While poor Bilal Hassam is beset by “Islamophobia,” here are some recent news items from the real world:
Benedict Kiely Real Clear Politics reported last Tuesday that Christians in Iraq face a new threat from “Popular Mobilization Units,” who in the town of Karamles, near Mosul, recently blocked a road that led to a church, preventing the congregation from going to the church, and “also strafed the church with gunfire.” Kiely added that the local priest “told me that this was the second time his church had been attacked in the last nine months. One of the militiamen held a handgun to the priest’s face when he went out to demand that they clear the street and stop shooting.” Said the Iraqi priest of the Shi’ite jihadis: “They are the new ISIS. We are really vulnerable.”
According to Fox News, “In Iraq, the Christian population has decreased from 1.5 million in 2003 to fewer than 200,000 today. Much of this was the result of ISIS’ merciless reign of terror, which was buoyed by Western inaction in 2014.”
The Christian website World Watch Monitor reported in early December that “over 100 Christians have been arrested in Iran in the past week and nearly 150 in the past month, as part of the government’s attempt to ‘warn’ Christians against proselytizing over Christmas.” These arrests could have fatal consequences: Lela Gilbert, a journalist who tracks the persecution of Christians, noted in the Jerusalem Post on the Saturday before Christmas that “in 2017, there were at least 517 executions in Iran.”
In Nigeria, meanwhile, according to Christian Today, “Nigeria’s president gave only a weak nod to the Christian communities being devastated by brutal attacks in his Christmas message to the nation. Despite thousands being killed by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen in recent years, President Muhammadu Buhari played down the violence as he called on Nigerians to rebuild community relationships….The Christmas message is unlikely to appease Nigeria’s Christian leaders who accuse the authorities of turning a blind eye to the violent attacks being carried out on their communities.”
Likewise in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote on Twitter: “Wishing all our Christian citizens a happy and peaceful Christmas.” Khan said nothing about Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who was on death row for eight years for “blasphemy” against Muhammad, only to be acquitted by the Pakistani Supreme Court and yet still not freed, for if she were, she would certainly be killed by Muslims who have been baying for her blood and hunting for her house-to-house.
Nor did Khan say anything about the many, many other Christians whose lives have been destroyed by Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, including Qaisar and Amoon Ayub, who were sentenced to death for blasphemy in mid-December.
Then there’s Egypt, where the joy of the anticipation of Christmas was somewhat soured on December 10, when Muslim mobs screaming Allahu akbar “waged attacks against the houses of the Copts in the village of Kom al-Raheb, pelting them with stones and thumping at doors and windows.” What was the Christians’ crime? The Muslims “were livid that the Copts had a day earlier, Sunday 9 December, opened a new church building and celebrated Holy Mass inside.” Authorities sided with the attackers: “The police arrived and demanded immediate closure of the unlicensed church.”
Why was the church unlicensed? In Egypt, as in many other majority-Muslim countries, it is nigh impossible for Christians to get the necessary permits to build new churches. The ultimate reason for this is that Islamic law forbids Christians under the hegemony of Islam to build new houses of worship: “The subject peoples…are forbidden to build new churches.” (Reliance of the Traveller, o11.5). In Muslim countries where Islamic law is not in full force today but remains a cultural hangover, such as Egypt, this often takes the form of endless bureaucratic red tape that it is impossible to cut through. So all too often the Christians build the church anyway, only to have it menaced, or demolished outright, by a slavering Muslim mob.
