Europe and much-vaunted bastions of multiculturalism becoming No God Zones

Cristina Odone for the Daily Telegraph looking at the situation in Europe about religious groups remarks that Jews are not alone envisioned to be mocked at. or endangered for life In some parts of the world, wearing the label "Christian" also carries a death sentence.

Whether executed for the crime of apostasy in Pakistan, or attacked as "kefirs" (infidels) in Mosul, in northern Iraq, Christians are forced to die for their faith in parts of the Middle East.

We do not have to think Muslims are safe and that they are the ones threatening others. Muslims are not spared the persecution the other Abrahamic religions suffer: in western China and episodically in India, public allegiance to Islam is punishable by death.

In ever-greater swathes of the world, being a believer means embracing martyrdom. "Civilised" countries have failed to defend the persecuted – and in fact have created an atmosphere where the person of faith finds themselves pushed into an intolerable place. The extremists want their blind allegiance or will claim their lives; while the secularists suspect their collusion with hot-head co-religionists. 

Soon Europe, even London, the much-vaunted bastion of multiculturalism, will become No God Zones, banning any public display of religiosity. ‘For your own good’, the authorities will tell their pious citizens, "you must carry out your ancient rituals in secret. We cannot vouch for your safety otherwise." Believers will have to hide their precious religious symbols, and conceal their rites. Like the early Christians in the catacombs, they will lead lives in the shadow. 

Read more > Europe is becoming a no God zone

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Condemning QSIS or the self-claimed Islamic state ruler, al- Baghdadi their extremist ideologies and to clarify the true teachings of Islam

Dar al-Iftaa signs an open letter addressed to QSIS to condemn their extremist ideologies and clarify the true teachings of Islam

More than 120 Muslim scholars across the globe have signed an open letter which was sent to the leader of QSIS or the self-claimed Islamic state ruler, al- Baghdadi, in their attempt to clarify the true Islamic stance on issues such as the Islamic caliphate, jihad, and treating non-Muslims among other vital issues.

This open letter comes after the horrific atrocities that were committed by QSIS which in no way shape or form could be remotely related to Islam. The Islamic scholars felt the responsibility to cite their vehement rejection and utter condemnation to the theological fallacies and warped ideologies that these terrorist groups embrace.
 

Dr. Shawki Allam, the current Grand Mufti of Egypt was one of the signatories of this open letter to state his adamant refusal of placing any association of Islam with their abhorrent acts of extremism which is prohibited under all religions.

This move was necessary especially due to the unfortunate fact that a number of European Muslims are joining these extremist groups and are lured by the myth of establishing an Islamic caliphate as they are wrongly embracing the notion that establishing a caliphate is the only legally valid political system in the eyes of the Islamic law. Also Muslims across the globe are dismayed with the atrocities that are committed both against Muslims and non-Muslims which totally go against the merciful teachings of Islam.

The "black flag of jihad" as used by various Islamic terrorist organizations (since the late 1990s) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“These terrorist groups failed to recognize that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was not sent except to be a mercy to all the worlds and they failed to understand that God bestows mercy on those who are merciful and thus we should have mercy on those on earth, for the Lord in heaven to have mercy on us” said Dr. Ibrahim Negm, the Senior advisor to the Grand Mufti.

QSIS among other terrorist groups lost all meanings of compassion, mercy and affection towards humanity as they use the pathetic classical approach of hiding behind the motto of religion to attain their pity political goals of usurping lands, gaining political power and ruling people through torture, killing and persecution.

To read the open letter, please click here http://lettertobaghdadi.com/

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Please do find as well:

• Not true or True Catholicism and True Islam
• Public not informed enough about Jihad terrorism in Belgium
• Quran versus older Holy Writings of Divine Creator

Related articles

• Islamic Authority: Extremists No 'Islamic State'
• Islamic authority: Extremists no 'Islamic State'
• Islamic State? No, call it QSIS, says top Islamic authority in Egypt

• ISIL, ISIS - Now QSIS? Top Sunni Cleric Says Stop Calling Terrorists 'Islamic' (cnsnews.com)
  “Muslim and non-Muslim thinkers across the world are invited to post their opinions, videos and posts against Qaeda Separatists.”
  The 119-year-old Cairo institution, which issues fatwas or religious rulings on a wide range of topics, said it hoped Muslims and non-Muslims would actively support the campaign, “which does not only seek to exonerate the name of Islam from the terrorist group’s heinous acts but also to condemn these dreadful acts under the name of humanity.”
  Dar al-Iftaa launched the campaign after the appearance last week of an online ISIS video showing a masked militant railing against America before beheading U.S. journalist James Foley.
  Allam’s spokesman, Ibrahim Negm, said the beheading provided “a chance for ill-hearted opportunists to deliberately promote distorted images of Islam and level false and appalling accusations against it.”
  Other atrocities committed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria include mass executions, crucifixions and other killings, with minority Christians and Yazidis targeted in particular, as well as rapes and sexual slavery.
  The group claims to be acting in the name of Islam, has declared an Islamic “caliphate,” invokes the Qur’an in its propaganda messages and videos, and is led by a man who, by naming himself “caliph,” lays claim to the mantle of Mohammed, Islam’s revered 7th century founder.
  
