Islam’s apostasy law: join our campaign for its abolition The Church in China: hard pressed but growing fast Burma: rebuilding lives and livelihoods after the cyclone January/february 2009
To guard the safety of Christians in hostile environments, names may have been changed or omitted. Thank you for your understanding. Front cover: Christian converts from Islam martyred for their faith: (top row, left to right) Shamimu Muteteri, Uganda, †2007, killed by her father/ Necati Aydin, Turkey, †2007, tortured and killed by Muslim extremists/ David Abdulwahab Mohamed Ali, Somalia, †2008, killed by his cousin/ Hussein Soodmand, Iran, †1989, hanged for apostasy/ (bottom row, left to right) Liibaan Ibraahim Hassan, Somalia, †1994, executed by Muslim extremists/ Ghorban Tori, Iran, †2005, abducted and murdered/ Esther John, Pakistan, †1960, presumed murdered by her brothers/ Urgur Yuksel, Turkey, †2007, tortured and killed by Muslim extremists: Pictures 3 and 5: © Somalis for Jesus
Contents
6 9
Rebuilding lives and livelihoods in Burma
Petition Join our campaign against the Islamic apostasy law
Barnabas News
17
Resources
18
In Touch
Presentation of the Save Iraqi Christians petition
New book from Patrick Sookhdeo on Islamic finance
The meaning and application of the apostasy law
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Iraqi Christians flee from deadly campaign in Mosul
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Information Pull-Out
12
Projects
Newsroom
14
Poem Confession of faith by a martyred convert
Testimony An evangelist among Muslims tells of his ordeal
Country Profile he growth and suffering T of the Church in China
Pray in Lent for the persecuted Church
FROM THE DIRECTOR
Why should they die? In 2003-4 Barnabas Fund organised a campaign about the Islamic law of apostasy, the law that prescribes death for any adult male Muslim who chooses another faith. It also decrees many other penalties for apostates, such as loss of spouse and children and loss of property and inheritance. A petition with 88,890 signatures from 32 different countries was presented to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 28 July 2004, calling for Muslims who choose to convert to another faith to be “free to do so, without having to face a lifetime of fear as a result”. Many Barnabas Fund supporters wrote letters on the issue to key people, including HRH Prince Charles. As a result the Prince convened a private meeting of Christian and Muslim leaders at Clarence House on 2 December 2004. The aim of the meeting was to seek ways to reform 2
BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
the shari‘a apostasy law. The Muslim leaders admitted to the Prince that shari‘a did indeed lay down a compulsory death penalty for converts from Islam to other faiths but that it could never be changed. However, they said, there is no shari‘a in the UK, so the apostasy punishments could never be implemented in the UK. Four years later, things are different. Shari‘a is being practised in the UK. In 2008 the British government awarded five shari‘a courts in England the official status of arbitration tribunals, making their decisions enforceable with the full authority of the British judicial system. They have been given power to rule on divorce, domestic violence and financial disputes. (For more detailed information turn to p.8.) Secret talks have been reported about establishing shari‘a courts in Scotland too. Will these shari‘a courts one day be allowed to punish apostates, for example by annulling their marriage or removing their right to inherit from Muslim relatives?
Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, is one of very few Western politicians to have expressed open opposition to making apostasy a crime punishable by death. We at Barnabas Fund believe it is now an appropriate time for another campaign on the Islamic apostasy law. Please turn to pages 9-12 to read about our campaign and please get involved. Although the apostasy law is many centuries old, and although most Muslims concur with it, there are many liberal Muslims who actively oppose it and argue against it from the Islamic sources. It is my heart’s desire to see this iniquitous law lose its hold on Muslim people worldwide, to see it rejected as a wrong interpretation of the Islamic sources. Dr Patrick Sookhdeo International Director There are more details about the apostasy law in the pull-out supplement, pages i-iv.
