reblogged from International Business Times (IBTimes)
Islamic preacher Hamza Andreas Tzortzis has been allegedly “named” on the leaked list of members of the adult website Ashley Madison. However, the well-known preacher has denied that the account belonged to him.
Tzortzis has also denied signing up for an account on Ashely Madison, the infidelity dating website — which was recently attacked by hackers who leaked the names of hundreds of thousands of its members — and said that it was a conspiracy by hackers to defame him.
Tzortzis, a member of the Islamic Education and Research Academy, is known for his debates with atheist Richard Dawkins.
In a Facebook post, Tzortzis wrote: “It has come to my attention that my details are on the Ashley Madison data leak. This includes my name, address, and bank card details.”
“This is an obvious case of fraud. My email address (this website doesn’t verify emails, and all the relevant emails went to junk) can be found online and so can my address, as it is linked to my business account, which is registered online.”
Tzortzis also said he has filed a formal complaint with the police over the hack of his bank details. He added: “I am not ruling anything out at the moment, including the possibility of my phone being illegally hacked. Retrospectively speaking, it has shown signs of being hacked.
“It seems that the first transaction was made in Australia when I was there for lectures and courses. It could have been someone who knows me, someone who hates me, or a malicious person who found out who I was. It could be one person or two, they could be working locally, from abroad or both,” he wrote.
Tzortzis is known for his radical Islamic views and has openly expressed his stances on sexual morality and homosexuality. He was believed to have made several controversial remarks such as those who leave Islam “should be killed” and has voiced his support of setting up an Islamic Caliphate.
Categories: Islam
Blogging Theology 
Surprised the IBTimes picked this story up.
It’s clear this is a set up. Somebody was playing games. Hamza has expressed his concern at the sneaky set up on his FB which I also reblogged.
Sadly iERA has a lot of militant Atheist detractors as well as other detractors, any of them could have been behind it. I wonder who else the hater/s were trying to set up and smear.
The dangers of the internet, anybody can assume your identity and try to set you up.
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there appear to be a number of unanswered questions. So someone created an account in his name months ago. Why would they do that?
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If it was just a set up, how did the people who set up the profile know months in advance that the site would be hacked and members outed?
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that is precisely my question. Any thoughts Yahya?
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Thanks for the qs Paul and Adil
It was a plant, I’m convinced. Thus the person who set it up was was obviously unaware of the impending hack.
Think about it, if you’re going to set somebody up to make them appear to be a cheater that’s exactly what you’d do, right? Assume their identity by putting up ‘their profile’ on some dodgy site (I must say as a married fella I never new this site existed) and then start building up a history on there. Obviously nobody is going to believe you if it’s a profile that’s been on there for a week or two. The person would allow it to have a history of interactions and then BOOOOM. It’s released, so and so has been on this site cheating on his gf/wife for 9 months and here are all the screenshots and comments.
It’s elaborate but nowadays people are little more tuned in to internet scams thus in order to be more plausible more time and effort is expended.
The thing with this is, the hack botched the hater/s plan but it still led to the same end game.
And in any case, who will use their actual name on a site like that? Hamza is not stupid. Who will use their PUBLIC email as well? All the info is about the guy is sourced from the net as all his info is out there already.
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I understand that Hamza’s real name was used not the one is is publically known by. How did they know that?
But I don’t get this: these alleged people set him up and just hoped that Hamza would not notice his bank account being debited each month (for over 6 months) to pay for his membership of the website?
And all the emails from the site they just hoped Hamza would not notice them and give the game away? Apparently you get at least a couple a day direct to your email account. And these emails were sent for at least 6 months!
Fishy…
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I see Paul and Adil’s point but it is not surprising if there was a set up.
Maybe the one or more persons who were planning the hacking decided to plant Hamza’s name on the organization.
Lets think about it…maybe some conservative Christians did the hacking because they don’t like what such a terrible website is doing…the website was told to close down or threatened that the names would be released.
Or maybe the hackers were not conservative Christians but just wanted to make money by extortions of the members…and thus such hackers would not have the best ethics themselves… and people who don’t have good principles sometimes develop hate at religious people, particularly active Muslims doing dawah.
