such symbols should not be allowed."
Iraq:
Christians are running out of havens as rising security concerns and
economic hardship cause them to leave the places of refuge they had
found in the country's Kurdish north. The sort of attacks that
initiated a mass exodus of Christians from Baghdad and Mosul are
increasingly occurring in the autonomous region of Kurdistan, "which
welcomed Christians and was relatively safe." A Christian who fled
there from Mosul seven years ago after retrieving his son from
kidnappers said it is like history "repeating itself."
Nigeria:
The Islamist organization Boko Haram declared "war" on Christians,
saying it aims to "annihilate the entire Christian community living in
the northern parts of the country." According to a spokesman, "We will
create so much effort to end the Christian presence in our push to have
a proper Islamic state that the Christians won't be able to stay."
Along with constant church bombings—most recently on Easter, killing
nearly 50—one of the groups new strategies is "to strike fear into the
Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women."
Pakistan:
Two Christian hospital employees were abducted by "Islamic extremists":
"Such cases are on the rise, as banned Islamist groups and other
criminal gangs are turning to kidnapping for ransom in order to survive
and procure weapons and ammunition," said a senior investigator, adding
that most Islamist groups believe that Christian NGOs are involved in
evangelizing "under the guise of charity," a belief that provides
Muslims with an even greater incentive to be abusive.
Sudan:
Over half a million people, mostly Christian and originally from South
Sudan, have been stripped of citizenship in response to the South's
secession, and forced to relocate: "Sudanese Christians, who have
barely a month to leave the north or risk being treated as foreigners.
are starting to move, but Christian leaders are concerned that the 8
April deadline set by the Islamic-majority Sudan is unrealistic. 'We
are very concerned. Moving is not easy ... people have children in
school. They have homes ... It is almost impossible,' said a Catholic
bishop."
Syria:
The nation to which many Iraqi Christians fled as a haven is slowly
becoming like Iraq, as thousands of Syrian Christians continue to flee
to nearby Lebanon. "Al-Faruq Battalion, which is affiliated with the
opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA), is imposing jizya (an extra tax
imposed on non-Muslims living under Muslim rule) on Christians in the
Homs Governorate" and "armed men … threaten to kidnap or kill them or
members of their families if they refuse to "pay Islamic
taxes"—precisely the same form of extortion that has been taking place
in next door Iraq.
Turkey:
Formerly hailed for its freedoms, the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom named Turkey as "one of the world's worst violators
of religious freedom," based on Turkey's treatment of Christians and
other minority groups. The report stated that restrictions on
non-Muslim communities, such as limiting their right to train clergy
and own places of worship, "have led to their decline, and in some
cases, their virtual disappearance," further noting "an increased
number of attacks, ranging from harassment and vandalism to death
threats, against Protestant churches and individuals in 2011 compared
to 2010."
About this Series
Because
the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to
reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was
developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of
persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:
1.
To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if
not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
2. To show that
such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that
it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.
Accordingly,
whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a
specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian
symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam;
apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death to
those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial
tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians
to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens;
and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.
Because
these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages,
and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and
throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that
one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of
Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.
Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Muslim Persecution of Christians: February 2012
by Raymond Ibrahim
March 16, 2012
Gatestone Institute
Half of Iraq's indigenous Christians
are gone, due to the unleashed forces of jihad [holy war]. Many
Christians fled to nearby Syria; yet, as the Assad regime comes under
attack from al-Qaeda and others, the jihad now seeps into Syria, where
Christians are experiencing a level of persecution unprecedented in the
nation's modern history. Similarly, some 100,000 Christian Copts have
fled their native Egypt since the overthrow of the Mubarak regime; and
in northern regions of Nigeria, where the jihadi group, Boko Haram, has
been slaughtering Christians, up to 95% of the Christian population has
fled.
