MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Bernard James, The Citizen Reporter – “Dar es Salaam. Violent clashes erupted in Dar es Salaam’s Mbagala suburb yesterday when scores of Muslim youth stormed a police station and demanded that a 14-year-old boy accused of urinating on the Quran be handed over to them.

In the aftermath of the confrontation, at least five churches were attacked, several car windows smashed and passersby injured as the angry mob moved from street to street at Mbagala Kizuiani protesting the desecration of the holy book.

Dar es Salaam Chief Sheikh Alhad Mussa Salum urged Muslims not to pursue the issue out of proportion, adding that there wasn’t ample grounds to mess up national security.

‘The incident doesn’t need emotions in dealing with. Islam means peace; we can deal with such issues peacefully. This matter involved children. Islam considers age; it shouldn’t lead to a breach of peace in our country,’ said Sheikh Salum.

He added that attacking churches would mean the boy was sent by Christians to desecrate the Quran, which he said he believed wasn’t the case.Police used teargas canisters and water cannons to quell the unrest and open up Kilwa road as the protesters hurled stones and burned tyres to block the road. Police were still engaging the demonstrators at Mbagala Zakhem late in the evening as the attacks on churches continued to rage.

A source told The Citizen on Saturday that the origins of the clashes could be traced back five days to an incident in which a Christian and Muslim boy got into an argument over the power of the Quran to turn anyone who defiled it into a snake.

According to those reports, the Christian boy swore he would not be harmed if he played with the Quran while his Muslim friend maintained that he would turn into a snake or run mad if did so…

The incident turned deadly after the angry Muslims mobilised more support during Friday prayers, reportedly in an attempt to grab the boy from the police station and behead him.” Read more.

Flashback: Tanzania: Christians Increasingly Worried As Islamism Spreads At Alarming Rate, Seeks To Impose Sharia Law Upon All – “Islamisation is increasing at an alarming rate in Tanzania, according to a bishop from the country. Bishop Bernadin Mfumbusa of Kondoa warned that religious freedom and other civil liberties were under threat from intolerant radical Muslim influences sweeping in from countries neighbouring the east African nation… ‘We see more and more itinerant preachers from Saudi Arabia and Sudan entering this country – and Muslims are increasingly making political demands.’” Read more.

By SAMUEL TADROS, The Wall Street Journal – “Visit any Coptic church in the United States and you immediately recognize the newcomers. You see it in their eyes, hear it in their broken English, sense it in how they cling to the church in search of the familiar. They have come here escaping a place they used to call home, where their ancestors had lived for centuries.

Waves of Copts have come here from Egypt before, to escape Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalizations or the growing Islamist tide. Their country’s transformation wasn’t sudden, but every year brought more public Islamization. As the veil spread, Coptic women felt increasingly different, alien and marked. Verbal abuse came from schoolteachers, bystanders in the bus station who noticed the cross on a wrist, or commentators on state television.

But life was generally bearable. Hosni Mubarak crushed the Islamist insurgency of the 1980s and ’90s. He was no friend to the Copts, but neither was he foe. His police often turned a blind eye when Coptic homes and shops were attacked by mobs, and the courts never punished the perpetrators—but the president wasn’t an Islamist. He even interfered sometimes to give permission to build a church, or to make Christmas a national holiday.

To be sure, Copts were excluded from high government positions. There were no Coptic governors, intelligence officers, deans of schools, or CEOs of government companies. Until 2005, Copts needed presidential approval to build a new church or even build a bathroom in an existing one. Even with approval, state security often blocked construction, citing security concerns.

Those concerns were often real. Mobs could mobilize against Copts with the slightest incitement—rumor of a romantic relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman, a church being built, reports of a Christian having insulted Islam. The details varied but the results didn’t: homes burned, shops destroyed, Christians leaving villages, sometimes dead bodies. The police would arrive late and force a reconciliation session between perpetrators and victims during which everything would be forgiven and no one punished. What pained the Copts most was that the attackers were neighbors, co-workers and childhood friends.

Then came last year’s revolution. Copts were never enthusiastic about it, perhaps because centuries of persecution taught that the persecuting dictator was preferable to the mob. He could be bought off, persuaded to hold back or pressured by outside forces. With the mob you stood no chance. Some younger Copts were lured by the promise of a liberal Egypt, but the older generation knew better.

The collapse of the police liberated the Islamists, who quickly Read more…

France24 – “AFP – Gunmen opened fire on the home of a Coptic Christian in the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, hours after a visit by President Mohamed Morsi to reassure Christian residents they would not be targeted again.

Gunmen ‘used automatic weapons when they opened fire on the house of a Coptic resident of Rafah hours after the president left,’ a security official told AFP.

There were no reports of casualties, he said.

Witnesses told AFP three gunmen in a car fired on the house of Magdi Niruz before fleeing the scene.

