Saudi Arabia: Strong Lightning Strikes Mecca's Grand Mosque Killing 87 and Injuring 180 during 9/11 Anniversary

Carnage in Mecca: At least 101 people killed after Bin Laden firm crane collapses on Grand Mosque during freak lightning storm
Source: DailyMail

• Upsetting pictures on social media show bodies strewn across floor after crane crashed straight through ceiling
• Accident struck while millions of Muslims are in the holy city for annual hajj pilgrimage which starts later this month
• Authorities had issued extreme weather warnings and earlier photos capture mosque being struck by lightning
• Crane part of massive project to increase the area of the mosque so it can accommodate 2.2million people at once

At least 87 people were killed and more than 180 injured when a crane crashed through the ceiling of the Grand Mosque of Mecca amid high winds and thunderstorms today.

Dramatic footage shows the moment the crane toppled in heavy rain, with another video capturing the chaos and confusion inside the building as people run for cover after the impact.

Photos posted on social media shows the polished tiled floor of the mosque covered in rubble, bodies and pools of blood, and people fleeing the area bleeding and covered in soot.

The tragic incident in Saudi Arabia occurred shortly before the 6:30pm Friday evening prayer session - one of the busiest times of the week - causing devastation to what is the largest mosque in the world.

The crane fell into the east side of the mosque, with the top section of the structure crashing into the roof, killing at least 87 people - with nine Indian citizens, 16 Pakistanis and 15 Iranians reportedly among the dead.

The governor of Mecca region, Prince Khaled al-Faisal, has ordered an investigation into the incident and was heading to the mosque, the official @makkahregion page on Twitter said.

Online activists created a hashtag on Twitter urging Mecca residents to donate blood at hospitals in the area.

The crane belongs to a German crane company operated by the Bin Laden family's consortium, who are heading the expansion of the Holy Mosque.

Saudi BinLaden Group was founded by Osama's Bin Laden's billionaire father Mohammed and the sprawling construction conglomerate runs a large amount of major building contracts in the Sunni kingdom.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are gathering at the holy site from all over the world for the annual hajj pilgrimage set to begin later this month.

A massive £14billion project is currently underway to increase the area of the mosque by 4.3million sq ft - so that it can accommodate up to 2.2 million people at once.

Pictures taken before the disaster show the crane being struck by a bolt of lightning and authorities are in little doubt extreme weather was to blame.

Earlier, the Civil Defense had issued thunderstorm, heavy rain and wind warnings in the area and authorities say search and rescue teams and medical workers from the Saudi Red Crescent are now at the scene.

The Grand Mosque, or Great Mosque of Mecca, surrounds Islam's holiest place, the Kaaba, in the city of Mecca.

The mosque is usually at its most crowded on Fridays as it is the Muslim weekly day of prayer, when Muslims face in the direction of the Kaaba while performing their obligatory daily prayers.

One of the five pillars of Islam requires every Muslim to perform the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.

Muslim faithful from about 160 countries converge on the Islamic city and other locations in western Saudi Arabia to complete the holy journey.

The pilgrimage, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, has been prone to disasters in the past, mainly from stampedes as pilgrims rushed to complete rituals and return home. Hundreds of pilgrims died in such a stampede in 2006.

Saudi authorities have since lavished vast sums to expand the main haj sites and improve Mecca's transportation system, in an effort to prevent more disasters.

Security services often ring Islam's sacred city with checkpoints and other measures to prevent people arriving for the pilgrimage without authorization.

Those procedures, aimed at reducing crowd pressure which can lead to stampedes, fires and other hazards, have been intensified in recent years as security threats grow throughout the Middle East.

Last year, the kingdom reduced the numbers permitted to perform haj for safety reasons because of construction work to enlarge the Grand Mosque.

Al Jazeera's Hasan Patel, reporting from Mecca, said witnesses told him that a crane fell on the third floor of the Grand Mosque around 5.45pm.

Our correspondent said the mosque was packed, even though the incident happened shortly before the 6.30pm prayer.

'Dozens of ambulances are heading to the site. The authorities closed off the area shortly afterwards,' he said.

