They Cry in Silence May/Jun 2013
An angry mob of Muslims burned down almost 200 Christian homes in Pakistan in March, leaving nearly 400 Christian families homeless. International Christian Concern (ICC) reported that most of the families now live in tents and “have nothing more than the clothes on their backs as all their belongings were destroyed or looted.”
The trouble began when Muslims became enraged over a report that a Christian man had blasphemed Islam, supposedly making derogatory remarks about the prophet Muhammad. A mob of about 3,000 Muslims torched the homes and two churches, ICC said, and the Christians are terrified of returning to the area.
Pakistan is a Muslim-majority nation where Christians are often accused of blasphemy. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, composed of 56 Muslim nations, is pushing hard for universal blasphemy laws that would apply even in the United States. Its goal is to make it a global crime to speak ill of Islam or the prophet Muhammad. “In practice,” wrote ICC, “blasphemy laws provide cover for personal vendettas against religious minorities.” The penalty can be life in prison or death.
Raymond Ibrahim—an expert on Islam, the Middle East, and Christian persecution—has deplored the egregious use of such laws to persecute non-Muslims. Furthermore, he said, Muslims receive a free pass no matter what they do. In an article titled “Why Christian Persecution Is Islam’s Achilles’ Heel” on his website, raymondibrahim.com, he explained why rationalizing Muslim violence does not work and also why Muslims hate Israel:
They may be screaming and rioting, firing rockets and destroying property—all the while calling for the death and destruction of the “infidel” West and/or Israel to cries of “Allahu Akbar!” Still, no problem. According to…pundits, apologists, academics, and politicians, such bloodlust is a natural byproduct of the frustration Muslims feel as an oppressed minority, “rightfully” angry with the “colonial” West and its Israeli proxy….But if Muslims get a free pass when their violence is directed against those currently stronger than them, how does one rationalize away their violence when it is directed against those weaker than them, those who have no political influence whatsoever? Consider the most obvious of these scenarios, the growing epidemic of Muslim persecution of Christians. From one end of the Islamic world to the other…wherever Muslims are a majority…Christians suffer untold atrocities.
The rationalizations used to minimize Muslim violence against the West and Israel simply cannot work here—for now Muslims are the majority, and they are the ones violent and oppressive to their minorities, often in ways that would make the worst Israeli treatment of Muslims look kind and benevolent.
In short, Christian persecution is one of, if not the clearest reflections of Islamic supremacism. Vastly outnumbered and politically marginalized Christians simply wish to worship in peace, and yet still are they hounded and attacked, their churches burned and destroyed, their women and children enslaved and raped (see monthly “Muslim Persecution of Christians” reports for an example)….Such is the true nature of Muslim rage throughout the world: it is a byproduct of doctrinal intolerance if not downright hatred….Accordingly, while Christian persecution is the clearest example of this hate, it also explains why others are so despised, for example, Israel.
Consider: Christians and Jews are both constantly castigated in the Quran: Muslims are admonished not to befriend either of them (5:51) and to fight and subjugate them….Christians under Islam are suffering accordingly—as despised dhimmis, abused and “brought low,” routinely plundered of their lives, dignity, and possessions.
On the other hand, Israel—the dhimmi that got away—actually has authority and power over Muslims. Now, if dhimmis are supposed to be kept in total submission to Muslims, how then when one of them actually lords over Muslims?
Hence Islam’s immense and existential rage against the Jewish state.