My latest in PJ Media:
On Sunday morning in Britain, just as the nation was preparing to observe a moment of silence for Remembrance Day, a taxicab pulled up in front of Liverpool Women’s Hospital and exploded into flames. Moments later, the cab driver, David Perry, who had run out of the car, explained that he had noticed that his passenger, who turned out to be an Iraqi migrant named Emad Jamil Al Swealmeen, was wearing an explosive belt, so he locked the cab, whereupon Swealmeen exploded his bomb inside it.
This would be an unfortunately standard story of jihad terrorism were it not for a strange detail. Swealmeen converted to Christianity in 2017, in the same cathedral he had apparently planned to attack: he initially asked Perry to drive him to the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool, but traffic was heavy, and so he opted to go to Liverpool Women’s Hospital instead.
Islamic apologists have made much of Swealmeen’s conversion to Christianity, as it apparently validates their claim that terrorists are not prompted to commit acts of violence by religious teachings, but by poverty or desperation or psychological problems or some combination of the three. That certainly seems to be true in Swealmeen’s case, at least at first glance, since he seems to have renounced Islam and its promise of paradise to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (Qur’an 9:111) back in 2017.
Malcolm Hitchott, who with his wife Elizabeth hosted Swealmeen in their home for eight months when he first arrived in Britain, recounted: “He first came to the cathedral in August 2015 and wanted to convert to Christianity. He took an Alpha Course, which explains the Christian faith, and completed it in November of that year. That enabled him to come to an informed decision and he changed from Islam to Christianity and was confirmed as a Christian just before he came to live with us. He was destitute at that time and we took him in.” Elizabeth recalled that he was a wonderful fellow: “We just loved him, he was a lovely guy.” Obviously.
His conversion, however, may not have been sincere. Christian Today reported back in January 2017 that in Germany, “migrants increase their chances of winning asylum in Germany if they are able to prove that they would face persecution if sent home to a Muslim country….They can do this by showing proof that they are Christian or have converted to Christianity.” Dr. Gottfried Martens of Trinity Lutheran Church in Berlin noted that “some Muslims come to his church and express interest in Christianity just to improve their chances of getting their asylum request approved.”
Asylum seekers in Britain have also shown that they know how to game the system: they claim to be Christian or gay and that they would therefore face persecution back home if their asylum claim was denied. But as soon as their application is approved, they return to Islam and/or heterosexuality.
There is more. Read the rest here.
DP111 says
Muslims claiming to have converted to Christianity is a common occurrence in Britain. When questioned how and why, they don’t seem to know why. They are vague about which branch of Christianity apart from Protestant or Catholic, depending on the vicar they are targeting to get a supporting letter.
mortimer says
It would be wise to consult those pastors who catechize and baptize Muslims to see what the success rate is. Probably 50/50.
I doubt most converts out of Islam are deceivers.
My guess is that some Muslims may be so annoyed with their home countries, that they want to put it all behind and start with a new religion, but soon, they find they miss certain aspects of their former culture. They may also become disenchanted when they meet some religionists who are not glowing examples of emphathy and personal holiness who cause them to doubt the new faith.
We know that the 19 killers of 9-11 were pretending to be secular, non-practicing, profane Muslims. I know of Turkish Muslims who asked a pastor to join his church. He patiently trained them, welcomed them into his home and congregation and then baptized them. A little later, the three Turkish Muslim tricksters took the pastor to a secret spot where they tortured him to death. This is no doubt not the norm.
gravenimage says
Mortimer wrote:
My guess is that some Muslims may be so annoyed with their home countries, that they want to put it all behind and start with a new religion, but soon, they find they miss certain aspects of their former culture. They may also become disenchanted when they meet some religionists who are not glowing examples of emphathy and personal holiness who cause them to doubt the new faith.
……………….