Newsroom
Desperation is written on the face of this Indian Christian woman, who has lost everything in the ongoing antiChristian violence in Orissa State
Violence against Christians continues in Orissa, India In 2008 the Christian community in Orissa State, India, experienced one of the most brutal and drawn-out periods of Hindu extremist violence. The statistics of the attacks, which started on 24 August 2008 and continued almost unabated for two months, are staggering: at least 59 Christians have been murdered, some cut to pieces and others burnt alive, and many fear that the death toll might be even higher. One estimate suggests that 120 Christians have been killed. Complete villages have been cleansed of all Christians. Some 18,000 people have been injured, many of them severely; numerous Christian women have been raped; around 4,400 homes have been destroyed; and several orphanages and hundreds of churches and church buildings have been torched and razed. Over 50,000 Christians are thought to be homeless, and around 30,000, more than half of them children, are hiding in the jungle. Many of them do not have any food 6
BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
or water, and face starvation. Barnabas Fund has been helping to provide those worst affected by the violence with emergency aid, food parcels, medical help and shelter. There have been numerous reports of forced conversions as Hindu extremists try to turn Orissa into a Hindu state. Christians who wanted to return to their homes were told by the Hindu extremists: “Come back as Hindu or don’t come back at all.” In some cases the Hindu extremists poured petrol over the Christians and then asked them to convert; if they refused they were burnt. Ashish Digal, a Christian leader, was told by the extremists that if he did not convert to Hinduism, they would burn his house and kill him. A young Hindu woman was gang-raped by her grandparents’ neighbours because her uncle refused to renounce his Christian faith. Jaspina, a 32year-old Christian woman, was warned by her neighbours, “If you go on being
Christians, we will burn your houses and your children in front of you, so make up your minds quickly.” She was forced to attend a conversion ceremony together with her husband and three children, during which they had to eat cow dung to “purify” themselves. Jaspina says: “I’m totally broken. I’ve always been a Christian. Inside I’m still praying for Jesus to give me peace and to take me out of this situation.” The Indian federal government as well as regional and local authorities showed themselves reluctant to put an end to the violence. Although there was talk of banning the Bajrang Dal, one of the Hindu nationalist groups responsible for the gruesome acts, and of imposing presidential rule over Orissa, no action was taken. Officials continue to advise journalists and members of NGOs (non-governmental organisations) not to go into the affected areas as they cannot provide protection.
Newsroom
Iraqi Christians flee Mosul as Islamic extremists launch campaign to drive out all Christians Thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled the city of Mosul in northern Iraq after a deadly campaign was launched to remove the Christian community from the city at the beginning of October. At least fourteen Christians, including one fifteen-year-old, have been murdered, many of them killed execution-style by gunmen. Other estimates suggest that as many as 25 or even 40 Christians might have been killed. The number of Christian families fleeing the city and seeking refuge in churches, towns and villages to the north and east of Mosul reached 1,350 on 15 October. Barnabas Fund is helping to provide practical aid such as food and blankets to the families. Five Christian homes were blown up. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged Christians to stay despite the ongoing violence and “not to give in to the criminal plan”. Earlier, leaflets were distributed in Mosul, threatening Christians with death unless they convert to Islam or pay the Islamic jizya tax that marks them as second-class citizens. The leaflets, which are an effective tactic used before in Baghdad and elsewhere, were condemned by the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq and the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. One source reports that on Thursday 9 October extremists drove around the Mosul neighbourhood of Sukkar, shouting through a loudspeaker that Christians would be attacked unless they left the city. Others reported that false checkpoints were set up in the city to stop cars and check IDs. Christians were told to leave the city within 24 hours. One Christian family were confronted by three young people
who came to their home and told them to leave or convert to Islam. Many believe that the extremists behind the campaign are linked to al-Qaeda, but some suggest that Kurds might be responsible as many of the attacks happened in areas controlled by Kurdish militia. The attacks follow another blow to the Christian community: on 24 September the Iraqi Parliament agreed to remove Article 50 from the Provincial Election Law, which had guaranteed a specific number of seats for minorities, including Christians, on the Regional Councils. The UN recommended that twelve seats should be set aside for Christians. But despite this international pressure and assurances by the Iraqi President that he would overturn the decision, the Iraqi Parliament on 3 November conceded only three guaranteed seats for Christians out of 440. The first draft of the law had allowed 15 seats in six different provinces for minorities, including 13 for Christians. A few days later the Iraqi presidential council ratified the law without any changes.
