Islam's 'Purpose Driven' Jihad, Part 6 (Epilogue)

Continued from Part 5

VI. Epilogue

Although in this short article I have concentrated only on certain aspects of jihad, I think it is worth revisiting Rick Warren’s five purposes, briefly reworking them for Muslims. A full exposition of these would be a book-length project, but here are a few thoughts to consider.

 The Purpose Driven Muslim

1. We were planned for God's pleasure

so your first purpose is to offer real worship.

"Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah" -- Hamas's Al Aqsa TV 

Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna hoped to change "the status of the Mosque, bringing it from a static place of worship to a center of Islamic revolution", while Youssef Qaradawi, unconditionally endorsed by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood operating in Canada, wrote: "It must be the role of the mosque to guide the public policy of a nation, raise awareness of critical issues, and reveal its enemies. From ancient times the mosque has had a role in urging jihad for the sake of Allah." 

2. We were formed for God's family (the Muslim umma)

so your second purpose is to enjoy real fellowship.

"Take not Jews and Christians as friends; they are friends of each other. Whoso of you makes them his friends is one of them" (Quran 5:51). 

"The unbelievers of the People of the Book (Christians and Jews)...are the worst of creatures" (Quran 98:6). 

“Let believers [Muslims] not take for friends and allies infidels [non-Muslims] instead of believers. Whoever does this shall have no relationship left with Allah — unless you but guard yourselves against them, taking precautions” (Quran 3:28).

3. We were created to become like Muhammad,

so your third purpose is to learn real discipleship.

“No religious leader has as much influence on his followers as does Muhammad (Peace be upon him) the last Prophet of Islam….And Muhammad as the final messenger of God enjoys preeminence when it comes to revelation – the Qur’an – and traditions. So much so that the words, deeds and silences (that which he saw and did not forbid) of Muhammad became an independent source of Islamic law. Muslims, as a part of religious observance, not only obey, but also seek to emulate and imitate their Prophet in every aspect of life. Thus Muhammad is the medium as well as a source of the divine law.” - Muqtedar Khan of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy

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.~ St. Gregory Palamas

4. We were shaped for serving God

so your fourth purpose is to practice real ministry.

“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” (Quran 9:29). 

“Kill the mushrikun [unbelievers] wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush” (Quran 9:5). 

“I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes” (Quran 8:12). 

“Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the enemies of Allah and your enemies” (Quran 8:60).

5. We were made for a mission

so your fifth purpose is to live out real evangelism.

Allah’s Messenger said: “I have been ordered [by Allah] to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah... so if they perform all that, then they save their lives and property from me.” (Sahih Bukhari, 1:2:25, also Sahih Muslim, 1:10:29-35.) 

The Islamist movement makes no secret of its intentions to convert the West. Its propaganda, published in booklets sold in all Euro- pean Islamic centers for the last thirty years, sets out its aim and the methods to achieve them. They include proselytism, conversion, marriage with local women, and, above all, immigration. Remembering that Muslims always began as a minority in the conquered countries (‘liberated,’ in Islamic terminology) before becoming a majority, the ideologists of this movement regard Islamic settlement in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere as a chance for Islam.- Bat Ye'or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam, p. 217 

“The earth belongs to Allah and his Apostle.” (Sahih Muslim, Book of Jihad, 3:17:4363; also Bukhari, Book of al-Jizya, 4:58:3167)

...

If you’re like me, after wading through such a distorted theological worldview, with its purpose the defeat and overthrow of the Christian Church, followed by global domination over all people, races and creeds, the big question is similar to Rick Warren’s question on the cover of his book: 

“So, what on earth do I do now?”

This is where Christianity, and especially Orthodox Christianity, I believe, has some big answers. God willing, in subsequent posts, I’ll try to explore some of these.

Islam's 'Purpose Driven' Jihad, Part 5

Continued from Part 4

V. Summary: the Purpose Driven Jihad

The grim continuity of Islam’s Purpose Driven Jihad against Christianity has shown itself:

• in the Arab Jihad Wave of the seventh and eighth centuries, with the subsequent subjugation and martyrdom of Christians and the destruction and desecration of churches, shrines and holy sites,
• in the Ottoman Jihad Wave beginning in the eleventh century, 
• in the steady parade of Neo-Martyrs under the Ottoman yoke (dating from the fifteenth through to the end of the nineteenth centuries), 
• in the Armenian/Orthodox genocide of the early 20th century, 
• in the destruction of Smyrna in 1922, 
• in the anti-Christian pogrom in Istanbul in 1955, 
• in the burgeoning catastrophe facing the Copts in Egypt, the Orthodox and Catholics in Syria and Lebanon, and Christians throughout the Islamic world.  
• through the consistent teachings of the Ulema, the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and through acknowledged Islamic authorities such as Al Azhar University in Cairo, and such texts as The Reliance of the Traveller, which all command jihad as warfare against unbelievers in order to spread Islam.