• 'IS no Islamic State' (arabtimesonline.com)
  The Gulf nation of Qatar is hitting back at suggestions that it supports the Islamic State extremist group, saying that “determined, collective action” is needed to end sectarian violence gripping Iraq and Syria. The energy-rich OPEC member has come under renewed scrutiny over ties to militants, including the Palestinian Hamas and Syrian rebel groups. A German official last week suggested that Qatar may also play a role in funding the Islamic State group, which is fighting in Iraq and Syria and recently beheaded American journalist James Foley. Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah unequivocally denied funding the Islamic State group. “Qatar does not support extremist groups, including ISIS, in any way,” he said in an emailed statement dated Saturday, using an alternative name for the group. “We are repelled by their views, their violent methods and their ambitions.
  The vision of extremist groups for the region is one that we have not, nor will ever, support in any way.” Qatar was one of the first Middle Eastern countries to condemn Foley’s murder, saying it was “a heinous crime that goes against all Islamic and humanitarian principles, as well as international laws and conventions.” The tiny Gulf emirate has supported Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.
  The Islamic State group is battling Assad’s forces, but it has also clashed with other rebel groups that don’t embrace its extreme interpretation of Islam. Experts say the group generates at least some of its funding from kidnapping, extortion and other criminal business enterprises. Germany’s Development Minister Gerd Mueller suggested Wednesday that Qatar also could be supporting the group.
  
• Islamic authority in Egypt launches campaign against Islamic State (haaretz.com)
  The campaign by the Dar el-Ifta, the top authority that advises Muslims on spiritual and life issues, adds to the war of words by Muslim leaders across the world targeting the Islamic State group, which controls wide swaths of Iraq and Syria. Its violent attacks, including mass shootings, destroying Shiite shrines, targeting minorities and beheadings including American journalist James Foley, have shocked Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
  
  The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawki Allam, previously said the extremists violate all Islamic principles and laws and described the group as a danger to Islam as a whole. Now, the Dar el-Ifta authority he oversees will suggest foreign media drop using "Islamic State" in favor of the "Al-Qaida Separatists in Iraq and Syria," or the acronym "QSIS," said Ibrahim Negm, an adviser to the mufti.
• Islamic authority: Extremists no 'Islamic State' (cnsnews.com)
  Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi also weighed in. On Sunday, speaking to editors of Egyptian newspapers, he said the extremist group is part of a plot aiming to "undermine Islam as a belief."
  He said the current religious discourse in the region only feeds "minds that believe that killing and bloodshed is the way to defend Islam," in comments carried by MENA.
  El-Sissi has been a champion of advancing moderate Islam, building his power base in the chaotic region and since he ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on vows to crush extremist Islam.
  
• Islamic authority: Extremists no 'Islamic State' (stripes.com)
  The Islamic State group has a sophisticated media and Internet-based campaign that has drawn in foreign fighters, which may explain why Islamic scholars chose to adopt a similar approach. But it's unclear how successful this latest push against the group will be.
  Dar el-Ifta is famed among scholars of Islamic jurisprudence and has offered training to many Muslims from around the world since the late 1800s. But its opinions are advisory and are often viewed as too close to official Egyptian government positions.
  
• Islamic authority: Extremists no 'Islamic State' (nzherald.co.nz)
  Muslims around the world have battled against the backlash that followed the rise of al-Qaida and the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the U.S. Scholars and activist groups have sought for years to disassociate themselves from militants touting their own extremist versions of Islam.
  They say the Islamic State group is another, one that appears more ambitious and aggressive than al-Qaida. The Islamic State group renamed itself on June 29 when it unilaterally declared the territory it held in Iraq and Syria a caliphate, effectively erasing the two countries' borders and setting up a proto-state governed by its own strict interpretation of Shariah law. It previously referred to itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant while fighting in Syria against the rule of President Bashar Assad.
  
• Islamic authority: Extremists no 'Islamic State' (usnews.com)
  Muslims arrive to attend the Friday prayer at Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Egypt. Dar el-Ifta, the top Islamic authority in Egypt, revered by many Muslims worldwide, launched Sunday an internet-based campaign aimed particularly at the West against an extremist group in Syria and Iraq, saying it is not an “Islamic State.” The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawki Allam, and clerics from the oldest Islamic learning institute, Al-Azhar, have condemned the Islamic State saying it was violating all Islamic principles and laws, describing it as a danger to the religion.

