A Time to Speak
Volume II:8 (No. 20)
August 2002 - Elul 5762
INFIDELS IN THE WORLD OF ISLAM
"Make war against the unbelievers . . . and be merciless against them"
-- The Koran, Sura 9
"O, Allah,
destroy the usurper Jews and the vile Christians."
-- Mosque in Qatar, 9 August 2002
government broadcast of sermon
"O, Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters. O, Allah, destroy the Christians
and their supporters and followers. Shake the ground under them, instill
fear in their hearts, and freeze their blood."
-- Mosque in Yemen,
9 August 2002
government broadcast of sermon
The first priority of militant Islam today is the destruction of Israel and the Jews. But the range of jihad goes beyond that, to the subjugation of all "infidels" -- that is all who are not Muslims.
The sequence is set forth in the slogan:
"First the Saturday people.
Then the Sunday people."
Militant Islam and its doctrine of jihad [holy war] go back to foundations in the Seventh Century. They are active at some times, quiescent at others. There may be many individual Muslims today who do not believe that this doctrine requires war against the rest of the world. But their views would count only in a democratic society, which does not exist in the world of Islam. The terms "Islam" and "world of Islam" hereafter refer not to all Muslims but to those who wield the power, and dictate laws, practices and policies.
The earth is divided into the "World of Islam" and the "World of War". The
World of Islam subsumes all lands once conquered by Islamic warriors. Lands
once won and later lost -- Spain, Portugal, Greece, the Balkans -- as still
World of Islam. The World of War is all the rest of the globe, to be won
in the future.
The peoples of the world are divided into Muslims and Infidels, who are ultimately
to be either converted or destroyed.
It is a battle in the
jihad
against infidels when in --
- America - terrorist attacks murder 3,000 people within an hour.
-- Indonesia -- "holy warriors" kill Christians and burn churches.
-- Pakistan -- Christians are killed, Christian churches, schools and hospitals
are attacked.
-- the Indian subcontinent, Hindus are slaughtered.
-- Serbia -- medieval churches are burned.
Within countries ruled by Islam
--
-- In Egypt -- the Copts, who have been Christians since before the Arab
conquest in the Seventh Century, are restricted, oppressed and persecuted.
-- In Saudi Arabia -- all non-Muslim religious observance is banned, even
in a private home. A Christian prayer is punished as a criminal offense.
-- In The Sudan -- the Christians and Animists of the southern Sudan are
starved, enslaved and slaughtered by the Muslim government.
-- In Iran -- followers of the Ba'hai religion are persecuted.
-- In Afghanistan -- the Taliban required Hindus to wear distinctive garb,
and blew up ancient Buddhist works of art.
-- In Pakistan -- there may be a death penalty for "blasphemy"
or conversion to another religion.
* * * * * * *
The
Dhimmi
In the early centuries of Arab conquests, the original doctrine of "Islam
or the Sword" gave way to the institution of the "
dhimmi
" ["protected person"]. This meant that "infidels" were permitted to follow
their own religions if they paid an exhorbitant head-tax for the privilege.
The
dhimmi
were an oppressed and degraded class, with no rights and many restrictions.
-- They were required to wear badges to identify their status -- yellow for
Jews, blue for Christians.
-- Their religious observances must be held only in seclusion.
-- They could not testify against a Muslim. Muslims could commit crimes
against them without fear of punishment.
-- They were forbidden such dignities as having a two-story house, or riding
a horse or camel.
The Christian
dhimmi
at least might have a chance to escape to a Christian country, but for the
Jew there was no escape.
[Other societies have also had special rules on the person who was not a
member of the majority population. In biblical Hebrew such a person is termed
a
ger.
The rules on the
ger
are strict, and so important that they are given five times in the Law:
"There shall be a single law for the native and for the
ger
who dwells among you."
Exodus 12:49.
"You shall not wrong a
ger
or oppress him, for you were
gerim
in the land of Egypt."
-- Exodus 22:20
"You shall not oppress a
ger
,
for you know the feelings of the
ger,
having been
gerim
in the land of Egypt."
-- Exodus 23:9
"When a
ger
resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The
ger
who resides with you shall be to you as one of your natives. You
shall love him as yourself, for you were
gerim
in the land of Egypt."
-- Leviticus 19:33-34
"You shall have one standard for the
ger
and the native also, for I the Lord am your God."
-- Leviticus 24:22.
* * * * * * *
An historian who writes under the name Bat-Yeor [Daughter of the Nile] has
studied the concepts and exercise of
jihad
and of
dhimmi,
and
reports on them in "Culture of Hate",
National Review Online
, 2 August 2002:
At the dawn of the new millennium, the world is being confronted with an
absolute culture of hate, characterized by paroxysms of international terrorism
against civilians, and religious intolerance. This culture of hate has multiple
heads from Algeria to Afghanistan, to Indonesia, via Gaza and the West Bank,
Damascus, Cairo, Khartoum, Teheran, and Karachi.
