4 See 2013 World Watch List, http://www.worldwatchlist.us/.
5 The word itself is etymologically connected to the meaning of “way” or “path.” For example, the Arabic word for “street” or “roadway” is shaar‘.
6 Islam’s military prowess began to wane in the late sixteenth century, especially after the Christian victory against the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto, but general Muslim confidence in the might of Islam was not humbled until the nineteenth century. After all, there was no Internet to disseminate the news of Lepanto.
7 Henri Pirenne, Mohammed and Charlemagne (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1939), 166.
8 Ibid., 9, 185.
9 Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 126.
10 Of course, one may argue—as Islam’s apologists habitually do—that the Crusades were the first successful “imperialistic” venture to conquer Muslim lands. However, the Crusades did not impress the power of the West on the Islamic world as the events of the colonial era did. During the Crusades, only one small strip of land including Jerusalem was held by the Christians for any lengthy period of time (two centuries), whereas during the colonial era, practically the entire Muslim world, from Morocco to Indonesia, was subjugated by European powers.
11 Theodore Hall Patrick, Traditional Egyptian Christianity: A History of the Coptic Orthodox Church (Greensboro: Fisher Park Press, 1996), 120.
12 Transcript of Osama bin Laden Tape, ABC News, December 13, 2001, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BIN112A.html.
13 Sacrosanct because the Koran is written in Arabic, the celestial language of Allah and the angels.
14 Raymond Ibrahim, “Lessons on the Long Road to Hijab,” Raymond Ibrahim: Islam Translated, December 28, 2011, http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/lessons-on-the-long-road-to-hijab/.
15 And even those who wore it, mostly rural women—in all civilizations, it is the rural folk who are most resistant to outside change—wore it for traditional reasons, not as a show of compliance to Islam.
16 Bat Ye’or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude (Cranbury: Associated University Presses, 2010), 167.
17 Samuel M. Zwemer, The Law of Apostasy in Islam: Answering the Question Why There are So Few Moslem Converts, and Giving Examples of Their Moral Courage and Martyrdom (London: Marshall Brothers, 1916), 157.
18 Theodore Hall Patrick, Traditional Egyptian Christianity: A History of the Coptic Orthodox Church (Greensboro: Fisher Park Press, 1996), 134.
19 Ibid., 20, 148.
20 Keith Roderick, “What Will the Wise Men Bring to Bethlehem,” National Review Online, December 20, 2006, http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/219529/what-will-wise-men-bring-bethlehem/keith-roderick.
21 Luiza Oleszczuk, “Christians could disappear from Iraq and Afghanistan,” Christian Post, December 30, 2011, http://in.christiantoday.com/articles/christians-could-disappear-from-iraq-and-afghanistan/6919.htm
22 Such as Hassan al-Bana, the Egyptian who founded the Muslim Brotherhood—today the world’s largest and most influential Islamic organization—back in 1928.
23 “NASA Chief: Next Frontier Better Relations With Muslim World,” Fox News, July 5, 2010, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/05/nasa-chief-frontier-better-relations-muslims/.
24 Tawfik Hamid, Inside Jihad: Understanding and Confronting Radical Islam (Top Executive Media, 2006), 178.
25 Patrick, Traditional Egyptian Christianity, 148.
26 David Bukay, “Peace or Jihad? Abrogation in Islam,” Middle East Quarterly XIV, no. 4 (2007): 3–11, http://www.meforum.org/1754/peace-or-jihad-abrogation-in-islam.
27 “Sahih Muslim Book 019, Hadith Number 4294,” Hadith Collection, http://www.hadithcollection.com/sahihmuslim/147-Sahih%20Muslim%20Book%2019.%20Jihad%20and%20Expedition/12807-sahih-muslim-book-019-hadith-number-4294.html.
28 Ibn al-Hajjaj Muslim, Sahih Muslim, C9B1N31. See also Muhammad Ibn Isma’il al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari (Lahore: Kazi, 1979), B2N24.
29 Ibn Khaldun, The Muqudimmah: An Introduction to History, trans. Franz Rosenthal, (New York: Pantheon, 1958), vol. 1, 473.
30 Majid Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam (London: Oxford University Press, 1955), 60.
31 Ahmed Mahmud Karima, Al-Jihad fi’l-Islam: Dirasa Fiqhiya Muqarina (Cairo: Al-Azhar University, 2003), translation by the author.
32 Bat Ye’or, Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide (Cranbury: Associated University Presses, 2010), 56.
33 Ye’or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity, 79.
34 Mark Durie, The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude, and Freedom (Australia: Deror Books, 2010), 134–135.
35 “Paying Jizyah is a Sign of Kufr and Disgrace,” Qtafsir, n.d., http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2566&Itemid=64.
