Al-Shabaab Kills Somali Preacher and Followers Over Music

Somalia's al-Shabaab continue to exact their special kind of barbaric Islamist punishment on those they believe are not following their kind of Islam.

Two attacks on the same day. A car bomb killing at least 6 and injuring more in Mogadishu. Apparently targeting soldiers there. The other attack was by two suicide bombers who killed an Islamic Imam along with 17 or more followers. Apparently the cleric was playing music during a religious ceremony.

Two suicide bombers exploded in front of the preacher's residence, which is also a Sufi shrine, and then four gunmen stormed the building and opened fire, said Ahmed Awale, a police officer in Galkayo. At least 20 others were injured, he said.

Somali security forces responded and there was a battle with heavy gunfire in the building. Three attackers were killed in the shootout and one was captured alive, said Awale.

Somalia's extremist rebels, al-Shabab, have claimed responsibility for the attack in Galkayo.

The attack killed Sheikh Abdiweli Ali Elmi, who has hundreds of followers and has been controversial because videos show him and his followers chanting religious poems with music, which some extremists say is not Islamic. Sheikh Elmi had defended his actions, saying music is not contrary to Islamic teachings.

Note of interest- This is the same country that Democratic member-elect of the U.S. house of representatives Ilhan Omar hails from. Not to say she has any affiliation with al-Shabaab. It's just interesting she chooses to still wear an hijab.

Source: Miami Herald

Obama Likens ISIS Deeds To The Crusades At National Prayer Breakfast

Today was National Prayer Breakfast, and Barack Obama chose to speak about religious extremism. While doing so, he actually likened the horrific actions of ISIS today to the Christian crusades of centuries ago- glomming onto the typical liberal apologist argument that Christians were just as bad, back in the day, as today's Muslim extremists.

Well, exactly, other religions have evolved past their less than stellar past. Not so Islam. 99 percent of the violence perpetrated in the name of religion these days is Islam. And besides, the Crusades began in 1095 with the aim of regaining access to Jerusalem AFTER Muslims conquered the region that happened to be Christian prior to that. Islamic conquests continued all the way up until the Ottoman Empire, which ended not so long ago- the early 1900s.

He said:

“And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ." “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

What a fool!

Pakistani Christian Couple Beaten To Death And Burned For Desecrating Quran

Only in Pakistan would a Christian couple accused of desecrating a Quran be beaten to death and then hurled into a kiln and burned. And the tragic part is- who knows if the couple were actually guilty or not. It could have been any number of things, including the fact that they were Christian, or perhaps they had a falling out with one of their accusers. Accusations of blasphemy are often levied against people who are involved in some alleged dispute, and though Pakistan still has draconian blasphemy laws that will earn you the death sentence, mob justice usually takes care of the accused before the courts can.

The victims were only identified by their first names, Shama and Shehzad, and were a married couple.

Pakistan's brick kiln workers are often subject to harsh practices, with a study by the Bonded Labour Liberation Front Pakistan estimating that 4.5 million are indentured labourers.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has constituted a three-member committee to fast track the investigation of the killings and ordered police to beef up security at Christian neighbourhoods in the province, an official from his media office told AFP.

Minorities are often targets, like Aasia Bibi, a Christian who was convicted of blasphemy, and then sentenced to death in November 2010.  She was accused by a Muslim woman after the two argued.

And 70-year-old schizophrenic Mohammad Asghar, a British/Pakistani man, has also been languishing in jail since 2010 for blasphemy. He was accused, after a dispute with a tenant, of writing that he was the Prophet Mohammad. No-one bothered to take into consideration his mental status. Asghar was then shot in the back by a vigilante prison guard in September, though he survived.

There are some in Pakistan who believe that the blasphemy law needs to go the way of the dinosaurs, but few have the courage to lobby for change because they could wind up dead.  That's what happened to Salmaan Taseer in 2011. The politician and businessman, who was governor of Punjab at the time, was murdered by Mumtaz Qadri, one of his bodyguards, because Taseer was very vocal about his opposition to the blasphemy law. Taseer was also asking for a pardon for Aasia Bibi. He was shot 27 times with a sub-machine gun. And who was considered the hero?  Qadri. He even got a mosque named after him. In a middle-class neighbourhood, to boot.

