Dreher: 'Britain: Rape Gangs & A Conquered Nation'

Kudos to Rod Dreher for his unflinching writing on the ruling elites of Great Britain and Western European countries in general, as they surrender to Muslim immigrants while exerting totalitarian control over their native populations. In Dreher's words:

"To me, there is no more vivid sign of a conquered nation’s mentality than the UK’s rape gang scandal."

 

The British government shuts down free speech and enacts literal thought crime laws, arresting citizens for praying in public and posting memes online, while they enable the abduction, drugging, rape and forced sexual slavery of thousands of young native English girls by Pakistani (i.e., Muslim) gangs.

From Dreher's June 17 Substack (This might be behind a paywall. At only $5 a month, it's well worth it, and he is writing and commenting on a wide range of pertinent topics often ignored or given distorted coverage by the MSM.)

Dinner last night with a British friend in town for a few days. Very gloomy man. Doesn’t think the UK and Europe will “make it” — though funnily enough, I didn’t ask him to define what he meant. Did he mean avoid civil war? Maintain their traditional population? Avoid going Muslim? All of it?

It doesn’t really matter. Whenever Brits or Euros talk like that these days, it is enough to know that they are talking about civilizational despair. To me, there is no more vivid sign of a conquered nation’s mentality than the UK’s rape gang scandal. Imagine a country whose leadership and police elites allowed young native girls to be raped, drugged, and pressed into sexual slavery by immigrant men, who do so explicitly because of the race of these girls (and perhaps because these girls do not share the religion of their rapists). Imagine that they allowed it because they did not want to be thought of as bigots.

It happened in Britain. And somehow, the British people do not take to the streets demanding the resignation and prosecution of every one of these cops, politicians, and elites who covered it up. 

Has there ever been a nation or a people that would sit meekly as foreign men came to their country, systematically raped and drugged their female children, and did so precisely because these kids were white and not Muslim?

There is now.

Raymond Ibrahim on Victory Mosques replacing Churches in America (VIDEO)

Many Americans appear to be angry that Crosses are giving way to Crescents, as Muslims transform more and more American churches into mosques. But is their anger being directed at the root source of this development?

For examples of this trend, see these posts:

• Muslim 'Breaking of the Crosses' in Syracuse NY
• 'Breaking of the Crosses' in Syracuse Part 2: The Sharia Doctrine against the Cross
• 'Breaking of the Crosses' in North Carolina: Christian leaders welcome conversion of church into mosque

VIDEO: "Who 'RODE' Muhammad All Night Long — and Why?"

Raymond Ibrahim reveals another "uncomfortable" truth about Muhammad:

This video relates the strange hadith of the encounter between Muhammad and the "al-Zutt." Per the notes from the video posting:

"The earliest sources all depict al-Zutt as humans, meaning the night in question had nothing to do with the Jinn (demonic spirits), and therefore the testimony of Abdullah — a chief and trusted transmitter of hadith — remains valid. "

This leads to two important conclusions:

"First, the bizarre and unflattering accounts of Muhammad contained in the hadith contradict the idea that the hadith is a later forgery meant to give Islam a noble foundational story revolving around a pious and upright prophet...

"and much more importantly: Second, that the hadith, because it does capture the essence of Muhammad, remains the chief weapon against Islam."

Reinstating 'Columbus Day' - Raymond Ibrahim sets the record straight (VIDEO)

 Let's celebrate Columbus for defending the West against Islam:

More videos, articles and books by Raymond Ibrahim here.

Raymond Ibrahim re-launches YouTube Channel (VIDEO)

In a witty and dynamic 5-minute intro, Islam scholar and critic, and respected political analyst, philosopher and raconteur, Raymond Ibrahim today announced the (re)launch of his YouTube channel.

Even while underscoring his background in writing about Islam, Raymond makes it clear that he will be covering a much wider range of topics than he is typically known for, including "philosophical, theological, and secular" ones, historically and in the here and now. He also hints at his new book which he is working on, which viewers will get to hear more about over time.

In my estimation, Raymond is one of the most solid Islam commentators out there. With this energetic announcement, he presents a compelling invitation for us to join him for conversations about some of the most important topics of our time.

Raymond Ibrahim: 'Why Pope Francis’s Claim that the Virgin Mary ‘Unites’ Christians and Muslims Is Wrong'

 More false teaching from the Heresiarch of Rome.

Weeping Icon of the Theotokos, the 'Mother of God',
Our Lady of Cicero

Why Pope Francis’s Claim that the Virgin Mary ‘Unites’ Christians and Muslims Is Wrong

by Raymond Ibrahim, June 12, 2024

Originally published at LifeSiteNews on May 31, 2024

Catholics may be surprised to learn that the Vatican is exaggerating the similarities between the Virgin Mary and the figure of Mary, Mother of Jesus, as she appears in the Koran and Muslim hadiths (traditions about Muhammad, the founder of Islam).

On May 18 this year, Pope Francis paid a visit to detainees at Verona’s Montorio Prison, and upon bestowing an icon of the Madonna and Child upon the apparently multi-faith jail, he stated to applause that “the figure of Mary is a figure common to both Christianity and Islam. She is a common figure; she unites us all.”

