Resurgence of Islam threatens ancient St Catherine's Monastery on Mt Sinai

Threat of Muslim jihad terrorist attacks forced closure of the monastery in 2013, shuttering the entire local, micro-economy.

Apparently, even the spurious "Charter of Privileges" � supposedly written by Muhammad for the monks at St Catherine's and conveying his protection and favor upon them and all Christians under Muslim rule for all time � has not had sufficient influence on the Islamic State nor on any jihadist group to prevent their relentless and fierce persecution of this ancient and revered monastery and Christians throughout all Islamic lands.

You can help support St Catherine's Monastery through Friends of Mount Sinai Monastery, a special foundation collecting donations for St. Catherine and its monks. Learn more and donate via the following link: www.mountsinaimonastery.org/donate/

St. Catherine Greek Orthodox monastery needs financial help to survive

by Ioanna Zikakou, Greek Reporter via Pravmir � September 22, 2015

The monastery was also shut down by Egyptian authorities in 2013 fearing a terrorism attack, according to Al Monitor.

The Greek Orthodox monastery of St. Catherine at Sinai city, Egypt is located at the very place where according to Christianity God appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush, beneath the Mount of the Decalogue. It is the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery, with a history that can be traced back over seventeen centuries.

The monastery offers job positions for numerous people in the area helping the local economy flourish. St. Catherine�s Monastery employs 400 workers at its olive groves, grape farms, honey bee farms and several processing facilities. When Egyptian authorities decided the monastery�s complete shutdown in 2013 the locals were left struggling, and since then the situation remains harsh. The Bedouin residents were forced to sell their camels, since they were not able to feed them and in order to provide for their families.

�Everyone is out of business since the monastery�s temporary shut down in 2013. The lodges, the camel stables, the safari guides and even the supermarkets and restaurants,� said Sheikh Mousa al-Jebaly, the founder of Sheikh Mousa Lodge, according to Al Monitor. �If a foreigner appears in town now, it�s those living in the beach towns on the southern shore. They are not tourists, and they don�t stay or shop in town.�

St. Catherine�s Monastery has been shut down two times over the past 50 years. The first time was �in 1977 when former President Anwar Sadat made his historic visit to Jerusalem, and in 1982 when the Egyptian military entered Sinai after the withdrawal of Israeli forces,� noted Al Monitor.

The most recent shutdown was not explained by the local authorities, however, it allegedly took place when a monk traveling in South Sinai was almost kidnapped leading authorities to suspect a possible attack on St. Catherine�s monastery.

A group called Friends of Mount Sinai Monastery is collecting donations for St. Catherine and its monks via the following link: www.mountsinaimonastery.org/donate/

The Cairo streets where girls pretend to be boys

 

 HORRIFIC :(

Society�s permissive attitude to domestic abuse is also a contributing factor to a child�s decision to run away. There are laws to deal with abusive parents, and hotlines to report them. But in a culture where many feel parents should have the right to deal with their children how they like, legislation isn�t always followed. �A man could beat his son to death in front of a police officer in the street,� explains Shaimaa, an in-house psychologist at Hope. �But nobody would intervene because it was his son.�

As a result, the street may literally become the only avenue left to abused children. And once there they become fair game for adults other than their parents.

It is 9.30pm and long past dark. Shaimaa, the psychologist, is in northeast Cairo, walking the streets of an upmarket suburb. Wealthy locals sip coffee at tables lining the pavements, or queue to buy ice cream from one of the city�s fanciest parlours.

But Shaimaa is not here to meet them. As she often is, Shaimaa is searching for a missing teenager. Sarah was abused by her parents, became a prostitute, and ended up sold by her pimp to men from the Gulf who kept her in a flat in Cairo. Somehow she escaped, and later started turning up at a drop-in centre, where Shaimaa first met her. But now Sarah has disappeared again, and Shaimaa wants to find her. Some of the other street girls said she might be here in Korba.

It is often dangerous work, doing what Shaimaa does. Founded in 1988 by an expat Brit, Richard Hemsley, Hope Village now runs several day-centres and long-term shelters that aim to gradually rehabilitate street children back into mainstream society. Many of the girls Shaimaa coaxes into the shelters can�t stand the imposition of a routine � so, like Sarah, they sometimes disappear. One of Shaimaa�s jobs is to find them.

But finding them is tough. Coaxing a girl back to the shelter might disrupt a prostitution ring. In any given area, Shaimaa needs the blessing of the local street leader � otherwise she might get attacked. �If I�m going out to get a girl that I know is being used by a group of men, then I�m a target,� Shaimaa says. �I�m taking a source of income from them.�

Sometimes the attackers come to the shelters themselves. At one drop-in centre, four men once entered with machetes and said if a certain girl wasn�t returned to them, they�d cut everyone�s heads off.

