Convicted Virginia Jihadi reveals what ISIS has in common with Orthodox Christian Monasticism

This revealing quote from Virginia Muslim and convicted jihadi Mohamad Jamal Khweis tells us something very important about the Islamic State (ISIS):

“Our daily life was basically prayer, eating, and learning about the religion for about eight hours.”

ISIS believes and practices Islam. They teach it, follow its prescribed cycle of prayers — religiously — and act upon it. Religiously.

This story reminds me of an article I posted here a few years ago — The Religious Equivalency Fallacy, Pt. I: On Zeal and Struggle — in which I discussed the difference between what happens to Orthodox Christians when they become more zealous (they typically become peaceful monastics) and Muslims (alarming numbers feel compelled to become violent and murderous jihadis).

In this account of life with ISIS, we learn that their "rule" (their "typicon", if you will), consumes about the same amount of time dedicated to religious and spiritual pursuits as that of Orthodox Christian monastics, who may be in church services, in prayer, and reading spiritual books for several hours each day, twice as much during Great Lent. 

With this in mind, it is especially significant how many Muslims, both in the Islamic world and in the West, support ISIS and its brand of Islam:

Saudi Prince vows to 'return to moderate, open Islam'

"Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman has vowed to restore 'moderate' Islam that is open to all religions in the world."

My response? You can't return to something that has never existed. This is a precursor to something even darker... 

Saudi Arabia's specific origins date from the late 18th century, when reformist preacher Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, striving to purge Sunni Islam of heretical accretions and restore pure Islam and the doctrine of tawhid, allied himself to tribal leader Muhammad bin Saud, promising him "power and glory" and rule over "lands and men" if he was faithful in protecting and spreading the Wahhabi doctrine of pure Islam. [1]  This happened nearly two centuries before the discovery of the vast oil fields in the Arabian Peninsula; quite a fortuitous deal for the House of Saud.

Does this offer sound familiar? It should.

For one, this durable religious/political alignment of course takes its example from that of Muhammad himself, the founder of Islam, who, in obedience to Allah's dictates, melded strict monotheism (tawhid) with totalitarian governance in order to achieve worldly power and glory (and multiple wives and slaves). After Muhammad's death, allegiance to him was replaced by allegiance to the caliph, and successive generations of Islamic clerics and Islamic schools of jurisprudence expounded on the dynamic synthesis between the religious and political spheres. In our time, Saudi Arabia (Sunni Islam) and Iran (Shia) have come to represent modern efforts apply this Islamic form of governance, based on the Koran, the example of Muhammad, and Islamic jurisprudence.

But al Wahhab's offer to Saud also hearkens back to one of the temptations offered by Satan to Jesus in the wilderness following His baptism in the Jordan by John. Jesus refused the temptations, as we know, but Islam has advanced throughout history based precisely on the promise of the temptation to "power and glory" and rule over "lands and men." This is more than a clue as to the source of Islam's power.

It should be acknowledged by all that the draconian forms of punishment mandated by Islamic law (e.g., death penalty for apostasy, blasphemy or fitna, amputations for theft, stonings or canings for adultery, etc.) are enforced by not only Saudi Arabia and Iran, but by ISIS and all other Islamic movements and states which seek to adhere to the original, pure form of Islam. In fact, Wahhabism/Salafism may be properly seen as a forerunner of the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and the whole gamut of jihadist groups, which use terrorism as one of many tools to attack non Muslims in the dar al Harb (House of War) and advance Islam (the dar al Islam). The non-violent Muslim organizations waging stealth jihad (Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR, etc.) derive from the same roots and have the same goals, yet use deception, finance, lawfare, infiltration of Western governments, educational systems and media to advance Islam.

Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman is spinning some seriously inflated taqiyya with his vow that “We are returning to what we were before – a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world."

The truly dangerous thrust of this initiative, however, is that Salman's Islamic deception may actually be embraced by a world seduced by spiritual delusion, and therefore hungry to believe a lie.

William Kilpatrick - 'A Dark-Forces Assault on the Church?'

"The current situation of the Church vis-à-vis Islam is due in part to a dual assault—one aimed at heightening Islam’s traditional aggressiveness, and the other aimed at weakening the Church’s traditional defenses. The result is a kind of dance of death: a ramping up of Islamic militancy matched by an exaggerated emphasis on tolerance, openness, and welcoming on the part of Catholics."

William Kilpatrick's analysis is specifically directed towards the Roman Catholic response to Islam, but his insights may be profitably applied by Orthodox Christians inclined to "think of Muslim migration as no different from other migrations... simply a question of being welcoming or unwelcoming, of being charitable or uncharitable."

As Kilpatrick notes, "Many Muslim leaders view migrations in a different light. For them it is not a question of loving one’s neighbor, it is a question of who is to be master."

