Belief in Witchcraft, Spells, the Occult and Protective Charms Widespread in the Middle East

Revelation 9:21, “Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.”

I had generally understood the Greek word for “magic arts” (pharmakeia) metaphorically, referring to idolatry instead of actual “sorcery” or “witchcraft” since the immediate context dealt explicitly with the worship of idols (cf Revelation 9:20).  But in light of this article, it could very possibly be referring to actual witchcraft as well …

By ROB L. WAGNER – “Belief in witchcraft, spells, the occult and protective charms runs deep, despite religious and governmental bans against using magic.

When Tara Umm Omar was a young bride in her first marriage, she and her Moroccan husband took the youngest sister of a family friend into their home. On the day the young Moroccan woman arrived, she gave Umm Omar a doll, which Umm Omar promptly placed in a dresser drawer.

When Umm Omar told a friend of the doll, the friend suspected it was an item for black magic and suggested the doll be destroyed. Instead, Umm Omar tossed it in the garbage. That’s when household items disappeared, the family dog barked incessantly, Umm Omar started fighting with her husband and she began seeing strange insects in the house. When the guest finally moved out, the couple found their bed sheets and an identical doll to Umm Omar’s among the woman’s discarded belongings.

The message to Umm Omar was clear: The woman she invited into her home sought to destroy her happiness through black magic.

Umm Omar is since remarried to a Saudi and now lives in Riyadh. She runs the popular blog, Future Husbands and Wives of Saudis, a help website for non-Saudis marrying Saudis. As a quasi-marriage counselor for brides and grooms nervously entering Saudi society, Umm Omar dispenses religious and practical advice to help ease the cultural shock. That includes providing insight to the real world concerns of black magic and the evil eye.

‘The truth is that all magic is haram [prohibited] and only leads to bad ends,’ Umm Omar told The Media Line.

Belief in black magic runs deep in Saudi society. The issue was raised last month when the quasi-legislative body Shoura Council granted permission for Moroccan women to work as maids in Saudi households. Hundreds of Saudi women complained to the Council that granting Moroccan maids permission to work was tantamount to allowing the use of black magic in their homes to steal their husbands. Saudi wives complained the issue was not lacking trust in their husbands, but their men were powerless to ward off spells.

While greeted with skepticism in western societies, Saudis would no more question the existence of black magic than they would Islam. Two surahs (chapters) in the Qur’an under Al Mi’wadhatyan address black magic and are often recited during or after prayer. Simply, part of being a Muslim is believing in the existence of magic.” Read more.

Egypt: Man Sentenced to Three Years in Prison With Hard Labor for ‘Insulting Islam’ on Facebook

Welcome to the new and improved democratic freedoms of a post-revolutionary Egypt where everyone is now free to openly speak their mind. Unless you’re a woman.  And unless others don’t like the way you dress.  But embrace that new-found freedom of speech.  Just don’t say anything negative about the ‘Noble Koran’. Or the ‘true Islamic religion’. Or the ‘Prophet of Islam and his family’. Or ‘Muslims’ in general.  After all, Islam has an image it needs to protect, so everyone best listen when the ‘word of Allah’ speaks.  In fact, if you’re not a Muslim at all, freedom is so prevalent now that, just like the liberated people of Iraq and Afghanistan before them, many exceptionally devout Muslims can now freely declare their intentions for you out in the open for the whole world to hear …

“An Egyptian court sentenced a man to three years in jail with hard labour on Saturday for insulting Islam in postings on Facebook, the official MENA news agency reported.

The Cairo court found that Ayman Yusef Mansur ‘intentionally insulted the dignity of the Islamic religion and attacked it with insults and ridicule on Facebook,’ the agency reported.

The court said his insults were ‘aimed at the Noble Koran, the true Islamic religion, the Prophet of Islam and his family and Muslims, in a scurrilous manner,’ the agency reported.

It did not provide details on what he had written that was deemed to be offensive.

Mansur was arrested in August after police tracked him down through his internet address.

Egyptian law outlaws insults to religion [Egypt is majority Sunni Islam]. The law has been used in the past to try Shiite Muslims.

MENA did not mention Mansur’s religion or beliefs, but quoted the court as saying that ‘all members of religions are obligated to tolerate the others’ existence.’

