Tag: Religion

A Stronger Israel?

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Elite opinion believes Israel will lose “long-term” whatever happens in the next weeks. Not necessarily.

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

Photo via NRO
Photo via NRO

In postmodern wars, we are told, there is no victory, no defeat, no aggressors, no defenders, just a tragedy of conflicting agendas. But in such a mindless and amoral landscape, Israel in fact is on its way to emerging in a far better position after the Gaza war than before.

Analysts of the current fighting in Gaza have assured us that even if Israel weakens Hamas, such a short-term victory will hardly lead to long-term strategic success — but they don’t define “long-term.” In this line of thinking, supposedly in a few weeks Israel will only find itself more isolated than ever. It will grow even more unpopular in Europe and will perhaps, for the first time, lose its patron, America — while gaining an enraged host of Arab and Islamic enemies. Meanwhile, Hamas will gain stature, rebuild, and slowly wear Israel down.

Continue reading “A Stronger Israel?” →

Islam: ‘Appalling and Abhorrent’ in the Eyes of a Blind World?

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by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com

A few days ago in Sudan, an eight-month pregnant wife and mother was sentenced to death by hanging for refusing to renounce Christ and embrace Islam.  According to the LA Times:
Photo via RaymondIbrahim.com

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, who has a young son and is married to a Christian from South Sudan, violated Islamic sharia law, the court said. She insists she was raised Christian, not Muslim.

The court also ordered Ibrahim to be flogged for having sexual relations with her husband, since her marriage is not recognized by officials.

Ibrahim refused a court order Sunday giving her several days to renounce her Christian faith, which resulted in the sentencing Thursday….

Ibrahim, currently jailed with her son, will be allowed to give birth and raise her second child until the age of 2 years but then faces execution. Sudanese authorities refuse to allow Ibrahim’s son to reside with her husband because the husband is Christian.

Continue reading “Islam: ‘Appalling and Abhorrent’ in the Eyes of a Blind World?” →

Lessons Learned from the ‘Brave German Woman’

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by Raymond Ibrahim //  RaymondIbrahim.com // CBN News

Context: On November 10, 2013, a Muslim imam was invited to give the Islamic call to prayer inside the Memorial Church of the Reformation in the city of Speyer, Germany—a church dedicated to honoring Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.Several are the important lessons learned from last year’s “Brave German Woman” incident.

Raymond Ibrahim speaks about the “Brave German Woman” incident with CBN News: http://bcove.me/03vbscr2

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Photo by Wikicommons

“When the brave German woman, whose real name is Heidi Mund, heard about the event, she prayed,” reports CBN News.  Not sure what she would do upon arrival, she grabbed her German flag emblazoned with the words “Jesus Christ is Lord” and headed for the concert:  Continue reading “Lessons Learned from the ‘Brave German Woman’” →

Raymond Ibrahim on CBN News: ‘Will Egypt’s el-Sisi Protect Christians?’

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by Raymond Ibrahim // CBN News 

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Photo by CBN News

On April 24, CBN News Senior International Reporter Gary Lane interviewed me about Egypt. Lane’s write-up, “Will Egypt’s el-Sisi Protect Christians?” as well as the three part interview, follow:

With only one month to go before Egyptians elect a new president, it looks like former Army Chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will be the likely winner. The interim government says international observers will monitor the polling to assure the integrity of the electoral process.

But who will give assurances that violent acts against Christians will be minimized in the months ahead?

Not el-Sisi, CBN News contributior Raymond Ibrahim said. Not the Egyptain military, police, or any other political candidate who Continue reading “Raymond Ibrahim on CBN News: ‘Will Egypt’s el-Sisi Protect Christians?’” →

Exclusive: The Ultimate Source of Islamic Hate for Infidels

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by Raymond Ibrahim // CBN 

Who is ultimately responsible for the ongoing attacks on Christians and their churches throughout the Islamic world?

