The same month that Obama tried to wage war on behalf of the jihadi
rebels in Syria (citing "human rights" concerns),
some of the war's worst atrocities were committed against that nation's
Christian minority, most notably in Ma'loula, an ancient Christian region
where the inhabitants spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
There, al-Qaeda-linked jihadis fired mortars and missiles
into at least two ancient churches before looting them; some 80
Christians trying to defend their homes were killed. Others who could not
flee were forced, on pain of death, to convert to Islam.
One man's last words before
being slaughtered by the rebels were: "I am a Christian, and if you
want to kill me for that, I do not object to it." A nun involved with
humanitarian relief said the man "is a Martyr in Christ in the full
sense of this word, since he was murdered solely because of religious hatred!"
The Christian Post
reports:
Jihadists
reportedly forced one man to convert to Islam at gunpoint and slit the
throat of another Christian woman's fiancé and
then [mockingly] told her, "Jesus didn't come to save him."….
"I saw people wearing Al-Nusra headbands who started shooting at
crosses," the Christian senior told the AFP. One of the shooters, he
said, "put a pistol to the head of my neighbor and forced him to
convert to Islam by obliging him to repeat 'there is no God but God'
[Islamic shehada]...Afterwards they joked, 'he's one of ours now.'"
In al-Thawrah, Syria,
Christians were also singled out for attack by
jihadi invaders. In one incident, they stopped three residents, released
two who identified themselves as Muslims, and bludgeoned to death the
third after he identified himself a Christian (graphic image). They also destroyed, among
other churches, the Antiochian Orthodox church of Sts. Sergius
and Bacchus.
In Raqqah, a city in northern Syria,
the al-Qaeda linked "Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant" broke the crosses
off the area's two Christian churches and placed on them al-Qaeda's Islamic
flags. They also set the contents of the Church of the Annunciation and the
Church of Martyrs aflame. In one video, a
Muslim "freedom fighter" smashes a statue of Virgin Mary to
shouts of Islam's war-cry cry, "Allahu Akbar!" ["Allah is
Greater!"]
These latest attacks come in the context of yet another fatwa that appeared
in September, and issued by 36 Islamic scholars who legitimized "the
right of the faithful Sunni Muslims to seize and take possession of goods,
homes, property belonging to Christians, Druze and Alawite and members of
other religious minorities 'who do not profess the Sunni religion of the
Prophet.'" (Earlier, before the "sex jihad"
solved the problem by luring Muslim women
from Tunisia and elsewhere to provide their sexual
services to jihadis in Syria fighting to make Allah's word
supreme, another fatwa
permitted jihadis to rape all non-Sunni women.)
Meanwhile, when publicly asked about the jihadi nature of the rebellion
and that the rebels often shout Islam's supremacist war cry, Allahu Akbar (such as when
firing at Chrisitan churches), U.S. Senator John McCain insisted that
shouting "Allahu Akbar!" is equivalent to a Christian saying
"Thank God," and that the rebels in Syria are "moderates and
I guarantee you they are moderates."
Similarly, when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was also asked in
September about the jihadi and al-Qaeda elements of the Syrian rebels, he
argued that, "The opposition has increasingly become more defined by
its moderation … more defined by its adherence to some, you know,
democratic process and to an all-inclusive, minority-protecting constitution"—an
assertion that prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin openly to call Kerry a liar.
The rest of September's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians
around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following
accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order, not
necessarily according to severity:
Pakistan Church
Attack
In Peshawar, Pakistan, Islamic suicide
bombers, in an attack claimed by the Taliban, entered the All Saints Church
compound after Sunday mass and blew themselves up in
the midst of roughly 550 congregants. They killed nearly 90
worshippers—including Sunday school children, women, and choir members—and
injured at least another 120. The now-destroyed Protestant church was built
in Peshawar
over 130 years ago. According to Margrette,
a parishioner who survived (although her sister's status is unknown),
"I heard two explosions. People started to run. Human remains were
strewn all over the church."