In 2007, a court sentenced blogger Kareem Amer to jail for insulting the Muslim prophet and then president Hosni Mubarak. He was released last year.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country, follows the French legal system but its constitution, suspended since the military took over after an uprising ousted Mubarak in February, stipulates that Islam is the main source of law.” Read more.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai: If America and Pakistan Go To War, Afghanistan Will Back Pakistan

Forget the fact that America was pivotal in deposing the blood-thirsty Taliban from power and, at the expense of American lives, gave Hamid Karzai the chance to be elected in a ‘democratic’ Afghanistan and offered the Afghan people a taste of freedom.  Regardless of what Barack Obama believes, America and the West are viewed as ‘Christian’ in the Muslim world and it is forbidden in Islam to befriend non-Muslims …

Qur’an Sura 5:80, “You will see many of them befriending those who disbelieve; certainly evil is that which their souls have sent before for them, that Allah became displeased with them and in chastisement shall they abide [in Hell].”

Qur’an Sura 3:10, “(As for) those who disbelieve, surely neither their wealth nor their children shall avail them in the least against Allah, and these it is who are the fuel of the fire [of Hell].”

Qur’an Sura 5:51, “O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.”

 

“ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan would support Pakistan in case of military conflict between Pakistan and the United States, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview to a private Pakistani TV channel broadcast on Saturday.

The remarks were in sharp contrast to recent tension between the two neighbors over cross-border raids, and Afghan accusations that Pakistan was involved in killing the chief Afghan peace envoy, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, by a suicide bomber on September 20.

‘God forbid, If ever there is a war between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan,’ he said in the interview to Geo television.

‘If Pakistan is attacked and if the people of Pakistan needs Afghanistan’s help, Afghanistan will be there with you.’

Such a situation is extremely unlikely, however. Despite months of tension and tough talk between Washington and Islamabad, the two allies appear to be working to ease tension.

In a two-day visit to Islamabad, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued stern warnings and asked for more cooperation in winding down the war in Afghanistan, but ruled out ‘boots on the ground’ in North Waziristan, where Washington has been pushing Pakistan to tackle the Haqqani network.” Read more.

Iraq Sides With Iran, Sends Essential Aid to Syria’s Assad – “More than six months after the start of the Syrian uprising, Iraq is offering key moral and financial support to the country’s embattled president, undermining a central U.S. policy objective and raising fresh concerns that Iraq is drifting further into the orbit of an American arch rival — Iran. Iraq’s stance has dealt an embarrassing setback to the Obama administration, which has sought to enlist Muslim allies in its campaign to isolate Syrian autocrat Bashar al-Assad. While other Arab states have downgraded ties with Assad, Iraq has moved in the opposite direction, hosting official visits by Syrians, signing pacts to expand business ties and offering political support.” Read more.

Monster Prediction From Bank of America: Another US Debt Downgrade Is Coming In Just A Few Weeks

By Joe Weisenthal – “In an analyst note, Bofa/ML Ethan S. Harris drops a bit of a bombshell prediction:

We expect a moderate slowdown in the beginning of next year, as two small policy shocks—another debt downgrade and fiscal tightening—hit the economy. The ‘not-so-super’ Deficit Commission is very unlikely to come up with a credible deficit-reduction plan. The committee is more divided than the overall Congress. Since the fall-back plan is sharp cuts in discretionary spending, the whole point of the Committee is to put taxes and entitlements on the table. However, all the Republican members have signed the Norquist ‘no taxes’ pledge and with taxes off the table it is hard to imagine the liberal Democrats on the Committee agreeing to significant entitlement cuts. The credit rating agencies have strongly suggested that further rating cuts are likely if Congress does not come up with a credible long-run plan. Hence, we expect at least one credit downgrade in late November or early December when the super Committee crashes.

This is quite a stunning prediction, mainly because nobody is talking about this. And though the experts were 100% wrong in thinking that a downgrade would increase borrowing costs, it did cause a major market jolt when it happened, leading to a major blow to confidence in August and September.” Read more.

Denmark: Islamists Seek to Introduce ‘Sharia Zones’ Where Islamic Sharia Law Should Be Upheld

“A fundamentalist Islamic group wants to set up zones in Copenhagen where Islamic Sharia Law should be upheld.

The group, ‘The Call to Islam’, belongs to a branch of Islam called Salafism, whose followers in the UK attempted to introduce similar Sharia zones in London earlier this summer.

According to Jyllands-Posten newspaper, the group is led by the imam Abu Ahmed, who has taught several people subsequently linked to terrorist activities.

