Coptic priest Zakaria Botros fights fire with fire.
Islam's "Public Enemy #1"
by Raymond Ibrahim Orthodoxy
Today.org
Though he is little known in the West, Coptic priest Zakaria Botros -- named Islam's "Public Enemy #1" by the Arabic newspaper, al-Insan al-Jadid -- has been making waves in the Islamic world. Along with fellow missionaries -- mostly Muslim converts -- he appears frequently on the Arabic channel al-Hayat (i.e., "Life TV").
There, he addresses controversial topics of theological significance -- free from the censorship imposed by Islamic authorities or self-imposed through fear of the zealous mobs who fulminated against the infamous cartoons of Mohammed. Botros's excurses on little-known but embarrassing aspects of Islamic law and tradition have become a thorn in the side of Islamic leaders throughout the Middle East.Botros is an unusual figure onscreen: robed, with a huge cross around his neck, he sits with both the Koran and the Bible in easy reach. Egypt's Copts -- members of one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East -- have in many respects come to personify the demeaning Islamic institution of "dhimmitude" (which demands submissiveness from non-Muslims, in accordance with Koran 9:29). But the fiery Botros does not submit, and minces no words. He has famously made of Islam "ten demands," whose radical nature he uses to highlight Islam's own radical demands on non-Muslims.
The result? Mass conversions to Christianity -- if clandestine ones. The very public conversion of high-profile Italian journalist Magdi Allam -- who was baptized by Pope Benedict in Rome on Saturday -- is only the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, Islamic cleric Ahmad al-Qatani stated on al-Jazeera TV a while back that some six million Muslims convert to Christianity annually, many of them persuaded by Botros's public ministry. More recently, al-Jazeera noted Life TV's "unprecedented evangelical raid" on the Muslim world. Several factors account for the Botros phenomenon.
First, the new media -- particularly satellite TV and the Internet (the main conduits for Life TV) -- have made it possible for questions about Islam to be made public without fear of reprisal.
**
READ IT ALL:
**
Another article about Fr. Zakaria:
Fr. Zakaria's webpage:http://www.fatherzakaria.net/
Read the entire article on the National Review website (new window will open). Posted: 01-Apr-08 Article link: http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles8/Ibrahim-Islams-Public-Enemy-Number-One.php
posted by jillosophy at 4/10/2008 10:25:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home