Habib Malik is correct in this. He is also correct that “Arab Christian support for outraged Muslims, while commendable on one level, stems from an inherited sense of dhimmitude, he said. Under centuries of Muslim rule, the Christian dhimmi accepted second-class status and paid a special tax in order to be a protected community.”
This “protected community” status essentially amounted to the purchase of a limited immunity from jihad violence. The “protection” is revoked if the dhimmi “mentions something impermissible about Allah, the Prophet….or Islam” (Reliance of the Traveller O11.10 (5)). Historically, that led to dhimmi Christians proclaiming how wonderful life was in the Muslim area where they lived, even as they were being persecuted and bled dry economically, because to speak out against their mistreatment would make the situation even worse. Malik is entirely right that this deeply ingrained submission is playing out again today when Arab Christians call for blasphemy laws and the criminalization of criticism of Islam. They know they must side with Muslims for their own self-protection.
Consider, for example, Gregory III Laham, the disgraced former Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. During his patriarchate he became notorious for calling the Melkite Greek Catholic Church the “Church of Islam.” He also claimed that Islamic jihad attacks against Middle Eastern Christians were a “Zionist conspiracy against Islam,” and exclaimed that “no one defends Islam like Arab Christians.” He was, in short, a zealous company man — and look how his dhimmitude saved Syrian Christians from persecution!
“France’s Free Speech Makes Arab Christians Squirm,” by Jayson Casper, Christianity Today, November 10, 2020:
…CT spoke with eight Christian leaders in the Arab world about the controversy…
“The line should be drawn when freedom is used to undermine freedom,” said Habib Malik, son of Charles Malik, who was the Lebanese co-author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“I am fully and completely with Macron, to take the severest measures.”
Malik, a Roman Catholic, agreed that the cartoons are a “debased and vulgar use of art.” But he believes there should be no restrictions on freedom of expression, even as “Jesus and his mother are attacked a million times a day.”
It is “inconceivable” for a Christian to plot revenge, he said.
Europe has erred, Malik believes, in assuming Muslim immigrant communities driven by economic concern would also adopt Europe’s prevailing worldview. Unlike the primarily Christian Hispanic immigrants in the United States, too many of Europe’s Muslims “do not understand the meaning of freedom.”
Egypt’s Anglican Archbishop Mouneer Anis takes a different legal approach, backing al-Azhar in its call to sue. But he arrives at a similar religious conclusion.
“Freedom of expression should be guaranteed for everyone, as long as it is not used to offend,” he said. “Jesus is against hurting others.”
Europe should expect a violent reaction to the mocking of precious religious symbols, Anis said. Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons promote hatred and provoke terrorism.
Anis has previously called for an international ban on the defamation of religions, including Christianity. If ever drafted by the United Nations, it would be “reasonable,” avoiding the problems with blasphemy laws in certain countries of the Muslim world.
But whenever it exists, the archbishop will not make use of it. Christians are accustomed to criticism, he said, and simply trust in what they believe.
“We differ in our faith,” said Anis, noting that Jesus was called “Beelzebub.” “We should not ask our Muslim friends to act like us.”
His Anglican colleague, Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo of Sudan, also supports a blasphemy law. But he esteems it in conjunction with the North African nation’s recent repeal of its law against apostasy.
“I should be able to change from Islam to Christianity if I want to, or from Christianity to Islam if I want to,” said Kondo.
“But I should not be insulted.”
Le Gall emphasized that in France, Kondo’s insistence is honored. While France’s blasphemy law was outlawed in 1881, insulting people for their religious convictions can result in a year in prison and a $50,000 fine.
But 1881 also marked the year France guaranteed freedom of the press. Charlie Hebdo ridiculed Islam as a religion. Le Gall does not expect any lawsuit will succeed.
Yet there should be an international ban to prevent it, said Botrus Mansour, chair of the Convention of Evangelical Churches in Israel.
“Freedom of expression is above all other rights, and has almost absolute value,” he said.
“But the value of life is even higher.”
The terrorism that emerges from Europe’s immigrant communities reflects what has long been experienced in the Middle East, said Mansour. When Westerners used their freedom to attack Islam in earlier eras, Muslims directed their outrage toward local Arab Christians.
“It is better to be wise and cautious than to be right,” Mansour said. “Practice self-restraint to live together with respect.”
Malik does not approve of the appeasement.
Arab Christian support for outraged Muslims, while commendable on one level, stems from an inherited sense of dhimmitude, he said. Under centuries of Muslim rule, the Christian dhimmi accepted second-class status and paid a special tax in order to be a protected community. (Some Christian sources in the region declined interviews, citing the issue’s “sensitivity.”)
But Anis rejected this accusation, appreciating the Muslim Council of Elders for condemning Paty’s murder. In calling for restraint, they pursue a non-violent legal response.