An extremist theology possessed of a relentless thread of belligerent teachings against the Christian Church, coupled with its self-perceived divine, unalterable directive to submit the whole world to its rule, has grave consequences. How to counter such a theology and teaching is one of the most profound and urgent crises facing the Orthodox Christian Church, and indeed all free people, in the 21st century.

To be concluded...

Persecution Myth? How the Present Explains the Past

Here is Raymond Ibrahim's take on the book by Candida Moss, The Myth of Persecution, which I addressed here.

Persecution Myth? How the Present Explains the Past

by Raymond Ibrahim

Despite the fact that Christian martyrdom under the militant Roman Empire has long been an unquestioned historical fact, Candida Moss in her new book The Myth of Persecution claims that it was largely a “myth,” that many of history’s best known narratives of Christian martyrs were entirely fabricated.

This thesis, as most modern-day academic theses concerning early history, is fundamentally based on conjecture, projections, and above all, anachronisms—the sort that earlier turned Christ into a homosexual hippie and Muhammad into a humanitarian feminist. Neither Moss nor anyone else can prove or disprove what the primary historical texts say—that Roman persecution of Christians was very real, widespread, and brutal.

We weren’t there.

But from an objective point of view, is it not more reasonable to accept the many testimonies of contemporary eyewitnesses, than it is the conjectures of a politically charged book that is separated from its subject by 2,000 years?

Among other ideas unintelligible and inapplicable to the ancient world, Moss invokes “T-shirts,” “favorite athletes,” and “brands of soda” to “prove” that the ancient narrative of Christians tortured and killed for their faith was all a gag to make a profit: “Martyrs were like the action heroes of the ancient world,” Moss says. “It was like getting your favorite athlete endorsing your favorite brand of soda. …Of course, the prices were completely jacked up.”

In short, the merit of Moss’ thesis rests in the fact that it satisfies a certain anti-Christian sentiment, that it satisfies a modern-day political perspective—and not that it offers any facts or serious arguments. By projecting cynical postmodern perspectives onto the mentalities of both Romans and Christians, who lived worlds and centuries away, the thesis is ultimately farcical.

Even so, let’s tackle the myth charge from a different angle.  Let’s leave the question of eyewitnesses, texts, and traditions, and instead rely on common sense—that which is in short supply in the academic community.  The fact is, we can often learn about the past by looking at the present. If at least 100 million Christians are currently being persecuted today, in an era when Western ideas of humanitarianism and religious tolerance have permeated the rest of the world—is it not reasonable to conclude that 2,000 years ago, when “might made right” and brutally prevailed, that Christians were also being persecuted then, especially when contemporary sources indicate as much?

Consider the modern Islamic world alone, where today’s overwhelming majority of horrific Christian persecution occurs, as documented in my new book Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians.  Today in the 21st century, Christians under Islam are still being tortured, imprisoned, enslaved, and killed; their churches and Bibles are routinely banned or burned.

Why is that?  Because Islam is a supremacist cult, which brooks no opposition and demands conformity, one way or the other: Islamic law (see Koran 9:29) teaches that those who come under its hegemony must either convert, or keep their faith but live as ostracized third-class citizens (dhimmis), or die. The supremacist culture of the Roman Empire—an even older martial cult devoted to the gods of war—was not much different.

If today’s Muslims—who are acquainted with modern ideas of humanitarianism and tolerance—are still brutally persecuting the Christian minorities in their midst, are we seriously to believe that the warlike Roman Empire, which existed at a time when brutality and cruelty were the expected norm, did not persecute Christians, especially when the records clearly say it did?  The Roman punishment of crucifixion alone sheds light on the ruthless severity of the ancient empire.

Christianity was and still is the one religion that refuses to comply with its supremacist overlords, that puts its beliefs above the preservation of life. Other religions approve outward conformity (Islamic law permits Muslims to outwardly renounce Muhammad if doing so will save their lives), while Christians have long had a habit of “annoying” their superiors by refusing to comply, even to save their lives.

Just as Christ irked Pilate, the representative of the supremacist Roman Empire, by refusing to utter some words to save his life, his disciples and countless other ancient Christians followed his example, and today modern-day Christians are doing the same.  Their supremacist overlords—whether pagan Romans or modern Muslims—persecuted, and continue to persecute, them for it.  (Most recently in Iran, Islamic authorities are trying to force an imprisoned Iranian-American pastor to abjure Christ, even as he resists under torture.)