And as for all that respect that the Qur’an and Islam supposedly have for Jesus and Christians, Hassam doesn’t mention all this:
What a smooth and devious deceiver Mustafa Akyol is. Here are some of the “ecumenical themes already in the Qur’an”:
Jesus is not the Son of God and belief in the Trinity is “excess”: “O People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter anything concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and his word which he conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and do not say ‘Three.’ Cease! It is better for you! Allah is only One Allah. It is far removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is sufficient as Defender.” — Qur’an 4:171
And: “It is not befitting to Allah that he should beget a son. Glory be to him! When He determines a matter, he only says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” — Qur’an 19:35
Jesus was not crucified: “And because of their saying: We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger – they did not kill him or crucify him, but it appeared so to them; and those who disagree concerning it are in doubt about it; they have no knowledge of it except pursuit of a conjecture; they did not kill him for certain.” — Qur’an 4:157
Those who believe in the divinity of Christ are unbelievers: “They have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is Christ, the son of Mary.” — Qur’an 5:17 (cf. 5:72)
Christians have forgotten part of the divine revelations they received: “From those, too, who call themselves Christians, We did take a covenant, but they forgot a good part of the message that was sent them: so we estranged them, with enmity and hatred between the one and the other, to the day of judgment. And soon will Allah show them what it is they have done.” — Qur’an 5:14
Those who believe that Jesus is God’s Son are accursed: “The Jews call Ezra a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah’s curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! ” — Qur’an 9:30
Christians who do not accepted Muhammad and the Qur’an are the most vile of created beings: “Nor did those who were given the Scripture become divided until after there had come to them clear evidence. And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and to give zakah. And that is the correct religion. Indeed, they who disbelieved among the People of the Book and the polytheists will be in the fire of Hell, abiding eternally therein. Those are the most vile of created beings.” — Qur’an 98:6
Muslims must fight against and subjugate Christians: “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden what has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” — Qur’an 9:29
Also, a hadith has Muhammad predicting that Jesus will return at the end of the world and break the cross, as it is an insult to Allah’s power to say that he would have allowed one of his prophets to be crucified: “Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, ‘By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary [Jesus] will shortly descend amongst you people [Muslims] as a just ruler and will break the Cross and kill the pig and abolish the Jizya [a tax taken from the non-Muslims, who are in the protection, of the Muslim government]. Then there will be abundance of money and nobody will accept charitable gifts.’” — Bukhari 3.34.425
“Muslims love Jesus. So why does everyone think we hate Christmas?,” by Bilal Hassam, Independent, December 24, 2018:
It’s Christmas time and so it hasn’t taken long for a national newspaper to run a feature implying British Muslims are poorly integrated for “refusing to celebrate a Christian holiday”. The irony of this pernicious Islamophobia, feebly hiding behind the banner of defending the Judeo-Christian values of our country, is that it is bereft of any meaningful understanding of Islam.
You see, the thing is, Muslims love Jesus.
In fact, the Prophet Muhammad said: “The dearest person to me in friendship and in love, in this world and the next is Jesus, the son of Mary.”
It may come as a surprise to many to learn that Jesus is mentioned in the Quran over 100 times, while the Prophet Muhammad, by contrast, is mentioned just five times. Described as the best woman ever to have set foot on earth, there is a whole chapter in the Quran named “Mary” and she is the only woman mentioned by name in the holy book.
It’s not just that Muslims love Jesus – we believe him to be one of the greatest messengers of god. We believe in his miraculous birth. We believe that god gifted him with the ability to bring the dead back to life, heal the leper and bring sight back to the blind and, like Christians, we believe in his second coming back to this world.
Just as Muslims have a deep love and respect for Jesus, so too are we taught to love and respect our Christian friends who have a different view of who Jesus was. Unfortunately, thanks to a handful of extremist nutters, coupled with an all too often Islamophobic media industry, people tend to have this erroneous notion that all Muslims want to do is convert everyone, and violently at that. Well, the Quran emphatically states that “there is no compulsion in religion”, meaning you can’t force anyone to become Muslim….
Jaladhi says
And what about the “kafirphobia” that Muslims have all year around?? These karirphobes have been carrying out jihad against them all over the world for lat 1400 years and have killed more than 370 million kafirs. This can also be called infidelphobia – take your pick!! LOL..
nicu says
@ Jaladhi – so right !
These Muslims are always whining and play the victim card though they are the offenders !
Pathetic !
Wellington says
Take away the “ophobia” element from “Islamophobia” and what is left is what is truly pernicious. Has been for some 1400 years.
Carol the 1st says
+1
FYI says
muslims whine at Christmas..it’s becoming their islamic mistletoe and whine festival
“You see the thing is,muslims love Jesus”
Is he talking about issa the muslim?
