-- the OIC, the UN and Apostaphobia
By Elizabeth Kendal
The following post adapts and expands upon an address I presented at Christian Faith & Freedom's July 2011 "Free to Believe" conference in Canberra, Australia.
Thesis: While it has been hailed in the West as a victory for free speech, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference's (OIC's) new Resolution 16/18, "Combating intolerance . . .", is even more dangerous than resolution 2005/3, "Combating Defamation of Religion". Far from being an OIC back-down or a breakthrough for liberty, the change in focus from defamation to incitement is not only totally consistent with OIC strategy since early 2009, but it actually advances the OIC's primary goal: the criminalisation of criticism of Islam.
NOTE: on 28 June 2011, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference changed its name to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
2,858 words
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THE HISTORY OF A RESOLUTION
On 12 April 2005, United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), meeting for its 61st session in Geneva, passed HR Resolution 2005/3, "Combating Defamation of Religions": 31 for, 16 against and 5 abstentions.
The resolution was presented by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) under Agenda Item 6 pertaining to "racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and all forms of discrimination".
Islam on-line (IOL) reported it this way: "The United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted on Tuesday, April 12, a resolution calling for combating defamation campaigns against Islam and Muslims in the West." ("UN calls for Combating Anti-Islam Campaigns", islamonline.net 12 April 2005)
The passing of the resolution heralded a fundamental shift in international Human Rights. Religion (specifically Islam) was to be awarded rights normally reserved for human beings.
Resolution 2005/3 expressed alarm at post-9/11 discrimination of Muslims in non-Muslim countries and noted with concern that "defamation of religions is among the causes of social disharmony and leads to violations of human rights". The resolution noted with deep concern that Islam and Muslims were coming under attack in human rights forums and that Muslim minorities were increasingly the victims of stereotyping and profiling.
It expressed "deep concern that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights abuses, violence and terrorism", while labelling organisation that defame Islam as "extremist". States were urged to "take all possible measures to promote respect for all religions and their value systems". (emphasis mine)
Finally, the resolution "Requests the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance to continue to examine the situation of Muslims and Arab peoples in various parts of the world . . . and to report on his findings to the Commission at its sixty-second session [April 2006], and to make recommendations to improve their situation . . ."
The language had been carefully chosen, for "defamation", as it is normally defined, is "communication to third parties of false statements about a person that injure the reputation of or deter others from associating with that person." (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law)
From the very outset, the OIC's agenda was to have criticism of Islam deemed defamatory so that it might be criminalised.
Once the resolution was passed, the OIC had a 12 month window -- from April 2005 to April 2006 (next sitting) -- in which to ensure that the Special Rapporteur would reach the conclusion sought by the OIC: that "defamation" of Islam needed to be banned.
CARTOON INTIFADA
Sept 2005: Jyllands Posten publishes Muhammad cartoons (competition). NOTE: no riots.
October 2005: Muhammad cartoons reprinted in Cairo during Ramadan. NOTE: no riots.
Dec 2005: OIC Summit, Dakar, Senegal.
OIC formulates its 10 Year Plan which includes a 4-point item entitled "Combating Islamophobia".
Item VII. Combating Islamophobia
1. Emphasize the responsibility of the international community, including all governments, to ensure respect for all religions and combat their defamation.
2. Affirm the need to counter Islamophobia, through the establishment of an observatory at the OIC General Secretariat to monitor all forms of Islamophobia, issue an annual report thereon, and ensure cooperation with the relevant Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in order to counter Islamophobia.
3. Endeavor to have the United Nations adopt an international resolution to counter Islamophobia, and call upon all States to enact laws to counter it, including deterrent punishments.
4. Initiate a structured and sustained dialogue in order to project the true values of Islam and empower Muslim countries to help in the war against extremism and terrorism.
As soon as the Dec 05 Dakar Summit concluded, the Arab League got to work. The result: the Cartoon Intifada of February-March 2006 which left a trail of death and destruction from the Levant through South Asia and Africa; with large and disturbing street protests in numerous major cities, particularly London.
DELAY
In March 2006, the UN General Assembly voted to replace the thoroughly discredited UN HR Commission with a smaller and supposedly improved UN HR Council. Actually the new UNHRC has all the same problems as the old UNHRC. While the progress of Resolution 2005/3, Combating Defamation of Religion, was delayed for a year, it mattered not, for through the Cartoon Intifada the OIC had established a precedent: "defamation" of Islam leads to death and destruction.
In March 2007, the UN HR Council passed Resolution 2005/3, Combating Defamation of Religion: 24 for, 14 against, 9 abstentions.
See: UN Human Rights Council: Protecting Religion
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 12 April 2007
Subsequently, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Doudou Diène (a Senegalese Muslim), presented his report on 21 August 2007.
According to Special Rapporteur Doudou Diène, "defamation" of Islam arises out of "baseless Islamophobia" which expresses itself as "hatred of Muslims" which in turn gives rise to "extremism". His conclusion: those who "defame" Islam must be held accountable for Islamic extremism.
However, according to Diène, anti-Semitism is not religious or racial but political and Israel's fault. Likewise, he claimed, the Christianophobia that is evident in "South America, Africa and Asia" (NOTE: the Middle East was not on his list) is caused by the aggressive and unethical proselytising of evangelical Christians. Diène charged that Christians had "exploited freedom of expression" to defame religions, including Voodoo and other traditional faiths. He claimed that by defaming Hinduism, Christians had created the environment that favoured the emergence of militant Hindutva. Thus unlike Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and Christianaphobia were not baseless, but were valid responses from threatened peoples.
The Special Rapporteur concluded with this recommendation: "In the light of the polarised and confrontational readings of these articles ["international instruments, and in particular articles 18, 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" (ICCPR)] the UNHRC should "promote a more profound reflection on their interpretation". Diène recommended that the UNHRC "consider the possibility of adopting complementary standards on the interrelations between freedom of expression, freedom of religion and non-discrimination, and in particular by drafting a general comment on article 20".
Article 20 of the ICCPR states:
1. Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.
2. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law. (emphasis mine)
I commented at the time, that any effort to include "defamation" of religion (especially when defamation is essentially nothing more than criticism) in the same category as "incitement" would serve totalitarian forces from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe that seek to make religious liberty an issue not of fundamental, universal human rights, but an issue of harmony, social cohesion and national security.
Furthermore I proposed that the very heart of the issue was not "defamation" of Islam or "baseless" Islamophobia, but the fact that the dictators of Islam are now as ever consumed with and driven by "apostaphobia". This touched such a raw nerve with the dictators of Islam that it won a citation in the OIC's 1st Observatory of Islamophobia.
I proposed that apostaphobia be defined as a well-founded fear of loss of authority through loss of adherents, which manifests primarily as uncompromising repression and denial of fundamental liberties, by violent and subversive means.
I also proposed that the UNHRC add apostaphobia to its vocabulary, and confront apostaphobia by upholding the international human rights covenants that protect the fundamental, universal right of individuals to religious liberty, not seek to reinterpret and amend those covenants to protect religions and apostaphobic religious dictators from the threat posed to them by religious liberty.
See: UNHRC: Watershed Days
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 18 September 2007
The fact is: on account of the new openness available through satellite, internet and mobile phone technologies, disillusioned Muslims are rejecting and leaving Islam in unprecedented numbers. Consequently, the apostaphobia of the dictators of Islam is rising.
See: Religious Liberty Trends 2007-2008 (Apostasy & Apostaphobia)
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 15 Feb 2008
Apostasy, and the baptism of Madgi Allam
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 4 April 2008
[NOTE: in June 2011, World Council of Churches, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Evangelical Alliance appeased the apostaphobic dictators of religion and advanced their cause by publishing complementary standards for Christian witness.]
UN GA
In December 2007, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2005/3, Combating Defamation of Religion: 108 for, 51 against, with 25 abstentions. (NOTE: 10 Year Plan, Item VII, point 3 part (a) -- achieved!)
In March 2008, the OIC presented its 1st Observatory Report of Islamophobia to the OIC’s 11th session in Dakar. The report, which drew heavily on the UN Special Rapporteur's August 2007 report, proposed that the world's view of Islam be corrected and that "deterrent punishments" for "defamation" be established. (NOTE: as per 10 Year Plan, Item VII, point 3 part (b))
The Observatory Report of Islamophobia asserted that, in order to have peace, the correct (i.e. OIC-approved) version of history and of Islam must be understood, promoted and accepted; clearly anything else is "baseless" Islamophobia or inciteful "defamation" of Islam, responsible for the violent, destructive and retaliatory (as distinct from immature, irrational and criminal) Muslim-rioting in the world today. It also claimed that Islamophobia exists in part because there is no legal instrument to combat it, therefore a "binding legal instrument" must be created "to fight the menace of Islamophobia".
See: OIC: Eliminating "defamation" of Islam.
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 25 March 2008
TURNING POINT
Support for Resolution 2005/3, Combating Defamation of Religion, declined during 2008 as the free world started to realise the degree to which freedom was being threatened.
March 2008. Resolution 2005/3 passes in the UNHRC: 21 for (down from 24 in 2007); 10 opposed; 14 abstain.
November 2008. Resolution 2005/3 passes in the UN GA: 85 states for (down from 108 in 2007), 50 opposed; 42 abstentions.
But then, failing to read the signs, the OIC started arrogantly overplaying its hand. In November 2008, at the UN GA 63rd session, several OIC members asserted that Islamophobia is a "new form of racism" that is "incited" by "defamation of religion" which is a "misuse" of the right to freedom of speech.
See: The OIC & the UN: Islamophobia and "defamation of religion"
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 14 Nov 2008
Then, at the UN World Conference against Racism (Durban II) in April 2009, the OIC launched its new strategy to have defamation recast as incitement as per the ICCPR Article 20.2: "Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law."
The OIC maintained that Islamophobia -- "a new form of racism" -- must be eliminated in order to preserve peace and prevent a Muslim "holocaust".
See: The OIC & the UN: defamation of religions as incitement
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 21 Nov 2008
April 2010. Resolution 2005/3, Combating Defamation of Religion, passes in the UNHRC, but by the slimmest margin in the history of the resolution: 20 for; 17 opposed; 6 abstentions. The abstainers were becoming opposers.
GAME'S UP !
-- NEW STRATEGY ESSENTIAL
In March 2011, after discussions with the US held in wake of the blasphemy assassinations of the governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, and Minorities MP, Shabbaz Bhatti , Pakistan presented the UNHRC with a new resolution.
24 March 2011. The UNHRC passes HR Resolution 16/18: "Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence, and violence against persons based on religion or belief."
The resolution was presented by Pakistan for OIC under Agenda item 9 pertaining to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related form of intolerance, follow-up and implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.
The resolution was immediately hailed as a "huge achievement" -- a breakthrough for human rights.
Excerpts: UNHRC Resolution 16/18 (emphasis mine)
The Human Rights Council,
(1) Expresses deep concern at the continued serious instances of derogatory stereotyping, negative profiling and stigmatization of persons based on their religion or beliefs, as well as programmes and agendas pursued by extremist organizations and groups aimed at creating and perpetuating negative stereotypes about religious groups . . .
(3) Condemns any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence [NOTE: exact wording of ICCPR Article 20.2], whether it involves the use of print, audio-visual of electronic media or any other means . . .
(5) . . . call[s] on States to take the following actions to foster a domestic environment of religious tolerance, peace and respect, by:
(e) Speaking out against intolerance, including advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence [NOTE: exact wording of ICCPR Article 20.2];
(g) Understanding the need to combat denigration and negative religious stereotyping of persons, as well as incitement to religious hatred . . .
(6) Calls upon all States:
(d) To make a strong effort to counter religious profiling, which is understood to be the invidious use of religion as a criterion in conducting questionings, searches and other law enforcement investigative procedures;
-----
Presumably this resolution would permit a critic to assert that "fundamentalist Islam is inherently violent", while making it unacceptable for an employer or security officer to suggest than an Islamic fundamentalist should not be employed at this school or that airport, or that they should be watched or investigated or searched -- for that would be negative profiling based on religion.
Meanwhile, though the language of "defamation" has been eradicated, a critical / offensive comment such as "fundamentalist Islam is inherently violent", would doubtless be viewed as incitement. In fact anything that could have been deemed "defamation" under Resolution 2005/3 will doubtless be deemed incitement under Resolution 16/18.
This shift in focus from "defamation" to incitement -- something the OIC has been pursuing since April 2009 -- is hugely significant as the ICCPR specifically mandates that incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence be prohibited by law (ICCPR Article 20.2).
DIALOGUE BEGINS
In line with Item VII, point 4 of the OIC's 10 year plan, Article 9 of Resolution 16/18 "Calls for strengthened international efforts to foster a global dialogue for the promotion of a culture of tolerance and peace at all levels, based on respect for human rights and diversity of religions and beliefs . . ."
The first meeting pursuant of Resolution 16/18 took place in Istanbul on 15 July 2011 and was co-chaired by OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"The test would lie in the implementation", said Ihsanoglu, adding that there was a delicate balance between freedom of expression and incendiary speech. "We continue to be particularly disturbed by attitudes of certain individuals or groups exploiting the freedom of expression to incite hatred by demonizing purposefully the religions and their followers."
See: OIC, West pledge to combat intolerance
Arab News, 16 July 2011
ArabNews reports: "Speaking of the United States, Clinton said: 'We have seen in the United States how the incendiary actions of just a very few people can create wide ripples of intolerance, so we are focused on promoting interfaith education and collaboration, enforcing anti-discrimination laws, protecting the rights of all people to worship as they choose, and to use some old-fashioned techniques of peer pressure and shaming so that people don't feel that they have the support to do what we abhor.'"
The next meeting to discuss the implementation of Resolution 16/18 will held in Washington in the coming months.
The International Islamic News Agency (IINA) reports (1 Aug): "According to informed sources in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the two sides, in addition to other European parties, will hold a number of specialized meetings of experts in law and religion in order to finalize the legal aspect on how to better implement the UN resolution.
"The sources said that the upcoming meetings aim at developing a legal basis for the UN Human Rights Council's resolution which help in enacting domestic laws for the countries involved in the issue, as well as formulating international laws preventing inciting hatred resulting from the continued defamation of religions."
IINA quoted OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu being quick to exploit Anders Behring Breivik's 22 July 2011 Oslo massacre, a tragedy Ihsanoglu cited as evidence of the danger posed by institutionalised Islamophobia. ("OIC/ Islamophobia: OIC Observatory warned wince 2009 against the growth of the extreme right in Europe, Washington plans to host a meeting on resolution opposing defamation of religions." IINA, 1 Aug 2011. NOTE: article has been removed.))
And so, while it is being hailed in the West as a victory for free speech, Resolution 16/18, "Combating intolerance . . .", is even more dangerous than resolution 2005/3, "Combating Defamation of Religion". It is in no way an OIC back-down or a breakthrough for liberty. Rather, the change in focus from defamation to incitement is not only totally consistent with OIC strategy since early 2009, but it actually advances the OIC's primary goal: the criminalisation of criticism of Islam.
Showing posts with label apostaphobia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label apostaphobia. Show all posts
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
IRAN: PERSECUTION SURGES
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 067 | Wed 04 Aug 2010
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IRAN: PERSECUTION SURGES
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Biblical revelation preaches freedom in love. Islam -- like all man-made religions -- demands submission to law. While the God of the Bible demands perfection in love, he freely provides a remedy for sin -- Jesus Christ -- and the Holy Spirit as helper. This is indeed Good News! On the other hand, while Islam demands submission to law, it provides no remedy for sin and so can only culminate in failure. Meanwhile, the dictators of Islam employ religious forces -- Revolutionary Guards, Basij, muttawa, hisba, taliban and others -- to police 'vice and virtue'. To protect their own privilege and hegemony they deny Islam's failure and deflect scrutiny from Islam by blaming the victims. Driven by apostaphobia, they strive to eliminate fitna (anything that could tempt a Muslim to doubt Islam). Sunni reformation (as in Saudi Arabia) and Shi'ite revolution (as in Iran) have only produced repressive, totalitarian police states wracked with poverty, cruelty, despair and disillusionment.
In Iran the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was set up to defend Islam. The Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) was established to eliminate all opposition and dissent which they virtually did through purges, terrors and serial killings. When President Khatami (1997-2004) pressed for reforms in the style of 'glasnost' (openness) and 'perestroika' (restructuring) , Ayatollah Khamenei engineered his removal. Through the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad since 2005, the hegemony of the blood-stained IRGC and MOIS
hardliners of the 1980s-90s has been restored. The regime has just announced a massive boost in funding for the Basij (state-sponsored Islamic vigilantes) and will establish 7000 new Resistance Bases across Iran. All this is unsurprising, for whilst Christianity requires radical, personal, spiritual transformation, Islam merely demands the enforcement of Islamic law.
Persecution of the Church escalated through 2009, aided because the US no longer has leverage -- due to Iraq, the US now needs Iran more than Iran needs the US. As noted in RLPB 041 (3 Feb 2010), the regime is escalating repression to curtail unrest due to widespread social dissatisfaction and economic distress. A wave of persecution hit the Church in late December 2009 and early January 2010 when many Christians were harassed, interrogated, threatened and arrested. Whilst most have been released on bond, some remain incarcerated and others have been added to their number.
Pastor Behrouz (Marco) Khanjani was arrested on 11 January when he responded to a request from the authorities to come in for questioning in Chiraz. He was bailed on 17 March only to be re-arrested on 16 June. His wife, Fatemeh (Marie) Torkkajouri, was arrested the next day and placed in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. After informing Pastor Behrouz of his wife's fate, the authorities reportedly incarcerated him in 'Plate 100', a dungeon of the intelligence services in Chiraz. Their daughter Esperance is in the care of Muslim family members.
Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was arrested in Rasht on 13 October 2009 for protesting the regime's plans to force Islamic education on all children in violation of the constitution. He has reportedly been sentenced to death. Furthermore Pastor Yousef's wife, Fatemeh (Tina) Passandideh, was arrested on 8 June 2010 and is in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. The authorities have threatened to put the couple's children, Yoel and Daniel, in an Islamic institution.
A group of 15 new believers were travelling by bus to the provincial town of Bojnoord on 18 July 2010. Security forces were informed and ambushed and arrested them in the city of Mashhad. After a week of harsh interrogation, believers who signed 'confessions' were freed on conditions including due payment of all bail. Mr Reza (48, also known as Stephen) and Mr Ehsan Behrooz (23) refused to co-operate and so remain incarcerated in the 901st branch of the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD WILL:
* fill Iranian believers with courage and faith to face persecution in a way that brings glory to God.
* fill persecuted Iranian believers with the inner peace and joy that comes from trusting the LORD, from assurance of salvation, and from the experience of God as 'sanctuary' (Isaiah 8:14a).
* give all Iranian Christians -- especially pastors -- great spiritual wisdom to be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves' (Matthew 10:16 ESV).
* awaken multitudes of Iranian Muslims to the deficiencies of Islam (and not just Iranian economics and foreign policy) and the Good News of Jesus Christ.
* enlighten especially the Muslim relatives, friends and neighbours of Iran's persecuted Christians that they may be so shocked and challenged by Islamic injustice, and so surprised and moved by Christian grace, that they will seek love over law and find truth in Jesus Christ.
------------------------
IRAN: PERSECUTION SURGES
------------------------
Biblical revelation preaches freedom in love. Islam -- like all man-made religions -- demands submission to law. While the God of the Bible demands perfection in love, he freely provides a remedy for sin -- Jesus Christ -- and the Holy Spirit as helper. This is indeed Good News! On the other hand, while Islam demands submission to law, it provides no remedy for sin and so can only culminate in failure. Meanwhile, the dictators of Islam employ religious forces -- Revolutionary Guards, Basij, muttawa, hisba, taliban and others -- to police 'vice and virtue'. To protect their own privilege and hegemony they deny Islam's failure and deflect scrutiny from Islam by blaming the victims. Driven by apostaphobia, they strive to eliminate fitna (anything that could tempt a Muslim to doubt Islam). Sunni reformation (as in Saudi Arabia) and Shi'ite revolution (as in Iran) have only produced repressive, totalitarian police states wracked with poverty, cruelty, despair and disillusionment.
In Iran the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was set up to defend Islam. The Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) was established to eliminate all opposition and dissent which they virtually did through purges, terrors and serial killings. When President Khatami (1997-2004) pressed for reforms in the style of 'glasnost' (openness) and 'perestroika' (restructuring) , Ayatollah Khamenei engineered his removal. Through the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad since 2005, the hegemony of the blood-stained IRGC and MOIS
hardliners of the 1980s-90s has been restored. The regime has just announced a massive boost in funding for the Basij (state-sponsored Islamic vigilantes) and will establish 7000 new Resistance Bases across Iran. All this is unsurprising, for whilst Christianity requires radical, personal, spiritual transformation, Islam merely demands the enforcement of Islamic law.
Persecution of the Church escalated through 2009, aided because the US no longer has leverage -- due to Iraq, the US now needs Iran more than Iran needs the US. As noted in RLPB 041 (3 Feb 2010), the regime is escalating repression to curtail unrest due to widespread social dissatisfaction and economic distress. A wave of persecution hit the Church in late December 2009 and early January 2010 when many Christians were harassed, interrogated, threatened and arrested. Whilst most have been released on bond, some remain incarcerated and others have been added to their number.
Pastor Behrouz (Marco) Khanjani was arrested on 11 January when he responded to a request from the authorities to come in for questioning in Chiraz. He was bailed on 17 March only to be re-arrested on 16 June. His wife, Fatemeh (Marie) Torkkajouri, was arrested the next day and placed in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. After informing Pastor Behrouz of his wife's fate, the authorities reportedly incarcerated him in 'Plate 100', a dungeon of the intelligence services in Chiraz. Their daughter Esperance is in the care of Muslim family members.
Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was arrested in Rasht on 13 October 2009 for protesting the regime's plans to force Islamic education on all children in violation of the constitution. He has reportedly been sentenced to death. Furthermore Pastor Yousef's wife, Fatemeh (Tina) Passandideh, was arrested on 8 June 2010 and is in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. The authorities have threatened to put the couple's children, Yoel and Daniel, in an Islamic institution.
A group of 15 new believers were travelling by bus to the provincial town of Bojnoord on 18 July 2010. Security forces were informed and ambushed and arrested them in the city of Mashhad. After a week of harsh interrogation, believers who signed 'confessions' were freed on conditions including due payment of all bail. Mr Reza (48, also known as Stephen) and Mr Ehsan Behrooz (23) refused to co-operate and so remain incarcerated in the 901st branch of the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD WILL:
* fill Iranian believers with courage and faith to face persecution in a way that brings glory to God.
* fill persecuted Iranian believers with the inner peace and joy that comes from trusting the LORD, from assurance of salvation, and from the experience of God as 'sanctuary' (Isaiah 8:14a).
* give all Iranian Christians -- especially pastors -- great spiritual wisdom to be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves' (Matthew 10:16 ESV).
* awaken multitudes of Iranian Muslims to the deficiencies of Islam (and not just Iranian economics and foreign policy) and the Good News of Jesus Christ.
* enlighten especially the Muslim relatives, friends and neighbours of Iran's persecuted Christians that they may be so shocked and challenged by Islamic injustice, and so surprised and moved by Christian grace, that they will seek love over law and find truth in Jesus Christ.
IRAN: Islamic police state escalates repression and persecution
Biblical revelation preaches freedom in love. Islam (like all man-made religions) demands submission to law. While the God of the Bible demands perfection in love he freely provides a remedy for sin -- Jesus Christ -- and the Holy Spirit as helper. This is indeed Good News! On the other hand, while Islam demands submission to law it provides no remedy for sin, and so can only culminate in failure.
Meanwhile, the dictators of Islam employ religious forces -- Revolutionary Guards, Basij, muttawa, hisba, taliban etc -- to police 'vice and virtue'. To protect their own privilege and hegemony they deny Islam's failure and deflect scrutiny from Islam by blaming the victims. Driven by apostaphobia, they wage war against fitna (anything that could tempt a Muslim to doubt Islam).
Sunni reformation (as in Saudi Arabia) and Shi'ite revolution (as in Iran) have only produced repressive, totalitarian police states wracked with poverty, cruelty, despair and disillusionment.
In Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) was established for the defence of Islam, while the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) was established to eliminate all opposition and dissent -- which they virtually did, through purges, terrors and serial killings.
When President Khatami (1997-2004) pressed for reforms after the manner of 'glasnost' (openness) and 'perestroika' (restructuring), Ayatollah Khamenei engineered his removal. Through the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005 - ), the hegemony of the blood-stained IRGC and MOIS hardliners of the 1980s-90s has been restored.
See:
Iran: The Islamic Revolution is complete.
WEA RL News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal 29 Aug 2005
Iran: Old Guards Return.
WEA RL News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal 14 Dec 2005
The regime has just announced a massive boost in funding for the Basij (state sponsored Islamic vigilantes) to enable more recruitment and to establish 7000 new Resistance Bases across the state.
See:
Exclusive: Millions allocated to recruiting Bassij militia
Iran Focus, Tehran, 29 may 2010
Commander: IRGC, Basij Forces Ready to Defend Islamic Revolution
Fars News Agency, Tehran, 22 July 2010
Basij Forces Plan 7,000 New Bases
By Arash Aramesh, for InsideIran.org, 29 July 2010
Iran militia murder baker for calling Supreme Leader a dog
Iran Focus, Isfahan, Monday 2 Aug 2010
PERSECUTION
Persecution of the church escalated through 2009, aided by the fact that on account of Iraq, the US now needs Iran more than Iran needs the US -- leaving the US without leverage.
As noted in RLPB 041 (3 Feb 2010), the regime is escalating repression in order to curtail unrest emanating from widespread social dissatisfaction and economic distress. A wave of persecution hit the church in late Dec 2009 and early Jan 2010, during which time numerous Christians were harassed, interrogated, threatened and arrested. While most have been released on bond, some remain incarcerated and others have been added to their number.
Pastor Behrouz (Marco) Khanjani, who was arrested in Chiraz on 11 January after responding to a request from the authorities that he present himself for questioning, was bailed on 17 March only to be rearrested on 16 June. His wife, Fatemeh (Marie) Torkkajouri, was arrested the following day and placed in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. After informing Pastor Behrouz of his wife's fate, the authorities reportedly incarcerated him in 'Plate 100', a dungeon of the intelligent services in Chiraz. Their daughter Esperance is in the care of Muslim family members. Fatemeh was released on bail of $20,000 on 22 July.
See:
Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani and His Wife Held Incommunicado.
Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA) 13 July 2010
Christian Citizen Fatemeh Tork-kajouir released on bail
RAHANA 23 July 2010
Meanwhile, Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who was arrested in Rasht on 13 October 2009 for protesting the regime's plans to force Islamic education on all children in violation of the constitution, has reportedly been sentenced to death. Furthermore, on 8 June 2010, Pastor Yousef's wife, Fatemeh (Tina) Passandideh, was arrested and placed in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. The authorities have threatened to remove the couple's two children, Yoel and Daniel, to an Islamic institution.
On 18 July 2010, a group of 15 new believers travelling together by bus to the provincial town of Bojnoord were ambushed by informed security forces and arrested in the city of Mashhad. After one week of harsh interrogations, believers who signed 'confessions' were freed on conditions including that bail payment would be forthcoming. Mr Reza (48, also known as Stephen) and Mr Ehsan Behrooz (23) refused to cooperate. They have been incarcerated in the 901st branch of the Revolutionary court in Mashhad.
See:
IRAN- The Mass Arrest of New Christian Converts in Mashhad
Farsi Christian News Network, 2 Aug 2010
For prayer bulletin and preayer suggestion see:
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin 067 (5 Aug 2010).
Meanwhile, the dictators of Islam employ religious forces -- Revolutionary Guards, Basij, muttawa, hisba, taliban etc -- to police 'vice and virtue'. To protect their own privilege and hegemony they deny Islam's failure and deflect scrutiny from Islam by blaming the victims. Driven by apostaphobia, they wage war against fitna (anything that could tempt a Muslim to doubt Islam).
Sunni reformation (as in Saudi Arabia) and Shi'ite revolution (as in Iran) have only produced repressive, totalitarian police states wracked with poverty, cruelty, despair and disillusionment.
In Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) was established for the defence of Islam, while the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) was established to eliminate all opposition and dissent -- which they virtually did, through purges, terrors and serial killings.
When President Khatami (1997-2004) pressed for reforms after the manner of 'glasnost' (openness) and 'perestroika' (restructuring), Ayatollah Khamenei engineered his removal. Through the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005 - ), the hegemony of the blood-stained IRGC and MOIS hardliners of the 1980s-90s has been restored.
See:
Iran: The Islamic Revolution is complete.
WEA RL News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal 29 Aug 2005
Iran: Old Guards Return.
WEA RL News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal 14 Dec 2005
The regime has just announced a massive boost in funding for the Basij (state sponsored Islamic vigilantes) to enable more recruitment and to establish 7000 new Resistance Bases across the state.
See:
Exclusive: Millions allocated to recruiting Bassij militia
Iran Focus, Tehran, 29 may 2010
Commander: IRGC, Basij Forces Ready to Defend Islamic Revolution
Fars News Agency, Tehran, 22 July 2010
Basij Forces Plan 7,000 New Bases
By Arash Aramesh, for InsideIran.org, 29 July 2010
Iran militia murder baker for calling Supreme Leader a dog
Iran Focus, Isfahan, Monday 2 Aug 2010
PERSECUTION
Persecution of the church escalated through 2009, aided by the fact that on account of Iraq, the US now needs Iran more than Iran needs the US -- leaving the US without leverage.
As noted in RLPB 041 (3 Feb 2010), the regime is escalating repression in order to curtail unrest emanating from widespread social dissatisfaction and economic distress. A wave of persecution hit the church in late Dec 2009 and early Jan 2010, during which time numerous Christians were harassed, interrogated, threatened and arrested. While most have been released on bond, some remain incarcerated and others have been added to their number.
Pastor Behrouz (Marco) Khanjani, who was arrested in Chiraz on 11 January after responding to a request from the authorities that he present himself for questioning, was bailed on 17 March only to be rearrested on 16 June. His wife, Fatemeh (Marie) Torkkajouri, was arrested the following day and placed in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. After informing Pastor Behrouz of his wife's fate, the authorities reportedly incarcerated him in 'Plate 100', a dungeon of the intelligent services in Chiraz. Their daughter Esperance is in the care of Muslim family members. Fatemeh was released on bail of $20,000 on 22 July.
See:
Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani and His Wife Held Incommunicado.
Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA) 13 July 2010
Christian Citizen Fatemeh Tork-kajouir released on bail
RAHANA 23 July 2010
Meanwhile, Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who was arrested in Rasht on 13 October 2009 for protesting the regime's plans to force Islamic education on all children in violation of the constitution, has reportedly been sentenced to death. Furthermore, on 8 June 2010, Pastor Yousef's wife, Fatemeh (Tina) Passandideh, was arrested and placed in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. The authorities have threatened to remove the couple's two children, Yoel and Daniel, to an Islamic institution.
On 18 July 2010, a group of 15 new believers travelling together by bus to the provincial town of Bojnoord were ambushed by informed security forces and arrested in the city of Mashhad. After one week of harsh interrogations, believers who signed 'confessions' were freed on conditions including that bail payment would be forthcoming. Mr Reza (48, also known as Stephen) and Mr Ehsan Behrooz (23) refused to cooperate. They have been incarcerated in the 901st branch of the Revolutionary court in Mashhad.
See:
IRAN- The Mass Arrest of New Christian Converts in Mashhad
Farsi Christian News Network, 2 Aug 2010
For prayer bulletin and preayer suggestion see:
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin 067 (5 Aug 2010).
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
INDONESIA: Fitna and apostaphobia in Bekasi.
NOTE: According to the Jakarta Post (2 July 2010) a leading British academic has called for greater assimilation between the EU and Islam, citing Indonesia as a key example of a peaceful coexistence between Muslims and a democratic government.
EU should embrace Islam: Expert
FITNA and APOSTAPHOBIA in Bekasi
Bekasi, located in the outskirts of Jakarta, West Java, is a culturally and religiously diverse city. However, converging trends of migration, urbanisation, Islamic radicalisation, and rapid development in residential and industrial zones has turned Bekasi into a hot-spot for religious tension rooted in Islamic apostaphobia (fear of converts and conversions).
On Sunday 27 June, at the second Bekasi Islamic Congress held in Bekasi's Al-Azhar Mosque, the call was made for all Bekasi Muslims to prepare for a fight. "[Christians] have gone too far," said Abdul Rouf, the head of the Bekasi branch of Muhammadiyah.
According to the Jakarta Post, on the last day of the Congress (Sunday 27 June), a new group to be known as the Bekasi Islamic Presidium was formed and tasked specifically with addressing the "Christianisation problem". Consisting of nine members representing different Islamic organisations in the city, the Bekasi Islamic Presidium's recommendations include the formation of Islamic militant groups (laskar) within each mosque and the drafting of Shariah-based policies by the Bekasi administration.
Sulaiman Zachawerus, the chairman of the Bekasi branch of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), told the 500-strong Congress, "We will urge the [Bekasi] regency and municipal administrations to pass more sharia-based bylaws and regulations to limit apostasy and squeeze out attempts to weaken Muslim unity in the city." (NOTE: Sharia limits apostasy by making it a capital offense.)
Bekasi administration spokesman Endang Suharyandi consented, saying, "As long as it does not violate any regulations," the municipality will support the implementation of the Sharia-based policies and carry out the Congress' recommendations.
Murhali Barda, head of the Bekasi chapter of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday: "All Muslims should unite and standby because . . . the Christians are on to something. Apparently they want to test our patience. We are planning to invite them for a dialogue to determine what they really want. If talks fail, this might mean war."
Speaking on behalf of the Wahid Institute, Yenny Wahid told the Jakarta Globe that she wanted to see the government being more assertive toward hard-line religious groups. "Anarchism on behalf of religion is increasing, and the government seems to fear any group that uses Islam," she said.
Rev. Palti Panjaitan of the HKBP Filadelfia congregation in Bekasi, which has been refused a permit to build a church, agreed, noting that several Islamic radical groups operated as if they were guaranteed impunity.
Yunahar Ilyas, a chairman of Muhammadiyah, told the Jakarta Post that there were innate "ethical" problems with religious missionaries in the country.
The "unwritten" rules among missionaries, he said, stipulated that one should not attempt to convert those who had already embraced a religion.
"Once the rule is broken," said Ilyas, "it becomes a sensitive matter and the local administration must play an active intermediary role in preventing the conflict from escalating."
The Bekasi Islamic Presidium is planning a roadshow aimed at persuading every mosque in Bekasi to form its own paramilitary unit (laskar) that can be quickly mobilised if the decision is made for "war".
"We are planning to station members in every mosque in the city," said Tunggal Sawabi, an official with the Bekasi branch of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) who was appointed as one of the field commanders.
Abdul Qadir Aka, secretary general of the proselytisation board at FPI Bekasi, believes the militant groups are of strategic importance. "When the need arrives we will have units that can be mobilized," he said. "We cannot just depend on the FPI. We have hundreds and even thousands of mosques in Bekasi. Imagine what we can do together."
See:
Bekasi Muslim Groups Call for Formation of Militia Units, Warn of Potential 'War'
By Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta Globe, Sunday 27 June 2010
'Call to Arms' the Latest Chapter in City's Simmering Religious Tensions
By Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta Globe, Monday 28 June 2010
Muslim Groups Talk War Over ‘Christianization’
By Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta Globe, 28 June 2010
Radical groups urge Bekasi administration to implement Sharia law
Hasyim Widhiarto, The Jakarta Post, Bekasi, West Java, Sunday 27 June 2010
Hard-line groups target Christianity with sharia law
By Hasyim Widhiarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Monday 28 June 2010
According to Indonesia's 2000 census, 10 percent of Indonesians are Christian. Indonesian Christian leaders however, say that figure is too small. Operation World (2000) puts the figure at 16 percent. According to a recent TIME magazine article entitled: 'Christianity's Surge in Indonesia' (26 April 2010), Indonesia is experiencing a "religious revolution". There are more Islamic headscarves (signifying growth in fundamentalist political Islam) and there are more churches (signifying growth in the Christianity).
Furthermore, as TIME notes, the growth in Christianity is coming from conversions as opposed to births. According to TIME, nominal Muslims, disillusioned by violent terrorism and the spread of repressive Sharia Law, are questioning and rejecting Islam.
The "unwritten" rules of missionary activity that Yunahar Ilyas spoke of are Islamic rules: i.e. everyone is free to convert to Islam, while no-one is free to leave; and no-one may tempt a Muslim to leave Islam. As Islam deems every child born to a Muslim father to be Muslim, what choice does any Muslim have in the matter of personal faith? None! Christianity on the other hand advocates religious freedom.
But even if Christians submit to Islamic proscriptions in order to prevent tensions and avoid troubles, the issue of fitna still arises. For even without speech, even without intention, Christians can still lead Muslims to the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course Islam itself fuels the process (as TIME noted) by disillusioning and repulsing its more nominal and "secular" adherents, many of whom hold a worldview more compatable with Christianity than with Islam to start with.
For fitna is anything at all, from vile torture to magnetic grace, that could tempt a Muslim to leave Islam. Fitna is the presence of a church (which explains why churches in West Java are being forced closed and denied permits). Fitna is Christian benevolence and humanitarianism (which is why Christian aid groups are increasingly under fire). Fitna is the very existence of thriving, joyous Christians when Islam mandates that Christians be subjugated, vulnerable, miserable dhimmis. In Islam, fitna is equated with persecution, which must be eliminated.
Fitna is fast overtaking proselytism as the primary and pivotal issue in Muslim-Christian relations. This increases the jihad threat-level considerably.
The issue at the root of it all, however, is the ageless problem of Islamic apostaphobia.
EU should embrace Islam: Expert
FITNA and APOSTAPHOBIA in Bekasi
Bekasi, located in the outskirts of Jakarta, West Java, is a culturally and religiously diverse city. However, converging trends of migration, urbanisation, Islamic radicalisation, and rapid development in residential and industrial zones has turned Bekasi into a hot-spot for religious tension rooted in Islamic apostaphobia (fear of converts and conversions).
On Sunday 27 June, at the second Bekasi Islamic Congress held in Bekasi's Al-Azhar Mosque, the call was made for all Bekasi Muslims to prepare for a fight. "[Christians] have gone too far," said Abdul Rouf, the head of the Bekasi branch of Muhammadiyah.
According to the Jakarta Post, on the last day of the Congress (Sunday 27 June), a new group to be known as the Bekasi Islamic Presidium was formed and tasked specifically with addressing the "Christianisation problem". Consisting of nine members representing different Islamic organisations in the city, the Bekasi Islamic Presidium's recommendations include the formation of Islamic militant groups (laskar) within each mosque and the drafting of Shariah-based policies by the Bekasi administration.
Sulaiman Zachawerus, the chairman of the Bekasi branch of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), told the 500-strong Congress, "We will urge the [Bekasi] regency and municipal administrations to pass more sharia-based bylaws and regulations to limit apostasy and squeeze out attempts to weaken Muslim unity in the city." (NOTE: Sharia limits apostasy by making it a capital offense.)
Bekasi administration spokesman Endang Suharyandi consented, saying, "As long as it does not violate any regulations," the municipality will support the implementation of the Sharia-based policies and carry out the Congress' recommendations.
Murhali Barda, head of the Bekasi chapter of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday: "All Muslims should unite and standby because . . . the Christians are on to something. Apparently they want to test our patience. We are planning to invite them for a dialogue to determine what they really want. If talks fail, this might mean war."
Speaking on behalf of the Wahid Institute, Yenny Wahid told the Jakarta Globe that she wanted to see the government being more assertive toward hard-line religious groups. "Anarchism on behalf of religion is increasing, and the government seems to fear any group that uses Islam," she said.
Rev. Palti Panjaitan of the HKBP Filadelfia congregation in Bekasi, which has been refused a permit to build a church, agreed, noting that several Islamic radical groups operated as if they were guaranteed impunity.
Yunahar Ilyas, a chairman of Muhammadiyah, told the Jakarta Post that there were innate "ethical" problems with religious missionaries in the country.
The "unwritten" rules among missionaries, he said, stipulated that one should not attempt to convert those who had already embraced a religion.
"Once the rule is broken," said Ilyas, "it becomes a sensitive matter and the local administration must play an active intermediary role in preventing the conflict from escalating."
The Bekasi Islamic Presidium is planning a roadshow aimed at persuading every mosque in Bekasi to form its own paramilitary unit (laskar) that can be quickly mobilised if the decision is made for "war".
"We are planning to station members in every mosque in the city," said Tunggal Sawabi, an official with the Bekasi branch of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) who was appointed as one of the field commanders.
Abdul Qadir Aka, secretary general of the proselytisation board at FPI Bekasi, believes the militant groups are of strategic importance. "When the need arrives we will have units that can be mobilized," he said. "We cannot just depend on the FPI. We have hundreds and even thousands of mosques in Bekasi. Imagine what we can do together."
See:
Bekasi Muslim Groups Call for Formation of Militia Units, Warn of Potential 'War'
By Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta Globe, Sunday 27 June 2010
'Call to Arms' the Latest Chapter in City's Simmering Religious Tensions
By Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta Globe, Monday 28 June 2010
Muslim Groups Talk War Over ‘Christianization’
By Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta Globe, 28 June 2010
Radical groups urge Bekasi administration to implement Sharia law
Hasyim Widhiarto, The Jakarta Post, Bekasi, West Java, Sunday 27 June 2010
Hard-line groups target Christianity with sharia law
By Hasyim Widhiarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Monday 28 June 2010
According to Indonesia's 2000 census, 10 percent of Indonesians are Christian. Indonesian Christian leaders however, say that figure is too small. Operation World (2000) puts the figure at 16 percent. According to a recent TIME magazine article entitled: 'Christianity's Surge in Indonesia' (26 April 2010), Indonesia is experiencing a "religious revolution". There are more Islamic headscarves (signifying growth in fundamentalist political Islam) and there are more churches (signifying growth in the Christianity).
Furthermore, as TIME notes, the growth in Christianity is coming from conversions as opposed to births. According to TIME, nominal Muslims, disillusioned by violent terrorism and the spread of repressive Sharia Law, are questioning and rejecting Islam.
The "unwritten" rules of missionary activity that Yunahar Ilyas spoke of are Islamic rules: i.e. everyone is free to convert to Islam, while no-one is free to leave; and no-one may tempt a Muslim to leave Islam. As Islam deems every child born to a Muslim father to be Muslim, what choice does any Muslim have in the matter of personal faith? None! Christianity on the other hand advocates religious freedom.
But even if Christians submit to Islamic proscriptions in order to prevent tensions and avoid troubles, the issue of fitna still arises. For even without speech, even without intention, Christians can still lead Muslims to the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course Islam itself fuels the process (as TIME noted) by disillusioning and repulsing its more nominal and "secular" adherents, many of whom hold a worldview more compatable with Christianity than with Islam to start with.
For fitna is anything at all, from vile torture to magnetic grace, that could tempt a Muslim to leave Islam. Fitna is the presence of a church (which explains why churches in West Java are being forced closed and denied permits). Fitna is Christian benevolence and humanitarianism (which is why Christian aid groups are increasingly under fire). Fitna is the very existence of thriving, joyous Christians when Islam mandates that Christians be subjugated, vulnerable, miserable dhimmis. In Islam, fitna is equated with persecution, which must be eliminated.
Fitna is fast overtaking proselytism as the primary and pivotal issue in Muslim-Christian relations. This increases the jihad threat-level considerably.
The issue at the root of it all, however, is the ageless problem of Islamic apostaphobia.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Afghanistan: what chance do 'apostates' have when their government is pursuing peace and reconciliation with an ascendant Taliban?
updated 1 July 2010
On Monday 31 May, the government of Afghanistan suspended two church-based aid organisations -- US-based Church World Service (CWS) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) -- over allegations of proselytisation.
According to the New York Times, "Both groups have major operations in Afghanistan, disbursing millions of dollars in aid. Church World Service employs 190 people, and Norwegian Church Aid 50 people in a variety of development programs here, the government said."
Christian Post reports that the "U.S.-based CWS is a cooperative ministry of 36 Christian denominations and communions. It operates relief and development programs in more than 80 countries. Norwegian Church Aid [which has worked in Afghanistan since 1979] operates in some 125 countries and provides emergency relief and development aid to poor communities and people in need."
Both groups are vociferously denying the charge, insisting they do not evangelise and have adhered to the Islamic State's strict protocols. Of course one does not need to preach/evangelise to be guilty of fitna. Fitna is anything at all that could have the effect of tempting or seducing a Muslim to turn away from Islam -- anything from vile torture to magnetic grace. In Islam, fitna is equated with persecution and must be eliminated. (For a fuller examination of fitna, see my earlier posting: "Fitna in Morocco".)
Islam is inherently apostaphobic, and leaving Islam (apostasy) is a capital offense under Afghan law and it is illegal to proselytise. The allegations emerged on 27 and 28 May, via a privately-run Afghan television station, Noorin TV, which broadcast video footage reportedly showing Afghans being baptised and participating with Westerners in Christian prayer meetings being held in alleged "missionary safe houses" in western Kabul. While CWS and NCA were specifically named, Noorin TV unashamedly confesses it has NO evidence they were involved. According to the producer, the report merely raised "suspicions" about the two groups whose names had simply been selected out of the telephone directory on account of the fact that they contained the word "church".
See: Afghanistan Suspends Two Aid Groups
By Rod Nordland and Abdul Waheed Wafa
New York Times, 31 May 2010
According to Reuters (31 May), Sediq Amarkhil, a spokesman for the economy ministry said on Sunday 30 May, it had formed a commission to investigate all NGOs after a local TV report accusing aid groups of promoting Christianity. "We are very, very serious about this matter," said Amarkhil. "If proven that any NGO is operating against the norms and laws of Afghanistan and Islam and is inviting people to Christianity . . . we will not only close it down, but will hand it over to the judicial and legal organs of the government."
In Kabul, angry protesters have demanded the expulsion of foreigners who try to convert Muslims. In parliament, Abdul Sattar Khawasi, a deputy of the lower house, called for Muslim converts to Christianity to be executed, saying: "Those Afghans that appeared in this video film should be executed in public, the house should order the attorney general and the NDS (intelligence agency) to arrest these Afghans and execute them." Qazi Nazir Ahmad, a lawmaker from the western province of Herat, affirmed that killing an apostate is "not a crime".
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai is reportedly taking a personal interest in the case and has ordered an investigation, but not because he is keen to defend religious liberty. According to Waheed Omar, the President's spokesman, Karzai has instructed his interior minister and the head of country's spy agency "to take immediate and serious action to prevent this phenomenon".
A European diplomat told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that he suspected there might be a "hidden political agenda", behind the Noorin TV broadcast, "at a time when stirring up anti-foreign sentiment is quite fashionable in Kabul".
See: Afghan president takes 'personal interest' in suspended NGOs
(AFP) 1 June 2010
Pursuing peace and reconciliation with the Taliban
This drama is unfolding parallel to President Hamid Karzai's desperate efforts to entice the Taliban into a peace agreement. A government-run three-day Consultative Peace Jirga commenced in Kabul on 2 June, just days after the proselytising accusations were broadcast and the government's and Karzai's indignation had been loudly publicised. Karzai no longer needs to defend religious liberty to maintain Western favour -- unlike in March 2006 when he facilitated the escape of convert Abdul Rahman so as to avoid risking Western aid. It is the Taliban that needs to be seduced now, not Western governments. Western governments want whatever leads to "peace".
The main purpose of the Jirga -- to which some 1,600 Afghans were invited -- was to discuss plans for reconciling with the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
See: Afghan jirga's resolutions 'nice on paper'
By Waheedullah Massoud (AFP) 6 June 2010
As part of the British-authored, US-approved Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program, Taliban insurgents who denounce violence and lay down their weapons will receive material support including cash, and amnesty. Billions of dollars will thus be channelled to alleged 'de-radicalised' Taliban. Western Nations desperate for "peace" are lining up to contribute to the Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund (RTF). Australia, for instance, has pledged $25 million. Officials estimate the RTF will disburse more than $1.5 billion in the next few years.
See: $25m promised to woo Taliban insurgents
By Dan Oaks, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), 30 January 2010
(According to this article, "Australia will contribute $100 million more in aid to Afghanistan, including $25 million to a fund to lure insurgents to the Afghan Government's side" . . . $20 million for mine clearance and $55 million for reconstruction, agricultural reform and promotion of [Islamic?] human rights.)
Ministerial statement on Afghanistan, 2 February 2010
By the Hon Stephen Smith, Australian Minister for Foreign Affaris
Ministerial Statement on Afghanistan, 18 March 2010
By Senator the Hon John Faulkner, Minister for Defence
Of course you really don't need too many brain cells to imagine how this scheme could be massively rorted to produce the exact opposite of what was intended.
Broken promises send Taliban back into battle
By Tom Hyland, The AGE (Melbourne, Australia), 16 May 2010
ANALYSIS: "Flawed" peace strategy in Afghanistan
By IRIN (a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)
KABUL, 31 May 2010
REPORT: "Golden Surrender? The risks, challenges, and implications of reintegration in Afghanistan" (March 2010).
By Matt Waldman, a fellow at the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University.
The foundational premise underlying the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program is the belief that "most of the rank-and-file insurgents are fighting primarily for economic reasons and an attractive reintegration package will wean them off the conflict" (IRIN).
Yet as Waldman notes: "Golden surrender' [the US military's term] holds little appeal for those who are not fighting for gold."
However, in his ONLY mention of Islam in his entire 11 report, Waldman lists "tribal, community, and group exclusion or disempowerment; leverage in local rivalries, feuds, and conflicts; government predation, impunity, or corruption; criminality, disorder, and the perversion of justice; civilian casualties and abusive raids or detentions; resistance to perceived western occupation or suppression of Islam; the hedging of bets; and as a reaction to threats, intimidation, or coercion" as reasons driving people to join the insurgency. (p 4) (emphasis mine)
Nowhere in Waldman's report (which is excellent on so many other levels) or in the IRIN analysis, is the issue of Islam as a motivating factor even raised.
Waldman does however raise the issue of honour and status (p 6). Yet even here he only considers honour and status as they may be acquired through money and power. Yet the fact remains, that many Taliban are Taliban because in such an orthodox Islamic fundamentalist society, honour and status are not derived from wealth or from being a gainfully employed husband and father, as much as from being a jihadist, suffering deprivation and risking life and limb to fighting in the cause of Allah. Like most Western analysts, Waldman insists on viewing the insurgency as a "social and cultural phenomenon" that can be addressed without reference to Islam. Thus the issue of orthodox Islamic fundamentalism as a "root cause" of the insurgency is never even raised.
Waldman concludes: "Perhaps the greatest risk is that the [reintegration] programme distracts policy‐makers from addressing the root causes of the conflict, especially predatory, exclusionary politics, and the abuse of power. This would be treating the symptoms while ignoring the cancer.
"Into what kind of society are we asking insurgents to integrate? 'Golden surrender' holds little appeal for those who are not fighting for gold. Indeed, there would seem to be as much need for the social and political reintegration of government officials and other power‐holders into society, as there is for insurgents. If this happens – through fairer politics, better government, and stronger development – it may well be that reintegration starts to happen quietly of its own accord." (p 11)
And this is exactly the point -- except Waldman is not seeing what Karzai sees. Karzai is desperately busy making Afghanistan into the kind of society that the Taliban might wish to integrate. This is why he has been on the path of Islamisation and Talibanisation since 2006.
The Taliban are not interested in peace because they are ascendant. Even now, they can terrorise Kabul at will. They can smell victory and are just biding their time until the US and allied forces depart, then, whether they decide to take over Kabul or not, they will certainly dictate their terms.
And so Karzai is offering appeasements and inducements in the hope that the ascendant Taliban will ensure his government's survival, albeit as a puppet or facade.
In such an environment of political and existential desperation, the lives of the Afghan believers who have been filmed being baptised or praying to the Lord, are imminently imperilled.
The Islamic masses are against them. The Islamic State's constitution is against them. Their own government -- including their West-backed president -- is against them. Thankfully the God of their salvation, the Almighty eternal God Yehovah, is with them and for them.
(this post is an expanded version of Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin 059, released 9 June 2010)
UPDATE:
Sources have told Christian Solidarity Worldwide that more than 20 Afghan Christians have been detained in Afghanistan since early June. Reportedly non-Christians with ties to Westerners have also been targeted for interrogation.
Afghan Christian refugees arriving in India on 8 June reported there had already been many arrests and searches as well as claiming that arrested Christians were being tortured for information on the 'underground church'.
Afghan Christian refugees have also been targeted for persecution in Delhi, India. On 14 June a group of Afghan Muslim refugees deliberately rammed their car into a disabled Afghan Christian refugee named Hamidullah. Earlier in the month a young Afghan Christian refugee named Mirdad Al was attacked by a group of Indian and Afghan Muslims who abused him as a pagan and infidel. Indian police reportedly refuse to extend protection to 'illegal immigrants'.
On Monday 31 May, the government of Afghanistan suspended two church-based aid organisations -- US-based Church World Service (CWS) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) -- over allegations of proselytisation.
According to the New York Times, "Both groups have major operations in Afghanistan, disbursing millions of dollars in aid. Church World Service employs 190 people, and Norwegian Church Aid 50 people in a variety of development programs here, the government said."
Christian Post reports that the "U.S.-based CWS is a cooperative ministry of 36 Christian denominations and communions. It operates relief and development programs in more than 80 countries. Norwegian Church Aid [which has worked in Afghanistan since 1979] operates in some 125 countries and provides emergency relief and development aid to poor communities and people in need."
Both groups are vociferously denying the charge, insisting they do not evangelise and have adhered to the Islamic State's strict protocols. Of course one does not need to preach/evangelise to be guilty of fitna. Fitna is anything at all that could have the effect of tempting or seducing a Muslim to turn away from Islam -- anything from vile torture to magnetic grace. In Islam, fitna is equated with persecution and must be eliminated. (For a fuller examination of fitna, see my earlier posting: "Fitna in Morocco".)
Islam is inherently apostaphobic, and leaving Islam (apostasy) is a capital offense under Afghan law and it is illegal to proselytise. The allegations emerged on 27 and 28 May, via a privately-run Afghan television station, Noorin TV, which broadcast video footage reportedly showing Afghans being baptised and participating with Westerners in Christian prayer meetings being held in alleged "missionary safe houses" in western Kabul. While CWS and NCA were specifically named, Noorin TV unashamedly confesses it has NO evidence they were involved. According to the producer, the report merely raised "suspicions" about the two groups whose names had simply been selected out of the telephone directory on account of the fact that they contained the word "church".
See: Afghanistan Suspends Two Aid Groups
By Rod Nordland and Abdul Waheed Wafa
New York Times, 31 May 2010
According to Reuters (31 May), Sediq Amarkhil, a spokesman for the economy ministry said on Sunday 30 May, it had formed a commission to investigate all NGOs after a local TV report accusing aid groups of promoting Christianity. "We are very, very serious about this matter," said Amarkhil. "If proven that any NGO is operating against the norms and laws of Afghanistan and Islam and is inviting people to Christianity . . . we will not only close it down, but will hand it over to the judicial and legal organs of the government."
In Kabul, angry protesters have demanded the expulsion of foreigners who try to convert Muslims. In parliament, Abdul Sattar Khawasi, a deputy of the lower house, called for Muslim converts to Christianity to be executed, saying: "Those Afghans that appeared in this video film should be executed in public, the house should order the attorney general and the NDS (intelligence agency) to arrest these Afghans and execute them." Qazi Nazir Ahmad, a lawmaker from the western province of Herat, affirmed that killing an apostate is "not a crime".
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai is reportedly taking a personal interest in the case and has ordered an investigation, but not because he is keen to defend religious liberty. According to Waheed Omar, the President's spokesman, Karzai has instructed his interior minister and the head of country's spy agency "to take immediate and serious action to prevent this phenomenon".
A European diplomat told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that he suspected there might be a "hidden political agenda", behind the Noorin TV broadcast, "at a time when stirring up anti-foreign sentiment is quite fashionable in Kabul".
See: Afghan president takes 'personal interest' in suspended NGOs
(AFP) 1 June 2010
Pursuing peace and reconciliation with the Taliban
This drama is unfolding parallel to President Hamid Karzai's desperate efforts to entice the Taliban into a peace agreement. A government-run three-day Consultative Peace Jirga commenced in Kabul on 2 June, just days after the proselytising accusations were broadcast and the government's and Karzai's indignation had been loudly publicised. Karzai no longer needs to defend religious liberty to maintain Western favour -- unlike in March 2006 when he facilitated the escape of convert Abdul Rahman so as to avoid risking Western aid. It is the Taliban that needs to be seduced now, not Western governments. Western governments want whatever leads to "peace".
The main purpose of the Jirga -- to which some 1,600 Afghans were invited -- was to discuss plans for reconciling with the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
See: Afghan jirga's resolutions 'nice on paper'
By Waheedullah Massoud (AFP) 6 June 2010
As part of the British-authored, US-approved Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program, Taliban insurgents who denounce violence and lay down their weapons will receive material support including cash, and amnesty. Billions of dollars will thus be channelled to alleged 'de-radicalised' Taliban. Western Nations desperate for "peace" are lining up to contribute to the Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund (RTF). Australia, for instance, has pledged $25 million. Officials estimate the RTF will disburse more than $1.5 billion in the next few years.
See: $25m promised to woo Taliban insurgents
By Dan Oaks, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), 30 January 2010
(According to this article, "Australia will contribute $100 million more in aid to Afghanistan, including $25 million to a fund to lure insurgents to the Afghan Government's side" . . . $20 million for mine clearance and $55 million for reconstruction, agricultural reform and promotion of [Islamic?] human rights.)
Ministerial statement on Afghanistan, 2 February 2010
By the Hon Stephen Smith, Australian Minister for Foreign Affaris
Ministerial Statement on Afghanistan, 18 March 2010
By Senator the Hon John Faulkner, Minister for Defence
Of course you really don't need too many brain cells to imagine how this scheme could be massively rorted to produce the exact opposite of what was intended.
Broken promises send Taliban back into battle
By Tom Hyland, The AGE (Melbourne, Australia), 16 May 2010
ANALYSIS: "Flawed" peace strategy in Afghanistan
By IRIN (a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)
KABUL, 31 May 2010
REPORT: "Golden Surrender? The risks, challenges, and implications of reintegration in Afghanistan" (March 2010).
By Matt Waldman, a fellow at the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University.
The foundational premise underlying the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program is the belief that "most of the rank-and-file insurgents are fighting primarily for economic reasons and an attractive reintegration package will wean them off the conflict" (IRIN).
Yet as Waldman notes: "Golden surrender' [the US military's term] holds little appeal for those who are not fighting for gold."
However, in his ONLY mention of Islam in his entire 11 report, Waldman lists "tribal, community, and group exclusion or disempowerment; leverage in local rivalries, feuds, and conflicts; government predation, impunity, or corruption; criminality, disorder, and the perversion of justice; civilian casualties and abusive raids or detentions; resistance to perceived western occupation or suppression of Islam; the hedging of bets; and as a reaction to threats, intimidation, or coercion" as reasons driving people to join the insurgency. (p 4) (emphasis mine)
Nowhere in Waldman's report (which is excellent on so many other levels) or in the IRIN analysis, is the issue of Islam as a motivating factor even raised.
Waldman does however raise the issue of honour and status (p 6). Yet even here he only considers honour and status as they may be acquired through money and power. Yet the fact remains, that many Taliban are Taliban because in such an orthodox Islamic fundamentalist society, honour and status are not derived from wealth or from being a gainfully employed husband and father, as much as from being a jihadist, suffering deprivation and risking life and limb to fighting in the cause of Allah. Like most Western analysts, Waldman insists on viewing the insurgency as a "social and cultural phenomenon" that can be addressed without reference to Islam. Thus the issue of orthodox Islamic fundamentalism as a "root cause" of the insurgency is never even raised.
Waldman concludes: "Perhaps the greatest risk is that the [reintegration] programme distracts policy‐makers from addressing the root causes of the conflict, especially predatory, exclusionary politics, and the abuse of power. This would be treating the symptoms while ignoring the cancer.
"Into what kind of society are we asking insurgents to integrate? 'Golden surrender' holds little appeal for those who are not fighting for gold. Indeed, there would seem to be as much need for the social and political reintegration of government officials and other power‐holders into society, as there is for insurgents. If this happens – through fairer politics, better government, and stronger development – it may well be that reintegration starts to happen quietly of its own accord." (p 11)
And this is exactly the point -- except Waldman is not seeing what Karzai sees. Karzai is desperately busy making Afghanistan into the kind of society that the Taliban might wish to integrate. This is why he has been on the path of Islamisation and Talibanisation since 2006.
The Taliban are not interested in peace because they are ascendant. Even now, they can terrorise Kabul at will. They can smell victory and are just biding their time until the US and allied forces depart, then, whether they decide to take over Kabul or not, they will certainly dictate their terms.
And so Karzai is offering appeasements and inducements in the hope that the ascendant Taliban will ensure his government's survival, albeit as a puppet or facade.
In such an environment of political and existential desperation, the lives of the Afghan believers who have been filmed being baptised or praying to the Lord, are imminently imperilled.
The Islamic masses are against them. The Islamic State's constitution is against them. Their own government -- including their West-backed president -- is against them. Thankfully the God of their salvation, the Almighty eternal God Yehovah, is with them and for them.
(this post is an expanded version of Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin 059, released 9 June 2010)
UPDATE:
Sources have told Christian Solidarity Worldwide that more than 20 Afghan Christians have been detained in Afghanistan since early June. Reportedly non-Christians with ties to Westerners have also been targeted for interrogation.
Afghan Christian refugees arriving in India on 8 June reported there had already been many arrests and searches as well as claiming that arrested Christians were being tortured for information on the 'underground church'.
Afghan Christian refugees have also been targeted for persecution in Delhi, India. On 14 June a group of Afghan Muslim refugees deliberately rammed their car into a disabled Afghan Christian refugee named Hamidullah. Earlier in the month a young Afghan Christian refugee named Mirdad Al was attacked by a group of Indian and Afghan Muslims who abused him as a pagan and infidel. Indian police reportedly refuse to extend protection to 'illegal immigrants'.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Fitna in Morocco
TIME magazine has published an article by Lisa Abend entitled: In Morocco, a Crackdown on Christian Aid Workers. 21 March 2010
(For background and analysis see my earlier post of 14 March 2010 entitled, Morocco: up to 70 foreign Christians expelled.)
Abend's article mentions a number of cases not previously mentioned in other reports; such as that of a Korean-born Protestant pastor in Marrakesh who was arrested as he led a worship service in his church. It also includes a moving 55 second film clip which shows the distress suffered by the orphans at the Village of Hope orphanage on 8 March, after they learned that their foster parents were going to be taken from them and deported. Furthermore, it also gives us another hint as to what might be simmering beneath the surface.
Quoting from Abend's TIME magazine article: "According to the Moroccan government, the deportees all broke the law, using their status as aid workers to cover their proselytizing. 'They are guilty of trying to undermine the faith of Muslims,' Interior Minister Tayeb Cherkaoui said in a press release.
"But were they? Broadbent denies the charges. Part of his job at the Village of Hope was to ensure that staff members understood the rules prohibiting proselytizing, and he notes that all the orphanage's children received instruction in Islam. 'We weren't teaching Christianity in any formal way,' he says. But asked if reading the Bible to Muslim children constitutes proselytizing, he said, 'We understood that it wasn't. And in any case, the authorities have always known that these children were being raised in Christian families.' "
Herein lies the problem -- it is a matter of perspective. The foreign Christians and the fundamentalist Muslims are viewing the issue of Christian aid work through completely different lenses. The Christian aid workers believe that as long as they are not pressuring Muslims to convert to Christianity then they are not guilty of proselytising. They believe that for a conversion to be genuine it must be of the heart and absolutely free, so they have no interest in "proselytising". They simply believe in liberty, and that it is an idea's ability to stand on its own two feet in the open market place of ideas that gives it worth. But for the Muslim fundamentalists who are doubtless behind this move and possibly pressuring the reformist government for concessions, the issue is fitna.
Fitna
In his book The Third Choice, Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom (Feb 2010, Deror Books), pastor, linguist and Islam-scholar Rev Dr Mark Durie notes (page 96): "The Arabic word fitna 'trial, persecution, temptation' is of crucial importance in understanding Muhammad's metamorphosis" [from rejected "loser" in Mecca, to victorious "winner" in Medina]. "The word," explains Durie, "is derived from fatana 'to turn away from, to tempt, to seduce or subject to trials'." (Quote taken from E.W. Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon. Book 6, p.2334ff.)
Thus fitna, which is equated with persecution, involves anything that could cause a Muslim to leave Islam -- anything from vile torture to magnetic grace. The whole purpose of jihad was to eliminate fitna. For some, this simply meant that infidels had to be so totally subjugated and humiliated, to the point of wretchedness and paralysis, that the alternative to Islam was abhorrent and repulsive. For others, the elimination of fitna required the elimination of infidels in order to ensure that there was no alternative that could threaten Islam in any way.
For according to the Islamic order, Muslims are superior -- the most noble/best community ever raised up for mankind (Q3:110) -- and therefore must dominate. It is the Muslims who are called to success. Thus a thriving dhimmi would be a source of fitna for the Muslim community. Of course a thriving apostate is the most threatening embodiment of fitna imaginable. This is why the dictators of Islam are so desperately apostaphobic.
Durie writes (p.97) concerning the fitna phrases in the Quran (Q2:190-193 and 217, and 8:39): "These fitna phrases, each revealed twice in the Quran, establish the principle that jihad was justified by the existence of an obstacle to people entering Islam, or of inducements to Muslims to abandon their faith. However grievous it might be to fight others and shed their blood, undermining or obstructing Islam was worse."
For, as the Quran states: ". . . to turn men from the way of Allah, and to disbelieve in him . . . is a greater transgression with Allah [than fighting in the sacred month], for persecution (fitna) is worse than killing. . ." (Q2:217)
Fitna in Morocco
Consider again the words of Tayeb Cherkaoui, Morocco's Interior Minister who has accused the Christian aid workers of being "guilty of trying to undermine the faith of Muslims", and the words of Christian aid worker Chris Broadbent, who flatly denied that any "proselytisation" had taken place.
Obviously MP Cherkaoui has determined that nothing shakes the faith of a Muslim, tempting him/her to leave Islam, as much as the sacrificial gracious love of a Christian. As far as he is concerned, every one of the deported Christian aid workers was guilty of fitna (persecuting Islam, attacking Islam, seducing Muslims away from Islam) whether they were aware of it or not.
For active evangelisation is not the only form of fitna presenting a challenge to Islam. The fundamentalists know that in order to really eliminate fitna, they must eliminate every demonstration of Christian sacrificial love, Christian mercy, Christian grace, Christian joy and Christian assurance/peace -- for these amount to the most devastating fitna of all!
The expulsion of foreign Christian aid workers from Morocco may well set a precedent. All does not bode well for Christian aid work in the Muslim world.
(For background and analysis see my earlier post of 14 March 2010 entitled, Morocco: up to 70 foreign Christians expelled.)
Abend's article mentions a number of cases not previously mentioned in other reports; such as that of a Korean-born Protestant pastor in Marrakesh who was arrested as he led a worship service in his church. It also includes a moving 55 second film clip which shows the distress suffered by the orphans at the Village of Hope orphanage on 8 March, after they learned that their foster parents were going to be taken from them and deported. Furthermore, it also gives us another hint as to what might be simmering beneath the surface.
Quoting from Abend's TIME magazine article: "According to the Moroccan government, the deportees all broke the law, using their status as aid workers to cover their proselytizing. 'They are guilty of trying to undermine the faith of Muslims,' Interior Minister Tayeb Cherkaoui said in a press release.
"But were they? Broadbent denies the charges. Part of his job at the Village of Hope was to ensure that staff members understood the rules prohibiting proselytizing, and he notes that all the orphanage's children received instruction in Islam. 'We weren't teaching Christianity in any formal way,' he says. But asked if reading the Bible to Muslim children constitutes proselytizing, he said, 'We understood that it wasn't. And in any case, the authorities have always known that these children were being raised in Christian families.' "
Herein lies the problem -- it is a matter of perspective. The foreign Christians and the fundamentalist Muslims are viewing the issue of Christian aid work through completely different lenses. The Christian aid workers believe that as long as they are not pressuring Muslims to convert to Christianity then they are not guilty of proselytising. They believe that for a conversion to be genuine it must be of the heart and absolutely free, so they have no interest in "proselytising". They simply believe in liberty, and that it is an idea's ability to stand on its own two feet in the open market place of ideas that gives it worth. But for the Muslim fundamentalists who are doubtless behind this move and possibly pressuring the reformist government for concessions, the issue is fitna.
Fitna
In his book The Third Choice, Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom (Feb 2010, Deror Books), pastor, linguist and Islam-scholar Rev Dr Mark Durie notes (page 96): "The Arabic word fitna 'trial, persecution, temptation' is of crucial importance in understanding Muhammad's metamorphosis" [from rejected "loser" in Mecca, to victorious "winner" in Medina]. "The word," explains Durie, "is derived from fatana 'to turn away from, to tempt, to seduce or subject to trials'." (Quote taken from E.W. Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon. Book 6, p.2334ff.)
Thus fitna, which is equated with persecution, involves anything that could cause a Muslim to leave Islam -- anything from vile torture to magnetic grace. The whole purpose of jihad was to eliminate fitna. For some, this simply meant that infidels had to be so totally subjugated and humiliated, to the point of wretchedness and paralysis, that the alternative to Islam was abhorrent and repulsive. For others, the elimination of fitna required the elimination of infidels in order to ensure that there was no alternative that could threaten Islam in any way.
For according to the Islamic order, Muslims are superior -- the most noble/best community ever raised up for mankind (Q3:110) -- and therefore must dominate. It is the Muslims who are called to success. Thus a thriving dhimmi would be a source of fitna for the Muslim community. Of course a thriving apostate is the most threatening embodiment of fitna imaginable. This is why the dictators of Islam are so desperately apostaphobic.
Durie writes (p.97) concerning the fitna phrases in the Quran (Q2:190-193 and 217, and 8:39): "These fitna phrases, each revealed twice in the Quran, establish the principle that jihad was justified by the existence of an obstacle to people entering Islam, or of inducements to Muslims to abandon their faith. However grievous it might be to fight others and shed their blood, undermining or obstructing Islam was worse."
For, as the Quran states: ". . . to turn men from the way of Allah, and to disbelieve in him . . . is a greater transgression with Allah [than fighting in the sacred month], for persecution (fitna) is worse than killing. . ." (Q2:217)
Fitna in Morocco
Consider again the words of Tayeb Cherkaoui, Morocco's Interior Minister who has accused the Christian aid workers of being "guilty of trying to undermine the faith of Muslims", and the words of Christian aid worker Chris Broadbent, who flatly denied that any "proselytisation" had taken place.
Obviously MP Cherkaoui has determined that nothing shakes the faith of a Muslim, tempting him/her to leave Islam, as much as the sacrificial gracious love of a Christian. As far as he is concerned, every one of the deported Christian aid workers was guilty of fitna (persecuting Islam, attacking Islam, seducing Muslims away from Islam) whether they were aware of it or not.
For active evangelisation is not the only form of fitna presenting a challenge to Islam. The fundamentalists know that in order to really eliminate fitna, they must eliminate every demonstration of Christian sacrificial love, Christian mercy, Christian grace, Christian joy and Christian assurance/peace -- for these amount to the most devastating fitna of all!
The expulsion of foreign Christian aid workers from Morocco may well set a precedent. All does not bode well for Christian aid work in the Muslim world.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Yemen: Christian arrests may herald new era of persecution.
Date: Friday 11 July 2008
Subj: Yemen: Christian arrests may herald new era of persecution.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
YEMEN: CHRISTIAN ARRESTS MAY HERALD NEW ERA OF PERSECUTION
On 18 June Yemeni news source Al Sahwa reported that Yemeni political security forces in Hodiada province had arrested a "missionary cell" of seven people and charged them with promoting Christianity and distributing the Bible. One of those arrested, Hadni Dohni, stands accused of converting to Christianity.
According to Sahwa Net, ". . . the suspects were transferred to Sana'a in order to investigate them to know who support them." (Link 1)
BosNewsLife subsequently reported on 2 July that according to International Christian Concern ( http://www.persecution.org ) the Yemeni Christians were still in detention and at risk of mistreatment and torture at the hands of Yemeni authorities. (Link 2)
Hodaida is Yemen's third largest city. It is the capital of Hodaida Province which is located on Yemen's western Red Sea coast and home to more than two million Yemenis. (See map at link 3)
ARRESTS MAY HERALD NEW ERA OF PERSECUTION
These arrests may well herald an era of more intense and systematic persecution. They came hot on the heels of an Islamist media campaign (foreign, terrorist, and local) that claims Islam in Yemen is under threat due to Christian missionary activities; and at a time when the hugely unpopular, corrupt, abusive, dictatorial regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh is struggling to hold the state together.
MEDIA CAMPAIGN: IN FEAR OF MISSIONARIES AND APOSTATES
On 11 October 2007, Catholic World News reported: "The Palestinian newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi is reporting 2,000 conversions from Islam to Christianity in Yemen.
"Many of the converts are reportedly living abroad in fear for their lives. Yemen adheres to Shari'a law, which forbids conversions from Islam on pain of death.
"The World Muslim League has appealed to Yemen's government to stem the tide of conversions, placing the blame on schools administered by foreigners." (Link 4)
On 13 January 2008, Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported: "On January 13, 2008, Islamist websites posted the first issue of Sada Al-Malahim [Echo of Wars], the e-journal of Al-Qaeda in Yemen. According to its editor, the journal was established in response to a call by Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who urged '[those] who are engaged in Islamic media jihad to strengthen their resolve . . . in the face of the fiercest Crusader attack that the Islamic nation [has ever known]." (Link 5)
Then on 18 February 2008, the Yemen Post reported: "Yemeni Researcher Dr Abdul Qawi Al-Tab'ee warned of the growing organised Christian movement in Yemen, hinting the missionary work of foreign agencies focus on young youth to build its movement and spread Christianity in Yemen.
"This news comes in shock to a country known to be free from Christians as only very few Christian Yemenis exist in Aden, which officials say that they are not of Yemeni root.
"Meanwhile, the Islamic World League in its report warned of growing missionary work in Yemen and indicated that the missionary agencies have managed so far to turn over 120 Yemenis in Hadramout into Christianity. It also hinted these agencies are also active in Eritrean and Somali refugees' camps located in southern part of Yemen.
"The league attributed the success of Christianity campaign in Yemen to the absence of attention by Muslims . . ." (Link 6)
It is difficult to see how the above article, written by Yemen Post staff writer Hakim Almasmari, could fail to cause anxiety and outrage amongst apostaphobic Yemeni Muslims.
Almasmari asserts that Christians use international organisations -- especially those involved in education, health or humanitarian relief and development -- as fronts for their missionary work. He specifically mentions the Jibla Baptist hospital without condemning the 30 December 2002 terrorist attack which claimed the lives of Dr Martha Myers (57), hospital administrator William Koehn (60) and supply purchaser Kathleen Gariety (53), as well as critically wounding pharmacist Donald Caswell. He also fails to mention the great outpouring of grief in Jibla that followed the slaying of the three Christians who, having spent 62 years in Yemen between them, had brought health, hope, joy and friendship to multitudes. As distraught mourner Malka al-Hadhrami told Salah Nasrawi of the Associated Press, "All Jibla weeps for them." The terrorist, Abed Abdel Razzak Kamel (35), a member of a group called Islamic Jihad, confessed to having shot the Americans "because they were preaching Christianity in a Muslim country". (See Link 7)
Almasmari adds that while Christian missionary work is strictly forbidden "books and literature about the Christian faith have been widely noticed to be distributed in the Old City of Sana'a".
HOLDING THE STATE TOGETHER: A DEAL WITH AL-QAEDA AND/OR A FEAR TO BE EXPLOITED FOR POLITICAL GAIN
The 1990 creation of the unified state of Yemen brought together North Yemen which was 66 percent Shi'ite and had traditionally (until a 1962 military coup) been ruled by a Shi'ite Imamate, and South Yemen which was 99 percent Sunni, Marxist and until 1990 was sponsored by the Soviet Union. The already aggrieved religiously conservative Shi'ites then became a 30 percent minority in a Sunni dominated socialist ("apostate") republic. North Yemen's President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, an Arab Socialist revolutionary and nominal Shia, was elected as the president of the unified Republic of Yemen.
It is difficult to imagine a more potentially fraught marriage. Indeed, not long after the honeymoon ended, civil war erupted.
As a secular socialist, Saleh was no admirer of religious fundamentalists -- unless of course they could be exploited and employed to his advantage.
During the 1994 civil war, Saleh, who had to fight against disaffected southerners to keep his country unified, employed tens of thousands of "Afghan" Arabs (Sunni fundamentalist Arab veterans of the 1980s Afghan jihad) in a "jihad" against the "infidel" southern separatists. The government-jihadi alliance crushed the southern separatists, and the previously more open and liberal Aden (capital of the south) was left helpless before an incoming tide of Islamisation. This of course has only caused the disaffection and grief of the more liberal and secular southerners to intensify.
The 1994 civil war marked the beginning Saleh's pragmatic alliance with Sunni fundamentalists and militants, including al-Qaeda. It is an alliance that mirrors the alliance between al-Saud and al-Wahhab: a pragmatic alliance built on quid pro quo deals. Saleh does not interfere with al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda preserves Saleh's socialist dictatorship, at least for as long as it is convenient. Al-Qaeda-perpetrated terror under this arrangement is Government-controlled but it gives Saleh grounds to cry out to the West for funding for his war against terror. However Saleh's relationship with the US in the War on Terror (even if it was/is a confidence trick) gave the Shi'ite rebels of the north grounds to accuse him of being pro-American, the ultimate sin.
When the Shi'ite rebellion erupted in 2004, President Saleh employed his Sunni fundamentalist militants and al-Qaeda puppets alongside his army in his war against the al-Houthi Shi'ite rebels.
Thus Saleh is fighting Shi'ite rebels in the north and liberal pro-democracy and separatist forces in the south, by feeding and partnering with Shi'ite-hating, democracy-hating, liberty-hating, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-infidel, anti-apostate, Wahhabi Sunni fundamentalist militants including al-Qaeda.
This has not resulted in the defeat of the al-Houthi Shi'ite rebellion (which has cost thousands of lives) or the repression of dissent in south. The result has been escalating radicalisation, terrorism, disaffection, rioting and a dangerous broadening of the sectarian conflict as the warring Islamic sects receive support from their co-religionists abroad. Yemen is now in the grip of a Sunni v Shi'ite sectarian conflict which most analysts believe is fast becoming a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
In such an explosive environment it is common for Muslim leaders to try and generate popularity and Islamic solidarity by deflecting hostilities onto a common "enemy": Jews, "Zionists", "Crusaders", Christians, missionaries, apostates. The Jews come first and then the Christians -- as the Muslim war chant goes, "Baad a- Sabt biji Yom al-Ahad": "After Saturday comes Sunday", meaning after we deal with the Saturday people -- the Jews -- we'll deal with the Sunday people -- the Christians.
The Jews have already been dealt with. As reported by WEA RLC News & Analysis in February 2007: "On 10 January [2007] the 45 Jews of al Haid, Sa'ada (north Yemen) received letters from a Shi'ite rebel militia. The letters accused them of promoting vice and demanded that they leave the province. According to the Yemen Observer, the 45 Jews have been forced to flee their homes in fear of their lives." (Link 8)
As fighting flared again in April 2008, the Shi'ite rebels finished the job by destroying the homes abandoned by the al Haid Jews some 15 months earlier. They also looted the former home of Rabbi Yehia Youssuf. Israel absorbed some 50,000 Yemeni Jews who were forced to flee Yemen in the immediate aftermath of the creation of the state of Israel. Some 1,600 Jews left Yemen in the 1990s, leaving a remnant of only around 400 Jews in Yemen today. (Link 9)
Maybe "Sunday" has arrived.
Insecurity, terrorism, separatism, rioting and sectarian conflict are not President Saleh's only problems. He is an unpopular dictator who after 27 years in power still imprisons his critics and rules over a state with high levels of illiteracy, unemployment, poverty and malnutrition.
So Islamic fundamentalists will not be the only ones to benefit from a state-sponsored crackdown on Christian missionary activity and apostasy. The Islamic media, with its anti-Christian propaganda and disinformation, has no doubt made persecution of Christians a real vote-winner. Protecting Islam by arresting missionaries and apostates is one way the embattled Saleh-the-secular-socialist can bolster his Islamic credentials -- important in a Muslim state undergoing radicalisation -- and generate some popularity. Saleh releases convicted Islamic terrorists from prison for similar reasons: not only to keep al-Qaeda happy, but to bolster his anti-US credentials for political gain. While the state's prisons maintain a revolving door for Islamic terrorists, they remain full due to a continual intake of journalists, comedians, singers, dissidents, pro-democracy activists, justice advocates -- and now Christians.
If the arrests are part of a deal with Islamic fundamentalists and/or a grab for grassroots popularity and Islamic solidarity, then we have grounds to expect more arrests and an escalation in very public persecution.
. . and when President Saleh saw how much it pleased the Muslims, he proceeded to arrest more Christians . . . (Adaptation of Acts 12:3)
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Yemeni security arrests missionary cell in Hodaida. 18/06/2008
http://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/view_nnews.asp?sub_no=401_2008_06_18_64109
2) Yemeni Christians Remain Detained; No Americans Among Them
By BosNewsLife News Center, 2 July 2008
http://www.bosnewslife.com/middle-east/yemen/3689-yemeni-christians-remain-detained-no-american
3) MAP. Note -- Hodaida here is spelt Hodaydah. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/atlas_middle_east/yemen_divisions.jpg ).
4) Conversions reported on the rise in Yemen. 11 Oct 2007
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=54102
5) Al-Qaeda in Yemen Launches New E-Journal -- Sada Al-Malahim
13 January 2008 MEMRI
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/4640.htm
6) Researcher Warns Christianity Growth in Yemen
By Hakim Almasmari, 18 February 2008
http://www.yemenpost.net/17/LocalNews/1.htm
7) Yemeni Town Mourns U.S. Missionaries
By SALAH NASRAWI. The Associated Press
JIBLA, Yemen. 31 December 2008
http://www.islamreview.com/news/2002_news.htm
ALSO
Religious Liberty 2003
WEA RLC News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal, 6 January 2003
8) Yemen: Shi'ite rebellion resurfaces -- Yemeni Jews threatened.
WEA RLC News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal, 16 February 2007
9) Yemen -- Empty Jewish homes destroyed. 7 April 2008
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207486208257&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Subj: Yemen: Christian arrests may herald new era of persecution.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
YEMEN: CHRISTIAN ARRESTS MAY HERALD NEW ERA OF PERSECUTION
On 18 June Yemeni news source Al Sahwa reported that Yemeni political security forces in Hodiada province had arrested a "missionary cell" of seven people and charged them with promoting Christianity and distributing the Bible. One of those arrested, Hadni Dohni, stands accused of converting to Christianity.
According to Sahwa Net, ". . . the suspects were transferred to Sana'a in order to investigate them to know who support them." (Link 1)
BosNewsLife subsequently reported on 2 July that according to International Christian Concern ( http://www.persecution.org ) the Yemeni Christians were still in detention and at risk of mistreatment and torture at the hands of Yemeni authorities. (Link 2)
Hodaida is Yemen's third largest city. It is the capital of Hodaida Province which is located on Yemen's western Red Sea coast and home to more than two million Yemenis. (See map at link 3)
ARRESTS MAY HERALD NEW ERA OF PERSECUTION
These arrests may well herald an era of more intense and systematic persecution. They came hot on the heels of an Islamist media campaign (foreign, terrorist, and local) that claims Islam in Yemen is under threat due to Christian missionary activities; and at a time when the hugely unpopular, corrupt, abusive, dictatorial regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh is struggling to hold the state together.
MEDIA CAMPAIGN: IN FEAR OF MISSIONARIES AND APOSTATES
On 11 October 2007, Catholic World News reported: "The Palestinian newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi is reporting 2,000 conversions from Islam to Christianity in Yemen.
"Many of the converts are reportedly living abroad in fear for their lives. Yemen adheres to Shari'a law, which forbids conversions from Islam on pain of death.
"The World Muslim League has appealed to Yemen's government to stem the tide of conversions, placing the blame on schools administered by foreigners." (Link 4)
On 13 January 2008, Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported: "On January 13, 2008, Islamist websites posted the first issue of Sada Al-Malahim [Echo of Wars], the e-journal of Al-Qaeda in Yemen. According to its editor, the journal was established in response to a call by Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who urged '[those] who are engaged in Islamic media jihad to strengthen their resolve . . . in the face of the fiercest Crusader attack that the Islamic nation [has ever known]." (Link 5)
Then on 18 February 2008, the Yemen Post reported: "Yemeni Researcher Dr Abdul Qawi Al-Tab'ee warned of the growing organised Christian movement in Yemen, hinting the missionary work of foreign agencies focus on young youth to build its movement and spread Christianity in Yemen.
"This news comes in shock to a country known to be free from Christians as only very few Christian Yemenis exist in Aden, which officials say that they are not of Yemeni root.
"Meanwhile, the Islamic World League in its report warned of growing missionary work in Yemen and indicated that the missionary agencies have managed so far to turn over 120 Yemenis in Hadramout into Christianity. It also hinted these agencies are also active in Eritrean and Somali refugees' camps located in southern part of Yemen.
"The league attributed the success of Christianity campaign in Yemen to the absence of attention by Muslims . . ." (Link 6)
It is difficult to see how the above article, written by Yemen Post staff writer Hakim Almasmari, could fail to cause anxiety and outrage amongst apostaphobic Yemeni Muslims.
Almasmari asserts that Christians use international organisations -- especially those involved in education, health or humanitarian relief and development -- as fronts for their missionary work. He specifically mentions the Jibla Baptist hospital without condemning the 30 December 2002 terrorist attack which claimed the lives of Dr Martha Myers (57), hospital administrator William Koehn (60) and supply purchaser Kathleen Gariety (53), as well as critically wounding pharmacist Donald Caswell. He also fails to mention the great outpouring of grief in Jibla that followed the slaying of the three Christians who, having spent 62 years in Yemen between them, had brought health, hope, joy and friendship to multitudes. As distraught mourner Malka al-Hadhrami told Salah Nasrawi of the Associated Press, "All Jibla weeps for them." The terrorist, Abed Abdel Razzak Kamel (35), a member of a group called Islamic Jihad, confessed to having shot the Americans "because they were preaching Christianity in a Muslim country". (See Link 7)
Almasmari adds that while Christian missionary work is strictly forbidden "books and literature about the Christian faith have been widely noticed to be distributed in the Old City of Sana'a".
HOLDING THE STATE TOGETHER: A DEAL WITH AL-QAEDA AND/OR A FEAR TO BE EXPLOITED FOR POLITICAL GAIN
The 1990 creation of the unified state of Yemen brought together North Yemen which was 66 percent Shi'ite and had traditionally (until a 1962 military coup) been ruled by a Shi'ite Imamate, and South Yemen which was 99 percent Sunni, Marxist and until 1990 was sponsored by the Soviet Union. The already aggrieved religiously conservative Shi'ites then became a 30 percent minority in a Sunni dominated socialist ("apostate") republic. North Yemen's President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, an Arab Socialist revolutionary and nominal Shia, was elected as the president of the unified Republic of Yemen.
It is difficult to imagine a more potentially fraught marriage. Indeed, not long after the honeymoon ended, civil war erupted.
As a secular socialist, Saleh was no admirer of religious fundamentalists -- unless of course they could be exploited and employed to his advantage.
During the 1994 civil war, Saleh, who had to fight against disaffected southerners to keep his country unified, employed tens of thousands of "Afghan" Arabs (Sunni fundamentalist Arab veterans of the 1980s Afghan jihad) in a "jihad" against the "infidel" southern separatists. The government-jihadi alliance crushed the southern separatists, and the previously more open and liberal Aden (capital of the south) was left helpless before an incoming tide of Islamisation. This of course has only caused the disaffection and grief of the more liberal and secular southerners to intensify.
The 1994 civil war marked the beginning Saleh's pragmatic alliance with Sunni fundamentalists and militants, including al-Qaeda. It is an alliance that mirrors the alliance between al-Saud and al-Wahhab: a pragmatic alliance built on quid pro quo deals. Saleh does not interfere with al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda preserves Saleh's socialist dictatorship, at least for as long as it is convenient. Al-Qaeda-perpetrated terror under this arrangement is Government-controlled but it gives Saleh grounds to cry out to the West for funding for his war against terror. However Saleh's relationship with the US in the War on Terror (even if it was/is a confidence trick) gave the Shi'ite rebels of the north grounds to accuse him of being pro-American, the ultimate sin.
When the Shi'ite rebellion erupted in 2004, President Saleh employed his Sunni fundamentalist militants and al-Qaeda puppets alongside his army in his war against the al-Houthi Shi'ite rebels.
Thus Saleh is fighting Shi'ite rebels in the north and liberal pro-democracy and separatist forces in the south, by feeding and partnering with Shi'ite-hating, democracy-hating, liberty-hating, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-infidel, anti-apostate, Wahhabi Sunni fundamentalist militants including al-Qaeda.
This has not resulted in the defeat of the al-Houthi Shi'ite rebellion (which has cost thousands of lives) or the repression of dissent in south. The result has been escalating radicalisation, terrorism, disaffection, rioting and a dangerous broadening of the sectarian conflict as the warring Islamic sects receive support from their co-religionists abroad. Yemen is now in the grip of a Sunni v Shi'ite sectarian conflict which most analysts believe is fast becoming a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
In such an explosive environment it is common for Muslim leaders to try and generate popularity and Islamic solidarity by deflecting hostilities onto a common "enemy": Jews, "Zionists", "Crusaders", Christians, missionaries, apostates. The Jews come first and then the Christians -- as the Muslim war chant goes, "Baad a- Sabt biji Yom al-Ahad": "After Saturday comes Sunday", meaning after we deal with the Saturday people -- the Jews -- we'll deal with the Sunday people -- the Christians.
The Jews have already been dealt with. As reported by WEA RLC News & Analysis in February 2007: "On 10 January [2007] the 45 Jews of al Haid, Sa'ada (north Yemen) received letters from a Shi'ite rebel militia. The letters accused them of promoting vice and demanded that they leave the province. According to the Yemen Observer, the 45 Jews have been forced to flee their homes in fear of their lives." (Link 8)
As fighting flared again in April 2008, the Shi'ite rebels finished the job by destroying the homes abandoned by the al Haid Jews some 15 months earlier. They also looted the former home of Rabbi Yehia Youssuf. Israel absorbed some 50,000 Yemeni Jews who were forced to flee Yemen in the immediate aftermath of the creation of the state of Israel. Some 1,600 Jews left Yemen in the 1990s, leaving a remnant of only around 400 Jews in Yemen today. (Link 9)
Maybe "Sunday" has arrived.
Insecurity, terrorism, separatism, rioting and sectarian conflict are not President Saleh's only problems. He is an unpopular dictator who after 27 years in power still imprisons his critics and rules over a state with high levels of illiteracy, unemployment, poverty and malnutrition.
So Islamic fundamentalists will not be the only ones to benefit from a state-sponsored crackdown on Christian missionary activity and apostasy. The Islamic media, with its anti-Christian propaganda and disinformation, has no doubt made persecution of Christians a real vote-winner. Protecting Islam by arresting missionaries and apostates is one way the embattled Saleh-the-secular-socialist can bolster his Islamic credentials -- important in a Muslim state undergoing radicalisation -- and generate some popularity. Saleh releases convicted Islamic terrorists from prison for similar reasons: not only to keep al-Qaeda happy, but to bolster his anti-US credentials for political gain. While the state's prisons maintain a revolving door for Islamic terrorists, they remain full due to a continual intake of journalists, comedians, singers, dissidents, pro-democracy activists, justice advocates -- and now Christians.
If the arrests are part of a deal with Islamic fundamentalists and/or a grab for grassroots popularity and Islamic solidarity, then we have grounds to expect more arrests and an escalation in very public persecution.
. . and when President Saleh saw how much it pleased the Muslims, he proceeded to arrest more Christians . . . (Adaptation of Acts 12:3)
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Yemeni security arrests missionary cell in Hodaida. 18/06/2008
http://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/view_nnews.asp?sub_no=401_2008_06_18_64109
2) Yemeni Christians Remain Detained; No Americans Among Them
By BosNewsLife News Center, 2 July 2008
http://www.bosnewslife.com/middle-east/yemen/3689-yemeni-christians-remain-detained-no-american
3) MAP. Note -- Hodaida here is spelt Hodaydah. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/atlas_middle_east/yemen_divisions.jpg ).
4) Conversions reported on the rise in Yemen. 11 Oct 2007
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=54102
5) Al-Qaeda in Yemen Launches New E-Journal -- Sada Al-Malahim
13 January 2008 MEMRI
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/4640.htm
6) Researcher Warns Christianity Growth in Yemen
By Hakim Almasmari, 18 February 2008
http://www.yemenpost.net/17/LocalNews/1.htm
7) Yemeni Town Mourns U.S. Missionaries
By SALAH NASRAWI. The Associated Press
JIBLA, Yemen. 31 December 2008
http://www.islamreview.com/news/2002_news.htm
ALSO
Religious Liberty 2003
WEA RLC News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal, 6 January 2003
8) Yemen: Shi'ite rebellion resurfaces -- Yemeni Jews threatened.
WEA RLC News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal, 16 February 2007
9) Yemen -- Empty Jewish homes destroyed. 7 April 2008
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207486208257&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Bosnia: Catholic Church targeted for terror.
Date: Thursday 10 April 2008
Subj: Bosnia: Catholic Church targeted for terror.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
BOSNIA: CATHOLIC CHURCH TARGETED FOR TERROR
-- with implications for Western Europe
ISN Security Watch reports: "Bosnia and Herzegovina's Federation Anti-Terror Unit on 20 March arrested five men: Rijad Rustempasic, Muhamed Meco, Abdulah Handzic and Edis Velic, all in their early thirties and from Sarajevo, along with Muhamed Ficer, from the central Bosnian city of Bugojno, who was released from custody after questioning.
"The four arrested in Sarajevo were members of the local Wahhabi movement -- the Saudi-based and financed order following a strict interpretation of Islam. Some of the suspects were already well known to the police for their radical activities. The group had been under surveillance for several months by the Federation Anti-Terror Unit and the State Prosecutor's Office.
"Federation Anti-Terror Unit and the State Prosecutor's Office have strong evidence that Rustempasic's group was planning attacks on Catholic Churches and international forces within the country during the Easter holidays." (LINK 1)
The ISN report includes several details that are hugely important:
1) the suspects were very well armed, having "anti-tank mines, laser sights, electronic equipment, topographic maps and bomb-making manuals".
2) they were very well connected, "receiving financial and logistical support from Wahhabi figures in Western Europe". ISN reports: "The dots begin to connect in a radical network that reaches from Bosnia across Western Europe".
3) they were targeting hugely significant Catholic sites: Sarajevo's central Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the 700-year-old Franciscan Monastery in Central Bosnian city of Fojnica. (For more details on the size and strategic value of these targets, see LINK 2)
4) while the key militant leader, Rustempasic, is reportedly one of the most notorious and violent Bosnian radical Muslims the police have ever investigated, he has managed to evade prison for years because he is tolerated by local authorities.
These details together indicate a serious and rising threat to Christian, particularly Catholic, institutions not only in Bosnia, but across Europe.
THE CHURCH IN THEIR SIGHTS
Pope Benedict has become a thorn in the flesh of the dictators of Islam on account of his reasoned, definitive and very public stand for religious liberty and peace -- from his September 2006 speech in Regensburg which highlighted the unreasonableness of violence in religion, to his very public baptism of high-profile Muslim convert Magdi Allam in St Peter's on Easter Saturday 29 March 2008. (LINK 3)
On Wednesday 19 March (10 days before the baptism of Allam), Osama bin Laden released a new audio message that named Pope Benedict as a leader in the "new crusade" against Islam and threatened retribution in Europe. (LINK 4)
It is to be anticipated that Islamic jihadist forces and the apostaphobic dictators of Islam will undertake a strategic shift -- a widening of their sights -- to take in that which is to them the greatest existential threat of all: the church that is prepared to stand for religious liberty regardless of the cost.
Elizabeth Kendal
LINKS
1) Terror plot thwarted in Bosnia. 28 March 2008
By Anes Alic and Damir Kaletovic in Sarajevo for ISN Security Watch
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=18795
2) Sarajevo's Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, also known as the "Sarajevo Cathedral", is the largest cathedral in all Bosnia. It was built in 1889 and is regarded as the centre of Catholic worship in Sarajevo (the capital of Bosnia). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Jesus'_Heart (includes photo).
For a photo of the 700-year-old Franciscan Monastery in Fojnica, see: http://www.fojnica.ba/foto/displayimage.php?pos=-1874
official website: Franciscan monastery of the Holy Spirit in Fojnica
(Franjevackog samostana Duha Svetoga u Fojinci) http://www.samostan.ba/
NOTE concerning Fojnica: During the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Bosnia's Muslim Army (BiH Army) fought to secede from Yugoslavia in order to make Bosnia an independent, Muslim dominated and ruled state. In July 1993, an 8,500-strong Muslim force overwhelmed Croat defences in Fojnica (then population 16,227 -- 41% Croat (around 6,500 Croats), 50% Muslim, 1% Serb). The BiH Army ethnically cleansed the town, driving out the Serbs and some 6,000 Croat civilians. On 13 November 1993 four Muslim soldiers of the "Crni labudovi" unit ("Black Swans", a BiH Army unit), invaded the Monastery, which is high on the hill overlooking the town, and executed Rev. Nikica Milicevic, the monastery's 37-year-old abbot, and the Rev. Leon Migic, its 57-year-old vicar. According to the OHR some 3,500 displaced Croats have since return to Fojnica, thanks to the security provided by the NATO-led SFOR (Stabilisation Force).
Sources:
http://www.hercegbosna.org/engleski/fojni.html
ALSO in Bosnian Monastery Widen Croat-Muslim Divide
By Chuck Sudetic, 31 December 1993
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7D9123FF932A05751C1A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
ALSO Albanians and Afghans fight for the heirs to Bosnia's SS past
By Robert Fox in Fojnica (Bosnia)
Daily Telegraph, 29 December 1993
http://emperors-clothes.com/archive/tele.htm
ALSO http://www.ohr.int/ohr-dept/hr-rol/thedept/hr-reports/hrcc-hr-rep/98-99-monthly/default.asp?content_id=5094
3) Religious Liberty: the pivotal issue in these pivotal days
-- Apostasy, and the baptism of Madgi Allam
WEA RLC News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal. 4 April 2008
4) Bin Laden: Pope Helps Anti-Islam Crusade
By Paul Schemm, 20 March 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h0arauyjLz9xhnBdnw6pEEOpKErwD8VHASDO0
Subj: Bosnia: Catholic Church targeted for terror.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
BOSNIA: CATHOLIC CHURCH TARGETED FOR TERROR
-- with implications for Western Europe
ISN Security Watch reports: "Bosnia and Herzegovina's Federation Anti-Terror Unit on 20 March arrested five men: Rijad Rustempasic, Muhamed Meco, Abdulah Handzic and Edis Velic, all in their early thirties and from Sarajevo, along with Muhamed Ficer, from the central Bosnian city of Bugojno, who was released from custody after questioning.
"The four arrested in Sarajevo were members of the local Wahhabi movement -- the Saudi-based and financed order following a strict interpretation of Islam. Some of the suspects were already well known to the police for their radical activities. The group had been under surveillance for several months by the Federation Anti-Terror Unit and the State Prosecutor's Office.
"Federation Anti-Terror Unit and the State Prosecutor's Office have strong evidence that Rustempasic's group was planning attacks on Catholic Churches and international forces within the country during the Easter holidays." (LINK 1)
The ISN report includes several details that are hugely important:
1) the suspects were very well armed, having "anti-tank mines, laser sights, electronic equipment, topographic maps and bomb-making manuals".
2) they were very well connected, "receiving financial and logistical support from Wahhabi figures in Western Europe". ISN reports: "The dots begin to connect in a radical network that reaches from Bosnia across Western Europe".
3) they were targeting hugely significant Catholic sites: Sarajevo's central Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the 700-year-old Franciscan Monastery in Central Bosnian city of Fojnica. (For more details on the size and strategic value of these targets, see LINK 2)
4) while the key militant leader, Rustempasic, is reportedly one of the most notorious and violent Bosnian radical Muslims the police have ever investigated, he has managed to evade prison for years because he is tolerated by local authorities.
These details together indicate a serious and rising threat to Christian, particularly Catholic, institutions not only in Bosnia, but across Europe.
THE CHURCH IN THEIR SIGHTS
Pope Benedict has become a thorn in the flesh of the dictators of Islam on account of his reasoned, definitive and very public stand for religious liberty and peace -- from his September 2006 speech in Regensburg which highlighted the unreasonableness of violence in religion, to his very public baptism of high-profile Muslim convert Magdi Allam in St Peter's on Easter Saturday 29 March 2008. (LINK 3)
On Wednesday 19 March (10 days before the baptism of Allam), Osama bin Laden released a new audio message that named Pope Benedict as a leader in the "new crusade" against Islam and threatened retribution in Europe. (LINK 4)
It is to be anticipated that Islamic jihadist forces and the apostaphobic dictators of Islam will undertake a strategic shift -- a widening of their sights -- to take in that which is to them the greatest existential threat of all: the church that is prepared to stand for religious liberty regardless of the cost.
Elizabeth Kendal
LINKS
1) Terror plot thwarted in Bosnia. 28 March 2008
By Anes Alic and Damir Kaletovic in Sarajevo for ISN Security Watch
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=18795
2) Sarajevo's Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, also known as the "Sarajevo Cathedral", is the largest cathedral in all Bosnia. It was built in 1889 and is regarded as the centre of Catholic worship in Sarajevo (the capital of Bosnia). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Jesus'_Heart (includes photo).
For a photo of the 700-year-old Franciscan Monastery in Fojnica, see: http://www.fojnica.ba/foto/displayimage.php?pos=-1874
official website: Franciscan monastery of the Holy Spirit in Fojnica
(Franjevackog samostana Duha Svetoga u Fojinci) http://www.samostan.ba/
NOTE concerning Fojnica: During the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Bosnia's Muslim Army (BiH Army) fought to secede from Yugoslavia in order to make Bosnia an independent, Muslim dominated and ruled state. In July 1993, an 8,500-strong Muslim force overwhelmed Croat defences in Fojnica (then population 16,227 -- 41% Croat (around 6,500 Croats), 50% Muslim, 1% Serb). The BiH Army ethnically cleansed the town, driving out the Serbs and some 6,000 Croat civilians. On 13 November 1993 four Muslim soldiers of the "Crni labudovi" unit ("Black Swans", a BiH Army unit), invaded the Monastery, which is high on the hill overlooking the town, and executed Rev. Nikica Milicevic, the monastery's 37-year-old abbot, and the Rev. Leon Migic, its 57-year-old vicar. According to the OHR some 3,500 displaced Croats have since return to Fojnica, thanks to the security provided by the NATO-led SFOR (Stabilisation Force).
Sources:
http://www.hercegbosna.org/engleski/fojni.html
ALSO in Bosnian Monastery Widen Croat-Muslim Divide
By Chuck Sudetic, 31 December 1993
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7D9123FF932A05751C1A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
ALSO Albanians and Afghans fight for the heirs to Bosnia's SS past
By Robert Fox in Fojnica (Bosnia)
Daily Telegraph, 29 December 1993
http://emperors-clothes.com/archive/tele.htm
ALSO http://www.ohr.int/ohr-dept/hr-rol/thedept/hr-reports/hrcc-hr-rep/98-99-monthly/default.asp?content_id=5094
3) Religious Liberty: the pivotal issue in these pivotal days
-- Apostasy, and the baptism of Madgi Allam
WEA RLC News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal. 4 April 2008
4) Bin Laden: Pope Helps Anti-Islam Crusade
By Paul Schemm, 20 March 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h0arauyjLz9xhnBdnw6pEEOpKErwD8VHASDO0
Friday, April 4, 2008
Apostasy, and the baptism of Madgi Allam
Date: Friday 4 April 2008
Subj: Religious Liberty: the pivotal issue in these pivotal days.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: THE PIVOTAL ISSUE IN THESE PIVOTAL DAYS
-- Apostasy, and the baptism of Madgi Allam
Historically the outcome of pivotal moments in Christian-Muslim relations have been determined by military might: the Arab Muslim conquest of the Byzantine Jerusalem (AD 638); the Arab Muslim conquest of Byzantine Heliopolis, Egypt (AD 640); the Ottoman Muslim conquest of Byzantine Serbian Kosovo (1389); the Ottoman Muslim capture of the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople (1453); the European victory over the Ottomans in the Battle of Vienna (1683); the Serb reconquest of Kosovo (1913); the Allied victory over the Ottomans in WW1 (1919); the Allied victory over the Muslim-Nazi Alliance in WW2 (1945); the NATO-enabled Muslim re-reconquest of Kosovo (1998-2008) . These battles and many others like them demonstrated who was ascendant and determined who was in control.
For several decades now the West has been advancing global openness through its revolution in communication and information technologies. But openness poses an existential threat to repressive dictatorships, corrupt systems and false religions. Now, in a fight for their survival, repressive dictatorships, corrupt systems and false religions are seeking to protect themselves by rolling back liberties and erecting bulwarks: repressing information and punishing dissent.
Because Islam is a global as distinct from a local phenomenon, the apostaphobic dictators of Islam are of necessity forced to pursue not only a revival of repressive, punitive Sharia in Muslim countries, but the extension of Sharia beyond the Muslim world and into the international arena through the Islamisation of human rights and laws. To this end, they use the threat of "uncontrollable" Islamic violence as leverage. (See LINK 1)
Today we are again at a pivotal moment in Christian-Muslim and Western-Muslim relations. However this time the outcome is not going to be determined by military might, but on the strength of moral and ideological convictions. Unfortunately, that is exactly why the West is in danger, for while Islam is weak militarily it is strong on conviction, the West is strong militarily but weak on conviction. The West will either buckle, surrender and submit, handing Islam the ascendancy, or it will brace itself and stand firm for what it believes (if in fact it can remember what that is).
By his very public Easter baptism of the high profile Egypt-born Italian journalist and Muslim convert to Catholicism, Magdi Allam, Pope Benedict has made a decisive and very courageous statement in defence of religious liberty, specifically a Muslim's right to convert.
Meanwhile back in Egypt, as the Great Apostasy Debate heats up, the Supreme Constitutional Court has been asked to rule on whether civil laws permitting religious freedom violate Article 2 of the Constitution which specifies that Islam is the religion of the State, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence (Sharia). See report by Compass Direct:
"Egypt: Ex-Muslims Blocked from Declaring Conversion", 26 March 2008.
THE BAPTISM OF MAGDI ALLAM
Magdi Allam is the deputy director of the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera. As a professing but nominal Muslim, Allam wrote many pieces that were critical of Islam and supportive of Israel. Because of this, Allam has received death threats and had fatwas issued against him, requiring him to live under police protection for the past five years.
The terrorism he has witnessed and the persecution he has suffered drove him to re-examine Islam and to reassess Christianity, especially after Pope Benedict's September 2006 address at Regensburg, which highlighted the unreasonableness of violence in religion.
Magdi Allam testifies: "Thus, I finally saw the light, by divine grace -- the healthy fruit of a long, matured gestation, lived in suffering and joy, together with intimate reflection and conscious and manifest expression . . . The miracle of Christ's resurrection reverberated through my soul, liberating it from the darkness . . . " (For Magdi Allam's testimony, see LINK 2)
Magdi Allam was baptised by Pope Benedict XVI in St Peter's on Easter Saturday during the Easter vigil. (LINK 3)
For PICTURES (with Italian text):
La conversione di Magdi Allam fa il giro del mondo. 23 Marzo 2008
Numerous Islamic scholars immediately condemned the event. Aref Ali Nayed, director of the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Amman, Jordan, criticised what he called "the Vatican's deliberate and provocative act of baptising Allam on such a special occasion and in such a spectacular way. It is sad," said Nayed, "that the intimate and personal act of a religious conversion is made into a triumphalist tool for scoring points." Nayed opined that this would negatively impact Christian-Muslim dialogue, and called on the Vatican to "distance itself from Allam's discourse". (LINK 4)
Yahya Pallavicini, a Milanese imam who is the vice-president of Italy's Islamic Religious Community, patronisingly described Allam's baptism "as an 'honest intellectual mistake' that had been committed with the complicity of the Vatican". Pallavicini told Italy's Adnkronos International (AKI) that he was embarrassed by the Pope's "indelicate choice of advisors" -- as if the Pope is without authority or lacking discernment and is vulnerable to the machinations of cunning Islamophobic conspirators! (LINK 5)
AKI reported: "Pallavicini agreed with Nayed in his attack on the baptism saying it put at risk the dialogue between Muslims and Christians." The implication is that Christian-Muslim dialogue can only proceed if the Church agrees to honour Islam's claim to life-long legal ownership of the hearts and minds and bodies of all Muslims irrespective of the individual's basic human right to believe according to his/her reason and conscience. Such a caveat leaves little space for meaningful dialogue.
