Most of us have heard the phrase “Canary in the Coal Mine.” If it died the miners knew there were dangerous gases around. The term has been used of the Jews. The rise of anti-Semitism and violence against Jews is the Canary. The West should be concerned that Asia Bibi is also the Canary in the Coal Mine. Will we heed the warning signs?
Note: Asia Bibi is a Pakistani Catholic woman who was accused of blasphemy, imprisoned for eight years, and sentenced to execution. At the time of writing, she has been acquitted. However, her future currently remains uncertain. Notably, at the time of writing, Prime Minister Imram Khan has prohibited Bibi from leaving Pakistan.
Raymond Ibrahim notes:
“Hang the infidel” is the cry emanating from thousands of Muslim throats in Pakistan. The reason: Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of insulting Islam’s prophet Muhammad, has apparently not suffered enough… Muslims everywhere in Pakistan demand that she still be put to death.
For many years we’ve had the narrative that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance shoved down our collective throats. Anyone who dares question that proposition is shamed as Islamophobic. They’re accused of hate speech; often have their comments removed from social media and their videos from YouTube. Islam has become a Sacred Cow in the West.
Even President George W. Bush – who had the misfortune to occupy the presidency during a major terror attack on American soil – held the position that Islam was being misrepresented by terrorist entities. Did he arrive at that conclusion through studying the Qur’an? This is highly unlikely. In the article Islam Got Your Tongue? Bosch Fawstin writes:
George W. Bush was told by his religion advisor, David Forte, right after 9/11, that “Nothing this evil could come from religion.” Forte was interested in defending religion, not in telling the truth. And Bush aped him, which ensured that many more innocents would be murdered by an enemy that we refused to understand, and this has tragically come to pass.
I’ve been spun the line that Sharia Law isn’t a problem and that Islam is essentially peaceful. You’re often confidently (perhaps hopefully) informed that the real problem is that terrorists misinterpret the Qur’an. Are any of these assumptions derived from investigation? Or are they “truths” acquired through constant affirmations of media Islamophiles and apologists for Islam?
Pope Francis thinks Islam is okay too. Is he a student of the Qur’an as well as Scripture? Yes, there was more than a hint of sarcasm there.
Robert Spencer has commented on Turkish moderate Mustafa Akyol’s recent attempt to white wash Islam in a New York Times article. Akyol claims true Islam doesn’t behead blasphemers. I wonder how many NYT readers bothered fact-checking Akyol. And I wonder how many more might prefer to bury their collective heads in the sand. Spencer provides several rebuttals. Here’s one:
In reality, there is much support in the Qur’an for the death penalty for blasphemy. It can arguably be found in this verse: “Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment.” (5:33)
Calling Spencer a hater is a convenient way to avoid the evidence. Yet if Islam has been so horribly misunderstood by extremists and Islamophobes, then you must lump the world’s Islamic nations into the mix. We must ask the obvious question: Where is Islam today practiced in its universally benevolent, tolerant spirit? – Certainly not in modern Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Pakistan or Malaysia.
In fact I post daily prayers on our Zeteo 3:16 Facebook Page on behalf of the Voice of the Martyrs. The overwhelming reason for these prayer requests are Christians suffering Islamic intolerance and persecution in various countries. How can so many practicing Muslims get Islam so wrong?
This isn’t a modern phenomenon either. Despite various attempts at historical revisionism by apologists, Islam has a long record of terror and oppression. Charles Spurgeon once observed that Mohammad’s religion is maintained by scimitars. In the book Taking Hold of God, Joel Beeke notes that Matthew Henry devised prayers for those suffering under Islamic oppression:
He [Henry] called us to pray for all men, to cry out that the nations would praise the Lord and sing for joy, to pray for the conversion of the Jewish people, for the suffering of the churches in Islamic nations, and for the conversion of atheists and deists…
Asia Bibi really is the canary in the coal mine in regards to Islam. Let’s pay attention. There ought to be a global outcry by proponents of “tolerant Islam” in her defense. Instead, we see the opposite. Islam has never been a religion of peace. Its existence has always relied on the sword.
Matthew Henry was right. This calls for fervent prayer. Pray for Asia Bibi and her family, and for all those who suffer oppression – not just because of Islam, but in places like India and China. Let us also pray for the salvation of all these people who are under the power of the god of this world – to the glory of God!
May the Lord come quickly!
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