Category: Prayer

Italy: Catholic diocese urges Catholics to participate in Islamic prayers and iftar meals during Ramadan

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SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/03/italy-catholic-diocese-urges-catholics-to-participate-in-islamic-prayers-and-iftar-meals-during-ramadan; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

Lord, what fools these Infidels be. My comments are below; I’m quoted in the article:

“Italian diocese urges Catholics to join Muslims for prayers and meals in Ramadan,” by Jules Gomes, Catholic Herald, March 8, 2024:

An Italian diocese is instructing its priests to participate in Islamic rituals, citing Pope Francis’ directives on interreligious dialogue.

The Diocese of Bergamo issued a communiqué on Monday urging priests to seek out opportunities for interreligious dialogue during the “holy month” of Ramadan by invite the faithful to join in praying with Muslims and joining in the Iftar ritual meal.

The letter from the northern Italian diocese asks the faithful to pray for “a continuous realisation of all the dimensions that make up humanity desired by the Creator” and for “continuous growth in the dialogue between peoples and different faiths.”

Fr Massimo Rizzi, director of the diocese’s Office for Interreligious Dialogue who signed the directive, upset local Catholics for dating the letter according to the Islamic calendar (23 Sha’ban 1445)….

In comments to the Catholic Herald, Islamic scholar Robert Spencer explained that “the idea of Ramadan providing a possibility of outreach to Muslims is a tragicomic display of the failures and inherent limitations of the ‘dialogue’ imperative”.

Spencer, author of over 23 books on Islam and the Middle East, said: “Ramadan is a month in which Muslims are to redouble their efforts to please Allah.

“The highest form of service to Allah, according to Muhammad, is jihad, which principally involves warfare against unbelievers.

“Every Ramadan, therefore, we see an increase in jihad attacks. The idea that this is a time to seek friendship and cooperation with Muslims is laughably naive and demonstrates abject ignorance of Islam.”

Responding to the diocesan letter’s plea for dialogue in the hope of resolving the Middle East crisis, Spencer pointed out that the Vatican has failed to address the clause in Hamas’ charter that threatens genocide against Israel.

In its preamble, the Hamas charter states, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it”….

Hamas forced Israeli hostage to recite Islamic prayer

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SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/01/hamas-forced-israeli-hostage-to-recite-islamic-prayer#; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

“There is no compulsion in religion” (Qur’an 2:256), but that statement is all too often honored in the breach. Agam Goldstein-Almog was perfectly free to choose to die rather than to recite the Islamic prayers.

“Freed hostage recounts torture of women in Gaza’s terror tunnels – Washington Post,” Jerusalem Post, January 18, 2024:

As soon as Agam Goldstein-Almog (17) was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7 in Gaza, she was forced to put on a headscarf and a long dress, commanded to look at the ground, was forced to recite Islamic prayer, and her abductors gave her a name from the Quran, Salsabil, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

In an interview with international media, Agam described the horror she experienced for nearly two months as a hostage inside Gaza while speaking from a kibbutz in central Israel that has largely become a temporary refuge for displaced Israeli civilians.

In the interview, Agam addressed the female hostages still in Gaza. She asked, “Have you eaten enough today? Are you together, or have they separated you? Has he harmed you again? Has he asked you, again, if you’re married, if he could set you up with someone from Gaza? Has he entered your shower again, stripped the pajamas that he gave you, touched the would [sic] from the bullet that he shot, that really hurt you? But his control hurt more.”

Agam was taken to the Hamas tunnels underneath Gaza, to apartments and a school that was also a rocket launching site. Her captors allowed her to shower five times in the 51 days she was in Gaza, the Washington Post reported.

Some hostages had been kept alone in small rooms with their captors. They told Agam and her mother that they had been sexually assaulted “with great difficulty and tears.”…

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Indiana: Imam prays ‘Oh Allah, bring annihilation upon the plundering Zionists, the hateful Crusader aggressors’

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SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/11/indiana-imam-prays-oh-allah-bring-annihilation-upon-the-plundering-zionists-the-hateful-crusader-aggressors;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

What do you think is the likelihood that this man is impressing upon his congregation the importance of being loyal, stable, productive members of American society?

“Indiana Imam Sheikh Mongy El Quesny: The Jews Have No Mercy, Yet They Keep Bugging Us About Six Million Jewish People Burned In The Holocaust; Oh Allah, Bring Annihilation On The Zionists, Crusaders, Treacherous Arab Leaders,” MEMRI, November 10, 2023:

Indiana imam Sheikh Mongy El Quesny said in a November 10, 2023 Friday sermon streamed live on the YouTube channel of North West Indiana Islamic Center that the Jews have no mercy, yet they “keep bugging us about the six million Jewish people burned in the Holocaust.” He said that the U.S. is sending special forces and agents to direct the Israeli forces because they are “the most cowardly army on the planet,” and they run like rats from fighters in sneakers with AK-47s. El Quesny said that the treacherous Arab leaders want to Palestine off the map, but Muslims in the West have the right to say what they want. He prayed to Allah to “bring annihilation upon the plundering and criminal Zionists, the hateful Crusader aggressors, and the treacherous Arab and Muslim rulers.”

