To Perpetuate Their Dictatorships, Arab Rulers Resort To The Islamic Creed

The compatibility between Islam and democracy has been a controversial topic. While empirical studies since 2000 confirm the prevailing notion that Muslim majority states offer fewer political rights than non-Muslim countries, the question as to why such a phenomenon exists remains unsatisfactorily answered. One key element is how the interpretation of Islam itself has been so effectively used by Arab regimes to indoctrinate subjects into believing that blind obedience to their absolute rule is a form of Islamic piety. This article will also argue that Islam, combined with the security forces and the poverty of the masses render the majority of Arabs politically quietist. MORE HERE

Was Jesus a worshipper of Allah?

“Fee al-badi’ khalaqa Allahu as-Samaawaat wa al-Ard . . . ”
—Genesis 1:1 in the Arabic Bible
There are about 12 million Arabic speaking Christians in the world. They live as substantial minorities in Lebanon (35 percent) and Syria (10 percent) and in lesser numbers in Iraq, Palestine and North Africa.
Millions of Arab Christians are good citizens in dozens of nations throughout the world. One of the first people I met as a graduate student in Denmark was a Palestinian Christian.
Contrary to popular belief, the majority of Arabs living in the U.S. are Christians, not Muslims.  Ralph Nader, for example, comes from an Arab Christian family.
A majority of the refugees from Iraq are Arabic speaking Christians, who have come under great pressure since the U.S. invasion gave rise to Muslim extremism. Osama bin Laden condemned Saddam Hussein for his secularism and for the fact that his foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, was a Christian.
For at least 1,200 years Arab Christians have read their Bibles with the Hebrew and Greek words “elohim” and “theos” translated as “Allah.”  The oldest extant Arabic Bible (parts of the New Testament) was produced in AD 867 and was found at St. Catherine monastery on Mt. Sinai. MORE HERE

Video as a help in relating to Muslims

Crescent Project has created this great little video about some of the positive things Muhammad did that Christians can appreciate. These are great talking points you can use with your Muslim friend that will not offend him or her and will create common ground and positive feelings without denying the Christian position. I can't wait for more of Crescent Project's video resources!

Source: Dar al-Masih: a blog to help Catholics evangelize Muslims

Dina and Maher El-Gohary, Persecuted Coptic Christians Ask Obama for Help

The most recent example of a virulent Anti-Christian wave which has gripped Egypt is revealed in a touching and heart wrenching letter written by a fifteen year old Egyptian Christian girl named Dina El-Gohary. She sent the letter to President Obama. Through the World Wide Web - and the virtual community it promotes - it has now prompted a global response:

"Mr. President Obama," she wrote in Arabic, "we are a minority in Egypt. We are treated very badly. You said that the Muslim minority in America are treated very well, so why are we not treated here likewise? We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the Government has set for us a new prison, we are imprisoned in our own country."MORE HERE

Yemen's Shi'ite rebels offer truce to Saudi Arabia

Yemen's Shi'ite rebels on Monday offered a ceasefire to Saudi Arabia and said they would withdraw from the kingdom's territory to avoid more civilian casualties, after three months of border fighting and Saudi air strikes.
"To avoid more bloodshed and to stop aggression on civilians ... we offer this initiative," Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said in an audio recording posted on the Internet.
Houthi said if Saudi Arabia did not end its hostilities in return, the rebels would wage "open war" on the world's top oil exporter. MORE HERE

Interest in media in Arab World? Useful website

For those of you who are interested in media in the Arab World, do not miss this website of the media center of the American University in Cairo (AUC).  See Arab Media & Society.

Church in Algeria burnt down

The Tafat Protestant Church building in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria, was set on fire on January 9^th, around 11:00 pm. "Tafat" means "light" in the Berber language. According to the church's pastor, Mustapha Krireche, "around twenty "bearded" men broke into the church, destroyed the chairs and doors and then set the building on fire."

According to Pastor Mustapha, earlier that same day, the day they normally gather together to worship, church members were forcibly prevented from entering the church. The same men who stopped them started destroying facilities. The police came and wrote down details of the incident, but the attackers returned during the night to burn down the building.
Already the Christians of the Tafat Protestant Church weren't able to celebrate Christmas as they had planned.
On Saturday, December 26^th, while they were preparing a worship service in their new building to celebrate the birth of Christ, they were confronted by fifty Muslim demonstrators who threatened to kill Pastor Mustafa. One man cried out: "This is Muslim land; go somewhere else to pray!" The police intervened to avoid any violence. MORE HERE

Rome hosts eucharistic celebrations in Arabic

Starting tomorrow, one of the most beautiful Paleochristian churches in Rome, Santa Maria in Cosmedin, will host Eucharistic celebrations in Arabic, which will become a weekly religious appointment for Middle Eastern worshippers. There are many Arabic-speaking Christians - especially Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese - who live and work in Rome, even on Sunday, Christian news agency MISNA explains. ''For them,'' said Archimandrite Mtanius Hadad - rector of the basilica, which for centuries has been entrusted to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church -, ''we decided to set one day a week, Thursday, to take part in a mass in their native language, but we are extending an invitation to all Romans to come and listen to the celebration with the Byzantine liturgy in Arabic.'' MORE HERE

