New ISIS video promises spread of caliphate, murder of more Christians
In a video showing the execution of 28 Ethiopian Christians, the Sunni terrorist group, Islamic State, says persecution of Christians is fundamental to Islam and warns those who refuse Islam — you will be slain.
In the video released by group also known as ISIS, their spokesman gives Christians three options – convert to Islam, submit to the rule of Islam and pay the Jizya (tribute) or be killed.
“We say to Christians everywhere, the Islamic State will expand, with Allah’s permission,” a spokesman identified as Sheik Abu Malik Anas An-Nashwan says. “And it will reach you even if you are in fortified strongholds. So whoever enters Islam will have security, and whoever accepts the Dhimmah contract will have security. But whoever refuses will see nothing from us but the edge of a spear. The men will be killed and the children will be enslaved, and their wealth will be taken as booty. This is the judgment of Allah and his messenger.”
The statement follows the execution of 28 men the group says are “The worshipers of the cross belonging to the hostile Ethiopian Church.”
The men are forced to kneel in the sand and are shot in the back of their heads or are pushed down into the sand and their throats are slit. Then all the men are beheaded.
The segment ends with close-ups of the heads of several victims being stacked onto their bodies as blood flows into the sea. Then the screen goes blank, and An-Nashwan appears.
On Tuesday, the Ethiopian Ministry of Information confirmed the men were Ethiopian migrant workers who were living in Libya. Their identities, if privately known, have not been released. The government ordered a three-day official mourning period, set to conclude today.
“In the recent past, these rites were absent from the condition of the Muslim Nation. Rather, these rites were the hostages of jurisprudence books and theoretical legal discussions,” An-Nashwan says. Quoting the Koran, he adds, “Allah said, ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day, and those who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful, and those who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Book. Fight [them] until they give the Jizyah willingly while they are humbled.’”
An-Nashwan quotes numerous religious edicts issued in consensus by Islamic scholars regarding the treatment of Christians and Jews.
“Whoever does not consider the Jews and Christians to be disbelievers and does not hate them is not a Muslim,” An-Nashwan says, quoting Islamic scholar Al Islam Ibn-Taymiyyah. Citing a Hadith (saying or action of Muhammad), An-Nashwan says Muhammad told his followers to be aggressive toward Christians and Jews, declaring, “If you meet Jews or Christians, do not great them in peace.”