The Armanious Family Massacre

I saw this on Daniel Pipes this morning and was intrigued by it. Sometimes the truth is so far out there it does appear to be fiction. Not sure if I buy this or not, but it is worth considering.

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The Armanious Family Massacre I have held off commenting on the chilling murder of the four Armanious family members on Jan. 14, 2005, in Jersey City, New Jersey, not being sure of its motive. I held off despite the New York Post on Jan. 16 drawing a connection between the massacre and the father's anti-Islamic Internet comments; and, one day later, WABC noting that a cousin of the slain family had worked as a translator for the prosecution in the trial of Lynne Stewart (the leftist radical lawyer accused of helping Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian Islamist leader, to get his messages out to his terrorist acolytes).

But today comes news from Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch explaining what happened, and I can stay silent no longer.

First some background: The Armanious were immigrants from Egypt, refugees from the anti-Christian situation there. Thinking they had reached security in the United States, they began to exercise their religion and their freedom of speech in a way unimaginable in Egypt. They spoke their minds and even engaged in efforts to convert Muslims. Based on information from a "close friend" of Hossam Armanious, the father, Spencer explains:

The Armanious family had inspired several Muslims to convert to Christianity — or thought they had. These converts were actually practicing taqiyya, or religious deception, pretending to be friends of these Christians in order to strengthen themselves against them. … It was these "converts" who knocked on the door of the Armanious home. Of course, the family, not suspecting the deception, was happy to see the "converted" men and willingly let them in to their home. That's why there was no sign of forced entry. Then the "converted" Muslims did their grisly work.

The friend goes on to explain that many Copts see the family's murder as a warning to Copts in the United States:

The nature of the warning? The murders send a signal from the Muslims to the Copts: we are going to behave here the same way we behaved in Egypt, and the First Amendment and American law enforcement will not protect you. Don't expect America to keep you safe from us. The oppression and harassment you thought you had left behind in Egypt has now come to you.

Spencer concludes that the Armanious's fate is akin to Theo van Gogh's murder in Holland, an indication that Muslims in the United States "do not, as we are supposed to believe, unanimously accept the parameters of American pluralism. That at least some are willing to enforce Sharia penalties right here, right now."

Comment: Assuming Spencer's information is accurate, it raises a most alarming prospect of the importation of Shari‘a to America. I suspect, however, that government, media, academy, churches, and others will prefer not to see this horrifying development for what it is. (January 20, 2005)

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