Vatican: Churches of the Middle East: witnesses of Jesus in a world with more shadows than lights

Vatican City - Minorities in countries that do not understand, and do not accept religious freedom, divided therein, by a "wavering and perplexed" faith, Christians in the Middle East must rediscover their role as "witnesses" of Jesus, by promoting dialogue between Jews and Muslims, respect for human rights and peace, that are vital for the region. They must also  abandon the temptations of " self-preoccupation and fear of others”. This is the future perspective outlined in the working document, the "Lineamenta", for the Special Synod for the Middle East, which will be held 10 to 24 October 2010, presented today at the Vatican.  MORE HERE

How shameful are those Egyptian rulers

Egypt has sought to minimise the repercussions of the recent killing of six Coptic Christians in the south by qualifying the incident as a "criminal" rather than sectarian affair. 
On January 6, the eve of the Coptic Orthodox Christmas, three gunmen raked worshippers emerging from mass in Nagaa Hammadi with bullets, the deadliest attack since 2000 when 20 Copts were killed in sectarian clashes.
Nearly two weeks after the incident, President Hosni Mubarak made indirect mention of the attack, calling on Muslims and Christians to unite, in statements carried by the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper.
"We are one people. We are not fanatics because we are all children of this land and there is no difference between Egyptian Muslims, Christians and Jews," Mubarak said.  Shame on him.  Denial won't make the problem go way, and will lead to more Christian victims.  MORE HERE      

Christmas marred for Christians in some Islamic countries

Christmas was far from peaceful for Coptic Orthodox Christians in Egypt. Six teenage male Copts were killed as they left Midnight Mass early in the morning on Jan. 7, which was Christmas Day according to the Coptic calendar.
As well, a Muslim guard died and nine people were wounded by gunmen firing from a car outside the Church of the Virgin Mary in the town of Naq Hamadi, reported the Associated Press on Jan. 7.
Following the killings there were clashes between police and crowds of Coptic protestors. Further protests took place last Wednesday, when around 2,000 Coptic Orthodox Christians gathered outside the Cathedral of Abbasiya, Egypt's largest church, reported Reuters on Jan. 13.
According to the report, three suspects turned themselves in after the shootings. As well, security forces arrested a further 16 Muslims and 13 Christians following riots in Naq Hamadi. MORE HERE

Ordination of female priests and pastors in the Arab World

Representatives of Middle Eastern Anglican, Lutheran and Reformed churches, meeting in Harissa, Lebanon, have voted unanimously in favor of the ordination of women as pastors.
"This is historic and allows us to move forward in a leading role," said Jerusalem Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan after the January 12 decision at the general assembly of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches.
Younan, the fellowship's outgoing president, said the decision meant its 16 member churches were urged to open the door to the ordination of women pastors.
Rosangela Jarjour, the fellowship's general secretary, told Ecumenical News International in a January 15 email that, so far, Younan's Lutheran church, the Cairo presbytery of the Evangelical Church in Egypt, and the diocese of Khartoum of the Episcopal Church in Sudan had taken decisions to accept the ordination of women as pastors. Several other churches already ordain women as elders. MORE HERE

Jesus is the son of Allah - root of the problems in Malaysia

The riots in Malaysia in response to the overturning of a ban on Christians using the word “Allah” has given me a lot to think about. My first response is horror at the destruction of churches and disappointment in the Muslims who commit and support such acts of hate. My second response is a bit more academic. As a literary scholar who works on Arabic and Persian texts, much of what I do involves translation. How to translate the words people use to refer to any deity — let alone the Deity — leads us to all sorts of political and philosophical questions. MORE HERE

For Iraqi Christians, emigration is the norm

Iraq's Christian migrants are facing a number of difficulties in adapting to their new environments abroad. As many of them continue to emigrate, some observers say the country may soon be empty of Christians altogether. To explore the implications for the migrants and for Iraq, Niqash interviewed Father Youssef Tuma, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Christian Thought, and founder of Baghdad Open University for Humanities. Father Tuma is one of the most prominent Dominican fathers in Iraq. He has translated dozens of books from the Syriac, English and French into Arabic but he also has excellent knowledge of German, Greek and Spanish. Niqash met with Father Tuma to discuss the challenges facing Iraqi migrants, an area he has direct experience of thanks to his annual visits to the Europe and the US.
Niqash: How would you describe the condition of Iraqi Christians in the forty-plus countries you have visited?
Father Tuma: Migration has certainly had an impact on Iraqi Christians. They become nostalgic and they miss the old days in Iraq. They are also becoming more religious as they try to hold onto their roots. Christians who never went to church before are looking for churches in the countries where they now live. MORE HERE

Egypt's sectarian shame

"Long live the cross" chanted a crowd Copts, members of Egypt's oldest Christian community, as they marched in the funeral processions of six of their number shot after leaving Christmas Eve mass last week in the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi. The attack, which has shocked the country and the region, was followed by riots, civil unrest and an escalation in the tensions between the two communities.MORE HERE

'Egyptian school curricula demonize non-Muslims'

A 6 January drive-by shooting on a Coptic Christian congregation leaving midnight mass on their Christmas Eve in Nagaa Hammadi, southern Egypt, has focused attention on decades-old tensions between Muslims and Christians in Egypt.