The Call to Islam intends to start patrolling the Copenhagen neighbourhood of Tingbjerg before extending into Nørrebro and eventually the whole of Denmark. Muslims found to be drinking and gambling would be reprimanded for breaking Islamic code.

The Muslimernes Fællesråd, an umbrella organisation representing over 40,000 Muslims from several organisations, has denounced the plans.

‘We should definitely take them seriously and enter into dialogue with them,’ spokesperson Mustafa Gezen told Jyllands-Posten. ‘We should not ignore their extreme inclinations in our society. The problem is that many young people are susceptible to these beliefs. We need to start at the primary school level, to stress the importance of democracy.'” Read more.

Occupation Without Tanks or Soldiers: European ‘No-Go’ Zones for Non-Muslims Proliferating – “Islamic extremists are stepping up the creation of ‘no-go’ areas in European cities that are off-limits to non-Muslims. Many of the ‘no-go’ zones function as microstates governed by Islamic Sharia law. Host-country authorities effectively have lost control in these areas and in many instances are unable to provide even basic public aid such as police, fire fighting and ambulance services.” Read more.

Sharia Creep: The ‘Religion of Peace’ is Creating No-Go Zones for Non-Muslims Throughout the West – Watch videos.

Obama Pulls Islam From All Terror Trainings

Barack Obama needs to spend more time with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, or even the former prime minister of Czechoslovakia, Milos Zeman.  America’s “leadership” yet again puts the pedal to the metal on the dangerous road to ruin driven by complacency and impaired by political correctness while fast asleep at the wheel in the state of Denial. The Obama administration has effectively neutered the fight against terrorism in America by yet again pandering to Islamist sentiments in an effort to not “offend” those who despise the West, hate religious freedoms and vilify Judeo-Christian values.  Ignore the fact that there have been tens of thousands of verifiable acts of Islamic terrorism (and growing) committed since 9/11/2011 all around the world and the fact that America already has a serious problem with homegrown Islamic terrorism, and maybe in Barack Obama’s own twisted little world — just maybe — the problem will simply go away …

“Allah Is One!”

By Kenneth Timmerman, The Daily Caller – “Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole confirmed on Wednesday that the Obama administration was pulling back all training materials used for the law enforcement and national security communities, in order to eliminate all references to Islam that some Muslim groups have claimed are offensive.

‘I recently directed all components of the Department of Justice to re-evaluate their training efforts in a range of areas, from community outreach to national security,’ Cole told a panel at the George Washington University law school.

The move comes after complaints from advocacy organizations including the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and others identified as Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the 2004 Holy Land Foundation terror fundraising trial.

In a Wednesday Los Angeles Times op-ed, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) president Salam al-Marayati threatened the FBI with a total cutoff of cooperation between American Muslims and law enforcement if the agency failed to revise its law enforcement training materials.” Source – The Daily Caller.

Flashback: ‘What Are You Waiting For?’ – Al-Qaeda Calls on US Muslims to Buy Guns and Start Killing Americans – “I’ve believed for some time now that when this does come it will, with the right ‘triggering event’, not be isolated. It will be wide-scale. As we all know, there are millions upon millions of Muslims living in Western nations today. If an event were to occur in the world that would be eschatologically pivotal for Muslims this would be sure to awaken any radical elements within the Muslim population, regardless of where they live, and even radicalize some of those who were previously considered ‘moderate’.” Read more.

Flashback: New Study Shows That 80% of Mosques in America Teach Jihad Violence and Islamic Supremacism – “In 1998, Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, a Sufi leader, visited 114 mosques in the United States. Then he gave testimony before a State Department Open Forum in January 1999, and asserted that 80% of American mosques taught the ‘extremist ideology.’ Then there was the Center for Religious Freedom’s 2005 study, and the Mapping Sharia Project’s 2008 study. Each independently showed that upwards of 80% of mosques in America were preaching hatred of Jews and Christians and the necessity ultimately to impose Islamic rule. And now comes yet more confirmation that mosques in the U.S. are teaching these things, and again the percentage is remarkably similar: around 80% of mosques are found to be teaching jihad warfare and Islamic supremacism.” Read more.