36 Although the Shia do not have a favorable view of Caliph Omar—or of any of mainstream Islam’s “righteous caliphs”—they do follow the same Koran, including the aforementioned verses that are hostile to Christianity, and Christians have also suffered under Shia domination. One of the worst periods of Christian persecution covered in this book was initiated by the Fatimid caliph Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who is still revered in some Shia sects.
37 Ibn Qayyim, Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimma (Beirut: Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyah, 2002), vol. 2, 115, translation by the author.
38 Ibid., vol. 2, 113–114.
39 Durie, The Third Choice, 40, 141–146.
40 Robert Spencer, Muslim Persecution of Christians (Sherman Oaks: David Horowitz Freedom Center, 2011), 41–42.
PART TWO:
ISLAM’S WAR ON CHRISTIAN WORSHIP
1 Ibn Qayyim, Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimma (Beirut: Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyah, 2002), vol. 2, 115, translation by the author.
2 One of the most significant events in modern Turkey’s attempt to secularize—at the time when Muslims widely believed that success and Western-style secularization went hand in hand—was the transformation of the Hagia Sophia into a museum. And one of the most significant signs of recent times, marking Turkey’s retreat from secularization and return to Islam, is the fact that many Turks are demanding that the Hagia Sophia be turned back into a mosque. In June 2012, to mark the five-hundred-and-fifty-ninth anniversary of the Islamic conquest of Constantinople, thousands of Turks prayed outside the Hagia Sophia shouting “Allahu Akbar!” and demanding the building be re-opened as a mosque in honor of the jihadi sultan who conquered this onetime distinctly Christian nation. For more on Islam and the Hagia Sophia see Raymond Ibrahim, “Greatest Church Soon To Be Mega Mosque?,” Raymond Ibrahim: Islam Translated, June 8, 2012, http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/greatest-church-soon-to-be-:mega-mosque/.
3 Ismail bin Muhammad al-Ansari, Hikm Bina’ al-Kina’is wa al-Ma‘abid al-Shirkaya fi Bilad al-Muslimin [Ruling on Building Churches and Polytheistic Temples in Muslim Countries], Islam House, April 13, 2008, http://www.islamhouse.com/p/107604, translation by the author.
4 Raymond Ibrahim, “Saudi Grand Mufti Calls for ‘Destruction of All Churches in Region,’” Jihad Watch, March 14, 2012, http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/03/raymond-ibrahim-saudi-grand-mufti-calls-for-destruction-of-all-churches-in-region.html.
5 al-Ansarai, Ruling on Building Churches.
6 Nasir bin Muhammad al-Ahmed, “Bina’ al-Kina’is fi Bilad al-Muslimin [Building Churches in Muslim Lands],” Alahmad, 2008, http://alahmad.com/node/772, translation by the author.
7 Abdullah bin Mohammed Ezkil, “In Response to Sheikh Dr. Qaradawi: Banning the Building of Churches has Consensus,” Saaid, http://www.saaid.net/Doat/Zugail/428.htm, translation by the author.
8 Ibn Qayyim, “Ihkam ahl-al-dhimma [Rulings Concerning Dhimmis],” Islamweb, section 1195, 1997, http://www.islamweb.net/newlibrary/display_book.php?bk_ no=105&ID=235&idfrom=226&idto=301&bookid=105&startno=5, translation by the author. “”
9 Ibn Taymiyya, “Hikm Hadam al-Kana’is [Ruling on Destroyi
ng Churches],” tawhed, http://www.tawhed.ws/pr?i=6472, translation by the author.
10 Bat Ye’or, Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide (Cranbury: Associated University Presses, 2010), 84–85.
11 Sidney H. Griffith, The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008), 11.
12 Rodney Stark, God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades (New York: Harper Collins, 2009), 91.
13 Taqi Ed-Din El-Maqrizi, A Short History of the Copts and Their Church, trans. S. C. Malan (London: D. Nutt, 1873), 86.
14 Ibn Warraq, “Islam and the Crusades,” City Journal 19, no. 4 (2009), http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/history/world/wh0150.htm.
15 El-Maqrizi, A Short History of the Copts, op. cit., 10.
16 Ye’or, Islam and Dhimmitude, 7.
17 For more on the role of violence in Islam and Christianity, including a comparison of the jihad and the Crusades, see Raymond Ibrahim, “Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?” Middle East Quarterly 16, no. 3 (2009), 3–12, http://www.meforum.org/2159/are-judaism-and-christianity-as-violent-as-islam.
18 Edward Peters, ed., “Speech of Urban—Robert of Rheims,”The First Crusade: The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and Other Source Materials (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), 27.
19 Taqi Ed-Din El-Maqrizi, A Short History of the Copts and Their Church, trans. S. C. Malan (London: D. Nutt, 1873), 77.