Mosul is the historic centre of Christianity in Iraq
Iranian Parliament provisionally approves death penalty for leaving Islam On 7 October the Iranian Parliament gave provisional approval, by a majority of 196 to seven, to a bill that mandates the death penalty for apostasy from Islam. Until now Iranian judges could impose the death penalty in such cases only on the basis of Islamic law and fatwas, not on the basis of Iranian law. The bill prescribes a mandatory death sentence for any male Muslim who converts from Islam to another religion, and lifelong imprisonment for female converts from Islam. It also gives the Iranian secular courts authority to convict Iranians living outside the country of crimes relating to Iranian national security. It seems likely that this could be used against the many Iranian Christians who live outside Iran but are
involved in evangelism within it. Apostasy from Islam is viewed by most Muslims as equivalent to treason. The bill, which was drafted earlier this year, is now being reviewed in parliament, giving MPs the opportunity to amend it. Before it becomes law the bill will also be vetted by the Council of Guardians, a twelve-member legislative body with the power to veto any bill that does not conform to Islamic law and the constitution. Article 23 of the Iranian constitution states that “the investigation of individuals’ beliefs is forbidden, and no one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief”. Iran is also a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees freedom of belief.
Somali Christian converts from Islam in fear of their lives as two more are killed by Muslim extremists Somali Christian converts from Islam are facing increasing attacks by Muslim extremists trying to instil fear among the Christian community and those contemplating conversion from Islam to Christianity. In September a 22-year-old Somali Christian convert from Islam, Ahmadey Osman Nur, was murdered while attending a Muslim wedding. Nur had asked for a translation of the wedding service, which was held in Arabic, a language that is traditionally used in Muslim ceremonies because it is considered to be the “language Allah hears”. However not many Somalis speak Arabic and very few guests would have understood the service. The sheik who performed the ceremony took offence at Nur’s request. Knowing of Nur’s conversion to Christianity, he declared him to be guilty of apostasy and asked a guard to “silence” him. As Nur left, he was shot dead by an armed guard. Nur is the third Christian known to have been murdered for his conversion since the beginning of 2008. In the same month, on 23 September, a Somali humanitarian aid worker and Christian convert from Islam, 25-yearold Mansuur Mohammed, was beheaded by a group of Muslim extremists in Manyafulka village, about six miles from Baydhabo. The militants called Mohammed an infidel and a spy for the occupying Ethiopian soldiers, and then cut off his head in front of the terrified villagers. Numerous Somali Christians have fled to neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti in fear of attacks such as these. Yet even there, safety is not guaranteed: Nur Mohammed Hassan, a Somali Christian refugee in Kenya, and his family were attacked and forced out of their home in Nairobi on 14 October by a group of Somali Muslims. The family had fled Somalia after Mohammed Hassan’s sister was murdered by Muslims in April 2005 for allegedly distributing Bibles in Mogadishu. BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
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Newsroom
Algerian court dismisses case against three Christians accused of “blasphemy” The case against three Algerian Christian leaders accused of “blasphemy” was dismissed on 29 October by a court in Ain Turk, Algeria. The three Christians had been informed on 5 February that they had been sentenced in absentia to three years in prison and fines for “insulting Islam and its prophet” and “threatening” Mr Al-Aid, the man who
brought charges against them. Mr Al-Aid had “converted” from Islam to Christianity for a period of time during which he also attended a Bible school. Mr Al-Aid turned away from Christianity when the material benefits did not meet his growing expectations and fell in with a group of Islamists who used him to bring the three Christian leaders to court on trumped-up
and vague charges of insulting Islam and its prophet. He also claimed that the three Christian leaders threatened him because he had returned to Islam. When offered the option of countersuing their accuser, the three Christian leaders declined to bring charges against Mr Al-Aid, saying that they forgave him.