Six Copts and a Muslim security guard were killed in the attack which has sent shockwaves through the Coptic community and led to sporadic clashes between Christian protesters and security forces, and between Christians and Muslims.

“Everything in this country is leading up to a situation where non-Muslims are hated, denigrated, and even marginalized,” Youssef Sidhom (photo), editor of Egypt’s Coptic weekly newspaper Watany, told IRIN. “Our education [system] fills the students with nothing but hatred and fear of those who are different.” MORE HERE

Attacks on churches in Malaysia continue

Another Christian church has been attacked in Malaysia – the ninth such incident since Friday.
No one was injured in the attack on an evangelical Christian church, but buildings were damaged by what appear to have been home-made petrol bombs.  In another case a church was vandalised with black paint.

The attacks appear to have been triggered by a High Court ruling last month that overturned a government ban on non-Muslims using the word “Allah”. The government is appealing against the decision.


The latest attack caused limited physical damage – just a burned door and a charred entranceway. But the political implications may be more serious. Tensions have flared after Malaysia’s High Court ruled that a Roman Catholic newspaper, the Herald, was permitted to use the word Allah to describe God in its Malay language editions. Muslim groups argue that Christians using a word so closely associated with Islam could be a ploy to win converts. MORE HERE

Egypt: Muslims kill 7 Christians, police arrests mainly Christians.

Egyptian authorities have arrested 42 people in connection with sectarian riots by Muslims and Christians in southern Egypt.  Egypt's state-run MENA news agency quotes the police chief of Qena province as saying his forces have detained 28 Coptic Christians and 14 Muslims since Friday's unrest.

MENA says arsonists burned down 11 shops and eight houses owned by members of the minority Christian sect Friday in the village of Bahjora.  Christians accuse Muslim rioters of setting the fires.

A day earlier, Christian residents of a nearby town took to the streets to protest against a shooting attack by suspected Muslim gunmen that killed six Christian worshippers and a Muslim policeman.  Egyptian police used tear gas to disperse the Christian rioters.  MORE HERE

Christian Missionaries Sweeping the Islamic World

Interesting blog called OUTCAST with this article (sorry for the bad English!) about christian mission to Muslims.  Note the contextualization issues mentioned!

In The Name Of Allah, The Most Gracious, The most Merciful

By Shiekh Salman Al-Odeh
From Tape Of Shiekh Salman Al-Odeh, by the same title. Lesson 66, on Monday 12th of Safar, 1413 Hijra.

The shiekh says ….
Let us first discuss some of the new ways that Christian missionaries are using in the Islamic world, these new methods have been applied because the old methods did not prove as effective as the Christian missionaries thought they were. Some of the problems were the great gap between Islam and Christianity such as the principle of trinity and escalation of Jesus PBUH. Some of these new ways are :-
1) Misguiding, making similar, lying (taDDlel, khida3, labs Al-7aqaiq) Many books have been written for Muslims, keeping the belief of Muslims, their ideas and general princeples in mind. The book “shahadat Al-Quran” which was distributed all around the Islamic world, even in Saudi Arabia. This book was taken from the book “The Lord is one” for Zakariya Boutros. This book talks about the similarities between Islam and Christian faith. They, for example, quote the verse that refers to prophet Jesus PBUH as a prophet, a word and a spirit. They say that is originaly the same trinity! Of course this is a false interpretation, a lie. Allah said he blew in Adam of his own spirit, allah gave his word to Moses, David, Ibraham, Adam, Mohammad PBUT and not only to Jesus. The missionaries base this whole theory on the fact that there are three nouns, ie just because of the number. One of their other arguments that they say that “In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful” means three gods!! not one! that is a worst liethan the one before, they ignore that Allah has 99 names that we know, and many more that Allah promised to tell his prophet at the day of judgment.

2)Building churches that look similar to mosques : Muslims were turned off from entering churches because they looked different, that also made them feel very uncomfortable with them. They also changed the internal structure of the church to look similar to a mosque, the people sit on the floor and in lines. They have circles (7alaqat) for teaching and that sort of stuff. They started using a new way for reciting the bible that is similar to the Tarteel of Quran. The also try to compare Christ in Islam to Christ in “Christianity”. They misquoted Tafseer Al-jalaleen, and make it sound like the Tafseer says Jesus PBUH knows the time of Domesday (ya3lamu Assa3a), when you refer to Al-Jalaleen you find that the time of Domesday is known to be very soon when Jesus comes (to3lamu benozolihi assa3a). In other words they lie in a shamefuly. This is used to fool the muslim who is not educated about his religion. Another book is “Al-saleeb fi al-injeel wal-quran”, where they claim that Shiekh Al-fakhr Al-Razi believes that Jesus was killed on the cross, when you check al-Tafseer Al-Kabeer you find that this is a big lie. Al-Fakhr Al-Razi quoted a question from a Christiana guy then took pages to answer it so they quoted the QUESTION of the Christian guy!!! This is one of many examples.

