Author Topic: Most Refuse to Convert (Read 1671 times)

poche · « **on:** July 22, 2014, 04:46:11 AM »

More than 200 Assyrian families fled in panic from Mosul on July 17 and 18 as the ISIS deadline for converting to Islam approached (AINA 2014-07-20). ISIS had issued a statement asking all Christians in Mosul to convert to Islam, pay the jizya, the poll tax on Christians, or face the sword. ISIS gave July 19 as the deadline to comply with its demands. Most Assyrians of Mosul responded by fleeing the city.

ISIS setup checkpoints at the Araby and Shallalat neighborhoods (AlSada and Biawaizah) and robbed and plundered Assyrians who were fleeing the city. ISIS took money from the Assyrians, as well as cars, cell phones, food, money, gold, including fake Jєωelry, electronic items and even medicines.

Over 85 families who had fled Baghdede (Qarawosh/Hamdaniya) reported being robbed of all of their possessions.

The fleeing Assyrians were terrified and feared for their lives. They made it safely to Dohuk (Assyrian Noohadra), where they joined thousands of other Assyrians who had fled earlier fro Mosul.

Hundred of Assyrians were forced to walk 70 kilometers (42 miles) to Tel Afar at night from Mosul after ISIS confiscated their automobiles. They carried children on their backs and arrived exhausted and dehydrated.

AINA has learned that nearly 15 Assyrian families have converted to Islam to avoid losing their life and wealth. In one instance, a young Assyrian women fled from her family who had converted, saying she did not want to become a Muslim. She is in safe hiding in North Iraq.

http://www.aina.org/news/20140720061001.htm

Let us pray that we all may be faithful in our time of trial.

poche · « **Reply #1 on:** July 23, 2014, 12:23:29 AM »

Iraqi Christians who fled the violence in the northern city of Mosul, pray at the MarAfram church in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of Mosul, in the northern province of Nineveh, on July 19, 2014 (AFP/SAFIN HAMED).BEIRUT -- The exodus of Christians from the jihadist-controlled city of Mosul has stirred controversy in Christian and Muslim communities alike in Lebanon, with social media having big role in the backlash.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), which has recently changed its name to Islamic State (IS), gave Christians in Iraq's northern area an ultimatum over the weekend to submit to Islamic rule or leave, forcing hundreds of families to flee the ancient city, which has for centuries stood as a testament of coexistence.

Through mosques' loudspeakers, the radical Sunni group gave Christians in Mosul the choice to either convert to Islam, pay a religious tax or face death.

Residents say the militants, who declared a caliphate last month headed by Abu Bakr Baghdadi, spray-painted Christian houses with the letter "N" in Arabic, which stands for Nasrani, or Christian, to identify them.

The move and the ensuing migration of Christians have sparked outrage in Lebanon.

While religious figures and Christian politicians issue statements to voice their opposition and rage over events in Mosul, many Lebanese have opted to change their profile pictures on Facebook to a picture of a yellow "N" (in Arabic) with a black background.

One Facebook user wrote: "And I am proud," after posting the gloomy picture.

"This is an Arabic letter which is being painted on Christians' homes in Mosul to identify them as Christians."

"I wish u Muslim friends would stand up to this. We need them to show the world that this is not Islam. We need to remind them that SILENCE IS A SIGN OF ACCEPTANCE," the picture read.

"Let's all stand up the same way people stood up when race was an issue in our country."

One of Lebanon's most popular bloggers, Karl Sharro, tweeted: "Let's be honest Christians and other minorities were always 2nd class citizens in most Arab countries, ISIS is merely formalizing that."

Other blamed the West and Israel for the catastrophe.

"This did not come from nothing !!! I always say when the Israeli planes are flying over somewhere, a bloodier disaster is happening somewhere else. God bless," one Lebanese wrote on Facebook.

Others described ISIS as "stupid bigots" who are committing "religious cleansing," while some questioned Western silence.

Saad Kurdi, who Photoshopped the letter "N" in Arabic on top of his own picture, said Facebook was his only means to vent.

"It is the only way I can express myself. It's because I am disappointed and frustrated by what's happening with Christians in Mosul," Kurdi, 26, told The Daily Star. "I can't do anything physically to help them. But instead of slapping someone, I post a picture."

"I am very pissed off at the situation, which should not be taken lightly," he said.

Michel Elefteriades, a Lebanese music producer, shared the letter "M," which is the first letter of "none of your business" in Arabic.

http://www.aina.org/news/20140722114325.htm

Cato · « **Reply #2 on:** July 23, 2014, 04:27:25 AM »

If they weren't Schismatics, perhaps Rome could do something for them.

poche · « **Reply #3 on:** July 23, 2014, 10:13:32 PM »

Quote from: Cato

If they weren't Schismatics, perhaps Rome could do something for them.