Historical texts aside, today’s Christian persecution is a clear indicator of yesterday’s Christian persecution—for those who exercise some common sense, that is.

Source: Raymond Ibrahim.com

Amidst Jihadist Hatred, Something New

Abraham Kuruvilla, with whom I have had the pleasure of corresponding for a little over a year now, has posted an essay which strongly resonates with my recent post, Message to Muslims: Time for some Serious Questions. Abraham combines two fascinating fields, theology and national security, and here hits on one of the often overlooked benefits of the vibrant, local Christian community: the Love of Christ shown in real Christian community converts hearts.

Amidst Jihadist Hatred, Something New

by Abraham Kuruvilla

The Good Samaritan

As news of jihadist attacks and attempted attacks fill the airwaves, the question of what can be done to de-radicalize and moderate Islam gains new urgency.  I recently graduated with a Master’s degree in Defense and Strategic Studies, and I can frankly state that national-security analysts from Washington to Delhi are worried.  No one knows what to do.

Broadly speaking, the American approach since 9/11 has focused on political reform in Muslim-majority countries, on the premise that the democratic process would empower moderates and sideline extremists.  The failure of the Iraq war—where the U.S. attempted to force representative government on a country—is well known, but even where force has not been used, the results have not been encouraging.  Pakistan has had an elected government for the past few years, yet the population is becoming ever more extreme.  Similarly, there are worrisome signs coming from Egypt.

The approach of West European governments has been to fund selected Islamic organizations, in the hope that state sponsorship of “moderate” Islam would serve to integrate Muslim citizens into the societal mainstream.  This has not happened.  In fact, many European Muslims take pride that the strictness of their piety separates them from others.  Radical preachers, rather than being scorned, are finding receptive audiences.

China and Russia have been more willing to use coercion to suppress militant Islam.  However, even authoritarian and semi-authoritarian governments know that force cannot be applied indefinitely.  And what will happen after that?

India has relied on the appeal of its syncretistic culture, in which Muslims and Hindus sing and dance and live together as friends.  This strategy has enjoyed a certain success.  Nonetheless, not even the bonds of language, ethnicity, and culture have proven strong enough to immunize Indian Muslims from jihadism.  Over the past several years, Indians have been shocked by the increasing number of home-grown terrorist cells.

What, then, is the answer?  We must remember that jihadists are humans just as we are.  They are made in the image of God and are called to become like God—Who “is love”—as much as anyone else (1 John 4:8).  St. Augustine famously wrote that “our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”  But what does that mean in this context?

Jihadism, like any ideology based on hatred, does not satisfy the longings of the human soul.  To live meaningful lives, people need to “worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).  However, how will they learn to worship truly unless, like the Ethiopian eunuch, they have “someone” to guide them (Acts 8:31)?

This is why I believe in the work of Coptic Orphans.  Even in this age of satellite broadcasts and mobile apps, there can be no substitute for a local Christian community.  Historically, Muslims have been at their most moderate when they’ve been impacted by their Christian neighbors.  By maintaining ancient Christian shrines, inviting Muslim friends to their weddings, teaching Muslim students, and treating Muslim patients—by living out the love of Jesus–Christians in the Middle East have wielded an influence far beyond their numbers.  Thus, the survival of the Coptic Christian community in Egypt should not only concern Egyptians on humanitarian grounds, or Orthodox Christians based on religious solidarity.  It should concern all those wish to see something “new” in the midst of our troubled times (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Source: Coptic Orphans Blog

About Abraham Kuruvilla: Abraham's love for Egypt stems from his many Coptic friends. He studies theology and national-security issues, and wants to formulate a spiritual and cultural response to jihadism.

Raymond Ibrahim: Islamic Forced Conversions, Past and Present

The lost history of Christians forced to convert to Islam—or die—is reemerging, figuratively and literally. According to the BBC: “Pope Francis has proclaimed the first saints of his pontificate in a ceremony [last Sunday] at the Vatican—a list which includes 800 victims of an atrocity carried out by Ottoman soldiers in 1480.They were beheaded in the southern Italian town of Otranto after refusing to convert to Islam.”

The BBC adds in a sidebar: “The ‘Martyrs of Otranto’ were 813 Italians beheaded for defying demands by Turkish invaders to renounce Christianity. The Turks had been sent by Mohammed II, who had already captured the ‘second Rome’ of Constantinople.”

Historical texts throughout the centuries are filled with similar anecdotes, including the “60 Martyrs of Gaza,” Christian soldiers who were executed for refusing Islam during the 7th century Islamic invasion of Jerusalem. Seven centuries later, during the Islamic invasion of Georgia, Christians refusing to convert were forced into their church and set on fire. Witnesses for Christ lists 200 anecdotes of Christians killed—including some burned at the stake, thrown on iron spikes, dismembered, stoned, stabbed, shot at, drowned, pummeled to death, impaled and crucified—for refusing to embrace Islam.

