Last May in Italy, a Muslim boy of African origin beat a 12-year-old girl during school because she was wearing a crucifix around her neck. The African schoolboy, who had only started to attend the school approximately three weeks earlier, began to bully the Christian girl—“insulting her and picking on her in other ways all because she was wearing the crucifix”—before he finally “punched the girl violently in the back.”
What is it about the Christian cross that makes some Muslims react this way?
The fact is, Islamic hostility to the cross is an unwavering fact of life—one that crosses continents and centuries; one that is very much indicative of Islam’s innate hostility to Christianity.
Doctrine and History
Because the Christian cross is the quintessential symbol of Christianity—for all denominations, including most forms of otherwise iconoclastic Protestantism—it has been a despised symbol in Islam.
According to the Conditions of Omar—a Medieval text which lays out the many humiliating stipulations conquered Christians must embrace to preserve their lives and which Islamic history attributes to the second “righteous caliph,” Omar al-Khattab—Christians are “Not to display a cross [on churches]… and “Not to produce a cross or [Christian] book in the markets of the Muslims.”
The reason for this animosity is that the cross symbolizes the fundamental disagreement between Christians and Muslims. According to Dr. Sidney Griffith, author of The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque, “The cross and the icons publicly declared those very points of Christian faith which the Koran, in the Muslim view, explicitly denied: that Christ was the Son of God and that he died on the cross.” Thus “the Christian practice of venerating the cross and the icons of Christ and the saints often aroused the disdain of Muslims,” so that there was an ongoing “campaign to erase the public symbols of Christianity, especially the previously ubiquitous sign of the cross.”
Islam’s hostility to the cross, like all of Islam’s hostilities, begins with the Muslim prophet Muhammad. He reportedly “had such a repugnance to the form of the cross that he broke everything brought into his house with its figure upon it.” He once ordered someone wearing a cross to “take off that piece of idolatry” and claimed that at the end times Jesus himself would make it a point to “break the cross”—an assertion the Islamic State regularly makes.
Islamic history following Muhammad is riddled with anecdotes of Muslims cursing and breaking crosses. Prior to the Battle of Yarmuk in 636, which pitted the earliest invading Muslim armies against the Byzantine Empire, Khalid bin al-Walid, the savage “Sword of Allah,” told the Christians that if they wanted peace they must “break the cross” and embrace Islam, or pay jizya and live in subjugation—just as his Islamic State successors are doing today in direct emulation. The Byzantines opted for war.
In Egypt, Saladin (d. 1193)—regularly touted in the West for his “magnanimity”—ordered “theremoval of every cross from atop the dome of every church in the provinces of Egypt,” in the words of The History of the Patriarchate of the Egyptian Church.
Europe: Growing Violence against the Cross
Centuries later, not much has changed concerning Islam’s position towards the cross, though much has changed in Western perceptions. In other words, an African boy punching a Christian girl in Italy for her crucifix is part of a long continuum of Islamic hostility for the cross. Perhaps he learned this hatred in mosque—the same European mosques where Islamic State representatives call Muslims to jihad?
After all, earlier this year in Italy, another crucifix was destroyed in close proximity to a populated mosque. The municipality’s Councilor, Giuseppe Berlin, did not mince words concerning the identity of the culprit(s):
Before we put a show of unity with Muslims, let’s have them begin by respecting our civilization and our culture. We shouldn’t minimize the importance of certain signals; we must wake up now or our children will suffer the consequences of this dangerous and uncontrolled Islamic invasion.
Nor is Italy the only European nation experiencing this phenomenon. In neighboring France, a “young Muslim” committed major acts of vandalism at two churches. Along with twisting a massive bronze cross, he overturned and broke two altars, the candelabras and lecterns, destroyed statues, tore down a tabernacle, smashed in a sacristy door and even broke some stained-glass windows. (Click for images.)
And in Germany, a Turkish man who checked himself into a hospital for treatment went into a sudden frenzy because there were “too many crosses on the wall.” He called the nurse a “bitch” and “fascist” and became physically aggressive… KEEP READING


P0rkCh0ps says
Islam is like a deadly virus. Once all hosts (non-muslims) have been destroyed it will turn in on itself. First with the minority Shias and others. Then the black muslims followed by the non-arabic muslims. It will then dispose of those not praying 5 times a day, not growing a beard etc etc, until there is not enough left to continue the species.
oldwhiteguy says
yes. it is like a parasite that will consume itself when all other sources are exhausted.
spot on says
Dracula and other Vampires have the same problem with the Christian cross.
EYESOPEN says
So do Satan and his demonic ilk.
Peggy says
I hope so but in reverse order you stated. By the time it gets to us there will be no Muslims left.
Charli Main says
How dare a piece of Christian scum wear a cross in Muslim Italy !!!!!!!!!!
Italians must be taught to know their place in the land that Allah has given to us.
Barbie Mackay says
YOU DEMON POSSESSED IDIOTS..JESUS WILL NEVER FOLLOW THE DEVIL..IDIOTS!
ich says
I had a couple of kids in my driveway yesterday.
One kid was wacky but fun. The other kid was nicer
than anything.
My heart sank.
What a shame. The old man is a little dodgy.
I hope they dont get the hate bug and stay away from that book of evil.
Fr. Basil says
Of course mahometans hate the Cross. What do you expect. St. Paul said the very WORD “Cross” is foolishness to those who are perishing. How much more, therefore, its visual representation?