He can’t be talking about Jesus of Nazareth{He’s JEWISH}..
You see muslims don’t love Jesus at all…
FYI says
“We believe in his miraculous birth”
muslims believe Jesus was not Jewish,but a muslim and that he could speak as an infant.
allah’s take on the Christmas story {koran 19:Maryam}
“He spake:Lo! I am allah’s slave.he hath given me the scriptures and hath appointed me a prophet”
koran 19 v 30
..said the TALKING INFANT JESUS IN A CRIB.
Christians don’t believe that Jesus was 1)muslim 2)able to speak like an adult 3)able to know what a prophet was or 4)had the Gospel in His possession
{“We gave unto Jesus the Gospel” koran 5 v 46 says allah..what?..when did Jesus have the Gospel?It didn’t exist in the Time of Jesus..oops…}
Raja says
FYI,
This is not to disagree but to reinforce your great post if you don’t mind.
Confuse or terrorize relentlessly and then go in for the kill, that seems to be the strategy of Islam
Didn’t Hitler use this strategy pretty well during his run-up to dominance?
Well, the devil is the father of this method, evidenced by his use on Job. Hitler called it blitzkrieg I guess….
Michael Copeland says
“…so too are we taught to love and respect our Christian friends…”
Not so.
“…between us and you enmity and hatred forever…” Koran 60:4 part of Islamic law.
somehistory says
If at first they don’t deceive, they’ll lie and lie again. They’ll lie until they do deceive.
Bringing out the older lies…”no hate”, “lot of love”, it’s the “phobia” that’s causing all of the problems,…
While on the same days, same times, different stations, others are telling other moslims to “take advantage” of the gatherings of people in the public square, in churches, shopping malls, to bring on the “hate” and terror they wish to visit upon all non moslims…esp Jews and Christians.
The claim of “love” for Jesus is one of their biggest lies. moslims don’t understand love, and they don’t know Jesus Christ. moslims lust for others to die…and they are using Christmas celebrations as large, vulnerable targets to bring death to to as many as possible.
their lies are pernicious, and their hate, and their lust for blood spilling….without the gradual and subtle part. More like piranha in a feeding frenzy.
Savvy Kafir says
Surely these hypersensitive Muslims would feel more comfortable living in Muslim-majority countries. We should do what we can to encourage an exodus of whiney Allah junkies.
mgoldberg says
“”Just as Muslims have a deep love and respect for Jesus, so too are we taught to love and respect our Christian friends who have a different view of who Jesus was. Unfortunately, thanks to a handful of extremist nutters”
Oh, rubbish. Name one, just one muslim country where christians can breathe freely, and do not have to submit to muslim shariah. Name one muslim country that doesn’t have multiple christian victims of hideous cruelty, bigotry, hatred, and contempt, and not merely by the perpetrators but the legal systems that dismiss lightly the crimes of the muslims who perform acts of hatred, bigotry and cruelty in all those lands.
But then, who else to blame except our own appeasers and those who hated our culture and history, here in our western lands.
simpleton1 says
Ahmadiyya group doing the nice things, saying they love Jesus too.
Acting as if they represent all muslims.
Yet they do not represent even 1 % of all muslims.
Their 2 minds has to be heard to be believed, to know that they have no credibility.
Unfortunately they mislead the west to what 99% of islam, is about..
Check on the other 4 schools of jurisprudence, either sunni or shia, as they believe Ahmadiyya are worse than disbelievers, and are as bad as apostates, and believe that ahmadiyya’s should be killed.
gravenimage says
True–the Ahmadi are just providing cover for the 99% of other Muslims.
Raja says
Simpleton1,
Agreed 100%
That doesn’t make the Ahmediyas anywhere close to being disciples of Christ.
The gross persecution of Ahmediyas is a grim reminder to the world that Islam is an evil force let loose by devil on mankind for total anarchy and mayhem.
The Idea is to snatch all liberties of mankind and still keep the Muslims in the closet that they belong to a superior world or system. Utter evil Islam…
Raja says
You hate, you would be happy to mass murder infidels, you want to subjugate and be mean to infidels and if there is any resentment against this you call it Islamophobia!!!
