In FrontPage this morning I discuss how a film on Muslim persecution of Coptic Christians spawns Muslim terror against the Copts.
The Muslim Brotherhood has threatened to kill the Coptic Pope Shenouda III. A nun was stabbed by a Muslim who burst into a Coptic church shouting “Allah akbar.” Three people were killed as thousands of Muslim protestors rioted outside a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt. Relations between Muslims and Christians in Egypt have not been this tense in recent memory.By all accounts, it’s all because of a DVD that was shown in a Coptic church which Muslims think insults Islam. How exactly does it insult Islam? According to CNN, “The riot was sparked by the distribution of a DVD of a play that was performed at the church two years ago. The play, ‘I Was Blind But Now I Can See,’ tells the story of a young Christian who converts to Islam and becomes disillusioned.”
So a film depiction of someone converting to Islam and then becoming disillusioned is enough to bring more than 5,000 protestors to the church and get a nun stabbed and three people killed? Rumors have spread among Muslims in Egypt that the film insults Muhammad and Islam, but this is unlikely given the Copts’ general reticence about speaking about mistreatment they receive from Muslims. As the Coptic Bishop Armia said, “Copts would never tolerate anyone insulting Islam.” Pope Shenouda himself likewise denied that the play contained anything insulting to Islam. As many Middle Eastern priests and lay Christians have told me, Christians in the Middle East well know that as a matter of survival, they must say one thing in public and another in private. The Copts who showed this video violated that rule, or at least found themselves in violation of it when news of the showing became known.The rioting also suggests how deeply Egyptian Muslims have internalized the traditional Islamic law mandating death for anyone who leaves Islam, and the old dhimmi laws forbidding Christians to proselytize. Other details, as reported by Al-Jazeera, reinforces this point: “The production features a poor Christian university student who converts to Islam when a group of Muslim men promise him much-needed money. When he becomes disenchanted with his decision, the men threaten him with physical violence to prevent him from returning to his original faith.”
So perhaps the Egyptian Muslims are offended that the student originally converted only for money, and that he was threatened by the Muslims when he wanted to return to Christianity. But this, of course, is like CAIR being offended by a book that depicts Muhammad as a warrior: both are taking offense at the truth. There are numerous reports of Copts converting to Islam under pressure, and certainly many Muslims in Egypt and elsewhere take very seriously the command in Islamic law that anyone who leaves Islam should be killed (which is based, of course, on a statement of Muhammad himself: see Bukhari, vol. 9, bk. 84, no. 57).
It is a pity that Muslims in Egypt and elsewhere don’t heed the words of Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, as reported by The Telegraph: Muslims, said Carey, “were very offended by Satanic Verses but I said you are living in a country and civilisation where we are quite used to this. They say: ‘Why as a Christian don't you condemn the Life of Brian?’ I said: ‘I love the film and I think it is good for religion to be knocked, to be criticised, to be challenged because we have done a lot of damage in the past’. We know religion is a force for good but I don’t want to control a writer not to criticise me, because I may need that criticism. The Church of England is a broad church, we are used to being mocked. I do believe passionately in this. I wanted to assure Salman Rushdie that although many of his statements may have been in bad taste he had the right to say it as a lapsed Muslim.”
If anyone needs the criticism that is apparently contained in the Copts’ DVD, it is the very Muslims who have rioted because of it. If they noted and began to work against the intimidation of Copts and the threats against those who leave Islam, life would be better in Egypt for both Christians and Muslims. Muslims and non-Muslims worldwide, meanwhile, need to realize that the riots in Egypt are but one manifestation of a much deeper problem: the collision of Western notions of freedom of speech and Islamic sensibilities. But few as yet have woken up to that.
It is time for the UN to declare that
Islam is hazardous to people and other
living things.
Of course, that will never happen.
Any reason, anywhere, anytime. That's all. Islam is a religion of violently explosive behaviour. May I suggest group anger management and a good self effacing comedy? Or perhaps removal of the tongue and thumb?
Where do these fools come from ?
Surely it must be leftist rent a crowd from here trying to open up a franchise in Egypt - that you can attract a large crowd to riot by a Coptic church about such nonsense.
Madness.
The big problem with the DVD was when John Cleese(who plays the disillusioned convert) looks to the heavens and says "I fart in the general direction of Mecca!".
This behavior is just Islam consistently reacting to other religions. Under this belief system, Christians and other dhimmis cannot question Islam or show outward disrespect not preach to the Muslim. This DVD movie can be interpreted that way, and the Egyptian Muslims are only being consistent to the teachings of Islam. That this type of behavior is not understood in Western societies but is the core problem. It is not understood that all other religions must submit under the sharia rule of law.
This is the core of the struggle. There are those who believe that Islam can undego a Western style reformation. There are those of us who do not. The real struggle is getting the Western mind to understand that this is a struggle for existence, not just one of doctrine. Should the Muslim world have it's way, the West must either submit or cease to exist, which is really the same outcome.
The Hobo
"I think Muslims are so quick to fight for "the prophet's" honor because his actions and their beliefs don't stand on their own accord."
-- posted by Constantinople
I think they fight because that is exactly what they, as activist Moslems, are commanded to do by God from the Koran, and by Mohammed from the Sunnah.
This type of behavior by the Muslims needs to get a lot more main stream, international, publicity and condemnation. Call it what it is, gross intolerance and paranoia. Outrage by the non-Muslim community is exactly what is needed. Ignoring this type of behavior only encourages it.
Everybody’s sensibilities get offended at some point in time. Get over it!
"I fart in the general direction of Mecca!".
Good one JanuaryMan! Thanks for the laugh :)
Everybody’s sensibilities get offended at some point in time. Get over it!
Posted by: R W Frog
What an understatement! Over on dhimmiwatch there's a thread about the Iranian display at a Frankfurt book fair that includes the notorious anti-Semitic czarist forgery: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Elders of Zion is a best seller in Turkey and it's been the theme of many TV broadcasts throughout the Middle East as well in the last few years.
JanuaryMan
Oh my... Thanks for a good laugh from me too!That reminds me of one witty comment my friend vortex made in regards to the story about new homes in Britain not having toilets facing Mecca. Be sure to check it out. After all, I owe you a good laugh in return. :-))
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dolphin, CAGE co-founder
http://www.acage.org
A nun was stabbed by a Muslim who burst into a Coptic church shouting “Allah akbar.” Three people were killed as thousands of Muslim protestors rioted outside a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt.
The religion of peace and tolerance strikes again.
Muslims are offended by every thought, word and deed of non-Muslims. I find this trait to be offensive, yet no Muslim feels obligated to make me an apology.
I want to buy this DVD
I used to assume that the fanatic response of Muslims to criticism was a result of their deep insecurity about their beliefs. Criticism of Islam, it seemed, sparked a deep terror in many Muslims' hearts, a terror that their religion might collapse under a bright light. Rather than face the light of criticism, they demonize it, and thus repress their own semi-conscious self-doubts and spiritual doubts.
Maybe all that does play a role, but it might be a smaller one than we individualized, over-psychologized, over-psychoanalyzed Westerners think.
The larger reason for their fanatic response to criticism may simply be blind obedience and collectivist, pre-individual and anti-individual cultural habits.