Quran can convert to Christianity

That the holy Quran can convert people to Christianity has been said already previously by former Muslims who became Christian. Recently also a former Muslim imam convert to Christianity and believes that God protected him from death threats and torture at the hands of his family members.

Mario Joseph, a former imam who shared the story of his conversion and subsequent persecution with the HM Television program “Changing Tracks,” broadcast by the EUK Mamie Foundation run by the Home of the Mother religious community, got the English-language interview, first posted in April 2014, by now has more than 250,000 views on YouTube.

Mario Joseph got onto this world because his mother rejected doctors’ advice to abort him when she had an infected womb during pregnancy. After his birth she dedicated him to God. Studying the Quran, he noticed that the name of Jesus was mentioned more often than the name of Islam’s prophet Mohammed and that Mary, known in Arabic as Mariam, was the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran. In Islam, Mary is recognized as a perpetual virgin who was conceived without sin.

Mario Joseph decided to accept Jesus, which was not happily received by his parents, who found they had to punish him. He was bound and deprived of food and water for several days and his brother forced him to drink urine as a punishment. The lack of food and water affected him severely, he recalled, adding that after as many as 20 days, his father entered his cell, choked him and threatened him with a knife unless he renounced Jesus.

“I knew my dad well that he would kill me,”

Mario Joseph said.

“When I knew that it was my last moment… I thought, ‘Jesus died, but He came back. If I believe in Jesus and die, I too may get my life’.”

At that point he felt energized, pulled his father’s hand down, and cried out Jesus’ name. His father then fell down and was cut severely by his own knife, causing him to foam at the mouth, Mario Joseph said. When family members took his father to the hospital, they forgot to lock the room.

The young man then ran out and caught a taxi. The driver was a Christian and helped get him food and drink.

“That day, really I understood, my Jesus is alive even now. When I called him for my need, he saved me.”

Mario Joseph found a Catholic retreat center in India, where he could stay and give talks in various languages.

He took the name “Mario,” a male version of Mary in Italian. He also took the name Joseph for Mary’s spouse.

Mario Joseph said he did not expect that he would still be alive 18 years after his conversion. He said people are still trying to kill him, and his parents held a mock funeral ceremony for him to signify that he was an outcast. On the mock grave, they marked as his death date the date of his baptism.

Although he has had no contact with his family members, he prays for them and believes that “God can touch them within a moment.”

Even if they never accept Christianity, he explained,

 “I’m always saying ‘Jesus, please take them to heaven’.”

This imam former Muslim imam may have found Jesus, and found many things in Catholicism where he found himself at ease.

It is strange he came to accept the Trinity and even came to do worship of the human being Mary. For such conversions Muslims are very afraid, but if some of their Muslim brothers and sisters would come to see who Jesus really is, and what the Plan of God is with humanity, they should not be so much afraid.

I do invite Christians and Muslims to come and look at the Quran and Bible verses which are presented to come to understand both writings better and see the similarities and come to see where certain Quran  verses can lead tot and how certain teachers can twist the words of those holy books.

Come and have a look at the series Quran and Bible verses comparison:

Quran versus older Holy Writings of Divine Creator

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Quran quotes

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  The Qur’an and the Crucifixion of Jesus
  Last year I posted the commentary found in a popular Qur’an edition by Maulana Muhammad Ali.
  +
  If Muslims do not want to believe that Jesus died and was resurrected, fine. That’s your prerogative. But to argue that the New Testament Gospels do not depict Jesus as dying is… well… crazy!
• Syriac Orthodox Bishop: Slaughtering Christians "Is Normal For Muslims", They Are The Enemies Of Christ (midnightwatcher.wordpress.com)
  as one Muslim visitor recently attempted to claim, “we love Jesus much more” than even Christians do. The fact of the matter, however, is that the Qur’an has intentionally altered and corrupted the original narrative of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels and has abandoned the truth of Christ and His mission, inventing instead a false narrative around a false “Jesus.” According to Islam, God is not a Heavenly Father and Jesus is not His only begotten Son. And we know what Scripture has to say about those who deny precisely that …
• Meriam Ibrahim: 'I knew God would stand by my side' (christiantoday.com)
  Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese Christian woman who was sentenced to death for her faith, has spoken in depth about her ordeal for the first time since her release.
  First imprisoned in January 2014, Meriam Ibrahim was sentenced to the death in May, with a two-year suspension as she was pregnant.
  Following an international campaign for her release, she was at last freed in June, only to be stopped at Khartoum airport. She finally managed to leave Sudan in July, and after meeting Pope Francis in Rome, she arrived in New Hampshire with her family on August 1.
  