If this seems innocuous, it also falls in line with the Vatican’s many attempts to convince Catholics that Islam is somehow a “sister faith,” when, in fact, Islam appropriates the names and sacred auras of biblical figures, but then recasts them with completely different, anti-biblical attributes.

In early 2021, for example, the Marian academy in Rome launched a 10-week webinar series titled “Mary, a model for faith and life for Christianity and Islam” in collaboration with the Grand Mosque of Rome and the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy.

Raymond Ibrahim: "The genocide of Armenians at the hands of Turkic peoples has reached a new level"

Several genocide watchdog organizations are accusing Azerbaijan of committing genocide against the 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Read the below article on the horrific and multilayered background story of this genocide, and contact your congressman and senator to express support for the Armenians.

Starvation: ‘The Invisible Genocide Weapon’

by Raymond Ibrahim, originally published at the Gatestone Institute

The thousand-year-old genocide of Armenians at the hands of Turkic peoples has reached a new level.

Several watchdog organizations—including the Association of Genocide Scholars,  Genocide Watch, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention—are accusing Azerbaijan of committing genocide against the 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.  Historically known as Artsakh, this ancient Armenian region was annexed by and brought under Azerbaijani rule in 2020.

Modern day hostilities between Armenia, an ancient nation and the first to adopt Christianity, and Azerbaijan, a Muslim nation that was created in 1918, began in September 2020, when Azerbaijan launched a war to claim Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).  Although it had been Armenian for over two thousand years, and still remains 90% Armenian, after the dissolution of the USSR, the “border makers” granted it to Azerbaijan, hence the constant warring over this region. (See “15 Artsakh War Myths Perpetuated By Mainstream Media.”)

Once the September 2020 war began, Turkey quickly joined its Azerbaijani co-religionists against Armenia, though the dispute clearly did not concern it.  It dispatched  sharia-enforcing “jihadist groups” from Syria and Libya—including the pro-Muslim Brotherhood Hamza Division, which once kept naked women chained and imprisoned—to terrorize and slaughter the Armenians.

One of these captured mercenaries later confessed that he was “promised a monthly $2,000 payment for fighting against ‘kafirs’ in Artsakh, and an extra 100 dollar[s] for each beheaded kafir.” (Kafir, often translated as “infidel,” is Arabic for any non-Muslim who fails to submit to Islam, which makes them de facto enemies.)

All these Muslim groups committed massive atrocities (see here and here), including by raping an Armenian female soldier and mother of three, before hacking off all four of her limbs, gouging her eyes, and mockingly sticking one of her severed fingers inside her private parts.

The war ended in November 2020, with Azerbaijan claiming a significant portion of Artsakh.

Then, on December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan sealed off the humanitarian Lachin Corridor—the only route between Artsakh and the outside world.  A recent report by Dutch journalist, Sonja Dahlmans, summarizes the situation since:

Raymond Ibrahim: 'Can We Ally with Muslims against the Sexual Indoctrination of Children?'

Raymond Ibrahim looks at recent Muslim protests against LGBT and Leftist/Democrat Groomers trying to sexualize and corrupt children, and asks: "Are Muslims, due to some 'inherent' conservatism, the natural leaders of any U.S. resistance to state-sanctioned sexual indoctrination? Or is there more to all this than meets the eye?"

The answer is complicated and requires caution.


Can We Ally with Muslims against the Sexual Indoctrination of Children?

by Raymond Ibrahim, 7/10/2023, The Stream

Muslims are clearly resistant to the indoctrination of children in sexual deviancy—a phenomenon that goes under various euphemisms and acronyms I deign not employ (“pride,” “inclusivity,” lgb-whatever).

As such, are Muslims the long-awaited heroes who will save America’s children? Many conservatives seem to think so—and for good reason.

For example, last October, 2022, havoc broke out during a schoolboard meeting in Dearborn, when hundreds of mostly Muslim parents protested the circulation of sexually deviant books in the city’s school system. Many protesters carried signs in both English and Arabic, some saying: “Keep Your Dirty Books in the Closet,” “Stop Grooming Our Kids,” and “Homosexuality Big Sin.”

More recently, in Ottawa, Canada, soon after it was revealed that a schoolteacher had berateda Muslim student for merely trying to skip classes dedicated to celebrating sexual deviancy (“pride activities”), a group of Muslim children, encouraged by a woman in hijab, appeared in a protest stomping on so-called “pride” flags. When asked what message they wanted to send, the hijabed woman said, “Leave our kids alone!” The shirt of one of the boys had an even more ominous warning: “Now or Never.”

On June 6, yet another Muslim-led protest of some 400 people took place in Montgomery County, Maryland, where schools recently decided that children can no longer opt out of sexual indoctrination.

Clearly, then, if most American—including Christian—parents are passively open to the sexual grooming of their children, Muslims are not.

That said, on June 6, the same day of the Montgomery protest, but on the other coast of America, the most dramatic of all protests—one that spiraled into an all-out brawl against Antifa—broke out in Glendale, California. There, more parents—with more signs saying “Leave Our Children Alone!”—protested this same new law that prevents them from opting their children out of sexual indoctrination.

