Saturday, December 7, 2013

Muslim Arson Attacks in Tatarstan, and Islam's 'Rule of Numbers'

The report of seven arson attacks by Wahhabi Muslims against Orthodox church buildings in Russia's predominantly Muslim republic of Tatarstan provides a 'teachable moment' regarding Muslim violence against non-Muslims.

Muslim attacks against Christians, their churches and homes typically follow a pattern described by Raymond Ibrahim as 'Islam's Rule of Numbers',

. . . a rule that expresses itself with remarkable consistency:  The more Muslims grow in numbers, the more Islamic phenomena intrinsic to the Muslim world—in this case, brazen violence against “infidels”—appear. 
In the U.S., where Muslims are less than 1% of the population, London-style attacks are uncommon.  Islamic assertiveness is limited to political activism dedicated to portraying Islam as a “religion of peace,” and sporadic, but clandestine, acts of terror. 
In Europe, where Muslims make for much larger minorities, open violence is common.  But because they are still a vulnerable minority, Islamic violence is always placed in the context of “grievances,” a word that pacifies Westerners. 
With an approximate 10% Muslim population, London’s butcherers acted brazenly, yes, but they still invoked grievances.  Standing with bloodied hands, the murderer declared: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone…. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying by British soldiers every day.” 
Days later in Stockholm, which also has a large Muslim minority, masked rioters  destroyed 100 cars and property.  The grievance for this particular outbreak was that police earlier shot a(nother) machete-wielding “immigrant” in self-defense. 
Grievances disappear when Muslims become at least 35-40% of a nation and feel capable of waging an all-out jihad, as in Nigeria, where the Muslim-majority north has been terrorizing Christians—bombing hundreds of churches and beheading hundreds of infidels. 
Sudan was an earlier paradigm, when the Khartoum government slaughtered millions to cleanse Sudan of Christians and polytheists.  Historically Christian-majority Lebanon plunged into a deadly civil war as the Muslim population grew. 
Once Muslims become the majority, the violence ironically wanes, but that’s because there are fewer infidels to persecute.  And what infidels remain lead paranoid, low-key existences—as dhimmis—always careful to “know their place.” 
With an 85% Muslim majority, Egypt is increasingly representative of this paradigm.  Christian Copts are under attack, but not in an all-out jihad.  Rather, under the Muslim Brotherhood their oppression is becoming institutionalized, including through new “blasphemy” laws which have seen many Christians attacked and imprisoned. 
Attacks on infidels finally end when Muslims become 100% of the population, as in Saudi Arabia—where all its citizens are Muslim, and churches and other non-Islamic expressions are totally banned
Such is Islam’s Rule of Numbers.

Regarding Muslim arson attacks on churches in Tatarstan, see also this story.

Tatarstan offers a million ruble reward for church arson information
RT via Pravmir — 12/2/2013


A series of arson attacks on Christian churches in Russia’s predominantly Muslim internal republic of Tatarstan has forced the authorities to offer a reward for information. The radical measure is because investigators suspect terrorist involvement.


Photo: www.kazan-mitropolia.ru

Tatarstan’s President Rustam Minnikhanov chaired a special meeting on the investigation of the church fires and a suspected attempted terrorist attack. Regional officials say that anyone who could provide positive leads to the perpetrators would receive 1 million rubles (about $30,000), and Minnikhanov said he is taking the probe under his personal control.

The first attack took place on November 17 when a gang attempted to set fire to a Russian Orthodox church that is being built in the town of Chistopol. On the same day another fire destroyed a prayer house in the neighboring village of Lenino. On November 28 a fire was set at church in the Mamadysh district of the republic, and in the early hours of the next day the same happened at an abandoned church in the Rybnoslobodsk Region.

Law enforcers have started criminal investigations into vandalism, arsons and violation of the right to freely practice religions. Prosecutors want to classify the incidents as terrorist attacks, but so far this has not happened.

Local authorities have reported that this year there have been fires at eight religious sites in Tatarstan (seven Christian churches and one mosque) and in 2012 there were none. Not all of the fires were caused by arson, but the latest incidents do appear to have been started deliberately.
On Monday Tatarstan’s branch of Russia’s Federal Security Service reported that they had created a likeness of a suspect and established the model of his car.

Tatarstan is Russia’s largest internal republic and most Tatars traditionally follow Islam. However, since the middle ages there is a relatively large group of Christian Tatars, so called Kryashens (”baptized”) who belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. The Kryashen community denounced the attacks and called for parishioners to organize a neighborhood watch to protect their places of worship.

Influential Muslims in the republic, including the chairman of the local Muslim Spiritual Department, Kamil Samigullin also condemned the church attackers and called upon society to denounce such practices. Deputy Chairman of the Union of Russian Muftis, Rushan Abbyasov, said the fires were a provocation aimed at causing inter-religious and inter-ethnic hatred and stressed that Muslims have also become victims of this plan.

The Christian and Muslim leaders of the republic issued a joint statement saying that all attempts to sow discord among people of different religions would fail.

Vandalism of working religious sites has been relatively rare in modern Russia, until a recent escalation caused by public discussion over the law that introduced criminal punishment for insulting believers’ feelings. The law was prompted by the performance by the punk group Pussy Riot in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, and passed soon after the group members received their two year sentences for aggravated hooliganism.  When the bill was under discussion the number of church desecrations and cross fellings grew, prompting leading clerics to talk about an orchestrated attack against the Orthodox Christian Church.