They Cry in Silence Nov/Dec 2013
U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) probably should have read Proverbs 17:28 before telling the world via Fox News in September that Muslims who shout “Allahu Akbar!” are no different from Christians who say, “Thank God.” Yes, he actually said that.
According to Proverbs 17:28, “Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace.” In the current vernacular, that means, “If you don’t know what you’re talking about, keep your mouth shut; and you might not look so ridiculous.” Or, as some have more eloquently paraphrased it, “It’s better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
We have run this column in every issue of Israel My Glory since July/August 2002; and in all that time, hardly a month has gone by where our research has failed to turn up vicious persecution of Christians accompanied by shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” meaning “Allah is greater.”
There are videos of jihadist Muslims attacking churches in Muslim-run countries, shouting “Allahu Akbar.” There is a video of radical Muslims raping two Christian women in April on a crowded street in Egypt in broad daylight, shouting “Allahu Akbar.” Raymond Ibrahim, with the David Horowitz Freedom Center, elaborated on raymondibrahim.com:
Muslim men…savagely attack them, strip their clothing, and try to gang rape them. Throughout, the women scream in terror while the men shout “Allahu Akbar,”…as well as chant the shehada, or Islamic profession of faith: la ilaha illa Allah (“There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah”). None of the many passersby intervene in any way.
Ibrahim then asked the poignant question, “What are we to make of Muslims screaming Islam’s two most distinct slogans…while raping Christian women?”
There is incident after incident of radical Muslims burning down Christian homes and businesses; attacking Christians on streets; and raping, murdering, and torturing Christians—all to shouts of “Allahu Akbar.”
Perhaps one of the worst occurred on April 18, 2007, when five young Muslim radicals stormed a Christian publishing office in southeastern Turkey, took the three Christians there hostage, bound them to chairs, methodically dismembered them alive, cut their throats, and then attempted to flee. It was an “Allahu Akbar” moment.
According to author Andrew G. Bostom in his article in pjmedia.com, “Educating John McCain on the Meaning of ‘Allahu-Akbar,’” the phrase “has been employed by Muslims as a jihadist war cry dating from its declaration by Islam’s prophet Muhammad.”
Writer Andrew C. McCarthy in nationalreview. com called McCain’s viewpoint “willful blindness” and “suicidally delusional.”
Wrote Islam expert Robert Spencer in jihadwatch.org:
The significance of this [phrase] is enormous, as it is essentially a proclamation of superiority and supremacism. Allah is greater—than any of the gods of the infidels, and Islam is superior to all other religions. Al-Islam.org states this obliquely: “Allahu akbar implies that God [Allah] is superior to all tangible and intangible, temporal and celestial beings.” This may seem to be an innocuous theological statement until one recalls that Islam has always had a political aspect, and Islamic jihadists always shout “Allahu akbar” when attacking infidels. It is a declaration of the superiority of their god and their way of life over those of their victims. 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta also stated that it was meant to make the infidels afraid. He wrote instructions to jihadists that were found in his baggage: “Shout, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers.”
When was the last time you heard about Christians doing such things, much less shouting “Thank God” afterward?
In retrospect, it may be good that McCain said what he did. At least we know where he stands: in a place of dangerous ignorance.