20 Ibid., 16, 79-80.
21 Ibid., 16, 86.
22 Ibid., 16, 87.
23 In the original Arabic text of Maqrizi, the number is 30,000. Apparently the incredulous translator thought an extra zero was added as a typo, and concluded that the number was really 3,000. However, based on early Christian texts, the idea that there would be such large numbers of churches in Egypt and the greater Middle East is more than plausible. One early Coptic source asserts that, if a person were to walk from one end of Egypt to the other, they would never miss the sound of the church bell—a testimony to the ubiquity of churches in the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity, before Islam invaded. Ibid., 16.
24 Proper-name transliterations and calendar dating have been adjusted to modern usage. Ibid., 16, 88–91.
25 Ibn Taymiyya, “Masala fi al-Kina’is [In Regards to Churches],” al-Kitab al-Islami, n. d., http://www.islamicbook.ws/amma/msalt-fi-alknaes.html, translation by the author.
26 Adel Guindy, Hikayat al-Ihtilal [Stories of the Occupation: Correcting Misunderstandings ] (Cairo: Middle East Freedom Forum, 2009), 88, translation by the author.
27 El-Maqrizi, A Short History, I, 16, 108.
28 “Saying Merry Christmas is worse than fornication or killing someone,” You Tube video, December 15, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FFW3ZNC8sjw.
29 Mary Abdelmassih, “Egyptian Security Guards Withdrew One Hour Before Church Blast, Say Eyewitnesses,” Assyrian International News Agency, January 2, 2011, http://www.aina.org/news/20110101232613.htm.
30 Ibid.
31 Mary Abdelmassih, “6 Coptic Christians in Egypt Shot Dead As They Left Christmas Mass,” Assyrian International News Agency, January 7, 2010, http://www.aina.org/news/20100107150122.htm.
32 Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah, “Nigerian leaders rapped after Islamists attack churches,” Reuters, December 26, 2011, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/26/us-nigeria-blast-idUSTRE7BO03020111226.
33 “Christmas attacks in Nigeria by Muslim sect kill 39,” USA Today, December 25, 2011, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-12-25/nigeria-christmas-catholic-church-bomb/52218084/1.“”
34 “Radical Islamist sect says it carried out Nigeria church attacks,” The Guardian, December 28, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/28/islamist-sect-responsibility-nigeria-attacks.
35 “50 people killed in Easter Sunday bombings in Nigeria,” ZeeNews, April 8, 2012, http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/50-people-killed-in-easter-sunday-bombings-in-nigeria_768956.html.
36 “Nigeria Bomber Strikes near Easter Services,” CBN News, April 13, 2012, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2012/April/Nigeria-Bomber-Strikes-near-Easter-Services/.
37 “Gunmen kill six at Nigerian Christmas service,” France 24, December 25, 2012, http://www.france24.com/en/20121225-nigeria-christmas-church-attack-shooting-fire; Dan Wooding, “12 Christians Killed in Christmas Bloodshed in Nigeria, ASSIST News Service, December 26, 2012, http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2012/s12120111.htm.
38 Agence France-Presse, “Rotten Egg Attack Mars Indonesia Christmas Celebration,” Jakarta Globe, December 25, 2012, http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/rotten-egg-attack-mars-indonesia-christmas-celebration/563514.
39 “Islamist Mob Throws Urine on Church in Indonesia,” World Watch Monitor, May 23, 2012, http://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/english/country/indonesia/article_1552007.html.
40 “Six people wounded in bomb attack on Roman Catholic church as priest celebrates Christmas Day mass,” Daily Mail, December 25, 2010, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341510/Six-people-wounded-bomb-attack-Roman-Catholic-Church-priest-celebrates-Christmas-Day-mass.html.
41 Anugrah Kumar, “Iran Detains Sunday School Kids Celebrating Christmas,” Christian Post, December 26, 2011, http://www.christianpost.com/news/iran-detains-sunday-school-kids-celebrating-christmas-65686/.
42 “Teachers in Mosul Schedule Exams on Christmas Day,” Assyrian International News Agency, December 24, 2012, http://www.aina.org/news/20121223185649.htm.
43 Michael Ireland, “Pakistani Christians protest extreme power outages during Christmas,” ASSIST News Service, December 21, 2011, http://www.assistnews.net/STORIES/2011/s11120092.htm.
44 Vento Saudale, “Embattled Indonesian Church Forced to Celebrate Christmas in Private Home,” Jakarta Globe, December 26, 2011, http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/embattled-indonesian-church-forced-to-celebrate-christmas-in-private-home/487014#Scene_1.
45 In 1992, a church in Upper Egypt, after applying and waiting for over a year for approval, went ahead and fixed its toilet. As a result, it was heavily fined, and authorities destroyed the toilet. Paul Marshall, Their Blood Cries Out (Dallas: World Publishing, 1997), 38.
