Free Republic

In his book “Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle over Islam is Reshaping the World”, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Shadi Hamid argues that Islam is exceptional in how it relates to law, governance and politics, and plays an outsized role in public life in the Arab world. He also posits that the hope that Islam will eventually undergo a reformation and secularise may be misplaced. This has implications for the future of not just West Asia but also Western democracy. ...Hamid uses Islamic exceptionalism in a value-neutral sense i.e. exceptionalism can be either good or bad, depending on its manifestation. Nevertheless,...

The priest of Our-Lady of Aalen in Germany, Wolfgang Sedlmeir, made his disapproval of AfD leader Alice Weidel after her remarks on the Islamic veil, by wearing one during the Pentecostal sermon.I can tell you that burqas, headscarf girls and men armed with knives living on welfare, will not assure our prosperity nor our economical growth and even less our welfare state,” Weidel saidWeidel’s remarks, made during a debate in the German parliament, sparked the anger of Sedlmeier. To protest against what he perceived as “offensive and condescendent remarks”, he wore an Islamic veil during his sermon and was met...

Independent MEP Janice Atkinson has become the latest high-profile public figure to speak out about “The Great Replacement” which argues that native Brits and Europeans are being systematically replaced through mass, uncontrolled immigration.Writing in the Voice of Europe following an exclusive by Shy Society over an English Heritage training programme excluding white people, the South East England MEP says that when she first read about the theory she thought it was an “over reaction”. But the former UKIP politician has recently changed her mind and is now “absolutely convinced” that The Great Replacement is a concerted effort by globalist elites...

Church of the Archangel Michael in Grozny. Photo: pravolsavie.ru “He departed to the Lord with the name of Christ on his lips,” Fr. Sergei said of the murdered parishioner.Three innocent people, including two Internal Affairs officers, were killed when Muslim terrorists attempted to capture the Church of the Archangel Michael in Grozny, the capital city of the Russian Chechen Republic, during the Saturday evening service. The four militants were also killed by Special Ops forces: “The militants infiltrated the Church of the Archangel Michael to capture the parishioners. As a result of the quickly executed special operation, all four of...

Over fourteen centuries ago rose Muhammad, a supposedly illiterate hired hand of a rich widow, Khadija, claiming he was the bearer of a perfect life prescription from Allah: the Quran.  He claimed that humanity could do no better than to follow its precepts as well as to emulate Muhammad's own life example for a guarantee of bliss and salvation.  In exchange for this, people had to embrace Islam – surrender – by surrendering their liberty to Muhammad.  Up to this day, the Muslim world considers a perfect Muslim as someone who follows in the footsteps of Muhammad, by action and by deeds. You...

The rise of the Arab Caliphate in the seventh and eighth centuries is considered among the most important turning points in the history of the Middle East. Within two centuries,vast areas were united under the banner of Islam, and great empires were brought to their knees at the sword of the Arab soldiers. Among those great empires wasSassanid Persia, and the death of the last Sassanian emperor Yazdegerd III (r. 632-651) is usually considered the point when the Muslim forces put an end to Zoroastrianism in Iran. And while it is true that the fall of the Sassanids dealt a heavy blow to Zoroastrianism,...

It’s Ramadan and my mother is in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove preparing a big feast. She’s fasting even though she is a 64-year-old diabetic. As for myself? Earlier in the day, I had a huge fish and chips platter for lunch, but my Muslim family believes I’m fasting with them. This has gone on for years During the month of Ramadan, most of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims will observe by basically not partaking in any vice for 30 days. From sunrise to sunset all able-bodied Muslims are required to “fast”; we are prohibited from eating, drinking...

Expand | CollapseMario Joseph During his mother's pregnancy doctors wanted to abort him due to an infection in his mother's womb, but as a devout Muslim she refused."The doctors compelled my mother to kill the child (me), but she is a very good devotee of Allah, God. So she did not accept their advice," Mario Joseph explained on HM Television.At the time of his mother's pregnancy crisis she prayed: "Allah, life belongs to you so I know you can give life. If you give life to this baby I will surrender this baby to you."Joseph was led to believe his...

Prayer room designed in spirit of ‘interfaith education’A Catholic university in Davenport, Iowa recently opened a prayer space dedicated to Islamic worship, honoring the legacy of a deceased professor of the school who taught a world religions class. The prayer room, developed by a senior of St. Ambrose University in collaboration with its Saudi Student Association, is designed “specifically for students of the Islamic faith,” according to a report on local NPR station WVIK. The room features ” sinks for ritual foot-washing,” as well as “separate areas for male and female worshippers, since Islamic tradition calls for different prayer areas...

An imam of Vienna’s As-Sunnah mosque has called to establish an Islamic State and wants to introduce Sharia Law on Austrian territory, Austria’s Kronen Zeitung reports.The tape of the speech at the As-Sunnah mosque, which is runned by the VSC Cultural Association, has been delivered at Vienna’s Public Prosecutor’s Office. According to the translation from Arabic, the preacher clearly wants to create an Islamic state and introduction of Sharia law. The messages are focused on “infidels” as well. Local politician Leo Kohlbauer wants an investigation into the case: “I assume that in the background of this association is the dangerous...

Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with the Vatican to build churches for Christian citizens, according to Egyptian news media reports. Online newspaper Egypt Independent on Wednesday said the agreement was signed during a visit by Jean-Louis Tauran, the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue at the Vatican, during his visit to the kingdom in April. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the contents of the purported agreement. In an interview with Vatican News, Tauran confirmed a declaration had been signed which paved the way for further dialogue, but did not mention building future churches in Saudi Arabia. Tauran met high-level...

Saudi Arabia reportedly agreed to a historic deal with the Vatican to build Christian churches in the Kingdom, a potentially stunning development for the country that's home to Islam’s holiest site, Middle Eastern media is reporting. The move would continue the nation’s effort to transition to a “moderate Islam.” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdel Karim Al-Issa of the Muslim World League and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, allegedly signed the agreement April 14, according to the Egyptian Independent. Under the agreement, a joint committee with representatives from both parties will also be established to...

Faisalabad (Agenzia Fides) - There is a Christian chapel in the state university of Faisalabad, and is the first place of Christian worship present in a public university in Pakistan. On April 15th, Archbishop Joseph Arshad, Archbishop of Islamabad-Rawalpindi and Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Faisalabad, in the presence of Muhammad Iqbal Zafar, vice Chancellor, professors, religious, students, inaugurated St. Mary's Church in the atrium of the Agriculture University. As reported to Fides by Archbishop Arshad, the chapel is dedicated to St. Mary. Msgr. Arshad congratulated the entire Christian community of the Agricultural University for promoting the construction of...

The only recorded palimpsest in which a Christian text has been effaced to make way for the Islamic holy text is to go on sale at Christie’s An “extraordinary” discovery by an eagle-eyed scholar has identified the shadowy outlines of passages from the Bible behind an eighth-century manuscript of the Qur’an – the only recorded palimpsest in which a Christian text has been effaced to make way for the Islamic holy text. French scholar Dr Eléonore Cellard was looking for images of a palimpsest page sold a decade earlier by Christie’s when she came across the auction house’s latest catalogue,...

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi arrived Thursday in the Qatari capital Doha on a pastoral visit during which he will lay the cornerstone for the Saint Charbel Church, Lebanon's National News Agency said. Speaking to reporters, al-Rahi thanked Qatar for “offering a land lot for the construction of the Saint Charbel Church.” Qatar's cooperation “strengthens ties between the two countries,” the patriarch added, noting that “saints have the ability to unite people.” Extending gratitude to Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, al-Rahi said: “He knows that Saint Charbel reinforces the great friendship between Qatar and Lebanon, and we as Lebanese must...

The Church and Islam: Dangerous IllusionsWilliam Kilpatrick When I first began writing about the Church and Islam, I devoted a lot of space to describing ways that Church leaders could resist the spread of Islam. It seemed only a matter of time until they would wake up to the need to resist. As it turned out, however, that assessment was overly optimistic.The immediate task, as I soon learned, was not to find ways to counter Islam, but to convince the Church’s hierarchy that Islam ought to be resisted. There’s no use talking battle strategies to people who won’t admit that...

–Sialkot’s Rizwan Gujjar torched Asma using petrol after she refused to renounce her faith and marry himLAHORE: A Christian girl was set ablaze by a Muslim man in Sialkot for “refusing to renounce her faith and marry him”, Pakistan Today has learnt. According to the girl’s father Yaqoob Masih, his 25-year-old daughter Asma used to work as a domestic help at the house of Saeeduz Zaman in Mohalla Pakpura area in Sialkot.“On April 17, my son Maqsood and I went to Zaman’s house around to meet Asma and to inquire after the health of Zaman’s mother. We were sitting in...

The Arameans are a well-integrated Christian minority in the Netherlands. Originally they came from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Southern Turkey. Dutch newspaper ‘De Telegraaf’ interviewed several of them and talked about the civil war in Syria. Christian refugee Johnny Shabo says that the same group responsible for the civil war in the eighties is now responsible for more chaos. The Muslim brotherhood that attacked the regime of Assad’s father earlier, are now attacking Assad junior’s regime. Shabo says that the leaders of ISIS and Al Qaeda who are fighting in Syria are part of the Muslim brotherhood. For Christian Arameans...

Isaiah 17:1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. 2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts. 4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness...

Two men have been spared jail after they burst into evening service at a convent warning nuns they must either convert to Islam or go to hell. The 26- and 28-year-old defendants were released from court in Verdun, northeast France last week, with the magistrate citing diminished mental responsibility at the time of the incident, when he said the men were suffering from psychiatric disorders. For having inflicted “psychological violence” against the nuns they urged to convert, the prosecutor requested that each man be given a 10-month suspended prison sentence, local media reports. “There is no link between your actions...