Meanwhile,
the "big news" concerning the Muslim world in the month of February—the
news that flooded the mainstream media and had U.S. politicians,
beginning with President Obama, flustered, angry, and full of
regret—was that some written-in [in Islam it is forbidden to write
anything in a Korans] in Afghanistan were burned by U.S. soldiers
because imprisoned Muslim inmates had been using them "to facilitate
extremist communications."
Categorized
by theme, February's batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around
the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts,
listed in alphabetical order by country, not severity.
Church Attacks
Algeria:
Armed men raided and ransacked a church that had been formally
recognized since 1958, and dismantled the crucifix. The pastor and his
family, trapped inside, feared that "they could kill us." The pastor
"has been repeatedly threatened and attacked since being ordained in
2007. In the summer of 2009, his wife was beaten and seriously injured
by a group of unknown men. Then, in late 2011, heaps of trash were
thrown over the compound walls while an angry mob shouted death
threats."
Egypt:
Thousands of Muslims attacked a Coptic church, and demanded the death
of its pastor, who, along with "nearly 100 terrorized Copts sought
refuge inside the church, while Muslim rioters were pelting the church
with stones in an effort to break into the church, assault the Copts
and torch the building." They did this because a Christian girl who,
according to Islamic law, automatically became a Muslim when her father
converted to Islam, fled from her father and was rumored to be hiding
in the church.
Iran:
Iran's Ministry of Intelligence has ordered the last two officially
registered churches holding Friday Farsi-language services in
Tehran—Farsi being the nation's Persian language—to discontinue the
language: "Friday services in Tehran attracted the city's converts to
Christianity as well as Muslims interested in Christianity, as Friday
is most Iranians' day off during the week." Banning church use of Farsi
prevents most Iranians from hearing the Gospel.
Kazakhstan:
A new report notes that "Churches are being raided, leaders fined and
Christian literature confiscated as the Kazakh authorities enforce new
laws intended further to restrict religious freedom in the country."
Kuwait:
A parliamentarian is set to submit a draft law banning the construction
of churches. Originally, Osama al-Munawer announced on Twitter his
plans on submitting a draft law calling for the removal of all churches
in Kuwait. However, he later "clarified" his statement, saying that
existing churches can remain, but the construction of new ones must be
banned.
Macedonia:
A two-century-old Christian church famed for its valuable icons was set
on fire in response to "a carnival in which Orthodox Christian men
dressed as women in burkas and mocked the Koran." Earlier,
"perpetrators attacked a[nother] church in the nearby village of
Labunista, destroying a cross standing outside" and "also defaced a
Macedonian flag outside Struga's municipal building, replacing it with
a green flag representing Islam."
Nigeria:
A Muslim suicide bomber forced his way into the grounds of a major
church, killing two women and an 18-month-old child during Sunday
morning service; 50 people were injured in the blast. In a separate
incident, Muslims detonated a bomb outside a church building, injuring
five, one critically: "The bomb, planted in a parked car, was left by
suspected members of Boko Haram, which seeks to impose sharia [Islamic
law] throughout Nigeria."
Pakistan:
A dozen armed Muslims stormed a church, seriously wounding two
Christians: one man was shot and is in critical condition, the other
risks having his arm amputated; another church member was thrown from
the roof, after being struck repeatedly with a rifle butt. "The
extremist raid was sparked by charges that [the] church was trying to
evangelize Muslims in an attempt to convert them to Christianity. The
community several times in the past has been the subject of assault and
the pastor and his family the subject of death threats." As usual, the
police, instead of pursuing the perpetrators, have opened an
investigation against the pastor and 20 other church members.
Syria:
Some 30 armed and masked jihadis attacked a Catholic
monastery—unprecedented in Syria's modern history—demanding money.
According to the Catholic Archbishop of Damascus, "the situation in the
country is spiraling out of control as the armed opposition spreads its
influence to different regions of the state."
Dhimmitude [General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of non-Muslims as Second-Class, "Tolerated" Citizens]
Bangladesh:
Three American Christians were injured after their car was attacked by
a Muslim mob who suspected they were converting Muslims into
Christians: at least 200 angry locals chased the missionaries' car and
threw stones at it, leaving three with cuts from broken glass.