Those parents, however, were not Muslim—far from it—but rather Armenians, Orthodox Christians, who, due to their proximity to and experiences with Muslim neighbors, have little love for Islam.

What to make of all this? Are Muslims, due to some “inherent” conservatism, the natural leaders of any U.S. resistance to state-sanctioned sexual indoctrination? Or is there more to all this than meets the eye?

Raymond Ibrahim: 'The Never Ending ‘Pandemic’: 360 Million Christians Persecuted Worldwide'

 "Perhaps the most disturbing trend is that, since the inception of the World Watch List, the persecution of Christians has nearly doubled..."

The Never Ending ‘Pandemic’: 360 Million Christians Persecuted Worldwide

by Raymond Ibrahim, 2/8/2023

originally published at Gatestone Institute

In 2022, 5,621 Christian around the world were “killed for faith related reasons.”  Another 4,542 Christians were illegally detained or arrested, and 2,110 churches were attacked, many destroyed.  Over all, the global persecution of Christians remains higher than ever, with 360 million believers suffering high levels of discrimination and violence.

These are among some of the findings of the World Watch List-2023, which was recently published by the international humanitarian organization, Open Doors. Each year the report ranks the top 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted for their faith by using data from approximately 4,000 field workers and external experts to quantify and analyze persecution worldwide.

Crunching some numbers, the report finds that, on average, one in seven Christians (14%) are persecuted around the world. In Africa, that number grows to one in five (20%), while in Asia it is as much as two in five—meaning a whopping 40% of all Christians are persecuted there.

Christians suffer “extreme levels of persecution” in the top 11 of the 50 nations.  This ranges from being assaulted, raped, imprisoned or slaughtered on being identified as a Christian or attending (usually underground) churches.

Those nations and their respective rankings are: 1)      North Korea, 2) Somalia, 3) Yemen, 4) Eritrea, 5) Libya, 6) Nigeria, 7) Pakistan, 8) Iran, 9) Afghanistan, 10) Sudan, 11) India.

Coming in at #1, the absolute worst nation is North Korea, “with the highest levels of persecution ever seen,” says the report:

If discovered by the authorities, believers are either sent to labour camps as political prisoners where the conditions are atrocious, or killed on the spot—and their families will share their fate as well. Christians have absolutely no freedom….  A new ‘anti-reactionary thought law’ makes it amply clear that being a Christian or possessing a Bible is a serious crime and will be severely punished.

Most of the “extreme persecution” meted out to Christians in nine of the top 11 worst nations continues, however, to come either from Islamic oppression, or takes place in Muslim-majority nations. This means that approximately 80% of the absolute worst persecution around the globe takes place in the name of Islam.

William Kilpatrick and Raymond Ibrahim: 'Defenders of Faith and Family'

William Kilpatrick's stirring, in-depth review of Raymond Ibrahim's newest book, is itself a vigorous rallying cry to defenders of Western Christian Culture against not merely Islamic supremacy or terrorism, but against the anti-Christian, anti-family and anti-human Progressive, Leftist agenda.

Defenders of Faith and Family

Like today’s leftists, the Ottoman Turks wanted to turn Christian children against their parents; but one man turned the tables on them.

by William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine

Christianity was saved in Europe solely because the peoples of Europe fought. If [Europeans]…had not possessed a military equality with, and gradually a growing superiority over the Mohammedans who invaded Europe, Europe would at this moment be Mohammedan and the Christian religion would be exterminated. 

—Theodore Roosevelt

I came across Roosevelt’s observation in Raymond Ibrahim’s recent book, Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes who stood against Islam. At a time when Islam once again seems poised to conquer Europe—this time by dint of immigration and higher birthrates—Ibrahim’s book serves as a timely reminder that this clash of civilizations is far from over.

Defenders of the West focuses on eight individuals who fought against Islamic armies at various times in past centuries. Interestingly, Ibrahim himself can be considered a modern-day “defender of the West” or, more accurately, “defender of the faith.”

I say this because the faith can’t be effectively defended unless Christians first realize that it needs defending. Much of Ibrahim’s work concerns the oppression of Christians by Muslims all over the world but particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—a story that relatively few Western Christians are familiar with.

Ibrahim, of course, also writes about the continuing threat to the West—to Europe and the Americas. 

Raymond Ibrahim: 'Pope Benedict Told the Grim Truth about Islam'

"As if to validate the claim that Muhammad had only taught “evil and inhuman” things, when Benedict quoted this assertion, anti-Christian riots erupted around the Muslim world, churches were set aflame, and an Italian nun who had devoted her life to serving the sick and needy of Somalia was murdered there."

Pope Benedict Told the Grim Truth about Islam

01/16/2023 by Raymond Ibrahim

Originally published by The Stream

“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

In certain respects, this is the sentence that Pope Benedict XVI will be most remembered for. And while those who cite it do so to disparage and dishonor his memory—to portray him as an “Islamophobe”—that notorious assertion is of profound significance, and in more ways than one.

