Chicago (IL) – The Facebook group, Christians On Facebook, has become the latest target of attack for hackers who are posting pro-Islam messages. At 11:15am CDT today, the group’s name was changed to “La ilaha illallahu Muhammadur Rasulullah”, which means “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Since then the name has changed no fewer than ten times.
The Christians on Facebook group itself has over 327,000 members from all variations of the Christian faith. This channel or group hack appears to have been designed to replace the fundamental tenants of Christianity with those of Islam.
At 11:58am, the name began changing repeatedly to variations of the following:
“La ilaha illallahu Muhammadur Rasulullah”
“La ilaha illallahu Muhammadur Rasulullah — In ALLAH We Believe”
“La ilaha illallahu Muhammadur Rasulullah – There Is No God But ALLAH”
“There is No God but ALLAH; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”
The attack appears to be ongoing as the group’s image has been changed, and the group’s Basic Info section has also been changed to carry several paragraphs which claim to report on the foundation of Islam, including the first principle declaration in two parts, and several passages relating to the deity Allah and his prophet/servant/apostle Muhammad.
Both religions began with the same God, Abraham’s God
According to both Christianity and Islam, both religions originally shared the same God. The history goes like this: Abraham was promised a son by God, but ultimately he had two sons, one named Ishmael and one named Isaac. Ishmael was born first, but it was not of his wife, Sarah, who was at that time barren, but rather to Sarah’s maiden name Hagar — something that was common in those days when the wife was barren (that the wife’s servant would bear a child for her husband). Later, God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and gave him a son by Sarah, named Isaac.
Because of animosity between Sarah and Hagar, Sarah demanded that Hagar and Ishmael be cast out, which Abraham did, but not before asking God to watch after Ishmael, which God has done to this day, making Ishmael’s decendents very numerous.
As a result of Abraham asking God to bless both sons, two off-shoots of the same religion began. One of Hagar’s son Ishmael, and one of Sarah’s son Isaac. Today the associated religions are called Islam and Christianity, respectively, and their present-day beliefs are notably different.
CHRISTIAN FACEBOOK GROUP HACKED, ISLAM MESSAGES APPEAR
The Facebook group, Christians on Facebook, with over 327,000 members, has had their group hacked today. The hackers have left Islam messages and have even replaced the group’s picture. The attack began at 11:15pm CST and, at the time of this writing, was still ongoing.
UPDATED: March 11, 2009 – 02:19pm CDT
The number of group members has decreased since this attack began. It’s gone from around 327,400 to 326,600, a loss of about 800, at the time of this update.
UPDATED: March 11, 2009 – 10:41pm CDT
The hacked group continues to exist with teachings of Allah. The number of group members has decreased even further. At the time of this update, it’s down to 324,443, which is about 3,000 fewer than before this hack began.
UPDATED: March 12, 2009 – 03:05pm CDT
The hacked group has now decreased to a membership of 322,907, some 4,500 fewer than before this hack began.
UPDATE #2: March 12, 2009 – 03:05pm CDTSeveral commenters have indicated that the God referred to by the Islam and Christian faiths is not the same. While this is true today, the point I was making in this article was that Abraham’s sons, Isaac and Ishmael (he also had other sons as well), came from Abraham, and Abraham knew only one God — who is the God of the Christian faith today, ultimately revealed in Jesus Christ. Over time, the God that Hagar and Ishmael knew, the same God Abraham knew, was changed to the god of Islam, who is Allah.
This change is no different than what is seen in many off-shoot “Christian” religions as they claim to follow the path of Jesus, but are not walking in His teachings.
I hope this point is clear because its misunderstanding is generating unnecessary negative comments. Going back to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Hagar and Ishmael, all of them knew only one God. That was my point.
UPDATE #3: March 13, 2009 – 08:53am CDT
On March 12, 2009 at about 7pm CDT, the Facebook group was restored to the name Christians on Facebook after being changed several times to the following name: “CAUTION!!! Muslims Hack Our This Religion Group!! Report Them NOW!!!”
Facebook user Michael A. Vendick restored the group’s title and removed the defaced content from the front page. At the time of this update, the group’s membership stands at 322,320 members, which places it at 5,100 below its count prior to the hack.
The hack resulted in 1.6% of the group’s membership jumping ship.
