PJ Media

In a move reminiscent of “ancient history,” Saudi Arabia is building a 600-mile-long “Great Wall”—a combined fence and ditch—to separate itself from the Islamic State to the north in Iraq:

Plans for the 600-mile wall and ditch Saudi Arabia will build with Iraq in an effort to insulate itself from the chaos engulfing its neighbors. Much of the area on the Iraqi side is now controlled by Isil [the Islamic State], which regards the ultimate capture of Saudi Arabia, home to the “Two Holy Mosques” of Mecca and Medina, as a key goal….

The irony here is that those Muslims that Saudi Arabia is trying to keep out are the very same Muslims most nurtured and influenced by a Saudi — or “Wahabbi,” or “Salafi” — worldview.

Put differently, Saudi Arabia is again appreciating how jihad is a volatile instrument of war that can easily backfire on those who support it. “Holy war” is hardly limited to fighting and subjugating “infidels” — whether the West in general, Israel in particular, or the millions of non-Muslim minorities under Islam — but also justifies fighting “apostates,” that is, Muslims accused of not being Islamic enough.

Indeed, the first grand jihad was against Muslim “apostates” — the Ridda [“apostasy”] Wars. After Muhammad died in 632, many Arab tribes were willing to remain Muslim but without paying zakat (“charity” or extortion) money to the first caliph, Abu Bakr. That was enough to declare jihad on them as apostates; tens of thousands of Arabs were burned, beheaded, dismembered, or crucified, according to Islamic history.

Accordingly, the Islamic State justifies burning people alive, such as the Jordanian pilot, precisely because the first caliph and his Muslim lieutenants burned apostates alive, and is even on record saying that “false Muslims” are its first target, then Israel.

This is the problem all Muslim nations and rulers risk: no one — not even Sharia-advocating Islamist leaders — are immune to the all-accusing sword tip of the jihad. If non-Muslims are, as “infidels,” de facto enemies, any Muslim can be accused of “apostasy,” instantly becoming an enemy of Allah and his prophet.

A saying attributed to the Muslim prophet Muhammad validates this perspective: “This umma [Islamic nation] of mine will split into seventy-three sects; one will be in paradise and seventy-two will be in hell.” When asked which sect was the true one, the prophet replied, “al–jama‘a,” that is, the group which most literally follows the example or “sunna” of Muhammad.

This saying perfectly sums up the history of Islam: to be deemed legitimate, authorities must uphold the teachings of Islam — including jihad; but it is never long before another claimant accuses existing leadership of not being “Islamic enough.”

Enter the Saudi/Islamic State relationship. From the start, the Arabian kingdom has been a supporter of the Islamic State. It was not long, however, before IS made clear that Saudi Arabia was one of its primary targets, calling on its allies and supporters in the kingdom to kill and drive out the Saud tribe.

Nor is this the first time the Saudis see those whom they nurtured — ideologically and logistically — turn on them. Back in the 1980s, the Saudis were chief supporters of the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan and helped create al-Qaeda.

But once the “distant” infidel was subdued, al-Qaeda and its Saudi-born leader Osama bin Laden came home to roost, doing the inevitable: pointing the accusatory finger at the Saudi monarchy for not being Islamic enough, including for its reliance on the great American infidel during the First Gulf War.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia is not only a chief disseminator and supporter of the Salafi ideology most associated with jihad, but the Arabian kingdom itself was forged in large measure by articulating and calling for holy war in the 19th and 20th centuries, including against Turks and fellow Arab tribes (both Muslim).

The Saudi argument then was the very same argument being made by the Islamic State now — that the rulers of Islam’s holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina (then, the Ottoman Turks) were not “Islamic” enough.

Such is the double-edged sword of jihad. All Islamic governments, regimes, and kingdoms must always try to direct this potent instrument of war against enemies or neutral targets — preferably ones far away from their borders (Afghanistan, America, etc.). For they know that the longer the jihad waxes in strength and goes uncontained, the more it becomes like an all-consuming fire indiscriminately scorching all in its path.

This also explains why Saudi Arabia is a chief funder and supporter of external jihads: better to send its own zealots out of its borders to fight distant infidels than have them stick around (a “better them than me” mentality). It also explains why nations like Saudi Arabia, which were forged by the jihad, continually find themselves threatened by the jihad — or, to paraphrase a young Jewish rabbi: “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”

This article was originally published under the title "Secure the Border! Saudi Arabia Building 600-Mile 'Great Wall' to Keep Out ISIS."

