Two years ago this Christmas, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up an airplane over Detroit by lighting his underwear filled with explosives on fire. Now, radical Muslim Cleric Anjem Choudary, most infamous for saying Shariah law will take over America, is calling the day celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ the "pathway to hell."
A Muslim lawyer has launched an extraordinary rant against Christmas, branding the celebration 'evil'.
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary claimed the festival was the 'pathway to hell' and urged his followers to boycott it.
'In the world today many Muslims, especially those residing in Western countries, are exposed to the evil celebration Christmas,' he raged in a sermon broadcast on the internet.
'Many take part in the festival celebrations by having Christmas turkey dinners.
'Decorating the house, purchasing Christmas trees or having Christmas turkey meals are completely prohibited by Allah.
'Many still practise this corrupt celebration as a remembrance of the birth of Jesus.
'How can a Muslim possibly approve or participate in such a practice that bases itself on the notion Allah has an offspring?
'The very concept of Christmas contradicts and conflicts with the foundation of Islam.
'Every Muslim has a responsibility to protect his family from the misguidance of Christmas, because its observance will lead to hellfire.
'Protect your Paradise from being taken away - protect yourself and your family from Christmas.'
Sounds pretty tolerant to me. Meanwhile in Egypt, Christian Churches are being burned to the ground and Christians risk their lives to worship.
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-- On March 4, a mob of Muslims in the village of Sol rioted against Copts and their property, angered by controversy over a rumored romance between a local Christian man and Muslim woman. The mob sent Christian residents running to their homes for safety before it burned the town's main church to the ground (reportedly after looters mistook Coptic-language liturgy for books of black magic). Two Copts were killed in the violence.
-- On Sept.30, a Salafi imam incited a group of several thousand Muslims in the village of al-Marinab to march on a local church after Friday prayers. The Christians' offense: They had built a dome on their more than 70-year-old church after receiving all necessary approval from the Aswan governor. The mob attacked and burned the church with impunity. The governor, while claiming he had given no such permission, implicitly sanctioned the mob's actions.
-- This last incident led to horrific violence on Oct. 9, when the Egyptian military brutally suppressed a demonstration of mostly Coptic protestors in the Maspero district of Cairo, killing 27. Unbelievably, the military has denied all responsibility for the violence, despite a plethora of video and eyewitness evidence to the contrary, and it has even sought to punish some of the more vocal participants (Christian and Muslim) of the Maspero protest. In this case, the transitional government didn't just overlook an attack on Copts: It perpetrated the violence.
-- On Oct. 16, a public school teacher reportedly incited a group of Muslim students in his class to beat to death Ayman Labib, a Coptic classmate, for wearing a cross. As of this writing, police have charged two students with the murder, but the teacher (who reportedly turned to the class after seeing Ayman's cross and asked, "What are we going to do with him?") and others who might have been involved in the incident have so far avoided any serious investigation into their incitement or complicity.
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