'Desecration' of Koran Story Sparks Global Islamic Fury

[Shammu]

Between a Rock and a Holy Site
Muslims have stepped up their efforts to take control of places revered by Jews and Christians.

By Clarence H. Wagner, Jr. | posted 2/13/01
In any aggravated debate, "what is truth—indeed 'gospel' truth—for one party is more often than not viewed as blatant falsehood by the other." So writes Daniel Rossing, an orthodox Jewish educator and interfaith activist in Jerusalem who served for 14 years as the director of the Department for Christian Communities in the Israel Ministry for Religious Affairs. His insight certainly applies to tensions in the land that is holy to three faiths.

In order for Jews, Christians, and Muslims to reconcile, they would do well to listen to one another's stories. In the January issue of Christianity Today, a Palestinian Christian lawyer explained what he thought were the reasons for the breakdown of the peace process. In this issue, we hear from Clarence H. Wagner Jr., who heads Bridges for Peace, an evangelical Christian ministry that aims to build support for the people and land of Israel. The peace process as such is not his subject. Instead, he describes what he sees from his apartment window near Jerusalem, especially regarding recent Muslim encroachments on Jewish and Christian holy sites.

For the first time in 24 years of living in Jerusalem, I am worried. I can see clearly that the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is threatening all the good work that has been accomplished over the past decades to bring faith communities together.

There are many reasons why this current conflict has erupted, from political to economic. Nevertheless, Muslims are using this conflict to make strategic moves to put Israel on the public-relations defensive and to prevent free and full access to Jewish and Christian holy sites.
Bullets from Beit Jallah
One such move affects my neighborhood of Gilo, situated on the southern edge of Jerusalem and adjacent to the predominantly Christian, PNA-governed town of Beit Jallah. Since 1967, these two communities have lived side by side in harmony. These days, machine-gun fire from Beit Jallah sprays Gilo almost daily. This is the work of the Tanzim militia, whose tactic is to take over a home or factory and to fire into the residences of Gilo, trying to get Israel to fire back. Palestinians use large-caliber machine guns with armor-piercing bullets that can penetrate the walls of the apartments in Gilo and thus provoke the Israelis to return fire. Israel is forced to defend her citizens.

Additionally, the Tanzim have chosen positions near churches in Beit Jallah (most notably the Church of St. Nicholas), hoping that Israel's return fire will hit a church. Then the Christian West would read in newspapers that Israel is targeting churches. As it is, even without the Israeli bullets hitting a church, the news cameras almost always show St. Nicholas, delivering a subliminal message that Jews are firing at Christians.

We saw the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) use this tactic in Lebanon in 1982. The PLO would place an anti-aircraft gun on the roof of a hospital or position a tank next to a residential block. Then, when Israel struck the gun or tank with return fire, it would damage the hospital or apartment building, and the PLO would claim that Israel was attacking hospitals and defenseless civilians. For this reason, the Israel Defense Force picks its targets in Beit Jallah very carefully.

Meanwhile, residents of Beit Jallah and Gilo are subjected to almost daily violence because of some outsiders who are victimizing both communities and driving a wedge of resentment between Christians and Jews—not only locally, but also internationally. My Jewish neighbors and I often compare verbal notes about the situation in Gilo and ask about mutual friends who live in Beit Jallah, checking to see if they are all right. In our opinion, no one wants this conflict except Arafat and the Tanzim fighters.
Capture of biblical sites
In a disturbing new trend, Muslims have stepped up their efforts to take over biblical sites sacred to Jews and Christians. In Jericho somebody set the ancient Jewish synagogue on fire, and crowds prevented fire trucks from putting out the blaze. In the heart of Nablus, the biblical Shechem located about 40 miles north of Jerusalem, Palestinians took control of Joseph's Tomb after days of fierce fighting. Under the Oslo Accords, the tomb was considered a holy site where Jewish young men were to be allowed to pray and study the Torah. After the takeover last October, Muslims immediately converted Joseph's Tomb into a mosque, complete with a freshly painted green dome.