Mortimer, do you *really* believe it is the fault of imperfect Christians that this Jihadist had to blow himself up? Good grief…
Lion heart says
Gravenimage : as a Canadian Christian guy myself originally from Iraq and you know me as I commented to jihadwatch several time , I am not surprised at all that Emad converted to Christianity just to make it to the West because war is deceit as his false prophet said it ! Plus , my Christian ancestors said it before many centuries ago that if a Muslim is a piece of gold , then don’t put them into your pocket otherwise they would rip through “ meaning when Muslims take Islam seriously and have the chance & ability to harm nonMuslims especially Christians , they would do it right away and we saw that in Iraq after 2003 that even many longtime Muslim neighbours to Christians have stabbed thee Christians in the back by killing them , kidnapping & raping Christian girls , burning down Christian liquor stores , they raped many Christian girls for not covering Thor heads with hijab and mainly for wearing western-style clothes as Christians of Iraq and all of the Middle East do and are pro-western civilization , like wearing tank tops , shorts ,leggings , tight jeans , short skirts etc.. they crucified many Christian teens just like Jesus just because those Christians refused to convert to Islam they tossed many Christians into wells and burned them alive for refusing to deny Jesus , they were snitching on Christians who worked with the US army whether as interpreters like myself or in a laundry or chefs etc.. to their fellow Muslim terrorists so that the terrorists would kidnap some for ransom and kill others but mostly they killed the Christians who worked with the US army and they killed them brutally by beheading them and they filmed the beheading videos on CDs at that time between 2004-2007 and they sold out those CDs for as cheap as 10 American cents to say to the Christians to the effect that “ you don’t even worth 10 cents “ while they themselves used to work with the US army and they did many other horrible things to Christians and after all this , they accuse USA and the west and Israel and Jews of creating ISIS ??
gravenimage says
Terrible, Lion heart.
raja says
Mortimer,
A little later, the three Turkish Muslim tricksters took the pastor to a secret spot where they tortured him to death. This is no doubt not the norm.
******************************
Muslim tricksters do everything possible to please their bloodthirsty god and their prophet.
This particular thing may not be the norm, but normative islam encourages all forms of deceit and lies. So how do you reconcile the statements?
gravenimage says
Grimly true, Raja. Just glad this Jihadist didn’t harm his well-meaning but cluless Christian cleric benefactor and his family and flock, as he intended.
somehistory says
Why don’t you try blaming mozlums for their own rotten behavior instead of trying to lay the blame on others? Psychopaths never accept responsibility for their actions unless some one praises an action they take. If they engage in wrong, they never take responsibility when it is exposed.
No one has “personal holiness.”
James Lincoln says
mortimer says,
“I doubt most converts out of Islam are deceivers.”
You certainly have the right to your own opinion, but what evidence do you have that makes you believe that this is true?
David M says
Maybe Jesus intervened here through the brave taxi driver to achieve the outcome only the fake Christian convert died on this day, instead of mass innocents the MSM would have blamed on Christianity.
Anyone with half a brain can see this guy was still a Muslim. The outcome of only him dying at the hands of his own bomb was the best possible result.
Infidel says
Finally! The much awaited ‘Christian jihadists’ or ‘Christian suicide bomber’, available to ‘prove’ that Christianity is as dangerous as islam
Fitna says
LOL….the Leftist media is going to eat it up! Only if they dig a little deeper, they’ll realize he was a Muslim all his life until he converted.
The fact that other Muslims don’t want to kill him for being an apostate also shows they know he’s just fooling the dumb infidels.
I’ve debated many Muslims and many of them often claim to be Atheists or Christians, but it’s clear they are Muslims given their knowledge of Islam and how aggressively they defend it.
I’ve known actual Atheists and Christians IRL who DGAF about Islam and they barely know much about it, so Muslims are yet again, trying to deceive us to force their religion on us.
raja says
Infidel,
Taqiyya at its best…Keep shouting Islamophobia remove all barriers to jihad and the bloody-game moves on..