Pope Benedict read the above assertion on Sept. 12, 2006, during his Regensburg address on faith and reason. He was quoting Eastern Roman (or “Byzantine”) Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (b. 1350-1425). An erudite and pious man, Manuel knew much about Islam, both abstractly and experientially.

In 1390, Manuel’s father, John V, submitted to becoming a vassal to, and sent his son, Manuel, as a hostage of, the Ottoman sultan, Bayezid I (1360-1403), whom the contemporary chronicler Doukas described as

"a feared man, precipitate in deeds of war, a persecutor of Christians as no other around him, and in the religion of the Arabs [Islam] a most ardent disciple of Muhammad, whose unlawful commandments were observed to the utmost, never sleeping, spending his nights contriving intrigues and machinations against the rational flock of Christ. . . . His purpose was to increase the nation of the Prophet and to decrease that of the Romans. Many cities and provinces did he add to the dominion of the Muslims."

Unsurprisingly, the sultan never seemed to miss an opportunity to humiliate the heir apparent of Constantinople. Bayezid even sadistically forced Manuel to accompany the Turks and witness the final destruction of Philadelphia, the last Christian bastion in Asia Minor. The “sight of destroyed Christian cities” produced much “intense suffering” and even “sickened” the prince, writes one historian.

One year later, in 1391, Emperor John V died, and his son, Manuel, became emperor—after escaping from the sultan’s court to Constantinople. It was not long before Bayezid declared a fresh jihad, put Constantinople to siege (1394-1402), and once again began slaughtering Christians.

Earlier, during his time with the Turks, Manuel had regularly debated religion with Muslims. It was then that he said to a learned Muslim, “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

William Kilkpatrick: 'See No Islam, Hear No Islam'

New Catholic title on Apologetics omits any consideration of Christian witness to Muslims, or the impact of Islam on Christians.

See No Islam, Hear No Islam

by William Kilkpatrick, Turning Point Project, November 15, 2022

A significant omission in an otherwise good book.

The New Apologetics is a collection of 41 essays by noted Catholic apologists.

It’s a valuable book for those who are interested in spreading the Christian faith in a time of secularism and relativism, as well as for those who merely wish to deepen their own faith.

However, I do have one large caveat. None of the 41 essays deals with Islam. And that, to my mind, is a major omission. Although, The New Apologetics begins with a discussion of threats to Christianity—such as atheism, moral relativism, and scientific materialism—one of the biggest threats is ignored.

For example, the first essay discusses the “nones”—those who claim no religious affiliation. This group is expanding rapidly and it is pulling most of its membership away from Christian Churches. As their numbers increase, the number of those who identify as Christians declines.

I agree that the problem of the “nones” needs to be urgently addressed, but there is another category of “nones” that is equally important, but is absent from the pages of The New Apologetics. I am referring to all those Christians who are “nones” in the sense that none of them is any longer among the living because they have been killed by Muslims in the name of Allah. For example, in Nigeria alone, 18,000 people have been killed by Islamic terrorists in just the last two years (2020-2022). If the rest of Africa is added on, it’s now possible to speak of a Christian genocide in that continent.

Presumably, [Catholic apologists] don’t want to be put in a position where they might have to contradict the notion that Islam is a fellow Abrahamic religion that reveres Jesus and embraces the same values that Christians do.

The spread of Islam is not just a threat to Africans. Many other parts of the world are under the same threat. Because of the rapid increase in the Muslim population, even Europeans are now at risk of violence.

The essay on the “nones” makes much of the fact that in the U.S. between 1970 and the present, the number of “nones” has increased from three percent to twenty-five percent. But during an even shorter time frame, the percentage of Muslims in numerous European cities has increased by approximately the same amount. In Marseille, the second largest city in France, the percentage of Muslims is closer to 40 percent.

The essay points out that almost 40 percent of those under thirty in the U.S. are “nones”. But the same holds true in many of Europe’s major cities in regard to the Muslim population. According to Giulio Meotti, Islam is now the dominant religion among children in Birmingham, Leicester, Bradford, Luton, Slough and the London boroughs of Newham, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets.

Meanwhile, “Mohamed” has been one of the most popular names for baby boys in Europe for many years. Due to the high birth rate, there are now more Muslims at Friday services than Catholics at Sunday Mass in many cities in France and England.

If Islam really were the religion of peace that Catholic prelates and professors make it out to be, then the discrepancy in birth rates between Muslims and Christians might be no great cause for alarm. But rising crime rates among Muslims in Europe suggest that Islam is not a religion of peace but of aggression.

Raymond Ibrahim: 'Christmas Time: When the West Appeases and Islam Slaughters'

For the Christmas Season, and as we turn towards the New Year, it is time to review some recent posts to remind ourselves of 'inalienable truths' about Islam. First up, this sobering piece by Raymond Ibrahim:

Decapitated Santa — typical image disseminated by “extremists” around the Christmas season

Christmas Time: When the West Appeases and Islam Slaughters

by Raymond Ibrahim, 12/20/22, originally posted at The Stream

One of the most odious aspects of the so-called War on Christmas is Western appeasement of Muslim sensibilities.