This takeover was quickly followed by calls among the Palestinians to take over Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem (not far from my house) and the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, the burial place of the partriarchs. The Palestinian forces launched a three-pronged attack on Rachel's Tomb on December 5 and came within 30 feet of taking the site.

All of these are holy sites to those of us who honor the Bible. But since Islam considers itself superior to both Judaism and Christianity, its adherents have no theological problem usurping Jewish and Christian sites and changing them into Muslim sites.

Islam teaches that Jews and Christians perverted the faith given them by God and that Allah gave the final revelation to Muhammad. Furthermore, it considers all Jewish and Christian heroes—such as Moses, David, and Jesus—good Muslims whose teachings have paved the way for Islam, a religion that did not even exist before the seventh century.

A Muslim mosque in Bethlehem's Manger Square, with a minaret towering above the Church of the Nativity's bell tower, is a case in point. It especially pains the Israelis that the PNA has taken over Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus (Shechem), and Jericho, which were Jewish towns in biblical times, trying to extinguish the last vestiges of Jewish life and presence in these cities.

Muslims will say that they were just retaliating for Israel's actions, but my Christian friends and I, as well as many Jews, see the severe desecration of biblical sites as an unprovoked attack.

The Palestinian usurpation of the Temple Mount concerns my friends and me the most. The Temple Mount, with remains of Solomon's and Herod's temples, is the central holy site for both Jews and Christians.

There are now three mosques on this site, and a fourth one is being constructed at the Golden Gate. As of late December, Muslim workers have dug out and disposed of 13,400 tons of artifact-rich rubble from the site, according to Eilat Mazar, professor at the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The construction process is destroying not only the Temple Mount artifacts, but also layers of biblical history, and Israel is unable to stop it. Even though Israel left control of the Temple Mount in the hands of Muslim authorities in 1967 and has respected the Islamic recharacterization of the site, the Muslim leadership refuses to acknowledge the importance of the site to Jews. Here is what the official PNA Web site says about the Western Wall, the surviving remnant of Herod's Temple complex:

    Al-Boraq Wall: It is part of the exterior facade of the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Al-Boraq, a creature which carried Mohammad during his ascension to heaven, was tied to this wall. Some Orthodox religious Jews consider it as a holy place for them, and claim that the wall is part of their temple, [but] all historic studies and archeological excavations have failed to find any proof for such a claim. In order to undermine the foundations of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Israeli government has converted it into a religious shrine for Jews, prohibiting non-Jews to enter it, except for a limited number of tourists.

This revisionist description not only flies in the face of history and archaeology, but also has the more sinister motive of eradicating the biblical history of the area, which undermines the validity of Judaism and Christianity.

The PNA has dubbed the current disturbances the "Intifada of Al-Aqsa." Intifada is the Arabic word for "uprising," and Al-Aqsa is the mosque in Jerusalem that observant Muslims regard as their third-holiest site, after Mecca and Medina.

The current intifada should be distinguished from the one that began in December 1987 and ended by the time the Oslo peace process commenced in mid-1993. The PNA's sentiments in regard to Al-Aqsa are so strong that it has appealed to the Muslim world to declare a jihad (holy war) against Israel and to help defend the mosque, which, to my knowledge, has never been threatened.

It seems obvious to my Jewish friends and me that the PNA cannot protect the sites sacred to Jews and Christians, or guarantee safe and free access to the sites. These most recent incidents require us as Christians and Jews to call on international authorities to protect our biblical sites and places of worship before they are lost forever.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
February 5, 2001, Vol. 45, No. 2, Page 62
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/002/11.62.html

[Shammu]

After this post, I will leave the rest to everyone else. For I'm sure, I may have gone overboard. Though this is my rant, against islam. Now, you can say, SHUT UP Bob.    And no, before you ask. I don't feel hate, towards islam, only pity.