'This whole place is already a construction site. What made it worse is that around 5.30pm there was severe rain and it's just gushing down the road,' he said.

'I am surrounded by people who are grieving. The mood here is of sadness.'

Al Jazeera's Omar Al Saleh said bad weather was thought to be the cause of the accident - western Saudi Arabia has been hit by strong sand storms in the last few days.

Khaled Al-Maeena, editor at large at the Saudi Gazette in Jeddah, said the incident happened during a strong thunderstorm.

'The scene is of shock ... and people are wondering what happened,' he said.

'Many of the (Hajj pilgrims) go to Medina first. If this was one or two days before the actual Hajj ... I would have expected that the death toll and the injured and the casualties would have been much higher,' Al Maeena said.

Several cranes surround the mosque to support the ongoing expansion and other construction work that has transformed the area around the sanctuary.

Steep hills and low-rise traditional buildings that once surrounded the mosque have in recent years given way to shopping malls and luxury hotels - among them the world's third-tallest building.

The mosque stands at 3.84 million square feet and can hold up to 820,000 worshippers, but this latest renovation will increase it to 4.3 million square feet, allowing it to accommodate up to 2.2 million at a time.   

See More Photos....

THE ISRAEL TIMES: Saudi grand mufti calls for demolition of churches

Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah says Christian religious sites in Arabian Peninsula must be razed in accordance with Muslim law

BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF

Saudi Arabia’s top Muslim cleric called on Tuesday for the destruction of all churches in the Arabian Peninsula after legislators in the Gulf state of Kuwait moved to pass laws banning the construction of religious sites associated with Christianity

Speaking to a delegation in Kuwait, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, who serves as the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, said the destruction of churches was absolutely necessary and is required by Islamic law, Arabic media reported.

Abdullah, who is considered to be the highest official of religious law in the Sunni Muslim kingdom, also serves as the head of the Supreme Council of Ulema (Islamic scholars) and of the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Issuing of Fatwas.

Last month, Osama Al-Munawer, a Kuwaiti member of parliament, announced his plans to submit a draft law calling for the removal of all churches in the country, according to the Arabian Businesses news site. Al-Munawer later clarified that the law would only apply to new churches, while old ones would be allowed to stay erect.

Read more: Saudi grand mufti calls for demolition of churches | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/saudi-grand-mufti-calls-for-demolition-of-churches/#ixzz3VFgro8Pn

Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook

CRIME worst than killing: HAVING a BIBLE! Why there's so much fear for Muslims to read the Bible?

When Muslims would tell you that ISLAM is a RELIGION of PEACE and TOLERANCE, that's not exactly what's in their hearts. In Saudi, having a Bible is a crime; wearing a cross is a public offense but when they kill and butcher there's no moral question for that.  Judeo-Christian sense of morality is not compatible with Islamic sense of morality.  Our common human moral standards with Jews, Hindus, Buddhist, Taoist are in exact opposite to Islamic jurisprudence.  -CD2000

Report: Islamic Saudi Arabia Passes Law That May Impose Death Penalty on Bible Smugglers (Source: ChristianNews)

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Recent reports state that officials in the Islamic country of Saudi Arabia have passed a law that may impose the death penalty on Bible smugglers and any others distributing religious materials that are not of the Muslim religion.

“[T]he new law extends to the importing of all illegal drugs and ‘all publications that have a prejudice to any other religious beliefs other than Islam,'” Paul Washer’s HeartCry Missionary Society outlines in a post on their website. “In other words, anyone who attempts to bring Bibles or gospel literature into the country will have all materials confiscated and be imprisoned and sentenced to death.”

It points to an article on the Copts Today website, which notes that “indecent materials and publications” are also included in the customs prohibition.

Reporters have attempted to obtain confirmation of the report from Saudi Arabia’s U.S. Embassy press officer in Washington, but the information has neither been confirmed or denied.

“Sometimes they don’t want to say anything (to the media),” a representative named Cecelia told WND.

The United Nations has also declined to comment on whether or not the report is accurate.

