The Christain Missionary Menace

[aboomohammad]

The Christain Missionary Menace
Christian organizations and missionaries have launched an intense proselytizing campaign in Muslim countries. The poverty, misery and starvation of the impoverished Muslims are being exploited by these missionaries to proselytize them. Welfare measures, developmental, health and educational programs form the backbone of their massive campaign. Relief aid is being organized with the explicit purpose of converting the indigent Muslims to Christianity. Systematic religious propaganda and indoctrination are being carried out on an unprecedented scale. They have achieved immense successes in this field. "Then Trojan Horse" which has entered the Muslim lands is posing a great threat to their Imaan and Islam. They are in full swing in countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia where they expect to convert half the population to their faith by the year 2000.

Indigent Muslims driven by poverty and misery grovel at the feet of the kuffar for relief and succor at the cost of their Imaan. Cross stupidity and crass ignorance have caused them to barter their Emaan for some miserable gains of the Dunya. The kuffaar await such conditions to arise among the impoverished Muslims to rush relief aids with the underlying motive of evangelization. This vicious Octopus of Kufr has extended its deadly tentacles to a network of outlying villages in Muslim countries to mislead unwary and uninformed Muslims and entrap them in the web of dark kufr. It is said that in Bangladesh alone they are operating in over 800 villages. Asaf Hussain writes about the predicament in Bangladesh: "the ultimate objective of the numerous mission organizations and agencies operating there is the evangelization of the people of Bangladesh .... As such economic development was not an end in itself to benefit the people, but a means for proselytizing them. Missionaries were therefore, very articulate about their developmental schemes but very reticent about evangelization of the people. Particularly, in the case of Muslims any such statistics of evangelization of Muslims was not published." (BIRTH OF BANGLADESH THE POLITICAL ROLE OF MISSIONS)

In the present times, the Emaan of the Muslims have reached a low ebb. It is like a shaking reed. It is further emaciated by crass ignorance and abject poverty. It has provided a fertile ground for religious rivals to sow the seeds of apostasy among the impoverished and unwary Muslims. Ignorant Muslims consider these crusading religious bodies as great benefactors of humanity. They are prepared to even abandon their faith for the contemptible gains of the Dunya. Hence, in these countries the number who has embraced Christianity amounts to legion. The old myth that the Muslims are staunch believers and cannot be converted to any other religion holds no water. Modern missionaries with their vast resources and foreign aid have exploded this myth. They are scoring great successes in this field. Asaf Hussain writes: "Christian Missions are approaching Muslim populations in a very systematic and well organized manner. They lack neither finds nor organization nor expertise. The Muslim countries, on the other hand, have done nothing to counteract this. On the contrary, they are confident that Muslims cannot be converted and in some cases actively extend help to accomplish the mission work. This is only a self-delusion and in the long run it will turn out that Muslims are increasingly becoming Christians." (Birth of Bangladesh: The Political Role of Missions)

In Indonesia too much missionary work is going apace. The question how Muslims in Indonesia come to turn away from Islam and end up as Christians is a moot point. The missions have their own strategies in promoting evangelization. Ahmad Von Denffer writes: "In Indonesia today the preaching of the gospel goes along with the rendering of highly appreciated service to society through schools, universities, hospitals and orphanages. Church people tell missionaries that quick results should not be expected. Rather the seeds are to be sown now, while harvesting comes after the process of "de- Islamization' (which expresses itself in promoting secular and Western thought) has gone far enough... the effort to create the impression that Muslims in Indonesia are not really Muslims after all, is part of the main strategy that Christians now employ when doing mission among Muslims. Their motto is "After care, comes the evangelism." Their official indoctrination program has been epitomized in the following words? "The theory was indoctrination,. but the practice was care and evangelism" (INDONESIA? How Muslims are Made Christians)

[aboomohammad]

Christian evangelization programs embrace the whole World. They specifically target Muslims. Mali for example which is a Muslim-majority country is said to be a fertile ground for missionaries. Ahmad Abu Sulaiman writes: "Mali is one of the poorest countries on this earth. Almost all the population is engaged in insufficient subsistence economy, and is illiterate and ignorant of even the basic teachings of Islam... Today, widespread poverty and ignorance provide the two most important inlets for the missionaries, providing ample scope for the medical, social, educational and other activities that prepare the way for proselytization, which is the ultimate goal."(CHRISTIANITY AND MISSION IN MALI)