Now, through my own research;

Jewish spiritual ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount run deep.  Jews and Christians both believe that  Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were chosen by God Psalm 132:13-14 and that, as God promised in Isaiah 2:2-3, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount will once again be controlled by the Jewish people.  In fact the Temple must be rebuilt on the Temple Mount in the exact location of the previous two temples before the coming of the Messiah Zech. 1:16, II Thessalonians 2:4, Revelations 11:1.  For this reason, negotiating away Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem is no more an option than establishing the state of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea, which happens to be the Arabs preferred settlement.

The Palestinians will tell governments and the world they want only East Jerusalem as their capital.  However, their true goal is to have all of Jerusalem and the entire state of Israel.  Palestinians and Muslims in general reject the historical fact that any Jewish Temple ever existed on the Temple Mount.  Archeological evidence is rejected and dismissed as pre-Islamic and inconclusive.   The Palestinian Authority and Arab world negotiate because they understand that strategic areas will need to be taken first.  They recognize the success of the Romans' tactics in 70 A.D.  The Romans did not proceed directly to conquer Jerusalem.  Instead, leaving Jerusalem for last, they first took Galilee and Judea allowing them to take Jerusalem and be able to hold it.  The goal of the Palestinian Authority is not a two state solution, but a one state solution - minus Israel.

II Samuel 24:18-25 King David purchased the peak of the Temple Mount (Mount Moriah) for the purpose of building the future Temple.  I Kings 6-8 describes in great detail how David's son, King Solomon, built and dedicated the temple:  "And it came to pass after the 408th year after the Children of Israel left Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord."

Even Islam recorded that when Muslims first came to Jerusalem they discovered the Rock of Sacrifice that once occupied the Holy of Holies.  Arab geographer Yakut, in 1225 A.D. said "the city of Jerusalem was holy to Jews and Christians, as it has been for 3,000 and 2,000 years respectfully."

In 1967, the Jews recaptured Jerusalem.  Upon their return, they found a city that had been destroyed.  Everything Jewish had been removed and looted.  Synagogues had been demolished or used as garbage dumps, and Jewish graves had been unearthed, and the bones scattered over the ground.  The Palestinians knew that, by Jewish law, this kind of desecration would prevent the Jews from being able to use the ground for holy sites, or to build a temple or synagogue on the land.

The Palestinians, who even destroyed Jewish road signs when they took over East Jerusalem, will never allow a Jewish Temple to be built on or anywhere near the Temple Mount, or even in Jerusalem for that matter.  There will be a third temple, however.  The Bible makes that clear.

Resting in the Lords, embrace.
Bob

Genesis 49:24
But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel)

[Shammu]

Gee, I found something, I didn't know.

Muslim World Largely Anti-American

By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 30 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Anti-American feelings are widespread in the Muslim world and extend to U.S. consumer brands, according to a report released Wednesday. It suggested the U.S. burnish its image with a change in tone and by publicizing aid programs.

The United States should emphasize its development aid to Muslim countries rather than try to persuade Muslims to support U.S. policies in Iraq or in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the Council on Foreign Relations report.

The report, by Charney Research, is based on 14 focus groups conducted last December and January among college-educated men and women in Egypt, Morocco and Indonesia.

Anger at U.S. foreign policy and at the U.S. government dominated spontaneous reactions in all three countries.

Many young Muslims said they admired Osama bin Laden, while views of President Bush were uniformly negative. All focus group members rejected U.S. views of the war in Iraq, saying the United States invaded on a false premise to further its own regional goals.

Anti-Semitic stereotypes also were noted. Focus group members saw the United States and Israel as synonymous and estimated the proportion of Jews in the U.S. population at up to 85 percent; it is 2 percent.

The report found negative opinions of the United States are taking a toll on U.S. companies, and that amounts of U.S. aid were massively underestimated; not one person in any focus group knew the U.S. is the world's largest donor by dollar amount.