And, occasionally, the threat comes from the girls themselves. In a fit of self-loathing, one teenager staying at a shelter stormed out of a group meeting, took out a blade and began to cut herself, slashing Shaimaa when she came near. As a matter of course, Shaimaa and her colleagues at Hope Village have bi-annual check-ups and immunisations against various diseases. Some of the girls they work with are HIV positive, or suffer from hepatitis C.

In such a thankless job, many of those who work at Hope Village have particular memories that keep them motivated. For Shaimaa, it is the image of one of her first patients: a nine-year-old who came to a drop-in centre after being gang-raped on the street.

�All these years later, that girl is still what keeps me going,� says Shaimaa, who thought the job wasn�t for her until she saw the nine-year-old playing at the centre. �I can�t forget her sitting so innocently on the swing as she was still bleeding from the rape.�

Source

Raymond Ibrahim: Christian Carnage and Western Indifference - Muslim Persecution of Christians, April 2015

The sheer breadth of global Muslim persecution of Christians, and the depths and variety of the depravity involved, which Raymond Ibrahim dutifully reports month after agonizing month, is beyond horrifying, beyond anything we have seen in history.  There is an infernal spirit behind the resurgence of Islam in our age.

By Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone Institute � June 22, 2015

Note: The following represents some of the persecution Christians experienced at the hands of Muslims during the month of April, 2015 alone.   After reading this, ask yourself how Western media, politicians, and other foolish talking heads would react if Muslims experienced the same sort and amount of persecution at the hands of Christians or in Western nations in just one month.

Islamic State Slaughters 30 Christian Ethiopians

Approximately two months after the Islamic State published a video depicting its members slaughtering 21 Coptic Christians in Libya, on Sunday, April 19,  the Islamic jihadi organization released another video of more Christians in Libya, approximately 30 Ethiopians�derogatorily referred to by an IS spokesman as �worshippers of the cross��being butchered for not paying jizya, extortion money demanded of the �People of the Book� who refuse to convert to Islam, according to Koran 9:29.

One group of Christians were shot execution style to the back of their heads, the others had their heads carved off, like the Copts before them.

The IS spokesman further addressed �Christians everywhere�:

We say to Christians everywhere, the Islamic State will expand, with Allah�s permission.  And it will reach you even if you are in fortified strongholds.  So whoever enters Islam will have security, and whoever accepts the Dhimmah contract [subjugated, third-class treatment and social status] will have security. But whoever refuses will see nothing from us but the edge of a spear. The men will be killed and the children will be enslaved, and their wealth will be taken as booty. This is the judgment of Allah and His Messenger.

In a statement, the Coptic Christian Church of Egypt pointed out that the Ethiopian martyrs, like the 21 Copts before them, were �murdered purely for refusing to renounce their faith.�

Al Shabaab Murders 147, Separates Muslims from Christians

On April 2 in Kenya, gunmen from the Somali Islamic group, Al Shabaab��the [Islamic] youth��stormed Garissa University, singled out Christian students, and murdered them, some beheaded.  A total of 147 people were killed in the attack�making this jihad more spectacular than the 2013 Al Shabaab attack on the Nairobi mall, which left 67 people dead (then, Islamic gunmen also singled out Christians for slaughter).

Islamic gunmen were careful to separate Christians from Muslims before beginning the carnage said eyewitnesses.  (While Kenya is 83% Christian, it still has an 11% Muslim minority the jihadis are careful not to kill.)  Collins Wetangula, vice chairman of the student union, said he could hear from inside his room where he was hiding the gunmen opening doors and inquiring if the people inside were Muslims or Christians: �If you were a Christian you were shot on the spot.  With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die.�

Al Shabaab has a long history of singling Christians out from among Muslims for slaughter (here are four examples).  Other jihadi groups�including Boko Haram and the Islamic State�also make it a point to distinguish between Christians and Muslims before slaughtering the former, a fact often omitted from �mainstream media� reports.

Egyptian Churches under Attack

• On Sunday, April 5, as Coptic Christians were celebrating Palm Sunday, a church was attacked in Alexandria, Egypt.   Gunmen in a vehicle opened fire on the church during the night injuring a police officer and two civilians.

• On April 12, Easter Sunday according to the Orthodox calendar, two explosions targeting churches took place in Zagazig vicinity.  One car explosion took place near a Coptic Orthodox church and another bomb exploded near the Evangelical Church in the same area.  Although no casualties were reported, large numbers could have easily resulted, based on precedent.  For example, on January 1, 2011, as Egypt�s Christians ushered in the New Year, car bombs went off near the Two Saints Church in Alexandria, resulting in 23 dead worshippers and dozens critically injured.