Consider recent events in Sweden, where St. Lucia’s Day has been celebrated for centuries. According to Britannica: 

St. Lucia’s Day [is a] festival of lights celebrated in Sweden, Norway, and the Swedish-speaking areas of Finland on December 13 in honour of St. Lucia (St. Lucy). …The festival begins with a procession led by the St. Lucia designee, who is followed by young girls dressed in white and wearing lighted wreaths on their heads and boys dressed in white pajama-like costume singing traditional songs. The festival marks the beginning of the Christmas season in Scandinavia, and it is meant to bring hope and light during the darkest time of the year.

Not anymore. At least one school in Sweden has compromised the celebration in order to appease its Muslim students. According to a Dec. 10, 2022 Swedish report (English translation here),

Do you expect Santas, caroler and gingerbread men in the Lucia parade? Not at St Mary’s School (Mariehemsskolan) in Umeå. There it has been decided that the 40 or so children aged 7 to 10 who will take part in the Lucia procession will do so without the traditional elements of a Lucia celebration. The reason for this is Muslim children who dropped out of last year’s celebration because their parents were uncomfortable with the connection between the celebration and Christmas….  The children will also not sing the traditional Lucia songs. The choir director says that many children have been excluded over the years because Swedish schools focused so much on the Lucia festival and it was “so incredibly traditionally Christian.”

Note how the choir director makes it seem that Muslim children were “excluded,” when in fact they, or rather their parents, were the ones who chose exclusion.

Now rid of any distinctly Christmas/Christian trappings, St. Mary’s school posted a picture of one of its recent and highly “watered-down” Lucia rehearsals—boasting a very young Muslim girl dressed in full black hijab.

Such is Islam’s ongoing “contribution” to Sweden.  Since that Scandinavian nation opened its door to multiculturalism and migration—the overwhelming majority of which has been Muslim—violent crimes have increased by 300% and rapes by 1,472%.  (These figures are based on a 2015 report; as Muslim migration has continued to soar over the last nearly eight years, these stats have likely gotten worse.)

Aside from bringing an exponential rise in mayhem, the growing Muslim population is, as this recent development attests, also slowly but surely erasing—“canceling”—Sweden’s indigenous culture and former Christian heritage.  In this case, however, their success is entirely predicated on Sweden’s willing cooperation.

Sweden, of course, is symbolic of the West in general. Expressions of Christmas, particularly the Nativity scene, are being suppressed all throughout the West to appease Muslims. A few examples come from the UK (here and here), Italy (here and here), Germany (here and here), and Belgium (here and here).

In New York City, beginning as far back as 2002, public schools were allowed to display the religious symbols of all religions—including the star and crescent of Islam—except for Christianity, with a particular emphasis on banning the Nativity scene.

NEW BOOK BY RAYMOND IBRAHIM: Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam

New title by scholar and historian Raymond Ibrahim presents "vivid and dramatic profiles of eight extraordinary warriors—some saints, some sinners—who defended the Christian West against Islamic invasions."

"Discover the real Count Dracula, Spain’s El Cid, England’s Richard Lionheart, and many other historical figures, whose true and original claim to fame revolved around their defiant stance against jihadist aggression. An instructive and inspiring read; whereas Sword and Scimitar revolved around decisive battles, Defenders of the West revolves around decisive men." (From the publisher's description.)

I saw the announcement of this title (just published in late July) while traveling earlier this year, and have just now purchased the Kindle edition and begun to read it. The publisher's blurb and the solid but reserved Foreword by Victor Davis Hanson don't even begin to do it justice. 

Ibrahim's Introduction positively crackles with intelligence and energy, and advances with a certain intensity — even ferocity — his warnings about Islam, as well as his warnings concerning the ever weakening postmodern, post-Christian West, which in spite of its superiority in force over the Islamic world, nevertheless is feeble in its belief in and defense of its own heritage, purpose and future. This is a major book with many lessons for us, won at great cost by valiant figures of our culture's past.

The below review by Mark Tapson frames this important new work in vigorous and appropriate terms.

Order Raymond Ibrahim’s Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam HERE.

Learn more about Raymond Ibrahim's writing and sign up for his regular posts HERE.

Defenders of the West

Raymond Ibrahim profiles eight heroes in the clash of civilizations.

by Mark Tapson, FrontPage Mag, July 28, 2022

Historiography has been dominated in recent decades almost exclusively by leftists determined to take a wrecking ball to the glorious edifice of Western civilization in the name of social justice and multiculturalism. New York Times propagandist Nikole Hannah-Jones of the widely-debunked but nonetheless influential 1619 Project comes to mind. The coordinated mission of such activists has been to pervert and subvert the grand narrative of our culture into a sordid tale of oppression, exploitation, and white supremacy, and to brand all our flawed heroes as racists and knock them off their pedestals, both figuratively and literally.

This is one reason why the new book Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, by historian Raymond Ibrahim... is such a refreshing, even thrilling read. As if the title alone weren’t guaranteed to inflame Progressive sensibilities, the book is unabashedly dedicated to “all the Past, Present, and Future Defenders of that which is Good, Right, and True.” Standing up for the Good, the Right, and the True (capitalized, no less) in our postmodern, post-Christian era? That’s a bold, increasingly rare position for any historian and publisher (Bombardier Books, in this case) to take today.