3)Names : they started using Islamic names, for examples one of their radio stations that has a person that is responsible for answering the questions of the listeners is called “Shiekh Abdallah”, his program is called “Allahu Akbar”, other radio stations are called “Sawt Al-7aq”, “noor 3ala noor”. They can use different names but they use these only to confuse muslims with their misguided preaching.

4)The started a new way, not to tell muslims things as they are, for example not to tell them that Xtians believe that Jesus is the Son of Allah (a3ooth Billah), since Jesus himself didn’t use that expression, so they use other words like “the spirit of Allah” since it is closer to the understanding of a muslim. They also use titles that are common between the two religions such as “Assalah”, “Assawm”, “Assadaqa” which include Christian propaganda but a title that is used to hunt muslim readers.

5)The use of Islamic expressions such as “bismilalhi Al-Rahmani Al-raheem”, “Jesus Alaihi assalam”, “Allah subhanah”, “Allah tabarak wa ta3ala” … calling their churches “boyoot Allah” (houses of God). They sometimes even claim to accept Islam as a religion from God, but they say that Christianity was not canceled by Islam! (ghayr-nasekh). There is a book called “deen Al-Masee7 lam Yonsakh” by Iskandar Jadid (Xtian), he also misquoted Al-Jalaleen claiming that they said that muslims must ask the people of the book “Is’alo ahlal-thikr” when in fact Al-Jalaleen were explaining that Allah was asking the Kufar to check with Ahl Al-Kitab that Allah always sent MALE messengers only, like Jesus, Moses, David … etc pubt. And to ask them onyl about that, not anything else.

6)making concessions to win muslims : for examples making Qudas (Christian ceremony) on Fridays not on Sundays to confuse muslims, this was done in Kuwait for example.

7)accepting the princeple of polygamy. A funny thing to mention, In England, there was a conference in 1409 AD for priests (assaaqifat Al-Injeel) and a big discussion took place about polygamy, many of them totally rejected that issue and said that this is one thing they use against Islam, but they faced the problem that if they didn’t allow polygamy they will lose their campaigns in Africa, after realizing that, they allowed it. There are catholic priest in Africa with 40 wives or more.

8)They say that many muslims have changed to Christianity and they publish books and cassettes about that. For example the book “limatha sirtu masee7iyan?” for a writter “sultan Muhammad Bolous”, a weird mix of Christian and muslim names, they claim in this book that this person was a muslim from Afghanistan who was the son of a scholar and went to Mecca to do Hajj, asked Allah for one thing which was to give him the true guidance, then the book says they he accepted Christianity, the rest of the book is attacks on Islam that appear to be written by someone who has done a whole lot of research and is very deep into Islamic issues. It is very obvious that this book is false and forged, this is a way that is used quite a lot by Christians and even shi3a and the other misguided, lost sects who claim that Ahlul-sunna wal-jama3a do the same thing (go to Hajj and ask for true guidance and accept their sect .. ). Another book “Sudan rushes to God”, giving a lot of stories about many people who came back to Xtianity, many of them are actually originaly Christians who strengthen their bond with the (Adden Al-Mansookh, deen Al-Kaneesah) unrighteous way. some other cases they to be originaly muslims. We say in answer “In Tastafti7o faqad Ja’akom Al-Fat7u”, Sudan is rushing to Allah because Islamic law is being applied more and more day by day, The Xtian military state in the south loses more and more and now it is a little insignificant group that has no place to stay, the kafir tribes in the south are coming into the religion of Allah. Like Allah said in his book, when the victory of Allah comes, and you see the people coming into Islam in big groups then do “tasbee7″ for Allah and thank him a lot, aski him for forgiveness because he is Attawab. (surat Al-FatH).

9)Taking the children from their parents and raising them according to their belief. for example in England they started special Hotels for children where they stay there with no connection with their parents, the workers there speak many languages, funny how most of them are muslim spoken languages (eg Arabic). Another example is Bosnia children who were taken from Bosnia in Italy and France where they are raised according to Xtian belief, children who are 3month-3years old who know nothing about their original religion. Even if these children discover what happened to them they will still have doubts from what was taught to them for all their lives.

10)Education Curriculums : In Egypt the Christians there protested and asked to remove the verses of Quran and the Hadeeths from curriculums, they write several articles in the newspapers. And how fast do you think did the government answer? in a very short while the curriculums were changed and the verses and Ahadeth were dropped, the government used the excuse “the material was too hard for the children”, compare that to how they teach muslims to forget Allah and accept Kufr such as Jesus is the son of God.

11)The use of Natural disasters : Such as wars, floods, … etc, for example in Sudan they had such things when Sudan had its starvation, muslims had to choose either take food+Kufr, or stay a muslim, but a hungry muslim. It is also sad that the aids that muslims send were distributed by Christians such as the Red Cross and others, these funds were sent by Muslims in the Gulf and the rest of the world for the muslims in Somalia, Sudan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan. It is also sad that all the aid that goes to Bosnia is given by German institutions, what do we expect from these people? they use they funds and resources to spread their religion and to spread hatred of one muslim towards the other (“the cross comes with food for you, your muslim brothers forgot you”).