• The Abrahamic Religions (robertjrgraham.com)
  The Prophet Muhammad met both Jews and Christians during his lifetime, and Islam has come into frequent contact with both of its fellow monotheistic faiths throughout most of its history.
  As a brief guide of the similarities and differences of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, the following chart compares the statistics, origins, history and religious beliefs of these three great monotheistic faiths.
  Please note that, as with all charts of this kind, the information is oversimplified and should not be used as a sole resource.
  
• Uganda: Islamic Sheikh Converts To Christianity, Muslim Relatives Develop Sudden Urge To Kill Him (midnightwatcher.wordpress.com)
  “Muslim relatives of a convert from Islam in a village in eastern Uganda last week tried to poison him to death, the Christian told Morning Star News. According to a story by Morning Star News, Hassan Muwanguzi, who lost his wife and job as a schoolteacher shortly after his conversion in 2003, was hospitalized on March 31 in Mbale. That was after an aunt who called a family gathering in Kadimukoli village, Budaka District, put insecticide in his tea, he said.
  ‘After eating and taking tea, I started feeling stomachache, then I realized that she was the one responsible for it – and I believe she did not do it alone, since they have been hunting for me directly and indirectly, because when I left them and converted to Christianity it pained them so much,’ Muwanguzi said in an email.
  He added, ‘The reason they want to kill me is very clear – it is because of being a convert to Christianity; above all, to them it is like I brought shame by converting, as a (former) sheikh. But to God the Almighty Father, this was His plan for me to expand His Kingdom.’
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  Flashback: Uganda: Daughter Beaten By Her Father, Hospitalized After Converting To Christianity – “A dream of praying in a church frightened a recent college graduate in Uganda, the Muslim daughter of sheikh; she knew he was capable of seriously hurting her for such a religious switch. Wenene Nuru, 23, of Iki-Iki township in Pallisa District, had been listening to a Christian-Muslim dialogue on ‘The Sonship of Jesus Christ’ on the radio before she had the dream on Feb. 28… On March 4, at about 8 p.m., her father, Nuru Rajabu, could no longer contain his anger. ‘My father began beating me with clubs and blows, and I started screaming in great pain,’ she said. ‘While I was down on the floor bleeding, my father went looking for a knife to kill me…'” Read more.
  
• Imam who embraced Christianity survives attempted honor murder by this father (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)
“Imam embraces Christianity” Pravoslavie, New Delhi, November 15, 2013The Linga portal with the reference to the Spanish radio station Сadena Сope tells about the joys and tragedies of a young man who turned to Christianity from Islam.
• Overthrowing Judaism and Christianity (mohammadalbaba.wordpress.com)
  {And say, "Truth has come and falsehood has vanished. Falsehood is surely bound to vanish." (81)}, Al-Isra, Translation of The Holy Quran. In this article, I confute Judaism and Christianity from an Islamic, or logical, point of view. As Muslims, we believe in Moses peace be upon him and his Scripture (the Torah), and in Jesus peace be upon him...
• Alan Henning: British Muslim leaders unite to call on Isis to release hostage (independent.co.uk)
  
  More than 100 Muslim leaders today make an unprecedented joint appeal to the kidnappers of Alan Henning to release the aid worker unharmed or commit the “worst condemnable sin” against Islam.
  
  The statement to The Independent has been signed by dozens of Imams from across the UK as well as community leaders and other prominent Muslims. It has been passed on to Mr Henning’s family.
  It pleads with those holding the British hostage to accept that he was on a mission to Syria to help innocent civilians and to see the errors of their ways.
  “In Islam, concern for fellow humans and the duty to help everyone is a religious obligation,” they write. “Anyone undertaking a humanitarian act is paving his or her way to receive help from heaven.
  
• Imam Embraces Christ: 'I Started Reading The Bible, And Upon Its Completion I Was Absolutely Convinced' That Christianity Was True (midnightwatcher.wordpress.com)
  According to Mario, the choice was not an easy one: ‘Before making the final decision, I besought the Lord for a long time to give me true guidance… Once, still hesitating, I opened the Koran, and I came across the following ayah (inexact translation): ‘If you doubt what we granted to you, then ask those who read the Scriptures before you. The Truth from your Lord has come to you; so do not be among those hesitant!’ Then I started reading the Bible, and upon its completion I was absolutely convinced of truthfulness of the Christian Scriptures; and at last found my God-Redeemer!’
• Imam converts to Christianity, father holds knife to him and threatens to kill him, builds gravestone for him in Muslim cemetery (jihadwatch.org)
  The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. So Joseph's father was just being pious, you greasy Islamophobe. "Imam embraces Christianity," from Pravoslavie,