If history is shocking, the fact is, today, Christians—men, women, and children—are still being forced to convert to Islam. Pope Francis alluded to their sufferings during the same ceremony: “As we venerate the martyrs of Otranto, let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good.”

Consider some recent anecdotes:

In Pakistan, a “devoted Christian” was butchered by Muslim men “with multiple axe blows [24 per autopsy] for refusing to convert to Islam.” Another two Christian men returning from church were accosted by six Muslims who tried to force them to convert to Islam, but “the two refused to renounce Christianity.” Accordingly, the Muslims severely beat them, yelling they must either convert “or be prepared to die. . . . the two Christians fell unconscious, and the young Muslim men left assuming they had killed them.”

In Bangladesh some 300 Christian children were abducted in 2012 and sold to Islamic schools, where “imams force them to abjure Christianity.” The children are then instructed in Islam and beaten. After full indoctrination they are asked if they are “ready to give their lives for Islam,” presumably by becoming jihadi suicide-bombers. (Even here the historic patterns are undeniable: for centuries, Christian children were forcibly taken, converted to and indoctrinated in Islam, trained to be jihadis extraordinaire, and then unleashed on their former Christian families. Such were the Janissaries and Mamelukes.)...

Continue reading for more.

Islam's 'Purpose Driven' Jihad, Part 4

Continued from Parts 2 & 3

IV. Theological Jihad

Our brief historical sketch gives us a framework in which to consider what I call Islam’s theological jihad against the Christian Church. 

The first observation we should make is that Church writers of the seventh and eighth centuries, including St John Damascene (†749), may have had an incomplete understanding of Islamic doctrine as we know it today. This may be attributed to their living in the very formative period of early Islam.  St. John was writing his critique of Islam before all the primary Muslim sources had yet been fully compiled. Still, St. John’s identification of Islam precisely as a heresy is a reliable guide, for it points to the direct challenges Islam makes against Orthodox Christian dogma. 

The Quran speaks directly against the Holy Trinity (4:173), denies that Jesus is the Son of God (5:19, 5:75,  9:30), teaches that Jesus was a created being like Adam (3:59, 5:78), and claims the crucifixion never happened (4:157), but that “they only thought they crucified him.” Although Islam claims to venerate Jesus as a prophet named ‘Isa’, this Isa is unrecognizable to a Christian who knows the Jesus of the Scriptures and of Church Tradition. The Isa of Islam is a “different Jesus” warned against by the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 11:3-4).

Islam’s aversion to images is thought to have been one of the influences behind the iconoclast movement, thus generating extreme internal strife within the life of the Church in the eighth century under Leo III Isaurian. Whether or not this is so, it is certainly the case that wherever Islam had conquered a Christian land, the iconography was covered over or destroyed, and of course the crosses are broken off the churches. Indeed, this “breaking of the crosses” is a cornerstone of Islamic eschatology. In its end-times texts and traditions, Islam condemns Christianity by name, teaching that Isa is expected to return, but as a good Muslim, who will “break the cross, kill the swine” and establish the rule of Allah throughout the world (Hadith from Sunan Abu Dawud, Book of Battles, 37:4310).

Essentially, Islam teaches that Isa will destroy Christianity when he returns. 

Thus by its own texts, Islam reveals one of its purposes to be the destruction of Christianity, or more precisely, of the Church, for it is the communion of the faithful, the worshipping body of Christian believers, who are the target of Islam’s teachings and jihad. 

In a similar way, Islam teaches that Muhammad — not the Holy Spirit — is the one to come, prophesied by Jesus himself in John’s Gospel. The Islamic claim is that the Greek in Jn 14:16, 26 and Jn 16:7 should read Periklytos (“glorious,” or “praiseworthy,” in Arabic, “Ahmad,” a variant of “Muhammad”), not Parakletos (“Helper” or “Comforter”). Of course there is no manuscript evidence for such a claim; the teaching of the Church from the day of Pentecost forward, including references to the Holy Spirit in the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, and the context of Jesus’ promise makes it clear such a claim is wholly invalid. Furthermore, manuscript evidence dating back to the second century consistently shows that the relevant passages in John read “Parakletos.” Yet the Muslim theological claim concerning alleged prophecies of Muhammad in the New Testament reveals another purpose of Islam, namely the supplanting of traditional Christian theology with Muhammad and his new teaching.

