Raymond Ibrahim: Obama’s Love for Jihadis and Hate for Christians

JIHAD WATCH: Obama recently lashed out against the idea of giving preference to Christian refugees, describing it as “shameful”: “That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion,” loftily added the American president.

Accordingly, the administration is still determined to accept 10,000 more Syrian refugees, almost all of whom will be Muslim, despite the fact that some are ISIS operatives, while many share the ISIS worldview (as explained below).

Yet right as Obama was grandstanding about “who we are,” statistics were released indicating that “the current [refugee] system overwhelmingly favors Muslim refugees. Of the 2,184 Syrian refugees admitted to the United States so far, only 53 are Christians while 2,098 are Muslim.”

Aside from the obvious—or to use Obama’s own word, “shameful”—pro-Muslim, anti-Christian bias evident in these statistics, there are a number of other troubling factors as well. » | Raymond Ibrahim | Monday, November 23, 2015

Radical Islam: The Most Dangerous Ideology

Is radical Islam our generation's most dangerous ideology? Is it comparable to what Nazism and Communism were in the 20th century? Or are Islamists no more dangerous than extremist Christians, Jews, and Buddhists? Raymond Ibrahim, author of "The Al Qaeda Reader," explains what radical Islam is, and shows how Muslims and non-Muslims alike can help defeat it.

Islam's 'Reformation' Is Already Here and It's Called 'ISIS'

CHRISTIAN POST – OPINION: The idea that Islam needs to reform is again in the spotlight following the recent publication of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's new book, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now. While Ali makes the argument that Islam can reform—and is in desperate need of taking the extreme measures to do so—many of her critics contend that Islam is not in need of reform.

The one argument not being made, however, is the one I make below—namely, that Islam has already "reformed." And violence, intolerance, and extremism—typified by the Islamic State ("ISIS")—are the net result of this "reformation."

Such a claim only sounds absurd due to our understanding of the word "reform." Yet despite its positive connotations, "reform" simply means to "make changes (in something, typically a social, political, or economic institution or practice) in order to improve it."

Synonyms of "reform" include "make better," "ameliorate," and "improve"—splendid words all, yet words all subjective and loaded with Western connotations.

Muslim notions of "improving" society can include purging it of "infidels" and "apostates," and segregating Muslim men from women, keeping the latter under wraps or quarantined at home. Banning many forms of freedoms taken for granted in the West—from alcohol consumption to religious and gender equality—is an "improvement" and a "betterment" of society from a strictly Islamic point of view.

In short, an Islamic reformation will not lead to what we think of as an "improvement" and "betterment" of society—simply because "we" are not Muslims and do not share their first premises and reference points. "Reform" only sounds good to most Western peoples because they naturally attribute Western connotations to the word. » | Raymond Ibrahim, CP Op-Ed Contributor | Thursday, May 07, 2015

Should Islam Be Banned for ‘Defamation’?

THE BLAZE: Soon after Muslim gunmen killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo offices, which published satirical caricatures of Muslim prophet Muhammad, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)—the “collective voice of the Muslim world” and second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations—is again renewing calls for the United Nations to criminalize “blasphemy” against Islam, or what it more ecumenically calls, the “defamation of religions.”

Yet the OIC seems to miss one grand irony: if international laws would ban cartoons, books, and films on the basis that they defame Islam, they would also, by logical extension, have to ban the entire religion of Islam itself—the only religion whose core texts actively and unequivocally defame other religions, including by name.

To understand this, consider what “defamation” means. Typical dictionary-definitions include “to blacken another’s reputation” and “false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another, as by slander or libel.” In Muslim usage, defamation simply means anything that insults or offends Islamic sensibilities.

However, to gain traction among the international community, the OIC cynically maintains that such laws should protect all religions from defamation, not just Islam (even as Muslim governments ban churches, destroy crucifixes, and burn Bibles). Disingenuous or not, the OIC’s wording suggests that any expression that “slanders” the religious sentiments of others should be banned. » | Raymond Ibrahim | Tuesday, February 17, 2015

What a New Islamic Caliphate Means for Christians, the West

Read the article here | CBN News | Tuesday, June 27, 2014

Christians 'Crucified Again' for Refusing Islam

Raymond Ibrahim is author of
'Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's
New War on Christians'

THE CHRISTIAN POST: To the awe of its readership, a recent Daily Mail article reports that the "jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Levant [ISIL]," which is currently entrenched in Raqqa, Syria, "publicly crucified two Syrian rebels in northeastern Syria in revenge for a grenade attack on members of their group."

While the Daily Mail is to be commended for exposing these barbaric acts-along with posting photos of the crucified-it nonetheless minimized their significance, in two important ways: 1) by repeatedly saying things like "even al-Qaeda is distancing itself from ISIL," and so implying that the act of crucifixion is some wild aberration that even the poster-child of jihadi terror, al-Qaeda, wants nothing to do with it; and 2) ignoring the much "sexier" story that Christians in Syria are also being crucified simply for refusing to embrace Islam (as opposed to the rather mundane but politically more correct story of Islamic jihadis crucifying each other in the context of vendetta killings).

Consider the atrocities earlier committed in Ma'loula, Syria, an ancient Christian village where the inhabitants still spoke Aramaic, the language of Christ.

According to recent Arabic news media, "a Syrian nun testified to the Vatican news agency that some Christians in Ma'loula were crucified for refusing to convert to Islam or pay jizya" (tribute subjugated Christians are required to pay to their Islamic conquerors in order to exist as Christians, per Koran 9:29).

Incidentally, they were crucified by the al-Qaeda linked Nasra Front (so much for Daily Mail's portrayal of al-Qaeda "distancing" itself from the apparently "extra-extremist" ISIL for crucifying its victims).

Sister Raghad, the former head of the Patriarchate School in Damascus who currently resides in France, told Vatican Radio how she personally witnessed jihadi rebels terrorize Ma'loula, including by pressuring Christians to proclaim the shehada-Islam's credo that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger-which, when uttered before Muslim witnesses transforms the speaker into a Muslim, with the death penalty for apostasy should the convert later "renege" by returning to Christianity. » | Raymond Ibrahim, CP Op-Ed Contributor | Tuesday, May 06, 2014