ISIS, Mosul Dam and threatening lives of those who want to live in freedom

Flag of islamic state of iraq (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The day before Yesterday the National Flemish Television (VRT) did not want to show the video of Islamic State (IS) [formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS] with the terrible beheading of the American journalist James Foley. The commercial television programs showed some parts of it, but not the beheading itself.
Hearing the voice of the hangman we could notice his English accent which would not be found by a real Arabic. This could give us the impression that the American white man was killed by an European (white) man. For a second time James Folley had been abducted in 2012, this time by the extremist group ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State. We can imagine which torture he had to endure and may wonder why he agreed to tell the world it is all the fault of the Americans, when he did, not the IS terrorist were going to kill him anyway. The executioner stayed standing straight and wanted to prove it is serious business with IS going for America and its allies. By threatening to do the same to another American journalist in Syria, identified as Steven Sotloff, the 50,000-strong Islamic militant group wants the Obama administration to meet its demands. The extremists want to intimidate the Obama administration into halting U.S. airstrikes on ISIS strongholds in Iraq. These airstrikes seem to be impeding ISIS’ultimate objective: to maintain and expand its self-declared caliphate.

The extremists have already seized large parts of Iraq and Syria, taking control of several of the towns’ main resources, like wheat and oil fields. Having those bases or strongholds of water and fuel provision in their hands will give them enough power to prove to the world they are a real state to be taken serious. Previously having seized the largest dam in Iraq, controlling the water supplies over a very big area, made them a feared competitor for the regional politicians. Already some governments gave already in and did not mid buying water and fuel supplies from IS. But by having the U.S. and Iraqi forces successfully regaining control of the Mosul dam, IS felt weakened again.

Kurdish forces claim they have recaptured the Mosul Dam on Monday. - Reuters

Iraq's largest dam (fourth-largest dam in the Middle East), built in the 1980s not being any more in the hands of IS they can not use it as a weapon to hold back electricity or water, or can not destroy it to flood lots of land and wreaking havoc. According to the BBC the United States recently spent $27 million to shore up the dam.

If ISIS breached the dam, or if it somehow failed, it could send a 65-foot wave of water crashing into Mosul and floodwaters could reach as far as Baghdad. "A catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam would result in flooding along the Tigris River all the way to Baghdad," a 2006 report from the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction warns. A failure of the Mosul Dam could kill 500,000 people. {International Business Times: Mosul Dam: Why The US Aided Kurdish Forces To Recapture Strategic Structure From ISIS}

I did not see the video, because I did not watch television companies which do not take notice of 'decency'. There has to be a certain decorum for bringing news. Respectability and 'dignity' should be on the agenda. I also have no urge to be presented with images of grotesque violence on a daily basis. Since the wars in Syria and Gaza this seems to be daily food.
Do the newspapers and television-stations remember that when they bring a portrait in view, the death person or the broken body of a child was someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s friend? Are they aware that in this world of modern technology, were so many people can be easily connected, there can be a high chance some family member may be confronted with a family member, even before he or she got the news from official sources?
Also Foley’s parents saw the latest awful images of their loved one. They were courageous to tell the world about their children, having had more worries about their two sons fighting as a soldier, than fearing for the one who was trying to bring news from both sites so that the world could get to know what really happened.

In a way IS cuts down the possibility to have her voice in the free world, because they themselves cut down the strings of free speech and make it that other journalists would not be eager to come to tell ISIS their story. IS also makes it that more and more they, but also the Islam, comes in a bad footlights.

At last in the UK some imams and the spokesman of the Islamic Woman Rights spoke out yesterday on the Breakfast show, telling the world that IS does everything against Islam and misuses the name of Allah. In many more countries Muslims should come to defend their faith. The imam also asked faithful Muslims to be aware that they could do much more for their faith in their own democratic counties where they also could vote for the right persons and have their voice heard much more than by going to fight in Syria. The IS militants and all Muslims should wonder what good it would do by threatening people with murder and rape to get them converting to the Muslim faith. Are they not aware that doing conversions under threat, like happened already in the past with Catholicism and Islam, got those religions infected with false teachings and pagan actions or heathen rites. In case they would like to have a pure faith they better would live according to their Holy Scriptures and try to convince others by their good example. violence is and always has been the wrong way to get somewhere and had always turn the ball against themselves like the boomerang always returns.

The hydroelectric power plant at Mosul Dam with four surge tanks in background (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By its actions IS also pushes the west in providing the Kurds with food and water-supplies but also with weapons. These weapons later can be used to make the Kurds stronger in getting their rights and invading Turkey and Syria to get their own state Kurdistan which they already should have had. At the moment the moment the Kurds are one of those people who are still not recognised in their own rights. They still are the largest ethnic group without a country of their own. When IS tries to put them in such corner that they shall have no other way to come out fighting their way to freedom, they shall see in that the opportunity to make an end to them having to live across the borders of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey and parts of the former Soviet Union. Their culture and identity have been oppressed by the regimes of the nations within which they live. Religion, language, culture and perhaps, most importantly, a common history of persecution tie together the more than 20 million Kurds worldwide. Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Government says:

"I offer my condolences to Mr Foley’s family and the American people. They have lost a brave son who wanted to document the horrible aspects of war and conflict and shed light on their human costs."

