THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 223, September 11, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WHY FOCUS ON PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS BY
MUSLIM MAJORITIES IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD?
By Raymond Ibrahim
TYRANNY OF THE ISLAMIC MAJORITY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD: MUSLIM PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIAN MINORITIES
RESIDING IN THE ISLAMIC STATES OF NORTH AFRICA, CENTRAL & SOUTH ASIA, & NEAR EAST ASIA -- A SERIES OF
ARTICLES DOCUMENTING THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS UNDER ISLAM -- THE RATIONALE FOR SUCH A STUDY
FULL STORY:
Some are asking why my new monthly series, "Muslim Persecution of Christians," wherein I collate and assess some of
the atrocities committed by Muslims against Christians, does not include the persecution of other religious minority
groups; others are suggesting I broaden my scope to include all minorities, for instance, homosexuals.
Of course, other minority groups — essentially any religion other than Islam (or even the wrong kind of Islam, e.g.,
Shi'ism, Sufism) — experience persecution in the Muslim world. Accordingly, others qualified in the particulars of the
various religions and civilizations persecuted by Islam are encouraged to collate and comment on them, monthly or
otherwise.
That said, a series documenting the persecution of Christians under Islam is necessary for several reasons:
First, most religious persecution in the Muslim world is, by far, directed against Christians. Several reasons account for
this, for starters, sheer numbers: from Morocco in the west, to Pakistan in the east, and throughout most of Africa,
wherever Muslims make a majority, there are more Christians than other religious minorities; this tends to be true even
along Islam's periphery, like Indonesia, which also has a significant Buddhist and Hindu presence.
These large numbers are not simply a reflection of proselytization, but the fact that much of what is today called "the
Muslim world" stands atop land that was seized by force and conquest from Christians, whose descendants still remain,
sometimes in large numbers, such as Egypt, where the indigenous Copts make millions (unlike the Jews, who managed
to make it back to their ancestral homeland, these Christians are already on their homeland and have nowhere to go).
Moreover, by collating and tracing the same patterns of abuse regarding all things intrinsically Christian — people,
churches, crosses, Bibles — one can better highlight and articulate the issue as a distinct phenomenon, which it is.
It is true that Muslim aggression and violence knows no bound and is regularly directed against all non-Muslims in
general. But it is equally true that the wider the scope, the more the net catches, the more generic the anecdotes become,
the more they are liable to be dismissed by the mainstream as a product of non-ideological factors (from poverty to
politics) — even though that is not the case.
On the other hand, by focusing on one group, one phenomenon, one can more clearly and unequivocally connect the
dots, present a more focused case.
For example, while Muslim animus for Israel is interconnected to Muslim animus for Christians and others, it should be,
and is, highlighted as a distinct phenomenon to be acknowledged and rectified. Were one to lump Israel with the rest of
the "others" on Islam's hit list — Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Sufis, homosexuals, et al — without giving it any
special attention, focus would be lost on the particulars of its fight, its history, and all the other aspects that make its
conflict singular.
Accordingly, even though connecting the various manifestations of Muslim aggression is useful, particularly as it
provides the big picture, when certain arenas reach a fever pitch, there is no wrong that they be highlighted separately,
say, through one monthly report.
There are, of course, practical issues to consider as well: a document collating all Muslim aggression and persecution
would not only be too cumbersome and long to read, but redundant; better simply to visit Jihad Watch for a
comprehensive survey of Islam's daily doings.
Finally, one needs to be knowledgeable of the history and civilizations of the peoples being persecuted in order to do
them justice, to demonstrate historical continuity, show past precedents, connect the dots, etc. And, while I'm intimately
acquainted with the particulars of Muslim-Christian interactions — historically, theologically, even personally — I'm
less so with the particulars of, say, Muslim-Buddhist interactions.
I, therefore, leave it to others to highlight the various minority groups' plights — ideally not merely by listing the various
anecdotes, but by demonstrating continuity for that particular group's history with Islam.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Raymond Ibrahim, a historian of Islam, Islamism and the Middle East, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom
Center, an Associate Director of the Middle East Forum, a guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College, and
the editor of The Al-Qa'ida Reader, a collection of tranlations of key texts and documents of the Islamist movement.
Ibrahim's translations of the religious texts and political propaganda comprising this collection help readers comprehend
the origins, development, history, and serious danger of the Islamist war doctrines of Usama bin Laden and Ayman
al-Zawahiri, the Founders of Al-Qa'ida.
The foregoing article by Raymond Ibrahim was originally published in Jihad Watch, September 9, 2011, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(URL: http://www.meforum.org/3036/why-christian-persecution)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
September 11, 2011
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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