12)Making conditions easy for new converts from Islam to Xtianity : These converts are treated by other muslims as a traitor and something shameful, and that is the truth. They also saw that new converts feel left and abandoned, they also do not find full satisfaction with Xtianity. Something i want to mention, a book a looked at “Al-Masi7i Al-Mubashir bayna Al-Muslimeen” (The Christians missionary among muslims). This book was printed in Laghous in Nigeria and was given to all the missionaries in that area, this books explains how the missionary can get the best results of his preaching. It says : ” the Christian missionary must offer a great love for new converts, as well as regular muslims, be nice to him. Learn about Islam not only to distroy muslims belief, but also to understand the similarities between Islam and Xtianity so that YOU START WITH THESE POINTS. Talk to them about Jesus, tell them that he loves them and that he is their Saviour. Do not argue the faith, give them a general idea, a fast answer, even try to make it as a joke. Especially the trinity,or the idea that Jesus is god (Addition from the person typing this article PS:this exactelly is what Xtian missionaries on the Usenet do), logical conclusions and discussions then we will fail, therefore we must ignore the subject or even make it a joke, also use similar things, for example Ibn-Assabell, say that Jesus is Ibn-Assabel” and that is a great lie because these missionaries say that Jesus is son of god not Ibn-Assabel. Some of the advises that are used in that book “avoid discussing the prophet Mohammad (we add Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) and tell them that God will evaluate Mohammad, you don’t evaluate him. Also use the point of freedom of religion, use the verse from Quran that says that.” It is known to muslims that fi a muslim changes religion his punishment is to be killed, the prophet PPOABUH said “if a muslim changes religion then kill him.” Also the book says “Do not try to change the religion of the muslim right away, try to first make them accept Jesus as their lover and Saviour, then you must encourage them to get babtized and declare their new religion.” The book also says “muslim converts must not marry Christians, it has been proven that he may marry another muslim women” but the truth is that in many cases converts into Christianity change back into Islam and their Christian wives change with them too. Christian girls must marry Christian youth.

Now we discuss missionary acitvity itself …

First of all, the importance of the Islamic world, the Islamic world is the land that is full of milk and honey, the way “Butrous Al-Nasik” described it when he called for the European Crusades, today the Islamic world floods with Oil too, which is the most important one because the western civilization and economy is based on the consumption of this oil, of which 70% is in the Islamic world, and much more is discovered day by day.

Second, the great number of Muslims, which grows faster than any other nations, for example in Palestine, the growth rates of muslim are much higher than Israelis, which indicates that if things go as they are Muslims will outnumber the Israelis and take over, so what you notice now is that they try to completely terminate the Islamic existence, we can see that very clearly in Bosnia where they kill a muslim even if he knew nothing about his religion. This is one issue, the other is birth control and limiting it among Muslims. A funny example is Indonesia, Indonesia is a densely populated muslim land, one of the doctors who i know that lived in Australia before told me that the average Australian believes that one day those Indonesians will invade Australia, he said that this belief is very strong in the heart of Australian to the degree that he thought it originated from some sort of a previous prediction or so, after investigation we discovered that there is no such thing and it is only from the fact that Indonesia in densely populated and Australia is not, and so when this muslim country is over populated Muslims will invade Australia, that is what Australians fear.

The third reason, and the most important, the Islamic threat, the one they call “fundemantalist threat”, which they fear today, and which is coming now. It appears to me that this threat is coming very soon, so they fear Islam today. I talked about this in details in a previous lecture titled “Why do they fear Islam?”, but, concerning their fear today, i will add something new to it. Islam in central Asia and previous USSR republics: It has become a danger to them, they decided not to allow any Saudi muslim to get a visa to go there, it appears that this is a cooperation between Russian and American intelegence because of their fear of Islam s spreading or getting stronger. Another example is Afghanistan, there are great threats to destroy the Islamic government in Afghanistan and to establish a state in northern Afghanistan that doesn’t apply Islamic law so that it stands between the control of what they call the “fundemantalist government” in Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan. Another example is Bosnia, i read yesterday about a report from the British intelegence which warns against the great Islamic danger from the Balkan states, it also says that there is apart of Serbia called Kusufo which is populated by a Muslims majority, and that these Muslims are uniting and they assigned for themselves a muslim leader and they are gathering weapons. It says that they intend to ask for separation from Serbia and recognition from the world, and if not given that they will start a new Balkan war against the Serbs and the Balkans will fall into a muslim-Christian war that no one can predict how and when it will end. In addition to many muslim groups who store guns in Albania and Montinegro. So they expect a war between Islam, or what they call fundementalism, Versus Christianity. We too expect that war and maybe even faster than they expect, that is why they give a great deal to the muslim lands.

It is enough evidence for you that the council of international churches in its 7th gathering in Australia concentrated on the middle east and decided to assign the pope Shinoda to be the head for its missionary campaigns in the Islamic world, with the center being Cairo in Egypt. Shinoda was given great authority to do his mission. This is why notice that Shinoda has that great attention in the media and on TV, especially in the Egyptian TV and newspapers. We notice the same attention in western newspapers and TV channels, where he is portrayed as the leader of Christians in the middle east.
Many of the young Muslims today are not afraid of this missionary campaign, they think that it does not affect anything. I say that this is wrong, It was proven by study that this is not true, and that many Muslims are effected by this missionary activity, and that many Muslims leave Islam and enter into Christianity! add to that the ones who are slightly affected by christianity they for example leave Islam without entering into christianity, or accept some of the Christian belief, or help Christians in their activities, or accept that their relatives become Christians then that is a huge number of people! So the missionary activity is doing what it is supposed to do.