Alhaj A D Ajijola narrating his Nigerian experience, attributes the origin of Western education in Nigeria to Christian missionaries who followed a ruthless policy of proselytism. He writes: "The Muslims, until lately, did not become involved in educational development early enough in Nigeria but, Christian Missionaries who came from secular states of Europe with public funds, introduced education on the Western pattern which soon spread all over the country. Admission to these Christian schools was conditioned on accepting Christianity. Thus, the Christian missionaries used educational institutions to force the Muslim youth to follow their faith." (Introduction, THE MYTH OF THE CROSS)

Tanzania another Muslim majority country too had the above experience. Muhammad Samiullah in his "PLIGHT OF MUSLIMS IN AFRICA AND ASIA" states: "Modern education was first provided by the Mission Societies who came to Tanzania (then Taganyika). Both the Roman Catholics and Protestants established primary schools, secondary schools and agricultural colleges. It was then necessary for all who wanted to get education in these schools to become Christians. Therefore, many Muslims adopted Christianity to get education. Even those Muslims who remained Muslims in these schools had to go to the church and study the Bible and be examined on it. Thus, because of being in contact with the Christian way of life for a long time, many Muslims did not come back to Islam after completing their studies. Others who came to Islam remained half Muslims and half Christians.In Malawi out of the 5000 odd villages only a few have madrasahs. Over 95% Muslims are ignorant. The Christian missionaries are working very hard in the area and the Muslims, therefore, need to organize themselves on sound footings to meet the challenge. Poverty and ignorance of Islam has enabled the missionaries to convert many Muslim villagers to Christianity.

Sierra Leone which has a Muslim majority also faces the Christian missionary onslaught. They are operating through the educational system. Christian missions run the great majority of Primary schools. Samiullali writes: "Christian Missions desire Muslim children to become Christians. This problem is not duly tackled in all humanity and sincerity our younger generation would be led astray and become converted to Christianity throughout the whole country. The whole of the African continent is infested with missionaries aiming to convert Muslims. The Tabligh Jamaat can perform a yeoman service by propagating Islam among the masses and establishing Madrasahs to educate the ignorant children along the religious lines and also repeatedly warning them about the perils of this black serpent of kufr which has surrounded them which is seeking for opportunities to send them to perdition by misleading and misguiding them to worship stones and images and uphold myths and fallacies of Roman pagans and Greek philosophers; to believe in a tampered and interpolated version of the divinely rejected Gospel which is bristling with errors, additions and forgeries concocted by copyists and priests and mutilated by Pauline creed of Trinity, Atonement and Crucifixion which were canonized as the true word of God in the Council of Nicea in 325 CE consigning to the flames the numerous genuine Gospels to the Litter dismay of the world, opening the way to infernal and eternal doom.

Mission work in India, in the past, was sullied by a spate of violence and inhuman crimes. With the collapse of the Mughal Empire, the British became the virtual rulers of India which paved the way for a great multitude of missionaries and ancillary workers to stalk the land in a crusading campaign to propagate Christianity. Like in Bangladesh, they aimed at converting the whole of India to Christianity. They left no stone unturned in their efforts to proselytize Muslims but they failed miserably in their efforts because of the unshakable Emaan of the early Muslims. The enemies used threat and intimidation to force Christianity on an unwilling public but to no avail. They resorted to such brutal measures as massacring the Ulema, general killing of civilians, exiling religious scholars, closing down religious schools and eliminating the Sharia. All these Draconian measures did not produce the desired results. Their failure created frustration and an inferiority complex in them which culminated in a campaign of vilification of Islam by word and thought.

Some of the tactics these nefarious elements employ are fraudulent, deceptive and repulsive. Hospitals run by missionaries coerce their Muslim patients to take in the medicine ordered to them in the name of Jesus. But Allah Taala is the Curer of disease. There are other instances where asked to worship the image of Mary or Jesus before qualifying for free medical treatment and hospitalization. Performing this action is tantamount to idolatry which expels one from the fold of Islam. As Western medicine is full of side effects, the benefit derived is practically nil or negligible. The belief that their medicine cures is a baseless conviction. The distribution of pictures of Jesus or Mary form part of their charitable work in order to create an impression that these gods of theirs are the real helpers and therefore, deserve to be loved and deified. The distribution of free meals under relief aid, may contain haraam ingredients that is detrimental to Imaan. Such meals may include even pork-based products.

