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THE DESTRUCTION OF IRAQ'S CHRISTIANS
By Rayyan al-Shawaf
Daily Star - Lebanon,
July 20 2007
Last month, a Chaldean priest, Ragheed Ganni, and three sub-deacons
were murdered by Islamist terrorists in Mosul, Iraq. Before being
executed, they were informed that they would be spared on the condition
that they converted to Islam. All refused. Ganni was one of many
Iraqis killed since 2003 for no reason other than their Christian
identity. Additionally, thousands of Christians have been expelled
from their homes, extorted, harassed, beaten, raped and ordered to
covert to Islam, spawning a frantic and ongoing exodus. As a result,
Iraq's Christian community stands on the verge of extinction. Other
religious minorities have also been persecuted, including the Yazidis
of the north and the tiny Mandaean community of the south.
Until recently, the Iraqi diaspora was relatively small. The 1980-1988
war between Iraq and Iran, which was accompanied by an economic boom,
did not prompt mass emigration of Iraqis. Large-scale emigration
began with Saddam Hussein's 1988 Anfal campaign against Kurds, and
skyrocketed with the 1991 Gulf war, Saddam's crushing of a Shiite
rebellion, and international sanctions. The resulting economic
deterioration led large numbers of Christians to leave. Saddam's
post-war Islamization drive provided an added incentive.
Most of Iraq's Christians are Chaldo-Assyrians, an ethnic group
comprising several Christian sects, including Chaldean Catholics (the
largest), two factions of the Assyrian Church of the East, and Syriac
Orthodox and Catholics. Iraq is also home to Armenian Orthodox and
Catholics, and smaller groups like Anglicans, Protestants, and Roman
Catholics. On the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the number
of Christians was often generously estimated at 800,000; the real
figure was likely no higher than 500,000. The violent and anarchic
period following the invasion has proven disastrous; some estimates
indicate that in the past four years, the Christian population of
Iraq has halved.
Although bombings of churches receive media attention, assassinations
and kidnappings go largely unnoticed. Recently, however, expulsions
and large-scale harassment of Christians, such as those under way in
the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Daura, have been reported.
"The Islamic State of Iraq," a Sunni terrorist umbrella group which
includes Al-Qaeda, ordered Christian residents of Al-Daura to pay a
jizya, the Islamic poll tax historically imposed upon non-Muslims.
The money would go to financing the very activities that threaten the
future of Christians in Iraq. Seventy percent of the neighborhood's
Christians subsequently fled.
It is crucial to understand that Christians in Iraq are not simply
suffering from the general violence and anarchy plaguing the
country, but are being targeted as Christians by Islamists as well
as criminal gangs. While Islamist terrorists openly aim to rid Iraq
of all "infidels," criminals seek to exploit the perceived wealth
of Christians. Thus, many Christians who were middle-class are now
destitute, having paid exorbitant ransoms for kidnapped loved ones -
some of whom were killed nonetheless.
Though Christians have been persecuted by Muslims in the past, today's
Islamist onslaught against Christians in Iraq has led to something
virtually unprecedented in the history of Islam in Mesopotamia:
Christians must hide their identity so as to avoid being harassed
or killed. Christian women routinely don the hijab, and men and
women with identifiably Christian names have taken to concealing
them. Concomitantly, Christians have been forced to remove the cross
from public view, including church steeples and domes as well as from
around their necks. This is a hugely symbolic act that powerfully
illustrates the tragic position of Christians in Iraq today.
Church services are regularly cancelled; when held, many parishioners
are understandably too scared to attend. During parliamentary
elections, Chaldo-Assyrian political parties didn't dare to
mount a public election campaign, for fear this might be deemed
"provocative." Physical danger stalks Christians everywhere; Islamist
groups have launched sectarian cleansing operations against Christian
enclaves in virtually all Iraqi cities. Christians are targeted by
both Sunni and Shiite violence. Though some have sought sanctuary
among coreligionists in the Kurdish-controlled north, for many there
is no option but to leave Iraq altogether.