"Most Egyptians and Indonesians put U.S. support for their countries over 10 years in millions; the correct figures were $7.3 billion and $1 billion, respectively," the authors said.

When asked what they wanted from the United States, focus group members said respect and aid to develop as their countries choose.

The Council on Foreign Relations, founded in 1921, is a nonpartisan center for scholars dedicated to helping members and policy-makers better understand the world and governmental policy choices, according to its Web site. The council has headquarters in New York and an office in Washington, D.C.

Muslims hate Americans  

[nChrist]

Dreamweaver,

It's amazing - we help them more than any other country in the world, and they hate us.

The root of the hate didn't start in just the last several years. The hate started in 1948 with U.S. support and/or tolerance of Israel. That's really the bottom line, and the only way we will be liked by the Muslim world is to abandon and go against Israel.

It really boils down to something pretty sickening: we are feeding them, but they hate us because we don't want to kill and exterminate Jews. Our support, treaties, and friendship with Israel makes us the Great Satan. The growing and festering thought of the Muslim world is that we must be killed and eliminated also. After all, generations of Muslim children have been taught just that in their schools. I doubt that our help, financial aid, and even our blood to liberate their peoples will change their hate of us.

What's almost beyond belief is that Muslim schools and churches on our own soil are teaching the same hatred.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

[Soldier4Christ]

While reverting to major violence over the desecration of the Koran there is little said or done about the desecration of the Bible in this world.


http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200505\FOR20050519a.html

[2nd Timothy]

I agree with pretty much all the comments concerning this.   It is highly frustrating and makes little sense why these people show so much hatred towards the rest of the world.   Yet, the only real way to make sense of it, is by viewing the situation through the eyes of the Lord.  

They need the Gospel of Christ plain and simple.   When I was in the West Indies with my folks (as a youngster), I went to an all boys Muslim school, not by choice, but by means of what was called the "common entrance exam".  Down there that exam given in the 5th grade to all school children determines where one continues High School.   While American resentment was not what it is today, I was not very welcome by most the other kids.   I was called names, and picked on quite often just because of the color of my skin.    I remember sharing the Gospel with one of the boys in my class one day, and he could not bring himself to believe that God had a Son, and that He would die for us.    He even whispered it when he asked how that could be possible (out of fear others might hear him I think).  I explained to him what the bible said about it, but he just couldn't bring himself to comtemplate it.


These people are lost in sin, and there's only one remedy for that.   Jesus!   I do feel the same grief, frustration and bewilderment of everyone here about these individuals....but at the same time, my heart goes out to them.   They need the Love of Christ dearly in their lives, and even though much of them would love nothing more than death for Christians (as well as others), we who know and love the Light, are the only becons in this world that shine the truth of His message to a lost and dying world.    


Father, even in my frustration I ask that you help me to remain mindful of the calling and service to share your truth with others.   Father, help us to reach those who need you.  Weigh down our hearts with a burden to reach the lost.   Whether it be abroad or right here in our own towns and neighborhoods Lord.    While we suffer at the hands of a hostile people, we know that you died for them too.  This war is not about nations and religions, its about the true Light which shines for all men, and the enemy's desire to extinguish it.  We pray for protection of those who would boldly take your message of truth to them in far away lands so that they too might accept your gift of Grace.    

What Love, what Grace, what Mercy you have shown us, and desire for us all.  We Praise You Heavenly Name Father, in Jesus name....Amen.


I know I'm the one that started this thread, but for some reason reading it today just hit me differently.    

Grace and Peace!

[Soldier4Christ]

Amen 2T. It is not hate that I feel toward them either. Jesus tells us to love our enemies. My heart is saddened that they have hate in theirs instead of the loving grace of God.

[2nd Timothy]

I hear ya Bro, and I know all of us are aware of this....sorry if it sounded like I was trying to preach, I really wasn't.   Just felt the need to share I guess.  

