UMMA=THE MUSLIM NATION=UMMI=MOMMY

By Phyllis Chesler

Last week, in a letter, 138 Muslim clerics sought to find “common ground” but only with Christians. In my view, they did so because Christians are the only religious group that outnumbers the Muslims demographically, by about six to seven hundred million.

In a sense, from a psycho-analytic point of view, this is an example of “literal” or “concrete” thinking. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon are symbols of American might. Hence, destroying these structures is “literally” the same as destroying American infidel power.

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By Phyllis Chesler

PART ONE

Towards the end of Ramadan, (October 11th, 2007), a group of 138 Muslim clerics released a letter which called for peace between Muslims and Christians. Jews (my people), Hindus, Buddhists, other non-Christian denominations, secularists, and atheists were not included in this theologically-based appeal.

Already, I’m worrying. Why are they only talking to Christians? Although Jews represent less than 1% (.003%) of the world’s population, (there are perhaps 14 million of us), why not talk to Jews — since Jewish scripture is cited in the letter; and because we are also viewed as so very powerful?

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

A prominent Palestinian Christian activist was found dead on a Gaza City street Sunday, sending a shudder of fear through a tiny Christian community feeling increasingly insecure since the Islamic Hamas seized control last summer. …

- Associated Press

Didn’t we hear the same thing two weeks ago?

An attack on an 80-year-old Christian woman in Gaza City has triggered renewed fears among the Gaza Strip’s 2,500-strong Christian community.

Claire Farah Tarazi was the latest victim of anti-Christian attacks that have increased in the Gaza Strip since Hamas took full control of the area in June. …

Can there be any doubt that Hamas, a fanatical, terrorist Muslim group, will do whatever it takes to scare the Christian “infidels” out of Gaza? Beating up old women?

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by Phyllis Chesler

Let me state what is painfully obvious. Despite our most hopeful illusions, people are not really “good” nor do they really practice “peace”. While power corrupts, absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely and there is no safe place, neither high nor low, for the most vulnerable of our citizens.

The world is always at war. People fight, it’s what we do. We quarrel, often in deadly ways with other family members and we fight bitter, brutal battles with anyone who is “different” in terms of gender, class, race, ethnicity, tribe, religion, and ideology. The planet is perpetually plagued by civil and national wars. Not to be outdone, persecuted peoples internalize the prejudice and hatred leveled against them and unleash it against others like themselves.

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A personal vignette

By Cainnech Ó Sullibhain

It was just a week before Christmas 1974, and I had taken my son Pierre with me to the Beaver Lumber Store at Applewood Plaza, to buy a few last minute items for our home.

It might have been a very ordinary day, but events would take place that would make it highly unusual.

I had just come out of the Beaver Lumber Store when a man dressed in a rumpled suit and a fedora on his head accosted me. He said, “Sir, would you mind giving me $20.00 for my Rolex wristwatch, because I haven’t eaten for three days?” I then asked him where he was from. He replied that he was a Hungarian émigré who had been living in Switzerland, and had managed to get into Canada. I told him that I did not have $20.00 on my person, but I would accompany him to the small restaurant near the Steinberg Supermarket and buy him a meal. He agreed, and off we went in tow. I asked the waitress to bring a menu and told him to order whatever he wanted. He did not ask for much. I then emptied my wallet and my change pouch and gave the man whatever I had. He then took off his Rolex wristwatch and offered it to me. I refused it, because I already had a watch, which was in perfectly good working order and did not need another watch. I was not interested in taking away from another human being something that I did not want nor need.

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By Adel Guindy

The following article discusses the impact of the Egyptian Family Status Law of 1955 (which is still in effect) on the country’s Coptic population. It provides a concise overview of these laws, especially in light of the dearth of resources in English on the topic. While the Family Status Law is considered part of the "civil" code of law, it still has religious elements, referring to the Shari’a as a basis for Muslims, and to the corresponding religious principles or regulations for each of the non-Muslim communities. However, due to the general constitutional stipulation "Islam is the religion of State and principles of Shari’a are the main source of legislation," courts quite often ignore the law and rule based on Shari’a. Thus the situation is a reflection of the difficulties of being a non-Muslim minority in an "Islamic" country and society.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

So “Muslims are an oppressed minority in this country?” One wouldn’t have made this conclusion if attending my hometown’s annual Maronite Christian Lebanese festival, held last weekend here in downtown Middle America. Amongst the throngs of Polish-, German-, Lithuanian-, Franco-, Scottish-, Irish-, Anglo-, African-, Jewish-, Latino-, etc.-Americans were Muslims, too. Several women were sporting their hijab (head scarves). If so oppressed, would Muslims have been there having a good time with the rest of us? Conversely, if these women were radical Islamists, would they have been at a Christian-sponsored festival involving belly-dancing, beer-kegs, and plenty of male/female fraternization? Everybody needs to chill out a little bit.

Festival organizers had a display on Lebanese history, including Phoenician and Maronite factoids. There was no shilling for the Palestinians; no railing against Israel; no anti-Muslim sentiments. It all was in good taste, despite how badly Lebanese Christians have been treated in their homeland by other Arabs and Muslims.