Morsi had visited the Sinai peninsula on Friday to meet with and reassure families who fled Rafah to El-Arish after receiving death threats.

This ‘will not happen again,’ Morsi told a group of local Bedouin tribal chiefs and other residents of El-Arish.

‘Your security is our security,’ he said.

‘What happened is an individual case which represents neither Egypt nor its children, Muslim or Christian. It’s crime for which the perpetrators must be held responsible,’ MENA quoted Morsi as saying.

According to residents and officials in Rafah, on the border with Gaza, Christian families fled to El-Arish about 30 kilometres (19 miles) away after having received death threats from Islamists.” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi Says Christians Must Convert To Islam, Pay ‘Jizya’, Or Leave Egypt, ‘Conquest Is Coming’ – “According to the popular Egyptian website, El Bashayer, Muhammad Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate, just declared that he will ‘achieve the Islamic conquest (fath) of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert to Islam, or else pay the jizya,’ the additional Islamic tax, or financial tribute, required of non-Muslims, or financial tribute… After his interviewer pointed out that the first Muslim conquest of Egypt was ‘carried out at the hands of Amr bin al-As [in 641],’ he asked Morsi, ‘Who will the second Islamic conqueror be?’ Morsi, replied, ‘The second Muslim conqueror will be Muhammad Morsi,’ referring to himself, ‘and history will record it.’” Read more.

By John Newton and Eva-Maria Kolmann, ICN – “Islamisation is increasing at an alarming rate in Tanzania, according to a bishop from the country. Bishop Bernadin Mfumbusa of Kondoa warned that religious freedom and other civil liberties were under threat from intolerant radical Muslim influences sweeping in from countries neighbouring the east African nation.

Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need, the bishop said: ‘We see more and more itinerant preachers from Saudi Arabia and Sudan entering this country – and Muslims are increasingly making political demands.’

These demands include extending Islamic Shari‘a law and making everyone subject to it – Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Bishop Mfumbusa said: ‘In recent times there has been a constant demand to introduce Shari‘a into other parts of Tanzania which do not have a majority of Muslims.’

Shari‘a law is already in force in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous archipelago with an almost completely Muslim population, but it does not apply to other parts of the country. The bishop said there were calls for Shari‘a, which currently applies in areas of civil law such as marriage and inheritance, to be extended to cover criminal law.

‘They claim that otherwise Muslims would be able to avoid the law by claiming not to be Muslim. To prevent this they say Shari‘a law must be made applicable to everyone,’ the Bishop said.

But, despite these demands to extend Islamic law, no more than 31 per cent of Tanzania’s 45 million inhabitants are Muslim according to Church sources. Christians make up more than half the population – including more than 12 million Catholics.

Bishop Mfumbusa described how the influence of radical Islam can be seen on the country’s streets. He said: ‘In many parts of the country more veiled women than in the past can be seen, among them small girls.'” Read more.

Flashback: Tanzania: Muslim Extremists Strike at Christians in Zanzibar, Destroy Churches – “Far from the world media’s gaze in remote islands off the eastern coast of Africa, church buildings are razed and Christians are ostracized and imprisoned for their faith – leaving one with a skin disease… ‘The Muslims are burning our church buildings quite frequently here in Zanzibar, but the government is not speaking against this kind of destruction of our church premises,’ Bishop Obedi said.” Read more.

Matthew 10:22, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

By Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone Institute – “While many people are regularly persecuted by Islam’s blasphemy law, one particular case made August headlines: a 14-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan, Rimsha Masih, was arrested, accused of burning pages of a Quran. Rioting Muslims destroyed Christian homes and churches, tore Bibles to pieces and broke crosses, while calling for the death penalty against her. Because this story made it to the mainstream media, widespread international condemnation caused Pakistani authorities to release her recently, not by annulling Pakistan’s blasphemy law, but by finding loopholes, from characterizing the girl as retarded—Islamic law does not mandate punishment for blasphemers if they are retarded—to the unprecedented exposure of a Muslim cleric who framed her.

Because this incident prompted a widespread rampage against Pakistan’s Christians, thousands have deserted their homes and are dispossessed. The Christians from Rimsha’s neighborhood, including women and children, fled into the woods in fear of Muslim retribution, while others were evicted by their Muslim landlords. A few Christians sleeping overnight on the ground just miles away from Pakistani government buildings decided to build a church there and make it their permanent dwelling place. ‘Here it is not anybody’s home, nobody’s land. Let us live here in safety,’ said one. Another said: ‘We have cleared this place with our hands, and we have laid the first foundation of a small church here. Although this is a mere skeleton made of tree branches, this is the holy home of God. This should be respected.’

Categorized by theme, August’s batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and in country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Jihad Killings and Christian Displacement

Iraq: What Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors, characterized as ‘religicide,’ continues unabated in the nation that was liberated by U.S. forces a decade ago: ‘Christians in cities like Baghdad and Mosul are gripped by terrorism. They are fleeing in droves. Today [August 16] it was reported that at least 20 people died in blasts and shootings across the country.’ Before the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Mosul was home to some 75,000 Christians, but now the number has dropped to around 25,000. Christian homes are set on fire, bombs placed in their cars; other Christian families are receiving letters threatening them to leave Iraq or be kidnapped or killed.

