by Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n
PJ Media<\/em><\/p>\n As Muslims prepare to erect a mega-mosque near the site of the 9\/11 atrocities, it is well to reflect that the sort of tolerance, or indifference, that allows them to do so, is far from reciprocated to churches in the Muslim world. I speak not of Islamist attacks against churches \u2014 such as the\u00a0New Year attack<\/a>in Egypt that killed 21 Christians; or when jihadists\u00a0stormed a church in Iraq<\/a>, butchering over 50 Christians; or Christmas Eve attacks on churches in\u00a0Nigeria<\/a>and the\u00a0Philippines<\/a>. Nor am I referring to state-sanctioned hostility by avowedly Islamist regimes, such as Iran’s recent “round up<\/a>” of Christians.<\/p>\n Rather, I refer to anti-church policy by Middle East governments deemed “moderate.” Consider:\u00a0Kuwait<\/a>\u00a0just denied, without explanation, a request to build a church; so did\u00a0Indonesia<\/a>, forcing Christians to celebrate Christmas in a parking lot \u2014 even as a mob of 1,000 Muslims\u00a0burned down<\/a>\u00a0two other churches. If this is the fate of churches in “moderate” Indonesia and Kuwait \u2014 the latter’s sovereignty due entirely to US sacrifices in the First Gulf War \u2014 what can be expected of the rest of the Islamic world?<\/p>\n The best example of anti-church policy is in Egypt, where the Middle East’s largest Christian minority, the Copts, lives. During Mubarak’s tenure alone “more than 1500 assaults on Copts have occurred, without any appropriate punishment given to criminals or compensation to the victims,” says\u00a0Coptic Solidarity<\/a>.<\/p>\n For starters, Egypt’s state security has a curious habit of disappearing right before Coptic churches are attacked \u2014 such as in the aforementioned\u00a0New Year attack<\/a>. They also tend to arrive rather late after churches are attacked: it took security “hours<\/a>” to appear when six Copts were murdered while exiting their church last year. Considering that weeks ago an Egyptian policemanidentified and opened fire<\/a>\u00a0on Christians, killing a 71-year-old \u2014 while yelling Islam’s medieval war-cry, “Allah Akbar!” \u2014 none of this should be surprising.<\/p>\n Since the 7th century, when Islam invaded and subjugated formerly Christian Egypt, the plight of churches has been tenuous. The very first condition listed for Christians to obey in order not to be molested in the notorious\u00a0Pact of Omar<\/a>\u2014 which informs sharia law, “the principal source of legislation<\/a>” in Egypt \u2014 says it all: “We shall not build, in our cities or in their neighborhood, new monasteries, Churches, convents, or monks’ cells, nor shall we repair, by day or by night, such of them as fall in ruins or are situated in the quarters of the Muslims.” Accordingly, in the words of reporter\u00a0Mary Abdelmassih<\/a>:<\/p>\n [U]nlike Muslim citizens, who only need a municipal license to build mosques, the Copts require presidential approval for a church \u2026 [and] the approval of the neighboring Muslim community. Even after obtaining licenses for a church, Muslims still\u00a0attack Christians<\/a>\u00a0and demolish or burn their churches. A rumor that Christians are meeting to pray is enough reason for Muslim neighbors to carry out\u00a0acts of violence<\/a>\u00a0against them. On various occasions, it only takes Muslims to protest against the building of a church for State Security to stop the works, under the pretext that it is causing “sectarian strife.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In fact, citing minor building violations, Egypt’s state security recently\u00a0stormed a partially constructed church<\/a>\u00a0in the Talbiya region where over one million Christians live without a single church. In the process, state security fired tear gas and live ammunition on protesters,\u00a0claiming the lives<\/a>\u00a0of four Copts, including an infant (79 were severely injured, 22 blinded or semi-blinded, and 179 detained, including woman and children). One human-rights activist complained that the wounded Copts “were shackled to their hospital beds and then sent to detention camps.”<\/p>\n All this is exacerbated by well-connected Egyptian Muslims who issue\u00a0fatwas<\/a>comparing the building of a church to the building of “a nightclub, a gambling casino, or building a barn for rearing pigs, cats or dogs”; or who appear on\u00a0Al Jazeera<\/em>\u00a0ludicrously accusing<\/a>\u00a0Copts of stockpiling weapons in their churches and torturing Muslim women in their monasteries.