And Egypt’s Tayyeb did not endorse the boycott, he noted.
Martin Accad, chief academic officer at Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut, said it is “rubbish” when Christians standing with Muslims are accused of dhimmitude.
But he stands with Malik—and many Muslim friends—in calling current Muslim outrage “childish.”…
Brando says
Wow,a CATHOLIC is one of those who wrote the UN DECLARATION of HUMAN RIGHTS in 1948.
HIS UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION
Charles MALIK ( it means KING in ARABIC ) knew about SHARIA law’s Death for Apostates,so he WROTE ARTICLE 18 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion;
this right includes FREEDOM to CHANGE his RELIGION or BELIEF,
and FREEDOM,
either ALONE or in COMMUNITY with others
and in PUBLIC or PRIVATE,
to MANIFEST his religion or belief in
TEACHING, PRACTICE, WORSHIP and OBSERVANCE.”
PLUS NOT TO FORGET
It was a CATHOLIC ,the MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE ,who wrote the FIRST Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789.
And he DIED in 1834, and in 1824-1825 Lafayette visited the US and met SAMUEL LORENZO KNAPP who wrote a book published in 1825:
“Memoirs of Gen. Lafayette” where he says EXPLICITLY that Lafayette was a Catholic,that it was NOT pretense on Lafayette’s part.
Brando says
I forgot to add that the CHRISTIANS in Lebanon are Very Westernized, 90% of them speak FRENCH, they have a saying:
“L’ARABE est la LANGUE MATERNELLE, mais le FRANCAIS est la LANGUE PATERNELLE”
( Arabic is the Mother Tongue but French is the FATHER/PATERNAL language)
Lion heart says
Brando : All Christians of the Middle East are NOT Arab by ethnicity and they are pro western civilisation including of course the Christians of Iraq and I am a Canadian Christian guy originally from Iraq ! we adopt western style clothings especially the Christian girls and they name their children with western names and in the past some of the Christians used some Arab names because they lived among Arabs not be ate they are Arab as I mentioned earlier but the vast majority of Christians use western names ( i.e. David , Michael , Jessica , Katy , Christine etc.. ) and the Christian girls and women of the Middle East don’t wear the hijab like Muslims do and that’s one of the reasons many Christian girls in Iraq after the fall of Saddam’s bloody regime were kidnapped , raped and murdered for not wearing the hijab and for wearing western style – clothes .I just wanted to clarify that the western world who thinks Christians of the Middle East are Arab but Trey are not .
Kina says
ARab Christians are very antisemitic. Christianity in the ARab world has not reformed the same way that Catholicism has, or the Western churches.
Their animosity towards Israel is driven by antisemitism rather than a sense of dhimmitude.
Walid Shoebat is anti Islam but he is also antisemitic. He pretends to be friend of Israel but in unguarded moments his antisemitism shows.
Tony Naim says
I invite you visit all the old churches in Mount Lebanon. You can barely find one without the Star of David. If you had some knowledge about the recent history of Lebanon, it will not take you much effort to know who Bashir Gemayel was.
If not for Iran, The Christians of Lebanon would Have been at peace with Israel for the past 38 years. Something that cannot happen without American support.
Common culture in Mount Lebanon still uses proverbs from the time of King David. Check your facts. Dhimmitude is as willful as much as slavery was.
gravenimage says
Thank you, Tony.
Lion heart says
Tony : as a Canadian Christian guy originally from Iraq , I agree with you bro ! plus unfortunately many westerners don’t know that Christians of the Middle East are NOT Arab so for example , the vast majority of Iraqi Christians are : Chaldeans , Assyrians plus there are Armenians and syriac , and of course you know that Christians of Egypt are Coptic and in Lebanon ( correct me if I am wrong ) are Phoenicians and syriac and in Syria are Syriac and ( Assyrians like those who live in Maalola . But this guy ( kina ) is unaware of many facts about the history of Christians of the Middle East he doesn’t even know that they are not even Arab even if the vast majority of them speak Arabic as their first language but the vast majority of Christians of Iraq speak Aramaic ( Jesus language) as their first language ( like myself ) & Arabic as their second language, and the Assyrian Christians of Syria who live in maaloula speak Aramaic as their first language and Arabic as their second language
Kina says
Tony Naim
Obviously I didn’t every single church or every single Arab Christian was antisemitic (anti-Jewish). I agree with what you said about Lebanon, but do remember, Hezbollah has a lot of Christian support. Have the Lebanese Christian priests reformed their theology the way Catholicism and Western Churches have? As a majority Christian state it would need a non Muslim ally in the region, that doesn’t mean that its theology isn’t antisemitic. It just means they make a pragmatic alliance.