Islam has been very good at lies, propaganda, scheming and war mongering and most likely, the Left learnt many of its evil arts from Muslim and their conquests.
Islamophobia is a taunt to make the foolish to further submit to the evil Islam.
Jayell says
So here we have a deluded, superannuated spoilt brat who thinks it’s clever to throw his toys out of the pram at someone else’s birthday party because his equally-deluded spoilt-brat ‘prophet’-hero gave him ideas way above his station. Pathetic.
jayell says
Sorry, should have added – when are these specimens going to stop trotting out that wretched ‘islamophbia’ word, because it only proves (a) that they don’t know the correct definition of the word ‘phobia’ and (b) that they’re such serious sociopaths and lacking social awareness that they’re totally oblivious of their own arrogant attitudes and blatant antisocial criminality and the predictable effects of these on other people. Quite simply, characters like this cannot be accommodated in civilisde society.
mortimer says
Nigeria’s president is applying half-measures in the hunt for Boko Haram.
The Muslims leaders are not interested in stopping the JIHAD AGAINST CHRISTIANS in Nigeria.
Islam is losing many thousands of APOSTATES every year. Many of them are joining Christian churches.
peter says
Mohamed whatever you may say about him was not stupid ! He knew that the only way he could attract Chiristians to his Islam(accept his supremacy as a prophet) is to glorify Jesus and then say God(Allah) says that he is the most supreme of all the prophets .That was a very clever tactic which is being employed by the guy in question here!
gravenimage says
UK Muslim whines about “pernicious Islamophobia” at Christmas
………………………..
Why? Because he has to suffer through hearing Infidels say “Happy Christmas”–or even “Happy Holidays”–when celebrating Christmas is Haram?
More:
“Muslims love Jesus. So why does everyone think we hate Christmas?,” by Bilal Hassam,
………………………..
Uh…right. Yet, as noted, they so often prevent Christians from celebrating Christmas.
This is because the loving Jesus of the Gospels is *nothing* like the vicious “prophet Jesus” (“Isa”).
More:
You see, the thing is, Muslims love Jesus…
It may come as a surprise to many to learn that Jesus is mentioned in the Quran over 100 times, while the Prophet Muhammad, by contrast, is mentioned just five times. Described as the best woman ever to have set foot on earth, there is a whole chapter in the Quran named “Mary” and she is the only woman mentioned by name in the holy book.
It’s not just that Muslims love Jesus – we believe him to be one of the greatest messengers of god. We believe in his miraculous birth.
………………………..
Muslims also believe that the main role of “Jesus” is to “act as a witness against the Christians” in the last days, and to offer them the choice of converting to Islam or death. In other words, his main role is to *murder Christians*.
Christians might be a bit surprised to learn about this…
Westman says
Doesn’t Islam also provide a role for Jesus to assist in annihilating the Jews? I doubt that any Israelis are unaware.
gravenimage says
Westman, I have not heard about that specifically–I believe that Jews are supposed to be wiped out by murderous Muslims in the last days, per the Hadith.
dan christensen says
Interesting that muslims believe Jesus to be the son of Mary, but they never tell who his father is.
Muslims abhor the “Trinity”, but insist that they love and respect Jesus, although Jesus is one with his father and the holy ghost.
The quran says that “there is no compulsion in religion”, but ‘infidels’ must pay a tax in order to stay alive or else face expulsion or death.
Islam is a very devious religion – it always command you to do at least two opposites concurrently. In this way islam can give a desired answer to any question by obfuscating the issue.
Jack Cade says
A Muslim barrow is only telling the truth when he says he will try to kill you.
NoRightToNotBeOffended says
A phobia is an irrational fear. Muslims create problems wherever they are.
Save Europe says
If we’re soooo Islamophobic in the West, then why do you want to enter our countries!!!!
It’s always only ‘money’, to carry out ‘Hijrah’ or both.
Perhaps he’s also like to explain why, in – especially – Bangladesh, Pakistan and Egypt, are being slaughtered.
P.S – WTF ?!?!! ‘A handful of nutters.’