Missionaries and their cohorts have large sums of ill-gotten wealth at their disposal. They single out gullible women for financial aid. These are not doled out to them on humanitarian grounds or for any altruistic motives but with the sole aim of evangelization. To ensure that these recipients do not play a deceptive role, some part of their body is stamped with a kufr emblem which deprives them of their lmaan and forebodes an evil end. This is evidenced in Bangladesh. Further, the frantic struggle among the Muslim parents to admit their children to Catholic schools for the sake of prestige and good education has proved to be a great disaster. Children who come under demoralizing and dehumanizing influences in these institutions of atheism and immorality soon learn to question the accepted beliefs of Islam and throw overboard its time honored injunctions and practices. Eventually, their lmaan and Aakirah are being jeopardized. The eyes of the parents have turned blind that the road leading to Jannah is not visible. The results of the missionary efforts of the kuffaar are stunning and staggering. A considerable number of Muslims have been converted to their deviant faith.

The bulk of the Muslim preachers should make concerted efforts to stem the tide of mass conversions taking place in the third world Muslim countries. They have to put their heart and soul into the affair with absolute sincerity and dedication to halt to the missionary menace. Public platforms should be used for this purpose along with the launching of an extensive literary propaganda to enlighten the ignorant and weak Muslim masses depicting the splendor of Islam and the perils of apostasization and the divine retribution awaiting them in the Aakhirah But they are oblivious to this state of affairs The Ulama are the vanguard of Islam. They should urge the apostates to return to the fold of Islam after due repentance. But why have they adopted a lackadaisical attitude towards the spread of kufr which is eating the very vitals of the society. Why are they conniving at this burgeoning evil? Can they expect to receive Allah Ta'ala's blessing and mercy by adopting such a nonchalant attitude? Definitely not! They must instead be prepared to receive divine punishment.

No wonder these countries where apostasy is rife are degenerating day by day. Their misery is multiplying. There are disasters like drought, disease, famine, starvation, floods and cyclones that are playing havoc on them. This is the dismal result of begging help from the enemies of Allah Azza Wa Jal and bartering one's faith for the transient pleasures of Dunya. It was an age old dream of missionanes to cause the Muslim community to deviate and apostatize from Islam. They employed various vile stratagems to achieve this end History bears ample testimony to their oppressive, repressive and deceptive methods of proselytization. Lets have a glimpse at the chronicles of the ecclesiastical history for a wider understanding.

[aboomohammad]

The Missionary Menace Continued
Since the advent of Islam, the kuffaar had been conspiring to extinguish the light of Islam but they miserably failed. Another attempt to wipe out Islam was made when the savage Mongols swept across the Muslim lands. The Church leaders found an ideal opportunity here to avenge their previous defeats in the Crusades and soon they struck an alliance with these blood-thirsty, barbarian horde and instigated them to kill many Muslims. They tried to win them to Christianity and pinned high hopes on them for the ultimate eradication of Islam but they were disillusioned because these Mongols later voluntarily embraced Islam. T.W Arnold says in his PREACHING OF ISLAM" that during the reign of Amir Tuqluq Khan, 160,000 Mongols embraced Islam voluntarily in one day. There is no coercion uncivilized, underhand or deceptive methods employed for this mass conversion as was employed by crafty, spiteful, intriguing and parochial missionaries down the centuries.

The advent of Crusade forms a watershed in history. It marks the beginning of the war between lmaan and kufr. The fire of religious hostilities kindled by Church leaders smouldered for nearly two centuries. It is manifestly clear that the role of popes, priests and padres gained momentum with the onset of the First Crusade in 1063. It was Pope Urban's II tirade that sparked off the first Crusade. In his famous speech at Clermont in November 1095 he urged the Christians to wage war against the "wicked race" (the Muslims) According to G B Glubb "Christian Priests holding crosses aloft accompanied Crusaders when they occupied Jerusalem in 1099 and put all the population to the sword, regardless of sex or age"(The Course of Empire). The backbone of this fanatical movement was the begotted ecclesiastical orders of the Christian hierarchy.