Women are especially vulnerable. Theological justifications for the
rape of non-Muslim women and their forcible betrothal to Muslims are
widespread - Mandaean women have been specifically targeted - as are
rulings permitting the summary murder of all non-Muslims who violate
Islamic law. Violations can be selling liquor, dressing "immodestly,"
refusing to pay a jizya, expressing a political opinion, or even just
professing one's faith openly. In the worst circumstances, the very
act of being non-Muslim is perceived as an offense; many Islamist
militias simply present non-Muslims with the choice of converting to
Islam or being killed.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
Significantl y, however, it isn't just terrorists who target
Christians. A previously latent anti-Christian animus among large
sections of the Muslim populace has manifested itself. There are many
recorded instances of politically unaffiliated Muslims turning on
their Christian neighbors, of others refusing to pay debts owed to
Christians, and of acts of individual extortion. Fatwas authorizing
the seizure of abandoned Christian property inevitably encourage
Muslims to expel Christians or intimidate them into fleeing, while
invidious rumors of wholesale Christian "collaboration" with the
occupation forces prompt anti-Christian violence. This is part of
the general Islamization engulfing Iraq, turning ordinary Muslims
against their Christian compatriots, who are denigrated as "unclean"
and physically threatened for being "Crusaders."
Western countries, terrified of being perceived as biased toward
Christians, have maintained a studied indifference, while the Iraqi
government and security services have been heavily infiltrated by
members of anti-Christian Shiite militias. Unlike Shiites, Sunnis,
and Kurds, Christians field no militias and are easy prey for their
oppressors.
Iraqi Muslim leaders' condemnation of sectarian violence is woefully
insufficient, as they refuse to acknowledge - let alone confront -
the extremism in their midst. Influential Muslim clerics like the
Sunni cleric Hareth al-Dari and the Shiite Muqtada al-Sadr flatly
deny that their communities produce extremists; instead, each blames
the other community and the American military for all outrages. This
doesn't apply only to anti-Christian violence. Incredibly, Sunni
leaders accuse Shiites of being behind attacks on Shiite holy sites,
while Shiite leaders straight-facedly accuse Sunnis of the mass
kidnappings and executions of unarmed Sunnis. As a result, there
is little introspection and no self-criticism on the part of either
community. Indeed, Muslim leaders often condemn the atrocity while
exonerating the perpetrator.
The tragedy is that we will likely soon find ourselves writing the
epitaph of Iraq's Christian community. Indeed, even if the situation
were suddenly to improve - a highly unlikely prospect - it is
already too late to reverse the effects of the hemorrhaging. Massive
emigration has altered Iraq's demography irrevocably, and certain
groups will never recover. Figures for members of the Assyrian Church,
for example, have plummeted, and the Armenians of Iraq have virtually
disappeared. Other minorities besides Christians are also endangered;
according to the Mandaean Society of America, 85 percent of Iraq's
Mandaeans have fled since 2003.
Eventually, the violence in Iraq will subside and a modicum of security
will return. Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds will arrive at a modus vivendi,
however imperfect. In attempting to forge some semblance of unity,
a nationalist historiography will likely blame the occupation forces
for Iraq's post-Saddam violence. And this will be the second crime
perpetrated against Iraqi victims of Islamist terror. After all,
there can be no greater insult to the murdered than to exonerate
their murderers.
For the Christians of Iraq, indeed, for all Iraqis who have been
killed or otherwise persecuted for their religious affiliation, this
would mean exonerating the Islamist purveyors of holy war, Sunni or
Shiite, who incite against one another and against non-Muslims. It
would mean "moving forward" without ever confronting the Islamist
theologies of murder, rape and genocide, whose adherents have forever
disfigured Iraq.
Rayyan al-Shawaf is a freelance writer and reviewer based in Beirut.
He wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.
By Rayyan al-Shawaf
Daily Star - Lebanon,
July 20 2007
Last month, a Chaldean priest, Ragheed Ganni, and three sub-deacons
were murdered by Islamist terrorists in Mosul, Iraq. Before being
executed, they were informed that they would be spared on the condition
that they converted to Islam. All refused. Ganni was one of many
Iraqis killed since 2003 for no reason other than their Christian
identity. Additionally, thousands of Christians have been expelled
from their homes, extorted, harassed, beaten, raped and ordered to
covert to Islam, spawning a frantic and ongoing exodus. As a result,
Iraq's Christian community stands on the verge of extinction. Other
religious minorities have also been persecuted, including the Yazidis
of the north and the tiny Mandaean community of the south.
Until recently, the Iraqi diaspora was relatively small. The 1980-1988
war between Iraq and Iran, which was accompanied by an economic boom,
did not prompt mass emigration of Iraqis. Large-scale emigration
began with Saddam Hussein's 1988 Anfal campaign against Kurds, and
skyrocketed with the 1991 Gulf war, Saddam's crushing of a Shiite
rebellion, and international sanctions. The resulting economic
deterioration led large numbers of Christians to leave. Saddam's
post-war Islamization drive provided an added incentive.
Most of Iraq's Christians are Chaldo-Assyrians, an ethnic group
comprising several Christian sects, including Chaldean Catholics (the
largest), two factions of the Assyrian Church of the East, and Syriac
Orthodox and Catholics. Iraq is also home to Armenian Orthodox and
Catholics, and smaller groups like Anglicans, Protestants, and Roman
Catholics. On the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the number
of Christians was often generously estimated at 800,000; the real
figure was likely no higher than 500,000. The violent and anarchic
period following the invasion has proven disastrous; some estimates
indicate that in the past four years, the Christian population of
Iraq has halved.
Although bombings of churches receive media attention, assassinations
and kidnappings go largely unnoticed. Recently, however, expulsions
and large-scale harassment of Christians, such as those under way in
the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Daura, have been reported.
"The Islamic State of Iraq," a Sunni terrorist umbrella group which
includes Al-Qaeda, ordered Christian residents of Al-Daura to pay a
jizya, the Islamic poll tax historically imposed upon non-Muslims.
The money would go to financing the very activities that threaten the
future of Christians in Iraq. Seventy percent of the neighborhood's
Christians subsequently fled.
It is crucial to understand that Christians in Iraq are not simply
suffering from the general violence and anarchy plaguing the
country, but are being targeted as Christians by Islamists as well
as criminal gangs. While Islamist terrorists openly aim to rid Iraq
of all "infidels," criminals seek to exploit the perceived wealth
of Christians. Thus, many Christians who were middle-class are now
destitute, having paid exorbitant ransoms for kidnapped loved ones -
some of whom were killed nonetheless.
Though Christians have been persecuted by Muslims in the past, today's
Islamist onslaught against Christians in Iraq has led to something
virtually unprecedented in the history of Islam in Mesopotamia:
Christians must hide their identity so as to avoid being harassed
or killed. Christian women routinely don the hijab, and men and
women with identifiably Christian names have taken to concealing
them. Concomitantly, Christians have been forced to remove the cross
from public view, including church steeples and domes as well as from
around their necks. This is a hugely symbolic act that powerfully
illustrates the tragic position of Christians in Iraq today.
Church services are regularly cancelled; when held, many parishioners
are understandably too scared to attend. During parliamentary
elections, Chaldo-Assyrian political parties didn't dare to
mount a public election campaign, for fear this might be deemed
"provocative." Physical danger stalks Christians everywhere; Islamist
groups have launched sectarian cleansing operations against Christian
enclaves in virtually all Iraqi cities. Christians are targeted by
both Sunni and Shiite violence. Though some have sought sanctuary
among coreligionists in the Kurdish-controlled north, for many there
is no option but to leave Iraq altogether.