The Algerian Church is growing despite harassment and pressure from the government and attempts by Islamic extremists to defame Christians and their leaders. In this context it is very good news that an Algerian court recently dismissed the case against three Christian leaders accused of “blasphemy” by a supposed convert from Islam to Christianity
Shari‘a courts officially recognised as arbitration courts in the UK In September the UK government declared that rulings of British shari‘a courts would be enforceable in the British legal system through the county courts or the High Court. Courts in London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester and Nuneaton, Warwickshire, have been awarded the official status of arbitration tribunals. Further courts may be established in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Arbitration tribunals enable individuals to settle their differences privately without recourse to public legal proceedings. If the parties agree to submit their case to arbitration, and provided that the proceedings are fair, the arbitrator’s decision is then binding in the same way as a court ruling. Shari‘a courts have been operating and passing judgments in Britain for a number of years. They have limited powers to pronounce on various civil disputes, including some family and financial matters, and on certain criminal offences such as domestic violence. Previously enforcement depended on whether the Muslim parties involved were willing to comply with the courts’ rulings. Now, however, their decisions on private disputes between individuals, such as 8
BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
those concerning commercial contracts or debt, will be binding. For now the jurisdiction of the courts is tightly circumscribed. They are not authorised to resolve questions of personal status: they cannot, for example, grant a divorce that would be recognised in civil law. Nor can they make decisions in inheritance disputes that can be enforced by the civil courts. They have no power to determine guilt or innocence in criminal cases, or to impose any punishment other than those prescribed under English law. Many commentators believe, however, that the growing presence and influence of shari‘a law in Britain is cause for serious concern. Some have suggested that Islamic hard-liners may try to make shari’a the dominant legal system in Muslim neighbourhoods, so that non-Muslims are put under pressure to submit disputes with Muslims to Islamic arbitrators. Others fear that Muslim women are being encouraged to withdraw charges against abusive husbands, who then escape prosecution. In some recent cases of domestic violence the husbands were ordered to take anger management classes and receive mentoring from community elders. In each case the wife
subsequently withdrew her complaint, and no charges were brought by the Crown Prosecution Service. Disquiet has also been expressed over recommendations by the courts that sons should receive larger sums than daughters in inheritance disputes. In a recent case brought before a shari’a court in Nuneaton, two sons of a Muslim man were awarded twice as much as the three daughters in accordance with shari’a. Many Muslim women are not in a strong position to claim their legal rights, because of culture, language, tradition, and family ties and pressures that may involve threats and violence. The safety of converts from Islam would also be further endangered if the judgments of shari‘a courts against them were ever given the force of civil law. Their marriages might be annulled or their right to inherit from Muslim relatives might be removed. Finally, a recent survey by the Centre for Social Cohesion found that 40% of British Muslim students support the introduction of shari’a law in the UK, while 33% want a global Islamic government based on shari’a law. These opinions have raised fears of further powers being granted to shari‘a courts in future.
Petition
Why should they be secret? Islam is a one-way street. You can convert to Islam but you are not allowed to convert from Islam. All schools of Islamic law, shari‘a, agree on this rule and specify the death sentence for an adult male Muslim who chooses to leave his Islamic faith. Most also impose the death penalty on women apostates. The rule was established many centuries ago by Islamic scholars, but even today most Islamic religious leaders and many ordinary Muslim people agree with it. In 2007 a study found that 36% of British Muslims aged between 16 and 24 believed that those who convert from Islam to another religion should be punished by death. Only a handful of countries today have the death penalty for leaving Islam written into their legal system, and even in these countries it is rarely put into practice. Nevertheless, the existence of the “apostasy law” is so well known amongst Muslims that it generates strong hostility towards apostates, whether from family or community, from religious or secular sources, from police or judiciary. So it is normal for converts from Islam to face persecution and violence. They may be arrested, perhaps for apostasy, but more likely on a pretext. They may be attacked, beaten or even murdered by their own relatives. And those who commit the violence will probably not be punished for it. There is also another whole range of penalties for apostasy laid down in shari‘a: losing your spouse and children and losing your property and inheritance are some of the most important. These are also put into effect in many Muslim contexts today.
“Hannah” is a Christian and the daughter of a British imam (leader of a mosque). She had to be taken under police protection in December 2007after she received a death threat via text message from her brother, warning that he could not be responsible for his actions if she did not return to Islam. Hannah became a Christian when she was 16, after she ran away from home to escape an arranged marriage. Since then she has moved house 45 times to escape detection by her family. “Adel” and “Ishtar”, an Iranian Christian couple, were whipped for their apostasy from Islam in September 2007. Six Iranian officials came to their home to administer the punishment. Adel is indeed a former Muslim who turned to Christ many years ago, but Ishtar is from a Christian background. The couple were charged with apostasy because they were married under Islamic law after they were unable to find a church willing to marry them because of their different backgrounds. The Iranian court held that if non-Muslims marry under Islamic law they thereby convert to Islam. BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
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Petition Imagine being a secret believer It is not surprising that many converts from Islam to Christianity keep their new faith secret. Imagine what this means. You cannot go to church for teaching or the uplifting joy of worshipping with others. If you know any other Christians, you cannot meet them for fellowship except very carefully and discreetly. If you have a Bible you must keep it safely hidden. Perhaps you watch a Christian TV programme and you contact the show to ask for help with understanding your new faith; what happens if they mail you some Christian literature and someone else opens the envelope? You live with daily uncertainty about the future, never knowing when your love for the Lord Jesus might be discovered or what the terrifying consequences of discovery would be. Why should Christians from a Muslim background have to be secret believers? Islam actively encourages non-Muslims to convert to Islam. But it is the only world faith with a death sentence for those who leave.