• Muslims rioted because President Sisi had agreed for Copts to build a church in Al-Our, where 13 of the 21 Christians who were beheaded by the Islamic State grew up and where their families still live.  Local Muslims rose in violence soon after Islamic prayers Friday, April 3.  They yelled that they would never allow a church to be built, that �Egypt is Islamic!� By night time, Molotov cocktails and stones were thrown at another Coptic church, cars were set ablaze�including one belonging to a relative of one of the those decapitated by the Islamic State�and several people were injured.[i]

• A day later, on Saturday, April 4, Muslims rioted and attacked the Christians of the village of Gala�, Samalout district.  After waiting for years to repair their dilapidated church (see pictures here) Coptic locals finally received all the proper permits to begin restoration.  Soon Coptic homes, businesses, and persons, were attacked including by hurled stones.  Christian owned wheat farms were destroyed and their potato crops uprooted.  Islamic slogans were constantly yelled, including �There is no god but Allah� and �Islamic! Islamic!�

• After waiting for 44 years, the Christians of Nag Shenouda, in Sohag City, finally got the necessary permit to build a new church.  Muslims again rioted and even burned down the tent the Christians had erected to worship under.  Denied, the Christians of Nag Shenouda celebrated Easter in the street (picture here).  And when one of them tried to hold worship service in his home, he and his household were attacked by a Muslim mob.

More Islamic Attacks on Christian Churches

Syria: The Islamic State destroyed at least three churches under its jurisdiction:

• On Easter Sunday, the Islamic State destroyed the Virgin Mary Church in Tel Nasri, northeast Syria.  The Assyrian church was built and consecrated in 1934.  Loosely translated as �Christian Hill,� Tel Nasri is an ancient Assyrian Christian village.  It is one of the dozens of Christian villages along the Khabur river that were attacked and occupied by the Islamic State in late February (more here and here).

• On April 28, the St. Odisho Assyrian Church in Tel Tal and the St. Rita Tilel Armenian Church in Aleppo, were also destroyed.

Nigeria: A Muslim mob set fire to a church in a Christian village in Nigeria�s northern Kano State on April 1.  Muslims were searching for a young man who had renounced Islam and re-converted to Christianity in order to kill him. They also attacked Christian villagers with machetes and torched the home of a pastor, killing one of his daughters.  According to General Dikko, a local official,

The church and all the properties were burnt down in the presence of the Christian community despite all pleadings for them to stop the destruction. The arsonists gathered cornstalks and put them inside the church in order to cause greater damage�.  We have the right to belong to any religion of our choice and live anywhere in this country. We call on the authorities at all levels to rise up to their responsibilities of protecting lives and properties of every citizen in this country.

Pakistan: Two assailants on motorbikes opened fire on the main gates of a church and Christian school in Lahore.  The school had just closed half an hour earlier and several students were present outdoors.  Police were present, causing the attackers to ride off.  Two passersby were injured in the crossfire.

Malaysia: On Sunday, April 19, a Muslim mob of approximately 50 people rioted and protested against a small Protestant church in Kuala Lumpur, the capital.  The object of their wrath was the cross atop the building of worship�which was removed during the Islamic protest.  Rioters exclaimed that the cross, the central symbol of Christianity, represented �a challenge to Islam� and could �influence the faith of young people.�

More Muslim Slaughter of Christians

High Seas: On April 16, police in Sicily reported that Muslim migrants hurled as many as 53 Christians overboard during a recent crossing from Libya.  The motive was that the victims �professed the Christian faith while the aggressors were Muslim.�  Another report said that the reason the Christians were thrown overboard is because a boy was seen praying to the Judeo-Christian God. Muslims commanded him to stop, saying �Here, we only pray to Allah.�  Eventually the Muslims �went mad,� in the words of a witness, started screaming �Allahu Akbar!� and began hurling Christians into the sea.[ii]

Nigeria: According to a �U.N. human rights chief � all 276 Christian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 may have been among a group of women slaughtered by Boko Haram last month [March], Nigerian media reported Monday, April 6.�[iii]

Syria: Islamic rebels fired rockets at a Christian neighborhood in Aleppo, the nation�s largest city, on the night of April 10-11.   The attack left massive destruction in the eastern section of the Sulaymaniyah district, which is predominantly Assyrian and Armenian.  At least 40 people, mostly Assyrians�including women and children�were killed.  Shells also targeted an Assyrian Catholic Cathedral, injuring three civilians. �Our Easter feast has turned to grief,� a nun in Aleppo said: �Some people woke up to find themselves without a home and others did not see the life died under the rubble because they were victims of violence.�

Egypt: A Muslim man stabbed a Christian woman with a knife multiple times and then threw her body into a canal.  The Coptic woman, Gamila Basilious, was 48-years-old and married, living in Minya.  According to police reports, the man, Mahmoud Hassan Abdulhamid, came to her door inquiring about her husband. When he discovered her husband was not present, he took advantage of the situation by attacking her with a knife, with repeated stab wounds found on her neck and chest region.  As �infidels,� Coptic Christians are regularly attacked in Egypt, including kidnapping, church attacks, and just random slaughter.