[Shammu]

I hear ya Bro, and I know all of us are aware of this....sorry if it sounded like I was trying to preach, I really wasn't.   Just felt the need to share I guess.  

Me too, I don't hate the people, just the hate. One thing, all of us need to remember.

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

To me this means, hate the islam religion but not the people. Just because they hate Christians, doesn't mean I have to hate the people of islamic faith. I just feel pity for them. Like I would for a lost dog. For thats what they are, lost.

Resting with the Lord.
Bob

Song of Solomon 1:5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

[Shammu]

I knew if I searched long enough. I would find something on the Palestinian Friday Sermon, to back up my other post. Well here you go, folks.

5/13/2005    
Palestinian Friday Sermon by Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris: Muslims Will Rule America and Britain, Jews Are a Virus Resembling AIDS

The following are excerpts from a Friday sermon on Palestinian Authority TV. The preacher is Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris. PA TV aired this sermon on May 13, 2005

Ibrahim Mudeiris: Allah has tormented us with "the people most hostile to the believers" – the Jews. "Thou shalt find that the people most hostile to the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists." Allah warned His beloved Prophet Muhammad about the Jews, who had killed their prophets, forged their Torah, and sowed corruption throughout their history.

With the establishment of the state of Israel, the entire Islamic nation was lost, because Israel is a cancer spreading through the body of the Islamic nation, and because the Jews are a virus resembling AIDS, from which the entire world suffers.

You will find that the Jews were behind all the civil strife in this world. The Jews are behind the suffering of the nations.

Ask Britain what it did to the Jews in the early sixth century. What did they do to the Jews? They expelled them, tortured them, and prevented them from entering Britain for more than 300 years. All this was because of what the Jews did in Britain. Ask France what it did to the Jews. They tortured them, expelled them, and burned their Talmud, because of the civil strife the Jews wanted to spark in France, in the days of Louis XIX. Ask Portugal what it did to the Jews. Ask Czarists Russia, which welcomed the Jews, who plotted to kill the Czar - so he massacred them. But don't ask Germany what it did to the Jews. It was the Jews who provoked Nazism to wage war against the entire world, when the Jews, using the Zionist movement, got other countries to wage an economic war on Germany and to boycott German merchandise. They provoked Russia, Britain, France, and Italy. This enraged the Germans toward the Jews, leading to the events of those days, which the Jews commemorating today.

But they are committing worse deeds than those done to them in the Nazi war. Yes, perhaps some of them were killed and some burned, but they are inflating this in order to win over the of the media and gain the world's sympathy. The worst crimes in history were committed against the Jews, yet these crimes are no worse than what the Jews are doing in Palestine. What was done to the Jews was a crime, but isn't what the Jews are doing today in the land of Palestine not a crime?!

Look at modern history. Where has Great Britain gone? Where has Czarist Russia gone? Where has France gone - France, which almost ruled the entire world? Where is Nazi Germany, which massacred millions and ruled the world? Where did all these superpowers go? He who made them disappear will make America disappear too, God willing. He who made Russia disappear overnight is capable of making America disappear and fall, Allah willing.

We have ruled the world before, and by Allah, the day will come when we will rule the entire world again. The day will come when we will rule America. The day will come when we will rule Britain and the entire world – except for the Jews. The Jews will not enjoy a life of tranquility under our rule, because they are treacherous by nature, as they have been throughout history. The day will come when everything will be relieved of the Jews - even the stones and trees which were harmed by them. Listen to the Prophet Muhammad, who tells you about the evil end that awaits Jews. The stones and trees will want the Muslims to finish off every Jew.

http://memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=669

Hmmmmm, I love my Lord.
Bob

Hosea 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

[Shammu]

Shiites Stage Mass Anti-U.S. Protests

By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago

NAJAF, Iraq - Thousands of Shiites stomped on American flags painted on roads outside mosques in a show of anger over the U.S. presence in Iraq, while Sunni leaders called Friday for a closure of places of worship to protest the sectarian violence many fear may erupt into civil war.

