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Christians burned alive: The story of Sidhom Bishay

Feb 12, 2015 12:55 pm By Raymond Ibrahim

[Via RaymondIbrahim.com]

As the world reacts with shock and horror at the recent immolation of a Jordanian pilot at the hands of the Islamic State, it is well to remember that this particular form of savagery has a long history in Islam and under the state.

The image to right is of Sidhom Bishay, a Coptic Christian who was immolated in 1844 by local authorities for reportedly “insulting Muhammad,” the prophet of Islam. Today deemed a saint for his martyrdom — he was tortured and eventually immolated with burning tar for refusing to renounce Christ and convert to Islam — his face and body appear frozen in the same position he died in (he turned his head away from the pouring tar and his raised shoulders are indicative of the initial shock of feeling molten tar on his head).

A summary of Sidhom Bishay’s story follows (thanks to Michele A. for researching and translating):

Sometime in March 1844, Bishay was on his way to church located in the Damietta cemetery when a Muslim donkey-driver ran into him and started scolding the Copt for not knowing his “dhimmi” (inferior) status and giving the Muslim driver the right of way.  As crowds gathered around, the Muslim driver falsely accused the Christian of insulting Muhammad in order to “get even” with him for not “knowing his place.”**

Further incited by a local imam, the enraged mob  beat and kicked Bishay and dragged him along the street until his face was a bloody pulp.

A few days later, they brought him before Khalil Agha, the governor of the city.  In the presence of the judge,  Bishay was asked to abjure Christianity and embrace Islam under pain of death.  He refused and was condemned  to receive 500 lashes followed by execution (recall Sudan’s Meriam Ibrahim for a recent and similar sentencing). In front of the governor, Bishay was beaten with shoes and dragged across a staircase until his facial bones were crushed.

All the while the mob was shouting ” Kill him! Burn him!” According to a 19th century manuscript referring to the incident, that martyr for Christ experienced many tribulations before finally being smoldered to death in tar.

On the fourth day, his persecutors returned and stripped him naked, mocked him, and paraded him through the streets of town dressed in sheepskin. They covered his body with mud and  his head with a dirty cloth. Then they fastened cuts of meat with iron clips around his hips and tied two hungry dogs and a cat  to let them fight each other and bite at his flesh. After that, they made him ride a buffalo upside down. The crowd cheered as he crossed town as if he was an animal being led to slaughter.

The man “never lost his patience but kept invoking the Virgin and Christ,” say Coptic chroniclers.

Finally, boiling tar was poured all over his head and face and he was left outside the door of his home. His family attempted to nurse him, but he died five days later on March 25, 1844. During these five days, members of Damietta’s Christian community locked themselves inside their homes for fear of attacks by enraged mobs.

Sidhom Bishay was subsequently canonized by the Coptic Orthodox Church. His body rests today in a glass-fronted shrine in the Cathedral of Saint Mary in Damietta — a stark reminder that burning “infidels” alive is not something new to the Islamic world.

** See pgs. 135-145 of Crucified Again to see how this sort of “retribution” –falsely accusing Christians of “blasphemy” in order to get “even” with them whenever they fail to behave submissively — is still a common practice today, especially in Pakistan.

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Filed Under: blasphemy, Coptic Christians, Muslim persecution of Christians Tagged With: Sidom Bishay


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Comments

  1. john spielman says

    Feb 12, 2015 at 2:34 pm

    wow, I would not want to appear at the Great White Throne Judgement before King Jesus having tortured and killed one of His brothers/sisters

    • dlbrand says

      Feb 13, 2015 at 1:26 am

      Well stated, Justin. Shame-worthy realities.

    • Lia Wissing says

      Feb 13, 2015 at 5:46 am

      Or, John, having killed/tortured one of His chosen people …

    • Nicu says

      Feb 13, 2015 at 8:18 am

      Shame on all Western leaders for that !

    • M S case says

      Feb 13, 2015 at 7:25 pm

      Not much difference in 1844 and 2015 muslims are still killing people maybe some quicker than others.

      “THE FINAL SOLUTION” Get behind your legislators and outlaw the Koran and istam It’s a cult NOT A RELIGION. If only our politicians could realize that. but NO they are in the shadow of islam.

  2. Neil Jennison says

    Feb 12, 2015 at 2:54 pm

    The man is truly a Saint. We should pray for his intercession that the world wakes up the truth of this savage, satanic religion that is Islam.

    We should always remember that we must love our enemies. Muslims, like everyone else, are God’s children. The problem is their beliefs and their actions. Nobody is beyond God’s redemption.