It's heartening, though, to read the comments on the Dawn article I sourced this from. Most are appalled by what happened to the Christian couple.

And this editorial from March 29, 2014, was reposted on Dawn:

Editorial: Death for blasphemy

The reality of Pakistan today is that mere accusation of this crime, howsoever unsubstantiated, instantly imperils the life of the individual concerned, and that threat persists not only throughout his incarceration, but even after acquittal.

Minorities are particularly impacted by the blasphemy law. Firstly, they are disproportionately targeted as compared to their actual representation in the population.

Secondly, when one of them is accused, the entire community is made to suffer, as illustrated by the mob violence in Joseph Colony, Gojra, etc or in lesser known cases where communities have been intimidated into moving en masse out of the locality. In fact, the desire to grab land or settle personal scores often underlies blasphemy allegations. That is all the more reason the law needs to be revisited.

Good luck with that.  Unfortunately, Pakistan is getting more and more conservative, and I can't imagine reform happening any time soon.

Taliban Threatens Violence During Upcoming Presidential Election

It's Afghanistan's turn to vote for a new president on April 5th, and although the Afghan people won't be dealing with a total sham election- like the North Koreans just experienced with Kim Jong-un's 100 percent of the vote- they are being threatened with violence by the Taliban. Why? Because they believe that the election is an "American conspiracy."  Whatever that's supposed to mean.

However, the government isn't taking the threats too seriously in spite of the fact that the Taliban has a penchant for violence and wound up killing a bunch of civilians and soldiers during their last elections in 2009. Najib Danesh, Interior Ministry spokesman, believes it's just "propaganda" to "disseminate panic," and has assured the Afghan people that there will be security during the election process. Good luck with that, since the Taliban's Zabihullah Mujahid has apparently told clerics to tell their congregants about the American conspiracy (which no doubt will rile them up), and to stay away from polling booths if they value their lives.

An email to news agencies stated that the targets will be any workers involved with the election process including activists, callers etc.

 "we have given orders to all our mujahedin to use all force at their disposal to disrupt these upcoming sham elections."

Hamid Karzai's reign will come to an end after 13 years.

Source: RFE/RL

Somali Muslim Gangs In Minneapolis Randomly Attack Joggers

Somali Muslim gangs in Fridley (a suburb of Minneapolis, MN Twin Cities area) have randomly attacked two joggers in a popular park during the day.

Motivation?

None.

Video news report here.

More Violence In Egypt- Pro-Morsi Supporters Torch Three Churches, Journalists Killed

Violence in the Middle East is never gone for very long. Egypt is back in the throes of it, and pro-Mohammed Morsi supporters are taking it out on the Coptic Christian minorities.

Supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi torched three churches in central Egypt on Wednesday in reprisal attacks as police dispersed demonstrations in Cairo, reports said.

The assailants threw firebombs at Mar Gergiss church in Sohag, a city with a large community of Coptic Christians who comprise up to 10 percent of Egypt’s 84 million people, causing it to burn down, the official MENA news agency said.

Security officials told AFP that another two churches were attacked in el-Menia province, leaving them partially damaged by fire.

Coptic rights group the Maspero Youth Union reported the same information, accusing Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement of “waging a war of retaliation” against the country’s Christians.

Meanwhile, there have been many wounded and killed, on both sides, including 61-year-old Sky News cameraman Mick Deane, and 26-year-old Dubai reporter for XPRESS Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz. No-one seems to know who is responsible for their deaths.

Burqa-Clad Woman Asked To Remove Veil- Violence Ensues In Paris

Anything fully covering the face in public- including Islamic niqabs and burqas, not hijabs which show the face- are banned in France. It's the law. And yet there are those who refuse to comply. The arrest in a Paris suburb of a 21-year-old Muslim convert who allegedly tried to strangle a police officer after the cop told his burqa-clad wife to remove her veil has spawned the typical violence in Paris banlieues including Trappes.

There's been the usual mob violence including stone throwing and setting cars on fire, and the denial of guilt. We can probably expect more of the same in the days to come.

More here.