A Dark-Forces Assault on the Church?

William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine, October 2, 2017:

For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers … against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:12)

It’s not easy to discern the role played by the spiritual hosts of wickedness in world affairs. No one knows with any certainty what is going on in that realm, or what part the principalities and powers play in shaping events. But these are exceedingly strange times—so strange that it is difficult to make sense of some of what is happening from a this-worldly perspective. So it seems worthwhile to try to understand some phenomena from an other-worldly viewpoint.

One of the strangest developments of our times is the Church’s response to Islam and Islamic migration. Since the response runs entirely counter to the Church’s historical response, it seems legitimate to wonder if other-worldly forces are at play. If that’s the case, it should not be unexpected. Christ promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against his Church, but the implication of his words is that hell would surely try.

"Coming soon: 'Lincolnshire Sharia Police'"

YouTube commenters are blasting the UK's Lincolnshire Police for releasing a pro-Muslim video on their channel. People are calling out the video as PC propaganda.

The video is Ellen DeGeneres-tier pap. At the 8:23 mark, Bana Gora, Chief Executive of the Muslim Women's Council in Bradford says the following:

"I think for us as Muslims we're enraged when we hear people are committing attacks in our religion -- in the name of Islam. For us, our religion is a peaceful religion. And anybody who doesn't abide to that is outside the religion."

That old familiar bit. Anyone with superficial knowledge of Mohammed knows this is false. Gora, along with the other interviewees, either have skin-deep knowledge of their own religion or are malevolent tricksters in the ongoing hypnosis of the UK.

May St John Damascene pray for the British Isles! Their institutions have fallen for the wicked pseudo-reality. They can't seem to help themselves. We're witnessing a collective return to the vomit in realtime (Proverbs 26.11).

Below, I've included a sample of the near unanimous negative backlash in the YouTube comments. Fair warning, the language in the comments section of the YouTube video itself are wide-open and NSFW.

Brian sanders
What a lot of Taqiyya,don't believe a word of this.

Hippie Gold
Uh, there were no children being raped in this video. I thought you wanted to accurately portray british muslims?

Handyjack
You can ignore reality but you can’t ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.

amoergosum3
100% taqiyya. 

Coming soon: 'Lincolnshire Sharia Police'.

R G
Britain, the whole world is laughing at your weakness.

Joe John
Love the advertisement at the end for the Muslim faith.

Wake up Britains! Your government is funding Muslim proselytizing in the name of tolerance. The time to be concerned with appearing racist is over. The time to be concerned with tolerance is over. If you don't fight back your grandchildren won't have a Britain!

Pepper TN
Sad for the once Great Nation of Britain. The PC has gotten out of control.

les ferguson
Why no mention of the epidemic of grooming gangs prevalent throughout the UK , maybe this doesn't fit your propaganda narrative ,

St Jacob the Martyr of Lebanon - 'Refusing to accept the dark yoke of another god'

"God, not forgetting his saints, and being ever-benevolent to his people, especially knowing we need grace in these latter times," has revealed to the faithful a forgotten monastic confessor and witness, the Monk-Martyr Jacob of Hamatoura, Lebanon, sparking the revival of an ancient and long-ago devastated monastery.

In this Life, we see the example of an Orthodox Christian monastic who was pursued by Muslim invaders for witnessing to Christ by his holy life. They tried to convert him to Islam, but he refused to accept "the dark yoke of anther god." They then beheaded him and destroyed his monastery, burning his body and trying to eradicate all evidence that he had ever lived.

This happened six centuries ago. Sound familiar?

Now a new monastic brotherhood has revived the monastery and is openly venerating the great Martyr St Jacob! May the Lord protect them and multiply their efforts during these latter days! And may we all draw strength from their courage and the witness of all the holy martyrs, who refused to deny Jesus Christ and accept "the dark yoke of another god."

The Cedar of Lebanon: St Jacob the Martyr

by Fr. John Valadez, Death To The World, October 10, 2017:

As a cedar of Lebanon groweth without fear of martyrdom or death, thou didst become a victor O Father Jacob. Thou didst conquer death in thy body when by humility thou didst control the passions and when thou wast burnt like incense as a sacrifice. Intercede with Christ to grant us great mercy.

+Apolytikion in the Third Mode

The relics of the newly revealed martyr, St Jacob of Lebanon.

Above the Kadeesha River sits a pearl of ascetic struggle unworthy of the world. Burrowed in the caves of Mount Hamatoura exists the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, overlooking a land that once flourished with monastic fervor. Until the late 90’s this monastery was in ruins, uninhabited, and forgotten since times of persecution and the unrelenting sword of Mamluk devastation. [1]

Geronda Panteleimon and the brotherhood at Hamatoura.