Quesny: “What is happening to Gaza is a victory. People think that victory is [when] you defeat your enemy – no.

[…]

“Victory is when people stand firm and adhere firmly to what they believe and they die for that.

[…]

“We have here in the United States sending special forces and special agents, and they are the ones telling the Israelis what to do because they know that the Israeli army is the most cowardly army on the planet. With all these weapons and this technology, they run away from young men, who are fighting with sneakers on their feet, AK-47s in their hands, and nothing else, but they run like rats.

[…]

“They have no mercy, they know what happened to their ancestors. They keep bugging us about six million Jewish people burned in the Holocaust. What are you doing to the Palestinians? What are you doing? That is what Allah said: ‘Their heart became hardened.’

[…]

“Many of these [Arab] leaders want to see Palestine wiped off the map. Finish Hamas, [Islamic] Jihad, these people, finish all this resistance. That is what they want. Why are they waiting? But us… Inshallah, the sun rises from the West, here [in Western countries]. We have to stand firm, we have all the rights to say whatever we want to say, there will be some casualties, and some of us will have to sacrifice, it is ok.

[…]

“Oh Allah, bring annihilation upon Your enemies, their enemies, and our enemies. Oh Allah, count them, kill them one by one, and do not leave a single one of them alive. Oh Allah, bring annihilation upon the plundering and criminal Zionists, the hateful Crusader aggressors, and the treacherous Arab and Muslim rulers. Oh Allah, demonstrate upon them the wonders of Your might. Oh Allah, seize them with a crushing grip.”

Biden regime doles out taxpayer money to mosques that pray for the annihilation of the Jews

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SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/11/biden-regime-doles-out-taxpayer-money-to-mosques-that-pray-for-the-annihilation-of-the-jews;

SEE ALSO: https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-administration-gives-thousands-to-anti-israel-mosques-through-security-grant-program/

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

No surprise here. In the past, there might have been some perfunctory attempt to ensure that the recipients of this cash were “moderate,” but now any such inquiry would be “Islamophobic.”

“These Mosques Pray for the Annihilation of Jews. They Also Receive Money From the Biden Administration.,” by Chuck Ross, Washington Free Beacon, November 13, 2023:

A federal program to help nonprofit groups protect against terrorist attacks has given millions of dollars to mosques and Islamic groups that have praised terrorists and called for the destruction of Israel, according to a Washington Free Beacon review.

The Department of Homeland Security awarded the California-based Masjid al-Ansar mosque $100,000 on March 9 under the Nonprofit Security Grants Program. Moustafa Kamel, the imam at Masjid al-Ansar, earlier this year called Jews a “bigoted and arrogant breed of people” and prayed they “will be annihilated” in a war over the Holy Land, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Then there is the Islamic Center of Detroit, which received $150,000 on Oct. 12, 2022. Its head imam, Imran Salha, said at a pro-Palestinian rally days after Hamas’s invasion of Israel that Muslims have a “fire in our hearts that will burn that state until its demise.” During a sermon in March, he referred to the “sick, disgusting Zionist regime” and prayed: “May Allah eradicate them from existence.”

The rhetoric could fuel the sorts of hate and terrorist attacks that the Homeland Security grants aim to prevent. Anti-Semitic hate crimes have surged 400 percent since Hamas’s attack, in which 1,400 Israelis were slaughtered. A bipartisan group of senators called for additional funding under the program last month to protect against “a potential rise in anti-Semitic threats.”

There is little oversight over which organizations receive funding under the program, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state agencies. A majority of the grants have gone to synagogues, churches, mosques, and temples that do not support violence or promote terrorist organizations.

But there are also grants to outfits like the Islamic Center of San Diego, a mosque best known as the home to two 9/11 hijackers. Days after the Hamas attack, Imam Taha Hassane defended the attack on Israel as an act of self-defense.

“When people are occupied, then the resistance is justified,” he said in an Oct. 20 sermon. “We cannot accuse somebody who is fighting for his life to be a terrorist. The terrorist is the one who started the occupation, not the one who is defending himself.”

The mosque received $150,000 under the grant program on Aug. 15, according to federal spending records.

At the Flint Islamic Center, which received $300,000 in grants on Oct. 12, 2022, an Islamic scholar asserted in a sermon last month that Jews “literally live for the purpose of genocide” of Palestinians.