An American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad, the military said. At least 1,628 U.S. military members have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

In an effort to curb the daily violence, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said he will travel to Damascus to appeal in person for the government to take stronger steps to block insurgents from entering Iraq via Syria. Al-Jaafari and American officials blame foreign fighters for plotting many of the attacks.

A picture of Saddam Hussein wearing only his underwear appeared on the front pages of the New York Post and Britain's The Sun. The papers said the pictures, taken in the former dictator's Baghdad prison cell, were provided by an unidentified U.S. military official. The U.S. military condemned the photos and launched an immediate investigation into who took them.

Tensions spiraled throughout Iraq, particularly in its southern Shiite heartland, as more than 10,000 protesters heeded a call by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to step on and drive over American and Israeli flags painted on roads outside mosques. Many of the worshippers were chanting or waving the Quran, Islam's holy book.

Al-Sadr, a burly, black-bearded cleric, launched two uprisings against U.S. forces in Baghdad and Najaf in April and August last year, then went into hiding before surfacing Monday to demand that U.S.-led forces withdraw from Iraq.

His appeal came after U.S. and Iraqi forces detained 13 al-Sadr supporters during a raid this week on a Shiite mosque in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad.

Crowds attended angry services in the Shiite-dominated cities of Najaf, Kufa, and Nasiriyah, where a gunfight broke out between al-Sadr supporters and guards protecting a local provincial governor's office.

Four policemen and four civilians were wounded, a hospital official said. Another nine al-Sadr supporters were also wounded, said Sheik al-Khafaji, an official at al-Sadr's Nasiriyah office.

"We warn the government not to fight the al-Sadr movement because all the tyrants of the world could not beat it," Hazim al-Araji, the imam of a Kufa mosque, said during Friday's sermon. "We say to the government: Do not be a tyrant like Saddam or (former interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad) Allawi."

Another 5,000 al-Sadr supporters marched in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, the scene of fierce fighting last year between U.S. forces and fighters from his al-Mahdi Army.

Sunni clerics, meanwhile, delivered fiery sermons in Baghdad and Ramadi, in western Iraq's volatile Sunni Triangle, where 3,000 worshippers prayed under a baking sun and heeded a call from three of Iraq's most influential Sunni organizations for places of worship to be shut for three days to protest alleged Shiite violence against them.

In Baghdad's Sunni Um al-Qura mosque, cleric Sheik Ahmed al-Samaraei accused the Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces of killing Sunni Muslims last week in the capital's eastern Shaab suburb.

"Blood of Muslims is cheap for them," al-Samaraei said. "I demand the government investigates what happened or the matters will worsen."

Shiites make up 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people and were oppressed under Saddam, but emerged from January elections with the biggest voting bloc in parliament.

A car bomb killed two Iraqi soldiers patrolling with U.S. troops in Baghdad, the U.S. military said. American helicopters were called in for support and fired on insurgents in the area. Police said four Iraqi soldiers were killed in what appeared to be the same attack.

A roadside bomb killed an Iraq civilian in Latifiyah, south of Baghdad, police Lt. Ali Obeid said. More than 520 people have been killed in suicide bombings, assassinations and other attacks since the April 28 announcement of al-Jaafari's Shiite-led government.

In Turkey, al-Jaafari said Iraq would not tolerate foreign fighters crossing the porous desert frontier separating his country from Syria.

"We will visit Syria sometime soon, and one of the issues that will be taken up will be the security file and the prevention of such infiltrations," he said.

His decision to go to Damascus follows U.S. military claims that top lieutenants of al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi met in Syria last month to plot more suicide bombings in Iraq.

Mass anti-U.S. protest

And the world, still turns.
Bob

2 Samuel 18:3 But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city.