Sunday, August 28, 2011

Twenty-Four Killed in Series of Attacks against Christian Communities in Nigeria

The Quran commands Muslims to fight and oppress all non-Muslims:
Quran 9:29- Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and his Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, from among the People of the Book till they pay the Jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.

Quran 9:73- O Prophet! Strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.

Quran 9:111- Surely Allah has bought of the believers their persons and their property for this, that they shall have the garden; they fight in Allah's way, so they slay and are slain.

Quran 9:123- O you who believe! Fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you  and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil).

Quran 47:35- Be not weary and fainthearted, crying for peace, when ye should be uppermost: for Allah is with you, and will never put yu in loss for your (good) deeds.

The Hadith command them to do the same thing:

Sahih al-Bukhari 6924- Allah's Messenger said, "I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: La ilaha illallah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah), and whoever said La ilaha illallah, Allah will save his property and his life from me."

Sahih Muslim 30- It is reported on the authority of Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against the people so long as they do not there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right, and his affairs rest with Allah.

Sahih Muslim 33- It has been narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. Umar that the Messenger o Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till thy testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and they establish prayer, and pay Zakat and if they do it, their blood and property are guaranteed protection on my behalf except when justified by law, and their affairs rest with Allah.

Sahih al-Bukhari 2787- Allah guarantees that He will admit the Mujahid in His Case into Paradise if he is killed, otherwise He will return him to him safely with rewards and war plunder.

While there are Muslims who ignore the commands just mentioned, there are some who take them seriously:

08/26/2011 Nigeria (CDN) — Twenty-four Christians were killed over the past two weeks by Muslim extremists in renewed attacks against Christian communities in central Nigeria.

The attacks started Aug. 11 in Rasta Foron village and continued sporadically until the concluding attacks on Aug. 21 in Kwi, Loton, and Jwol villages. Muslim extremists attacked a dozen villages or neighborhoods in the restive Plateau state in central Nigeria, a region known for religiously motivated attacks. In addition to the death toll, community members found this wave of attacks particularly disturbing because soldiers from the national army allegedly participated in the killings, or at a minimum accompanied those who committed the attacks.

Nnaji John, who lost nine family members in the attack on Heipang village, said she saw federal soldiers involved in the attack. “I saw them. They were in army uniforms,” she said in tears. “I even know some of them. They came along with the Muslims to attack us. I can swear to God Almighty that the attack was carried out with the support of the soldiers.”

Chollom Gyang, a man from the predominantly Christian community of Chwelnyap in the city of Jos confirmed that the Aug. 14 attack on his neighborhood was carried out with the support or tacit approval of Muslims in the army’s Special Task Force (STF), a unit designed to stop sectarian attacks.

“The attackers were the very soldiers deployed to the area to ensure protection of the people,” Gyang said. “One of the victims received a call from the STF men in the area to come out and assist, only to get gunned down by them as he stepped out from his house.”

Gyang said that identification cards of Muslim soldiers, berets and other pieces of their uniforms were found in the villages that were attacked. The specific circumstances of how those items were left behind are unknown.

In the wake of the attacks, Plateau Governor Jonah Jang called for immediate withdrawal of the Nigerian army brought to the state to keep the peace because, he said, Muslims in the army have taken sides with Muslim attackers.

“I am convinced that the armed forces are being polluted with the religious crisis in the country,” Jang said.

“Before now, the military personnel used to stay in the barracks, but today the armed forces have started taking sides in this religious crisis, and if they are not called to order it will be dangerous for the country.”
Bitrus Kaze, the representative for Jos in Nigeria’s National Assembly, said in a recent press conference that there have been other times that military ID cards and pieces of uniforms have been found at the scene of sectarian attacks.

“It is a very sad testimony of the STF,” he said. “And what worries me is that in spite of that grievous allegation, it appears to me that STF has not come out, at least to deny it. It is really very strange and worrisome to me that in a scene of such a heinous crime, where a family of nine was wiped out, and an allegation of this nature was leveled against the military, it says nothing about it. It appears to me that the story surrounding the complicity is being given some genuineness.”

Captain Charles Ekeocha, spokesman of the task force deployed to Heipang to stop the attacks did not expressly address the allegations, but confirmed the number killed in the attack and said, “My troops went to the area to repel the attack.”

Alamveabee Efihraim Idyorough, a Christian who lives in the Jos suburb of Anaguta said his neighborhood has been attacked multiple times over the past 10 years.

“Do Christian ethnic minorities not have the right to exist in Nigeria?” Idyorough asked. “Are Christians not citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?” (Source)

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