Egypt:
Rather than punishing the perpetrators who opened fire on and ran tanks
over Christians protesting the constant destruction of their churches,
the government arrested and is trying two priests in connection to the
Maspero massacre. And although Egypt's new parliament has 498 seats,
only six are Copts, even though Copts make up at the very least 10% of
the population, and so should have approximately 50 seats. Finally,
indicating how bad the situation is, Coptic protesters organized a
demonstration on Tuesday in front of Parliament to protest "the
disappearance and abduction of Coptic girls."
Indonesia:
The Islamist Prosperous Justice Party complained about the Red Cross'
symbol of a cross; they said it was too identifiable with Christian
culture and traditions. Red Cross volunteers and activists rejected the
claim, saying that any changes to the logo would be "tantamount to
giving in to the extremists."
Iran:
A pastor of a major house church movement began serving a five-year
prison sentence for "crimes against the order." According to one
activist, "His 'crimes' were being a pastor and possessing Christian
materials." He is being beaten in jail and has grown ill, to the point
where his hair has "turned fully gray."
Israel: A mob of around 50
Palestinian Muslims stoned a group of Christian tourists atop
Jerusalem's Temple Mount, wounding three Israeli police officers in the
process. The attack is believed to have been instigated by the former
Muslim mufti of Jerusalem.
Pakistan:
Yet another Christian woman, a teacher, has been targeted by Muslims on
allegations that she burned a Koran. A mob stormed her school in an
attempt to abduct her, but police took her into custody. Also, a
Christian student who missed the grade to get into medical school by
less than 0.1% would have earned 20 extra points if he had memorized
the Koran—although no bonus points for having similar knowledge of the
Bible.
Turkey:
A new report notes that "Christians in Turkey continue to suffer
attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government
officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media."
The report adds that there is a "root of intolerance" in Turkish
society toward adherents of non-Islamic faiths: "The removal of this
root of intolerance is an urgent problem that still awaits to be dealt
with."
Turkmenistan:
A 77-year-old Christian man was detained and questioned by police for
six hours after he tried to print copies of a small book of Christian
poetry. He was forced to write a statement and banned from travelling
outside his home region while the case is being investigated.
Uganda:
Not long after a pastor was attacked with acid and blinded by Muslims
screaming, "Allahu Akbar!" ["Allah is Greater!"], his friend, another
pastor, was shot at by "Islamic extremists" in what is being described
as "a new wave of persecution against Christians in Uganda."
Murder, Apostasy Issues, and More
Egypt:
Two Christians were killed "after a Muslim racketeer opened fire on
them for refusing to pay him extortion money." The local bishop
"hold[s] security forces and local Muslims fully responsible for
terrorizing the Copts living there, who are continuously being
subjected to terror and kidnapping."
Iran:
After enduring five months of uncertainty in a prison, a Christian
convert who was arrested in her home by security authorities has been
sentenced to two years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
Authorities further arrested six to ten Christian converts from Islam
while they were meeting for worship at a home in the southern city of
Shiraz. And of course Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani awaits execution for refusing to renounce Christianity.
Nigeria:
A 79-year-old Christian woman and choir singer was found dead at her
home, her throat slit with a note in Arabic left on her chest reading:
"We will get you soon," a message believed to be directed at her son, a
pastor at a local church.
Somalia:
Al-Shabaab Muslims beheaded a 26-year-old Muslim convert to
Christianity who had worked for a Christian humanitarian organization
that the terrorist organization had banned. He is at least the third
Christian to be beheaded in Somalia in recent months.
Turkey:
A 12-year-old boy, Hussein, publicly professed his Christian faith by
wearing a silver cross necklace in school. Accordingly, Muslim
classmates began taunting and spitting on him. When the boy threatened
to report one of the bullies, the bully's father threatened to kill
him. His religion teacher beat him severely: "Like in most Islamic
countries, students of all faiths are required to attend Islamic
studies in school. Those who refuse to recite the Koran and Islamic
prayers are often beaten by the teacher. And so it was for Hussein. He
said he was punished regularly with a two-foot long rod because he
wouldn't say the Islamic Shahada."