Ivory Coast: As part of the civil war, Muslim rebels ‘massacred hundreds and displaced tens of thousands‘ of predominantly Christian supporters of Laurent Gbagbo. Since the attack, when their homes were taken by rebels, some 5,000 predominantly Christian ethnic Guere have been Read more…

Here’s an update on this story. Apparently Boko Haram Islamists were asking each student their names prior to deciding which ones to kill for a reason: to identify and slaughter all who were Christian …

By Katherine Weber – “Multiple sources have confirmed that about 25 to 30 Christian college students were massacred at a university in northeastern Nigeria late Monday night, causing Christians to pray for a ‘change of heart’ among the extremist Islamist group Boko Haram to put a stop to the continued violence.

While there is speculation as to the motive of the massacre, sources close to the human rights watchdog Open Doors USA confirm that the massacre was performed by Boko Haram.

Emily Fuentes, the communications and public relations coordinator for Open Doors who recently visited Nigeria and spoke to Christian leaders about Boko Haram, told The Christian Post that believers around the world can agree that prayer is the ‘only thing that will change the people of Boko Haram.’

‘There are people who are turning to Christ who used to be in the Boko Haram, and God is changing their hearts,’ Fuentes told CP.

‘A lot of Christians believe that God will change these peoples’ hearts,’ she added.

The killings reportedly occurred in the late night hours on Oct. 1, when masked gunmen went door-to-door in the off-campus housing section of Federal Polytechnic College in Mubi, a city in the remote Adamawa State in northeastern Nigeria.

Open Doors USA sources confirmed that the gunmen separated the Christian students from the Muslim students, addressed each victim by name, questioned them, and then proceeded to shoot them or slit their throat.

‘Open Doors is calling on Christians in the West to bear this horrific burden with our brothers and sisters in Mubi and Adamawa state,’ Open Doors USA spokesman Jerry Dykstra said in a press release emailed to The Christian Post.

‘Nigeria is becoming a killing field,’ he added.” Read more.

Flashback: Boko Haram: Our Goal is to Eliminate Followers of Christ – “Terrorist organisation Boko Haram has issued a statement making clear that its goal is to eliminate followers of Christ from Nigeria and establish an Islamic state. ‘The Nigerian state and Christians are our enemies and we will be launching attacks on the Nigerian state and its security apparatus as well as churches until we achieve our goal of establishing an Islamic state in place of the secular state … We are responsible for the suicide attack on a church in Jos and also another attack on another church in Biu,’ a spokesman for the group, Abul Qaqa, is said to have told reporters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri over the phone.” Read more.

“Christians in Pakistan are the target of violence on behalf of Islamic extremists who pour out on them feelings of anger and revenge after the release of the movie ‘The Innocence of Muslims,’ blasphemous towards the prophet Mohammed. After the attack on the Christian church of ‘St. Paul’ in Mardan, a Bishop was attacked, beaten and wounded. As reported by local sources of Fides, the Protestant Bishop Naeem Samuel, of the ‘Trinity Evangelical Church Prayer’, was attacked yesterday, as he was leaving the church in Youhanaabad, a suburb of Lahore (Punjab province), where about 10 thousand Christian families live.

Three men stopped him and started insulting him with phrases like: ‘You Christians have offended our Prophet, we will kill you all!’ Although the Bishop tried to defend himself, saying that ‘all Christians in Pakistan have condemned the film’, the three began to hit him with violence, leaving him on the ground and unconscious. The Bishop, who is the Rector of the ‘Trinity Biblical University,’ has many wounds and fractures and needed hospital treatment. Mgr. Samuel also runs a Christian television cable network in Lahore, which broadcasts Bible courses, religious films and prayers. This is why he had received threats and the injunction to stop the broadcast, and about a month ago his house was set on fire.

In the meantime, the trail of violence in the Christian area of Essa Nagri, in the metropolis of Karachi (Sindh province) continues: The last victim is the 30 year old Christian Zulifiqar Masih, who was killed in a raid carried out by Islamic extremists of ethnic Pashtun. He is the fifth Christian killed in a month: on 29 August Fasil Masih was shot dead; on 12 September Yousaf Masih, on 15 September Rafi Masih and Nasir Masih.

Violence also affects young Christians, the most vulnerable: as reported to Fides by the NGO ‘World Vision in Progress’, in past days Sumbal Masih, a 16 year old Christian Faisalabad (in Punjab), a waitress, was kidnapped, raped and tortured for six hours by her employer, a wealthy Muslim, and by two other men. Two of the perpetrators were arrested by the local police.” Source – Agenzia Fides.