Islamic Attacks on Christian Freedom:

Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytization

Uganda: Five Muslim men gang-raped and beat the teenage daughter of a Christian pastor.  This was done in �retaliation� to the pastor�s refusal to stop Christian worship services in a Muslim-majority region.  The girl was approaching the New Hope Church building where her father serves as pastor when she was abducted and taken to nearby bushes by the rapists.  In the 17-year-old girl�s own words:

The five Muslims took hold of me, and they raped me there.  I tried to scream, but they threatened to kill me. One of them said, �Your father should stop this prayer meeting of trying to change Muslims to become Christians and close the church building�we have warned him several times.

The suspects fled when church members arrived for an all-night prayer vigil. They rushed her to a local clinic, where she was treated for serious injuries and mental trauma.  According to her father, �The girl still has problems communicating.  She just says a few words and then keeps quiet. She needs trauma counseling.�  Earlier, the father had received messages threatening him to cease holding Christian worship services.  One text message said, �Be you informed that we do not want your church in this area. If you continue worship here, then you will live to regret it.�

Bangladesh: A Muslim mob attacked a former Muslim and his wife for converting to Christianity.  The couple was attacked as they were returning home after being baptized. The man was slapped across the face by a Muslim imam in front of his two young children.  The Islamic mob further broke the fence of the new Christians� family home and said they would chase the �apostates� out of the village for leaving Islam.  The man who baptized the couple was also attacked and beat by the mob at his home and later lost his job.

Egypt: Gad Yunan,  a Coptic Christian teacher, and five of his Coptic students were arrested on the charge of �contempt of religions.�  Their crime was to have made a 30-second video on Yunan�s iphone poking fun at the Islamic State�which Egypt�s Muslims and authorities apparently equate with making fun of Islam, even as Muslims in the West insist IS has �nothing to do with Islam.�  Yunan was �banished� from his village of al-Nasriya in an effort to appease local Muslims who reacted to the video with violence, including by pelting the homes and businesses of Christians with stones.  According to Khamis, Yunan�s brother: �I don�t see any insulting of Islam in the video. They were joking and making fun of Daesh (the Arabic acronym for IS), not Islam. My brother didn�t intend to insult the Islamic religion.� [iv]

Ethiopia: Gemechu Jorgo and Sheikh Amin�two men who were distributing Bibles in Ethiopia�s Melka Belo region�were arrested.  Islamic law bans the advertisement and dissemination of any religion other than Islam.  While imprisoned, both men endured harassment and physical abuse by authorities.  At one point, Jorgo reminded District Administrator Jamal Adam of his constitutional right to practice his Christian faith freely.  In response, the Muslim administrator used Jorgo�s Bible to slap him in the face three times.  Amin, formerly a Muslim sheikh and prayer leader of a mosque, is a recent convert to Christianity.  While in prison, officials persistently pressured the apostate to renounce Christ and return to Islam.  He refused.  Both men were eventually released.  Ethiopia is a Christian-majority nation, though Muslims make for 33%, or one-third of the population.

Uzbekistan: Reports appearing in April told of the harassing, jailing and fining of several Christians for exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief. One of the prisoners of conscience�Council of Churches Baptist Doniyor Akhmedov�was fined more than three years� official minimum wage after his release from 15 days in jail.  Other prisoners of conscience to be jailed for short periods include a Protestant in Bukhara, who received seven days� imprisonment for �illegal� religious activity and another Protestant who received 10 days� jail time for �teaching religion illegally.�  Their identities remain anonymous due to fears they might suffer more reprisals.  Nine more Protestants were fined for �illegally storing� Christian literature and materials. Their homes were raided earlier by police who confiscated various Christian books and CDs and DVDs.  �Religious minorities face tight scrutiny in Uzbekistan as they are unable to openly practice their beliefs without facing major penalties such as jail terms or heavy fines,� reports Forum 18 News.

Dhimmitude:

Generic Violence and Hostility against Christians

France: On April 15, 215 Christian gravestones and crosses in the cemetery of Saint-Roch de Castres (Tarn) were damaged and desecrated (pictures here).  The man responsible was later arrested.  According to Charlotte Beluet, the prosecutor: �The suspect, arrested at 12:45 on Thursday, matches the description given by a witness, a cemetery employee, who came across the man dressed in a white djellaba [Arab/Muslim garb], and followed him�  The man repeats Muslim prayers over and over, he drools and cannot be communicated with: his condition has been declared incompatible with preliminary detention.�  He was hospitalized on the assumption that he is  �mentally unbalanced.�

Iraq: Right around the same time the �mentally unbalanced� Muslim man was destroying Christian crosses and tombstones in France, the Islamic State published pictures of its members destroying Christian tombstones and crosses in cemeteries under its jurisdiction�including Mosul�s oldest Christian cemetery near the Syrian Orthodox Cathedral�and quoted Islamic scriptures justifying its actions.  Several jihadi websites posted these pictures.  Some include Islamic State members using sledgehammers to destroy gravestones and efface the crosses carved on them.