Women are especially vulnerable. Theological justifications for the
rape of non-Muslim women and their forcible betrothal to Muslims are
widespread - Mandaean women have been specifically targeted - as are
rulings permitting the summary murder of all non-Muslims who violate
Islamic law. Violations can be selling liquor, dressing "immodestly,"
refusing to pay a jizya, expressing a political opinion, or even just
professing one's faith openly. In the worst circumstances, the very
act of being non-Muslim is perceived as an offense; many Islamist
militias simply present non-Muslims with the choice of converting to
Islam or being killed.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
Significantl y, however, it isn't just terrorists who target
Christians. A previously latent anti-Christian animus among large
sections of the Muslim populace has manifested itself. There are many
recorded instances of politically unaffiliated Muslims turning on
their Christian neighbors, of others refusing to pay debts owed to
Christians, and of acts of individual extortion. Fatwas authorizing
the seizure of abandoned Christian property inevitably encourage
Muslims to expel Christians or intimidate them into fleeing, while
invidious rumors of wholesale Christian "collaboration" with the
occupation forces prompt anti-Christian violence. This is part of
the general Islamization engulfing Iraq, turning ordinary Muslims
against their Christian compatriots, who are denigrated as "unclean"
and physically threatened for being "Crusaders."
Western countries, terrified of being perceived as biased toward
Christians, have maintained a studied indifference, while the Iraqi
government and security services have been heavily infiltrated by
members of anti-Christian Shiite militias. Unlike Shiites, Sunnis,
and Kurds, Christians field no militias and are easy prey for their
oppressors.
Iraqi Muslim leaders' condemnation of sectarian violence is woefully
insufficient, as they refuse to acknowledge - let alone confront -
the extremism in their midst. Influential Muslim clerics like the
Sunni cleric Hareth al-Dari and the Shiite Muqtada al-Sadr flatly
deny that their communities produce extremists; instead, each blames
the other community and the American military for all outrages. This
doesn't apply only to anti-Christian violence. Incredibly, Sunni
leaders accuse Shiites of being behind attacks on Shiite holy sites,
while Shiite leaders straight-facedly accuse Sunnis of the mass
kidnappings and executions of unarmed Sunnis. As a result, there
is little introspection and no self-criticism on the part of either
community. Indeed, Muslim leaders often condemn the atrocity while
exonerating the perpetrator.
The tragedy is that we will likely soon find ourselves writing the
epitaph of Iraq's Christian community. Indeed, even if the situation
were suddenly to improve - a highly unlikely prospect - it is
already too late to reverse the effects of the hemorrhaging. Massive
emigration has altered Iraq's demography irrevocably, and certain
groups will never recover. Figures for members of the Assyrian Church,
for example, have plummeted, and the Armenians of Iraq have virtually
disappeared. Other minorities besides Christians are also endangered;
according to the Mandaean Society of America, 85 percent of Iraq's
Mandaeans have fled since 2003.
Eventually, the violence in Iraq will subside and a modicum of security
will return. Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds will arrive at a modus vivendi,
however imperfect. In attempting to forge some semblance of unity,
a nationalist historiography will likely blame the occupation forces
for Iraq's post-Saddam violence. And this will be the second crime
perpetrated against Iraqi victims of Islamist terror. After all,
there can be no greater insult to the murdered than to exonerate
their murderers.
For the Christians of Iraq, indeed, for all Iraqis who have been
killed or otherwise persecuted for their religious affiliation, this
would mean exonerating the Islamist purveyors of holy war, Sunni or
Shiite, who incite against one another and against non-Muslims. It
would mean "moving forward" without ever confronting the Islamist
theologies of murder, rape and genocide, whose adherents have forever
disfigured Iraq.
Rayyan al-Shawaf is a freelance writer and reviewer based in Beirut.
He wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.