In 2015, I viewed a video that showed Muslims affiliated with the Islamic State (“ISIS”) destroying crosses in churches and atop them. The video was going viral for a few days on Arabic social media. I uploaded it to YouTube to get Westerners to know Muslims and to show them what Muslims all over the world are watching.
YouTube’s response was quick and horrible: the video was removed and my YouTube account was temporarily suspended.
Recently, however, while doing some research for another article, I found the video YouTube sought to bury and a friend loaded it onto Rumble:
The video shows Muslims breaking the cross, as they have done since the dawn of Islam. According to Bukhari’s canonical hadith, the prophet always broke the crosses he encountered. According to ISIS’ caption on the video clip, Muslims were purifying the ancient Christian city of Nineveh in Syria of “symbols” of polytheism, including the crucifix, but also Christian icons and statues.
It is important to note that such behavior is extremely common. It is rare that a cross doesn’t cause a Muslim to erupt in rage. (Most recently, it was a cross of a soccer player).
In fact, a few months ago, in Pakistan, thousands rioted when some Christians, as usual, were falsely accused of desecrating the Koran. The rioting Muslims destroyed 25 churches and at least one Christian graveyard. The Rev. Deacon Daud Irshad noted:
With tears in my eyes, I watched as the mob destroyed church buildings and desecrated crosses in graveyards. They burned so many Bibles and altars…
The “terrorists” of ISIS are very similar to these videos of “every day” Pakistanis breaking a cross.
It is not necessary to list all the recent incidents of Muslims attacking and destroying churches in the Islamic world. This same brutality has been practiced by Muslims even here in the West.
If you want to see what millions of Muslims feel about the cross of Christ, or at least those who follow the example of their prophet in breaking the cross, then watch the one-minute YouTube video.