Egyptian Islamists Beat Young Boy- Viral Video

Al Arabiya has posted a video that has gone viral of a young Egyptian boy being attacked by a group of pro-Morsi Islamists after they discover he's not there to support Mohammed Morsi.

Islamists flooded Ramses Square in Cairo after stuffing their faces for Iftar- the meal that breaks the Ramadan fast.

Thousands of Islamists poured into the square after breaking their Ramadan fast on Monday seeking to organize a sit-in there, threatening to paralyze traffic in one of the busiest parts of Cairo.

Their move prompted police intervention and violent clashes throughout the night. During the clashes a boy showed up to the scene and the angry Islamists grabbed him with one of them asking him:

“Who sent you here?” “Who are you?” “Are you with Mursi?” and “Who are you with?”

The horrified-looking boy was then beaten on the back of his head and then he was slapped.

When a man attempted to stop the assault, they shouted at him saying that the boy was hired by Mursi’s opponents.

“I know he is, but he’s just a child,” the young man responds. The crying boy pleads for help as several men continue to beat him.

“This isn’t merciful,” says a man approaching them.

He and others take the boy away, but it is unclear what happened to him afterwards.

At the end of the video, a protester notices that the incident is being filmed, so he tells the cameraman to film photos of Mursi instead.

So here we have a group of adults beating a defenseless young boy during Ramadan the holiest of holy Muslim holidays. One of the Five Pillars of Islam. Maulana Muhammad Ali said of Ramadan fasting:

“The real purpose of fasting is to attain righteousness. A person who undergoes hunger and thirst, but does not behave righteously, has done nothing. If someone is told the aim and object of doing a certain duty, and he does that duty but does not attain the required aim and object, it is as if he has not done that duty.”

Violence is not righteous.  This just demonstrates how hypocritical the most self-righteous and supposedly pious Muslims really are.

Islamist Violence In Egypt Since Morsi's Ouster

I don't think anyone expected the Islamists to go peacefully into the night after Mohammed Morsi was removed from power. They've threatened to kill infidels, including Shia Muslims, and burn Christians. And they're already following through with those threats.

A Coptic Christian priest was gunned down in Northern Sinai.

Two young men were thrown off a building by Morsi supporters, one of them was killed.

A neighbourhood in Cairo near Tahrir Square was the center of bloody violence where heavily armed Morsi supporters killed at least 7 and injured many more.

Residents say the attack began just minutes after the Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Mohammed Badie, gave a fiery speech to Mursi supporters camped out in Cairo’s Nasr City, which was broadcast live on television.

“The attack came minutes after Badie’s speech. They treated us like infidels. They were chanting ‘Allahu akbar’ (God is greatest) as they were shooting us,” said Ahmed Fattouh.

There will be more.

We Will Burn Christians and Become Suicide Bombers, Claim Pro-Morsi Islamists

Once again, Islamists proving what violent animals they are.

At a pro-Morsi demonstration in Egypt, Islamists tell General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi that with the ousting of Mohammad Morsi, he has created a new Taliban and al-Qaeda in Egypt, and that they (the Islamists) will turn into suicide bombers and destroy him and Egypt if "matters" are not brought "to where they were." I assume he means reinstate Morsi to the presidency.  Al-Sisi will also be to blame for the death of secularists, Christians, Shiites and all those who opposed Morsi.

Then the treat: an old, niqab-clad woman, claiming she's not part of the Muslim Brotherhood, just a religious Egyptian lady who vows to set her Christian neighbours on fire.

How's that for Muslim piety.

Pakistan Mob Burns To Death Man Accused Of Desecrating Quran

Because a book has more value than a human life: some 200 hundred enraged vigilante Pakistanis burned a man alive (after they had already beaten him and dragged him to the police station) because they believe he had desecrated a Quran. They didn't even have proof that he did it, because no-one actually saw him burn the book.

The man was a traveler and had spent Thursday night at the mosque, said Maulvi Memon, the imam in the southern village of Seeta in Sindh province. The charred remains of the Koran were found the next morning.

"He was alone in the mosque during the night," Memon said. "There was no one else there to do this terrible thing."