Things can change It does not have to be like this. There is debate amongst Muslim scholars regarding the harshness of the apostasy law. Some point out that the Qur’an has no clear statement about the need to punish apostasy in this life; it says simply that God will punish apostates in the next life. Others doubt the genuineness of the traditions recounting Muhammad’s words and actions against apostates. Still others say that when apostates were put to death in the early days of Islam, it was not because they had changed their faith but because they had rebelled against the Islamic state. There are brave Muslim voices calling for the apostasy law to be abandoned.
You can help make it happen Barnabas Fund’s campaign for 2009 seeks to bring an end to the Islamic apostasy law. Although only Muslim leaders can make this happen, we as Christians can help the process. Sign the petition on page 11, and get your church and friends to sign it too. It will be presented to Western governments a year from now. In future issues of Barnabas Aid we will be suggesting people of influence to whom you can write about the apostasy law: political leaders, Church leaders and Muslim leaders. Above all, please pray. For more information about the Islamic apostasy law, its origins and its current use, turn to the pull-out supplement, pages i-iv. See also the Director’s letter, page 2.
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Ziya, a Turkish Christian, was disowned by his parents after he converted from Islam. When his parents found out that he had become a Christian, they told people that he had died in an accident rather than have to live with the “shame” of admitting that their son had left Islam. They told him “Go away, you are not our son.”
Sophia, a 28-year-old Pakistani Christian, was living with her family in London when she decided to follow Christ. After her family found out that she had left Islam, they tried everything to make Sophia change her mind. They told her again and again “The punishment is death, do you know the punishment is death?” Sophia ran away from home, but her mother tracked her down, turned up at her baptism and tried to pull her out of the water. Her brother phoned Sophia on her mobile saying “I’m coming down to burn that church.”
Mohammad Abbad, a 40-year-old Christian from Jordan, is about to lose his wife and his two children. Mohammad converted from Islam to Christianity 15 years ago, and in March last year was charged with apostasy after he and his wife sheltered in their home two converts who were receiving death threats from their relatives . The relatives managed to track them down and attacked both couples. When Mohammad went to the police to report the assault he found that his own father had already reported him to the police, seeking custody for Mohammad’s two children. Lawyers advised Mohammad that he would lose the case if he did not renounce his Christian faith. Mohammad, his wife and their children fled the country, but learned soon afterwards that his father had started procedures also to have his son’s marriage dissolved.
Pull-out supplement
Introduction The right to religious freedom, including the right of individuals to change their religion, is taken for granted by most people in the West. But in Islam people are only free to change from a non-Islamic faith to Islam; they are not free to change in the opposite direction. All schools of shari‘a (Islamic law) agree that adult male Muslims who leave their faith should be killed. In line with this view, the majority of Muslim scholars past and present hold that apostasy from Islam is a crime carrying the God-prescribed penalty of death. Likewise, for most ordinary Muslims today, across the spectrum of beliefs and ideologies, apostasy carries shocking and dreadful associations as a most abhorrent sin. In 2007 a study found that 36% of British Muslims aged between 16 and 24 believed that those who convert from Islam to another religion should be punished by death.1 Even for modernist and secularist Muslims apostasy carries negative ideas of treason against one’s community. Apostates are viewed as traitors, bringing great shame on their families and communities. This attitude explains why so few Muslim voices are ever raised in defence of those accused of apostasy.
The legal basis in Islam for the apostasy law Shari‘a is based on the Qur’an and on Muhammad’s example, as recorded in traditions called hadith. In the early centuries of Islam, these sources were developed by consensus (ijma‘) and analogy (qiyas) into rules and regulations that were set down in the manuals of the various shari‘a schools of law. According to criminal law in shari‘a, the state must impose mandatory punishments (hudud, sing. hadd) for certain specific crimes that are supposedly committed against God and his rights. These hudud crimes make up a separate category in shari‘a criminal law, because they are the only ones to carry divinely-ordained punishments, which cannot be altered by humans. Apostasy (irtidad) is included in the list of hudud crimes by three of the Islamic schools of law; apostasy is thus viewed as a very severe crime for which God himself has prescribed the death penalty. The other schools of law, though giving judges greater flexibility in cases of apostasy, still decree the death penalty for apostates.