Like Nayed and Pallavicini, Italy's deputy foreign minister for Middle East affairs, Ugo Intini, also criticised Allam's "very harsh condemnation" of Islam and called on the Vatican "after the emphasis given to Allam's conversion, to distance itself clearly from his statements".
However, the Vatican made it very clear that the Church not only believes in the religious liberty of all people (including Muslims), it also believes in the liberty of its members.
As Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi noted, Magdi Allam "has the right to express his own ideas. They remain his personal opinions without in any way becoming the official expression of the positions of the pope or the Holy See . . . believers are free to maintain their own ideas on a vast range of questions and problems on which legitimate pluralism exists among Christians. Welcoming a new believer into the church clearly does not mean espousing all that person's ideas and opinions, especially on political and social matters." (LINK 6)
"THE RISK OF THIS BAPTISM"
According to Father Lombardi "the pope accepted the risk of this baptism" in order "to affirm the freedom of religious choice which derives from the dignity of the human person".
According to his testimony, which is written in the form of a letter to the director of Corriere della Sera, Paolo Mieli, Magdi Allam accepted the risk of this baptism for the same reason.
"Dear Director, you asked me whether I fear for my life, in the awareness that conversion to Christianity will certainly procure for me yet another, and much more grave, death sentence for apostasy. You are perfectly right. I know what I am headed for but I face my destiny with my head held high, standing upright and with the interior solidity of one who has the certainty of his faith. And I will be more so after the courageous and historical gesture of the Pope, who, as soon has he knew of my desire, immediately agreed to personally impart the Christian sacraments of initiation to me. His Holiness has sent an explicit and revolutionary message to a Church that until now has been too prudent in the conversion of Muslims, abstaining from proselytising in majority Muslim countries and keeping quiet about the reality of converts in Christian countries. Out of fear. The fear of not being able to protect converts in the face of their being condemned to death for apostasy and fear of reprisals against Christians living in Islamic countries. Well, today Benedict XVI, with his witness, tells us that we must overcome fear and not be afraid to affirm the truth of Jesus even with Muslims.
"For my part, I say that it is time to put an end to the abuse and the violence of Muslims who do not respect the freedom of religious choice. In Italy there are thousands of converts to Islam who live their new faith in peace. But there are also thousands of Muslim converts to Christianity who are forced to hide their faith out of fear of being assassinated by Islamic extremists who lurk among us. By one of those 'fortuitous events' that evoke the discreet hand of the Lord, the first article that I wrote for the Corriere on Sept. 3, 2003 was entitled 'The new Catacombs of Islamic Converts'. It was an investigation of recent Muslim converts to Christianity in Italy who decry their profound spiritual and human solitude in the face of absconding state institutions that do not protect them and the silence of the Church itself. Well, I hope that the Pope's historical gesture and my testimony will lead to the conviction that the moment has come to leave the darkness of the catacombs and to publicly declare their desire to be fully themselves. If in Italy, in our home, the cradle of Catholicism, we are not prepared to guarantee complete religious freedom to everyone, how can we ever be credible when we denounce the violation of this freedom elsewhere in the world? I pray to God that on this special Easter he give the gift of the resurrection of the spirit to all the faithful in Christ who have until now been subjugated by fear."
THE POWER OF FAITH
Of all the commentary on this event, none has been more powerful or perceptive than that written by "Spengler" of Asia Times on-Line. Spengler's piece entitled "The mustard seed in global strategy" can be found at LINK 7 and is a "must read" piece.
Spengler describes the baptism of Allam as a "revolution in world affairs . . begun in the heart of one man".
He writes: "Osama bin Laden recently accused [Pope] Benedict of plotting a new crusade against Islam, and instead finds something far more threatening: faith the size of a mustard seed that can move mountains . . .
"Magdi Allam presents an existential threat to Muslim life, whereas other prominent dissidents, for example Ayaan Hirsi Ali, offer only an annoyance . . Why would Muslims trade the spiritual vacuum of Islam for the spiritual sewer of Dutch hedonism? The souls of Muslims are in agony. The blandishments of the decadent West offer them nothing but shame and deracination. Magdi Allam agrees with his former co-religionists in repudiating the degraded culture of the modern West, and offers them something quite different: a religion founded upon love."
Spengler is correct when he writes: "If the Church fights for the safety of converts, they will emerge from the nooks and crannies of Muslim communities in Europe."
While governments may waver and even fail, the Church must stand firm in faith irrespective of the cost, and advance according to the word of God: "'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6 ESV).
-- Elizabeth Kendal
LINKS
1) OIC: Eliminating "defamation" of Islam.
By Elizabeth Kendal, 25 March 2008
ALSO
Religious Liberty Trends 2007-2008
(Apostasy, Apostaphobia and Postmodernism)
2) Magdi Allam Recounts His Path to Conversion
http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-22151
3) Pope baptizes prominent Italian Muslim
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer Sat 22 March 2008.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080322/ap_on_re_eu/pope_muslim_convert
4) Scholar denounces Muslim baptism. BBC 26 March 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7313870.stm
5) Italy: Islamist website attacks Vatican baptism. 26 March2008
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=1.0.2008599217
Muslim Scholar Denounces Vatican Baptism
By FRANCES D'EMILIO – 26 march 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jmjHmHDjMG4Qhj3beZWc-IXP2bOQD8VKJV683
6) Vatican: Muslim convert has right to express his own ideas
By Cindy Wooden. 28 March 2008
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=27354
7) The mustard seed in global strategy
By Spengler, 26 March 2008
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JC26Aa01.html
Subj: Religious Liberty: the pivotal issue in these pivotal days.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: THE PIVOTAL ISSUE IN THESE PIVOTAL DAYS
-- Apostasy, and the baptism of Madgi Allam
Historically the outcome of pivotal moments in Christian-Muslim relations have been determined by military might: the Arab Muslim conquest of the Byzantine Jerusalem (AD 638); the Arab Muslim conquest of Byzantine Heliopolis, Egypt (AD 640); the Ottoman Muslim conquest of Byzantine Serbian Kosovo (1389); the Ottoman Muslim capture of the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople (1453); the European victory over the Ottomans in the Battle of Vienna (1683); the Serb reconquest of Kosovo (1913); the Allied victory over the Ottomans in WW1 (1919); the Allied victory over the Muslim-Nazi Alliance in WW2 (1945); the NATO-enabled Muslim re-reconquest of Kosovo (1998-2008) . These battles and many others like them demonstrated who was ascendant and determined who was in control.
For several decades now the West has been advancing global openness through its revolution in communication and information technologies. But openness poses an existential threat to repressive dictatorships, corrupt systems and false religions. Now, in a fight for their survival, repressive dictatorships, corrupt systems and false religions are seeking to protect themselves by rolling back liberties and erecting bulwarks: repressing information and punishing dissent.
Because Islam is a global as distinct from a local phenomenon, the apostaphobic dictators of Islam are of necessity forced to pursue not only a revival of repressive, punitive Sharia in Muslim countries, but the extension of Sharia beyond the Muslim world and into the international arena through the Islamisation of human rights and laws. To this end, they use the threat of "uncontrollable" Islamic violence as leverage. (See LINK 1)
Today we are again at a pivotal moment in Christian-Muslim and Western-Muslim relations. However this time the outcome is not going to be determined by military might, but on the strength of moral and ideological convictions. Unfortunately, that is exactly why the West is in danger, for while Islam is weak militarily it is strong on conviction, the West is strong militarily but weak on conviction. The West will either buckle, surrender and submit, handing Islam the ascendancy, or it will brace itself and stand firm for what it believes (if in fact it can remember what that is).
By his very public Easter baptism of the high profile Egypt-born Italian journalist and Muslim convert to Catholicism, Magdi Allam, Pope Benedict has made a decisive and very courageous statement in defence of religious liberty, specifically a Muslim's right to convert.
Meanwhile back in Egypt, as the Great Apostasy Debate heats up, the Supreme Constitutional Court has been asked to rule on whether civil laws permitting religious freedom violate Article 2 of the Constitution which specifies that Islam is the religion of the State, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence (Sharia). See report by Compass Direct:
"Egypt: Ex-Muslims Blocked from Declaring Conversion", 26 March 2008.
THE BAPTISM OF MAGDI ALLAM
Magdi Allam is the deputy director of the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera. As a professing but nominal Muslim, Allam wrote many pieces that were critical of Islam and supportive of Israel. Because of this, Allam has received death threats and had fatwas issued against him, requiring him to live under police protection for the past five years.
The terrorism he has witnessed and the persecution he has suffered drove him to re-examine Islam and to reassess Christianity, especially after Pope Benedict's September 2006 address at Regensburg, which highlighted the unreasonableness of violence in religion.
Magdi Allam testifies: "Thus, I finally saw the light, by divine grace -- the healthy fruit of a long, matured gestation, lived in suffering and joy, together with intimate reflection and conscious and manifest expression . . . The miracle of Christ's resurrection reverberated through my soul, liberating it from the darkness . . . " (For Magdi Allam's testimony, see LINK 2)
Magdi Allam was baptised by Pope Benedict XVI in St Peter's on Easter Saturday during the Easter vigil. (LINK 3)
For PICTURES (with Italian text):
La conversione di Magdi Allam fa il giro del mondo. 23 Marzo 2008
Numerous Islamic scholars immediately condemned the event. Aref Ali Nayed, director of the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Amman, Jordan, criticised what he called "the Vatican's deliberate and provocative act of baptising Allam on such a special occasion and in such a spectacular way. It is sad," said Nayed, "that the intimate and personal act of a religious conversion is made into a triumphalist tool for scoring points." Nayed opined that this would negatively impact Christian-Muslim dialogue, and called on the Vatican to "distance itself from Allam's discourse". (LINK 4)
Yahya Pallavicini, a Milanese imam who is the vice-president of Italy's Islamic Religious Community, patronisingly described Allam's baptism "as an 'honest intellectual mistake' that had been committed with the complicity of the Vatican". Pallavicini told Italy's Adnkronos International (AKI) that he was embarrassed by the Pope's "indelicate choice of advisors" -- as if the Pope is without authority or lacking discernment and is vulnerable to the machinations of cunning Islamophobic conspirators! (LINK 5)
AKI reported: "Pallavicini agreed with Nayed in his attack on the baptism saying it put at risk the dialogue between Muslims and Christians." The implication is that Christian-Muslim dialogue can only proceed if the Church agrees to honour Islam's claim to life-long legal ownership of the hearts and minds and bodies of all Muslims irrespective of the individual's basic human right to believe according to his/her reason and conscience. Such a caveat leaves little space for meaningful dialogue.
Like Nayed and Pallavicini, Italy's deputy foreign minister for Middle East affairs, Ugo Intini, also criticised Allam's "very harsh condemnation" of Islam and called on the Vatican "after the emphasis given to Allam's conversion, to distance itself clearly from his statements".
However, the Vatican made it very clear that the Church not only believes in the religious liberty of all people (including Muslims), it also believes in the liberty of its members.
As Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi noted, Magdi Allam "has the right to express his own ideas. They remain his personal opinions without in any way becoming the official expression of the positions of the pope or the Holy See . . . believers are free to maintain their own ideas on a vast range of questions and problems on which legitimate pluralism exists among Christians. Welcoming a new believer into the church clearly does not mean espousing all that person's ideas and opinions, especially on political and social matters." (LINK 6)
"THE RISK OF THIS BAPTISM"
According to Father Lombardi "the pope accepted the risk of this baptism" in order "to affirm the freedom of religious choice which derives from the dignity of the human person".
According to his testimony, which is written in the form of a letter to the director of Corriere della Sera, Paolo Mieli, Magdi Allam accepted the risk of this baptism for the same reason.
"Dear Director, you asked me whether I fear for my life, in the awareness that conversion to Christianity will certainly procure for me yet another, and much more grave, death sentence for apostasy. You are perfectly right. I know what I am headed for but I face my destiny with my head held high, standing upright and with the interior solidity of one who has the certainty of his faith. And I will be more so after the courageous and historical gesture of the Pope, who, as soon has he knew of my desire, immediately agreed to personally impart the Christian sacraments of initiation to me. His Holiness has sent an explicit and revolutionary message to a Church that until now has been too prudent in the conversion of Muslims, abstaining from proselytising in majority Muslim countries and keeping quiet about the reality of converts in Christian countries. Out of fear. The fear of not being able to protect converts in the face of their being condemned to death for apostasy and fear of reprisals against Christians living in Islamic countries. Well, today Benedict XVI, with his witness, tells us that we must overcome fear and not be afraid to affirm the truth of Jesus even with Muslims.
"For my part, I say that it is time to put an end to the abuse and the violence of Muslims who do not respect the freedom of religious choice. In Italy there are thousands of converts to Islam who live their new faith in peace. But there are also thousands of Muslim converts to Christianity who are forced to hide their faith out of fear of being assassinated by Islamic extremists who lurk among us. By one of those 'fortuitous events' that evoke the discreet hand of the Lord, the first article that I wrote for the Corriere on Sept. 3, 2003 was entitled 'The new Catacombs of Islamic Converts'. It was an investigation of recent Muslim converts to Christianity in Italy who decry their profound spiritual and human solitude in the face of absconding state institutions that do not protect them and the silence of the Church itself. Well, I hope that the Pope's historical gesture and my testimony will lead to the conviction that the moment has come to leave the darkness of the catacombs and to publicly declare their desire to be fully themselves. If in Italy, in our home, the cradle of Catholicism, we are not prepared to guarantee complete religious freedom to everyone, how can we ever be credible when we denounce the violation of this freedom elsewhere in the world? I pray to God that on this special Easter he give the gift of the resurrection of the spirit to all the faithful in Christ who have until now been subjugated by fear."
THE POWER OF FAITH
Of all the commentary on this event, none has been more powerful or perceptive than that written by "Spengler" of Asia Times on-Line. Spengler's piece entitled "The mustard seed in global strategy" can be found at LINK 7 and is a "must read" piece.
Spengler describes the baptism of Allam as a "revolution in world affairs . . begun in the heart of one man".
He writes: "Osama bin Laden recently accused [Pope] Benedict of plotting a new crusade against Islam, and instead finds something far more threatening: faith the size of a mustard seed that can move mountains . . .
"Magdi Allam presents an existential threat to Muslim life, whereas other prominent dissidents, for example Ayaan Hirsi Ali, offer only an annoyance . . Why would Muslims trade the spiritual vacuum of Islam for the spiritual sewer of Dutch hedonism? The souls of Muslims are in agony. The blandishments of the decadent West offer them nothing but shame and deracination. Magdi Allam agrees with his former co-religionists in repudiating the degraded culture of the modern West, and offers them something quite different: a religion founded upon love."
Spengler is correct when he writes: "If the Church fights for the safety of converts, they will emerge from the nooks and crannies of Muslim communities in Europe."
While governments may waver and even fail, the Church must stand firm in faith irrespective of the cost, and advance according to the word of God: "'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6 ESV).
-- Elizabeth Kendal
LINKS
1) OIC: Eliminating "defamation" of Islam.
By Elizabeth Kendal, 25 March 2008
ALSO
Religious Liberty Trends 2007-2008
(Apostasy, Apostaphobia and Postmodernism)
2) Magdi Allam Recounts His Path to Conversion
http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-22151
3) Pope baptizes prominent Italian Muslim
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer Sat 22 March 2008.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080322/ap_on_re_eu/pope_muslim_convert
4) Scholar denounces Muslim baptism. BBC 26 March 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7313870.stm
5) Italy: Islamist website attacks Vatican baptism. 26 March2008
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=1.0.2008599217
Muslim Scholar Denounces Vatican Baptism
By FRANCES D'EMILIO – 26 march 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jmjHmHDjMG4Qhj3beZWc-IXP2bOQD8VKJV683
6) Vatican: Muslim convert has right to express his own ideas
By Cindy Wooden. 28 March 2008
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=27354
7) The mustard seed in global strategy
By Spengler, 26 March 2008
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JC26Aa01.html