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| Iraq |
| Convert, Pay Tax, Or Die, Islamic State Warns Christians |
| 2014-07-20 |
| [Reuters] Islamist insurgents have issued an ultimatum to northern Iraq's dwindling Christian population to either convert to Islam, pay a religious levy or face death, according to a statement distributed in the militant-controlled city of Mosul. The statement issued by the Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot which led last month's lightning assault to capture swathes of north Iraq, and seen by Reuters, said the ruling would come into effect on Saturday. It said Christians who wanted to remain in the "caliphate" that the Islamic State declared this month in parts of Iraq and Syria must agree to abide by terms of a "dhimma" contract - a historic practice under which non-Muslims were protected in Muslim lands in return for a special levy known as "jizya". "We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract - involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword," the announcement said. A resident of Mosul said the statement, issued in the name of the Islamic State in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, had been distributed on Thursday and read out in mosques. It said Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which the group has now named Caliph Ibrahim, had set a Saturday deadline for Christians who did not want to stay and live under those terms to "leave the borders of the Islamic Caliphate". |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #11 Gangsters operating with the Koran as their final, although purposely ambiguous, authority. Is it that difficult to "get" this? Or has moral equivalency so blinded so many? |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2014-07-20 15:57 |
| #10 To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last - but eat you he will. Ronald Reagan |
| Posted by: Thineng Angailet7166 2014-07-20 14:15 |
| #9 Convert, pay up, or die - one of the nasty bits from the Krayon that everyone says it doesn't really mean. Nothing new here, really. Yet another bunch of thugs with totalitarian ideology bent on world domination. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-07-20 13:43 |
| #8 To ignore discord for the sake of peace only postpones war for the others' advantage. The first element of estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men around him. Since fear and love cannot coexist together, it is better to be feared than loved. The progressives gave Machiavelli a bad name but obviously we need leaders that have read Nicolai as Putin has obviously. I think we would be better off if the empty suit had read Machiavelli instead of Chomsky. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2014-07-20 12:09 |
| #7 Why do the West not help the christians in the middle east?They are getting massacered whilst the Western Govts allow it! You dont see young christians going to Iraq to fight for their oppressed brothers/sisters do you?. |
| Posted by: Paul D 2014-07-20 12:09 |
| #6 The Saudis and Obama will be proud with this! |
| Posted by: Eohippus Grinese9025 2014-07-20 12:05 |
| #5 In the Obama regime, the hardliners are inclusive. Every military effort against hardliners, Hussein Obama has been squishy about green lighting. This is the weakest US president the world has ever seen. |
| Posted by: Thineng Angailet7166 2014-07-20 08:29 |
| #4 The only thing they lack is Lois Lerner and a clandestine IRS enforcement arm. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-07-20 05:45 |
| #3 I wonder how long until this Islamic State collapse under it's own weight? |
| Posted by: Charles 2014-07-20 02:56 |
| #2 But this is straight from the Koran, Frank. And so it is God's word. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2014-07-20 01:11 |
| #1 sounds like an ACA edict from HHS |
| Posted by: Frank G 2014-07-20 00:38 |