The Syrian refugee crisis in Europe
shows how those who claim to act in the best interests of Islam actually prefer
to push their agenda with bombs, while the Church is using the opportunity to
harvest more souls
The massive exodus of terrified
individuals and families from West Asia and North Africa to parts of Europe has
helped explode several myths that have been repeated regularly for aeons. Myth
number one: The Church simply serves humanity without any ulterior motive and
conversions to Christianity are voluntary and based on informed choice.
Here is a scene from the evangelical
Trinity Church in Berlin, as reported by the Associated Press. “Mohammed
Ali Zonoobi bends his head as the priest pours holy water over his black hair.
Will you break away from Satan and his evil deeds?” Pastor Gottfried Martens
asks the Iranian refugee. “Will you break away from Islam?” “Yes”, Zonoobi
fervently replies spreading his hands in blessing. Martens then baptises the
man “in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost”.
Mohammed is now Martin — no longer a
Muslim, but a Christian. Mohammed Martin is one of the hundreds of “mostly
Iranian and Afghan asylum seekers who have converted to Christianity” at the
said church, according to AP reports. And most of these new converts say
true belief prompted them to change their faith!
But anyone can see through the
charade! The Church is taking advantage of helpless victims who are desperate
to escape death and persecution back home. They have risked their lives,
trudged long distances through snow and rain in search of security, both
physical and economic, which Europe offers.
Obviously, overwhelming human
instinct for survival over rides their commitment to the faith that the
unfortunate refugees were born into. Converting to Christianity will ensure
that they are not deported back.
The evangelical Trinity Church in
Berlin is not acting in isolation. Pope Francis has called upon Catholic
parishes, convents and monasteries across Europe to provide shelter to refuges
who are “fleeing death” from war and hunger. Invoking the Gospel and citing the
example of Mother Teresa, the Pope has asked the faithful “to be neighbours to
the smallest and most abandoned to give them concrete hope”.
One does not have to read in between
the lines. The message is loud and clear. Reach out to the needy and hungry.
Strike now, the iron is hot. For the church, it’s time for business — buy a
soul for a loaf of bread. Is it not the way souls have been won over to the
faith for hundreds of years across the continents? It’s a time tested strategy
which seldom fails.
Myth number two: There is a Islamic
super state, an ummah, where the boundaries are supposed to go and one
Islamic supra-nation prevails. What did the rich Arab nations like Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates do for these refugees, most of
whom are Muslims themselves? An Arab newspaper Al-Khateeb carried a
report on September 4, telling the world about the resettlement contribution of
these rich Arab nations to the survival of these Islamic refugees. Against each
rich Arab Gulf country, the surprising figure was a big zero.
The Washington Post’s correspondent Ishan Tharoor pointed out in another
report, “These countries have some of the Arab world’s largest military
Budgets, highest standards of living. Some of them played conspicuous role in
funding and arming a constellation of rebel and Islamist factions fighting the
Syrian Government of President Assad”.
That means, these Gulf countries
themselves are responsible in creating the armed power struggle going on for
several years now in the area in which many of them are involved either
directly or indirectly. The flood of people, escaping the horrible
civilian consequence of this conflict is their own creation.
But when it comes to supporting the
survival of these human beings, mostly women and children, they seem to be
utterly unconcerned. Though they claim a billion dollars contribution in
various forms for these refugees, the US alone has spent four times that
amount. In addition, the conflict goes on. The flood of refugees, therefore, is
bound to continue.
What is going on in Yemen for the
last three years is, in a sense, a mirror image of what is happening in
Syria, a power struggle between the Shia and the Sunni factions of the Islamic
world, with some local twists. One faction is led by Saudi Arabia, the other by
Iran.
Starting from across North Africa
and ending in Pakistan, the meltdown between the two factions, the suicide
bombings including the destruction of mosques, territorial expansion, wars, are
all happening. Where then is the Islamic superstate? First, let these
fundamentalists decide between the Sunni-Shia divide on who is a ‘true’ Muslim.
They want to decide by being at each others’ throat, and hold civil society to
ransom.
The history of Wahhabism that began
in Egypt and created an Osama bin Laden — the divine leader who would lead the
fight to end all opposition to Islamisation — is plain enough in explaining
this hatred as the driving force. After the killing of Osama bin Laden, the
leadership for this fight has been captured by the Islamic State with its
self-styled caliph.
When the Ali brothers launched the
Khilafat movement in un-divided India, it was the same driving force of an
Islamic caliphate that provided fuel among the Muslims in this country too. At
that time, England and France together (to serve their colonial interests) had
ended the Ottoman Empire which was seen by Muslims as a religious attack on
Islam.
The movement called for the
restoration of the caliphate. By supporting this movement, inadvertently
Mahatma Gandhi watered the seeds of separation of India along religious lines.
As it happened in Turkey, the caliphate was finally liquidated by Army officers
led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk who crushed the religious movement and imposed a
secular state.
Back to 2015: Civilised society
continues to face serious threats from those who claim divine injunction to
force their God, Holy Book and the Prophet on “kafirs, pagans, heathens etc..”.
History is replete with numerous instances of massive human bloodshed through
crusades and jihad, all in the name of ‘the god’. The gory process goes
on unabated.
While those claiming to be acting on
behest of Islam continue to push their agenda with bombs, the church has
changed it’s stratagem, though it’s goal remains unchanged. Now, it’s violence
against human dignity is bloodless; deceit and inducement are the weapons in
it’s armory. A large part of the European establishment funds these
sordid covert operations — of destabilising and destroying ‘pagan’
societies.
Whether you use money or a missile
to push your ‘holy’ agenda, you are surely on the wrong side of
civilisation and a threat to global peace.
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