As is—or should be—well known by now, wherever Islam has sway, the advertisement of any other faith or creed becomes forbidden, for fear of “completion.” Accordingly, reports indicate that close U.S. friend-and-ally Saudi Arabia—the birthplace of Islam where not one single church is allowed to exist—has now decreed the death penalty for anyone caught trying to smuggle Bibles or any other "publications that have prejudice to any other religious belief other than Islam." The Christian Post reports:

The Saudi Arabian government has reportedly passed a law that imposes the death penalty on people caught smuggling Bibles into the majority-Muslim country. According to the HeartCry Missionary Society, the Saudi government issued an official statement signifying that capital punishment may now be used on those who smuggle Bibles into the desert nation, where the royal family upholds a strict Wahhabi brand of Sunni Islam.

“A strict Wahhabi brand of Sunni Islam” is simply another way of saying a literalist Islam based on the words and teachings of the Koran and Islam’s prophet Muhammad.

The society's report added that the death penalty, which usually comes in the form of beheadings, can also be used against people who simply distribute the Bible and all other "publications that have prejudice to any other religious belief other than Islam." This means that anyone handing out any kind of religious literature that is not of Islamic faith can legally be executed.

For an idea of Saudi-style beheadings, the video of a recent one can be viewed here.

More details on the “collective punishment” of Niger’s Christians in response to Charlie Hebdo Muhammad cartoons recently appeared.

According to a nun who escaped the violence, forty churches were torched and ten people slaughtered. She further added that “the intention was to torch all the churches with us inside them on Christmas Day and thus burn us alive!” This never came to pass but with the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, an excuse was found (as discussed here, “collective punishment” is often an excuse—in this case, ludicrously blaming Niger’s Christians for the actions of Parisian atheists—to kill Christians).

Concluded the nun: “Boko Haram students believe they must kill Christians in order to take their place in paradise but we won't surrender to fear because love must prevail over hatred."

What does the sub-Saharan African nation have in common with Arab nations like Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia; what does it have in common with Iran or Turkey or even east Asian nations like Indonesia; what does it have in common with sister African nations like Somalia and Sudan?

Muslims persecuting Christians:

"The residents of Maiduguri [in Muslim-majority Borno State] are going through very difficult times because of the brutal violence of Boko Haram," said Father Gideon Obasugi, relationship manager in the Diocese of Maiduguri after the February 1 attacks by Boko Haram. The army and militia were able to push them back and defend the city but "the attacks have become more frequent because the terrorists come increasingly closer to the city," said the priest:

The Christians in Maiduguri are really paying a heavy price for their faith. This is the second Sunday that we had to postpone Mass or not celebrate it at all. We cannot even meet among ourselves on Sunday to thank God for his love and, in particular, to pray for the upcoming elections to be peaceful because threats have grown intolerable. There was a violent attempt by Boko Haram Islamic militants to destroy Maiduguri. I wonder when it will all end? Is it possible that we, as a nation, do not have the ability to put an end to all of this?

While we routinely hear about Muslims living in Western countries migrating to and fighting on behalf of the Islamic State, much lesser known is that dozens of Western Christians have also traveled to the Middle East to fight on behalf of their Christian brethren being persecuted and slaughtered by IS. Unlike Muslims who migrate to IS as mercenaries, these Christians are volunteers; often they leave comfortable lives and jobs and family. However, seeing their Western governments, which have the military capability to annihilate the Islamic State, do next to nothing as IS slaughters and persecutes countless innocents, these Christians have decided to take it on themselves to fight the good fight on behalf of the weak and oppressed. "Western Christians entering fight against ISIS" by Michael Ashcraft and Mark Ellis for Godreports, Feb. 18:

The latest foreign fighters to flock into the war zone in Iraq and Syria are Christians who want to do more than their western governments allow. Jordan Matson U.S. vet Jordan Matson engages in firefights regularly with ISIS soldiers alongside pro-Western Syrian Kurds, according to an interview with Fox News. “I decided that if our government wasn’t going to do anything about it, I would,” says Matson, who’s fought ISIS since September 2014. “We’re getting shot at on pretty much a daily basis. It’s more of a World War II or Vietnam style fight. We don’t have the technology that the United States military has to push our enemies away.” A strong Christian who has the words “Christ is Lord” inscribed in his vest, Matson says he decided to enlist when he saw the news reports about Christians being executed mercilessly while family members were sold into slavery and given to human trafficking. “What tipped the iceberg was when Mosul fell itself and they killed a lot of Christians,” he says. “These people are human beings; they just want to live in peace.” Khamis Gewargis Khamis

Thousands of Muslim radicals, drawn by the Medieval-like barbarism of ISIS, have joined the terror group in recent months. Less publicity has been given to the estimated dozens of Christians who have quietly joined the forces of good, not as mercenaries but as volunteers. A Christian from Australia, Khamis Gewargis Khamis left behind his wife and two children in Melbourne to enlist with an Assyrian militia faction called Dwekh Nawsha, which translates “Self Sacrifices,” ABC News reports. The terrorists “don’t discriminate when it comes to killing, torture and so on,” says Khamis. “These are barbaric people, they came here only to die for what they believe in, so you can imagine the terror that they are spreading among the families, the kids and so on.” Khamis says Dwekh Nawsha fights alongside Kurdish Peshmurga stationed at Baqofa, about 15 miles North of ISIS-occupied Mosul. He says he may run afoul of Australian law prohibiting citizens to get entangled in foreign militias, but he’s willing to face the consequences in a courtroom because the need is urgent. Reuters News interviewed Brett, 28, about his decision to join Dwekh Nawsha in the Nineveh province where Christian villages have survived Islamic onslaught for centuries but are now being crushed by ISIS. “Here I’m fighting for a people and for a faith, and the enemy is much bigger and more brutal” than when he was deployed with the US military in 2006, he says. “These are some of the only towns in Nineveh where church bells ring. In every other town the bells have gone silent, and that’s unacceptable.” Brett, who withheld his last name [to] avoid troubles with the U.S. government, has Saint Michael, the archangel of war, tattooed on his back and carries his pocket Bible at all times. New recruits keep coming. Tim, 38, of England, was turned away last week because he didn’t yet have authorization to join the boots on the ground of Kurdish militia. “I’m here to make a difference and hopefully put a stop to some atrocities,” he told Reuters. He shut down his construction business, sold his house and bought a ticket for himself and friend, a 44-year-old American software engineer, Scott. Scott The pair flew to Dubai and from there to Suleimaniyah, in Kurdish territory, from where they took a taxi to Duhok, where they attempted to enlist. “Everyone dies,” Brett says. “One of my favorite verses in the Bible says: be faithful unto death, and I shall give you the crown of life.” Meanwhile, hopes for a rapid rout of ISIS were dashed last week when a group in Libya beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians whose only crime was to seek employment in the oil-rich neighboring nation. A grisly video – showing the same execution style and filming quality of ISIS – appeared to take Washington by surprise, which had discounted the spread of ISIS’s appalling tactics. In the video released Sunday, a masked terrorist, in a perfect American accent, threatens to make the Mediterranean run red with the blood of Europeans, ominously warning that Rome will be struck next. “We will fight you until Christ descends, breaks the cross and kills the pig,” the terrorist says, alluding to Muslim eschatology. The Egyptians Coptic Christians are shown lying on their stomachs, dressed in orange jumpsuits on the beach. Their captors jammed fingers into their eyes, yanked their heads back and proceeded to cut their necks. U.S. President Barak Obama hailed the “Arab spring” uprising of 2012 as democracy supplanted dictatorships in several Mediterranean Muslim nations. But now the outcome is being called “Arab winter” as Libya and other nations spiral down into endless fighting among factions, with fanatics such as ISIS stepping into the power vacuum. ISIS’ shock tactics actually appear to be inspiring radically inclined Muslims because they project the sensation of power to people who feel frustrated by the overwhelming military machine of the West. ISIS employs an easy-to-join process compared to al-Qaeda, which submits applicants to a lengthy process. The video shows that “the barbarous Islamic State—far from waning and being limited to portions of Iraq and Syria—is growing stronger, now well entrenched in Libya too,” writes Raymond Ibrahim on his website, which monitors Islamic atrocities.