Over time, the Christian response to Islam became more thorough and sophisticated than the earlier polemics. St. Gregory Palamas is perhaps our finest example of Byzantine theological challenge to Islamic theology. His dialogues with his Muslim captors (ca. 1354) show him defending the mystical dogma of the Holy Trinity against the extreme monotheism of Islam, speaking of God, His Logos, and His Spirit. Using touchstones even from the Quran, combined with the Old and New Testaments, Gregory tried to lead his listeners to understanding of the True God, who cannot be without Wisdom (Logos) or Spirit. [1]

Interestingly, Gregory's lofty theological dialogues did not prevent him — even though he was being held captive by the Muslims and was thus in a most vulnerable position — from bluntly equating Islam’s spread by violence, the sword and bloodshed to proof of its falsity and the corrupt character of Muhammad: [2]

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.

What these few examples show us is that Islam’s purpose has been, from its very inception, to usurp and overthrow Christianity, in the temporal realm through war and conquest where possible, but also in the spiritual realm through proselytism and subversive and specious theological claims. 

In drawing attention to this theological assault dating from Muhammad himself, we must take exception with the reassurance of Fr. Alexander Schmemann in The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy, where he states that the Turkish yoke “was not a persecution of Christianity.” [3]  In the very next section, “Christians Under Turkish Rule,” Fr. Schmemann contradicts this assertion, describing the humiliating conditions in which the Church found herself. [4]

When we consider the strict limitations on exercise of the faith, and every facet of life as a Christian, we see that the Turkish domination was no less humiliating than the Arab yoke of eight centuries earlier in Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Spain. Bishop Kallistos Ware makes the same sort of puzzling, contradictory statements in The Orthodox Church, on the one hand stating that adapting to Turkish rule “was not an easy transition: but it was made less hard by the Turks themselves, who treated their Christian subjects with remarkable generosity,” [5] while lamenting just pages later of the Christians’ place of “guaranteed inferiority,” proceeding to enumerate the very principles of the humiliating dhimma contract dating back to Muhammad and Umar. [6]

    

Moving beyond the historical manifestations of Islamic treatment of Christians, we can cite mainstream Islamic teachings, which demonstrate that the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, institutes of Islamic learning such as Al Azhar University in Cairo, and classic manuals of Islamic practice, have codified Islam’s purpose driven jihad. 

For example, Islam’s opening prayer — offered seventeen times a day, thousands of times a year, by devout Muslims — specifically condemns Christians and Jews as under Allah’s wrath:

...Guide us in the straight path,the path of those whom Thou hast blessed,not of those against whom Thou art wrathfulnor of those who are astray.

Offered as a prayer to “the Master of the Day of Doom,” this first sura of the Koran, called al-Fatihah, ‘The Opening’, refers specifically in these its final two verses to the Christians and the Jews. In traditional Islamic teaching, Islam alone is “the straight path,” whereas:

“The two paths He described here are both misguided,” and that those “two paths are the paths of the Christians and Jews, a fact that the believer should beware of so that he avoids them. The path of the believers is knowledge of the truth and abiding by it. In comparison, the Jews abandoned practicing the religion, while the Christians lost the true knowledge. This is why ‘anger’ descended upon the Jews, while being described as ‘led astray’ is more appropriate of the Christians.” [7]

The doctrine of jihad commanded of Muslims is presented in this key passage from Reliance of the Traveller: [8]

Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada signifying warfare to establish the religion. 

The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus (def: b7) is such Koranic verses as: 

“Fighting is prescribed for you” (Koran 2:216); 

“Slay them wherever you find them” (Koran 4:89); 

“Fight the idolators utterly” (Koran 9:36); 

and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet said: 

“I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me, except for the rights of Islam over them. And their final reckoning is with Allah”; 

and the hadith reported by Muslim, 

“To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is better than the whole world and everything in it.” 

Jihad is a communal obligation. (o9.1) 

The caliph makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians... until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax. (o9.8) 

The caliph fights all other peoples until they become Muslim. (o9.9)

The call for Muslims to wage jihad is universal, though not all Muslims wage offensive jihad. Yet if they cannot do so, they are still enjoined to support jihad through other means, such as financial, material, or in their heart and through their prayers (the lesser jihad).

With the commandment to wage jihad, coupled with hatred and condemnation of Christians and Jews, being so deeply woven into Islam’s most sacred texts as to be essential components of the Muslim “spiritual DNA” if you will, one can see that the more pious and observant a Muslim becomes, and the more aware s/he is of what the commentators teach, the more likely s/he is to begin to embody the anti-Christian mindset and actions prescribed by Islam. This explains the historical survey offered above, and is in fact exactly what we are seeing all around the globe, as the jihadi spirit sweeps through the umma, the muslim community, awakening more and more to what their religion actually commands them to do.