Defenders is a sort of follow-up to Ibrahim’s essential 2018 book Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West. That book centered on decisive battles in the clash of civilizations, while the newer one zeroes in on the profiles of eight decisive men in that ongoing conflict, between the 11^th and 15^th centuries, from Spain’s El Cid and England’s Richard Lionheart to lesser-known but no less heroic figures such as France’s Saint Louis and the “Albanian Braveheart” Skanderbeg.

Raymond Ibrahim: 'The Black Lives that Don’t Matter: 50 Christians Murdered in Their Church'

Muslims persecute Christians globally and commit genocide in Nigeria, but the West, including western Christians, are silent.


The Black Lives that Don’t Matter: 50 Christians Murdered in Their Church

by Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone Institute, June 12, 2022





Last Sunday, June 5, 2022, Islamic terrorists stormed the St. Francis Catholic Church in Ondo, Nigeria, and massacred more than 50 Christians who were otherwise peacefully worshipping their God. Videos, according to one report, “showed church worshippers lying in pools of blood while people around them wailed.”

As terrible as this massacre might seem, it is just the proverbial “tip of the iceberg”: over the years, Muslims have assaulted, shot up, or torched countless churches in Nigeria. Below are just three other examples:

• Easter Sunday, Apr. 20, 2014: Islamic terrorists torched a packed church; 150 Christians were killed and countless injured.

• Easter Sunday, Apr. 8, 2012: explosives planted by Muslims detonated near two packed churches; more than 50 Christians were killed and unknown numbers injured.

• Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2011: Muslim terrorists shot up and bombed three churches; 37 Christians were killed, 57 injured.

The Christians of Nigeria are, in fact, being purged in a genocide, according to several NGOs (here and here, for instance). One Christian is killed every two hours in Nigeria. According to an August 2021 report, since the Islamic insurgency began in earnest in July 2009— first at the hands of the Islamic terrorist organization Boko Haram, and later by Fulani, Muslim herdsmen, also motivated by jihadist ideology to seize Christian (“infidel”) land—more than 60,000 Christians have either been murdered during raids, or abducted, never to be seen again. During this same timeframe, approximately 20,000 churches and Christian schools were torched and destroyed by “Allahu Akbar” screaming Muslims.

Raymond Ibrahim: 'The Muslim Appropriation of Mary'

In this second in our series for the Nativity Season, Raymond Ibrahim shows how contemporary Islam perpetuates the blasphemous appropriation of the Ever-Virgin Mary, the Mother of God (Greek: Theotokos), first initiated by the depraved false prophet Muhammad fourteen-hundred years ago, and why it is essential for Christians to be aware of the truth behind Islam's "veneration" of Mary. 

Using the Virgin Mary "as a model of 'open borders' between religious and multicultural worlds" in an effort to reconcile Islam and Catholicism is to deny Christ and His Most Pure Mother, and reveals those behind such initiatives as full-blown apostates from the Christian Faith and self-condemned.

The Muslim Appropriation of Mary

by Raymond Ibrahim, February 21, 2021

In “Vatican: Mary is Catholic-Muslim Bridge,” Jules Gomes of Church Militant interviews me:

VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Pontifical International Marian Academy (PAMI) is promoting the Blessed Virgin as a bridge reconciling Islam and Catholicism following the Abu Dhabi pact between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb.

On Thursday, the Marian academy in Rome launched a 10-week webinar series titled “Mary, a model for faith and life for Christianity and Islam” in collaboration with the Grand Mosque of Rome and the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy.

Based on his belief that Mary is “a Jewish, Christian and Muslim woman,” Fr. Gian Matteo Roggio, organizer of the Muslim-Catholic dialogue series on Our Lady, is seeking to mobilize Mary as a model of “open borders” between religious and multicultural worlds.

Mary responds “to the genetic codes of Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” affirms Roggio, a member of the religious order of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, writing in the Italian liberal Catholic periodical Famiglia Cristiana.

Islamic historian Raymond Ibrahim told Church Militant that “this series is yet another attempt to try to convince Catholics that Islam is somehow similar to their Faith when, in fact, Islam appropriates the names and sacred auras of biblical figures but then recasts them with completely different attributes — ones that reaffirm Islam as the ‘true’ faith.”

Ibrahim, a prolific writer, and the author of recent bestseller Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West, explained:

For example, the series’ organizers insist that Mary was a “Jewish, Christian and Muslim woman,” which is only two-thirds true: Yes, she was a Jew by race and background, and yes, she was a Christian in that she literally birthed Christ(ianity), but she was most certainly not a Muslim — a term and religion that did not exist until 600 years after the end of her earthly life.

“Worse, far from being the Eternal Virgin, as she is for 1.5 billion Christians — Catholics and Orthodox — Islam presents Mary, the Mother of Christ, as ‘married’ to and ‘copulating’ with Muhammad in paradise,” Ibrahim revealed.

In an article for Frontpage Magazine titled “Muhammad and the Virgin Mary: A Match Made in Heaven?” Ibrahim cited a hadith (Islamic canonical tradition) wherein Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, declares: “Allah will wed me in paradise to Mary, daughter of Imran.”

