RAYMOND IBRAHIM (
RaymondIbrahim.com) is a widely published author, public speaker, and Middle East and Islam expert. His books include
Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians (2013) and
The Al Qaeda Reader (2007). His writings, translations, and observations have appeared in a variety of publications, including Fox News, Financial Times, Jerusalem Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Times Syndicate, United Press International, USA Today, Washington Post, Washington Times, and Weekly Standard; scholarly journals, including the Almanac of Islamism, Chronicle of Higher Education, Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst, Middle East Quarterly, and Middle East Review of International Affairs; and popular websites, such as American Thinker, the Blaze, Bloomberg, Christian Post, FrontPage Magazine, Gatestone Institute, the Inquisitr, Jihad Watch, NewsMax, National Review Online, PJ Media, VDH's Private Papers, and World Magazine. He has contributed chapters to several anthologies and been translated into various languages.
Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches
Iraq: The Islamic State
detonated the nation's oldest Christian monastery, St. Elijah's. . The 27,000-square-foot building had stood near Mosul for 14 centuries. For several years, prior to 2009, U.S. soldiers protected and sometimes used the monastery as a chapel. "Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled," reported a Roman Catholic priest in Irbil. "We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land."
- Thursday, March 3, 2016
On February 1, Tharwat Bukhit, a Coptic Christian member of Egypt's parliament,
said that "there are approximately 50 churches in Egypt that are closed for reasons of security." In 2011--when the "Arab Spring" began--the nation's Christians had compiled a list of 43 churches that were shut down by local authorities over the years. This list was given to the then prime minister of Egypt, Dr. Essam Sharaf, who said the churches would be opened as soon as possible. Yet, according to the Coptic MP, "Today, the number of closed churches has grown to almost 50."
- Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Islamic hostility for Christmas was on full display as
documented here: on Christmas Day, Muslims in Bethlehem set a Christmas tree on fire and greeted the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem with a hail of stones; Muslim “refugees” set fire to a public Christmas tree in Belgium; Muslim jihadis attacked churches during Christmas mass killing at least 16 in Nigeria; Muslim jihadis in the Philippines slaughtered 10 Christians on Christmas Eve to “make a statement”; three Muslim countries—Somalia, Tajikistan, and Brunei—formally banned any Christmas celebrations; due to assassination attempts on pastors and death threats to Christians, churches skipped Christmas mass in Bangladesh and were on “high alert” in Indonesia, with 150,000 security personnel patrolling; in Iran, Christians celebrating Christmas in homes were arrested.
- Tuesday, February 9, 2016
The best way to understand the Islamic State (ISIS) is to see it as the next phase of al-Qaeda. All Sunni Islamic jihadi groups—Boko Haram, ISIS, Taliban, al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda, even Hamas—share the same motivations based on a literal and orthodox reading of Islamic history and doctrine: resurrecting a caliphate (which existed in various forms from 632 to 1924) that implements and spreads the totality of
sharia, or Islamic law.
- Monday, February 8, 2016
Such open hypocrisy can stand when influential Christian groups--they who are most responsible for speaking up for savagely persecuted Christian minorities--engage in it themselves.
According to recently released figures from the State Dept., the United States has let in a miniscule number of Christian refugees from Syria -- only 34 -- during the four years since the Islamic State began its campaign of mass slaughter. Put differently, although Christians amount for 10 percent of Syria's population--and so should at least be 10 percent of the refugees accepted into the States--only two percent of those accepted are Christians.
- Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Teams of trained killers disguised as refugees were sent by the Islamic State (IS) into U.N. refugee camps to kill Christians, including "in their beds," and to kidnap young girls to sell or use as slaves. This came out, according to a
report, on October 24, soon after an IS operative "got cold feet and renounced jihad after witnessing Christians helping out other refugees within the camp.
- Tuesday, December 29, 2015
With the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, or IS), an old apologia meant to exonerate Islam of violence has become prominent again. Because ISIS is killing other Muslims, so the argument goes, obviously its violence cannot be based on Islam, which bans Muslims from killing fellow Muslims in its name.
- Friday, December 18, 2015
As someone specializing in Islamic jihadism, one would expect I’d have much to say immediately after jihadi attacks of the sort that recently occurred in San Bernardino, or Paris, or Mali, where a total of about 180 dead. Ironically, I don’t: such attacks are ultimately symptoms of what I do deem worthy of talk, namely, root causes. (What can one add when a symptom of the root cause he has long warned against occurs other than “
told you so”?)
- Thursday, December 17, 2015