As the HeartCry Missionary Society notes in pointing to a video on Prayercast, Saudi Arabia has a long history of hostility toward Christians, as it is illegal to convert to Christianity in the country, a crime considered to be apostasy against Islam and punishable by death.

“Christians are raped, abducted, murdered, and beaten on a daily basis. Saudis who accept Christ as their Savior are choosing to pick up a cross of ostracism, discrimination, harassment, and even death,” it outlines. “They risk losing their jobs, access to education for their children, or even the right to basic utilities like water and electricity.”

Open Doors International likewise reports that Christians are forced to worship in secret as it classifies Saudi Arabia as #6 on its “World Watch List” of the 100 most dangerous places to live as a Christian. Saudi Arabia is the home of Mecca and the “Mosque of the Prophet,” which contains the tomb of the Islamic prophet Mohammad.

“The open practice of any religion other than Islam is forbidden here, and conversion to another faith is punishable by death. Most Christians are ex-pats from Asia or Africa,” it states. “During 2013, several Christian migrant fellowships were raided by police, and tens of worshipers detained and deported. Muslim-background believers run the risk of honor killing if their faith is discovered.”

The U.S. Department of State noted several other cases in its 2009 report on religious freedom in the country.

“On January 13, 2009, [Hamoud Saleh] Al-Amri was arrested for discussing his Christian faith on his blog,” it explained. “The case received international attention and advocacy groups such as the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) campaigned for Al-Amri’s release.”

“On January 29, 2009, Sabri Bogday, a Turkish barber, returned to Turkey after the King [of Saudi Arabia] pardoned him,” the government report also outlined. “On March 31, 2008, Bogday was sentenced to death after two men reported to authorities that he blasphemed God and the Prophet Muhammad in his barber shop. On May 1, 2008, an appellate court upheld his conviction of blasphemy, necessitating the pardon.”

“On August 12, 2008, Okhdood.com and Gulfnews.com reported that a member of the CPVPV in the Eastern Province murdered his sister after confirming she had converted to Christianity,” it continued. “She had reportedly revealed the story of her conversion on a website posting. The story was picked up and widely reported by other Internet news outlets, some of which provided additional detail, including that she wrote about her family’s hostility toward her after heated discussions about her new faith.”

Despite the consequences, a number of Muslims are receiving the gospel nonetheless.

“[A] small but growing number of Muslims are coming to Christ and sharing their faith on the internet and satellite TV,” Open Doors USA states.

“[T]he Church flourishes under persecution, and the body of underground believers in Saudi Arabia is no exception,” adds Prayercast. “No one is beyond the reach of God’s hand; pray for the Saudis to have the courage to take hold of it.”

When in Rome Saudis behave like Romans

Saudi students are seen at a university in Ireland in this file photo. (AN photo)

By DIANA AL-JASSEM | ARAB NEWS (Also available in Maktoob.com)

JEDDAH: Saudis traveling abroad for summer vacation find it difficult to respect the rules of the country they are visiting.

Saudis studying and living abroad are calling on their compatriots to avoid bad behavior on the road and in public, as not respecting local laws could land them in trouble.

Many Saudis traveling for vacation claimed it had been difficult for them to respect the laws of the countries they visit because they do not respect their own laws in the Kingdom.

US Commission Names 14 Worst Violators Of Religious Freedom

EWTN - For the first time, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has listed Egypt among the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.

In its 2011 annual report, the commission recommended that the State Department designate 14 nations--Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam--as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs).

Living in Secret in Saudi Arabia

Interview With Scholar on Churches in the Middle East

Photo Source: CancerShrine Blog

ROME, APRIL 4, 2011 (EWTN / Zenit.org).- Saudi Arabia is considered holy ground by the Muslim majority who live there. Hence, Christians and even Muslims of other sects, face severe restrictions.

Christians make up only about 3% of the population, but they have no churches and never display their faith in public.

Professor Camille Eid, a journalist, author, professor at the University of Milan and expert on the Churches of the Middle East, spoke about the Saudi Arabia situation with the television program "Where God Weeps" of the Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN) in cooperation with Aid to the Church in Need.