The Prime Minister Barzani told yesterday (21 August 2014) the Christian leaders that international coalition is needed to defeat ISIS and made a plight of internally displaced people. Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi arrived in the Kurdistan Region to express his country’s support for the KRG and its fight against the terrorists.

 

The Kurdistan Regional Government would like to express its gratitude, appreciation, and indebtedness to President Barack Obama for taking the timely decision to provide airstrikes against the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) terrorist group that was killing, hunting, and terrifying innocent people in Kurdistan as well as Iraq's ancient minorities

  Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani yesterday welcomed Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, the European Union’s Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Kristalina Georgieva, and a number of European Union officials to Kurdistan to review the current crisis. On Monday, President Barack Obama said the American operation has helped drive ISIS from strategic cities and infrastructure in northern Iraq, which apparently angered the Muslim militants. Today we see journalists trying to cover conflicts, having to face they being silenced by the ones who create the conflicts. The man in black, wielding a knife, on the video, asked God to cross the “cosmic reach of the universe” and soothe his family. The ISIS militant said:

“Any attempt by you, Obama, to deny Muslims liberty and safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people.”

Lots of Islam fundamentalists do not seem to see that in many Western countries lots of freedom is given to Muslims and other religious people, but that in those countries where there is worked on democracy, they try to have all people getting the free choice to have whatever religion they want to keep unto, or if they want to be an atheist to give them that freedom not to worship any god. In the war which is going on around the borders of Syria and Iraq it is clearly not about religion, because even brothers and sisters who have faith in Allah and use the Koran, are often not considered to be of the right faith. Like Obama points out:

“Their victims are overwhelmingly Muslim, and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday, and for what they do every single day.”

At last we can hear some more Muslim voices condemning what IS does. Muslims were among the first to lament Foley’s killing and have repeatedly condemned ISIS’ reign of terror in Iraq and Syria. They are victims, too, of the crimes committed in the name of Islam. Many have worked tirelessly to combat them. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, said in a video released in June:

“Do jihad in the cause of God, incite the believers and be patient in the face of this hardship.”

As Kurdish forces, called Peshmerga, were succeeding in halting ISIL’s advance through Kurdistan as well as in the Diyala province to the south, the ISIL commander Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, from the al-Bu Badri tribe, left his headquarters in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul around Aug. 10 and fled from Iraq to neighbouring Syria as Iraq and the United States intensified air strikes on IS positions. This leader indoctrinates the people telling them he is the wali (leader) who presides over them and who will bring the best of things to their life. “Caliph Ibrahim,” the name Baghdadi took when the group declared on June 29 a “caliphate,” a pan-Islamic state last seen in Ottoman times in which the leader is both political and religious, asks the people to let him know when he is doing wrong. But nobody would dare to being afraid to be killed. According to the Guardian, of all the prominent jihadi leaders, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, head of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis), is among the most mysterious and described by some as "the new Osama bin Laden". And his mystique – for now at least – has only been burnished by his group's capture of the city of Mosul. His words:

“If you see that I am wrong, advise me and put me on the right track, and obey me as long as I obey God.”

are just hollow phrases, because I would think he should have heard already enough from real honest Muslims who tried to show the world the truth of Islam. There is at least no mystery about what Baghdadi wants concerning an Islamic State. the way he wants to get those believes reality are going totally against Koranic believes.

It may be a good idea for many Muslims to be able to live in one state where they are free to do all that their belief demands. He therefore wants to bring the world's Muslims living under one Islamic state ruled by sharia law, the first step of which is establishing a caliphate spanning Syria and Iraq. After Al-Qaeda the western world may see again an Islamic warrior threatening free democratic principles. After the French military delivered heavy weapons, Kurdish Security Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Halgurd Hikmat said:

“We are still waiting for more weapons from our allies.”

As the west shall feel the need to provide such weapons to halt IS, they shall have to be aware they also give the opportunity of the Kurds to go on to fight for getting recognition and having their own state. A danger looming.

For sure the West certainly has to take care that Islamic youngsters may come to see and understand that in the West they also shall find enough chances to liberally fulfil their duties like Allah asks from them. A democratic system may give more equal rights to all sorts of people and all sorts of religions. In case their religion is the right one and other religious people would not be able to live under Allah, they should not fear if they keep to the Laws of Allah, because than they would be able to be safe. But when they are going to do things which endanger their acceptance for Allah they should be more careful, because they could be worse off than the irreligious. The religious leaders of the Islamic world should come out and let the world see their true face. If their will is to follow Allah the world should have nothing to fear and they will recognise the faithful by their words and deeds. But the unfaithful to God shall be unmasked. The imposters hall soon be imposed.