Bangladesh: On Easter day, a Catholic Christian village made up of tribal Khasia people was attacked by Muslims.  Syed Ara Begum, a Muslim owner of a tea plantation, along with a Muslim mob,  attacked the Christian village as its population was celebrating Mass.   The plantation owner reportedly seeks to seize the Christians� land.  Hearing the cries of his flock, Fr. James Kiron Rozario ran to the site of the attack.  Once there, the crowd of Muslims attacked him with a knife, seriously wounding him and threatening to kill him.  The Muslim mob went on to steal items worth almost $4,000.  They also destroyed Bibles, crosses, holy pictures, musical instruments and homes�and randomly killed goats and chickens.  According to Msgr. Bejoy N. D�Cruze OMI, Bishop of Syleht, �We live in fear�.  We want justice and security for our priests and our faithful. We hope that the government will find a peaceful solution and that our people can live free from tensions�. They [Catholic Khasia] are a very peaceful community but often fall victims of the Bengali [Muslim] majority.�

Pakistan:

• On the morning of April 17, suspected Islamic gunmen opened fire on St Francis High School, a Catholic school founded in 1842 in Lahore and long considered one of the finest schools in the city.  One student and two security guards were injured and taken to hospital.  Although the motive behind the attack has yet to be established, Christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill said in a statement that this �new attack witnesses the deterioration of the situation of Christians in Pakistan and spreads even more fear.�

• On March 29, Shamim Masih�a Christian reporter exposing Muslim persecution�was attacked in Islamabad by two men on a motorcycle.  According to the leader of the Pakistan Christian Congress party, Nazir S Bhatti �The motorbike riders got down from their bike and started beating Shamim Masih�. [They] broke his arm and warned him that if he did not stop reporting on Christian issues, they knew his family and home and would teach him and his family a lesson.�  As usual, police failed to register the incident.  In the words of Bhatti: �as Shamim Masih is a Christian journalist�the police and administration are not paying any attention or interest to investigate this incident.�

• On April 1, Islamic militants shot and wounded the brother of Sardar Mushtaq Gill, a prominent Christian rights official in Pakistan.  This is the latest attack on Gill and his family by Islamic militants angered at him for criticizing the controversial blasphemy laws that are routinely used to attack Pakistan�s Christian minority.  The attack occurred  in the Kasur District of Punjab province.  According to the human rights official, �Pervaiz Gill [his brother] suffered a bullet wound to his lower back, and was rushed to Jinah Hospital in Lahore [city] where it was removed.� However, �the police is not arresting the shooter� who was publicly identified as Muhammad Bilal: �Our life remains under threat if the shooter is not arrested.�  Last August, Gill�s home was sprayed with bullets in the night, for the second time.

Syria: Since the city of Idlib fell to Islamic rebels on March 28, Christian inhabitants have been attacked in various ways. A 57-year-old Greek Orthodox priest, Ibrahim Farah, head of the Greek-Orthodox parish dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was kidnapped.  Last reported, Farah, who chose to remain in the city and tend to other Christians unable to flee, was awaiting a �trial.�

Encouraging Words, No Actions

Because the Muslim persecution of Christians is growing immensely, more Christian and political leaders are beginning to mention it, though with no commensurate action.  During a Mass in April, Pope Francis said that today�s Church is a �Church of martyrs,� adding:

In these days how many Stephens there are in the world! Let us think of our brothers whose throats were slit on the beach in Libya [by the Islamic State]; let�s think of the young boy who was burnt alive by his [see above]; let us think of those migrants thrown from their boat into the open sea by other migrants because they were Christians [see above]; let us think�just the day before yesterday�of those Ethiopians assassinated because they were Christians [see above]� and of many others. Many others of whom we do not even know and who are suffering in jails because they are Christians� The Church today is a Church of martyrs: they suffer, they give their lives and we receive the blessing of God for their witness.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia�who once wrote a letter to Barack Obama beseeching the president to reconsider his foreign policies which enable the persecution of Christians in Syria�spoke again of the threat of Christian extinction in the Mideast:

I regularly get reports of horrible crimes that are committed there against Christians, especially in northern Iraq. I have visited those places and I remember that there were many churches and monasteries there. The city of Mosul alone had 45 churches. Now there is not a single one. The buildings have been destroyed. Four hundred churches have been destroyed in Syria� Now Christianity is the most persecuted religion. The same is happening in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Northern Africa.