Really?!?!?
infidel says
Playing victims as usual.
dumbledoresarmy says
What’s interesting is that the ‘Independent’ allowed Comments to the article.
So far there are three – and all three are *not fooled*.
gravenimage says
Great to hear, DDA.
KWJ says
Well, gee, another mendacious Muslim who claims respect for Christians when Islam clearly doesn’t. Worse, are professors of theology like Natalia de Bas-Long of Boston College who on a YT video titled Islam 101 For Catholics doesn’t mention that Islam’s co-opted prophets from the OT and Bible are not the same. I suppose she thinks they are too lazy to read the Qur’an. She has worked for Qatar, the UN, and other OIC-propaganda orgs. She should be fired for being a bad and lying teacher. Simple summary of what Islam thinks about Jesus (Iesa to them):
Jesus is not human
Jesus is not divine
He is not the Son of God
As a newborn infant he claims he is the slave (servant, submitter) of Allah which is a proper noun, not ilah which is general for god.
He was not crucified nor resurrected nor killed at all since the Jews killed a person who resembled him.
He’s Muhammad’s half-brother since all the prophets are paternal brothers, however Muhammad is superior to Jesus.
Jesus will return as a warrior to help destroy the Jews, destroy Christianity, and only Islam will be the religion aka “break the cross and kill the pig.”
He was also not born in a manger but rather under a date palm tree with a river nearby and some man blew into her (vagjna).
Jesus doesn’t love Muslims as in the Gospel of John the Baptist he says “Jesus loves you.”
The miracles are not explained like in the Bible nor are many things not said the same as in the Bible.
In the Qur’an Jesus says Allah gave Jesus the Scripture…but that doesn’t make sense.
Jesus is not Jewish in Islam.
Jews and Christians falsified their holy books, so I guess Allah have Jesus a falsified scripture?
…and more.
Young Muslims I talk to keep saying things like “We respect Moses, Jesus, et al., but even centuries-old sources considered Islam blasphemous or heresy. Then one has to explain that’s not true and they can read the Gospels to see how Christianity and Judaism were co-opted to them turn around and make them look bad and Islam superior and the only “right path.”
Some Palestinians say Jesus was a refugee but that means they would be going with the Biblical story since they were given shelter and ended up in a barn with animals and hay. Thus the Qur’an is not perfect and infallible? Is refugee even the right word?
In The Noble Qur’an that Saudi Arabia disseminates (It is even in a Muslim prayer room at an Australian airport) translator Mohsin Khan’s commentary to Qur’an verse 19:35 “It befits not the Majesty of Allah that He should beget a sin [this refers to the slander of Christians against Allah, by saying that Iesa (fake Jesus) is the son of Allah.]
So, according to the Qur’an, the 2nd most important book, Sahih Bukhari, and the eminent Tafsir of Ibn Kathir, the Christians’ prophet Jesus will help destroy his own religion Christianity) and genocide the Jews and only Islam will be left.
The day before Christmas Eve, the mendacious New York Times ran two articles with a Muslim woman talking about how she went to Catholic school and how they respect Jesus except she would have learned that Jesus of the Bible is not the same as Qur’anic Jesus.
The other article was by a Muslim in Long Island who as a kid was made fun of and harassed while his family enjoyed other people’s lights and decorations…a woe is us persecuted Muslims tale and see, we integrated (assimilated if you partake in Christmasy things.)
The NY Times is tone deaf and just doesn’t know when to shut up as well as these Muslims. Was that necessary? More propaganda and lies by omissions. More taquiyya or Muslims making themselves appear lacking in logic and reasoning about Islam. How can a devout Muslim truly respect other religions when their own religion says to destroy them? Again, westerners who peddle in lies and propaganda and some Christians who are so pathetic to take down a cross so as to not offend Muslims, to borrow a phrase from the Qur’an, are the “worst of creatures.” Telling such obvious falsehoods is just wrong and lacking integrity, so the New York Times, has no integrity too.
Maybe Robert can lay it out again especially since Hamas Palestinians use Islam as another tool against Israel for their land grab. I doubt that will change Leftists’ twisted sense of humanity or lack thereof. They don’t even care how Palestinian children are used and psychologically abused.