“These people … their businesses have foundations just to serve their objectives. They literally live for a purpose of genocide in an occupation like this,” said Shaykh Adbullah Waheed.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an advocacy group identified as a co-conspirator of Hamas, has mounted a public awareness campaign to urge mosques and Islamic nonprofits to apply for Homeland Security grants. CAIR noted that fewer than 50 Islamic organizations had received funding under the program, largely due to “concerns about the potential strings attached” to accepting the federal funds….

Share this video and PRAY for the Israeli hostages held by Hamas!

They are fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, grandparents, and even newborn babies, all held captive by murderous thugs and used as human shields. They need all of us praying AS ONE together for a miracle! Please share this video with your friends and family and let's pray together as ONE for the release of the hostages! May our God who can make the way in impossible situations make a way of escape for those trapped in Hamas' trap.

The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem Issue Plea for Prayer, Peace, and an End to Violence Against Civilians

BY GREG BYRNES 12:50 PM ON OCTOBER 08, 2023
The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem Issue Plea for Prayer, Peace, and an End to Violence Against Civilians
Courtesy of Myra Kahn Adams
The winds of war are once again blowing across the home of the Prince of Peace. Many years ago, a priest friend advised me if you put off going to the Holy Land until there is a peaceful period with no trouble, you will never go. Historians may document a period of peace in the world around the time of the birth of Christ, but since then, there has almost always been a war somewhere — often in the very region of the world Christ called home.

While the protagonists of the Jewish and Islamic sides of this conflict argue, the survival of the Christian presence in the cradle of Christianity is often ignored. Wars have consequences. Some estimate that half of the Christians in Iraq and Syria have fled the region since the Second Gulf War and the Syrian civil war.

There are about 180,000 Christians in Israel. Seventy percent are Arabs or Palestinians, the largest group living in Jesus’s hometown of Nazareth.  As a small minority within a minority, Christians require peace and stability for their survival. This latest war will do little to enhance that.

The so-called “Status Quo” is the unwritten rule in Israel under which religious groups don’t rock the boat at holy sites under the protection of different religious groups. You may visit, but not hold religious services without an agreement. Even the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which encompasses Calvary and the Tomb of Christ, is managed by a consortium. The key to the church is traditionally in the possession of a Muslim Arab family to avoid disputes among the Christians.

That peace has been unraveling lately at the nearby Temple Mount, also called the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is claimed by both Muslims and Jews and is just one front on a broad sectarian conflict that has now turned violent. To this end, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches of Jerusalem, have issued a joint call for peace and prayer:

The Holy Land, a place sacred to countless millions around the world, is currently mired in violence and suffering due to the prolonged political conflict and the lamentable absence of justice and respect for human rights. We, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, have time and again appealed for the importance of respecting the historic and legal Status Quo of the holy shrines. In these trying times, we come together to raise our voices in unity, echoing the divine message of peace and love for all humanity.

As custodians of the Christian faith, deeply rooted in the Holy Land, we stand in solidarity with the people of this region, who are enduring the devastating consequences of continued strife.

Our faith, which is founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ, compels us to advocate for the cessation of all violent and military activities that bring harm to both Palestinian and Israeli civilians.

We unequivocally condemn any acts that target civilians, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, or faith. Such actions go against the fundamental principles of humanity and the teachings of Christ, who implored us to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).

It is our fervent hope and prayer that all parties involved will heed this call for an immediate cessation of violence. We implore political leaders and authorities to engage in sincere dialogue, seeking lasting solutions that promote justice, peace, and reconciliation for the people of this land, who have endured the burdens of conflict for far too long.

[…]

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all during these challenging times.

—The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches

Related: Pray for Israel, Pray for Peace

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said yesterday, “The cycle of violence that has killed numerous Palestinians and Israelis in the past months has exploded…The operation launched from Gaza, and the reaction of the Israeli Army are bringing us back to the worst periods of our recent history. The too many causalities and tragedies, which both Palestinians and Israeli families have to deal with, will create more hatred and division and will destroy and any perspective of stability.… We ask God to inspire world leaders in their intervention for the implementation of peace and concord so that Jerusalem may be a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Greg Byrnes
Greg Byrnes is a former newspaper editor. He is involved in thoroughbred racing as a bettor, owner, and breeder. His familiarity with barnyard life and manure gives him important insights into politicians, their promises, and other shenanigans. He can frequently be seen traveling the country with his imaginary friends trying to figure out what in the world is going on.

Pray for Israel, Pray for Peace

By Rabbi Michael Barclay 2:28 PM on October 07, 2023
SEE: https://pjmedia.com/columns/rabbi-michael-barclay/2023/10/07/pray-for-israel-pray-for-peace-n1733135;Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Pray for Israel, Pray for Peace
Mahmud Hams /Pool Photo via AP

Fifty years ago, almost to the day, on Oct. 6, 1973, Israel was attacked on the holy day of Yom Kippur. I remember being a child attending services and the Rabbi stopping the liturgy to tell us what had happened and to pray for Israel. On Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has again been attacked, this time on the holiday of Shemini Atzeret. Once again, our people and nation have been attacked on a holy day. All reservists have been called up, and Israel is again fighting for her life.

Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israeli communities through the Gaza Strip and launched a surprise attack in conjunction with over 5,000 rockets fired into Israel. Horrific videos of terror are filling the internet. One clip from Gaza shows a lifeless Israeli soldier being trampled by an angry crowd. Hamas asks that all Arab nations attack Israel immediately to “set the earth on fire.” The Hamas commander, Mohammed Deif, specifically asked all terror groups in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq — all of which are funded through Iran — to join in a war against Israel. Israeli civilians are being specifically attacked, slaughtered, and kidnapped as hostages. We see video after video demonstrating that the Hamas terrorists act in ways that are beyond comprehension by any human being. Rather, they act like sick, rabid animals or zombies who have lost any sense of humanity.

But let’s all be honest: They have acted like this for decades. Hamas and its allies, all of which are funded by and through Iran, have behaved this way over and over as they have prayed for the destruction of both Israel and the United States. They have celebrated violence at every opportunity and demonstrated repeatedly that they would like to do exactly what they have been doing: kill Israelis and Americans, desecrate their corpses, and perform horrors that are unimaginable to any sane human being.

So here’s a question: Given Iran’s repeated hatred for everything Israeli and American, and given that they have constantly and consistently expressed their desires to destroy both nations, how could Joseph Biden and his regime support this evil and give over $6 billion to Iran, the admitted financier of Hamas as well as terrorists in Syria, Lebanon, and the entire region? Forgetting for a moment about all the other anti-American acts done by Biden during his tenure, isn’t sending money to self-proclaimed enemies of America and Israel the definition of treason to the United States?

With God’s help, we will have time to analyze why Israel was unprepared for this attack. Now is the time to support the only democracy in the region in every way, from money to arms to prayers. We will have time to investigate the relationship between the $6 billion gift from Biden to Iran and how it directly funded these horrors in Israel. History will judge Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and their cronies justly when it is realized that the horrors we are seeing are a direct result of the Democratic Party’s actions of supporting Iran.

For most of my life, I voted with the Democratic Party.  But for years now, I have said that any Jew voting for the Democratic Party is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. Even those who refused to recognize this previously can now see how true this statement is, not just for Jews but for all Americans.

Biden and his supporters have fortified an enemy of the United States, and we are seeing the manifestation of true evil as a result. At this point, there is no realistic option but to realize that the president of the United States is, in fact, more committed to strengthening our enemies than to supporting our allies. For any American to still support Biden, Blinken, et al. is to be blind to the reality that they and their party are actively working to destroy Israel and America.

Related: What Went Wrong? How Hamas Managed to Stagger Israel

There will be time for an analysis of how this horrific war was permitted to start and the direct role the Democrats had in the process. But there are two things that we must each do to preserve the only democracy in the Middle East and to protect the United States. First, every American must immediately stop all support of the Democratic Party in its entirety until the party has once again become a political party that is committed to the United States and its allies. If we don’t want to see the horrors that are happening in Israel occur here in the United States, God forbid, we must entirely reject the Democratic Party and its candidates until it ostracizes its internal fanatics like Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, etc. As long as the Democratic Party is controlled by these fanatics—who hate America and her allies while supporting groups like Hamas that commit such heinous acts as we see going on in Israel right now—there is no hope for the Democrats or for peace.

And we must pray. We must all pray for our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael, that they remain safe and protected and that they quickly triumph over these terrorists who worship death, destruction, and hate. The United States was built on the foundation of being a nation supported by God, and we need to develop our personal relationships with God through prayer and entreat God that this evil we see manifest among Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and their allies is quickly, efficiently, and permanently destroyed. We must pray for peace and safety for all who support respect, healing, and peace in the world.

I ask that you join me in your hearts, souls, and voices:

Ribbono Shel Olam, Master of the Universe; Shema Koleinu, Hear our voices. Keep the men and women in the IDF safe and protected as they defend our people and our nation. Protect the civilians of Israel, and lead our people to a speedy and safe victory over those who seek to destroy us and have attacked us on the Holy Day of Shemini Atzeret. Keep our people safe, and let your healing light keep our bodies and souls strong and whole. Bring healing to the bodies of our brothers and sisters in the IDF and healing to the hearts of these Arab terrorists so that they put down their weapons and totally cease their hate for us. Please, God, please, bring peace and healing swiftly to the Jewish people so that we may worship and live safely in the land you gave to us through our forefathers. May You, the One who makes peace in the Universe, make peace upon us and upon all Israel. And together, let us say, Amen.