It is wrong to think that every muslim has an impunity against these missionaries, the missionary efforts are very huge, they are starting to give results even it is was a partial success. The need for food, shelter, medicine, education and clothes are one of the reasons that Muslims may accept christianity. Ignorance is also another reason, there are many Muslims who do not know much about Islam. The ignorant muslim is called to christianity in cunning ways and so he enters into it. The fact that there is no Islamic preaching to stand in the face of Christian missionary with similar preaching is also another factor, there is not such activity to teach those ignorant Muslims about their religion and warning them about the danger of the missionaries is a reason that made christianity acceptable among Muslims.

I will give some examples about this, just some examples of the many i have, Wallah if i wanted to discuss all the documents i have we would spend all night, but this is a few just t give you some idea :-
1)Africa : In the Newspaper “Adda3wa”, issue number 1324, they asked a question ” Did the popes plan to make Africa a Christian continent by the year 2000 succeed?”, it appears that there is a huge campaign to make Africa a Christian continant, many missionary activities are taking the forms of medical and educational aid, it is based on a huge number of missionaries and a well designed plan to convert the continent. For example, in Zambia the president announced that it is a Christian country even though the Christians are only 25% of the population, the church is running with a dictatorship methodology in Africa by oppressing and controlling, trashing their false theories of the freedom of religion. The international organizations are keeping their eyes away from the act of forcing people to convert into christianity, why don’t they protect Muslims from this injustice? the Muslims in Zambia, 50% of them send their children to Christian schools. Two ministers in Zambia are official priests, in addition to the minister of information who is another official priest. The council of the Muslims of Africa says that in Malawi the percentage of Muslims has dropped from 66% to 17% in half a century. In Mali one single priest built 200 churches, 20 hospitals, 50 schools and 600 wells.

The pope made seven visits to Africa! Allahu Akbar!!! the head of christianity gives that much attention and time to Africa! The muslim scholars do not even think about these African states not just not visit them. 300,000 Muslims were converted into christianity in the last two years. In Sinigal the pope met the Sufi shiekhs, and he even met the muslim youths which made the media in that country make fun of Muslims, their belief and their scholars. In Somalia, the only country that is 100% pure muslim land with no minority, that is why it was divided into three states, churches were built everywhere, great efforts were put to build radio stations, spread books, .. etc and in the time of the war of Aghadeer the Christians used that war to build their sites and churches even though Somalia had not a single Christian before the war. The Christians have reached powerful positions in the country and there are radio stations for the sole purpose of converting Muslims in Somalia and to Africa in general.

In Spain they have the biggest center of missionaries to Africa, they are trained really well and their efforts lead many Morrocans to convert, in Morocco missionaries are given many privileges from the government to do their activity and travel freely. Missionary work in Africa towards Muslims in Europe is a great activity, the fact that they are in a Christian society makes it easy. David Pareet says in the Christian encyclopedia, and this is dangerous survey, the number of Christians in Africa was 9 million only in 1900Ad, or they were 9% of the whole population. In the year 1980 they became 200 million! imagen! they jumped from 9 to 200 million in 80 years, he expected them to reach 390 million in the year 2000 or 48% of the whole population of Africa!!! that is if they grow on the same ratio, of course they want to speed up the process.

Concerning Algeria, I read a report in the magazine “Al-3alam Al-Islami”, issue 1229, it says that French occupation came to Algeria originally to convert Algeria into a Christian country, the marshal Vego used to say “the days of Islam are few”, Suhan Allah! i wish he could see what happened to Algeria and how it became a great Islamic strength that the west thinks a 1000 times about. A French leader used to say “Quran is stronger than France”, the second French guy was right and the first was wrong, the good thing that relieves me a bit is that in the 132 years of occupation not a single muslim child converted into christianity in Algeria! and this shows the strength and decency of the great people of Algeria against the missionary activities.

Egypt is considered a center, a great center for the muslim world, it is known to have a Christian minority (coptic). The west supports the Egyptian government on the bases of its support for that minority. The Egyptian government gives its reports of obedience to that minority and other reports of the crushing of muslim youth to get its support from the west. In the year 1986 six of the Muslims in Egypt converted into christianity, the Azhar didn’t do anything. Then mother Terreza, a very well known missionary came to Egypt and was able to change 50 young Girls from Islam into Christianity.
In a secret, dangerous meeting in Oxford, which some results were exposed to the public later, it was concerning missionary activity in Egypt and the new methods of missionaries. The pope Shinoda built hundreds of schools in Egypt, add to that many foreign schools like the university of Singoor in Alexandria. A secret report was exposed showing that there is a council called Al-Jam3iya Al-SiHiya Al-Mase7iya with support from the American imbacy there and that it main purpose is missionary activity. The protestant churches in Egypt started an intensive missionary activity from Qasr ADDeborah which is also close from the American imbacy and is also a head quarters for missionary activity. Other institutions were built in universities and schools to capture young muslim girls and arrange for them (da3arah) immoral activities and then photograph them and blackmail them with those pictures. There are also Christian gangs and terrorist groups such as Al-Jihad Al-Nasrani, and the weird thing is that the government lets it work without harassment, and the so called pope Shinoda completely denies its existence while the scholars of Al-Azhar confirm its existence and its harassment to Muslims. The government is only concerned with limiting the activities of the muslim youth.