Chaldean Catholics and Syrian Catholics are in union with Rome. They are not schismatics. There is nothing Rome can do for them. They are in God's hands tonight.

poche · « **Reply #4 on:** July 23, 2014, 11:54:19 PM »

He refused to keep silent about the violence agaist Mosul’s Christians who are forced to choose between converting to the Muslim faith, paying the jizyah (the Islamic tax for non-Muslims) or fleeing. Professor Mahmoud Al ‘Asali, a law professor who lectures on pedagogy at the University of Mosul, had the courage to make a stand against this brutal duress which he believes go against the Muslim commandments. But he paid for this gesture with his life: he was killed by ISIS militants in Mosul yesterday.

Chaldean website ankawa.com - one of the news sources that offers the promptest updates on the inferno Christians are experiencing in Iraq – announced the news. Amidst the ocean of tragedies currently being witnessed in the Middle Eastern country, the website did not want to let this act of great courage go unnoticed. Professor Ali ‘Asali knew what he was risking: everyone in Mosul knows that in Raqqa - the Syrian city which the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant seized last year –there are many human rights activists who have paid for their opposition to ISIS’ acts of intolerance with their own lives. But Al ‘Asali was nevertheless unable to stand by in silence.

And so are many other Muslims, who have launched the “I am Iraqi, I am Christian” campaign in response to the letter N’s written on the walls of Christian homes in Mosul. Yesterday some of them turned up outside the Chaldean Church of St. George in Baghdad, with a banner displaying the slogan and posted a picture on Facebook.

But these acts of rebellion have not been successful in stopping the madness of Islamic State fundamentalists. And so today, the ethnic cleansing continued, with the jizyah – the Islamic “protection” tax which all non-Muslims are required to pay if they wish to stay or return to Mosul – being applied. The monthly figure to be paid is 450 dollars, which is an impossible sum for anyone living in Northern Iraq to pay. Today, yet another historic Christian location fell intot he hands of the Islamic State: the building in question is the Syro-Catholic monastery of Mar Benham, close to Qaraqosh, the Christian city in the Nineveh Plain where the majority of Christians have fled to. Monks have been present in mar Benham since the 4th century approximately. “They forced the three monks and some families residing in the monastery to go away and leave the keys behind,” the Syro-catholic bishop of Mosul, Yohanna Petros Moshe told Fides news agency. The Bagdadhope blog reported that the monastery underwent restoration work in 1986 and became a pilgrimage destination for Christians and some Muslims too.

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/iraq-irak-irak-35380/

This could be an example of baptism of desire and blood.

poche · « **Reply #5 on:** July 24, 2014, 02:48:37 AM »

“We need more than words now, we need concrete actions, we need the solidarity of Christians worldwide, not to be afraid to talk about this tragedy”, says Archbishop Amel Nona of Mosul speaking to Vatican Radio over the phone from Nineveh province, Northern Iraq.
Emer McCarthy reports Listen:
As if in response to this plea, over the past 24 hours a campaign has been mounting in the global twitter sphere to stand with Iraqi Christians, under the hashtag #WeAreN: This refers to the Arabic letter ن, or "n", which Islamic State militants have left on some doorways in areas under their control to indicate that the inhabitants are "Nazarene" or Christian.
The campaign is uniting Catholics, Orthodox and Protestant as well as people of good will worldwide, in an effort to raise awareness of the religious cleansing underway in Iraq. “This is a horrible term” confides Abp. Nona “but it is what is happening, it is what is going on right now on the ground”.
The pastor speaks of how his community that has been scattered to the four winds by the Islamists onslaught, he speaks of their courage in enduring persecution since 2003 and the strength that the Pope’s words during his Angelus last Sunday has given them. However, he also speaks of their fear that this brutal ethnic and religious cleansing is unfolding amid global indifference.
This is why Archbishop Nona’s appeal is not just for concrete solidarity to the thousands of displaced Iraqis but for Christians outside of Iraq to have the courage to speak up in defense of their brothers and sisters suffering in silence within Iraq.
“We made an appeal to the world explaining what happened to the Christians of Mosul, a crime against humanity”, he says. “We are also appealing for three very important things: protection for us and all other minorities, material support for the families that have fled the city of Mosul and homes and schools for those families who have left everything”.

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/07/23/christians_worldwide_mobilize_for_iraqi_church_wearen/1103264

poche · « **Reply #6 on:** July 24, 2014, 02:51:09 AM »

Christian in Arabic is Nasoriya. They are spraypainting that word on the houses of suspected Christians so that they can be looted. It is the new "N" word. I am N.