Focusing on one of the most obvious nations where Christians are regularly targeted—Egypt’s Coptic Christians—one finds that the “mob” is the most visible and obvious culprit. One Copt accused of some transgression against Muslim sensibilities—from having relations with a Muslim woman, to ruining a Muslim man’s shirt—is often enough to prompt Muslim mobs to destroy entire Christian villages and their churches. Continue reading “Exclusive: The Ultimate Source of Islamic Hate for Infidels” →

Islamic Jihad and the Doctrine of Abrogation

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by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com 

Opened_Qur'an
el7bara via Flickr

While other scriptures contain contradictions, the Koran is the only holy book whose commentators have evolved a doctrine to account for the very visible shifts which occur from one injunction to another. No careful reader will remain unaware of the many contradictory verses in the Koran, most specifically the way in which peaceful and tolerant verses lie almost side by side with violent and intolerant ones. The ulema were initially baffled as to which verses to codify into the Shari’a worldview—the one that states there is no coercion in religion (2:256), or the ones that command believers to fight all non-Muslims till they either convert, or at least submit, to Islam (8:39, 9:5, 9:29). To get out of this quandary, the commentators developed the doctrine of abrogation, which essentially maintains that verses revealed later in Muhammad’s career take precedence over earlier ones whenever there is a discrepancy. In order to document which verses abrogated which, a religious science devoted to the chronology of the Koran’s verses evolved (known as an-Nasikh wa’l Mansukh, the abrogater and the abrogated). Continue reading “Islamic Jihad and the Doctrine of Abrogation” →

The Past and the Future

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by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com 

Crucified-Again-CoverLast November Raymond Ibrahim was interviewed by Egyptian reporter Sherif Awad.  The interview appeared in several Egyptian magazines and websites, as well as American ones, such as the Westchester Guardian.  The interview follows:

Awad: Can you tell us about your family and their profession and how and why they decided to migrate to the US? Tell us about your childhood and the intercultural elements that shaped it until you decided to select your profession.

Ibrahim: My father and mother, both Copts, one from Cairo the other Alexandria, left Egypt in the late 1960s for America, where I was born.  They left Egypt for a better life.  I grew up speaking both Arabic and English and visited Egypt with my parents often when I was young.  It was natural, then, for me formally to study the region, its languages (primarily Arabic, which I already spoke), its history and conflicts, in college.  Growing up in Egypt in the 1940s-1960s, my parents experienced little by way of direct persecution, but they did experience religious discrimination, and that was one of the reasons they came to America, for better opportunities.

Awad: In regards to your MA thesis and book about the Battle of Yarmuk, can you compare its events to the happenings that led to the ending of Islamic rule in Andalusia? Do you consider researching the Islamic empire in Andalusia? About the Crusades? Continue reading “The Past and the Future” →

Why Are Christians the World’s Most Persecuted Group?

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by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com 

Why are Christians, as a new Pew report documents, the most persecuted religious group in the world?  And why is their persecution occurring primarily throughout the Islamic world?  (In the category on “Countries with Very High Government Restrictions on

Józef Kazimierz "Meaglin" Sokołowski
Józef Kazimierz “Meaglin” Sokołowski

Religion,” Pew lists 24 countries—20 of which are Islamic and precisely where the overwhelming majority of “the world’s” Christians are actually being persecuted.)

The reason for this ubiquitous phenomenon of Muslim persecution of  Christians is threefold:

Christianity is the largest religion in the world.  There are Christians practically everywhere around the globe, including in much of the Muslim world.  Moreover, because much of the land that Islam seized was originally Christian—including the Middle East and North Africa, the region that is today known as the “Arab world”—Muslims everywhere are still confronted with vestiges of Christianity, for example, in Syria, where many ancient churches and monasteries are currently being destroyed by Continue reading “Why Are Christians the World’s Most Persecuted Group?” →

Seven Christians Executed in Libya

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by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com 

Libyan authorities came across the slain bodies of seven Christian Copts in the region of Garutha, less than 20 miles west of Benghazi, on Monday afternoon. Continue reading “Seven Christians Executed in Libya” →

New York Times Biased Coverage on Muslim Persectution

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by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com 

The New York Times has finally found a victim of Islamic aggression in Nigeria worth reporting on: homosexuals.   In a big spread complete with pictures appearing last week, the NYT’s Adam Nossiter wrote “Wielding Whip and a Hard New Law, Nigeria Tries to ‘Sanitize’ Itself of Gays.” Continue reading “New York Times Biased Coverage on Muslim Persectution” →