Sabeel is antisemitic. The Christians in Israel tended to side with Islamists until the rise of ISIS. The theology is antisemitic, it hasn’t reformed in the same way that the Western Christian Churches have. That is a fact. Coptic Christians are very antisemitic, something I don’t understand. If they had any sense they would be able to see that they can’t get their coptic state for the same reason the jews wouldn’t have got Israel back if they hadn’t fought for Israel.
It is a FACT that Arab Christianity hasn’t reformed its antisemitic/antijewish stance.
Lion heart says
Kina : just a small correction and that’s Christians of the Middle East are NOT Arab ! maybe some Christians are brainwashed by Muslims into being against Israel out of fear from Muslims and also because of mutual interests with Muslims while the vast majority of Christians of the Middle East support Israel and lam one of them and we don’t have any problem with Israel . Secondly , ALL Christians of the Middle East are NOT Arab by ethnicity and they are pro western civilisation including of course the Christians of Iraq and I am a Canadian Christian guy originally from Iraq ! we adopt western style clothings especially the Christian girls and they name their children with western names and in the past some of the Christians used some Arab names because they lived among Arabs not be ate they are Arab as I mentioned earlier but the vast majority of Christians use western names ( i.e. David , Michael , Jessica , Katy , Christine etc.. ) and the Christian girls and women of the Middle East don’t wear the hijab like Muslims do and that’s one of the reasons many Christian girls in Iraq after the fall of Saddam’s bloody regime were kidnapped , raped and murdered for not wearing the hijab and for wearing western style – clothes .I just wanted to clarify that the western world who thinks Christians of the Middle East are Arab but Trey are not .
Kina says
You are correct, and I acknowledge that not all Christians are Arab, they are phonecian and others etc. But that is irrelevent to the argument, which is that Middle Eastern Christianity hasn’t had the reform of the Western Churches which too used to be antisemitic.
The Catholic Church renounced its antisemitism in the Nostra Aetate after World War Two.
Arab Christians/including all the other races like phonecians were teh first to embrace European antisemitism.
Lion heart says
Kina : ok but as I said : Christians of the Middle East are NOT Arab even if that was irrelevant to your argument ! I just wanna correct you , and the only Arab Christians in this world are those who were already Arab Muslims and then converted to Christianity other than that , ALL Christians of the Middle East are not Arab
Kina says
Lionheart, I cannot reply directly to your last message below because the ‘reply’ button doesn’t show. So I’ll reply here.
There ARE Arab Christians as well as others (phoenecians, Greek, European) they identify as such, those that are.
Your argument is flawed.
You said the ONLY Christian Arabs are those that converted to Christianity from islam, and that is a flawed statement because Christianity existed in the Arab world long before Islam.
Coptic Arab Christians identify as Arabs and they were there long before the dawn of Islam. There were Christians in Medina when Mohammad went there from Mecca, and in fact his mother is said by some to have been Christian but that is not important here nor do i want to debate it. Mohamad’s grandmother was Jewish, so the Muslim prophet has Jewish ancestry. Again that is not relevent here. The point is that Christianity and Judasim existed in the ARabian peninsula long before Islam. So there were Arab Christians, those Arabs that converted to Christianity before the rise of Islam for example.
Besides, all the Arab Christians I know identify as ‘Arab Christains’. Some don’t, they prefer to be called phenocian, or Greek, Melkite, but most call themselves ‘Arab Christians’.
CogitoErgoSum says
Muslims requiring Christians and Jews to submit payment of the Jizya in humble submission is nothing less than one huge INSULT to those who wish to keep their religion.
Westman says
It is understandable that a religious person might be offended by a criticism of his religion. However, a desire to have laws to punish someone who does not agree or criticizes his religion is not resonable and dangerous when there are fervent and aggressive proselytizing religions.
What does one say when a religionist says he wants to tell the unbeliever about the religion, or worse, tells the recipient that he is going to Hell unless he hears the, “message”?
When refusing a demand to listen to religious proselytizing, there are going to be questions about why the recipient does not want to listen. It would be dance, indeed, to answer such questions without causing ire.
Possible offending replies to requests:
“Sorry, I don’t believe that Muhammad was a prophet.”
“I don’t think any real God is interested in tying up my day with prayers or considers me to be his slave.”
“I don’t want to be in a religion that separates me from my unreligious or different religion relatives.”
“Sorry, but I don’t date Muslims because I don’t want to share a husband with another woman, lose any children in a divorce, and/or be persecuted if I leave the religion.”
“My friend says your religion lets men beat their wives”
If there are laws that prohibit legitimate criticisms of religion then they will surely be used as weapons by proseletizing religions. Islam stands out in this regard and is the religion most active in demanding laws to shield it from criticism.
Scientology is legendary for harassing former high-profile members. Imagine all the additional lawsuits it would generate if it had “criticism” laws to exploit.
Aussie Infidel says
Westman, In Australia back in 1983, the Scientologists took the Victorian State government to court because the government refused to accept that Scientology was a religion, and immune from paying taxes on income and property.
