You guessed it: hysterical rumor-mongering and conspiracy theories. "Conversion, Adultery, and Savagery Strike Egypt," by Raymond Ibrahim in FrontPageMagazine.com (via RaymondIbrahim.com), May 23:
The true story behind the recent Islamist attacks on Egypt's Copts—wherein over a dozen Christians were killed, hundreds wounded, and their churches torched—is as illuminating as it is sordid.To recap, Islamists—or "Salafists," as many in the Egyptian media are referring to the "Taliban-looking guys in slippers"—demonstrated before St. Mark Cathedral, insisting that their "Muslim sister" Camelia Shehata be released by the Coptic Church, which was supposedly holding and torturing her, a Copt, for converting to Islam. So Camelia once again appeared announcing unequivocally that she never converted to Islam, and would live and die as a Christian.
Not ones to be deterred, Islamists immediately began rioting about how another Coptic girl, Abeer Talaat, had converted to Islam and was abducted and imprisoned by the Coptic Church—hence the violent rampage (which continued into the weekend, when Christians demonstrating against the attacks were attacked again, with one killed and over 100 injured).
In fact, Abeer did convert to Islam. However, her family did not know; all they knew is that their married daughter had run off with another man. They brought her to stay at a guest house belonging to the church, designed to help separated couples reconcile. According to the priest, she left the guest house well before the Islamists began insisting that she was being held "against her will" in the church.
More telling is why Abeer converted to Islam: to get an instantaneous divorce from her husband. A Muslim cabdriver she knew told her that if she converted to Islam and "married" him (i.e., lived with him), that would automatically annul her marriage from the Christian. This of course is a Sharia stipulation, though one that (currently) contradicts Egyptian law, which views her as a bigamist for marrying another man while still being legally wed (she is currently in jail under investigation).
Asked in a recent interview if she converted to Islam for its own appeal, or simply to get rid of her Coptic husband, Abeer said "No, I had a lot of problems with my husband and that's what caused me to do this [convert to Islam]. I asked 'How can I be rid of him [her husband]' and was told to 'be done of him by changing your religion' [to Islam], so I did this to be rid of him."
Asked "Do you want to stay a Muslim, Abeer?" she responded with a small "Well, it's something that there's no return from."...
Clearly Abeer misunderstands her tolerant new religion. Surely Salam al-Marayati or M. Cherif Bassiouni or Ali Eteraz will be able to explain to her, or to Egyptian authorities who might threaten her if she leaves Islam, that Islam actually has no death penalty for apostasy. Right, gentlemen? On your way to Cairo yet?
Abeer changed her story a great deal from one interview to another:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/05/egypt-woman-whose-abduction-claim-helped-spark-anti-christian-rampages-changes-story-gives-conflicti.html
and wound up hanging up on the al-Jazeera interviewer (transcript after the article):
http://www.aina.org/news/20110512194147.htm
The extent of Islamic conspiracy mongering is directly proportional to the problems Egypt faces (Muslims are never at fault; it's always Infidel bogeymen). Thus, as Egypt's problems multiply, as commodity prices march upwards and people are hungrier, the more these terrible incidents will occur.
The answer is simple. Because they are muslims. No where in christianity does it state/imply/advocate the supression/repression/destruction of any religious group/sect or denomination in the name of God/Jesus/The Holy Ghost. Islam rewards such acts.
Raymond Ibrahim: Why Muslims are killing Christians and torching churches in Egypt
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Thanks so much for your article, Mr. Ibrahim.
I've noticed numerous pieces about Muslim attacks on Christians—*even some sympathetic to the Copts*—that uncritically parrot the line that 'Muslims are concerned about Christians kidnapping Muslim women and holding them captive'.
In the case of Camelia Shehata this is *especially grotesque*, since *she* was kidnapped by Muslims and pressured to convert. When the police found her, I imagine many—especially many Muslims—were surprised when she affirmed that she was still Christian, and had *never* converted.
This wasn't enough for the Ummah, of course—which would have loved the publicity of a Coptic woman married to a high-ranking Christian cleric converting to Islam—*whether the conversion was coerced or not*.
Even when that proved to be false, though, they concocted this perverse story of 'a Muslim woman held captive by Christians'—even thought he story was just the opposite.