Qur’an Given the unanimous rulings of shari‘a about the death penalty for adult male apostates, it is rather surprising to discover that the Qur’an itself, the primary source from which shari‘a is derived, has no clear statement about the punishment of apostates in this life. Apostasy is mentioned in 13 verses of the Qur’an, but the 1
THE ISLAMIC LAW OF APOSTASY
The Islamic Law of Apostasy
emphasis of these verses is on God’s punishment of apostates in the next life. Here are some examples: But if any turn away and reject God, God will punish him with a mighty Punishment. (Q 88:23-24) Anyone who after accepting faith in Allah utters unbelief except under Compulsion his heart remaining firm in faith but such as open their Breast to unbelief on them is Wrath from Allah and theirs will be a Dreadful Penalty. (Q 16:106) . . . and if any of you turn back from their faith and die in unbelief, their works will bear no fruit in this life and in the Hereafter; they will be Companions of the Fire and will abide therein. (Q 2:217)
Hadith Because the Qur’an is so ambiguous, the hadith are therefore the main sources used to justify the shari‘a punishment of death for apostates. For example: N arrated ‘Ikrima: Some Zanadiqa [Muslim heretics] were brought to ‘Ali and he burnt them. The news of this event, reached Ibn ‘Abbas who said, “If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah’s Apostle forbade it, saying, ‘Do not punish anybody with Allah’s punishment (fire).’ I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah’s Apostle, ‘Whoever changed his [Islamic] religion, then kill him.’” (Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57) There are also hadith that promise a special reward in paradise for someone who kills an apostate.
Ruth Gledhill, “British imam’s daughter under police protection after converting to Christianity”, The Times, 5 December 2007. BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
11I
THE ISLAMIC LAW OF APOSTASY
Pull-out supplement The death sentence for apostates from Islam, according to the five main schools of shari‘a School of law
Hanafi (Sunni)
Shafi‘i (Sunni)
Maliki (Sunni)
Hanbali (Sunni)
Ja‘fari (Shi‘a)
Sane adult male
Death
Death
Death
Death
Death
Sane adult female
Imprisoned until she repents
Death
Death
Death
Imprisoned and beaten with rods until she repents or dies
Period for repentance
Three days
Three days
Three days
Immediate repentance required
Born Muslims must repent immediately; converts to Islam are given time to repent.
Apostasy a hadd offence?
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Must apostasy be spoken to incur penalty?
Yes
No - inward apostasy is punishable.
No - inward apostasy is punishable.
No - inward apostasy is punishable.
Establishing guilt
Two witnesses required
Even words spoken in jest are counted as apostasy. Two witnesses required
Ascertain whether the individual was previously a true practising Muslim.
Other punishments for apostasy The shari‘a also lays down other types of punishment for an apostate. These include confiscation of his/her property, separation from spouse and children, loss of inheritance and denial of burial in a Muslim graveyard. In practice the death penalty is rarely implemented by Muslim states today, but apostates are commonly deprived of all their civil rights. This practice is termed “civil death” in Egypt.
A broader definition In Islamic law and tradition, apostasy (irtidad) has always been linked to the concepts of unbelief, blasphemy and heresy (all combined under the term kufr), which are sometimes used interchangeably. In a sense kufr is the main category, while apostasy, blasphemy and heresy are its sub-categories. Although apostasy, blasphemy and heresy are distinct terms in English, in Arabic kafir is often used to describe an apostate, a blasphemer or a heretic, and all three categories are closely linked, even interchangeable, in the minds of Muslims. Although the term “apostate” (murtadd) usually refers to a Muslim who has officially converted to another faith, individuals who consider themselves to be good Muslims also may be accused of unbelief, blasphemy and heresy as well as of apostasy, for reasons such as scepticism, atheism, or not obeying shari‘a properly. Some authorities list 300 different acts that could make a person a kafir, thus giving Muslims plenty of possible reasons for denouncing other Muslims as infidels liable to the death penalty. This process is known as takfir.2 In many cases multiple charges of apostasy, blasphemy, unbelief, heresy and insulting Islam and Muhammad are brought against the accused, thus giving the judges greater flexibility in deciding under which category to 2
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define the crime and ensuring that the accused actually is convicted of something. A feature of accusations of apostasy and blasphemy is the way they are often uncritically accepted as true by members of the police and of the criminal justice system, who require little or no evidence.