According to Saudi novelist and writer, Hani Naqshabandi, �Our religious institutions do not give us room to exercise free thought.�  By way of example, he pointed out that �They [Saudi institutions] said that the Christian is an infidel, a denizen of hell, an enemy to Allah and Islam.  So we said, �Allah�s curse on them.��  He also admitted the obvious but little known fact that �Christians are in need of protection �  What happened to Christians in Iraq and Syria, and further regions like Algeria, does not receive Arabic media coverage that befits human beings, whatever their religion.�

Even United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron, regularly criticized for being too soft on Islamists, said the following remarks during his Easter message:

We have a duty to speak out about the persecution of Christians around the world too.  It is truly shocking that in 2015 there are still Christians being threatened, tortured, even killed because of their faith.  From Egypt to Nigeria, Libya to North Korea.  Across the Middle East Christians have been hounded out of their homes, forced to flee from village to village; many of them forced to renounce their faith or brutally murdered.  To all those brave Christians in Iraq and Syria who practice their faith or shelter others, we will say, �We stand with you.�

About this Series

The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic.  Accordingly, �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, 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 Islamic Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytism laws that criminalize and sometimes punish with death those who �offend� Islam; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam;  theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or third-class, �tolerated� citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination thereof.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales�from Morocco in the West, to Indonesia in the East�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.

Previous Reports linked here.

Al Azhar Distributing Free Book Dedicated to Discrediting Christianity, the �Failed Religion�

The booklet will certainly help incite Egypt�s Muslims against the already heavily persecuted Coptic Christians.

This book from Al Azhar and its feeble claims are the height of irony and psychological projection, coming from the most respected Islamic university in the world, whose false religion was spread primarily by the sword and bloodshed, whose "prophet" personally beheaded hundreds of men, advocated the use of deceit against unbelievers, and was certainly of a depraved character, if not outright demon-possessed. The fruits of Islam's founder can be seen all around us today. This is much of what I present in my book, Facing Islam.

Epitaph of the Failed Religion, by Yusuf al-Qaradawi

One of Islam's leading figures recently admitted that Islam needs war-like threats � including the death penalty for apostasy � to keep its devotees in line. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood and one of the most respected leaders of the Sunni world, recently stated on Egyptian television, "If they [Muslims] had gotten rid of the punishment [often death] for apostasy, Islam would not exist today."

That is the very definition of a failed religion! One which rules by fear and intimidation, requiring war and bloodshed to spread, and the death penalty to keep its followers from rejecting its false claims.

Don't take my word for it; I'm just a lazy sinner. Here is an excerpt from a divinely-illumined father of the Orthodox Church, St. Gregory Palamas, who, having been abducted by the Muslim Turks (just as Muslims kidnap Christians today, including clergy), spoke fearlessly to them of the falseness of their prophet and religion at the risk of his own life:

As for Muhammad, we do not see that the Prophets bear witness of him, nor do we have the witness of him performing any miracles and noteworthy works... 

Now if the Prophets had something good to say about Muhammad, they certainly would not have neglected to do so. We do read, however, that many false christs and false prophets will come to deceive many [Mt. 24:24, Mk. 13:22]. Wherefore, He [Christ] said to take heed and not be deceived [Lk. 21:8]... 

It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil.

Al Azhar Distributing Free Book Dedicated to Discrediting Christianity, the �Failed Religion�

by Raymond Ibrahim � June 7, 2015

Al Azhar�arguably the Islamic world�s most prestigious Islamic university�continues to incite Egypt�s Muslims against Christians. Most recently the university was exposed distributing a free booklet dedicated to discrediting Christianity, chock full of direct attacks on Christianity in general and the nation�s Coptic Christians in particular. 

Christianity is referred to as a �failed religion,� while Islam is hailed as the true and superior religion. 

Because the �seeds of weakness� are inherent in Christianity and the Bible, says the booklet, Islam was easily able to supplant it in the Middle East.

If you would like a very current example of precisely why Christianity triumphs daily over all the onslaughts by the most fanatical and violent Muslims, see this article on how families of the new martyrs under the Islamic State are forgiving their enemies and praying for the True God to touch their hearts and lead them to repent and come to know Jesus Christ. 

No evil, not even Islam, can defeat that kind of love and witness to the Truth!

Nine Muslim Women Who Have Ruled Nations

MUSLIM WOMEN RULERS | WORLD MUSLIM CONGRESS
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2015/06/nine-muslim-women-who-have-ruled-nations.html 


Historically, Muslim women have been rulers as well like Razia Sultan in India, and others in Egypt and other place.


Courtesy - Egyptian Street 

DALIA GEBRIAL  

Dalia Gebrial is an Egyptian writer and journalist living in South-East London. Currently, she is particularly interested in raising awareness about the historical and current labour and feminist movements in the Arab world.

Here are the nine Muslim women who have ruled nations � how many have you heard of?

1. TANSU �ILLER, Prime Minister of Turkey, 1993-1996

Tansu �iller was the 30th Prime Minister of Turkey, and lead the conservative True Path Party (DYP). Her tenure as Prime Minister took place during intensified armed conflict between the Turkish Armed Forces and the Kurdish separatist PKK. As leader of the DYP, she went on to later serve as Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Born in Istanbul in 1946, �iller graduated from the School of Economics at Robert College in Turkey and received her PhD from the University of Connecticut.

