News has circulated today about the expansion of ISIS into the North West of Iraq after Kurdish fighters withdrew leading to the fall of a town with the largest concentration of Christians. Residents of Qaraqosh, Iraq’s biggest Christian town, have fled, as have Christian residents from neighbouring regions and many are headed towards the Kurdish autonomous region fearful of their fate in the future.
We have highlighted before that the continuing persecution of Christians in the Middle East is an affront to Muslim communities and to Islam, which has at it’s core, a respect and bond with Mary and Jesus and Christian communities, the latter being regarded as people touched by the Allmighty through the scriptures. An attack on Christianity is in itself, an attack against some of the principles of Islam and against the history of Islam when the first followers of Islam sought sanctuary under the Christian king of Abbysinia (Ethiopia). His rule was regarded as being just and so many fled for for their lives to seek sanctuary.
The actions of ISIS are based on the nihilistic and destructive belief that what they are doing is morally sanctioned. They are led not by humanity and love for this world and the hereafter that has been so widely been associated with Islam through scriptural text, the arts and poetry. Instead, we see a group that has literally physically burnt some of the history of the Middle East, blown up Shia Muslim shrines, attacked the tomb of Jonah and so much more. They are an affront to ALL faiths in the region.
Finally, what we have also seen is a complete failure from the international community to tackle the problem of ISIS. The longer there is inaction, the greater the destruction of the heritage of the Middle East will be and the greater our collective shame will be.