Coptic
"Dhimmitude" [Living as "Tolerated" Citizens who Pay
for "Protection"] in Egypt
- After the ousting of
President Mohamed Morsi, when the Muslim Brotherhood incited its
supporters to attack and destroy over 80
Christian churches, Muslim Brotherhood supporters began to extort
money from Christians in Upper Egypt.
In Dalga village, 15,000 Christian Copts were forced to pay
this jizya—the additional tax, or tribute, that conquered
non-Muslims historically
have to pay to their Islamic overlords "with willing submission
and while feeling themselves subdued" to safeguard their existence,
in the words of Koran 9:29. In some instances, those not able to pay
are attacked, their wives and children beaten and kidnapped. Some Copts were killed for refusing to
pay. Authorities later identified a gang that specialized in
overseeing operations to kidnap wealthy Copts in
order to earn money.
- While being driven
in his car, Bishop Anba Makarios of Minya came under a hail of bullets from
several unidentified persons. The driver managed to get away, taking
the bishop to the home of a local Copt for refuge; but the gunme
followed, surrounded the house and shot at it for over 90 minutes,
until local security finally responded. The apparent reason for this
assassination attempt was that local Muslims thought the bishop had
come to reopen the village's only church, St. Michael's, which had
been closed 10 years ago for security reasons.
- After Muslims in the
al-Minya district accused a young man of having an illicit
relationship with a Muslim woman, violence, in the context of "collective punishment,"
erupted against the village's Christians. After attacking and
plundering the home of the Christians, Muslims, incited by someone with
a loudspeaker calling them to further action, prowled the streets of
the village, threw stones at Coptic homes, called for revenge, and
demanded the burning of their churches,
homes, and shops.
Slaughter of
Christians
Libya: A group
of Muslims surrounded two Egyptian Christians aged 25 and 27, who lived in Libya, and
robbed and beat them. The
Muslims then demanded that the two men recite the shehada—"There
is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger"—and convert to
Islam. When the two Christians refused, they were tied up, severely beaten,
and then shot. Both men died; one with his skull beaten in. No
one has been arrested in connection with these killings. The attack marks
the third time in two weeks that a Coptic Christian has been robbed and
killed in the Derna District.
Nigeria:
- Outside the city of Jos, five Christians, members of the Church of Christ in Nations, and
traveling in a minibus, were ordered out of their vehicle by Islamic
gunmen, and, after they declared themselves Christians, were forced to lie down in a
ditch and shot in the heads. Two others, including a
pregnant woman, were wounded.
- In Adu, while Christians
were preparing for Sunday morning church services at St. Andrew's
Catholic Church, Islamic tribesmen invaded
the Christian village and slaughtered all whom they could
find; they killed seven members of just one family.
- In Zangang village, Muslim herdsmen
slaughtered 15 Christians.
- In Dorawa, Islamic
militants killed a Christian pastor,
his son, and 28 others, then torched their church.
Pakistan:
While holding a dagger and shouting that he was killing "an infidel who blasphemed
against Muhammad," a Muslim in Karachi slit the throat of a 58-year-old
Christian man, Boota Masih, and then proceeded to stab his body while
police and others looked on. In the words of Masih's son, George: "We were
told that Asif kept shouting that my father was an infidel and had spoken
derogatory words against Muhammad [Islam's prophet] as he mercilessly
stabbed him. A large number of people, including four policemen and private
security guards of the market, witnessed the entire scene, but no one tried
to stop the killer, who walked away waving the dagger in his hand."
According to those close to the slain Christian, his slayer, a business
competitor, was jealous of the Christian, and fabricated the blasphemy accusation
as a pretext. (Earlier in Pakistan,
another Christian man was slaughtered by a group of axe-wielding
Muslims, who were envious business competitors.)
Somalia:
The Islamic al-Shabaab group killed a 35-year-old Christian
woman inside her home. Earlier her husband had found a note
saying, "We shall come for you. You are friends with our enemies
[Westerners, assumed to be Christians], and you are polluting our
religion." The man fled the
area with his 4-year-old child. Separately, al-Shabaab kidnapped a
13-year-old Christian boy as he was returning home from school. His
parents, who had secretly converted to Christianity, believe their son was
kidnapped in an effort to find them and other Christians.
