Europe: What Happens to Christians There Will Come Here
"I fear we are approaching a situation resembling the tragic fate of Christianity in Northern Africa in Islam's early days", a Lutheran bishop, Jobst Schoene, warned a few years ago.
In ancient times, Algeria and Tunisia, entirely Christian, gave us great thinkers such as Tertullian and Augustine. Two centuries later, Christianity has disappeared, replaced by Arab-Islamic civilization. Is Europe now meeting the same fate? In the Middle East, "Christianity is over in Iraq" due to Islamic extremism; in Europe, Christianity is committing suicide. Within 20 years, more babies will be born to Muslim women than to Christian women world-wide; it is just the latest sign of the rapid growth that seems to be making Islam the world's largest religion by the end of the century, according to a new study released by the Pew Research Center. "Christianity is literally dying in Europe," said Conrad Hackett, the head of the researchers who worked on the Pew report. According to it, between 2010 and 2015, the Muslim population increased by more than 150 million people to 1.8 billion. In Europe, how many Christians have been "lost"? Between 2010 and 2015, "deaths outnumbered births by nearly 6 million during this brief period". At this pace, Christianity will vanish in Europe. In the same time frame, in most European countries -- including Britain, Germany, Italy and Russia -- Christian deaths outnumbered Christian births. "In Germany alone, for example, there were an estimated 1.4 million more Christian deaths than births between 2010 and 2015, a pattern that is expected to continue across much of Europe in the decades ahead", Pew discovered. There are clear patterns of demographic trends, church attendance, closures of parishes and the declining number of priests. These patterns are why Islamic leaders, such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have been waging a demographic war against Europe. "Have not just three but five children", Erdogan said to Muslims in the old continent. "You are the future of Europe". This plan is called, in Islam, hijrah: expanding Islam by migration, based on Mohammad's flight from Mecca to Medina in 622. Christianity in Northern Europe has already been weakened by atheism, a trend possibly accelerated by modern gains in science and medicine. The American sociologist Phil Zuckerman, after spending more than a year in Scandinavia, published a book, Society Without God. Recently, after a nationwide advertising campaign by the Atheist Society thousands of people left the Church of Denmark. Norway's state church lost more than 25,000 members in a month. Last year, more than 90,000 people chose to drop out of the Church of Sweden -- almost twice as many as the year before. Meanwhile, in one year, 163,000 migrants, most of them Muslim, entered the country. Christianity is also collapsing in the UK. Across Greater Manchester, 20 churches will soon close. According to some reports, Anglicanism will disappear from Britain by 2033. The Catholic Church's Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh is planning to cut the number of parishes from more than 100 to 30. The Archdiocese of Glasgow, by far the country's largest, will soon -- within two decades -- have only 45 priests and probably shut down half its parishes. Imagine, a huge Catholic community will close half its churches.
Catholics in the Netherlands are also embracing a "future without churches". Cardinal Willem Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, announced that by 2025 about a thousand Catholic parishes would close. "We predict that a third of Catholic churches will be closed by 2020 and two-thirds by 2025", he said. Most churches in Brussels will be also closed-- 108 of them. Vienna Archdiocese in Austria will also liquidate most of its parishes -- 660 of them -- in the next 10 years. Instead, the Archdiocese will merge them into 150 larger parishes. One finds similar numbers everywhere in Europe, from Catholic Spain to the Protestant United Kingdom. Father Benedict Kiely, a Catholic priest who founded nasarean.org, which helps persecuted Christians in the Middle East, recently met some Christians persecuted by ISIS in Iraq. As he left the country, another elderly priest, himself a refugee, gripped Kiely's hand and told him in Arabic: "Be careful, be very careful. What has happened here will come to you". As the attacks against two Coptic Christian churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday reminds us, the war of extermination being waged against Christians in the Middle East is very real indeed. Canadian philosopher Mathieu Bock-Côté writes in Le Figaro: "The Western world has long gotten used to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, as if their bad lot is inevitable and has to simply be accepted. Shouldn't the issue of Middle Eastern Christians wake up European civilization to its core identity? Shouldn't we in Europe and the West be telling ourselves that these attacks are also aimed at us?"Europe has, for some time, been experiencing this war against Christianity on its own soil: the terror attack at a French church in Normandy, in which Islamic extremists murdered a priest before the altar; the terror plot against the Cathedral of Notre Dame; the threat by ISIS to turn Saint Peter's Cathedral into a mosque; the deadly terror attack at a Christmas market in Berlin, to name just a few of them. "The mother tongue of Europe is Christianity", said the great German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -- not a Pope. Maybe that language will again be strong in the future. Maybe priests will keep Christianity alive in London, Brussels and Paris. Maybe. But that is not what happened in North Africa. By now, Goethe's "mother tongue" has, in Europe, been reduced to a barely-discernible whisper. Instead, one can hear, instead, the "Islamic tongue" getting stronger every year. Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
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Showing posts with label Glasgow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glasgow. Show all posts
Monday, May 1, 2017
It Appears As If Christianity Will Disappear In Europe As It Did In Northern Africa
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Inter-Islam Conflicts. Islam Is Far From Homogeneous.