Geronda Panteleimon, who lived in obedience to Elder Isaac (Attalah) and the newly canonized St Paisius, received a visitation from a forgotten martyr who directed him to rebuild his monastery in Lebanon, Geronda Panteleimon’s homeland. This martyr is St Jacob of Hamatoura, whose desert dwelling is now re-inhabited and re-ignited, becoming an spiritual oasis for monks and all people who seek Truth.

Convicted Jihadist Rises to Top Post at London Southwark Council

Convicted jihadist, Mulumebet Girma, was given a "top job" at the Southwark Council in London in 2013. She served time for assisting in the attempted murder of Tube passengers in 2005. Here's the Sky News coverage.

Girma was fired from her post at the council after her involvement in the terror plot came to light.

In a statement, Girma claims she told her employer that she had been jailed. Yet, seemingly, no one could be bothered to run a proper background check or type her name into a DuckDuckGo or Google search bar. A simple search would have uncovered her role in the July 21, 2005 terror plot with her brother-in-law, Hussein Osman. 

It took me less than 20 seconds before finishing my morning coffee to find her very own Wikipedia page. Get an eyeful. 

The face of your oppressor. Girma on the cover of the council magazine.

According to the BBC's report, Girma's position at the council did not give her access to police watch list data. Access to such information would put Londoners directly in harm's way if she were still waging political jihad. Even if she repented of her involvement in the 2005 terror plot there's still the risk of her being "gotten to" by those itching to bring Londoners into submission. 

That said, The Sun reports that she controlled a database that listed individuals with potential "links to terrorism..." 

What more can be said about this precarious situation? London has a habit of hiring negligent and/or degenerate elements to their housing councils. Remember the infamous Rotherham rape gang cover-up? PC culture seems to grease the gears of council business. 

Citizens of England: Your people are on fire and your leaders tune their fiddles.

More than Mercenaries: Russians Martyred by Muslims for refusing to deny Christ and embrace Islam

The Quran's commands in action: Islam's fourteen centuries of using the sword to try to force Christians to commit apostasy and deny Jesus Christ continues with the execution of two Russian soldiers.

The Quran explicitly commands Muslims to fight against and terrorize the unbelievers till they embrace Islam or “feel themselves subdued” as is seen in these verses:

Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [i.e. Islam] among the people of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Sura 9:29) 

So, when you meet those who disbelieve, smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly on them... Thus you are ordered by Allah to continue in carrying out jihad against the disbelievers till they embrace Islam. (Sura 47:4)

This of course brings to mind the powerful witness of New Martyr Evgeny Rodionov of Chechnya, who, after being captured by Muslims, refused to remove his baptismal cross and deny Christ. He was faithful to the end, and is now widely venerated as a martyr and saint by Orthodox Christians all around the globe. I saw icons of him at a recent visit to a ROCOR parish in Atlanta.

As of now, we know very little about Roman Zabolotny and Grigory Surkanov, except that they refused to deny Jesus Christ, and chose to die as Orthodox Christians. In many lives of the Holy Neo-Martyrs under the Turkish Muslim yoke, we saw sometimes deeply flawed people who came to life in Christ when confronted with the choice of death or denying Him to live as a Muslim. Many were offered riches, comfort and women in addition to being threatened with death, and still confessed Jesus Christ. The reality of one's immanent death helps sharply reveal some depths of the mystery of the soul. 

May Roman's and Grigory's sins be consigned to oblivion, may their memory be eternal, and may they receive the crown of martyrdom for witnessing to their faith with their very lives. May we be inspired by these ordinary, yet valiant and extraordinary believers, who were faithful unto death. 

Still from ISIS video, showing Roman Vasilievich Zabolotny and Grigory Mikhailovich Surkanov

Russian mercenaries captured by ISIS ‘are executed after refusing to reject Christianity and become Muslim' 

by Will Stewart, MailOnline, October 6, 2017 

(thanks to Jihad Watch and Blazing Cat Fur):

Two Russian mercenaries reportedly captured by ISIS jihadists are feared to have been executed because they refused to read out a statement saying they rejected their Christian faith and had become Muslim.

Mandalay Bay Owners Solicited Matching Donations to CAIR, SPLC

Jim Murren, CEO of MGM Resorts International, asked employees to donate to Council on American Islamic Relations and The Southern Poverty Law Center, other groups after Charlottesville and Barcelona. 

Stephen Paddock, who may have converted to Islam months ago, reportedly murdered 58 concert goers from the 32nd floor of the MGM Resorts owned Mandalay Bay hotel casino last week. 

Judi McLeod at Canada Free Press reports that the CEO sent a letter to employees where he “denounced hatred and bigotry” and promised to match employee donations to the Muslim Brotherhood-Hamas front group, CAIR, and the soft-on-Sharia SPLC. This letter was hot on the heels of the white nationalist/Confederate monument rally in Charlottesville.