It scatters the seeds of terrorism from one end of the earth to the other.
This hate, which suppresses freedom of thought, and condemns difference,
calls itself "Islamic jihad" It draws on religious texts whose interpretation
other Muslims dispute. Moreover, because these moderate Muslims challenge
this interpretation of jihad, wishing to live in peace with the non-Muslim
peoples and nations of the world, their lives are threatened.
There is constant bloodshed in Algeria. Jihad is disseminating death and
terror in Israel. In Southern Sudan, jihad has caused the death of some two
million people, generated an even larger number of refugees, lead to the
enslavement of tens of tens of thousands, and produced deadly famines.
In Indonesia, some 200,000 deaths resulted from jihad violence in East Timor.
Christians have been pursued, and massacred, and their churches burned down
by jihadists in the Moluccas and other Indonesian islands. The death toll
in these violent attacks is over 10,000, while an additional 8,000 Christians
have been forcibly converted to Islam, including many who were circumcised.
Atrocities are also being committed by jihadists in both the Philippines,
and some northern Nigerian states. Hundreds of innocent people died when
jihad struck at the Jewish Community Center of Buenos Aires in Argentina,
and the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
In Egypt, jihadists have massacred Copts in their churches and villages,
and murdered European tourists. Christians in Pakistan and in Iran live in
terror of accusations of blasphemy, which, if "proven," can yield a death
sentence.
And a cataclysmic act of jihad terror resulted in the slaughter of nearly
3,000 innocent civilians of multiple faiths and nationalities in New York,
on September 11, 2001. None of these victims were guilty of any crime. They
were murdered out of hate. [. . . . ]
Such a stance reinstates the imperialism of the Islamic jihad, which has
claimed millions of victims over three continents during more than a millennium,
deported an incalculable number of slaves, and annihilated entire peoples,
destroying their history, their monuments, and their culture. Have the Copts
of Egypt a right to their history and their language? Do the Kabili of North
Africa have a right to theirs? We must acknowledge all the victims of the
racism that jihad creates, a racism which denies the history, sufferings,
and memories
of those conquered. [. . . . ]"
* * * * * *
Islamist revisionism tries to expunge the history of the Jewish people in
the Land of Israel. It denies them any historical or spiritual roots at all.
It says, in contradiction even of early Arab historians, that the Jews have
no link to Jerusalem, and never had any Temple there.
This assault on Jewish history is simultaneously an assault on early Christian
history. If there is no historic validity to the Hebrew Scriptures, how could
they be quoted in the New Testament? If there was no ancient Israel-Judah-Judea
and no Temple in Jerusalem, how what could be the context of the Gospels?
For the time being, PLO propaganda speaks of "our Christian brothers". How
it really treats the Christian brothers who fall under its control is reported
by an American journalist of Arab Christian descent.
"Christian Persecution in Arafat-land" by Joseph Farah,
WorldNetDaily, 22 July 2002:
Do you want to know what life will be like for Christians in the new state
of Palestine?
We get some clues from the way they are being treated today with Yasser Arafat's
Palestinian Authority.
Perhaps no town has more symbolic meaning to Christians worldwide than Bethlehem,
the birthplace of Jesus. When Palestinian terrorists took over the Church
of the Nativity, using it as a fortress from which to fire upon Israeli troops
while holding nuns, priests and monks hostage, they also stole or destroyed
virtually everything of value inside the building.
And they got away with it. Those terrorists, including some wanted for the
murders of Israeli civilians, were permitted to leave the country unscathed
and unmolested – all in an effort to avoid further destruction at the holy
site.
A document captured by the Israelis in Bethlehem during Operation Defensive
Wall shows that Arafat's Fatah/Al Aqsa Martyrs, the same criminals who broke
into the church, demanded of Bethlehem municipal officials monetary support
for its 'military' campaign.
This demand is just an extension of a larger extortion racket being perpetrated
on the remnant of Christians, who represent a dwindling and tiny minority
among the burgeoning Muslim population in Arafat's territory.
Men of the Bedouin Taamra tribe, based near Bethlehem, are used by Arafat's
forces to shake down Christian businessmen. They take from the Christians
and give to the terrorists – keeping some for themselves and terrorizing
civilians with impunity under the corrupt Arafat regime [. . . .]
The Palestinian Authority appropriated lands of the Greek Orthodox Church
in Bethlehem through a combination of violence, forged documents and bribes.
In some cases, elements within the church cooperated with Arafat's forces.
Mosques are often built on the formerly Christian land.