Shari‘a in modern Muslim states Although most modern Muslim states have ratified international agreements on human rights, they limit their validity by adding that the agreements are subject to the authority of shari‘a. Human rights and equality of all before the law are thus interpreted by shari‘a, which discriminates on the basis of both religion and gender. Many Muslim states had secular constitutions at independence but have engaged in a gradual process of Islamisation since then. Most have declared Islam to be their state religion, and many have declared shari‘a to be the primary source of their law. Many Muslim states have two parallel legal systems operating: the Western secular system and the Islamic shari‘a system. Although most states with a mixed system and a written constitution guarantee freedom of religion and equality of treatment to all citizens, in practice a Muslim who rejects his or her faith is often treated as if guilty of treason and liable to the death penalty even if there is no official punishment for apostasy laid down in the constitution or legal system.
Muslim states and apostasy In some countries the state legal system has adopted shari‘a laws that enable official charges to be made within the state courts against converts from Islam. (These blasphemy and apostasy laws also enable the state arbitrarily to detain citizens who for any reason are viewed with disfavour by the authorities or by militant Muslims.)
John L. Esposito, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, pp439-443.
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Confession and two truthful male witnesses. Words spoken in anger, jest, and unintentionally do not count.
Pull-out supplement
Where legal provisions for punishing apostasy do not at present exist, the state or local authorities may harass converts by arresting them on various pretexts, such as public order offences, or by framing them for other “crimes”. These practices also help to avoid any unwelcome attention from Western media. Where state legal systems are not interested in such prosecutions, or where they dare not prosecute for fear of condemnation by the West, groups or individuals within the society may act instead to carry out the shari‘a penalties. Islamic scholars and mullahs may issue fatwas demanding the killing of the accused, and families may use force and violence against the convert, which sometimes end in murder as they try to remove the shame that they feel the conversion brings on the whole family. In some contexts, mobs can be easily incited to frenzied attacks against an alleged apostate. Individual Muslims zealous for their religion and its honour may take it on themselves to assassinate the accused, believing that they are doing a holy service to God and to Islam.
The application of the apostasy law in the world today The examples below focus on countries where there are laws against apostasy, but it is important to remember that everywhere – even in the West – unofficial persecution of converts by family and community is likely to occur. Furthermore, those who perpetrate the unofficial persecution often go unpunished in Muslim countries, and sometimes even in the West.
Saudi Arabia The Qur’an is the state constitution and shari‘a the legal system. Judges have freedom to decide what constitutes apostasy. In a 1992 case brought against a Shi‘a Muslim, who had converted from Sunni Islam, it was reported that the judge told the accused: “Abandon your rejectionist beliefs or I will kill you”. A young Saudi woman called Fatima al-Mutairi learned about Jesus Christ on the internet and decided to follow Him. But in 2008 her family discovered her faith, and her brother cut out her tongue and then burned her to death. It is apparently being considered an “honour crime”, and her brother may therefore receive a relatively lenient sentence. (Turn to page 12 to read a poem written by Fatima.)
Afghanistan The 2004 Afghan constitution states that “no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred law of Islam” (Article 3). On this basis an Afghan judge and prosecutor declared in 2006 that the death sentence for apostasy was part of Afghan law and threatened Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old convert to Christianity, with death. In the end, under pressure from Western governments, the Afghan authorities found a pretext to dismiss the case.
Egypt Although there is no direct law against apostasy, Egyptian Christians who have converted from Islam are often arrested and imprisoned, typically on charges of endangering social peace. While in detention they may be beaten or tortured. Between 1970 and 1982 the courts decreed that apostates had neither the right to marry nor the right to inherit and that their existing marriages were invalid as they were civically dead according to Hanafi shari‘a law. In 2002 Al-Azhar University recommended a change in the application of the apostasy law by giving the accused a lifetime to renounce the apostasy instead of the three-day period laid down in shari‘a. This recommendation was severely criticised by many religious leaders. A serious problem for Egyptian converts is the fact that they are never given permission to change the religion entered on their ID card from Muslim to Christian. This makes it very difficult for them to live as Christians and their children also will be registered as Muslims. On 29 January 2008 Mohammed Hegazy lost his court case against the Egyptian Interior Minister on this issue. The judge ruled that, according to shari‘a, it was lawful to convert only to Islam, not to any other religion.
