Friday, September 14, 2012

Imam Desecrates a Bible in Cairo

The video below shows an incident that occurred in Cairo on Tuesday September 11, the same day that the American embassy in the same city was overrun. It was also on Tuesday that the American ambassador to Libya was killed in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi.

Those occasions of Islamic rage were ostensibly a reaction to an American movie insulting Mohammed. Now that an imam has torn pages from a Bible in Cairo, can we expect that mobs of outraged Washingtonians will torch the Egyptian embassy in D.C.?

Well, can we?

Many thanks to Mary Abdelmassih for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:


For a refreshing take on the issue, read the comment’s at Vlad’s post containing the video.

Below is the accompanying article from AINA:

Muslim Cleric Tears Bible at Protest Outside the US Embassy in Cairo

by Mary Abdelmassih


(AINA) — During the demonstration which was held in front of the American Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday, 9/11, a Muslim cleric named Abu Islam tore and burned the Holy Bible in front of thousands of Muslims. His action was met with applause and anti-Christian cheers from the demonstrators. Before leaving the demonstration and getting into his car, he told the crowds “next time I will urinate on it.”

The video above shows the Muslim cleric tearing the Bible. The video says:

  • 0.02 “the overwhelming Book, the Book of Truth and Peace. The place for these words and this book is over the heads because it is the real inspiration... (He places the Koran on his head) voices chanting Allahu Akbar.
  • 0.30 He Says: message to the Egyptian Christians. Out of respect and politeness to the Egyptian Christians we will not do the same like what they did to our God’s book , we will be generous towards you today and say we will respect you “momentarily.” We will respect this book which is in the Arabic language.
  • 0:54 Demonstrators’ chants “Coming, Coming O Islam”
  • 1.09 Abu Islam holds another bible and says: This is the book the dog Terry believes in, as well as those dogs with him the Egyptian Christians in America.
  • 1.19 Abu Islam: Today I can only TEAR IT APART. He starts tearing the bible and throwing the leaves towards the mob, amid chants of Allahu Akbar and “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Mohammad is coming.”
  • 2.06 Abu Islam saying: to all the cross worshippers around the world we will not keep quiet . Today, we tore it.
  • 2.13 a man in blue beside him burns the bible raising it for everyone to see.
  • Abu Islam: Salamu Aleycom (Peace be with you) and leaves, with mob chanting “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Mohammad is coming.” “Governing, governing, O Koran.” “Coming, Coming O Islam.”

Dr. Mustafa Maraghy, professor of law and Islamic law at Cairo University, filed a complaint with the Attorney General against the cleric, whose real name is Ahmed Abdullah. The complaint cited Abdullah, who is the owner of the TV channel the Islamic Nation, for contempt of religion, disturbing public security and peace.

Dr Maraghy, who is the chairman of the Coptic Coalition, said that tearing and burning the Holy Bible, which all Christians in the world believe in, is a “villainous and barbaric act.” He added that it is not permitted at all to defame religions. “The same hurt feelings we felt by the film which insulted the prophet is the same that we felt by this criminal act,” he said.

He vowed that the Coptic Coalition will not ignore such “ignorant people” but will prosecute them. The Maspero Coptic Youth Union has called on President Morsy to intervene immediately to put an end to any efforts which would kindle the fire of sedition between Muslims and Copts.

Another complaint was also filed this morning against Abu Islam by Karam Gabriel, lawyer with the Copts of Egypt Coalition, for his recent burning of the Holy Bible as well as his previous insults to Christianity through his books and through his Islamic Nation TV Channel.

The Coalition, which has among its members Muslims and Copts, has issued an official statement condemning the film insulting the Prophet of Islam. Magdy Saber, spokesman for the Union, condemned Abu Islam’s tearing and burning of the Bible in front of the Copts who were present before the US Embassy, where they had gone in support of their Muslim brothers regarding to prophet’s film.

Saber demanded from officials to take the necessary measures to prevent sedition among the Egyptians. “If we condemn the film-makers of the prophet film who live outside Egypt,” he said, “we should also condemn this disgraceful act in Egypt, stressing the need to punish Abu Islam for his irresponsible actions.”

In an interview today with The Mohit newspaper, Abu Islam denied burning the Bible, he said “I tore it apart and threw it to the demonstrators to step on it with their shoes.” He added, “Next time I will make my grandson urinate on it, as the saying goes, an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth and the starter is at fault.”

Commenting on the fact that the film producers do not represent all Copts and the masses of the American people and therefore their holy book should not be insulted in response, Abu Islam said “if someone one did something, everyone bears the guilt and bears the outcome. Did not all Muslims bear the pain of what Osama bin Laden did? Did not all Muslims bear the pain of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman being described as a terrorist? Let them taste from the cup the Islamic world had to drink.”

“Until now we have not heard any condemnation from any Muslim organization or Al-Azhar,” said Coptic activist Mark Ebeid, “as our church did concerning the Prophet film. We have hope that the Church will say something about our Holy Book.”

8 comments:

Green Infidel said...

Waiting for the inevitable riots at Egyptian embassies across the World. Or at least a condemnation from President Obama...

Anonymous said...

I cannot get upset over this. My happines and peace is in that those who reject the Word will not be with Christ in His Glory.

Anonymous said...

So what! He tore a Bible..... it's just a book, it has no life of it's own, it's a physical piece of paper.....

It means NOTHING to me, I wish I owned a print shop that printed Bibles, I'd ship them all to the Middle East to let all Islamists "desecrate them" however they wished - so long as they were paid for. It's like the people who burned Beatle's albums in the South in the 1960's over Lennon's "God" remarks..... people had to actually buy the albums before they could burn them......

Do I put my values in the existence of a mere piece of paper or in my faith? A book is just a book, but the ideas contained within some books might be worthwhile.

Being from the "West" and used to provocative "artistic desecrations" of MY beloved text....... I'm more concerned about the ideas, the burning or tearing of a book doesn't mean much to me although the Nazi's were especially good at it.

If I, as a Western Christian, can tolerate the desecration of MY Holy Book and the ridicule of secularists and not have it shake MY faith, then one must ask why Muslims are so fragile in theirs......

Freedom to ridicule, to mock, to satirize, to insult, is a FIrst Amendment Right! If you don't like it, don't read it, don't view it, it's a consumer's choice. But to riot and kill and complain about "indignities and disrespect" is no way for anyone who is actually proud of, and ready to defend" their faith to behave.

Thus is the difference between the Judeo-Christian "West", the enlightened Hindu/Bhuddist/Zen/Shinto of the East and the primitive barbarism of Islam.......

Anonymous said...

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will have the last say in this war. Come, LORD Jesus!

Kepha said...

As a Christian, I leave room for the vengeance of God Almighty on that foolish imam. Come to think of it, the poverty, igrnoance,bad government, and similar things that the lands of Islam have suffered throughout the 1400 centuries of Islam may well be a divine chastisement for this kind of act done 1000 times over.

Gregory said...

Well, I have done a couple of korans and a few pictures of muhammad and will damage more in the future so I can't get upset at that old gray-haired pervert. This "prove you're not a robot" on this site is becoming a real pain.

Anonymous said...

I'm always amazed at how rabid they are. I think it's because they are so uneducated and thus so unsophisticated.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be perfect if all muslim reactions to Koran burning were like that? I burn a Koran, you burn a Bible and nobody gets hurt, only innanimate objects.