Q: Saudi Arabia is a hereditary monarchy based on the foundation of Wahhabi Islam. What is this branch of Islam?

Eid: Wahhabism is a new doctrine of Islam. Its founder is Abd-al Wahhab, who was a religious scholar of Hanafi Islam, which is the strictest doctrine of Islam. He decided that all innovations -- "Bida" is the term in Arabic -- in Islam should be eliminated. A visit to a cemetery for instance is considered a bida-innovation and is prohibited. You cannot do anything that the Prophet Mohammed and his companions did not do. So the alliance between the followers of Wahhabi and the prince of Najd in central Arabia created the birth of this Saudi Arabian kingdom. Saudi Arabia takes its name from the Saud family. This house of Saud alliance with the Wahhabi sect is still true today and the successors of the kingdom follow this strict instruction and doctrine of Wahhabism; the laws of the kingdom follow the strict guidelines of Wahhabism.

Q: What about the Shia?

Eid: The Shia make up almost 10% of the population and they face much discrimination. They are concentrated mainly in the eastern part of the kingdom. There is another sect of the Shia, the Ismaili, and they are very near the Yemeni border. The kingdom and its leadership subscribe to Wahhabism.

Q: The Quran is Saudi Arabia’s constitution. What position does the Quran or this constitution take toward non-Muslims?

Eid: The Quran distinguishes between Christians and Jews, and other unbelievers. Christians and Jews are called the “People of the Book,” or the books if you want -- the Gospel and the Torah. Sometimes in the Quran, Christians are described in a very positive way. The Christian monarch and priests pray. But, during the second period in the Prophet’s revelation, Christians are described as unbelievers and [it's said they] should pay the "Jizya," the tax necessary to be protected in an Islamic society. There seems to be a contradiction in the book itself. That is why we have a liberal and a violent Islam. The violent Islam is a result of the second revelation that occurred during the last reign of Mohammed and as a result the current Islamic societies state that the events of the second revelation should be followed and not the previous revelations, which are more tolerant.

Q: The government is built on the principles of Sharia. What is Sharia? 

Eid: Sharia is the summa of the Quran, the Hadith, which are the statements of Mohammed, and other sources such as the Ishma, which is the consensus of all Islamic scholars (Ulema). Sharia Law is taken from all these.

Q: All residents who live in Saudi Arabia are subjected to the law of Sharia?

Eid: All residents are subjected to this law and you cannot object because it is tantamount to objecting to Islam. Upon arrival at the airport you are informed immediately that you are to abide by the strict Islamic laws. I as a Christian, for instance, had a Pepsi in my hand during Ramadan. I noticed that everybody was looking at me in a certain way and they could have beaten me. You cannot eat outside or in public during the fast. You can only eat in secret. So you have to observe the fast even if you are not Muslim because that is the law.

Q: Christians constitute the biggest non-Muslim group in Saudi Arabia. How do Christians live their faith in Saudi Arabia?

Eid: In secret. It is forbidden to have Bibles, religious images and rosaries; if they are detected at the airport they are immediately confiscated. There was an instance when I was at the Jeddah Airport with a videocassette and they asked to view this cassette. The video was about Spartacus. I was suddenly fearful that they would see the image of the crucifixion. The guard eventually allowed it because it was a soldier being crucified and not Jesus Christ. ... It is hard. They say that Christians can pray privately but what does private mean? Does it mean alone or with your family? When more than two, or a group of families, are praying together in the privacy of their home the religious police can come in and intervene and arrest them.

Q: What happens to the Christian that is caught with a rosary in their pocket or wearing a cross?

Eid: If it is in a pocket nobody can see it. If, however you are seen wearing a cross, any Muslim -- and not just the police -- can take it away. You will be arrested and risk expulsion from the kingdom. They will haul you to prison and after a few days you will be issued an exit visa. It will be over for you.

Q: What other kind of Christian activities are punishable by law?

Eid: All public manifestation of any faith other than Islam is punishable. They do know that the Americans, French and Italians celebrate the Mass for Christmas and Easter inside the embassies but because the embassy is extra-territorial, the law does not apply. The police, however, are around to monitor. There are no churches, synagogues or temples in the kingdom. All manifestations of other faiths are prohibited.