The PA's thoroughly corrupt "judicial system" adds to the persecution of
the Christians in Bethlehem by simply lifting all protection. As an example,
a Christian family owned a plot of land with a business center on it. When
a Muslim family took possession of the building and began using it without
permission, the Christian family filed a claim. After long and arduous court
hearings, the Christian family's claim was upheld. But the verdict was never
enforced by police and later a new court verdict appeared, signed by the
same judge, that canceled the previous verdict and ratified the Muslim's
claim to the land.
Information is difficult to gather because Christians live in a constant
state of terror. But the statistics speak for themselves.
From October 2000, when Arafat's uprising began, to November 2001 nearly
3,000 Christians fled the West Bank. Arafat has Islamicized Bethlehem and
the nearby towns of Beit Jalla and Beit Sakhur. An additional 30,000 Muslims
have been incorporated into the area. Bethlehem, once a Christian town, now
has a Christian population of 30,000 – dominated by 120,000 Muslims.
[In] the West Bank, the terrorists' favorite game is placing the Christians
in the crossfire – firing at Israelis from within and behind churches and
Christian businesses that are then destroyed by tanks and rocket fire.
All this goes on while the Christian world remains silent. A months-old letter
to the Vatican from Bethlehem's Christians pleading for help against the
onslaught of rape, murder and plunder at the hands of Arafat and the Muslim
majority has not even been answered.
Such is life for Christians now in Bethlehem and other formerly Christian
towns in the West Bank. Just imagine what it will be like when Palestine
becomes a real state.
* * * * * * *
PMW (Palestinian Media Watch) translated excerpts from this report a report
published in the Hebrew daily Ma'ariv, on Christmas Eve, 24 December 2001:
Make no mistake - Arafat's insistence that he would go to the Midnight Mass
in Bethlehem, 'even on foot' if Israel doesn't permit him to take off from
Ramallah, does not necessarily reflect great love between Muslims and Christians
in Palestinian Authority-controlled areas. In fact, the opposite is the case.
The Christians suffer greatly just by being in PA areas, which is evident
from what transpired during the exchange of fire between Palestinians in
the Christian town of Beit Jala and IDF troops in the Jerusalem neighborhood
of Gilo. At the height of the firing, the Christians of Beit Jala received
a particularly painful bear-hug: Tanzim activists, Muslims of course, chose
their firing positions as close as possible to Christian religious institutions.
The Christians instantly understood the ploy - one slight deviation of Israeli
retaliatory fire on Beit Jala would suffice to harm the Christian institutions
or homes. In such an event, Israel would receive grave reactions from the
world's Christians and the gain would be two-fold: both Gilo and Israel's
relations with the international Christian community would suffer a blow.
One resident of Beit Jala remembers sadly: 'We frequently were humiliated
by the Muslims in Bethlehem. We Christians used to constitute 50% of the
population in the city. Today, we make up maybe 20%. Anyone who was able
to do so, left.'.
Out of fear for their safety, Christian spokesmen aren't happy to be identified
by name when they complain about the Muslims' treatment of them. Off the
record they talk of harassment and terror tactics, mainly from the gangs
of thugs who looted and plundered Christians and their property, under the
protection of Palestinian security personnel.
Relations between Muslims and Christians deteriorated after the Israeli Army
withdrawal from Bethlehem. It was then that PA security forces, all Muslims,
entered, and the sentiments and frustration on the part of the Muslims turned
into actions. Israel began receiving complaints from Christians about damage
to churches and the smashing of crosses, without any real preventive measures
taken by the local police. In addition, [bodily] harassment against Christians
began, which reached its peak when Muslims sexually molested young Christian
girls from Beit Sahur.
* * * * * * *
"Where Have All the Christians Gone?" by Carl Pearlston, Freeman Center for
Strategic Research, 25 November 2001:
In early November, the Los Angeles Times featured an article about a 14-year old Israeli boy murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in a bus attack. The article discussed the resultant incursions by Israel's army into the nominal territory of the Palestinian Authority, and talked of damage inflicted by Israeli forces 'on the largely Christian city of Bethlehem and its residents.'
While this statement regarding Bethlehem being a Christian city would have been true 50 years ago when Christians were 90% of the population, it is grossly untrue today when they number only 35%, and are continually dwindling both as a percentage and in absolute numbers.
This Christian population reduction is a fact not only for Bethlehem, but for the entire area. Consider, for example, that in the last census conducted by the British mandatory authorities in 1947 there were 28,000 Christians in Jerusalem; the census conducted by Israel in 1967 after the Six-Day War showed just 11,000 Christians remaining in the city. This means that some 17,000 Christians (or 61%) left during the days of Jordanian King Hussein's rule over Jerusalem, and were replaced by Muslim Arabs from Hebron.
Pope John Paul II was mindful of these sobering facts when, on the occasion of his visit to Bethlehem in March 2000, he urged Arab Christians to remain in Bethlehem, the home of Christianity, saying, "Do not be afraid to preserve your Christian heritage and Christian presence in Bethlehem."