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By Phyllis Chesler

In her three part series, Amanpour is far more combative and confrontational with both Jewish and Christian religious leaders than she is with Muslim leaders. She is warmer, softer, more “at home,” with even the most extreme of Islamist leaders, perhaps even more respectful, than she is with their allegedly Jewish or Christian counterparts.

Amanpour completely fails to make the distinction between Islamists who teach hatred of infidels and women and who blow infidel and Muslim civilians up (as well as honor-murder their own women); Israelis who are under perpetual terrorist siege and who are trying to defend themselves against Islamist attacks; and conservative Christians who are trying to mobilize votes, change laws, or win hearts and minds with words, not bombs (although she certainly has lots of footage of the bloody bombings at abortion clinics–bombings I personally abhor and mourn–as do many Christians).

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By Phyllis Chesler

Dhabah Almontaser, the nearly anointed principal of Brooklyn’s madrassa and CNN’s fully anointed Christiane Amanpour both agree that in Arabic, “Intifada” means a “shaking off.” Amanpour gave an example of how to use the word by saying that “Palestinian (terrorists) were (merely) shaking off the Israeli Occupation;” Almontaser, when challenged about the infamous tee-shirts bearing the words “Intifada NYC,” said that they referred to young Muslim girls “shaking off oppression.”

In November of 2005, Fox’s O’Reilly showed live footage of the French Intifada as it raged in Paris. According to WorldNetDaily, Saudi billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, (aka Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin AbdulAziz AlSaud), who owns 5-6% of the Fox News Channel, personally called Rupert Murdoch and asked him to change the offensive (but accurate) caption: “Muslim Riots” to the less offensive (and less accurate) “Civil Riots.” Within thirty minutes, the Prince had his way.

To paraphrase New York Post columnist Cindy Adams: Only in America kids, only in America.

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by Daniel Pipes*

Saudi Arabian Airlines declares on its English-language website that the kingdom bans “Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols such as the Star of David.” Until the Saudi government changes this detestable policy, its airline should be disallowed from flying into Western airports.

Michael Freund brought this regulation to international attention in a recent Jerusalem Post article, “Saudis might take Bibles from tourists,” in which he points out that a section on the Saudia Web site, “Customs Regulations,” lists the forbidden articles above under the rubric “Items and articles belonging to religions other than Islam.”

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Muslim and Christian leaders in Oslo scrapped a soccer match meant to foster understanding between religions Saturday after the imams refused to play a team that included women priests.

The imams said physical contact with women would be inappropriate, NRK public television said, and the Norwegian Christians refused a proposal of a male-only clash. …

- Reuters

Wasn’t the premise to “foster understanding between religions?” Good for the Norwegian Christians. They didn’t give in to jihadi/Sharia blackmail. If Muslims are to enjoy the privilege of living in Western nations, then they can agree to live within the framework of democracy.

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by Bill Levinson

• Christians believe that God took human form, and then died for them.
• Hindus believe that Vishnu took human form, and then died for them.
• Mohammed created a religion to get his followers to kill and die for him.

Res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself, but some elaboration will be helpful. We will say up front that this article’s purpose is not to demean the followers of “Islam Release 2.0,” which focuses on the idea of a peaceful community (umma) that calls on its members to help one another. Arabs and Afhgans who believe that one must aid a traveler who comes to one’s home or tent are followers of Islam 2.0. The problem is that too much of the so-called Islamic world still follows “Islam Release 1.0,” which commands its followers to hate and subjugate all outsiders (the so-called Dar-el-Harb, “house of war”), and kill them if they won’t submit. Islamic fundamentalists who are trying to institute Sharia law in those countries, and indeed in Europe and North America, are prime examples of the problem we are going to discuss.

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by Steven Shamrak

Not long ago, a non-Jewish friend of mine asked me to view the movie “Passion of Christ” and send him my comments, from a Jewish prospective. While I was watching the movie, I was amazed by enormous disrespect toward not only Jewish traditions, but for the writings of the Christian Bible as well. Mel Gibson’s “director’s creativity” had brought to my mind words like falsification, forgery, distortion and contempt.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

From 1944 to the early 1970s, Lebanon peaceably prospered thanks mainly to Maronite Christians, and Beirut was fondly known as the “Paris of the Middle East.” Yasser Arafat put an end to Lebanon’s peace in 1971. Now the country is under the influence of Arafat’s legacy: Hezbollah and their Syrian and Iranian allies. Lebanon’s Maronites may end up being a footnote in history books:

Christians are fleeing from Lebanon to escape the rise of radical Islam and growing fears that the trend will result in a Sunni-Shi’ite civil war, with minority Christians trapped in the middle.

In a poll to be published next month, nearly half of all Maronites, the largest Christian denomination in the country, said they were considering emigrating. … [Continues below…]

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by Bill Levinson

These YouTube videos are very informative. They show what is happening to Christians in places like Indonesia, Pakistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, China, and Egypt. Note that all of these countries are members in good standing at the United Nations, whose Human Rights Council never seems to object to what you will see in these videos.

• Persecution Now bulletin 5: Christians threatened with execution.
• My Christian Blood: Militant “Muslims” persecute Coptic Christians in Egypt
• Faces of Persecution: Voice of the Martyrs Film, showing what is happening to Christians around the world.
• Holy Land - Christians In Peril: “First saturday, then sunday” (first we kill the Jews, then we take care of the Christians)

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