In the meantime the European Union is very clear: In the Statement by the Spokesperson on the murder of US journalist James Foley is said:

"We strongly condemn the outrageous murder of the US journalist James Foley by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. We express our sincere condolences to the family of this distinguished journalist, to his friends and colleagues. This brutal act, like the many other human rights violations which are perpetrated by the Islamic State, denies universally recognized values and rights, including the freedom of press for which Mr Foley had risked his life on several occasions. The EU will continue to promote the safety of journalists in the Middle-East and worldwide. Such forms of terrorism constitute one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. The EU is more committed than ever to support international efforts to fight terrorism, to combat human rights violations and to restore the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria. The EU will use all means at its disposal to contribute to this endeavour."

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The Kurdistan regional government emblems

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Note:The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI)—also known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq or AQI—was the Iraqi division of the international Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda. Al-Baghdadi was announced as leader of the ISI on 16 May 2010, following the death of his predecessor Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in a raid the month before.

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 Please find also to read:

1. Religions and Mainliners
2. Patriarch Abraham, Muslims, Christians and the son of God
3. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #3 Of the earth or of God
4. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #4 Mozaic and Noachide laws
5. Mocking, Agitation and Religious Persecution
6. Christian fundamentalism as dangerous as Muslim fundamentalism
7. Turkey a wolf in the sheep house of the European Union
8. Migrants to the West #1
9. Migrants to the West #2
10. Migrants to the West #3
11. Migrants to the West #4
12. Migrants to the West #5
13. Migrants to the West #6
14. Catherine Ashton on the EU annual report on human rights
15. Palestine, Israel, God’s people and democracy
16. Gaza in Bible Prophecy
17. Syrian capital facing total destruction in the coming months
18. Brunei introducing a raft of tough sharia punishments
19. Female Imams Blaze Trail Amid China's Muslims
20. Religion, fundamentalism and murder
21. Will Islam conquer europe
22. Consequences of Breivik's mass murder
23. Falling figures for identifying Christians
24. American atheists most religiously literate Americans
25. Muslim Grooming (Rape) Gangs and Sharia
26. Forced marriage and Islam
27. Abu Hamza is gone, but Britain is still a hotbed of radical hatred
28. Zionism occupierAn Ex-Muslim’s Open Letter
29. Facing disaster fatigue
30. Fear of God reason to return to Holy Scriptures

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Other websites to look at:

1. Akakurdistan
2. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: Islamic State's driving force
3. Tag Archives: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
4. ISIS Leader Calls For War
5. ISIS Leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi Trained by Israeli Mossad, NSA Documents Reveal
6. The Biography Of Sheikh Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi
7. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: The Isis chief with the ambition to overtake al-Qaida
8. James Foley 'beheaded': Isis video shows militant with British accent 'execute US journalist' – as hunt begins for killer
9. James Foley and the daily horrors of the internet: think hard before clicking

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  ISIS was trained by the best – the United States military. Hagel, as Secretary of Defense, should certainly be privy to this.
  Its military hardware, as well, is courtesy of the Pentagon.

  “They marry ideology and a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well funded. This is beyond anything we have seen,” Hagel told reporters.

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  "The failure of the Mosul Dam could threaten the lives of large numbers of civilians, endanger U.S. personnel and facilities, including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and prevent the Iraqi government from providing critical services to the Iraqi populace," it continued.
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  "If that dam was breached it could have proven catastrophic, with floods that would have threatened the lives of thousands of civilians and endangered our embassy compound in Baghdad," the President said.
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• Terror Spree: Who Are the Extremists That Killed Foley? (nbcnews.com)
  . Foley’s execution, now confirmed by the U.S. government, gives ISIS the exposure it craves while inciting jihadists with its bloodthirsty campaign of destruction.
  +
  
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  +
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Forced marriage and Islam

It is already some time ago when I took in my home our next neighbour girl in, with bleeding wounds and totally shaken. As a 15 year old she was married out by her brother and she refused to follow his wishes.

I do recognise their where also other underlying factors which made the brother crazy at her. She continuously had lied to him, played truant, had stolen many things, and as such not only violated Islam law but also the law of the Belgians.

He wanted to bring to her more security and a strong hand to keep her on the right track. Though the means to direct her where not ideal and I had to explain to him children could not be married against their will.