If the hackers or some of them were atheist, they may have wanted especially to hurt Hamza’s reputation and then planted his name before they did the hacking.
Maybe they did not listen but then this hacking occurred either by the one who did set up Hamza
Of course only Allah knows but Yahya makes a good point that it is unlikely someone would use their actual public email on such a site.
I assume there are many atheists who probably hate Hamza because of his dawah outreach and perhaps there may be someone among them who would like to hurt his reputation if they cannot hurt his arguments.
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Omer, the devil is in the detail:
explain these points (repeated from above):
But I don’t get this: these alleged people set him up and just hoped that Hamza would not notice his bank account being debited each month (for over 6 months) to pay for his membership of the website?
And all the emails from the site they just hoped Hamza would not notice them and give the game away? Apparently you get at least a couple a day direct to your email account. And these emails were sent for at least 6 months!
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Oh I see what your saying. I missed that point.
Actually I never look at my bank account statements….but I will now.
Regarding the emails, you make a good point…however, if the emails go those other tabs like social, update, promotion, then I don’t usually look at all of them but I will now.
Also, I wonder if there could have been a way for someone who planted his name to still set up a condition requesting no emails…that does not sound likely but I am asking because so often there are companies that you buy something from and then they ask you if you want emails and you can so, no don’t send me any emails.
But if he was getting debited every month, then maybe there is not a way to block those emails unless they set him up with his own email and then changed the email to which they wanted the invoice information to go to…maybe then it would change the original email address but maybe not.
Paul, you make a good point…and this may be sadly true but I like to keep a good opinion about people if they claim they are innocent, especially if they are da’ees…even if I don’t agree with them on every point ( for example I do not agree with how he changed his approach towards science in the Qur’an…he unfortunately was missing the holistic view and did not grasp the immense improbability of multiplication of a huge number of 0.5 probabilities for example…which leads to an incredibly tiny number and thus the Qur’an’s conformity with scientific miracles is indeed staggering even if anyone verse is not conclusive in isolation).
Still, I hope it is not true and I assume hackers are clever and try think of ways how to set up people with such details.
But I don’t have any explanations with the details you are saying and as you say, it does sound fishy if all the details you say are confirmed to be true. I hope the truth comes out either way.
Honesty and truth tends to produce better outcomes for goodness.
May all falsely accused people be exonerated and may all who are involved in evil websites seek full guidance regardless of the difficult process and may they be guided fully and immediately.
Satan is always out there and trying to attack us. There is a verse in the Qur’an where Satan is quoted asserting that he will attack the children of Adam from in front of us, behind us, from our right, and from our left. May God guide all people of all religions to be as morally upright as they can be.
I don’t know about this website…certainly engaging in it is evil actions but let’s also keep in mind that engaging with evil websites does not mean someone engaged physically in such relationships.
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All those qs are answered by Hamza himself perfectly plausible and he’s even gone to the extent of reporting it to the police as a fraud.
The emails went into junk (I never scrutinise junk emails) and that website never verified emails. He never checks his statements, I have 4 accounts, I have hardly ever scrutinised any statement but in the case of Hamza he does not even get paper statements so it makes sense:
This is an obvious case of fraud. My email address (this website doesn’t verify emails, and all the relevant emails went to junk) can be found online and so can my address, as it is linked to my business account, which is registered online. My date of birth is known from either previous lectures or Facebook. These types of online attacks are not uncommon, for example in the past year there have been multiple attempts to access my emails.
The first transaction took place last October after my trip to Hajj (pilgrimage). There have been subsequent transactions every month, not under the named site but a discrete label, which I believe is normal for such websites. I don’t check my bank statements because I have paperless statements, and it is something I haven’t made into a habit.
This is a serious matter of fraud or malice for which the bank and police have been informed. They will now pursue the matter further as a formal crime. I am not ruling anything out at the moment, including the possibility of my phone being illegally hacked. Retrospectively speaking, it has shown signs of being hacked.
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I’m sure Hamza will be putting up the police report he filled in. And the mails to and from his credit card company.
‘Plausible’? LOL
Snow has such a hard on for Tzortzis he’s probably join him in double teaming girls (or boys) if he had the chance!
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General Troll
You said;
LOL, again LOL, and again LOL. Yes Islam is the solution lol
I say;
Hold it my brother. This is not the way to show your hatred towards Islam in general and its people. It may be true or false, because with this internet age, it is possible to get somebody’s information by using wireshark, kismet etc. or any network analyzing tool in an unsecured network and then hack a website and inject and populate the database with the stolen information to let it look like the person actually registered with the website.
Some Christians hacked this site several times before and came out to claim they did that and their intension is to try to bring Paul Williams private conversation to smear him. Christians, Atheist and those who debated with this guy or those who do not like him can easily do this with some few technology tools
So, until proper investigation is done, no one can jump into conclusion and lump all Muslims to this or show his hatred and bigotry to all Muslims. Christian pastors were popular with prostitutes and Church minors and we say it most of the times on this blog and elsewhere but it is not all Christians who do that and it does not affect the general goodwill of all Christians.
Church Fathers are known to be sexually addicted to prostitutes, young boys and girls and Pastors Jimmy Swaggart, Eddie Lee Long, Jerry Falwell and many more Christian clergy were caught in engaging illicit sexual act, but you can use it to hate all Christians.
Thanks
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I doubt he will be so stupid to supply his real information on this site whether his public or private information. I doubt it. Everyone knows, his information is not safe on this type of sites, so most prominent people do visit porn site but with completely different information, including credit card information.
If he used his original credit card information, then he is stupid and I do not think he is stupid by listening to his lectures. If he were to be caught red handed like Jimmy Swaggart, that would have been true, but it is not wise to use internet hack to conclude on some ones immorality. Because of this Islam demands witnesses who saw the act before it is considered true.
According to Islamic law, the guy has not done any illicit sexual act in a human beings eyes, but Allah eyes sees everything, and so if it is true Allah has seen it and leave it to Allah. If he did it then it is between him and Allah, he can either sincerely repent and may be forgiven by Allah or receive the punishment in the day of judgement without sincerely repentance and that is Islam. Judging him now without proper investigation may lead us to committing sin ourselves. It is good we are brainstorming the case, but we should also demand proper investigation as he himself has taken the lead in doing that. We should support him to do that investigation because in this internet age, some technology tools like wireshark can do a lot of harm to organizations and to individuals as well.
Thanks.
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Hamza has just deleted his long Facebook piece explaining why he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
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Copied from: http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/08/23/uk-islamist-hamza-tzortzis-found-on-ashley-madison-hack-list/
One critic said: “So Hamza, you are claiming that some guy knew all of your private information and wanted to screw with you so he created a fake account on Ashley Madison. This guy then paid hundreds of dollars to maintain the account for 9 months. This account was then used to make transactions at locations where you were also present at the time. Then the ultimate plan was to hack the Ashley Madison database and release 40 million users so you could be exposed. Am I getting this right?”
Tzortzis originally replied to the user before the comment disappeared: “You’re an idiot. Read the post before you write. The amount was 15 pounds a month, not hundreds.”
The amount was actually around £135 in total, taking the amount into the “hundreds”
Tzortzis noted however, that in Islam, some of Ashley Madison’s features were “permissible”. He wrote:
My whereabouts and activities, both private and public are traceable and recorded, and there is without any doubt that I have not pursued such immoral acts that the site promotes (this includes permissible acts, for instance the endeavour to find another halal wife [who can also be a non-Muslim] who wanted to be with a married man, which is allowed in Islam). My face is recorded when I enter and leave work, and the gym (the main places I go to). My social and professional meetings are public, and with people that can honestly confirm my presence.
Another critic noted, “So in summary, a profile that fits you quite well was made and transactions made that match your whereabouts. As you say the australian transactions were made when you were there. Either its someone in your inner circle or you. Anthony weiner also claimed hackers had stolen his identity.”
Mr Tzortzis has not yet provided his followers with the police report that he claims to have filed.
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Paul Williams
Interesting!!!
Thanks
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So he knows the cost of this service per month but yet claims he never singed up for it. Intersting that he considers some of AM services halah from Allah
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Yahya Snow don’t worry Hamaz is still a Muslim so even if he is the worst of Muslims he is still better then the best of Christains
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Robert Wells
You said;
So he knows the cost of this service per month but yet claims he never singed up for it. Intersting that he considers some of AM services halah from Allah
I say;
Do not ridicule us please. This things is happening all day in Christian clergy and besides AM is a dating site, Hamza, if true should have come out plainly to accept that may be he is looking for a young, beautiful Greek Muslim who shares his culture, tradition and religion. The case would have closed there. He has sent the case to police for investigation and if it is found out to be a true service he sought, it will be an embarrassment to him like Elliot Spitzer, Anthony Weiner, Mark Sanford, Eddie Lee Long etc. and many more.
Robert, I am glad you have now capitalized Allah. That is the starting point to reduce your hatred towards us.
In Islam, unless you are caught red handed and/or with witnesses, no body claim you sinned but Allah alone who sees everything and will hold anyone into account of his actions without proper repentance which is sincere. But Mr. Hamza it is better to have used Islamic dating sites or may be he wants a young beautiful Greek lady. It might be so, so he is still not guilty but a preacher should play his cards well when it comes to these things otherwise it will lead to big embarrassment.
You said;
Yahya Snow don’t worry Hamaz is still a Muslim so even if he is the worst of Muslims he is still better then the best of Christains
I say;
There is nothing in our scripture that said a worst of Muslims is better than the best of Christians. Besides Hamza is not a worst of Muslim, if he is searching for a beautiful Greek partner from AM. There is nothing wrong about that, the only problem about him, was he should have come out boldly to acknowledge he is the one and is looking for a Greek partner which is a little bit difficult to find on an Islamic dating site.
Robert, you did not caught him red handed with prostitutes like Pastor Jimmy Swaggart, Eddie Lee Long etc. and the Church Fathers illicit sex that prompted Pope |Benedict to come out publicly to apologize to all the victims of these sexual acts
Thanks.
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correction
Robert, you did not catch him red handed…………………
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It makes for sense if a friend hacked it.
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I Have a hard time believing any of the leaked details from this thing for several reasons:
None of the leaked data is verified by Ashley Madison and for understandable reasons they can never do that.
Who in their right mind believes they can pay money to sign up for a site where they can meet people offline for affairs?! People don’t even pay for porn. The amount of gullible required is hard to fathom for me.
Wasn’t like 95% of the site just men? I suppose even for the suckers that did sign up, who actually managed to start an affair off this site? I read somewhere on reddit that most of the women were paid staff pretending to be real people and basically it was a complete scam.
They apparently didn’t verify/confirm details that people signed up with. Sounds like a grade A internet scam/spam heaven.
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Weather he did it or not, we shouldn’t slander.
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On a lighter note: http://youtu.be/JzD8j_GMU18
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Sex is something no one can run away from, including prophets. One must play his cards well especially if he is a public figure otherwise it might come to haunt him like Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer, Mark Sanford, Pastor Long, Pastor Swaggart etc. and many many more including Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus etc. You can not avoid sex, so play your cards well.
Thanks.
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Intellect, AM is not a dating site it is an adultery site. The site promotes adultery and having affairs.
Their slogan says “Life is short. Have an affair.”
Hamza did not say he was looking for a beautiful Greek girl. Plus isn’t he already married? And if he was looking for another wife wouldn’t he discuss that with his current wife first instead of doing all of this behind her back? Or are you going to tell me that in Islam a man can marry another woman without his wife’s consent? And who’s to even say that Hamza would have married this woman.
The evidence speaks for itself anyway. The account was created nearly a year ago (October 22nd 2014 apparently) with all his personal details. He would have received emails from them and also noticed money leaving his bank account each month with a signature from the site so he’d know exactly where it was from. How did he not notice any of this until the recent hack? On top of that, the IP addresses used from the account all match locations that he had been in, such as a talk he did in Sydney Australia, and also locations where he lives in the UK. Besides all of this, anyone who may have had their information falsely used in a prank or wished to remove their profile could pay the site to have it removed. According to the news, some peoples emails were used simply as a prank or because it was entered incorrectly. These people paid to have their accounts removed, why didn’t Hamza do the same if it really wasn’t him?
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