Q: Who enforces the law?

Eid: You have 5,000 religious police divided among 100 districts, but any Muslim can enforce the law by denouncing the individual. I spent two and half years in Jeddah; I was afraid to extend the Easter and Christmas greetings even via phone because I was afraid that someone might be listening. The religious police control everything including the bookshops because it is prohibited to sell any card with non-Muslim themes. Some years ago in the American school, a Santa Claus was almost arrested but he managed to escape through a window. It is prohibited.

Q: Are Christians a particular target of persecution or discrimination?

Eid: Not just Christians but the non-Wahhabi versions of Islam such as the Shia or Ismaili. Not all Christian communities suffer equally. American, Italian, French and British -- in fact most Europeans and other First World countries -- suffer less because they know that these countries are powerful and will intervene immediately to protect their citizens. So they target the Christians of the Third World like Eritrea, India and the Philippines. These countries fear the loss of revenue from their citizens living in the kingdom. So they target the Christians of these weaker Third World countries.

Q: It has been said that Filipino maids have been accused of communicating the faith to the children of the wealthy Saudis that employ them. Do you know anything about this?

Eid: The Islamic catechism talks about the risk of communicating faith. The Saudi version states: “When you go abroad you should not develop a relationship or friendship with your professors because you should remember that they are infidels." This criterion also applies to the Filipino women in Saudi Arabia. Any communication can only occur by testimony not by words.

Q: Only through witness?

Eid: Only through witness and that is why they have suggested substituting Filipinos, or Christian women in general, with Egyptian, Moroccan or Algerian women so that they cannot communicate the faith to the children.

Q: We have talked about discrimination. We have talked about persecution. How far can this persecution go?

Eid: To death. We have a case of the martyrdom of a Saudi girl who converted to Christianity. Her brother discovered her. She wrote a poem to Christ and she had her tongue cut, she disappeared and was later found dead. Her name was Fatima Al-Mutairi and this happened in August of 2008. In 2008 two cases of raids by the religious police saw men, women and children less than 3 years old arrested. We have many reports of torture; before they are deported to their country these Filipinos, Indians and Eritreans are tortured by the police in the prisons.

Q: You mentioned the case of Fatima who converted to Christianity. What is the number of Muslims converting? Do you have any information or is it impossible to know?

Eid: It is not possible. Saudi society is difficult to penetrate because the regime monitors every activity. Sometimes you notice this from the women’s perspective. When these Saudi women go abroad, even upon entry in the airplane, they remove the hijab. In Lebanon and other countries they drink alcohol. When they return to their country they know that that have to abide by the laws.

Q: … and converts?

Eid: Christian converts do exist. I follow the Arabic media channels, which broadcast to Saudi Arabia and the whole Arab world, and during the transmission many calls originate from Saudi Arabia. Those converts who travel to Morocco and Egypt talk about their experience but do not mention their names and request only that the Christian community pray for them because they desire to see the day when they will be allowed to go to a church, to be able to have access to the Gospels and to be able to share their new faith with their own family. If a convert informs his/her brother or father of his/her new faith, he or she faces the danger of being charged with treason by the family; a treason not only of one’s family but also to the nation and society in general. Apostasy is a question of honor and as such it is considered treason.

Q: Professor Samir Khalil Samir, an Egyptian Quran scholar, stated that within the Quran, there is no obligation to kill an apostate. Where does this expression of violence come from?

Eid: Exactly. In the 14th [book] of the Quran there is talk about apostasy but there is no talk of a penalty in this life but rather in the second life. This change comes from the Hadith of Mohammed in which he said that whomever changes religion should be killed. But a problem again arises from this, because with the thousands of Hadith, there is no proof that Mohammed actually said this. Many Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan under the Taliban, Iran and Yemen, and so on, apply the death penalty based on a Hadith that can't be a hundred percent proven that it is from Mohammed.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the lay Catholics living in Saudi Arabia?

