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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Raymond Ibrahim: Western Ignorance of the ‘Conditions of Omar’

Mar 26, 2014 9:18 am By Raymond Ibrahim

Raqqa[via PJ Media]

A jihadi group occupying the Syrian town of Raqqa recently gave Christian minorities living there three choices: 1) convert to Islam, 2) remain Christian but pay tribute and accept third-class subject status, or 3) die by the sword.

According to the BBC, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria issued a directive citing the Islamic concept of “dhimma,” [which] requires Christians in the city to pay tax of around half an ounce (14g) of pure gold in exchange for their safety. It says Christians must not make renovations to churches, display crosses or other religious symbols outside churches, ring church bells or pray in public. Christians must not carry arms, and must follow other rules imposed by ISIS (also known as ISIL) on their daily lives.  The statement said the group had met Christian representatives and offered them three choices—they could convert to Islam, accept ISIS’ conditions, or reject their control and risk being killed.  “If they reject, they are subject to being legitimate targets, and nothing will remain between them and ISIS other than the sword,” the statement said.

Because several Western media outlets uncharacteristically reported on this latest atrocity against Syrian Christians, many Westerners are shocked—amazed to hear of such draconian conditions.

In reality, however, these three choices are fully grounded in Islamic teachings, as shall be demonstrated below.

So why is the West, here in the “information age,” utterly if not abhorrently ignorant of the teachings of Islam?   Because those responsible for making such knowledge available—specifically academia, media, and government—are more interested in whitewashing Islam andbemoaning Islamophobia (see pgs. 219-249 of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians for specifics).

Western Dissembling

Most symbolic of all this is that right around the same time news that jihadis were subjugating and extorting jizya-money from Syrian Christians appeared, the Saudi-funded Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Christian-Muslim Understanding at Georgetown University, Washington D.C.,  held a seminar discussing how Islam is misunderstood and being demonized by so-called “Islamophobes.”

I have direct experience of this.  Many years ago, as a graduate student at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, my interest in medieval Islamic history, Sharia, and jihad received askance looks from professors—not least because most classes offered were about the evils of colonialism and Orientalism, or Islamic “feminism.”

It was the same when I worked at the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress, a governmental institution; there, our conferences regularly focused on the purported achievements of Islamic civilization.

As for the endemic Muslim persecution of Christians—past or present—apparently only an “Islamophobe” would raise that topic up.

Speaking of government, also around the same time jihadis were giving Christians the three classic choices of Islam—conversion, subjugation, or death—a delegation of Syrian Christian clergy came to the Senate Arms Services Committee meeting room to offer testimony concerning the sufferings of Syria’s Christians.  Then,

Sen. John McCain marched into the committee room yelling, according to a high-level source that attended the meeting, and quickly stormed out. “He was incredibly rude,” the source told Judicial Watch “because he didn’t think the Syrian church leaders should even be allowed in the room.” Following the shameful tantrum McCain reentered the room and sat briefly but refused to make eye contact with the participants, instead ignoring them by looking down at what appeared to be random papers. The outburst was so embarrassing that Senator Graham, also an advocate of U.S. military intervention in Syria, apologized for McCain’s disturbing outburst. “Graham actually apologized to the group for McCain’s behavior,” according to the source, who sat through the entire meeting. “It was truly unbelievable.”

Less dramatically but equally revealing, CIA chief John Brennan recently declared that the ideology of those offering Christians three choices is “a perverse and very corrupt interpretation of the Koran,” one that has “hijacked” Islam and “really distorted the teachings of Muhammad.”

And if the attempts to suppress the reality of Christian suffering under Islam by academia, media, and government were not enough, months and years back, when the plight of Syria’s Christians was becoming known, even random (but supposedly nonbiased and independent) think tanks and writers also tried to suppress it.

Is it any wonder, then, that Christians in Syria being offered three choices—Islam, subjugation, or death—is mindboggling to the average person in the West, appearing as a wild aberration?

The Conditions of Omar

Yet knowledge of the particulars of Islam’s three-fold choice has been available for centuries; early Western peoples were much acquainted with it, including the now much maligned “Orientalists.”… Keep reading

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Filed Under: dhimmitude, Muslim persecution of Christians, Syria, Uncategorized


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Comments

  1. revg says

    Mar 26, 2014 at 9:21 am

    Who could of seen this coming?

    • veggiedog says

      Mar 26, 2014 at 9:41 am

      Well anyone with their eyes open. Scary that these people have never grown or developed into civilized.

  2. Jay Boo says

    Mar 26, 2014 at 10:27 am

    Meanwhile (stomach-turning NPR) has been broadcasting in-depth commentary daily about Crimea and Ukraine as if it were a major human rights issue just because some Muslims invaders / potential terrorist accomplices still live there.

  3. Mike says

    Mar 26, 2014 at 10:36 am

    What Does Sharia Law Have in Store For You
    http://www.bamboo-delight.com/raxbiljo/What_the_Muslim_Sharia_Laws_Will_Do_to_You.htm

    I recommend everyone read this article. It will get you up to date on Sharia Law.

  4. Michael Copeland says

    Mar 26, 2014 at 11:11 am

    “What is the future in Syria for the minorities? “Okay, they have three choices, either they became a Muslim, or they have to pay the jizya, or to be killed.”
    http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/index.php/home/root/news-libertygb/4402-islam-the-learning-curve?

  5. mortimer says

    Mar 26, 2014 at 1:09 pm

    Isn’t Sharia law wonderful? All money collected by kafirs goes into the war-chest that pays for their subjugation! Wow! Clever thinking, Mohammed!

    Whenever we buy halal meat we pay for jihad.

  6. gravenimage says

    Mar 26, 2014 at 5:05 pm

    A jihadi group occupying the Syrian town of Raqqa recently gave Christian minorities living there three choices: 1) convert to Islam, 2) remain Christian but pay tribute and accept third-class subject status, or 3) die by the sword.
    ………………………………..

    As Raymond Ibrahim ably notes, what these Jihadists are doing to Christians in Syria is classic Islam, straight out of the 7th-century Pact opf Umar.

    Here’s the full text, easily available to anyone on-line:

    http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pact-umar.asp

    Read it and weep. And I mean that quite literally—this is not just what Muslims intend for the Christians of Syria, but for all of us if they ever gain the power.

    One final thing, which you might not get a full sense of from reading the text is how easy it is to violate the pact (or just be suspected or accused of doing so), that any violation results in *collective* punishment of the whole community, and that only the tender mercies of the Muslim mob decide how savage such punishments should be.

    A rumor of, say, Qur’an burning or a Christian boy speaking to a Muslim woman can result in a bloody rampage where enraged Muslims burn, loot, and murder.

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