Far from being the Perpetual Virgin — Islam presents Mary, the Mother of Christ, as ‘married’ to and ‘copulating’ with Muhammad in paradise.Tweet

Few Christians know about this claim, but medieval Christians living under Islamic occupation were familiar with it because their Muslim conquerors regularly humiliated them with this text to refute the Church’s claim of Mary’s perpetual virginity, writes Ibrahim.

In fact, Egypt’s former deputy minister of religious endowments, Dr. Salem Abdul Galil, openly declared that among other biblical women like Moses’ sister and Pharaoh’s wife, “Our prophet Muhammad — prayers and peace be upon him — will be married to (the Virgin) Mary in paradise.”

Ibrahim obtained the Arabic video of Galil stating this on the Mahwar television network.

“Far from creating ‘commonalities,’ it should be clear that such appropriation creates conflict,” Ibrahim told Church Militant.

Mary is a Jewish, Christian and Muslim woman.  The prolific writer elaborated:

By way of analogy, imagine you have a grandfather whom you are particularly fond of, and out of the blue, a stranger says: “Hey, that’s my grandfather!” Then — lest you think this stranger is somehow trying to become your friend — he adds: “And everything you thought you knew about grandpa is wrong!” Would that endear this stranger to you?

The webinars will end during the month of Ramadan in the conference room of the Great Mosque of Rome with “Mary’s dates” — a reference to the fruit of the date palm and a verse from the Koran (Sura 19.22–26).

Raymond Ibrahim: 'How Islam Mutilates Christ'

 "While relying on the figures of the Old and New Testaments—for the weight of antiquity and authority attached to their names—Islam completely recasts them in a manner that validates itself and invalidates Judaism and Christianity.  This would seem to burn rather than build bridges." 

— Raymond Ibrahim

As we enter into the Nativity Fast and the Advent/Christmas season, it seems an especially proper time to post some recent articles of a theological nature. This new piece by Raymond Ibrahim surveys numerous examples of how Islam strives to appropriate Jesus Christ, Abraham, and a whole range of Old and New Testament figures, and even some Christian saints, but as Muslim heroes, distorting historical fact and mutilating their actual theological and spiritual message and import. 

This is a well known tactic of Muslim 'dawah' which dates back to Muhammad himself, and must be exposed as one of the primary lies of the Same God Heresy which Islamic apologists and well intentioned but gullible Christians so often promote.

How Islam Mutilates Christ

by Raymond Ibrahim, 11/2/2021

Not only does Islam claim Abraham, Moses, and Jesus; it apparently claims post biblical figures, such as Saint George, as well.  So states a recent article on My London, the real point of which is apparently to assert Christian and Muslim “commonalities.”  Thus, we learn that “on St George’s Day, which in Eastern Christianity is marked on May 6, Muslims in the area [of Nazareth] join Christians in their venerations of the saint.”

Judaism also finds its way into this article on religious syncretism: “According to some Sufi traditions, the [Hebrew] Prophet Elias, Al-Khidr [a character in the Koran], and Saint George are all the same person. They believe Elias reappears at different times in human history under different names to help stricken believers in times of crisis.”

The entire article is a testimony to the widely entrenched conviction that, because Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share many of the same characters, creating rapprochement between the three faiths is not just easy; it’s the most natural thing to do.

Left out of this calculus is the all-important fact that Islam does not treat biblical characters the way Christianity does.  Christians accept the Hebrew Bible, or “Old Testament,” as it is. They do not add, take away, or distort the accounts of the patriarchs that Jews also rely on.

Conversely, while also relying on the figures of the Old and New Testaments—for the weight of antiquity and authority attached to their names—Islam completely recasts them in a manner that validates itself and invalidates Judaism and Christianity.  This would seem to burn rather than build bridges.

Consider, for example, Islam’s treatment of Jesus (‘Isa in the Koran).  Not only does Islam vehemently deny Christ’s sonship to God, a new book on Islamic sources inadvertently underscores the fact that ‘Isa is the antithesis of Jesus—his doppelganger.

World Watch List 2020: '260 Million Christians Experience High Levels of Persecution'

"...Not only does 'Islamic oppression' remain the chief 'source of persecution' faced by Christians in 7 of the absolute ten worst nations, but 38 of the 50 nations composing the list are either Muslim majority or have a sizable Muslim population."

A Global Catastrophe: '260 Million Christians Experience High Levels of Persecution'
by Raymond Ibrahim, February 3, 2020

The global persecution of Christians has reached unprecedented levels: “260 million Christians experience high levels of persecution” around the world, notes the recently published World Watch List 2020, an annual report that ranks the top 50 countries where Christians are most persecuted for their faith.

Additionally, “2,983 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons. On average, that’s 8 Christians killed every day for their faith”: “9,488 churches or Christian buildings were attacked,” and “3,711 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned.” (Note: All quotes in this article are from the WWL 2020 report.)

Dictatorial paranoia continues to make North Korea (#1) the worst nation. Christians found there are instantly “deported to labor camps as political criminals or even killed on the spot.”