Eid: It is hard to be a lay Catholic in Saudi Arabia because you have to have a very deep background in your faith. You cannot have copies of the Gospel in your home. You cannot have a rosary. You cannot have contact with your Christian friends as a community; you can have Christian friends, you can frequent the foreign communities but you are prohibited from talking about your faith. So the only possibility is to have a strong awareness and knowledge of your faith that you can bank on in this environment. In other Islamic countries Friday is a holiday so Mass as a community [is allowed], but not on Sunday because Sunday is considered a working day; but even this is not the case in Saudi Arabia. So you are a community by yourself. Usually you do not even have your own family because Saudi Arabia has restrictions on family reunification. If you have a daughter who is more than 18 years of age, she cannot stay in Saudi Arabia if she is not married. So most have their families somewhere else. So you are alone and with no contact to other Catholics, which is very hard, and so you have to have the strength of faith in your heart; to be able to pray with out the prayer books, to just know and pray the prayers you have learned by heart from your childhood.

* * *

This interview was conducted by Mark Riedemann for "Where God Weeps," a weekly TV; radio show produced by Catholic Radio & Television Network in conjunction with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

Saudi Arabia: Where Carrying The Rosary Is A Crime

EWTN News - Camille Eid, a professor at the University of Milan, describes the persecution Christians endure in Saudi Arabia. Eid, who has lived in Jeddah-- the nation’s second-largest city-- told the television program “Where God Weeps” that it is hard to be a lay Catholic in Saudi Arabia because you have to have a very deep background in your faith. You cannot have copies of the Gospel in your home. You cannot have a rosary. You cannot have contact with your Christian friends as a community; you can have Christian friends, you can frequent the foreign communities but you are prohibited from talking about your faith … In other Islamic countries Friday is a holiday so Mass as a community [is allowed], but not on Sunday because Sunday is considered a working day; but even this is not the case in Saudi Arabia.

“We have a case of the martyrdom of a Saudi girl who converted to Christianity,” Eid adds. “Her brother discovered her. She wrote a poem to Christ and she had her tongue cut, she disappeared and was later found dead. Her name was Fatima Al-Mutairi and this happened in August of 2008. In 2008 two cases of raids by the religious police saw men, women and children less than three years old arrested. We have many reports of torture.”

Saudi Arabia: Christians and Jews NOT Benefiting from King Abdullah's Reforms Program Opposed by Clerics

The king's campaign to totally overhaul the Saudi textbooks to remove chapters which promote bigotry and religious fanaticism against Christians, Jews and Shi'ites was met with strong resistance.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and World's Single Most Authoritative Figure Pope Benedict XVI, leader of World's 1.2 billion Catholics meeting at the Vatican (Source: Saudi Embassy)

By Reuters

Saudi King Abdullah's reforms

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, who came to power in 2005 as the sixth ruler of the top oil exporter, started cautious reforms as part of his drive to open up the absolute monarchy and create jobs for its growing population.

Abdullah, believed to be aged about 87, went to the United States in November for medical treatment for a blood clot that complicated a slipped spinal disc.

He arrived in Morocco from New York on Saturday for convalesence, state media said.

Saudi Arabia remains an absolute monarchy, so economic and social policies depend on who is leading the country. Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz is considered to be in a strong position to assume the leadership if serious health problems afflict the king and the crown prince.

Saudi cleric sees 'devil' behind suicide attacks

By AFP

RIYADH - A top Saudi cleric has slammed suicide attacks by Islamist martyrdom-seekers as devilish acts that do not qualify as jihad, a Saudi newspaper reported on Friday.

"He (a suicide bomber) claims to be a mujahed (holy warrier) in the name of Allah, but he is not. He is fighting in the name of the devil who has tempted him and convinced him" to carry out the attack, said Sheikh Saleh al-Fawzan.

"A Muslim is prohibited from killing himself," the member of the Saudi supreme council of Islamic scholars said in a lecture in Riyadh, according to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

He said acts of violence branded as jihad, or Muslim holy war, were nothing more than "sabotage."

"This is not jihad. This is sabotage and unrightful killing," the cleric said, adding that jihad in Islam should only be declared by the leader of the Muslim community.