46 Edwin Mora, “Not a Single Christian Church Left in Afghanistan, Says State Department,” CNS News, October 10, 2011, http://cnsnews.com/news/article/not-single-christian-church-left-afghanistan-says-state-department.
47 “CHURCH IN AZERBAIJAN LIQUIDATED BY COURT,” Barnabas Aid, April 30, 2012, http://barnabasfund.org/US/News/Archives/Church-in-Azerbaijan-liquidated-by-court.html.
48 “APPEAL COURT UPHOLDS CHURCH CLOSURE RULING IN AZERBAIJAN,” Barnabas Aid, August 1, 2012, http://barnabasfund.org/US/News/Archives/Appeal-court-upholds-church-closure-ruling-in-Azerbaijan.html.
49 “PASTOR FACING CRIMINAL CHARGES FOLLOWING CHURCH RAID IN AZERBAIJAN,” Barnabas Aid, January 12, 2012, http://barnabasfund.org/UK/News/Archives/Pastor-facing-criminal-charges-following-church-raid-in-Azerbaijan.html.
50 “Churches Forced to Stop Farsi Worship in Tehran, Iran,” World Watch Monitor, February 17, 2012, http://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/english/country/iran/article_1406358.html.
51 “More Churches are forced to cease Persian language services in Tehran,” FCNN, March 12, 2012, http://www.fcnn.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2802:more-churches-are-forced-to-cease-persian-language-services-in-tehran &catid=127:iranian-christian&Itemid=593.
52 “Iranian Authorities Shut Church in Tehran,” World Watch Monitor, June 8, 2012, http://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/english/country/iran/article_1595449.html.
53 Joseph DeCaro, “Revolutionary Guards Close Church Properties,” Worthy News, July 11, 2012, http://www.worthynews.com/11615-revolutionary-guards-close-church-properties.
54 Dan Wooding, “Iran: Christians Arrested in Khorasan’s Principle [sic] Cities of Mash-Had and Neishabour,” ASSIST News Service, July 5, 2012, http://www.assistnews.net/STORIES/2012/s12
070031.htm.
55 Joanna Paraszczuk, “Iran cracks down on underground ‘illegal’ churches,” Jerusalem Post, October 15, 2012, http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=287923.
56 “SECURITY AGENTS STATIONED AT IRANIAN CHURCHES TO FRIGHTEN PEOPLE AWAY,” Barnabas Aid, October 10, 2012, http://barnabasfund.org/US/News/Archives/Security-agents-stationed-at-Iranian-churches-to-frighten-people-away.html.
57 “KAZAKHSTAN: NEW ANTI-RELIGION LAWS,” The Voice of the Martyrs, October 25, 2011, http://www.persecution.com/public/newsroom.aspx?story_ID=NDM3&featuredstory_ID=Mjky&clickfrom=ZmVhdHVyZWRzdG9yaWVz.
58 “Evangelicals in Belarus and Kazakhstan Detained, Beaten, Fined,” Worthy News, Oct 24, 2011, http://www.worthynews.com/11031-evangelicals-in-belarus-and-kazakhstan-detained-beaten-fined.
59 “CHURCHES RAIDED, LEADERS FINED AND CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SEIZED IN KAZAKHSTAN,” Barnabas Aid, February 20, 2012, http://barnabasfund.org/US/News/Archives/Churches-raided-leaders-fined-and-Christian-literature-seized-in-Kazakhstan.html
60 Dan Wooding, “Kazakhstan: ‘The Church Will Be Closed Down Anyway,’” ASSIST News Service, June 2, 2012, http://www.assistnews.net/STORIES/2012/s12060011.htm.
61 Jeremy Reynalds, “Two Churches Raided in Kazakhstan,” ASSIST News Service, October 21, 2012, http://www.assistnews.net/STORIES/2012/s12100096.htm.
62 Dan Wooding, “Church Raid by Turkmen Police,” ASSIST News Service, June 11, 2012, http://www.assistnews.net/STORIES/2012/s12060063.htm.
63 “CHRISTIAN GATHERING IN UZBEKISTAN RAIDED BY POLICE IN BOMB SEARCH CLAIM,” Barnabas Aid, May 15, 2012, http://barnabasfund.org/US/News/Archives/Christian-gathering-in-Uzbekistan-raided-by-police-in-bomb-search-claim.html.
64 Mushfig Bayram, “UZBEKISTAN: An “unsanctioned meeting in a private home”—with a bomb?” Forum 18, http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1699.
65 Mushfig Bayram, “Uzbekistan: 14 Arrested and their Christian Literature Seized,” Persecution, January 29, 2013, http://www.persecution.org/?p=32494&upm_export=print.
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