2. MEGAWATI SUKARNOPUTRI, President of Indonesia, 2001-2004

Megawati Sukarnoputri is the current leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), one of Indonesia�s largest political parties, and served as President from 2001 to 2004. She is also the daughter of the Indonesia�s first President, Sukamo. She is widely considered to have stabilized the overall democratization process and relationship between legislative, executive and military institutions of the country.

3. MAME MADIOR BOYE, Prime Minister of Senegal, 2001-2002

Born in 1940 and educated, along with her three brothers, as a lawyer, Mame Madior Boye is known for her strong feminist ideals, having frequently raised women�s concerns in her time in government. Upon leaving politics, she was appointed as the special representative of the African Union for the protection of civilian populations in countries with armed conflict. She also founded and was president of the Association of Senegalese Lawyers from 1975 to 1990.

4. ATIFETE JAHJAGA, President of Kosovo, 2011-present

Atifete Jahjaga is the fourth and current President of Kosovo, and is the youngest to ever be elected to the position. Born in 1975, she graduated from the faculty of law at the University of Prishtina in 2000. Before going into politics, she worked in the Kosovo police force, progressing her way up to the rank of Major General. During her presidency, Jahjaga has led many initiatives for the furthering of women�s empowerment, including hosting an international women�s summit in 2012 which was attended by 200 leaders from Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East

5. ROZA OTUNBAYEVA, President of Kyrgyzstan, 2010-2011

Roza Otunbayeva was sworn in as President of Kyrgystan in 2010 after acting as interim leader following the 2010 April revolution that deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Born in 1950, Otunbayeva graduated from the Philosophy faculty of Moscow State University in 1972, and went on to head the philosophy department at Kyrgyz State National University for six years. Her other political and diplomatic posts include being the first ambassador from the Krygyz Republic to the United States and Canada, and the first ambassador to the United Kingdom.

6. SHEIKH HASINA, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, 1996 � 2001; 2009 � Present

Sworn into office for the second time in 2009, Sheikh Hasina is the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh, having previously served in the role from 1996 to 2001. She is the eldest of five children of Shiekh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first President of Bangladesh. Her political career has spanned more than forty years, during which she has been both Prime Minister and leader of the opposition. She was arrested in 2007 on charges of extortion, however returned as Prime Minister in 2008 after a landslide victory.

7. BENAZIR BHUTTO, Prime Minister of Pakistan, 1988 � 1990; 1993 � 1996

In 1988, Benazir Bhutto � the daughter of former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto � became the first woman to be elected as the head of a Muslim state. At the young age of 29, she became the chairperson of the centre-left PPP, one of the major political parties in Pakistan, and was known for her charisma and intelligence. Her feminist legacy, however, is complicated. Whilst she often spoke for the empowerment of women, many criticize what is seen as limited action � for example, her inability to repeal the controversial Hudood Ordinance, which implemented a literal form of Shari�a that limited women�s freedoms. Nonetheless, despite her controversial tenures, she was globally mourned following her tragic assassination in 2007.

8. KHALEDA ZIA, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, 1991 � 1996; 2001 � 2006

Born in 1945, Khaleda Zia was the second woman in the Muslim world to become a head of state, after Benazir Bhutto. She was the First Lady of Bangladesh during the presidency of her husband Ziaur Rahman, and is currently the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Her more than decade-long tenure makes her the longest serving Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

And finally, the most recent addition�.:

9. AMEENAH FAKIM, President of Mauritius, 2015 � Present

Sworn in on 5 June 2015, Ameenah Fakim is Mauritius� sixth President, and the first woman to ever run the Hindu-majority country. As well as her successes in politics, Fakim is a highly distinguished biodiversity scientist, having worked in the roles of Dean of Faculty and pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Mauritius. Despite having just started in the position, Fakim has already demonstrated a strong commitment to feminist principles, particularly advocating the importance of education for young girls. She has also expressed deep environmental concerns, pinpointing climate change and sustainable development as primary focuses of her incoming tenure as President.

Egypt: Terrified Christians flee homes following blasphemy accusations

"Coptic Christian homes have been attacked and families forced to flee from a village in Egypt after reports that Islam was insulted on Facebook."

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch directs his introductory comments to this report as a warning to comfortable Christians in the West who oppose "provoking" Muslims through cartoons of Muhammad or other means. But as I wrote here recently,

"Christians themselves in the Islamic world � by their very being, by their very presence � are all the provocation Muslims need to slaughter them. No cartoons required."

Egypt: Terrified Christians flee homes following blasphemy accusations
Jihad Watch � June 8, 2015

The comfortable, suburban Christians who are sitting in their armchairs and tut-tutting at us for being so uncharitable as to hold a Muhammad cartoon contest should take careful note of this. Islamic law asserts authority over non-Muslims. To send the signal that we will submit to Sharia blasphemy laws regarding drawing Muhammad, even if we are doing so out of a misguided sense of �respect,� will only embolden Islamic supremacists to make more demands. The endpoint of these demands is shown in this incident in Egypt. These comfortable, suburban Christians in the West are ensuring a future of harassment, persecution, violence and bloodshed for their children and children�s children.