Villagers beat the man then handed him over to police. A few hours later, a crowd of around 200 stormed the police station, dragged the man out and set him on fire, said Usman Ghani, the senior superintendent of police in Dadu district.

Ghani said around 30 people had been arrested for the murder and seven police detained for negligence.

Why would a man be stupid enough to burn a Quran in the mosque he is taking refuge in for the night? But of course that didn't factor into the equation, because it was probably just a handy excuse to murder this man, for whatever reason.

All because of Pakistan's blasphemy laws which aren't going away any time soon. Just lobbying to change those laws can you get you killed.

In the past two years, two senior Pakistani officials who suggested reforming the laws have been shot dead, one by his own bodyguard. Lawyers threw rose petals at the killer and the judge who convicted him was forced to flee the country.

Ignorance and a religion that fosters anger. A toxic combination.

France's 'Charlie Hebdo' Publishes More Mohammed Cartoons- Update

Charlie Hebdo, the French (mostly leftist) weekly satirical magazine that had the guts to republish the Danish Jyllands-Posten Mohammed cartoons back in 2006, and was subsequently sued by a group of Muslims in 2007, is at it again.  In today's edition, it plans on publishing a few more Mohammed cartoons that the editor claims will "shock those who will want to be shocked." And, no doubt, there will be plenty.

However, those champions of 'freedom of expression' don't seem to be too worried about being the next targets of Muslim rage; after all, Charlie Hebdo survived a firebombing of its offices last November over the "Charia Hebdo" edition. If you recall, that was the one "guest edited" by the "Prophet Mohammed", and captioned with "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter."  Well, we all know there is no humor in Islam, or at least its adherents are sorely lacking.

Naturally, everyone is panicking in that country- considering the amount of disenfranchised, unemployed Muslim youth just waiting for an excuse to rampage.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, the prime minister, issued a statement expressing his "disapproval of all excesses."

The magazine's editor, originally a cartoonist who uses the name Charb, denied he was being deliberately provocative at a delicate time.

"The freedom of the press, is that a provocation?" he said. "I'm not asking strict Muslims to read Charlie Hebdo, just like I wouldn't go to a mosque to listen to speeches that go against everything I believe."

Muslim leaders have also piped in, not that anything they might say will change the minds of those hell bent on revenge.

Dalil Boubakeur, the senior cleric at Paris's biggest mosque, appealed for France's four million Muslims to remain calm.

"It is with astonishment, sadness and concern that I have learned that this publication is risking increasing the current outrage across the Muslim world," he said.

"I would appeal to them not to pour oil on the fire."

France's Muslim Council, the community's main representative body, also appealed for calm in the face of "this new act of Islamaphobia."

Muslim leaders need to control their wayward followers, and not simply try to appease them.

In the meantime, I'll be waiting for the news about the angry mobs taking to the streets in France.

UPDATE 9/19/12:  Here is one of the cartoons published on the front of Charlie Hebdo.

The cover of Charlie Hebdo (seen above) shows a Muslim in a wheelchair being pushed by an Orthodox Jew under the title Intouchables 2, referring to an award-winning French film about a impoverished black man who helps an aristocratic quadriplegic. Another cartoon on the back page of the weekly magazine shows a naked Mohammed exposing his backside to a film director.

Asked if it was a provocation, Editor Stephane Charbonnier said:

“The freedom of the press, is that a provocation? I’m not asking strict Muslims to read Charlie Hebdo, just like I wouldn’t go to a mosque to listen to speeches that go against everything I believe.”

Many people do. But as Charbonnier says, if you are offended by something just turn your head. No-one is forcing you to watch or read something you might find offensive.

UPDATE: The 13 Minute Anti-Islam Film Trailer That Sparked The Latest Muslim Carnage

UPDATE 9/12/12: The true nationality of filmmaker "Sam Bacile", and the amount spent on the film has been called into question.  The Israel government have never heard of him, nor is there any record of him in California. Furthermore, according to the film's consultant Steve Klein, Bacile is not even a real person and definitely not Jewish or Israeli. The name is actually a pseudonym for a group of Evangelical and Coptic Christians from that region. The Atlantic Wire has more information.  If true, and I'm sure we haven't heard the last of it, trying to pawn off the controversy on an 'Israeli Jew' is reprehensible and totally unforgivable. If you are going to make an anti-Islam film, then have the courage to own it. As if the Israelis don't have enough problems. Truly shameful!