About this Series
Because
the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to
reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was
developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of Muslim
persecution of Christians that surface each month. It serves two
purposes:
1.
To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if
not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
2. To show that
such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that
it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.
Accordingly,
whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a
specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian
symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam;
apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death to
those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial
tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians
to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens;
and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.
Because
these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages,
and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and
throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that
one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of
Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.
Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Muslim Persecution of Christians: January 2012
"Good Muslims Cannot Convert to Christianity"
by Raymond Ibrahim
February 9, 2012
Gatestone Institute
The beginning of the New Year saw
only an increase in the oppression of Christians under Islam, from
Nigeria, where an all-out jihad has been declared in an effort to
eradicate the Muslim north of all Christians, to Europe, where Muslim
converts to Christianity are still hounded and attacked as apostates.
According to the Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom, "The flight of Christians out of the region is
unprecedented and it's increasing year by year"; in our lifetime alone,
he predicts Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Egypt.
An
international report found that Muslim nations make up nine out of the
top ten countries where Christians face the "most severe" persecution.
In response to these findings, a Vatican spokesman said that, "Among
the most serious concerns, the increase in Islamic extremism, merits
special attention. Persons and organizations dedicated to extremist
Islamic ideology perpetrate terrible acts of violence in many places
throughout the world: the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria is but one
example. Then there is the climate of insecurity that unfortunately in
some countries accompanies the so-called "Arab spring"—a climate that
drives many Christians to flee and even to emigrate."
Categorized
by theme, January's batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around
the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts,
listed in alphabetical order by country, not severity.
APOSTASY
Iran:
A Christian convert who was arrested in her home has been sentenced to
two years in prison. Previously, she endured five months of uncertainty
detained in the notorious Evin prison, where the government hoped she
would come to her senses and renounce Christianity. She was convicted
of "broad anti-Islamic propaganda, deceiving citizens by formation of
what is called a house church, insulting sacred figures and action
against national security."Likewise, Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani
continues to suffer in prison. Most recently, he rejected an offer to
be released if he publicly acknowledged Islam's prophet Muhammad as "a
messenger sent by God," which would amount to rejecting Christianity,
as Muhammad and the Koran rejected it.
Kenya:
Muslim apostates seeking refuge in Kenya are being tracked and attacked
by Muslims from their countries of origin: An Ethiopian who, upon
converting to Christianity, was shot by his father, kidnapped and
almost killed, is now receiving threatening text messages. Likewise, a
Ugandan convert to Christianity is in hiding, his movements severely
restricted since "the Muslims are looking to kill me. I need protection
and help."
Kuwait:
A royal prince who openly declared that he has converted to
Christianity, confirmed the reality that he now might be targeted for
killing as an apostate.
Norway:
While out for a walk, two Iranian converts to Christianity were stabbed
with knives by masked men shouting "Infidels!" One of the men stabbed
had converted in Iran, was threatened there, and so immigrated to
Norway, thinking he could escape persecution there.
Somalia:
A female convert to Christianity was paraded before a cheering crowd
and publicly flogged as punishment for embracing a "foreign religion."
Imprisoned since November, "the public whipping was meant to mark her
release." She received 40 lashes as hundreds of Muslim spectators
jeered. An eyewitness said: "I saw her faint. I thought she had died,
but soon she regained consciousness and her family took her away."
Similarly, "Somali Islamists arrested a Muslim father after two of his
children converted to Christianity" and fled. He is accused of "failing
to raise his sons as good Muslims, because "good Muslims cannot convert
to Christianity."
Zanzibar:
After being robbed, a Muslim convert to Christianity called police to
his house; they discovered a Bible during their inspection. The course
of inquiry changed from discovering the thieves to asking why he "was
practicing a forbidden faith." He was imprisoned for eight months
without trial, and, since being released, has been rejected by his
family and is now homeless and diseased.