Apostasy,
Blasphemy, Proselytism
Afghanistan: A
member of Afghanistan's
parliament, Nazir Ahmad Hanafi, suggested that all Afghans who have converted to
Christianity should be executed, according to Islamic law, to
put a check to the growth of Christianity among Afghans, both within and
without the country. His exact words were: "Afghani citizens continue
to convert to Christianity in India. Numerous Afghanis have
become Christians in India.
This is an offense to Islamic Laws, and according to the Quran, they need
to be executed."
Iran:
The Islamic Republic launched a public campaign dedicated to halting the spread of
Christianity among Iranians. This included organizing meetings
aimed at debating how and why Iranian youths are converting, often
secretly, to Christianity. Mohabat News reported that the government
campaign involved meetings aimed at "distorting" public opinion:
"It seems great crackdowns on churches and extraordinary waves of
arrest of Iranian pastors and Christian converts have not been effective."
This new public campaign comes at a time when
at least 13 Christians had been detained, several beaten and threatened if
they refused to recant their Christianity.
Morocco:
In a courtroom hearing, Mohamed el-Baldi, a Muslim convert to Christianity,
was fined and jailed for "shaking the faith of Muslims."
Preaching Christianity is prohibited under article 220 of the Moroccan
penal code. Apparently to make an example of him, although the maximum
sentence is six months' imprisonment, el-Baldi was sentenced to
two-and-a-half years. During the hearing, his mother "implored Allah
to exact revenge on whoever tampered with her son's mind," causing him
to convert to and preach Christianity.
Dhimmitude
Central African Republic:
Heavily armed Islamic rebels from the Seleka organization, reportedly from Sudan, attacked the mission of Our
Lady of Fatima
in Bouar, assaulting, gagging, and taking hostage an Italian missionary and
a deacon. They also plundered the premises, and stole, among other items,
money, a computer, a camera, and a mobile phone.
Indonesia:
Islamists in Jakarta demanded the removal of
a new political appointee in West Java
because she, Susan Jasmine Zulkifli, is a Christian. Her
critics said, among other complaints, that she would not be able to
participate in Muslim religious ceremonies, and that she should be
transferred to a Christian region.
Iraq:
The Assyria Council of Europe and the Assyria Foundation released their
2013 Human Rights Report on
Assyrians in Iraq, detailing the persecution, including forced
prostitution, suffered by the nation's indigenous Christian minority.
Philippines:
Security forces placed Zamboanga City, a large, predominantly Christian, port city
in the Philippines, in
lockdown while they pursued a Muslim rebel group accused of launching an
air-and-sea strike against the region. According to the Washington
Times, "The Muslim group is still believed to be holding 170 hostages
from the city, a largely Christian community that's nestled among a sea of Muslim villages."
Sudan: Agenzia
Fides reported that "There are increasing acts of intimidation
against priests and missionaries on behalf of the authorities of
Sudan….
In particular, in September four priests were summoned several times by the
security services (Sudan National Security Intelligence Agency) in order to
be questioned." After describing one incident, the report concludes,
"[T]his episode is just one example of intimidation carried out by the
Sudanese authorities against the Catholic Church. Recently, in fact, some
church centers were closed, several priests and foreign missionaries were
forced to leave the country... There are fears now that the future of the
Catholic Church in Sudan
is at risk."
Zanzibar (Tanzania):
Catholic priest Joseph Anselmo Mwagambwa survived an acid attack
in the same area where two other priests were shot by al-Qaeda-linked
Muslims, "in what was seen as a wider crackdown on devoted
Christians... One priest was wounded last year and the other killed in
February," reported BosNewsLife.
About this
Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, the persecution of
Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching pandemic
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 often
seems to fail to report.
2.
To suggest that such persecution is not
"random" but systematic.
These accounts span different ethnicities, languages, and locations.
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