Niemoller says
Islamists have already updated Wikipedia for “Christian terrorism” with this fake Christian/real jihadist:
“On 14/11/2021 an Anglican Christian by the name of Enzo Almeni blew himself up while attempting to bomb a hospital in Liverpool, England.[citation needed]”
Like this one, most of the other examples on the page are dubious, fallacious, and/or ancient history, such as Mountain Meadow massacre in 1857 and anti-minority hate crimes.
gravenimage says
Ludicrous, Niemoller–but this dishonest supidity does not surprise.
And note that the article talks around his having a Christian motivation–since he obviously did not.
Niemoller says
When I get time to learn how to be a Wikipedia editor, this will be on the list for editing. Would be interesting to see who the Islamists trying to defend it are. Hopefully someone will get to it sooner?
gravenimage says
I hope so, Niemoller–but given Wikipedia’s history of whitewashing Islam, I sadly would not count on it.
James Lincoln says
Niemoller,
Wikipedia is, to put it mildly, an “interesting” news source.
Some things, it does very well:
If you want the specs on a ’63 Corvette, or the detailed results of the 1986 Masters golf tournament, it’s spot on.
Anything political, however, and it takes a hard left turn – either by what it leaves in or what it leaves out.
I use Wikipedia only for the things that is useful for.
In other words, reader beware.
But you knew that already…
gravenimage says
Sadly true, James, re Wikipedia.
As for what kind of “Christian” Emad Jamil Al Swealmeen was, this says it all:
“UK: Liverpool ‘Christian’ jihad suicide bomber was at mosque ‘all day every day’ in weeks leading up to attack”
https://jihadwatch.org/2021/11/uk-liverpool-christian-jihad-suicide-bomber-was-at-mosque-all-day-every-day-in-weeks-leading-up-to-attack
jewdog says
The most logical explanation may be that he cleverly converted to Christianity and then blew himself up, knowing full well that the leftist media would use his example as a vindication of their claim that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, but that Christianity does, thereby enhancing Islam’s image. Now, and far into the future, media pundits can point to his example as a way to show that conservative Christian Trump suicide bombers are the main terrorist threat to humanity. That’s called taking one for the home team.
gravenimage says
Did A Christian Just Blow Himself Up for Jesus?
………………
Nope; sorry.
I think it’s pretty obvious that Emad Jamil Al Swealmeen’s “conversion” to Christianity didn’t “take”–either because it was not sincere to begin with, or because he was too steeped in the hideous diktats of Islam. His being known at the Cathedral certainly means he could have easily gained access to the church to case it, and security likely would have been more relaxed in his case if he were recognized as a member of the congregation there.
The maternity hospital was definitely “plan b”–the taxi driver said that his passenger had definitey wanted to go to the Cathedral, and only set up the second destination after running into heavy traffic–by the time they would have gotten to the church, people probably would have been leaving. Then the cab dirver noticed the bomb and locked him in the cab. I’m sure he detonated then rather than face arrest–he may also have thought that the bomb would damage the hospital and murder some new mothers.
Luckily the driver had abandoned his cab on a long driveway on the side of the building–the only real damage done was to the poor guy’s cab and the Jihad terrorist himself.
gravenimage says
Here’s some incisive investigative journalism from The Sun–Emad Jamil Al Swealmeen apparently loved cake decorating and go-karting. (Nope–not joking)
“TERRORIST PROFILE Liverpool bomber Emad Jamil Al-Swealmeen loved cake-decorating and go-karting and changed his name after Ferrari founder”
https://www.the-sun.com/news/4077045/liverpool-bomber-cake-decorating-go-karting/
Two things here that *are* important, though:
“…the motor-racing enthusiast, who The Sun understands was a Jordanian national, was never granted asylum and in 2017 he converted to Christianity at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral.
According to pals, he had mental health issues and was previously said to have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act for brandishing a knife near Liverpool’s city centre.”
So he had never been granted asylum, but had still been allowed to stay in England *for years*. (I believe he’d been there since 2015, in fact). Then, he was already known for violent behavior. and had *still* not been deported.
Then, he found a cluless Christian cleric and his family to take him in. Just glad he didn’t cause more carnage, as he obviously intended.
Ray Jarman says
While I agree with most of the opines here at JW, I feel that one point has been missed. As Robert Spencer has quoted so many times from Bukhari – 4.52.268, “Muhammad said: War is deceit.” The irony is that it is the Christians (especially the Yazidis) that have been denied asylum in both the EU and North America and it is so very sad.
Boycott Turkey says
Maybe the reason his asylum failed was because the Anti Christian UK establishment thought he was really a Christian the UK doesn’t care about persecuted Christians they didn’t want to give asylum to Asia Bibi a Christian from Pakistan who was persecuted
somehistory says
He was not a Christian. He pretended in order to stay in the country and plan his future terror attack. He thereby made Christians look guilty of the same things that mozlums do ,and yet, he just proved how guilty are mozlums of terror attacks.
Some years ago, a man flew a plane into a building …if I recall correctly, it was in Texas…and the media couldn’t stop claiming that the man was a Christian, a Conservative, and all other descriptions that would make Christian Conservatives look bad.
He was neither, and it was proven by evidence, but the media never retracted.
It may be firmly proven that this terrorist was not a Christian, but it will make no difference to those people who want to believe that Christians are violent murderers.
Henrywordlife says
Let me say this; first of all, he was never a Christian. He was an Isis undercover agent, who used the takiya of converting to Christianity to gain his way into hearts of many gullible Christians who lack the spirit of discernment.
Check Burry says
It should read a Faux christian
Infidel says
Maybe call this class of ‘Christians’ Chislamists ?
Mike says
In Islam there is no concept of truth in the Christian sense, as an end in itself. In the post-Christian world, by the way, there are narratives. This allows Islam to be influential in the West. If this man understood the great gift God was giving him and yet he pretended, then he made a great mistake, he deceived God not people. What a life such an end.
Janet Jones says
TAQIYYA
Proud Islamophobe says
No born-again Christian who is indwelt with the Holy Spirit (the only kind of REAL Christian) would ever do something so Satanic. A lot of people call themselves Christians when they aren’t at all. This would include catholics, jw’s, mormons, etc. This guy went to the “cathedral” which is catholic. There is nothing Spirit-led about this guy.
Mateen Elass says
Actually, the cathedral in question is Anglican, according to news reports.
gravenimage says
The idea that Catholics and others are not Christian is mistaken, and the implication that if he had clown up ,this cathedral which is Catholic that it would have been OK is grotesque. (That this Cathedral is not Catholic, as Mateen Elass notes, is another point).
Catholics are not trying to blow people up at churches and maternity hospitals; Jihadists are, though.
Mateen Elass says
There actually is a syncretistic movement ,which fortunately has never gained much momentum, known as Chrislam. It attempted to fuse the lowest common denominator teachings of both religions. In the process, of course, it left out the unique doctrines that actually define each faith, so that neither true Christians nor true Muslims would ever be attracted to it. But it certainly appeals to leftists and mindless utopians (if those are in fact different categories…).
gravenimage says
This is true–and it is dangerous for the reasons you note. It has never condoned suicide bombing, though–rather, it just tries to ignore its existance.
ceres says
Clearly not christian. Islamic law encourages lying..particularly to infidels. All Muslims including those who claim to have converted should be made to sign a document (of their conversion if they claim conversion) and other promises eg not attempting to practice or enforce any other legal system/sharia, no clitoridectomy, paedophilia/child ‘marriage’, polygamy, jihad….Sam Solamon?, an exmuslim drew up a contract that should be used years ago. If the ‘convert’ is back in the mosque, then he/she has broken their contract and is removed from the country as are muslims who commit acts listed in their contract. They should not get citizenship or welfare until they have been in the country for 10 years and proved they are useful members of society. I have worked with people who have left islam but they express considerable hatred of allah, mohammad, islamic culture and laws and if you start a discussion on the evil of same they join right in while someone who is still really a muslim finds it almost impossible to criticise anything islamic as they are taught from birth never to question or criticise. Scratch the surface and the muslim is clearly visible underneath though they like our western life. Why don’t they go to the islamic world with the like-minded?