Gulf activists condemn attacks on Arab Christians

By AFP

KUWAIT CITY - Dozens of academics, writers and rights activists from conservative Gulf states strongly condemned on Monday a wave of bombings targeting Christians in Arab countries, notably Egypt and Iraq.

"We strongly condemn the wave of killings and terror targeting Christians in the Arab and Muslim worlds," said a statement received by AFP and signed by around 60 intellectuals, the majority of whom are Saudis and Kuwaitis.

"We condemn attempts by terror groups to isolate them (Christians) and force them to immigrate from their land and homes," said the statement.

A New Year's Day bombing of a church in Alexandria, Egypt, killed 21 people while militants attacked a Baghdad cathedral on October 31 leaving 44 worshippers, two priests and seven security force personnel dead.

On New Year's Eve, two Iraqi Christians were killed and 16 wounded as 10 bombs exploded at different Christian homes in Baghdad.

The statement said the attacks were a trend that is forcing minorities, especially Christians, to flee the region and that were due to the absence of "modern civil laws" that treat people equally, regardless of religion.

Attacks such bombing in Egypt intended to frame Muslims -- Mufti

Thanks to JihadWatch.org for this article.

RIYADH, Jan 3 (KUNA) -- The General Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdel Aziz Aziz Bin Abdullah Al-Alsheikh condemned on Monday the blast that had taken place in Alexandria, claiming lives and wounding dozens of Egyptian citizens.

The incidents in Alexandria that have been condemned by the whole world, namely the kingdom, are not related to Islam; nor serve the heavenly religion, said the Mufti in a statement he made at the inauguration of a traditional calligraphy exhibition at King Abdul Aziz Dar.

Enemies of Islam are trying to portray such attacks as orchestrated by Muslims, with the intention to rally hatred against the nation, the Mufti warned.

Such attacks are aimed at weakening the Muslim nation, creating chias among its ranks and paving way for the enemies to score points against the Muslims, Al-Alsheikh added.

These grave incidents bleed the hearts of Muslims, he stressed, urging Muslims to be vigilant vis a vis plots made behind curtains by their enemies.

The persecution of Christians in the ‘Muslim world’

ChristiansOfIraq and WorldMag

Dec. 15, 2010

The New York Times this week ran a front-page article on Christian persecution in Iraq, noting, “A new wave of Iraqi Christians has fled to northern Iraq or abroad amid a campaign of violence against them and growing fear that the country’s security forces are unable or, more ominously, unwilling to protect them.” The Times goes on to inform us that “more than half of Iraq’s Christian community, estimated to number 800,000 to 1.4 million before the American-led invasion in 2003, have already left the country.”

What is the Obama administration doing to put pressure on the al-Maliki government in Baghdad to stop these murders of Christians? We have heard endlessly of this administration’s “outreach to the Muslim world.” That term—“Muslim world”—may itself be part of the problem. By telling Shia and Sunni Muslims that the Middle East is their world, are we not saying that Middle Eastern Christians and Jews don’t belong there?

The Christian community in Iraq has been there since the beginnings of the Church. Bible readers will recognize Nineveh Province, one of the regions in modern-day Iraq. Didn’t some biblical character named Jonah have a rendezvous with destiny there? The Chaldean Assyrian Christians—note their Bible name—speak Aramaic, which is the language scholars tell us Jesus spoke. Yet these people, too, are being driven away.

To Our Arab Christian Citizens by Mshari Al-Zaydi

Thanks to Mr. Mshari for this wonderful and very balance opinion from an Arab journalist who sympathizes with the growing plight of Iraqi Christians who were terrorized in Baghdad in October 31, 2010 while peacefully praying in a Catholic Church. While he sympathize with Arab Christians, he also hopes for a better way of supporting and bringing the issue of Arab Christians into the consciousness of every Arab by usign the media within the Arab world. God bless you Mr. Mshari Al-Zaydi.

By Mshari Al-Zaydi
Source: aawsat.com

The bloody assault on Baghdad's Church of Our Lady of Salvation has opened the door to a bigger question about the fate of Christian citizens in Middle Eastern countries, and the future of their presence there. Furthermore, it has exposed an Arab and Islamic wound, and we must get to the source of this crisis.