Original Post
The anti-Islam film that sparked the protests in both Egypt and Libya along with the murder of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, was not- as previously reported by major news outlets- a U.S. Coptic Christian production. It was allegedly written and directed by a 56-year-old California-based Israeli Jewish filmmaker/real estate developer, Sam Bacile, who is now in hiding, who believes "Islam is a cancer".

"Innocence of Muslims" is an offensive, badly acted two-hour movie (if the 13 minute trailer below is any indication), that unbelievably cost $5 million to produce. In the 13 minutes Mohammed is exposed as a pedophile, womanizer, fraud and gay, among other things. Who knows what audience members have in store for them during the full two hours.

According to Washington Times, Bacile apologized for the death of Ambassador Stevens, but rightfully placed blame on the murdering thugs and the lack of security at the embassies.

“I feel the security system (at the embassies) is no good,” said Bacile. “America should do something to change it.”

And he's probably right. I don't recall there ever being more than a few marine guards on duty at one time at the embassies and consulates in the countries we lived in. Perhaps there are more stationed in a volatile region like the Middle East, and if there had been a warning the number would have increased, but certainly not enough to stave off an attack by a mob of angry Muslims. And apparently the local Libyan security officers bailed, like cowards, when the attack commenced.

I also blame the Islamist governments that are fostering and encouraging extremism in those countries, and were probably somehow complicit. How was a "safehouse" in Libya attacked without it being an inside job?

"It was supposed to be a secret place and we were surprised the armed groups knew about it. There was shooting," Sharif said. Two U.S. personnel were killed there, he said. Two other people were killed at the main consular building and between 12 and 17 wounded.

And how interesting that they chose 9/11 to demonstrate.  The film was shot last summer, so they had plenty of time to protest , but obviously chose this particular day for a reason.

Although the trailer is in English, it was also stupidly dubbed into Arabic to inspire all those violence-prone Arabs to action.

Obama and Clinton have condemned the killings: Obama calling it an "outrageous act", and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton placing the blame on a  "small savage group", not the people or government of Libya.  Savage? Yes. Small?  I doubt it. And talk about ingrates. We helped rid their country of a tyrant through training, weapons and money, and this is what we get in return?  Similarly, the Egyptians have received almost $2 billion in military and economic aid since 1979. I think that needs to stop. Now.

If the film was aiming at satire, it failed. Miserably. And offensive as it is, killing people over it is even more offensive.  These people are just proving what savages they are, and will only succeed in making Westerners less tolerant of their supremely intolerant religion. Some would like to excuse the actions of a few so-called extremists, but many of the Egyptian protesters were soccer fans, not your typical bearded Islamists. That is inexcusable. Killing people because you are offended is inexcusable.

I'm not sure how long the video will be available on Youtube, but here it is for now.




UPDATE 9/16/12:  You are not going to believe who they now think was the director of the movie, although considering the schlockiness you  might be able to guess.

Islamists Tear Down U.S. Flag In Egypt Over Anti-Islam Coptic Short Film

Although no-one knows exactly which anti-Islam film being produced in the U.S. pissed off the hordes in Egypt (and Libya), about 2,000 to 5,000 or so Islamists and soccer-Ultra fans joined forces and made their way to the Embassy in Cairo. Then a few proceeded to scale the Embassy walls and tore down the flag, replacing it with a plain black, al Qaeda-esque flag with:

“There is no god but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger.”

Warning shots were fired into the air by U.S. marine guards, and eventually Egyptian security forces took over, surrounding the compound.

More militant types in Libya actually tried to burn the U.S consulate down in Benghazi by lobbing a Rocket Propelled Grenade into the consulate. There was also fighting between the consulate guards and the militants over there which killed one American, and wounded another.

According to one witness in Cairo, the short film is being produced by some Egyptian Coptic Christian expats now living in the U.S.  This, in turn, has angered Coptics in Egypt, obviously afraid of retaliation.  Amil Ameen, a Copt and political commentator, said that these kinds of films:

“hurt Coptic Egyptians before their Muslim brothers.”