Flashback: The Punchdrunk President: Obama’s Milquetoast Islamic Extremism Strategy (And Why It’s Doomed To Fail) – “President Barack Obama’s plan to counter violent extremism is doomed because it puts more importance on protecting Muslim sensitivities than confronting the unvarnished truth about the homegrown jihadist threat. Last week President Obama unveiled his strategy to counter the problem of violent extremism. The eight-page paper titled ‘Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States’ provides a three-pronged approach that includes community engagement, better training and counter-narratives. But Obama’s plan defies reality by going to great pains to avoid singling out Muslims with what the administration calls a ‘more holistic approach.’” Read more.

Pakistan: Persecuted Christians Are Being Turned Away by Western Nations

Turning away persecuted Christians seeking refuge needs to come to and end immediately.  We must do everything we can to help.  Please pray that doors be opened …

“The suffering of Pakistan’s Christian minority is well documented, but what you may not be so aware of is the tragic way in which many of those who muster up the courage to seek refuge in the West are turned away at the door.

I say tragic because part of the reason why Christians in Pakistan are so badly persecuted is the widespread misconception that Christianity is a western religion. Many Muslims, not only extremists, believe that Christians are in collusion with the western powers and that to attack them is to attack the West.

With the hatred towards them so intense in their own country, it is natural that Pakistani Christians look to the West as a refuge from the threat of death that they face every day.

If any Westerner is any doubt as to the severity of the situation they need only consider the accusation of blasphemy leveled against an eighth grade pupil at a school near Abbottabad because she misspelled a word in a class test. The school’s decision to expel her only proves the extent to which the blasphemy laws are being misused.

Yet the British Government appears almost determined not to let any asylum seeker in, no matter how desperate or endangered their lives back home are. From the moment they submit their application for asylum, Pakistani Christians have a tough time convincing the Border Agency that returning to their homeland is life threatening. I have been contacted on several occasions by Pakistani Christian asylum seekers desperate for help with preparing their appeal. I have also been contacted by the chaplain at Yarls Wood detention center out concern over the lack of support they are receiving.” Read more.

Maldives: Teacher Arrested and Deported For Preaching Christianity After Police Find a Bible in His House During a Raid

“NEW DELHI, October 21 (CDN) — Police in the island nation of Maldives held a teacher from India for about 15 days before deporting him on Oct. 14 for having a Bible in his house, a source said.

Shijo Kokkattu, a 30-year-old Catholic and teacher at the Raafainu School in Raa Atoll, had been arrested in late September after police found a Bible and a rosary in his house during a raid, a foreign source in the capital city of Male told Compass by phone.

Charging that Kokkattu was preaching his Christian faith in the Muslim nation, which recently tightened restrictions on preaching and practice of non-Islamic faiths, police took him to another island for interrogation and kept him in custody for more than two weeks, said the source, who requested anonymity.

Police raided his home after Kokkattu’s colleagues found Christian materials on a school computer he had used and reported it to authorities. While downloading material from his pen drive, Kokkattu had mistakenly downloaded some Catholic songs in the Malayalam language (used in a south Indian state) and a picture of the Virgin Mary.

‘The videos were in Indian, so I don’t know what they were saying, but the images were Christian,’ school principal Mohamed Shiraj told Minivan News, an independent news portal based in the Maldives.” Read more.

Flashback: Maldives: New Law Will Imprison or Banish Anyone Who Preaches Any Religion Other Than Islam – “Maldives Criminalizes Preaching Any Religion But Islam President’s Office has gazetted the controversial Religious Unity Regulation, declaring it an offence to preach a religion except Islam in the Maldives… The regulation, which instructs scholars to consider the social harmony, states practices that should be avoided in preaching Islam in the Maldives, including the practice of making comments in contradiction with prophetic traditions and majority view of the scholars… A person who violates the regulation will be sentenced to 2-5 years in prison, banishment or house arrest.” Read more.

Haiti: Cholera Outbreak Worsens with More Than 6,500 Dead and Hundreds of Thousands Sickened

By MARK DUNPHY – “The Haitian government has reported more than 6,500 deaths as a result of the ongoing cholera outbreak in Haiti, health officials said on Saturday. Hundreds of thousands more have been sickened.

According to the United Nations (UN) World Health Organization (WHO), Haiti has recorded nearly 470,000 cases of cholera, including 6,595 deaths, since an epidemic of the disease erupted approximately one year ago.

WHO spokesperson Tarek Jasarevic said the disease could infect another 75,000 people by the end of the year if the current trend continues. Of the nearly 470,000 patients, some 250,000 people have been hospitalized.