Unless they repent, mahometans will spend eternity in flames with their demon Allah and their precious Mahomet.
D. M. Mitchell says
Ah yes, the religion of hatred and intolerance….er peace.
duh_swami says
The Islamic cross, and the fall of man…Allah at the top…Gabriel at the right hand, Mahound at the left, at the bottom is the ‘holy child’, the Quran, and beyond that the fallen pious.
Edward says
Christ the Wisdom and Power of God
For this: The CROSS antagonizes Satan’s proxies
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
Further commentary @:
http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/1-corinthians/gods-nonsense
TheDane says
I believe it’s rather simple: islam is the Devil’s doctrine and the Devil hates and wants to destroy the Jews and Christians; God’s chosen peoples. The hatred that moslems demonstrate on a daily basis against the Jews and Christians is of a demonic, spiritual kind, I am sure. The above story about the evil, so-called ‘prophet’ mohammad makes me think of exorcism, where the possessed goes berserk when he/she sees the Cross. The darkness cannot stand the light and truth.
Islam facilitates violence, murder, paedofilia, rape, etc., yet many Westerners cannot see through it. Is it stupidity, or is it as it was under Hitler: a sort of mass-psychosis or mass-possession?
Edward says
“so-called ‘prophet’ mohammad makes me think of exorcism”
Mexico’s church clergy has started mass exorcism rituals to stop the spread of crime there. More about this story @:
http://www.catholic.org/news/international/americas/story.php?id=61393
‘Church confirms that demons are running loose in Mexico, prompting a radical exorcism’
Our secular world has to stop our continual complacency towards our denial of evil. Evil exists and is taken part in the spiritual warfare that we are now facing. Man alone cannot find an antidote for the demise of Satan’s tactics. We need our Creator’s help, by using His wisdom and power. By using His Divinity to set up us straight, just like when He attended to our first parents; at the time of their fall at the Garden of Eden.
ninetyninepct says
Why are Muslims and Islam so terrified of a symbol, other beliefs and non-muslims? Why are they scared?
anrew sapia says
Consider this! When a priest performs an exorcism of demonic possession, what does he do? He displays a cross and demons go crazy. This easily explains Muhammad’s reaction to seeing the cross as he was most certainly demon possessed. What is going on in the world today with the conflict between Islam and the West is spiritual and the hatred of the cross and other Christian symbols is rooted in the demonic nature of Islam and the possession of many of its followers. I know many modern people will scoff at this notion, however, think about it. Muslims come to Christian countries where they can worship freely, Christians are no threat whatsoever to them and yet they still get angry over symbols like the cross.
EYESOPEN says
You are spot-on correct!
von says
The best contribution the religion of “peace” can make for world peace would be; a 24/7 observance of the Ramadan.
This is a one time shot , this offer will not be repeated.What do you say.
All in favor say………….. 🙂
Jax Tolmen says
What tipped me off that something was wrong with Islam, was an incident that occured when I was an overnight manager at a fastfood restaurant. I was working the drive thru. A car full of Muslims rolled up. They asked if were a Halal restaurant, I told them that we weren’t. They weren’t happy, but they ordered anyway.
When they rolled up to my window, they happened to see the cross I always wear hanging in front of my uniform. I’m not even religious, however my grandmother was so I wore it in memory of her. They tried to attack me because of it. Shouting about the cross and what not.
I called the cops as they tried futilely to get through the window at me. I was quite calm, holding a nice long metal rod in case they got through. They left. I went home the next morning, idly typed “why do Muslims hate us?” into google. The religion of peace website appeared, which lead me to this website. The stuff I’ve read in that time has taught me something powerful.
Hatred makes for a powerful sword – and I hate them as surely as they hate us. Not all of them though, but enough.
dumbledoresarmy says
Wow.
Just. wow. Great story.
Talk about an ‘aha’ moment.
And…a good illustration of how the Internet, though it can be used by jihadis to spread Islam, is *also* brilliantly enabling the ‘waking up’ and self-education of non-Muslims.
Had you *only* been able to access the local bookshop, municipal library or university library when you decided to look for information about Islam, you *might* have found out what you did via that one casual google….or perhaps not. And if you *did* find out, it would I suspect have taken a *lot* longer and been more difficult.
Out of curiosity – how long ago did that incident at the drive-through happen?
Final thought: I wonder just how many *other* non-Muslims around the place are having or have had similar experiences to you, in various contexts, and are, as a result, getting curious (as well as alarmed) and…finding their way to forums such as this, and finding out more.
Maybe it’s a lot more than we think, and a lot more than is *currently* appearing on the political and media radar screen.
Baucent says
You cannot understand why Muslims would hate the symbol of the Cross without understanding that this is a spiritual conflict. The Cross is the corner stone of the Christian gospel of Christ’s death to pay the price of humanity’s sins. That faith in what was achieved by the Cross can result in salvation is not a message Islam wants the world to hear. And if you can believe, the one pulling Islam’s strings is that old adversary the Devil. Hatred of the cross makes perfect sense.
Kepha says
Good point, Baucent–especially since Islam is one more religious system in which man saves himself through observation of a set of rules. Islam is all the more dangerous in that it declares those outside its pale to be legitimate targets for war. Put the two together, and islam cannot stand it when the Gospel proclaims that in Christ’s death our sins received their just punishment, and in his resurrection, our sins were left behind in the tomb.