They also took advantage of the situation to stick it to the U.S. over its policies (though no mention of the money we give them), and waving pieces of the torn flag at news cameras.

The protests were organized by a few people:

Several individuals claimed responsibility for organizing the demonstrations, including Salafist leader Wesam Abdel-Wareth, who is president of Egypt's conservative Hekma television channel.

Mohammed al-Zawahiri -- the brother of al Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri -- added that "we called for the peaceful protest joined by different Islamic factions including the Islamic Jihad, Hazem Abu Ismael movement."

"We were surprised to see the big numbers show up including the soccer Ultra fans," he said. "I just want to say, how would the Americans feel if films insulting leading Christian figures like the pope or historical figures like Abraham Lincoln were produced?"

He added that "the film portrays the prophet in a very ugly manner, eluding to topics like sex, which is not acceptable."

Some Americans might be offended, but they'd suck it up, and  you definitely would not find us out there tearing down some country's flag. According to one source, the film portrays Mohammed as gay, but then they've done the same thing to Jesus Christ, and there have been no violent protests.

Because of threats U.S. Embassy personnel were forewarned to stay away. The Embassy, in its usual politically correct way said that it:

"condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims -- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions."
"Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy," the statement said. "We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."

The only other thing I could find about the film is the following on Al Ahram:

The controversial film is reportedly being produced by US-based Coptic-Christian Egyptians, including Esmat Zaklama and Maurice Sadeq.

Maurice Sadeq, a Coptic lawyer based in the US, announced earlier this week that the US-based 'High Authority of the Coptic State' would broadcast the 13-minute film on Tuesday to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington.

Right or wrong, tacky or not, we have freedom of speech in this country, it's our inalienable right.



Sources: Al Arabiya, CNN, Al Ahram, 

UPDATE 9/12/12:
See the trailer that incited all the violence in Libya and the protests in Egypt.

It's Ramadan and The Killing Goes On- Roundup of Violence

It's still Ramadan, the holiest of Muslim holidays, and you'd think they'd take a little break from all the violence and bloodshed that has become synonymous with Islam. But no, the carnage continues.

Afghanistan was the center of a series of suicide bombings and attacks on Tuesday that killed more than 41 people and wounded more than 138. Touted as one of the bloodiest days this year, three bombings in different regions of Afghanistan claimed the lives of innocent men, women and children. Several bazaars and a government gas station were just some of the targets, and to show just how evil these people are, another bomb targeted the wounded who had been transported to a hospital, causing even more casualties.

Gen. John R. Allen, NATO commander, asked Taliban leader Mullah Omar to:

"..rein in his murderers." "What we saw today were further acts of intentional mass murder. By targeting innocent civilians in populated areas, the insurgents have again shown they will kill non-combatants without hesitation to advance their backward looking plans for Afghanistan."

And they really think peace with the Taliban is possible.

Then there was all that action in Iraq. 14 were killed  during the past week. In fact, July (Ramadan started July 20) was the deadliest month since August 2010.

Al-Qaeda affiliated militants singled out eight 16 to 20-year-old Shia Muslim men, executing them after allowing the rest of the group of 25 to leave unharmed. The others happened to be Sunnis. As they are apt to do, they too left a roadside bomb under one of the dead bodies as a present for the first responders, for maximum body count, you know- 4 policemen were wounded.

Then there's the six young Arabs who were swimming in Amerli, Iraq when they were shot dead by men on motorcycles. And the Sunni police that were attacked and killed, and the two Sunni government employees who were murdered (just so you know it's not just Shi'ites who are targets.) And all the others the past 30 days. 325 killed in July alone, and there have been attacks every day in August in Iraq.

And lets' not forget the bloodbath that's taking place in Syria during Ramadan. 

New Life For Acid-Attacked Pakistani Girl In Houston

This is what happens to Christians in Pakistan.

But the horrific thing that 16-year-old Julie Aftab was subjected to only strengthened her faith. After 31 surgeries she is now 26, lives in Houston with a kind family that took her in, and is studying accounting.