To be continued . . .

[1] The Lives of the Pillars of Orthodoxy (Buena Vista Co: Holy Apostles Convent, 1990), 333-335.

[2] Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos, The Life of Gregory Palamas, p. 371.

[3] Fr. Alexander Schmemann, The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy (SVS Press, 1963), online edition, Chapter 5, The Dark Ages: Turkish Conquest, 268.

[4] Ibid, 270ff.

[5] Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Church (New York: Penguin, 1997), Kindle Edition, 87.

[6] Ibid, 88.

[7] Classic Koranic commentator Ibn Kathir, Commentary on Koran 1:7, Vol 1, p 87.

[8] Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller, A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law. This Islamic manual, the English version of which is certified by Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt as conforming “to the practice and faith of the orthodox Sunni Community,” o9.0, o9.1, o9.8, o9.9

Serbian Orthodox Church In Sarajevo Desecrated

Unidentified individuals desecrated the Serbian Orthodox church of Saint Sava in the Sarajevo neighbourhood of Blazuj, when they broke six windows panes and wrote improper messages.

Priest Bojan Kulasevic of Blazuj stated that unidentified vandals wrote ‘Allah’ on two spots on the church wall using dark paint.

According to him, the local police have been notified about the incident and they carried out a preliminary investigation.

The church in Blazuj was targeted by an attack a month ago when vandals tried to set the entrance on fire in the night between April 21 and 22, the Radio Televizija Republike Srpske reported.

Source: Pravmir.com

One Month after Abduction of Syrian Archbishops (Updated 5/24/13)

From OCP Media:

One month lapsed and we are still living the nightmare of the abduction whereabouts our two Archbishops Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim Metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo, and Boulos Yazaji Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo were kidnapped on the 22nd of April 2013. An unknown group has abducted them without claiming its responsibility until now, neither announcing the reasons for the abduction nor knowing their place

We the Syriac and the Greek Orthodox Archdioceses of Aleppo and in coordination with our two Patriarchates in Damascus, express day after day our sadness and increasing pain about the abduction and the absence of these two eminent Prelates, and to what they represent in terms of their holiness, their local and international rank, their active role on all levels including the spiritual, the thoughts, the academic, the education and the social; but above all the humanitarian work which they were carrying within the current crisis which is engulfing our country Syria

Today, and after one month of abduction, and despite all the prayers and the supplications in the local churches and worldwide; as well as the calls, the statements and the efforts from the Christian and Muslim organizations in the world and the international community, we renew our request for the abductees to revise their action, fear God, and release the two Archbishops without hurting their health or physical situation; and release all other abducted priests and innocent civilians. One month in abduction is more than enough for the two Archbishops. As it is painful for them in their abduction, it is also painful for all the faithful of their two communities, the people of Syria and the world. The continuous abduction of the two Archbishops is damaging the structure of Syria in its diverse components and its long history of coexistence and citizenship. Such a catastrophe will be remembered and recorded in history, likewise the devastating and the grieve of Syria. Such acts will not terrify us because we are the sons of the “Resurrection”. We trust that the mercy of the one God whom we all believe in, will guide the abductees and induce them to release the Archbishops without any pre-conditions, because there is no price equals the freedom of the two Archbishops, and no condition equals their safe return to their communities and churches

We renew our supplication and continue our prayers with solemnity to our God for the release of the Archbishops, the priests and all those who are in abduction.


Related stories:

Syrian opposition leader does not know whereabouts of missing bishops

Aleppo prays for Orthodox bishops kidnapped a month ago

Kairos Palestine Condemns Kidnapping of Two Bishops in Syria

Islam's 'Purpose Driven' Jihad, Parts 2 & 3

Continued from Part 1

II. The First Jihad: Islam’s Purpose Expands

Key to our consideration is how even in this early period, the Islamic treatment of Christians was already well established. By 640 A.D. the caliph Umar was already applying to the conquered areas the dhimma contract used by Muhammad when he subdued the Jews of the Khaybar oasis. Under the terms of the dhimma, Christians and Jews who do not convert to Islam but submit to Muslim rule, retain possession of their land, but actual ownership of the land passed to the Muslims, to whom the subdued peoples paid a heavy tribute (the jizya). Refusal to submit to Muslim rule and pay the jizya was grounds for resumption of hostilities (jihad). Contemporary historical accounts by both Christian and (significantly) Muslim writers describe the devastation of whole towns, desecration of churches, slaughter of civilians, and taking of slaves and booty. [1]

The initial Muslim takeover of Jerusalem in 637-638 was a catastrophe to the Christians. The Life of St Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, offers this synopsis:

Toward the end of his life, St Sophronius and his flock lived through a two year siege of Jerusalem by the Moslems. Worn down by hunger, the Christians finally agreed to open the city gates, on the condition that the enemy spare the holy places. But this condition was not fulfilled, and St Sophronius died in grief over the desecration of the Christian holy places.