<\/p>\n Incidentally, all this was under the “secularist” Mubarak. As for Egypt’s current power-holders, the military, armed forces just stormed a 5th century monastery,opening fire on monks<\/a>\u00a0to chants of “Allah Akbar!” (see video\u00a0here<\/a>). Consider the fate of Copts should the Muslim Brotherhood assume power.<\/p>\n Such, then, is the plight of Christians and their churches in the Muslim world \u2014 and such is the irony: while mosques, some of which\u00a0breed radicalization<\/a>and serve as\u00a0terrorist bases<\/a>, start dotting America’s landscape, churches are on their way to becoming extinct in the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity. More pointedly, as America allows Muslims to build a mega-mosque near Ground Zero \u2014 which was annihilated by Islamists partially radicalized in mosques \u2014 America’s “moderate friends” in the Muslim world blatantly persecute Christians and their churches.<\/p>\n Such flagrant double standards are \u2014 or\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0be \u2014 unconscionable. Yet here we are. Is it any wonder, then, that the Western mindset has a long way to go before it understands how to deal with the scourge that is “radical Islam”?<\/p>\n \u00a92011 Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Western tolerance had no mirror in the Islamic world. by Raymond Ibrahim PJ Media As Muslims prepare to erect a mega-mosque near the site of the 9\/11 atrocities, it is well to reflect that the sort of tolerance, or indifference, that allows them to do so, is far from reciprocated to churches in the Muslim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[225,227],"tags":[1051,366,612,192,378,1035,485,1028,1017,30,68,1060],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-Tv","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":837,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/death-in-churches-targeting-christian-holidays-in-the-islamic-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":3441,"position":0},"title":"Death in Churches: Targeting Christian Holidays in the Islamic World","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Gatestone Institute Last Sunday, many Christians around the world celebrated Easter, taking it for granted that they can congregate and worship in peace. Not so; in the Islamic world, where\u00a0top religious officials call for the destruction of churches, Christian holidays celebrated in church are increasingly a time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Islam"","block_context":{"text":"Islam","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/islam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1954,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/destroying-churches-one-at-a-time-muslim-brotherhood-wants-no-more-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":3441,"position":1},"title":"Destroying Churches, One at a Time: Muslim Brotherhood Wants “No More Churches”","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York What clearer sign that Egypt is turning rabidly Islamist than the fact that hardly a week goes by without a church being destroyed, or without protesting Christians being attacked and slaughtered by the military? The\u00a0latest chaos\u00a0in Egypt \u2014 where the military opened fire on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Muslim Brotherhood"","block_context":{"text":"Muslim Brotherhood","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/muslim-brotherhood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6324,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/al-qaeda-flag-flies-high-above-christian-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":3441,"position":2},"title":"Al Qaeda Flag Flies High Above Christian Churches","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0Gatestone Institute \u00a0 Days ago, al-Qaeda\u2019s Egyptian leader, Ayman Zawahiri,\u00a0portrayed\u00a0\u00a0the overthrow of Muhammad Morsi and the Brotherhood as a \u201cCrusader\u201d campaign led by Coptic Pope Tawadros II who, according to Zawahiri and other terrorists, is trying to create a Coptic state in Egypt. Since then, not only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/screenshot_2353.jpg?fit=484%2C312&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2017,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-state-departments-skewed-standards\/","url_meta":{"origin":3441,"position":3},"title":"The State Department’s Skewed Standards","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Earlier this month in the\u00a0West Bank, \"settlers attempted to burn two mosques, and vandalized an IDF base as part of the latest 'price tag' attacks. 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