2) Indonesia : The biggest muslim gathering in the world, more than 180 million Muslims of which 80% of are Muslims. This country is very poor, for example one Saudi Riyal is 2000 Rupees there, they are ready to accept anything, if Muslims intend to spread Islam it would be a great land for it. I saw that with my eyes when i visited it and i told my companions that Indonesia is for those who come first. From the poorness of Indonesia, they have something called “rice missionary”, the use of rice to spread christianity! and also “medical missionary”, it is enough to know that more than 30% have an income less than 500$ per year. Many of them have converted. Above all that 65% of the companies are in the hands of Christians, the best schools are Christian schools and they are always the center for the children of influential, rich and powerful people. On the political side, most of the politicians are Christians, 65% of the high military officers are Christians! even there is an attempt to put a Christian president from them, a guy called Beni Murdani, a catholic who holds the ministry of defense and is supported by the west. It is enough to know that this man is supported by Jam3iyat Nahdat Al-3olama’, a muslim group!!! The number of foreign missionaries 27,324!! almost 30 thousands missionary and that doesn’t include the Indonesian missionaries!!!! on the other hand the number of muslim preachers are less than 80! there is 20 American missionary institutions, 44 European … the budget for missionaries in Indonesia is 100 million dollars per year!!!! their methods are many: reaching power positions, educational institutions, publications! Also there are empty Islands where the government moves some Muslims and some pagans there so the missionaries hurry to build there and meet these people as they come and convert them! many Muslims were converted this way. Mixed marriages between Muslims and Christians is another way. There are also several air line companies that dedicate all their revenue to the missionary effort as mentioned the the magazine Al-Yamamah, issue 1410.

There is also an Island called Samarang which has the High Institution For Missionary which was able to convert 6000 muslim students in 9 years who became missionaries too. There is also another area called Riyam, this area is uncivilized and the people there still live in primitive life style. There is a great effort to convert these people even by seducing them by European girls who live among them … there are some muslim efforts but they do not compare to the Christian efforts.

3)Malaysia : Father “Than” there calls for political activity to build what he calls “the Kingdom of God” in Malaysia to stop the corruption in the government. Malaysia is also threatened by the change of the kind of population from the immigration by Chinese people who changes the ratios and percentages of Muslims there in all its states.

4)The Ex-communist republics : The magazine Al-Mujtama3 in the issue 996 said that Istanbul witnessed a huge meeting, which is the first of its kind since a 1000 years, which was attended by the highest priests of Eastern Orthodox churches and 14 Orthodox churches from the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe were represented in that meeting. The goal of that meeting was reconciliation with the other churches to face the so called “challenges”. These challenges are us the Muslims, meaning that the Christians are uniting and gathering to face and fight what they call the “Islamic fundementalism” which is prefered to as “challenges”. The meeting also issued a statement saying that the eastern church has faced a lot of oppression on the hands of Muslims and that the lands of central Asia and Russia was a Christian land and it must return a Christian land as it was before! therefore the meeting assigned a great deal of funds and methods like tapes, publications, sending missionaries, building schools to bring Christians back to their religion and and to convert Muslims. ….. For that … an American institution made a great campaign called “Uniting for the sake of Jesus” which was aimed to at the Christians of Russia, it sent 1,000,000 copies of the bible to Russia, other activites included publishing Christian leaflets everywhere, broadcasting movies such as one called “Jesus” which I saw here in this city, which talks to these people and asks them to take Jesus into their life after leaving communism. They also built many Christian schools all around Russia and training missionaries there. In Albania which is a state that left communist, there are massive missionary efforts, it even reached that Christians are staring to get a good grip on the economy there even though that there is a lot of poorness and hunger there … the Christians are also trying only to provide work for Christians, they even built a huge factory and the only condition to work there was to wear a cross on your chest. One of the local shiekhs, Twfiq Islam, exposed in an interview with the press the missionary and Christians plots, he also said the Christians have built centers in most cities and villages there. Of course this is just some of what they did, i have several other documents but I’ll save them for the lack of time.
I have an article, titled “The Future Of Islam in Africa”, it was published in the magazine Al-Ummah in Jumada the first 1406 Hijri, it talks about the planes to convert the tribe Fulani, one the biggest tribes in Nigeria which was the tribe that supported Shiekh Othman Fudio who established a Khilafa in Nigeria the beginning of the 19th century.