Pope Alexander II three decades ere the First Crusade sent a Papal army to attack the Muslim of Saragossa. Barbastro, a rich Muslim city of Spain surrendered. Six thousand civilians were killed in cold blood and the women and children were divided between the Christian soldiers "as concubines and slaves" In 1325 Pope John XXII is reported to have written a letter to the King of Bosnia asking him to exterminate the heretics (Muslims) in his dominion. Further, in 1703 Daniel Petrovich the then reigning bishop of Mortenegro instigated the Christian tribes to eliminate the Muslims among them. Accordingly, "on Christmas Eve, all the converted Monte Negroes who would not foreswear Islam and embrace Christianity were massacred in cold blood". By the order of Charles II of Anjou between 14 and 15 August 1300(CE), the Arab colony of Lucera was destroyed and the Muslims of Lucera were forcibly converted to Christianity and thus Islamic presence in Sicily was brought to an end by force.

Even in the 19th century the missionaries were playing an active role in religious propagation using underhand methods. A Ezzati writes: "The influx into the Ottoman Caliphate of Catholic and Protestant missionaries, during the I 9th century' did much harm. These missionaries, began to indoctrinate the Ottoman Christians by not only teaching them their own history', language and literature but also by inculcating in them so-called liberal and revolutionary' deas. The Protestant missionaries were clandestinely trying to convert the Muslims as well as the other sects. In order to protect themselves and their proteges, these missionaries, who posed as the champions of the Christian minorities in the Ottoman Caliphate began to appeal to the Great Powers for their intervention, and thus caused many diplomatic incidents." (An Introduction To The Spread Of The History Of Islam)

Most of the 150 million Africans exported during the slave trade from West Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas were said to be Muslims. A Ezzati referring to the pitiable plight of these unfortunate victims writes: "No slave was allowed to write or speak Arabic, or any African language for that matter. Performance of Salaat was punishable by flogging. Hajj was impossible. Pork was the main diet (apart from vegetables). The only form of assembly permitted was participating in Christian prayers with Christian preachers. The result of this was that Islam died with the first African slaves. The second generation grew up as Christians.

Let us now turn to Muslim Spain. Tariq ibn Ziyad with a contingent of 12,000 Arab and Berber soldiers set foot on the Spanish soil in 712 CE. That was the beginning of the resplendent Moorish rule in Spain which lasted for over 800 years. During this period of splendor and glory, the Jews and the Christians received benign treatment from their Muslim rulers. They were allowed religious freedom and permitted to live unmolested. On the converse, let us see the inhuman and barbaric treatment meted out to Spanish Muslims when they were subjugated by Christian monarchs aided and abetted by the Church Leaders. These hoary facts are summarized from Ahmad Thomson's "BLOOD ON THE CROSS" in order to expose the dastardly role the Christian missionaries played in the extermination of Islam and Muslims from the Spanish soil.

ln 1248, Pope Innocent IV ordered the king of Aragon to permit no Moors save as slaves. In 1250 it was decreed that no-one could buy or sell anything from a Muslim unless he had first obtained a license to do so. In 1337, the Bishop of Tarragona requested Pope Benedict in a letter to empower the nobles to seize and sell the person and property of the Muslims as they were public enemies and infidels. This measure was approved of and subsequently enforced by the Church until the eighteenth century, that is, until there were no more Muslims or Jews left to be persecuted. In 1388 it was decreed that all Muslims should kneel down when Church's sacraments were carried through streets. In 1482 the Spanish Inquisition came into being. The Inquisitors set about baptizing as many Muslims and Jews in as short a time as possible. This was achieved by giving them the choice of baptism or death.