At the time, there was no legal definition of religion, and the High Court had to decide the issue. The Court’s decision was that a religion was, “A belief in a supernatural being, thing or principle, together with canons of conduct to give effect to that belief”; but it didn’t specify what conduct was acceptable. And that’s really the key issue which must still be addressed. Most people couldn’t care less what someone else believes – no matter how crazy it might be – provided it doesn’t harm them or others.
But now the social justice warriors have also attacked our right to free speech, with Human Rights legislation and criminalized any criticism of such belief systems. Although the Scientologists haven’t railed against too many opponents lately, the Muslims have jumped on the bandwagon and exploited the HR legislation to silence their critics. Despite all the other laws against people and property, the Muslims are shielded to a large extent, because politicians are reluctant to challenge them out of fear of being called racists or Islamophobes.
SJ says
People used to think that it would happen because they assumed that the refugees also think like they do. They don’t! There are too many differences in Western & Muslim societies, that makes people in the West very different from Muslim refugees.
gravenimage says
Few of these Muslim invaders are actually refugees. wery much agree with the rest of your post, though.
Tony Naim says
Dhimmitude does not represent a condition of willful acceptance of a subordinated position in Muslim lands, it is rather a forced reluctant adaptation that serves at least to preserve the Christian faith. Many middle eastern Christians chose their faith over their civil and political rights. On many occasions at the point of martyrdom.
If all middle eastern Christians and all the Jews in Israel- and the diaspora- combine their efforts together, they will not be able to abolish the apartheid system of Dhimmitude.
Only America can, if Americans will demand it
gravenimage says
Unfortunately, persecuting Infidels is a core part of Islam. After the West pressured the Ottoman Empire to end dhimmitude, a few years later they just decided to slaughter all the Christians in the Empire. The Armenian Genocide largely succeeded–over 1.5 million Christians murdered, and only a tiny remnant of Christians remains in Turkey today.
Tony Naim says
The west pressured the Ottoman Empire to End the Caliphate NOT Dhimmitude.
Dhimmitude represents a set of laws and regulations, formulated by Ibn Al_Kayyem Al Jouziya, still in practice today in Islamic Sharia.
Dhimmitude remains the official attitude of Islam toward Christians and Jews.
Dhimmitude is primarily a legal, But also a sociopolitical and economic system exactly similar to what slavery was before the civil war in the US
gravenimage says
Lebanese Christian: Europe has erred in assuming Muslim immigrant communities would adopt European worldview
……………………
Habib Malik is spot on. Will anyone in Europe listen to him?
Aussie Infidel says
“Anis said. Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons promote hatred and provoke terrorism”.
No Archbishop, Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons are IN RESPONSE to hatred and terrorism. Have you not read the Quran? Have you not kept abreast of the number of deadly jihad attacks around the world since ‘9/11’? (some 38,000). You say, “Jesus is against hurting others”; but did he tell you to appease those who wish to murder you and your parishoners, and subjugate your religion and culture? You are behaving like a dhimmi fool.
Kina says
I think a good response for this would be for European religous like Christians to demand the same level of protection given to islam. The news media freely insult Judaism and Christianity but not Islam. Not one of the major media papers in the UK have published the cartoons in solicarity with France. They have however published antisemitic cartoons in the Guardian, one recent one with John the Baptist beheaded theme caused a furore, but the Guardian never publishes mohamad cartoons. That is the hypocricy of the liberal west.
Andrew says
If its now illegal to burn a quran or draw a cartoon, is it also illegal to attack a Christian Church, kill a Priest while he gives Mass, or set fire to many many, make that many many, Churches around Europe, which one is most destructive, insulting, denigrating, burning a book, drawing a cartoon, burning down a Church, defacing a Synagogue… I know its a hard choice isnt it?.
R Russell says
Brigitte Gabriel, author, originally from Lebanon tells us what we need to know.
She reminds us that Beirut was the Paris of the Middle East and that all of this was destroyed by multiculturalism. Look at Lebanon now. This is what multiculturalism does.
OLD GUY says
Multiculturalism sounds like a great idea until you see it in action. Not all cultures are compatible with others. Islam and Christian or Jewish culture are at total odds with islam’s ideology of world domination and the enslavement or death of islamic non-believers.
Kina says
Muslims themselves will confirm this.
They do not let the women marry outside of the faith whilst their men are permitted to marry Jewish and Christian women and the kids have to be raised as Muslims.
Homosexuality and lesbianism is forbidden.
Men are not held accountable for rape in Muslim countries, the women are blamed for tempting him.
Blasphemy laws are used against Christians in Pakistan and other Muslim countries to harrass and steal their property. In Turkey and Iran too, Christians are persecuted. I won’t even mention what happens to atheists and polytheists.
Islam is not compatible with the liberal West.