Sophronius’ own writings reveal just how brutal was the early Islamic jihad: [2]

We, however, because of our innumerable sins and serious misdemeanours, are unable to see these things, and are prevented from entering Bethlehem by way of the road. Unwillingly, indeed, contrary to our wishes, we are required to stay at home, not bound closely by bodily bonds, but bound by fear of the Saracens. (Christmas Sermon, 634 A.D.) 

At once that of the Philistines, so now the army of the godless Saracens has captured the divine Bethlehem and bars our passage there, threatening slaughter and destruction if we leave this holy city and dare to approach our beloved and sacred Bethlehem. (Christmas Sermon 634 A.D.) 

[This dates to the 6th of December in 636 or 637.]: 

But the present circumstances are forcing me to think differently about our way of life, for why are [so many] wars being fought among us? Why do barbarian raids abound? Why are the troops of the Saracens [Muslims] attacking us? Why has there been so much destruction and plunder? Why are there incessant outpourings of human blood? Why are the birds of the sky devouring human bodies? Why have churches been pulled down? Why is the cross mocked? Why is Christ, who is the dispenser of all good things and the provider of this joyousness of ours, blasphemed by pagan mouths (ethnikois tois stomasi) so that he justly cries out to us: "Because of you my name is blasphemed among the pagans," and this is the worst of all the terrible things that are happening to us. That is why the vengeful and God-hating Saracens, the abomination of desolation clearly foretold to us by the prophets, overrun the places which are not allowed to them, plunder cities, devastate fields, burn down villages, set on fire the holy churches, overturn the sacred monasteries, oppose the Byzantine armies arrayed against them, and in fighting raise up the trophies [of war] and add victory to victory. Moreover, they are raised up more and more against us and increase their blasphemy of Christ and the church, and utter wicked blasphemies against God. Those God-fighters boast of prevailing over all, assiduously and unrestrainably imitating their leader, who is the devil, and emulating his vanity because of which he has been expelled from heaven and been assigned to the gloomy shades. Yet these vile ones would not have accomplished this nor seized such a degree of power as to do and utter lawlessly all these things, unless we had first insulted the gift [of baptism] and first defiled the purification, and in this way grieved Christ, the giver of gifts, and prompted him to be angry with us, good though he is and though he takes no pleasure in evil, being the fount of kindness and not wishing to behold the ruin and destruction of men. We are ourselves, in truth, responsible for all these things and no word will be found for our defence. What word or place will be given us for our defence when we have taken all these gifts from him, befouled them and defiled everything with our vile actions? (Holy Baptism, 166-167) 

[In a work originally composed by John Moschus (d. 619), but expanded by Sophronius (d. ca. 639), actually found only in an addition of the Georgian translation, the following entry appears, concerning a construction dated by tradition at 638, i.e., soon after the capture of Jerusalem ca. 637. It appears in a portion concerning Sophronius as recounted on the authority of his contemporary, the archdeacon Theodore, and may have been written down ca. 670.]: 

The godless Saracens entered the holy city of Christ our Lord, Jerusalem, with the permission of God and in punishment for our negligence, which is considerable, and immediately proceeded in haste to the place which is called the Capitol. They took with them men, some by force, others by their own will, in order to clean that place and to build that cursed thing, intended for their prayer and which they call a mosque (midzgitha). (Pratum spirituale, 100-102)

The pattern of violent jihad continued as the Muslim invaders extended their dominion over north Africa, eventually crossing to the Iberian peninsula (modern day Spain), and heading north into Gaul (modern day France), being stopped just south of Paris in 732 A.D. at the Battle of Poitiers. Cilicia, Armenia, the island of Cyprus, and Cappodocia (southern Turkey) were conquered by 650 A.D., and Constantinople itself was attacked and under siege from 674 to 678 A.D., the Byzantines finally winning by land and sea to turn back the Arab Muslims under caliph Muawiyah I. A second siege of Constantinople in 717-718 was also decisively defeated, securing the Byzantine Empire for a time, and taken together with the Frank’s victory over the Muslims at the Battle of Tours (732 A.D.) stopped Islam’s two-front push into Europe.   By 750 A.D. the Arab wave of jihad had passed its apogee.

Islam’s early assault against the Christian world, and especially its two sieges of Constantinople, the eastern capitol of Christendom, are a direct result of the Islamic purpose.