    • Alissa says

      Feb 12, 2015 at 3:15 pm

      Wow. Forgive them? That’s a hard one! I feel a righteous anger coming on! May those who tortured and murdered him burn in hell for all eternity.

      • Kepha says

        Feb 12, 2015 at 6:40 pm

        Given the date of the incident, burning in hell for all eternity may be where the man’s tormenters are right now. And I shudder.

        • Mirren10 says

          Feb 14, 2015 at 11:27 am

          ”Given the date of the incident … ”

          What does the date have to do with it ?

      • TH says

        Feb 13, 2015 at 12:47 pm

        Forgiving their murderes is always a sign of true martyrdom as Christian teaching since the very fist century always considered matyrdom the most perfect identification of the Christian with Christ who forgave those who tortured and killed him. This is true martyrdom not the phoney islamic version of killing other people and getting the promise of sexual promisuity in the Islamic heaven. In fact, Islam is the negation of everything that is in the Bible. Yes, it talks about Abraham, Moses and the prophets but it totally twists their real history in the Bible. It is an effort at wiping Judaism and Christianity off the map. Why must it do that? Because it has no solid historical or theoligical basis. It is a totalitarina political and social ideology, and it has not changed since the 7th century.

    • Aussie says

      Feb 12, 2015 at 6:37 pm

      I agree the man is a saint. His body is incorrupt, just like St. Bernadette. I agree we should pray for the intercession and that God will seek to change hearts.

  3. Angemon says

    Feb 12, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    Truly sickening. And we’re supposed to believe that these people somehow follow a religion of “peace and love”?

    • Alissa says

      Feb 12, 2015 at 5:23 pm

      The whole thing is absurd….especially us not doing anything about it.

    • dlbrand says

      Feb 13, 2015 at 1:32 am

      Angemon says: “Truly sickening. And we’re supposed to believe that these people somehow follow a religion of “peace and love”?

      They follow, in all instances, sunnah of their so-called prophet.

      If he did it, approved it, or its likes, praised the same, the good Muslims do it (as, of course, I know you know).

  4. Gary says

    Feb 12, 2015 at 4:42 pm

    Again…..

    “You will know them by their fruits.”

    Clearly, not a “religion of peace”

    Yet Obama continues to attack Western values and defend CAIR.

  5. pongidae rex says

    Feb 12, 2015 at 4:43 pm

    The problem is not Islam. Islam has not changed for 1600 years and is, by definition, unchangeable.

    The problem is the total collapse of Western leadership into obfuscation and appeasement in deference to a political fad called multiculturalism that dictates that any culture, no matter how primitive or savage, must be accomodated at the expense of the host culture. Until that changes, the West is on a death march.

    • terry says

      Feb 13, 2015 at 10:26 pm

      “The problem is the total collapse of Western leadership into obfuscation and appeasement in deference to a political fad called multiculturalism that dictates that any culture, no matter how primitive or savage, must be accommodated at the expense of the host culture. Until that changes, the West is on a death march.”

      The above quoted paragraph is so precise, I thought it’s worth being repeated!

  6. mortimer says

    Feb 12, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    How can we convince Western people that this is what awaits them from Islam?

    • Arthur says

      Feb 12, 2015 at 10:27 pm

      Well, I’m convinced! But I suggest to friends to visit JihadWatch.org to read about things, and when I check back with them they haven’t done so. They just laugh off the idea of worrying about it. If I cite facts about things that have happened in the last few days, they say they don’t want to hear about it and get irritated. Apparently, all they care to manage is their own immediate reality (or fantasy?).

      It reminds me of a friend who did not want to face the reality of an approaching hurricane. Leaving after the rain had already started, that person had to drive all night (because all the hotels were full), left a car where it got flooded, and lost a great deal of property. The hurricane, of course, blew through whether anyone acknowledged it or not.

      • dlbrand says

        Feb 13, 2015 at 1:42 am

        Arthur says : “It reminds me of a friend who did not want to face the reality of an approaching hurricane….The hurricane, of course, blew through whether anyone acknowledged it or not.”

        Indeed Arthur.

        Such has been our policy for the better part of this “war,” with respect to Islam, what it teaches, therefore, what are basic “good deeds” of the good Muslims: pretend, pretend, pretend Islam and the adherents to it are something other than what facts prove the two to be.

    • Michael Copeland says

      Feb 13, 2015 at 7:14 am

      Answer to “I don’t want to hear about it”:
      “That’s what they said about Hitler.”

