Islam’s ‘Public Enemy #1’

NRO ^ | 3/25/08 | Raymond Ibrahim

[Dawnsblood]

Though he is little known in the West, Coptic priest Zakaria Botros — named Islam’s “Public Enemy #1” by the Arabic newspaper, al-Insan al-Jadid — has been making waves in the Islamic world. Along with fellow missionaries — mostly Muslim converts — he appears frequently on the Arabic channel al-Hayat (i.e., “Life TV”). There, he addresses controversial topics of theological significance — free from the censorship imposed by Islamic authorities or self-imposed through fear of the zealous mobs who fulminated against the infamous cartoons of Mohammed. Botros’s excurses on little-known but embarrassing aspects of Islamic law and tradition have become a thorn in the side of Islamic leaders throughout the Middle East.

Botros is an unusual figure onscreen: robed, with a huge cross around his neck, he sits with both the Koran and the Bible in easy reach. Egypt’s Copts — members of one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East — have in many respects come to personify the demeaning Islamic institution of “dhimmitude” (which demands submissiveness from non-Muslims, in accordance with Koran 9:29). But the fiery Botros does not submit, and minces no words. He has famously made of Islam “ten demands,” whose radical nature he uses to highlight Islam’s own radical demands on non-Muslims.

[Dawnsblood]

Interesting article, Christianity is alive and well in the middle East.

[whipitgood]

Reminds me of the liberal left in the USA. They have zero tolerance for any point of view which disagrees with their own.

[ELS]

bttt

[fireforeffect]

Try the Good Father's web site for more info.

http://www.islam-christianity.net/

Many of the books are available in .doc and PDF.

[PGalt]

Very good article by Raymond Ibrahim. Thanks for posting, Dawnsblood. I recently purchased and started reading “The Al Qaeda Reader” (very interesting so far). Hooray Zakariah Botros! (never heard of this guy before today)

[sandyeggo]

But the ultimate reason for Botros’s success is that — unlike his Western counterparts who criticize Islam from a political standpoint — his primary interest is the salvation of souls. He often begins and concludes his programs by stating that he loves all Muslims as fellow humans and wants to steer them away from falsehood to Truth. To that end, he doesn’t just expose troubling aspects of Islam. Before concluding every program, he quotes pertinent biblical verses and invites all his viewers to come to Christ.

Botros’s motive is not to incite the West against Islam, promote “Israeli interests,” or “demonize” Muslims, but to draw Muslims away from the dead legalism of sharia to the spirituality of Christianity. Many Western critics fail to appreciate that, to disempower radical Islam, something theocentric and spiritually satisfying — not secularism, democracy, capitalism, materialism, feminism, etc. — must be offered in its place. The truths of one religion can only be challenged and supplanted by the truths of another. And so Father Zakaria Botros has been fighting fire with fire.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the link.

[El Laton Caliente]

I need to bookmark this one.

[DesScorp]

Talk about risky... Muslims that convert to other faiths are guilty of apostasy in Islam... and apostasy calls for death in sharia law. It takes tremendous faith and commitment to convert in that atmosphere.

[Mount Athos]

great find

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks...I would like to know more about this Coptic priest Zakaria Botros...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And he is on YouTube:

Father Zakaria Botros is right about some translated Quran

;

[dan1123]

Indeed, Islamic cleric Ahmad al-Qatani stated on al-Jazeera TV a while back that some six million Muslims convert to Christianity annually, many of them persuaded by Botros’s public ministry.

Amazing. Botros has many riches waiting in heaven.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Great post!

[SunkenCiv]

Botros's excurses on little-known but embarrassing aspects of Islamic law and tradition have become a thorn in the side of Islamic leaders throughout the Middle East... He has famously made of Islam "ten demands," whose radical nature he uses to highlight Islam's own radical demands on non-Muslims.

Thanks Ernest!

[dan1123]

Botros' 10 demands:

1. Strike out all the Koranic verses that deny the divinity of Jesus and the revelation of God in him
2. Acknowledge that Jesus is the spirit and word of God, as they truly believe, without hiding this fact
3. Strike out the Koranic verses and hadiths that incite to kill Christians
4. Strike out the Koranic verses and Hadiths that incite to terrorism and oppression in all their forms
5. [omitted in interview]
6. Stop the attack on Jesus and the Holy Book in mosques and in all the media
7. Give people and Muslims the freedom of... You may ask what do I care about the Muslims? No! They must have the freedom to choose their religion and the freedom to express their belief
8. Abolish the punishment for apostasy, to stop torturing people who convert to Christianity, and to stop imprisoning or even killing them
9. Formal apologies must be made by leaders throughout the Arab world for the murder of Christians in countries invaded by Islam
10. Leaders throughout the Arab world should make formal apologies for the insults directed against our faith throughout Islamic history

[Straight Vermonter]

Talk about risky... Muslims that convert to other faiths are guilty of apostasy in Islam... and apostasy calls for death in sharia law. It takes tremendous faith and commitment to convert in that atmosphere.

But still...

Islamic cleric Ahmad al-Qatani stated on al-Jazeera TV a while back that some six million Muslims convert to Christianity annually, many of them persuaded by Botros’s public ministry.

The power of Christ to draw people home is amazing.

[Straight Vermonter]

Ping

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I think I was wrong in post #12....

I believe this YouTube has the Father Zakaria

Not sure who the speaker is on the previous YouTube ...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More:

The disasters of the Quran_1

Abraigating (sp?) verses....of the koran...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Abrogation in the Quran.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Correcting my errors....

Youtube with the Good Father:

Father Zakaria answers questions Muslims about Trinity (1/3)

[G8 Diplomat]

al-Insan al-Jadid

Insaan = people in Arabic. Funny how it looks like insane :-)

Christianity isn't dead in the Middle East, it's just kept quiet so as to not lose your head. Christianity was born in the ME, and hopefully someday it will replace Islam as the dominant religion.

[Fred Nerks]

The most dramatic example of this occurred on another famous show on the international station, Iqra. The host, Basma — a conservative Muslim woman in full hijab — asked two prominent ulema, including Sheikh Gamal Qutb, one-time grand mufti of al-Azhar University, to explain the legality of the Koranic verse (4:24) that permits men to freely copulate with captive women. She repeatedly asked: “According to sharia, is slave-sex still applicable?” The two ulema would give no clear answer — dissembling here, going off on tangents there. Basma remained adamant: Muslim youth were confused, and needed a response, since “there is a certain channel and a certain man who has discussed this issue over twenty times and has received no response from you.”

related to the experiences of Australian girls who have been the victims of pack-rapes by muslim youth, this paragraph explains much.

[Fred Nerks]

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/13/1026185124700.html

Fourteen gang rapists have been convicted, or pleaded guilty, thanks to the courage of seven victims who testified for days in court as their tormentors smirked nearby, the men’s families threatened them...

[Marine_Uncle]

God bless this man's efforts. It is a wonder he has not yet been rubbed out. So many could speak out and present the Muslim world with facts they are extremely uncomfortable with at best. Their so called religion is nothing more then counterfeit.
Something that was put together over a few centuries to appear authentic to those hordes that had not a clue as to where the Lord God implanted his stamp, and to whom the prince of peace and real reconcillation and forgiveness would sprout from.