CHURCH ATTACKS
Azerbaijan:
A pastor has been threatened with criminal proceedings following a raid
on his church during Sunday service. Earlier, he was told that "a
criminal case had been launched over religious literature arousing
incitement over other faiths," and was pressured by authorities to
leave the area, which he did, traveling great distances each week to
lead church services.
Egypt:
Before a bishop was going to inaugurate the incomplete Abu Makka church
and celebrate the Epiphany mass, a large number of Salafis and Muslim
Brotherhood members entered the building, asserting that the church had
no license and no one should pray in it. One Muslim remarked that the
building would be suitable for a mosque and a hospital.
Indonesia:
A sticker on the back of the car of a member of the beleaguered Yasmin
church saying "We need a friendly Islam, not an angry Islam,"
distributed by the family of the late Muslim president, prompted
another Muslim attack on the church: scores of Muslims "terrorized the
congregation and attacked several church members." Since 2008, the
congregation has been forced to hold Sunday services on the sidewalk
outside the church and then later in the home of parishioners. Not
satisfied, hundreds of Muslims later searched and found the private
home where members were congregating and holding service and prevented
them from worshiping even there: "It crosses the line now. The
protesters now come to the residential area, which is not a public
place." A new report notes that anti-Christian attacks have nearly
doubled in the last year.
Nigeria:
Soon after jihadis issued an ultimatum giving Christians three days to
evacuate the region or die, armed Muslims stormed a church and "opened
fire on worshippers as their eyes were closed in prayer," killing six,
including the pastor's wife. Then, as friends and relatives gathered to
mourn the deaths of those slain, Muslims shouting "Allahu Akbar"
appeared and opened fire again, killing another 20 Christians. Several
other churches were bombed, and seven more Christians killed.
Pakistan:
Enraged by the voices of children singing carols at a nearby church,
Muslims praying in a mosque decided to silence them—including with an
axe: "The children were preparing for mass to be celebrated the next
day which was a Sunday. The loud cheers became terrified whimpers when
suddenly four men, one of them with an axe, barged into the church. The
men slapped the children, wrecked the furniture, smashed the microphone
on to the floor and kicked the altar. "You are disturbing our prayers.
We can't pray properly. How dare you use the mike and speakers?" (Islam
forbids Christians from celebrating loudly in church, banning bells,
microphones, and other aids). Also, a center owned by the Catholic
church for 125 years, and used for "charitable purposes"—it housed a
home for the elderly, a girls' school, a convent and chapel for
prayer—was demolished, after it was discovered that its land was worth
a considerable amount of money; in the process, demolition workers
destroyed Bibles, crosses, and a statue of Our Lady.
Zanzibar: Muslims destroyed two churches: one was torched, while the other demolished—all to shouts of "Allahu Akbar."
DHIMMITUDE [General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of non-Muslims as "Second-Class Citizens"]
Denmark:
In Muslim majority Odense, an Iranian Christian family had two cars
consecutively vandalized—windows smashed, seats cut up, and set
ablaze—because the cars had crucifixes hanging in them; the family has
since relocated to an undisclosed location. Likewise, "Church Ministry"
will change its name to "Ministry of Philosophy of Life" to accommodate
Muslims.
Egypt:
In the latest round of collective punishment, a mob of over 3,000
Muslims attacked Christians in a village because of a rumor that a
Coptic man had intimate photos of a Muslim woman on his phone (denied
by the man). Coptic homes and shops were looted before being set
ablaze. Three men were injured, while "terrorized" women and children
who lost their homes stood in the streets with no place to go. As
usual, it took the army an hour to drive 2 kilometers to the village
and none of the perpetrators was arrested.
Nigeria:
Boko Haram Muslims set ablaze a Christian missionary home. Occupants of
the home, mostly orphans and the less-privileged, were rendered
homeless as a result. Meanwhile, a top officer allowed the mastermind
behind the Christmas Day church bombings to escape, indicating how well
entrenched Islamists are in government.