Are Ahmadis Muslims? Let us ask Prophet Muhammad
An Ahmadi Muslim shopkeeper, Mr. Asad Shah, was recently stabbed to death in Glasgow, UK. Mr. Tanveer Ahmad, a Sunni Muslim of Pakistani origin, claimed he committed the act because Asad had “disrespected Islam.” In his eyes, Asad was a blasphemer. The Sunni extremist group, Almi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatme Nubuwat (AMTKN), found to have links with Al Qaeda, sent out a message congratulating all Muslims on Asad’s murder. Just a few days later, ‘Kill Ahmadis’ pamphlets were found at the group’s Mosque in Stockwell. Other Sunni groups in Pakistan also praised Mr. Tanveer as a hero of Islam and congratulated the Sunnis on his “courageous act.”
Following the murder, the Muslim Council of Britain released a statement clarifying that they would not identify Mr. Asad Shah as a Muslim. King’s College academic Mr. Shiraz Maher also voiced the same sentiment, asking if there was a problem if he did not consider Mr. Asad Shah a ‘real Muslim?’ Also following the murder, a sign calling on fellow Sunnis to boycott the Ahmadi Muslims and sever all ties with them was put up at the largest Sunni Mosque in Slough, UK. “Qadianis (pejorative for Ahmadi Muslims) ... are not Muslims,” the sign said.
Where Mr. Asad Shah’s murder has brought different communities together in solidarity, it has also brought a deep-rooted, disturbing, sectarian phenomenon to the fore.
Ahmadi Muslims, who constitute the largest organized Muslim community in the world, have long been persecuted in Sunni-majority countries. In 1974, Pakistan declared the Ahmadis a non-Muslim minority in its constitution. In 1984, new laws restricting their religious freedom were passed. Since then, scores of Ahmadi Muslims - including three of my uncles - have been jailed for reciting the Quran, praying like a Muslim, saying the Muslim call to prayer, identifying as a Muslim etc. Interestingly, when Mr. Toaha Qureshi of the notorious Stockwell Mosque was questioned regarding this well-known apartheid of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan, he conveniently placed the blame on the victims themselves. “No they do not (live in fear). That is their desire, to come here and get political asylum. Nothing else,” he claimed.
It is not only the Pakistani State. Saudi Arabia also bans the Ahmadi Muslims from open profession. Indonesia has strict laws that restrict the religious freedom of the Ahmadi Muslims. The basis of this oppression is the orthodox Sunni view (shared by some Shia clerics) that aspects of the Ahmadiyya belief make them unfit to identify as Muslim. This certainly begs the question, who is a Muslim? And who has the authority to dismiss self-identifying Muslims as ‘infidels?’
When people converted to Islam, Prophet Muhammad - the founder of the Islamic faith - only required them to pledge allegiance to the oneness of God and the truth of his prophetic mission. There was no other requirement whatsoever. This is why Muslims have long believed that the Kalima (proclaiming oneness of God and prophethood of Muhammad) is the basis of the Islamic faith. The question of who would be counted as a Muslim came up during the first census in the State of Medina. Prophet Muhammad asked that anyone who claimed to be Muslim be counted as one. Their profession of Islam was all he required to be considered a part of the Muslim community. There was no religious test devised to test a claimant’s ‘Muslimness.’ Prophet Muhammad knew well that there were hypocrites living in Medina, some of whom were even conspiring against him. Prophet Muhammad knew that they did not even consider him a true prophet. Yet, not only did he never forbid them from identifying with the Muslims, he allowed them open access to his Mosque. Rather than forbid them from praying and punishing them for ‘posing as Muslim,’ he in fact prayed with them, and for them.
There are other traditions that shed more light on this issue. Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said:
“Whoever says, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah’, faces our Qibla (Mecca) during the prayers, prays like us and eats our slaughtered animal, then he is a Muslim, and has got the same rights and obligations as other Muslims have.” (Bukhari)
In another detailed narration, Prophet Muhammad defined both Islam and the tenets of faith:
“One day while Allah’s Apostle was sitting with the people, a man came to him walking and said, “O Allah’s Apostle. What is Belief?” The Prophet said, “Belief is to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Apostles, and the meeting with Him, and to believe in the Resurrection.” The man asked, “O Allah’s Apostle What is Islam?” The Prophet replied, “Islam is to worship Allah and not worship anything besides Him, to offer prayers perfectly, to pay the obligatory alms i.e. Zakat and to fast the month of Ramadan.” (Bukhari)
The well-known five pillars of Islam, and the six articles of faith, are based on this and other similar traditions. Ahmadi Muslims believe in all these tenets of Islam.