Islam in New Zealand book launch, 2007. Young boy holds book. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Several Americans may think forced marriages are only committed in some Asian-Muslim communities. In West Europe we have seen many cases where children where given, sometimes already at the age of 12 to others in marriage. The West of Europe also encountered several "murders of honour". the law of honour has been a plague a few years ago, and we could regularly hear about such murders or abductions to keep up the honour of the family.

It is good to see Discover The Truth to write about the important matter of child grooming and of marriage in Islam culture.

Lots of Muslim groups have different interpretations and do not seem to understand that Islam forbids beating up or torturing children and forced marriages. Last week we saw an imam on television saying it was al-right to beat up the women because the man was responsible for her to keep her on the path of Allah. Many more Muslims should come to understand that for a marriage to be valid there has to be mutual consent from both parties. this is so for the civil law, but also for Islam, Christian and Jewish law.

We therefore would like to invite Muslims to come to read what the Prophet Muhammad dictated and considered words form the Creator of man and wife.

“O ye who believe! Ye are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should ye treat them with harshness, that ye may Take away part of the dower ye have given them,-except where they have been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.” (Koran 4:19 Yusufali)

Clearly this indicates that it is by the Elohim forbidden to inherit women against their will, which would be the case when a girl is married to somebody she does not love. You could wonder why so many people living in the West still do not want to see that the Western customs are according to Allah His will, having Himself saying

“... it is not lawful for you that you should take women as heritage against [their] will, and do not straiten them in order that you may take part of what you have given them, unless they are guilty of manifest indecency, and treat them kindly; then if you hate them, it may be that you dislike a thing while Allah has placed abundant good in it.” (Koran 4:19 Shakir)

In Islam on Forced Marriages Discover The Truth cites many Hadiths giving proof that for a marriage to go ahead the person has to be consulted, her permission must be given.

 She cannot be given in marriage without her permission.

The Rutgers University Muslim Student Association  knows that Islam is beautiful, but also says

 "it is us Muslims that sometimes give it an ugly face".

They hear stories about incredibly contradictory people

—a man frequently in the first row at the masjid for every salah is abusive to his wife at home. A brother dropping fat checks every year at the masjid fundraiser actually makes his money from a chain of liquor stores. Some Muslims avoid MSA because they feel people there are judgmental, which can be true to some extent. One imam reports a young man came to him asking for advice — he had gotten a girl pregnant. The imam asked him, why didn’t he use birth control? The young man said he refused to, because he knew it was makrooh (disliked) in the religion.

We as westerners are confronted with many stories and are often confronted with bad behaviour of Muslims. When I was teaching in Brussels and had in some classes nearly all Muslims they permitted many more things a normal western person would not dare to do. also when I walk on the streets in my neighbourhood I am confronted with words those very young children shout at us or at my dog. It sometimes could may let Christians and atheists think that Islam is just a cover up to allow many things which in our society are just not allowed or not appreciated. Often the Islam is just used for the outward appearance.  A good example I often encounter at work at the Airport Brussels International, where those ladies fully dresssed and covered, even in burqa (بُرقع) (though this is a forbidden dress in Belgium, nothing is done against it) they have a case full of high alcoholic drinks. (!?!) And sometimes I also can find them having lots of cigarettes (which according to Allah is a product damaging the body and not to be used).

According to several Muslims they do not have to take it so seriously, as long as they keep the Ramamdan, by not eating when it is light but enjoying life and eating a lot when it is dark. As such we can find lots of Muslims smoking a lot (defiling their body), speaking with discontent over women, not taking care of their children, not keeping their promises, not telling the truth because they consider they may tell lies to an unbeliever, etc..
Often we also hear to their defence pagans violate their treaties and attack the Muslims first, therefore they as Muslims may use the same tricks those unbelievers use and are also allowed to fight back in self-defence.Many seem to forget that permission to fight the enemy was and should be balanced by a strong mandate for making peace:

 ‘If your enemy inclines toward peace, then you too should seek peace and put your trust in God’

The Rutgers University Muslim Student Association talks about a confused mindset several Muslims may have. It

 isn’t new, but was a problem for the Ahl al-Kitab (People of the Book) in the time of the Prophet ﷺ. They were too concerned with ritual and the letter of the Law, while failing to implement the spirit of the Law.

Those wrong actions by children and adults of the Islamic faith give the world a wrong impression, because in the media they are daily confronted by Muslims who preach violence and hate.
Islamophobes use those media attention and the several Flemish converts who went to Syria to fight as a proof of the danger our world is in for a Muslim invasion by terror.

Please do find the articles:
 بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Islam on Forced Marriages
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Quran 9:5 – Sword Verse

Face of Musa, Hand of Fir’awn

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• Face of Musa, Hand of Fir'awn
• Refuting The Allegation That 'Muhammed hit his wife Aisha' and more!
• Quran 9:5 - Sword Verse
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