Pope Boniface VIII exempted from punishment for heresy all those whose acceptance of Christianity was by force. Torture was used on anyone who still maintained their belief in secret. Men and women of all ages and children were tortured. They were always stripped before being tortured. In 1499, Cardinal Ximenez, the Archbishop of Toledo began a campaign to coerce the Muslims of Southern Andalusia into the official religion. This resulted in baptizing 3000 Moors. It is estimated that between 50,000 and 70,000 Muslin's were forcibly baptized in the mass baptism of Granada by Ximenez. He is said to have burnt 1,005,000 volumes in the public square of Vivarrambla in 1500. The principal mosque at Andarax in which men and women took refuge was blown up with gun powder. In Belfique men were put to the sword and children under 11 were separated from parents and handed over to the Church to be brought up as Catholics. In 1507, Cardinal Ximenez was appointed Inquisitor General of Spain. With the tragic fall of Granada, , in 1502 Cardinal Yimenez de Csisneros, who rode rough shod over the rights of Muslims, sold at an auction 2000 respectable matrons and maidens.

Isabella, on 12th February 1502, issued a royal order giving all remaking Moors in the realms of Castile the choice between baptism and expulsion. Under her decree, all males under the age of 14 and all females under the age of 12 were separated from their families and handed over to The Church to be brought up as Christians. In 1504, Pope Clement granted permission to Charles V to eliminate the remaining Muslims of Andalusia by whatever means were necessary. The Edicts of Faith which replaced the notorious Edicts of Grace stipulated any Muslim found worshipping God according to the injunctions of Islam was to be put to death. It is recorded that in 1568 Juan de Ribera, Archbishop of Valencia, offered the priests more money to make work among the Moriscos more congenial. Further, he established a seminary for Morisco children who by this time had no idea of how their forefathers had lived Islamically. Muslims were compelled to denounce their friends and relations as secret heretics. Torture was used to persuade children to accuse their parents, and parents to accuse their children. It is recorded that one person alone gave evidence against 4000 secret Muslims. They were all killed.

Abstinence from pork and wine was amply sufficient to justify prosecution. In 1526, the Inquisition of Jaen passed an edict forbidding the Muslims of Granada to use the Arabic language and even to use their Muslim names. No Morisco woman was allowed to act as a midwife. A Christian midwife was posted in every Morisco village. She supervised all the pregnant women and as soon as a baby was born the priest was called and the baby was baptized. It was also impossible to wash and bury the dead in accordance with the Islamic rites. Anyone who wrapped a dead person in a clean cloth before burial was immediately regarded as a relapsed heretic and punished as such. The parents could not even afford to say Allah in the presence of their young children for fear that the child through indiscretion might jeopardize the whole family. Any Morisco found not attending mass was fined by the Catholic Church. The above facts were culled from Ahmad Thomson's book, "BLOOD ON THE CROSS" which vividly depicts the brutality and barbarity with which the Church Leaders ganged up with the monarchs of the time, exiled, tortured and exterminated the Muslims of Spain. "It is recorded that after the forcible conversion of the Muslims in one town, the image of the holy sepulcher in the Christian Church wept for twenty-four hours and the images of the Virgin Mary and associated angels wept for thirty-six hours. The tears were so profuse that they were collected and preserved in a sealed vase. In 1590 King Philip asked for, and was given, a portion of these tears.

When the last of the Muslims were finally expelled from Spain in the early seventeenth century, the tears in the vase and the tears in the king's possession disappeared from their containers". (ibid) It is the view of Arnold Toynbee that Christians have been worse than pagans and atheists regarding the use of force and violence for religious purposes. With the ascendancy of Spain and Portugal as colonial powers religious bigotry got a shot in the arm. They came to the East for the Cross and Commerce. They crusaded for their faith and exploited ruthlessly the economic resources of the colonies The first exploiters were ardent missionaries. Vasco da Gama's discovery of India in 1498 enabled the colonialists to set foot on India, Malacca and Phillippines. Missionary work in these countries in the East was carried out by the religious orders such as Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits and Dominicans; for an account of their fierce fanaticism one has to look up the pages of history. In the present times, numerous Christian missionary organizations and agencies have sprung up globally preaching their faith by the lure of money, relief aid, health and education in a clandestine and arbitrary manner.

The Muslims world over have to unite and prepare themselves to meet these challenges which are fraught with danger to Islam and Muslims. Otherwise the responsibility of guiding the deflected folk will not be lifted from their shoulders and the danger of falling under the wrath of Allah Ta'ala cannot be ruled out. The Ulama particularly cannot afford to ignore this problem and as guardians of Islam they have to map out strategies to counter Christian missionary propaganda and awaken the community from its deep slumber and guide it to the straight path.