These sayings of Prophet Muhammad spell out how he defined a Muslim. He did not denounce self-identifying Muslims as non-Muslim. Such rejection and exclusion was the hallmark of his opponents. He repeatedly cautioned that judging someone’s truth or sincerity to their claim of Islam was a prerogative of God alone. Once, the famous general Khalid bin Waleed suggested to the Prophet that there were many people who outwardly professed Islam while there was no faith in their heart. Prophet Muhammad responded firmly:
“I have not been commanded to pierce through the hearts of people, nor to split their bellies (to look what is inside them)” (Muslim)
There is another famous incident of a Muslim killing a non-Muslim during a battle, despite the man having recited the Kalima. When Prophet Muhammad found out, he was furious. The Muslim soldier said: “O Messenger of Allah, that man read the Kalima merely to protect himself from our sword.” Prophet Muhammad reprimanded him:
“Did you open his heart and look inside it?”
Even the founder of the Islamic faith was not granted the authority to judge someone’s ‘Muslimness.’ God commanded in the Quran:
The Arabs of the desert say, ‘We believe.’ Say, “You have not believed yet; but rather say, ‘We have accepted Islam,’ for the true belief has not yet entered into your hearts.” (49:14)
This verse speaks of those Bedouins whom God Himself attests were completely faithless, yet were allowed to identify as Muslim. This prohibition of excommunication or Takfir is emphasized in the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, who equated such exclusion to murder.
How then did this culture of social boycotts and excommunication (Takfir) spread in the Muslim world? Why do many Muslim groups promote exclusion and prejudice? Why do even so-called moderate clerics like Shaykh Hamza Yusuf or Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri judge the faith of other Muslim communities in such a nonchalant way? Do these clerics believe they are a higher authority than Prophet Muhammad?
There are two ways groups like the Muslim Council of Britain or extremist Sunni groups in Pakistan try to dismiss other Muslims as infidel. The first is by discarding Prophet Muhammad’s definitions and inventing others of their own. The second is by misrepresenting the beliefs of other Muslims and forcing them out of the Prophet’s definition.
I call on all such Muslim clerics, bodies and States to realize how their sectarianism is directly linked to violence against the Ahmadi (and other) Muslims. That Asad Shah’s tragic murder would lead to more sectarian calls of exclusion is an unfortunate and painful realization. I call on such Muslim bodies to see the beauty in diversity and appreciate the value in embracing pluralism and inclusivity within Islam. I call on them to the ways of Prophet Muhammad. When it came to him, it was quite clear who must be counted with the Muslims: Anyone who claimed to be one. And who actually was a true Muslim from within? He let God be the judge of that!
Sunday, March 27, 2016
More Love From Muslims
Devout Muslim Murdered in Glasgow After "Happy Easter" Messages
“Therefore the prudent doth keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.” Amos 5:13 (The Israel Bible™)
image: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/asad-shah.jpg
Asad Shah was murdered by a Muslim outside his shop in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo: Asad Shah Facebook page)
In an apparent “religiously prejudiced” attack, a Muslim shopkeeper was murdered in Scotland on Friday after posting a message of solidarity with his Christian patrons.
The victim, Asad Shah, 40, on Thursday morning posted Easter wishes on his Facebook page, writing, “Good Friday and very happy Easter, especially to my beloved Christian nation x!”
Later that evening, Shah was found severely injured lying on the ground near his shop with at least 30 stab wounds. A family friend, Mohammad Faisal, told the British Daily that a bearded Muslim wearing a long robe had entered the shop and spoken to Shah in his native language before stabbing him in the head with a kitchen knife.
After hearing the initial shouts, Shah’s brother, who worked next door, ran in and found the attacker laughing while sitting on Shah’s bleeding chest. The brother attempted to drag Shah’s body away from the killer, but the assailant continued stabbing the shopkeeper until Shah eventually collapsed. Faisal also told the Daily that he witnessed the attacker stamping on Shah’s head throughout the vicious affair.
Despite the best efforts by local medical services to resuscitate the shopkeeper, Shah succumbed to his wounds en-route to the hospital.
Authorities arrested a 32-year-old man on Friday on suspicion of carrying out the brutal attack.
Police forces believe the suspect, also a Muslim, drove well over 200 miles in order to murder Shah for his peaceful message. He is currently in police custody pending an investigation.
Shah, originally from Pakistan, had a positive reputation in the community. Patrons of the store, Shah’s Health and Fitness, memorialized the shopkeeper as someone who embodied kindness while residents of the neighborhood described him as a “real gentleman,” BBC Scotland reported.
Since his murder, two separate vigils have been held for Shah, both of which were set up outside his shop and attended by hundreds.
Said one vigil attendee: “Everybody has said [Shah] was the nicest man. He was clearly much-loved.” Another woman said, “He was an amazing, wonderful man, he couldn’t do enough for you.”
The nationality of the perpetrator, as well as the brutality of the attack, lends evidence to the ongoing blatant Muslim intolerance against others who practice peaceful coexistence. Indeed, Faisal indicated as such saying the attacker “must have been an extremist” who was dissatisfied with what Shah was preaching.
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/64448/muslim-murdered-glasgow-posting-happy-easter-terror-watch/#XxhfSOk0DOV04WcU.99
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