This serious error in not recognizing the decline of Christianity in its ancient home by a staff writer and copy editor of a leading newspaper is symptomatic of a general media neglect of the plight of Christians under Islamic governments, facing the abuses of radical Islamicists.
[. . . .] The Palestinian Christians are subject to subtle institutional discrimination by the Palestinian Authority, whose official religion is Islam, and whose basic laws reflect the Koranic Shari'a. The militant rhetoric of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad, which advocates a unified fundamentalist Islamic state over the entire Mid East, offers no comfort to Arab Christians, who have been fleeing the area at four times the rate of Moslems. There are presently more Palestinian Christians living abroad than in their homeland.
[. . . .]
In Egypt, the Coptics, one of the oldest Christian sects, have seen their numbers shrink from 20% of the population in 1975 to less than 10% of today's 60-million population. Over one million have emigrated to the US, Canada, and Europe in that time period. Those who stay face the rising influence of Islamicist fundamentalism, the denouncing of their religion by radical Islamic clerics, the imposition of Koranic Shari'a law, discrimination against their children in schools, church burnings, the loss of political and economic power, and local massacres. Christians are second-class citizens. As one Copt lawyer stated, "Those who can afford to have left the country. For those of us who stay, life is made very difficult. Opportunities are limited. Discrimination is rampant."
In Saudi Arabia, Christians are less than 1% of the 21-million population, and the public practice of Christianity is virtually unknown. Any non-Islamic or dissident Islamic religious expression is forbidden. Christian meetings are outlawed except for worship services held in foreign embassies. Offenders are arrested and imprisoned by the mutawa, the religious police. [. . . .]
There is no question that Islamicists--those who profess a radical, fundamentalist Islam which becomes more a political ideology than a religion--are intolerant of non-Moslems and seek to eliminate any religious minorities within their borders. And when Islamicists control the government, they put those beliefs and policies into practice with the full force of governmental power. Even those Islamic governments deemed "moderate" betray an essential hostility toward non-Moslems, and Christians regularly report discrimination and harassment.
While, so-called moderate Islamic governments may profess religious tolerance in the abstract, their real-world performance is sadly deficient in allowing any significant measure of religious freedom. The really troubling question, given the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in every Islamic country in the past decade, is to what extent the radical Islamicists represent the future course of those heretofore "moderate" Islamic governments.
* * * * * * *
It has always been Islamic doctrine that in time all of the world should become "World of Islam". There might not always be active pursuit of that goal, but it has not been abandoned.
Sheikh Omar Bakri, born in Syria and now a British subject, is founder and
head of the Islamic Religious Court in London, and head of the Al-Muhajiroun
Islamist organization. He explains his program for his adopted country in
an interview with MEMRI, 9 August 2002:
Question: I listened to your lesson on the foundations of belief, and it seems that you are not interested in bringing students into British society - that is, you are not helping them to be British Muslims.
Bakri: In my method of education, I am opposed to the idea of integration. We do not believe that it is permitted to integrate into the societies in which we live. I am not a supporter of seclusion from society, and I am not a supporter of integration into it. I am a supporter of interaction with society, by means of my religion and my belief, in order to change the environment, not to be changed by it.
Question: And where will this life of estrangement lead?
Bakri: The life of estrangement will lead . . . to [a] change in the situation of the country in which we live, as the Muslims changed the situation in Abyssinia and Indonesia. Allah willing, we will transform the West into Dar Al-Islam [that is, a region under Islamic rule] by means of invasion from without. If an Islamic state arises and invades [the West] we will be its army and its soldiers from within. If not, [we will change the West] through ideological invasion from here, without war and killing.
Either we will preach to them and they will accept [Islam], or we will live among them and they will be influenced by our lives and will accept Islam as a political solution to their problems, not as an ideological solution. [. . . .] Laws can be Islamic-religious and they can be man-made.
They [the West] have imposed man-made law on us, and the [future] Islamic regime will impose Islamic religious rulings on them. The Muslim will act according to this law out of obedience [that is, willingly], and anyone who is not a Muslim will do so by force of law. I do not obey the man-made law. Even if I don't break it, I do not obey it. Allah said: 'Do not obey the infidels and the hypocrites.
* * * * * * *
In 1990, then President George H. W. Bush went to Saudi Arabia. He meant
to have his Thanksgiving Day dinner with United States military personnel
stationed there to defend the kingdom and its thousands of princes.
Even on an American base, the Saudis ruled that he must not say Grace at
the festive dinner if held on Saudi soil. The President of the United States
bowed to this dictum, and celebrated Thanksgiving Day aboard a U.S. Navy
vessel at sea where he could say this simple prayer without giving offense
to this ally.
END