III.  Byzantine Resurgence, the Crusades, and the Ottoman Jihad

Though the Arab Jihad had effectively ceased by 750 A.D., Muslim raids into Christian lands did not. Nor did persecution of Christians in Muslim occupied lands, especially in the Holy Land. In the Christian mind, both Eastern and Western, the Muslim occupation was just that. The Byzantine Emperors Nicephorus II and John I reconquered significant areas of Palestine and Syria in the tenth century, including Aleppo and Antioch, as well as retaking Crete and Cyprus, and even drew near Jerusalem, but these victories were short lived.  

In 1009 A.D. the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other Christian holy sites were destroyed by the Muslims, ushering in a wave of persecution, and the Seljuk Turks began their forays into Byzantine territory (Armenia) in 1065 and 1067 A.D.  The surprise defeat of the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071 left Anatolia open to Turkish incursions; within ten years the Turks had taken the entire Anatolian plain, setting up their capitol, Nicaea, less than sixty miles from Constantinople. The Crusades delayed the Turkish jihad against Constantinople for nearly three hundred years (although the tragic Fourth Crusade sack of Constantinople in 1204 further weakened the Byzantine structures), until the fourteenth century. Finally, the Ottomans under Mehmet II captured Constantinople in May 1453, bringing the Byzantine Empire to an end, and ushering in a new era for the Church, in captivity and subjugation to an alien, anti-Christian power and religion.

To be continued . . .

[1] Bat Ye’or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam (Madison: Faireigh Dickinson University Press, 1996), 44, 46-47. 

[2] External References to Islam, Peter Kirby, http://web.archive.org/web/20060429163403/http://www.christianorigins.com/islamrefs.html#sophronius; accessed May 20, 2013.

Message to Muslims: Time for some serious questions.

In my earlier post of Dr. Mark Durie's analysis of yesterday's London jihad attack, we learned how the jihadists' motivations stem from a "theologically determined logic." 

This is gravely concerning, and should prompt us to pose the following questions to all Muslims everywhere:

1. Do you subscribe to this same "theologically determined logic" which spawns acts of violence and terrorism by Muslims in every country of the world, and drives an Islamic supremacism which seeks to establish a global caliphate to bring Islam to world dominance? In other words, do you feel in your heart, as a Muslim, that you are at war with non-Muslims?

2. If you say you do not subscribe to this worldview, how do you support your position from Islam's sacred texts?  Because — as you should know — all Islamic supremacists and jihadists fully support their actions using the Quran and the example of Muhammad and the consistent teaching of Islamic jurisprudence, and they say your religion commands you to support them in the global jihad.

3. In your heart of hearts, when you continue to see such horrific acts being perpetrated in the name of Islam by men and women who claim to be devout Muslims and use your own sacred texts to back up their actions, do you question the validity of your Islamic faith, your Muslim identity? In other words, "Are you finally reaching a crisis point in your faith?"

In short, it's time to ask Muslims everywhere, "Why do you remain a Muslim?"

It's time for Muslims to ask themselves, "Why do I remain a Muslim?"

As an Orthodox Christian, I believe we offer the Way, the Truth and the Life through the Orthodox Gospel of Jesus Christ. To all Muslims everywhere I offer this challenge: If you claim to be striving to live in truth and in a way pleasing to God, "come and see" what the Orthodox Christian Faith is all about. You will find a Light and Life you never knew existed.

But there is another aspect to this "crisis of faith" you should by now be going through. 

We believe that the human conscience is a divine gift from God placed in every human heart. If your conscience is nagging at you, telling you that there has to be something terribly wrong with Islam if so many of its most devout adherents are committing murder in the name of God, then you simply must obey your conscience and seek answers. You are obligated to that small voice telling you to "get out." Your religion places a huge stigma on apostasy, and as you probably know, even prescribes death for those who leave Islam or insult Muhammad. Why is that? That should even further prove its falsity to you.

Do you not know that even according to the Quran, Jesus (Isa) is bestowed with greater honor from God than Muhammad? Jesus worked miracles, raised the dead, and ascended bodily into heaven, whereas Muhammad did none of these things. 

It's time to leave falsehood and turn to truth. It's time to learn about Jesus Christ as His Church has always known Him and proclaimed Him, "full of grace and truth." 

This is the same Church which your religion and forbears have relentlessly persecuted since Islam expanded out of the Arabian peninsula and began waging jihad against the world. Yet this same Church, by the grace of God, stands ready to embrace and receive you as a friend and brother or sister, if you repent of Islam, turn away from it, and turn to Jesus Christ.

It's time for all you Muslims of good conscience to show real courage, bravery, integrity and repentance, leave your former religion, which you know in your heart is false, and turn to Jesus Christ in the Orthodox Church, who offers you the true Way of Light and Life.

We're standing with open arms, waiting for you...