  7. sound awake says

    Feb 12, 2015 at 6:32 pm

    this is how we know that we worship The One True God-THE LORD IS HIS NAME

    you see, OUR GOD IS MORE THAN POWERFUL MIGHTY ABLE EVEN WILLING TO DEAL WITH HIS OWN ENEMIES HE WOULD NEVER ASK US TO KILL HIS ENEMIES FOR HIM HE CAN DO IT ALL BY HIMSELF BECAUSE FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING HE IS GOD HE IS OMNIPOTENT AND OMNICIENT ASKING US TO KILL WHO HE DOESNT LIKE IS SO TOTALLY BENEATH HIM AND ABSOLUTE PROOF OF WHO AND WHAT HE IS

    • MKG says

      Feb 12, 2015 at 11:09 pm

      If your God can slay the Devil, why doesn’t he?

      If asking you to kill people who he doesn’t like is beneath him, then perhaps he doesn’t give a damn about you. And so there is no worry in liking those who God doesn’t.

      Whether the text came from a holy book or you made it up is inconsequential, it isn’t “absolute proof” of anything.

      From a Norse Pagan’s point of view you might as well have said, “there is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet.” Being marginalized by Christians or Muslims is all the same to us. Despite our efforts to live in peace with our neighbors we don’t stand for that.

      I acknowledge that our host, Mr. Spencer is a Christian, and I can resect the views of the other guests, Christians included. We like to show hospitality to other guests as a way of respecting our host. In our tradition it is rude when guests quarrel, but your comment was too much.

  8. John says

    Feb 13, 2015 at 12:30 am

    I would like to point out that he was of course an actual martyr, according to the actual meaning of that word, refusing to deny his beliefs even while his life was under threat.

    I despair when I hear journalists and others refer to jihadis who die WHILE MURDERING OTHERS, martyrs, as if the circumstances were the same.

  9. jay says

    Feb 13, 2015 at 1:08 am

    I have recently been getting back into my Orthodox faith and been reading about saints and it’s chilling how many were martyred in similar ways as people are suffering today. This Islamic crap isn’t anything new, it wasn’t cause by Israel or the US or even the crusades. My faith has been at the receiving end of this “religion” since its very inception, the savagery started almost immediately after it began and has had who knows how many millions killed, tortured, raped, enslaved because of it. I just want to rip these apologist’s face off sometimes at how ignorant and callous they are to victims of brutality because of political correctness.

  10. Lia Wissing says

    Feb 13, 2015 at 5:53 am

    And yet I’m sorry for Muslims: from what I’ve read they’re forced into 1st cousin or uncle-niece marriages, many of their babies are born deformed, many have less than normal IQs and so many also end up in prison. Furthermore, a staggering % of muslims is illiterate: that means no reading, no critical/comparative thought & makes them totally dependent on what the imam spouts. It seems they cannot even read the qur’an for themselves, simply because they cannot read. Women & girls may be beaten & killed as men will. What hope is there for them, as people?

    • gravenimage says

      Feb 13, 2015 at 8:42 pm

      There are a few brave people leaving Islam every day.

  11. Proud English Infidel says

    Feb 13, 2015 at 8:34 am

    The other day, I witnessed a coachload of jihadists topple over a cliff. I was in floods of tears.

    “Why?” asked my friend.

    “Because there were 3 empty seats” I replied

  12. Lord Wrath says

    Feb 13, 2015 at 4:27 pm

    How can you pathetic, deluded, christians worship a god that would allow such a thing to be done to one of his most pius followers… Clearly christ and his father are either powerless or sadistic bastards who delight in the sufferings of those foolish enough to believe their crap… So go ahead,,, pray to your imaginary little friend in the sky… I’ll rely on my “holy trinity”,,, the .45 – 5.56 – and 12 gauge!!!

    • gravenimage says

      Feb 13, 2015 at 8:46 pm

      Odd that you appear to have no condemnation for the actual murderers…

  13. Gloria Stewart says

    Feb 13, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    Islam hasn’t changed much, has it?

  14. gravenimage says

    Feb 13, 2015 at 9:02 pm

    Christians burned alive: The story of Sidhom Bishay
    ……………………….

    Odd that there is only a debate about whether burning people to death is “un-Islamic” or not when the victim is Muslim…

  15. Dr.Gonzalo de Porras says

    Feb 14, 2015 at 4:22 am

    The world was shocked by the murder of Jordanian young officer, but say nothing about the burning of more than 200 Christians made, twice, by Boko Haram. IS Christians that Muslims are worth less?

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