More on this story. �Terrified Coptic Christians flee from their homes following blasphemy accusations,� by Oge Okonkwo, Pulse, June 3, 2015:

Coptic Christian homes have been attacked and families forced to flee from a village in Egypt after reports that Islam was insulted on Facebook. 

But some Muslims in the Beni Suef governorate in Egypt tried to protect Copts from villagers angered over alleged �insults to Islam�.

Christian Today reports that Ayman Youssef Tawfiq, from Kafr Darwish in Al-Fashn, denies he posted cartoons on Facebook that were insulting to the Prophet Muhammad. 

Nevertheless, Coptic homes in his village have been stoned and attacked with Molotov cocktails. A car has been destroyed and several homes set on fire. 

Reports say meetings were even held in the village in an attempt to resolve the crisis, but this merely led to Youssef and four of his relatives� families being driven out of town. After this, a further 10 Coptic homes were burned down. 

The Coptic newspaper Al-Watani reported that among those who defended the Coptic homes from the attackers were a number of Muslim youths. Police also intervened promptly. 

Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher on religion at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told Daily News Egypt: �Ayman is an illiterate person who usually lives in Jordan who was accused of sharing the picture by locals at his village in Beni Suef when he returned. At first, a case was filed against him and the people in the village wanted to charge him with a fine. They later changed their minds and decided they wanted him to leave. Ayman has three brothers, each with a family, and elderly parents in their 70s and 80s living in the village. All of them were made to leave the village.� 

He said local officials had authorised the decision to drive the families out of the village. 

�There were two meetings, one at a police station and the second in the Mayor�s house, attended by local Christians and Muslims,� he said. 

The Mayor, Ahmed Maher, is reported to have told the families that the police could not guarantee their safety if they decided to stay. 

Ibrahim continued: �The violations of people who express their religious opinions and the persecution of minorities is ongoing in Egypt. It increases when individuals are accused of insulting religion, as usually the trials in these cases are not fair. 

�The charges for insulting religion are very vague and do not define which acts can be considered insulting or not. For instance if an imam said that all Christians are kuffar, would this be considered insulting? Anyone who openly calls for violence and hatred should be the only ones charged.�

Egyptian Mosque Sermons Reminiscent of ISIS

"The mosque�s imam spoke in tones reminiscent of the Islamic State... hailing �the future of Islam, the glory of Muslims, the humiliation of polytheists�Islam is coming and Allah will make it victorious over all the earth.�

by Raymond Ibrahim � May 20, 2015

On Friday, May 15, the prayer leader of Safa Mosque in the city of Mersa Matruh, west of Alexandria, Egypt, repeatedly declared that �the Islamic caliphate will return and that Jerusalem, though stolen at the hands of the Jews, will return to Muslims once again.�

The mosque�s imam further spoke in tones reminiscent of the Islamic State, including by hailing �the future of Islam, the glory of Muslims, the humiliation of polytheists�Islam is coming and Allah will make it victorious over all the earth.�

Therefore, counseled the Muslim preacher, �It is incumbent on all Muslims to commit themselves to the mores of Islam, to follow the example of the Messenger of Allah, and to adhere to the Book of Allah and his Sunna��precisely those things that the Islamic State is doing.

Women scholars in Egypt reflect on the intersection of Islam and feminism

 

 When Omaima Abu-Bakr was a teenager in Egypt, she wore miniskirts and high heels � in line with the fashion of the time. But she says the freedom in fashion didn�t translate to equity in education or work or family life.

Now a professor at Cairo University and co-founder of The Women and Memory Forum, a women's rights NGO, she dresses much more modestly, including wearing a headscarf. But she says women in Egypt actually have more rights now than they did when she was young. And she believes that with a bit of re-interpretation of classic texts, Islam and feminism can work hand-in-hand.

�We�re correcting [and] we�re reforming past, patriarchal interpretations of the religion,� she says.

Most of the conflicts between Islam and modern women's rights she attributes to culture, rather than the actual religion. She sees Islam as a dynamic religion, adaptable to the times.

In her research, she digs into the Quran and other sources of Sharia law, analyzing from what she calls a perspective of �equality and justice.�

�I still am, day in and day out, trying to deal with these conflicting orders or diversions to discourses. Trying to deal with them on a personal level because I have a personal stake,� she says. �This is part of my self-perception. I�m a practicing Muslim person and a feminist too,� she says.

Abu-Bakr represents one of several perspectives on how observant Muslim women can merge their religious beliefs with their feminist values.

Amna Nosseir is also exploring this path. She teaches Islamic philosophy and comparative religion in the women�s section at Al-Azhar University. She also served as the dean of the section for a decade before she "quasi-retired� to focus on teaching and advocating for a stronger role for women at the government-affiliated religious institution and in society in general.

Full article.