Pakistan:
A judge has denied bail to the latest Christian charged with
desecrating the Koran, under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, despite the
lack of evidence against him: according to Sharia, the word of a
Christian is half that of his Muslim accuser – in this case, his
landlord.
Saudi
Arabia: Officials strip-searched 29 Christian women and assaulted six
Christian men after arresting them for holding a prayer meeting at a
private home. Imprisoned last month without trial, they have not been
told when or if they will be released. Authorities conducted the strip
searches of the women, who insisted they had committed no crime, in
unsanitary conditions. As a result, some of the women have experienced
physical pain and illnesses, but authorities have provided no medical
treatment.
Sudan:
Authorities threatened to arrest church leaders if they engage in
"evangelistic activities" and fail to comply with an order for churches
to provide names and identification: "The order was aimed at oppressing
Christians amid growing hostilities toward Christianity… Sudanese law
prohibits missionaries from evangelizing, and converting from Islam to
another religion is punishable by imprisonment or death in Sudan,
though previously such laws were not strictly enforced." Accordingly,
shortly after, two evangelists were arrested on spurious charges and
beaten by police.
Turkey:
A Christian asylum seeker who fled from Iran because of his faith "was
brutally assaulted by his employer with hot water, and his body was
severely burned," due to "the extreme religious views" of his Turkish
Muslim employer, who "told him he had no rights and that he would not
pay him any money," after the Christian asked for his agreed wages. He
"is just one example of hundreds of Iranian Christian asylum seekers
who are living in such situations in Turkey."
ABDUCTIONS, RANSOM, MURDER
Egypt:
The abduction of a 16-year old Christian girl, who disappeared over a
month ago, has become a "tug of war between the Christian family and
Muslim lawyers." The court sided with the Islamists, ordering the girl
to be held in a state-owned care home until she turns 18—the legal age
of conversion—instead of returning her to her family. Coptic activists
argue that the decision "encourages Islamists to continue unabated the
abduction of Christian minors for conversion to Islam."
Pakistan:
A Christian girl who was abducted in 2001 when she was 15 and forced to
marry a Muslim, returned to her Catholic family after 10 years. Her
case is not an isolated one: "there are at least 700 cases a year of
Christian girls kidnapped and forced to marry a Muslim." In the same
vein, "within the past three months, nine women have been abducted and
forcibly converted to Islam."
Sudan:
After a large truck smashed through the gates of a Catholic Church
compound, Muslims affiliated with Sudan's Islamic government kidnapped
two Catholic priests, "severely beat" them and looted their living
quarters, stealing two vehicles, two laptops and a safe. Later, the
kidnappers forced the priests to call their bishop with a ransom demand
of 500,000 Sudanese pounds (US$185,530).
Switzerland:
A Muslim man hacked his daughter to death for dating a Christian: were
they dating in a Muslim country, the Christian, as so often happens,
would have likely received similar treatment.
Syria:
The Christian community in Syria has been hit by a series of
kidnappings and brutal murders; 100 Christians were killed since the
anti-government unrest began; "Children were being especially targeted
by the kidnappers, who, if they do not receive the ransom demanded,
kill the victim, including some who are "cut into pieces and thrown in
a river." These latest reports are reminiscent of the anti-Christian
attacks that have been commonplace in Iraq for a decade.
Tajikistan:
A young man dressed as Father Frost—the Russian equivalent of Father
Christmas—was stabbed to death while visiting relatives and bringing
gifts. The Muslim mob beating and stabbing him screamed "You infidel!"
leading police to cite "religious hatred" as motivation.
About this Series
Because
the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to
reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was
developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of Muslim
persecution of Christians that surface each month. It serves two
purposes:
1.
To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if
not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
2. To show that
such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that
it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.
Accordingly,
whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a
specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian
symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam;
apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death to
those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial
tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians
to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class citizens; and simple
violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.
Because
these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages,
and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and
throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that
one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of
Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.
Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum