Love (of Islam) Is Blindness

How CIA Director John Brennan and the Obama administration deliberately misread and misrepresent Islamic supremacism, violence and terrorism, i.e., jihad.

by Timothy R. Furnish, PhD — Mahdi Watch — March 13, 2014

In Shakespeare’s works, particularly King Lear, “blindness is not [merely] a physical quality, but a mental flaw some people possess.”

More authoritatively, and perhaps more pithily expressed by the Gospel writers, Jesus said that “if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit” (St. Matthew, 15:14).   It’s easy to see how this describes the Obama Administration as a whole—but particularly its policy towards Islam and the Islamic world.  And the main spokesman for this visual and intellectual impairment is CIA Director John Brennan.

Even Christ might have a hard time fixing John Brennan's view of Islam, unlike with this chap. 

I commented on Brennan’s, and indeed his entire agency’s, (willful?) blindness to Islamic realities last year.  But as Ronaldus Magnus once said to an equally clueless opponent, “there you go again.”   

At the Council on Foreign Relations two days ago, the man who oversees the mission to “provide…leaders with the best information possible to help them make policy involving other countries” expressed egregiously bad information on Islamic history and beliefs—and not for the first time, either.   Brennan, who once worked as CIA station chief in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and who is said to hold a M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas-Austin, said the following:  that al-Qa`idah’s [AQ] Islamic ideology is “a perverse and very corrupt interpretation of the Qur’an” and that that organization has “hijacked” Islam and “distorted the teachings of Mohammed [sic], for violent purposes.”

I first refuted this ludicrous claim—particularly the “hijacking” one—almost a decade ago.  And I will leave for others to deal with the legion of violent Qur’anic passages that disprove Brennan’s laughable claim about AQ’s exegesis.   Instead, let’s focus on the founder of Islam, Muhammad.

Egypt: Jizya-vigilantes target Christian minorities

by Raymond Ibrahim, Jihad Watch — March 13, 2014

In the al-Nafura region of Asyut, Egypt, an increasingly common scene took place earlier this month.

Isaac Eli—a Coptic Christian—was abducted under threat of gunfire.

According to sources, four “unknown persons” armed with automatic weapons came upon the Coptic wood merchant while he was working in front of his home, coerced him into their car, and sped away.

Later, one of his relatives received a phone call demanding a hefty ransom to release the Christian man: 500,000 Egyptian pounds—the equivalent of approximately $72,000 USD, an exorbitant sum for any resident in Upper Egypt.

Such scenarios—Coptic children or adults abducted at gunpoint and held (and sometimes killed or forced to convert to Islam) by “unknown persons” in exchange for money—are on the rise in Egypt (see here, here, here, here, and here for some recent examples).

Rejoicing at Release of Captive Nuns

This brief article at the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese website conveys the great joy which energized the Orthodox world following the announcement of the release of Mother Pelagia and her sisters last Sunday. 

Although Christians in Syria and throughout the Islamic world continue to live in fear, under the threat of persecution and death at the hands of zealous Muslims, it is right to rejoice and give thanks to God for the deliverance of his handmaidens from the clutches of the enemy.

May all Muslims be led to repentance and come to know Christ!


Rejoicing at Release of Captive Nuns

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

March 12, 2014

On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 9, 2014, multiple media outlets including a leading newspaper in Lebanon, The Daily Star, reported that the thirteen nuns held in captivity by Syrian rebels for over three months were freed late in the day, as a result of Lebanese and Qatari mediation. Officers from Lebanon's General Security received the nuns on the outskirts of the Lebanese town of Arsal. 

Parishioners and clergy at the Archdiocese's mother cathedral, St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Brooklyn, NY, received the joyous news during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in which Bishop Nicholas was presiding. "We learned of the release just prior to commencing Holy Communion, and began ringing the bells of the Cathedral loudly, chanting 'O Lord, save Thy people' and 'To Thee the Champion Leader,'" says Archpriest Thomas Zain, Vicar-General of the Antiochian Archdiocese. An English translation of a statement from His Beatitude John X, Patriarch of Antioch, is being prepared by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East.

Raymond Ibrahim: 'The Double-Edged Sword of Jihad'

Another significant analysis, with some meaty historical context, from Raymond Ibrahim. Those familiar with the Old Testament will recognize in the perpetual warfare of Islam the prophecy concerning Ishmael and his descendants, the Muslims:

"He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him." (Genesis 16:12)

The Double-Edged Sword of Jihad
by Raymond Ibrahim — March 13, 2014

Islamic nations are again learning that the jihad is a volatile instrument of war that can easily backfire on those who preach it; that “holy war” is hardly limited to fighting and subjugating “infidels”—whether the West in general, Israel in particular, or the millions of non-Muslim minorities under Islam—but can also be used to fight “apostates,” that is, Muslims accused of not being Islamic enough.

In an unprecedented move and following Egypt’s lead, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain recently withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar, largely due to its Al Jazeera propaganda network which, since the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been inciting chaos in the region.

According to a March 7 Reuters reports, “Saudi Arabia has formally designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, in a move that could increase pressure on Qatar whose backing for the group has sparked a row with fellow Gulf monarchies….  Saudi Arabia and the UAE are fuming over Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, and resent the way Doha has sheltered influential cleric Yusuf Qaradawi, a critic of the Saudi authorities, and given him regular airtime on its pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera.”

Qaradawi, of course, has been an Al Jazeera mainstay for many years, regularly preaching jihad against Israel and other “infidels”—telling millions of Muslim viewers to “obey the prophet, even if he tells you to kill.”

Back then, Qaradawi was not a problem for the Gulf States.

However, since the Egyptian June 30 Revolution saw the ousting and subsequent banning of the Muslim Brotherhood, and ever since the Brotherhood’s supporters—chief among them Qaradawi, through his Al Jazeera program—have been inciting violence in the region, especially in Egypt and Syria, the jihad is spinning out of control; and the Gulf monarchs know that, if not contained and directed, it can easily reach them.

For if jihadis are fighting fellow Muslims in Egypt and Syria—under the accusation that they are not “true” Muslims—what is to stop them from targeting the Gulf monarchies in the same context?

Atlanta: Muslim student severely burned in Molotov cocktail fire dies from injuries

Another example of the diverse mosaic of Islam in America. 

An update on this story. “Burned Georgia Tech student dies from injuries,” by Alexis Stevens for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 6, via Jihad Watch:

The Georgia Tech graduate student burned over 90 percent of his body last month died Thursday, the Institute said.

Saamer Akhshabi was burned in a Feb. 4 explosion inside his apartment, where investigators found a suspected Molotov cocktail and several plastic bottles filled with gasoline and kerosene. Akhshabi, 26, was transported in critical condition to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died early Thursday, Georgia Tech shared with the campus.

Hagia Sophias: From Museums to Mosques

An excellent article, with plenty of historical context.

by Robert Ousterhout, The American Conservative
via Pravmir — March 12, 2014

Turkey’s ancient churches are losing a century of secular protection.

Just over 100 years ago, on March 26, 1913, at the height of the Balkan Wars, the Bulgarian army captured Edirne, once capital of the Ottoman Empire. To celebrate their victory, the Bulgarians planned to convert the grand, 16th-century Selimiye Mosque into a Christian church. Fortunately, the Bulgarian Tzartisa Eleanor intervened and put a stop to it. By July, the Bulgarian army was in retreat, Edirne returned to Ottoman control, and the incident was forgotten.

Looking back, the proposed conversion of an historic mosque into a church might strike us as shocking, but the United States and many other Christian countries were vocal supporters of the Bulgarians. Their ultimate goal was the conquest of Istanbul—once Constantinople and the capital of the Byzantine Empire—and the reconversion the Ayasofya Mosque (as it was known in Turkish) into the Church of Hagia Sophia. Emperor Justinian’s Great Church, dedicated to the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) had been converted to a mosque in the Ottoman Conquest of 1453, but for many it stood as a symbol of a lost, Christian civilization. Cries for its return might surprise modern readers, but the move was regularly advocated for in the pages of American newspapers.

An 1877 New York Times article begins, “How soon the crescent over the minarets of St. Sophia will be replaced by the cross, or how soon the minarets themselves will be entirely swept away, leaving the outlines of the church in their ancient condition, no seer has foretold.” A 1912 article predicts that the Bulgarians, advancing on the Ottoman capital, would soon plant the cross atop of Hagia Sophia. A decade later, the Greek Megale Idea held the conversion of Hagia Sophia as one of its top priorities. In 1921, a special service was held in St. John the Divine, with Orthodox and Episcopal clergy praying in six languages for the restoration of Hagia Sophia as a Christian sanctuary—enthusiastically reported in the American press.

It didn’t happen, of course. 

Demons, Jinns, Exorcisms, and Islam

Face To Face, In A Dry And Waterless Place....

by Timothy R. Furnish, PhD. — Mahdi Watch — March 9, 2014

Last week Time ran a fascinating story : “At Weekly Exorcisms, Egypt’s Muslims and Christians Unite Against the Demons.”  It’s about Father Sama`an Ibrahim, a Coptic priest who  exorcizes both demons and ajnan (“jinns”) from Christians and Muslims in Cairo’s St. Sama`an the Tanner Monastery church.  (Jinn possession is not just an issue for Middle Eastern Muslims, either.) “Time” of course highlights the sensationalistic and (allegedly) ecumenical aspects of Fr. Ibrahim’s ministry.  But I find the spiritual and  theological dimensions much more noteworthy—particularly in three respects.  