Here's the letter in full from McLeod's report:

They still don't get it. Sending resources to CAIR and the SPLC is no answer. Let’s break down a few points in the letter (emphasis mine):

The protection of human dignity, demonstrated in the form of tolerance and respect for all people, is the core of our identity…we must stand strongly in defiance of violence, bigotry, and anything that threatens our precious right to equality.

Human dignity

A kafir can be terrorized (Koran 8:12) and deceived (86:15). That said, shall we review some contemporary Muslim views of sexuality?

Defiance of violence

The Sira documents the beheading of 800 Jewish captives while Mohammed watched with his child-bride, Aisha (I690).

Defiance of bigotry

According to Dr Bill Warner at the Center for the Study of Political Islam, the amount of anti-Jewish text in the Koran, Sira, and Hadith surpasses that of Mein Kampf by 2.3%.

Tolerance & Equality

Under Sharia Law, Christians are second-class citizens in the fullest sense. Jihad Watch has a helpful article that unpacks the subjugation of non-Muslims.

The insanity of the Las Vegas murders are another log on the fire of our civilization. I've yet to read reports of Murren sending a similar letter to employees after the events from October 1st. May it remain that way. The victims and their families ought not be insulted with thoughtless piety (at best) or tolerance of Sharia (at worst). Our culture's habit of connecting CAIR and the SPLC with the virtues of tolerance is a kick in the teeth to peaceful people.

Edit: Paddock reportedly killed 58 people, not 59. The body count is 59 counting himself. This change has been made in the article.

You can follow CJ Wyatt on Twitter.

Coming October 7: St Vladimir's Seminary Orthodox Education Day: 'Modern Martyrs'

While I am glad to see this focus on the New Martyrs of the 21st Century, organized by one of American Orthodoxy's most important institutions, and am very interested to explore the various materials, talks, and hoped-for reviews, there remains an enormous question looming over the event, an 'elephant in the room' if you will:

Will Islam be discussed?

And if so, will Islam's commands to wage jihad against Christians — especially those verses in the Quran explicitly cited by all Muslim persecutors of Christians, from ISIS to Boko Haram to "known wolf" jihadis in Europe and North America, to the "ordinary" Muslims in Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Kosovo, Indonesia, etc. — be honestly and straightforwardly addressed?

Judging from the more thorough event description recently posted on the SVS and OCA websites and featured below, it appears Islam may only be mentioned in an oblique manner if at all, but I am hopeful the truth will be spoken.

Some may wholly reject the notion that Islam bears any responsibility for Muslims murdering Christians throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Balkans, etc. But what factual evidence could they present to support their claims? The Muslim jihadis themselves cite Islam's sacred texts in support of their actions. Even more to the point, there is ominous widespread support among Muslims — both in the Islamic wold and in the West — for ISIS and jihad (see here, here, here and here).

Others may ask, why is it at all important for Orthodox Christians to discuss whether Islam has anything to do with the global phenomenon of Muslim persecution for Christians.

Perhaps because the saints have always openly addressed the challenge from Islam:

Google enforcing Sharia Law, blocking ads containing the keyword 'jihadwatch'

At some point this blog will no doubt be shut down by Google. Before that happens I hope to have an independent hosting service lined up to host Facing Islam. But no matter what we do,  the 'powers and principalities' will do all they can to stamp out any public presentation of True, Apostolic, Orthodox Christianity, and any true, Apostolic, Patristic, Christian criticism of Islam. 

I have not experienced any problems yet of this nature. That is no doubt due in large measure to the fact that I have never tried to monetize this blog. I have been criticized by some family members for not doing so, but to me, it is far more important to do all I can to expose the lie of Islam and advance the Truth of Jesus Christ as lived and experienced in the Orthodox Church, than to try to make a few dollars from your clicks on distracting ads.

I do hope at some point to offer some ebooks of my writings for sale here. We'll see what happens when the time comes.

True Christianity itself is being criminalized. We are heading into a period of intense persecution even in the West, and a time for Christians to retreat to the catacombs.

Google is now disapproving ads containing the keyword “jihadwatch”

by Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, September 17, 2017:

I heard from two writers Saturday who told me that Google had banned their book ads because they contained the keyword “jihadwatch.” Note that both writers say that their ads had not been active for years.

I’ve written a great deal lately about how the Left is using Charlottesville as its Reichstag Fire moment to crush all dissent, and this is yet another manifestation of that effort. They’re doing everything they can to deny all access to the means of communication to those whose opinions they hate. It’s a frankly authoritarian agenda.

On Saturday morning, I received this email from Mark Durie, the author of The Third Choice and many other excellent books about Islam, Sharia, and jihad. Durie subsequently wrote me: “It seems that even googling ‘jihadwatch’ is deemed an act of hatred.”