This is her story:

She was 16 years old, working as an operator in a tiny, public call office in Pakistan, when a man walked in and saw the silver cross dangling around her neck.

He asked her three times: "Are you a Christian?"

Julie Aftab answered, "Yes, sir," the first two times, and then got frustrated.

"Didn't you hear me?" she asked.

They argued, and the man abruptly left the little office, returning 30 or 40 minutes later with a turquoise bottle. Aftab tried to block the arc of battery acid, but it melted much of the right side of her face and left her with swirling, bone-deep burns on her chest and arms. She ran for the door, but a second man grabbed her hair, and they poured the acid down her throat, searing her esophagus.

[snip]

Aftab was born in Faisalabad, Pakistan, the eldest of seven children in a Christian working-class family.

She dreamed of becoming a doctor, but dropped out of school at age 12 to work in a sewing factory after her father, a bus driver and the family's sole breadwinner, broke his back in an accident. After the sewing factory closed when Aftab was 16, she took a job as a telephone operator helping people place phone calls from the small office in the city's center.

It was June 15, 2002, two weeks into her new job, when the customer spotted her silver cross, a gift from her grand­father. She wore it despite knowing it branded her as Christian, a tiny minority in the Muslim-majority country.

You are living life in the gutter, the Muslim man told her.

She tried to ignore him, remembering what her mother had taught her since she was a child: "You are no one to insult someone's religion. If someone is insulting religion, they have to answer to God."

You are going to hell, the man told her. You are living in darkness.

"I am living in the light," Aftab replied.

So you think Islam is in darkness? the man demanded.

Aftab was frightened. She knew Christians had been accused of violating Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws in the past when others had twisted their words, to make it sound as though they had attacked Islam.

"No, you said that," she replied. "Not me."

But the man was enraged and returned with the battery acid and his friend. When she finally broke away from them, the acid searing her skin and throat, she ran down the street. As she screamed, teeth fell from her mouth and hit the ground.

A woman heard her screams and threw her head cover on Aftab so she could touch her without getting burned. The woman took Aftab to her home and poured water on her. Others eventually came to help take her to the hospital.

People in the neighborhood detained the two men who assaulted her until police arrived.

Why did you do that? the men were asked.

They said Aftab insulted Islam, that she said Muslims are living in the darkness and are going to hell.

"They all turned against me," she said. "Even the people who took me to the hospital. They told the doctor they were going to set the hospital on fire if they treated me."

The police let the two men go, and did not even file an official report on the assault until Christian leaders complained, she said.

Family persecuted

Aftab's family was turned away from one hospital, and then another. Her mother begged a doctor at a third hospital to treat her, and he relented.

Aftab could not speak or move her arms. Doctors said 67 percent of her esophagus was burned. She was missing an eye and eyelids. Her remaining teeth could be seen through her missing cheek. The doctors predicted she would die any day.

She was angry at first, she said.

"God, why did you do this to me? Why did you put me through this?"

Slowly, she started to heal. Three months and 17 days after being burned, she spoke again and was able to see through her left eye. She spent almost a year in the hospital.

Aftab quickly learned that in her old neighborhood, she was a pariah. Her mutilated face was plastered on the news, associated with insulting Islam. Her family was persecuted, and their house was burned down.

"They wanted to hang me," she said. "They thought it would be an insult to Islam if I lived."

Aftab and her parents went to a nondenominational bishop in Pakistan, who said he would try to help. He took her in, contacted Shriners Hospitals for Children, and arranged for her treatment in Houston.

He gave her one piece of advice before she left Pakistan in 2004: "If you forgive them," he said, "your wound will heal without any medication. You can heal from the inside out."

Read her whole story here.

Muslim Violence 6/19/12

Besides the ongoing massacre in Syria, here are the latest stories of Muslim violence- all on the front page of Al Arabiya today.

Iraq suicide bomber kills 15 Shiites and wounds 40.

3 falsely accused Ahwazi Arab  minority brothers were executed in Iran.

Suicide bombings (and riots) kill at least 45 in Nigeria.

Blast in Afghan town kill 6.

Suicide bomb kills general, wounds 4 in South Yemen.