Christ exorcizing the Gadarene demoniacs (courtesy of Pravmir). 

1. Jesus has (far) more power over demons and jinn than does Muhammad.   

This, albeit not in so many words, is the belief of Egyptian Muslims.  “The demon that had possessed the elderly Muslim woman was so strong that,” according to one Egyptian, “even an Imam couldn’t get rid of it.  So her family opted for a priest.” The woman’s daughter continued:  We went to a mosque for healing, but the demons who harm her are more afraid of the Christian priest.”   A taxi driver named Mahrous adds that “Christians rarely get possessed, because they are baptized young.” Most tellingly, one possessed Muslim woman “repeatedly interrupts the prayer with caterwauled exhortations that ‘There is no god but Allah” (the first half of the shahadah, Muslim declaration of faith).   Why doesn’t that seem to help her? Well, as a Christian I would submit that James 2:19 is relevant: “You believe that God is one? You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” Tawhid—belief in the unity of God--alone does not protect one from demons (nor, for that matter, does it effect salvation). 

The End of Childhood (for Muslim Girls)

Current headlines with links to stories. The practice of child marriage in Islam is one of the most disturbing aspects of a disturbing, false religion.

Iraqi cabinet approves draft law allowing marriage of nine-year-old girls

Pakistan: Council of Islamic Ideology says laws prohibiting child marriage are un-Islamic

Turkey: More than 500,000 child brides in last ten years

Muslim Man Rapes Child Bride Until She Dies (Sept. 2013)

And the foundation for child marriage in Islam is, of course, the example of Muhammad:

The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death). (Sahih Al Bukhari 7.62.88)

A list of prominent people missing in Syria

The News Tribune via Pravmir — March 11, 2014

BEIRUT — With the release of 13 Greek Orthodox nuns held hostage by the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front in Syria for over three months, here’s a list of some other prominent people, including clerics, journalists and activists still missing in Syria and believed in the captivity of rebels. Many are thought to have taken by radical factions, in particular the al-Qaida breakaway group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Bishop Boulos and Bishop John, abducted by Muslim extremists almost a year ago.

CLERICS

Two bishops and a priest have been missing since last April, according to Syrian opposition activists and church officials. Gunmen pulled Bishop Boulos Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church and Bishop John Ibrahim of the Assyrian Orthodox Church from their car and killed their driver on April 22 while they were traveling outside the northern city of Aleppo. It is not clear who abducted the priests and no group has publicly claimed it is holding them.

An Italian Jesuit, Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, went missing in July after traveling to meet Islamic militants in the eastern city of Raqqa. The city fell into rebel hands in March and was subsequently taken over by radicals including the Islamic State.

ACTIVISTS

Syria’s leading human rights lawyer, Razan Zaytouni, was abducted along with her husband and two other prominent activists from a rebel-held Damascus suburb Dec. 10. Zaytouni is an icon of Syria’s secular revolutionaries. Nobody claimed responsibility for her abduction, but it came after she wrote an article denouncing the Islamic State.

March 11, 2004 – Muslims bomb Madrid train killing 191 and injuring more than 1,800

via Creeping Sharia — March 11, 2014

Click for slide show of images from the Madrid jihad terror attack.

via 2004 Madrid Train Bombings – History Commons

At about 7:40 a.m., four trains are bombed in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and injuring about 1,800 more. These are not suicide bombings, but were set by cell phone timers. Basque separatists are initially blamed, but evidence later points to people loosely associated with al-Qaeda. It will later be reported that 34 out of the 40 main people suspected or arrested for involvement in the bombings were under surveillance in Spain prior to the bombings (see Shortly Before March 11, 2004). Most of the bombers had never been to any training camps. In 2006, Spanish investigators will announce that the bombings were inspired by al-Qaeda, but not ordered or funded by al-Qaeda’s leadership. Specifically, the bombers are said to have been inspired by a speech allegedly given by Osama bin Laden in October 2003 (see October 19, 2003). [New Yorker, 7/26/2004; Associated Press, 3/9/2006] However, there will also be evidence against this that will not be refuted. For instance, the investigators will claim that all the key participants are either dead or in jail, but a number of them remain free overseas.

More:

Hours later, police find a van with detonators and a cassette tape with verses from the Qur’an at a train station through which all of the trains had passed.

History Commons has extensive details on the pre-attack surveillance and failure to prevent the Madrid bombing.

June 2001: Spain Does Not Heed French Warning to Arrest Future Madrid Train Bomber

January 2003-March 10, 2004: Spanish Authorities Fail to Arrest Madrid Bombers Taking Part in Common Crimes

Ten years on, Spain is facing a different type of attack.