This concludes the material on this lecture, next lecture we will continue about missionaries.
Wa Assalatu Wa Assalamu Ala Sayyidina Muhammad.
Tape Ennds

In Kuwait, Church and State live together in harmony

Reverend Amanuel Benjamin Ghareeb (picture) has been the Pastor and caretaker of the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait for a decade. He was ordained on Jan. 8, 1999 in what was considered a unique event in the history of the Evangelical community of Kuwait.
What may be new information to many, Reverend Ghareeb is a Kuwaiti citizen. He was born in Kuwait in 1950 and has been living peacefully among his people, Muslims and Christians, throughout the country’s many ups and downs. This is what made his ordination as a Pastor special in the memories of many Christians as he was the first Gulf Arab to be designated for the Church. According to the Reverend minister, there are currently approximately 200 Christian Kuwaiti citizens residing in the country. MORE HERE

Muslim in Algeria resist church building

Nearly 50 Muslim members of a community in northern Algeria blocked Christians from holding a Christmas service on Saturday (Dec. 26) to protest a new church building in their neighborhood.

As Algerian Christian converts gathered for their weekly meeting and Christmas celebration that morning, they were confronted by protestors barring the doors of their church building. Tafat Church is located in Tizi-Ouzou, a city 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the Algerian capital, Algiers. Established five years ago, the church belongs to the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA). Until recently it met in a small rented building. In November it opened its doors in a new location to accommodate the growing needs of its nearly 350 congregants. MORE HERE

Muslims kill 7 Christians in Egypt during Christmas celebrations

Seven people have been killed in a drive-by shooting outside a church in Egypt as Christians left a late night mass on the eve of Coptic Christmas.
Officials said three men in a car drove by a group of worshippers as they were walking out of the Virgin Mary church and opened fire with machineguns into the crowd just before midnight on Wednesday.
The interior ministry said the attack in the town of Nag Hammadi in southern Qena province, located about 65km from the famous ancient ruins of Luxor, was suspected to be in retaliation for the November rape of a Muslim girl by a Christian man in the same town.
The ministry said witnesses had identified the lead attacker.
Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hammadi Diocese told The Associated Press that six male churchgoers and one security guard were killed.
He said he was concerned about violence on the eve of Coptic Christmas, which falls on Thursday, because of previous threats following the rape of the 12-year-old girl in November. MORE HERE

Christians in Bartilla, Iraq, attacked during Christmas

Iraqi Christians have requested our prayers following recent incidents in the town of Bartilla, near Mosul in northern Iraq. Bartilla is a predominantly Christian town.

On 25th December a Christmas service was disrupted by a group of militants. They took control of the checkpoint controlling entry to the town and held it for five hours. During this period some of the attackers marched into the central square, tearing down Christmas decorations from store windows and throwing a picture of St. Mary into the dirt. Some attempted to enter a church, demanding that they be allowed to conduct Islamic rituals within the building. The Church's guards refused them entry and gunfire was exchanged, leaving four Christian residents wounded, including a policeman.

A second incident occurred in the town on Tuesday 5th January when a car bomb exploded. Nobody was killed, but five people required hospital treatment for injuries. There was widespread damage to property.

Those supporting these Christians request our prayers that:
a.  The wounded and traumatised will know the healing touch of Jesus
b.  Church leaders will know the Spirit's wisdom and enabling in aspects of their ministry
c.  The perpetrators will know the Spirit's conviction concerning their violent acts, and turn to new life in Jesus
d.  The authorities will provide effective protection for Christian and other minorities


(c) Middle East Concern

American Ambassador in Egypt: Freedom to speak out in Egypt

WHAT IS the U.S. position on democracy in Egypt? The American ambassador in Cairo, Margaret Scobey, was asked that question Dec. 14, during an appearance at an Egyptian university. She said: "In my time in Egypt, I have noticed that many Egyptians are very free to speak out. The press debates so many things."
The assembled students must have wondered if Ms. Scobey was talking about some other country. Egypt is rated 143rd out of 175 countries for press freedom by Reporters without Borders. Independent journalists who dare to criticize President Hosni Mubarak are routinely subjected to lawsuits by ruling party members that can result in prison sentences. Opposition bloggers have been beaten and harassed, and one, who called Mr. Mubarak "a symbol of tyranny," has been imprisoned for nearly three years. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, one of the foremost Egyptian campaigners for democracy, has been in exile since 2007 because of charges stemming from articles that he published in The Post. (c) Washington Post

Malaysian Christians allowed to use the word Allah again

The Malaysian High Court has ruled that Christians have a constitutional right to use the world Allah when referring to God. The decision overturns a government ban on non-Muslims using the word.

The judge says the term Allah is not exclusive to Islam. The case was brought to court by the Roman Catholic weekly publication, the Herald.

Its editor Laurence Andrew, says the ban had been unreasonable as the term Allah had been in use for centuries in Christian worship and prayers. He says the court ruling is a blessing.

Malaysian Christians allowed to use the word Allah again

The Malaysian High Court has ruled that Christians have a constitutional right to use the world Allah when referring to God. The decision overturns a government ban on non-Muslims using the word.

The judge says the term Allah is not exclusive to Islam. The case was brought to court by the Roman Catholic weekly publication, the Herald.

Its editor Laurence Andrew, says the ban had been unreasonable as the term Allah had been in use for centuries in Christian worship and prayers. He says the court ruling is a blessing.