Otherwise, and as has been the case in all statistics and reports on the global persecution of Christians, not only does “Islamic oppression” remain the chief “source of persecution” faced by Christians in 7 of the absolute ten worst nations, but 38 of the 50 nations composing the list are either Muslim majority or have a sizeable Muslim population.

"Perhaps the most disturbing trend is that the amount of persecuted Christians continues to grow year after year."

The overwhelming majority of these Muslim nations are governed by some form of shari‘a (Islamic law). It is either directly enforced by government or society or, more frequently, both, though societies—family members in particular—tend to be more zealous in its application. Brief summaries of the seven Muslim nations making the top ten follow:

Raymond Ibrahim: 'Islamic reform? Top Muslim university says no'

"Renewal is in no way possible concerning those texts which are irrefutable in their certainty and stability." 

- Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb 

"The problem is that many of the worst teachings plaguing the Islamic and non-Islamic worlds are derived directly from those texts deemed entirely reliable." 

- Raymond Ibrahim

Islamic reform? Top Muslim university says no

by Raymond Ibrahim, American Thinker, February 16, 2020

Pope Francis greets Egypt's Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb at Abu Dhabi Conference in 2019

Largely unknown to and unreported in the West, a large, two-day conference was recently hosted (Jan. 27–28) by Al Azhar University in Egypt and attended by the leading clerics and politicians from 46 nations. Titled "Renewal in Islamic Thought," it is currently the most significant response to Egyptian president Sisi's calls for reform, which he forcibly made on January 1, 2015.

The conference focused on the most pressing topics affecting the Islamic — and in some cases non-Islamic — world, including women's rights, government and society, and the question of "radicalization" and the emergence of jihadi terror groups such as the Islamic State.

I've watched many of the panels with great interest, and in the coming weeks, I hope to remark on some of these, but for now I wish to discuss what can be learned from the closing remarks of the grand imam of Al Azhar (and Pope Francis's good friend), Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb.

First, he — in agreement with the other clerics present — closed the door on the possibility for reform on a great number of issues: "Renewal," he announced, "is in no way possible concerning those texts which are irrefutable in their certainty and stability; as for those texts that are not entirely credible, they are subject to ijtihad [reinterpretation, especially based on changing circumstances]."

'The problem is that many of the worst teachings plaguing the Islamic and non-Islamic worlds are derived directly from those texts deemed entirely reliable.'

In plain language, the teachings of those Islamic texts that are deemed entirely reliable — chief among them, the Koran as well as certain hadith, including, according to mainstream Sunnism, all nine volumes of Sahih Bukhari — are not subject to any change; only those secondary Islamic texts, including many other volumes of hadith, the sira (biography of Muhammad), and other works of history, are open to debate.

The problem is that some — many — of the worst teachings plaguing the Islamic and non-Islamic worlds are derived directly from those texts deemed entirely reliable. The Koran, for example, very clearly permits the sexual enslavement of non-Muslim women, the beating of one's wife, and polygamy. The Koran calls on Muslims to have hate for and when convenient to war on non-Muslims just because they are non-Muslims. 

Sword and Scimitar: 'Compelling Reminder of the Terrifying Dynamic which Continues to Drive the Islamic World'

An in-depth, "must read" review of Raymond Ibrahim's most recent masterwork.

Sword and Scimitar: “A Compelling Reminder of the Terrifying Dynamic which Continues to Drive the Islamic World”

10/02/2019 by Raymond Ibrahim

Note: The following book review of Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West was written by Terry Scambray and first appeared in the Sept. 2019 issue of the New Oxford Review:

___________________

We judge individuals by what they say and what they do. We judge cults, religions and ideologies the same way; that is, by their doctrines and history.

Which is common sense, of course.

Apparently though, common sense is abandoned when it comes to ideologies like Marxism which has largely escaped such scrutiny by our schools and popular culture; and now the same cover up is happening with Islam.

But Raymond Ibrahim, fluent in Arabic, is an equal opportunity Middle East scholar committed to truth rather than conforming to dangerous fads.

Ibrahim gained attention with his revealing translations in his 2007 book, The Al Qaeda Reader, which showed the difference between what Osama bin Laden said in Arabic to Muslims and what he said for receptive, if not gullible, Western audiences.

Ibrahim’s second book, Crucified Again, showed the murder and destruction that Christians are enduring at the hands of Muslims throughout the world.

In Sword and Scimitar, Ibrahim begins by explaining Mohammed’s doctrine of jihad or “holy war”: “Whereas the rewards of the pre-Islamic tribal raid were limited to temporal spoils and came with the risk of death, the deified raid (jihad) offered rewards in the here and the hereafter – meaning it was essentially risk free – and thus led to a newborn fanaticism and determination.” In other words, robbery, murder and enslavement were sacralized and then transformed into a prodigious engine of Islamic conquest.

Conquest being the major feature of Islam’s 1,400 year history, Sword and Scimitar takes the reader on a tour – “a tour of force” – as represented by eight significant battles and an array of lesser clashes.

Skillfully relying on first person descriptions, Ibrahim’s narration of these battles is gripping and suspenseful while also evoking the pain and terror of warfare. Especially after the current revival of jihad, his recounting of these barbaric episodes and their consequences is not comforting.