It would be a shame to see the land that witnessed the birth and life of Jesus Christ, and the spreading of his teachings, became devoid of followers of the Christian faith.



Mshari Al-Zaydi



For many centuries Christians lived in the Middle East without fearing for their lives, and it is a shame that they feel under threat today and that the Christian exodus from the Middle East has become such a serious issue.

It is distressing for the people of this region to acknowledge the words of Jesuit scholar Father Samir Khalil Samir, who is an Egyptian Catholic based in Beirut who recently presented a paper to the Vatican's Synod for the Middle East. Regarding the current crisis that Christians in the Middle East are facing, Father Samir Khalil Samir said "If this phenomenon continues, Christianity in the Middle East will disappear" according to Reuters and other news agencies. He added "the emigration of Christians from Iraq since 2003 may ultimately lead to their complete disappearance from the country."

Filipinos in Saudi Arabia accused of Proselytizing were Released

Photo Source: islamizationwatch

Saudi Arabia: conditional release for 12 Filipinos accused of proselytizing

The Catholic migrants are currently in the custody of their employers at the disposition of authorities. Saudi religious police (Muttawa) arrested them last October 1 for taking part in a Mass celebrated by a French priest. 150 other foreign Catholics were with them, whose fate remains unknown.

Manila (AsiaNews / Agencies)- Saudi authorities have conditionally released the Catholic Filipino migrant worker arrested on 1 October in Riyadh along with 11 other compatriots - released Oct. 3 -, while attending a Mass along with 150 foreigners celebrated by a French priest. At present, the 12 Filipinos have been entrusted to their employers and representatives of the embassy in Manila in Saudi Arabia are negotiating with the authorities for their repatriation. The fate of the others present at the Catholic mass remains unknown.

According Exxedin H. Tago, charge d'affaires of the Philippines Embassy the 12 are not yet completely out of danger. "It is still unclear - he says - if their case was closed. They were accused of proselytizing and if the authorities deem them guilty they could return to jail”.

Saudi Arabia forbids the construction of churches, and other non-Muslim temples, the wearing of religious symbols, or hanging of images in homes. The religious police (Muttawa) has tightened controls to impose these laws. Only rarely does the government allow the celebration of Mass in private. The availability of work, however, continues to attract migrants who put up with terrible working conditions, the risk of forced conversions and sexual abuse.

In early September, a Filipino nurse employed at the Kharja Hospital died in hospital after being raped and left dying in the desert by her rapists. Two weeks later, again in Riyadh, three nurses in the National Guard Hospital were abducted and raped while returning from work and are now in serious condition.

A total of 8 million foreigners live and work in the kingdom. According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) from 2007 to 2008, migration to the Middle East has seen an increase of 29.5%.

A Church in Saudi Arabia? - Time

The first Christian Church in Qatar is a Catholic Church

TIME - Interfaith dialogue has become an important exercise in finding the right words to overcome both extreme violence and ordinary misunderstanding. True progress, however, is best measured in deeds. The inauguration last week of Qatar's first Christian church — a small Catholic chapel bearing neither bells nor visible crosses — has been hailed as a welcome step forward in relations between Catholicism and Islam. But an even more dramatic development is under discussion just across the border: The Vatican has confirmed that it is negotiating for permission to build the first church in Saudi Arabia.

Presiding over the cradle of Islam and home to its holiest sites, the Saudi monarchy has long banned the open worship of other faiths, even as the number of Catholics resident in Saudi Arabia has risen to 800,000 thanks to an influx of immigrant workers from places like the Philippines and India. Mosques are the only houses of prayer in a country where the strict Wahhabi version of Sunni Islam dominates. But Archbishop Paul-Mounged El-Hachem, the papal envoy to the smaller countries on the Arabian peninsula, such as Kuwait and Qatar, has confirmed that talks are under way to establish formal diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Saudi Arabia, and to eventually allow for Catholic churches to be built there. Pope Benedict XVI is believed to have personally appealed to King Abdullah on the topic during the Saudi monarch's first ever visit to the Vatican last November.