If the rate does continue, the number of total victims could reach more than half a million in a country of approximately 9.7 million.

After a decline in weekly cholera cases in August, the number of cases rose again in September. Areas such as the South and Nippes departments, Nord, Centre and the capital of Port-au-Prince all saw significant increases.” Read more.

Japan: 3/11 Earthquake Caused Archipelago to Move Eight Feet East and Sunk The Nation Nearly One Inch

By Julian Ryall – “The massive earthquake that struck Japan in March shifted the entire archipelago nearly 8 feet closer to the United States and caused the nation to sink close to 1 inch.

The magnitude-9 quake – the largest in recorded history in Japan – also jolted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches.

Experts at the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan have confirmed that the standard datum of levelling – the benchmark for measuring heights above sea level throughout Japan – sank 2.4cm (0.9 inch) as a result of the earthquake.

The change in the figure was the first since the Great Kanto Earthquake killed an estimated 105,000 people in Tokyo in 1932.

That quake had a magnitude of 8.2 and caused the ground level to sink 3.4 inches into the Pacific.

The movements were even more pronounced in parts of north-east Japan that were closest to the epicentre of the earthquake.

Experts and the GIA have calculated that the Oshika Peninsula, just to the north of the devastated town of Ishinomaki, shifted more than 17 feet to the east and sank nearly 4 feet into the Pacific Ocean. Both figures are records for land mass movements caused by a tremor in Japan, and the impact is clearly visible in the villages that dot the inlets of the peninsula.

Concrete jetties for local fishing boats are now beneath the surface of the water and the pine forests that grew above the former high tide mark have turned brown and died as their roots come into contact with salt water.” Source.

US: More Dead Seals Washing Ashore Along Expanded Area of Northeastern Coastline

By Charles McMahon – “RYE — The number of dead seals washed up on the New England coast is not the only thing expanding, a spokeswoman from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday. The area in which the seals are showing up is also increasing.

Maggie Mooney-Seus, a public affairs official for NOAA’s Northeast Region, said the number of dead seals found along the shoreline since Sept. 1 is now at 128. Last Friday, the figure was 94.

‘The distribution of where they’re showing up is expanding,’ she said.

Seals were first found on shores from northern Massachusetts to southern Maine. But Mooney-Seus said more seals are now being found in southern Massachusetts. All are considered to be ‘young of the year,’ she said.

Mooney-Seus continued to emphasize the importance of leaving the carcasses alone. She said people should not approach or touch any marine animals, dead or alive. Disturbing a seal, or the carcass of a seal, is a federal violation and can lead to a hefty fine or jail time, she said.

In addition, people should try to keep their pets, namely dogs, away from seals and seal carcasses. Mooney-Seus said there is potential for a domestic animal to contract a virus from a seal.

‘I encourage people to keep a safe distance,’ she said.

The cause of the surge in seal deaths has not yet been named. Mooney-Seus said results won’t be known until test results on blood, tissue samples and the contents of the seals’ stomachs come back.

At least one expert said the cause of the seal deaths has less to do with pathogens in the animals and more to do with contaminants in the water.” Read more.

Georgia: Thousands of Fish Found Dead Along 9-Mile Stretch of Commissioner Creek Has Officials Asking Questions

By S. HEATHER DUNCAN – “Georgia wildlife and environmental officials are trying to determine the cause of a fish kill in Commissioner Creek in Wilkinson County.

In all, 4,000 to 5,000 dead fish were found in about a nine-mile stretch of the creek and its tributary, Little Commissioner Creek, on Sept. 28 and 29, said Steve Schleiger, regional supervisor for the west central Georgia fisheries section of the state Wildlife Resources Division.

He estimated that 30 to 40 percent of the fish in the creek between McIntyre and the Toomsboro area died, and the surviving fish appeared disoriented and listless.

‘There’s no real smoking gun,’ Schleiger said. ‘The problem is the whole watershed is degraded. … I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to say definitively who caused it.’

Schleiger said the acidity of the stream was high, but that alone did not seem to have killed the fish. Aluminum in the water may have been high, which is toxic to fish when combined with high acidity.

Ben Emmanuel, the Oconee projects coordinator for the environmental advocacy group Altamaha Riverkeeper, said he spent Sept. 30 observing Commissioner Creek, which ‘had an unusual ultramarine color to it and was really uncommonly clear,’ he said.

‘The visuals were pretty striking,’ he said.” Read more.