THE ISLAMIC LAW OF APOSTASY
Though official proceedings against those who reject Islam are rare, apostasy is punishable by death in Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen. It is also treated as illegal in the Comoros, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia and the Maldives.
Jordan The Jordanian authorities can be harsh in their treatment of converts from Islam. On 24 March 2008 Mohammad Abbad, a Christian who had converted from Islam 15 years earlier, was charged with apostasy before the North Amman Shari‘a Court. Earlier that month he and his wife had sheltered in their home two converts who were receiving death threats from relatives. But the relatives tracked them down and attacked both couples. When Mohammad went to the police to report the assault, he found that his own father had already reported him to the police, seeking custody of Mohammad’s two children. Lawyers advised Mohammad that he would lose the case if he did not renounce his Christian faith. Mohammad and his family fled the country on 28 March. His father then started procedures to have his son’s marriage dissolved.
Sudan President Nimeiri introduced shari‘a law to North Sudan in 1983 and tried also to impose it on the South. Two years later, an Islamic scholar, Mahmoud Muhammad Taha, was executed for apostasy because of his efforts to liberalise and reform Islam. In 1989 the National Islamic Front came to power, and in the 1991 constitution the Islamic Code was again enforced. The use of shari‘a as the basis of law and government in North Sudan has since become ever more explicit. Section 126 of the Sudan Criminal Law 1991 makes apostasy from Islam a criminal offence punishable by death. Although this extreme penalty is seldom implemented, apostates face arrest, imprisonment and torture.
Iran Since the 1979 Iranian revolution Shi‘a Islam has been the state religion. Article 4 of the constitution states: “All civil, penal financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria.” BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
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THE ISLAMIC LAW OF APOSTASY
Pull-out supplement Although the state recognises Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism as official religions and gives their followers limited freedoms to worship within their communities, the Baha’is face severe persecution as unprotected infidels. Various laws place restrictions on religious freedoms. In cases where there are no specific codified laws to cover a particular case, judges have the right to deliver fatwas based on Islamic sources. By use of this right, a number of converts from Islam have been sentenced to death for apostasy, and one of them, Hossein Soodmand, was hanged in 1990. Another convert, Mehdi Dibaj, was sentenced to death in December 1993, released the following month, and then mysteriously murdered in July 1994. In recent years many converts active in Christian ministry have been arrested and charged not with apostasy but with, for example, “activities against Islam”. Others have been murdered by security forces. For example, Ghorban Tori was kidnapped by security forces in November 2005 and stabbed to death. In July 2008, a couple in their 60s, Abbas Amiri and Sakineh Rahnama Amiri, were beaten so badly by security officers that both later died of their injuries. On 2 September 2008, the Iranian Parliament gave provisional approval to a bill that mandates the death penalty for any male Muslim who converts from Islam to another religion, and lifelong imprisonment for female apostates. If passed into law, this would introduce the death penalty for apostasy into Iranian law, so that judges no longer have to look to Islamic sources to justify death sentences.
Malaysia The constitution declares Islam to be the official state religion while guaranteeing religious freedom. Two states, Kelantan and Terengganu, have passed laws to provide the death penalty for apostasy, but these cannot be enacted because of federal opposition. A 1993 law states that it is illegal for a Muslim to change his or her religion. A convert named Lina Joy took her request for her conversion to Christianity to be formally recognised right to the top of the secular court system, but on 30 May 2007 the Federal Court ruled that the decision must be made by a shari‘a court, which was equivalent to a refusal. Malays are given political and economic advantages as the indigenous people of the country. But the legal definition of a Malay includes that the person must be a Muslim, so Malays who convert from Islam lose their ethnic identity and its associated privileges.
2008. It states that “a non-Muslim may not become a citizen of the Maldives” and “no law contrary to any tenet of Islam shall be enacted”. As a result, around 3,000 Maldivians – and any future converts from Islam - lose their citizenship and all the rights that accompany it, such as freedom of speech, freedom of movement and habeas corpus.
Amending the apostasy law? There have been Muslim calls for a reform of the harsh apostasy law and for Islamic leaders to proclaim that it is permissible for Muslims to choose other faiths, just as non-Muslims are allowed (indeed, encouraged) to choose Islam. Some modernist Islamic scholars argue from the Qur’an and from the historical context of the hadith that an apostate should not be put to death unless s/he is also a danger to the Islamic state. They argue that the death sentence given to apostates in early Islam was for their rebellion against the Islamic state, not for their change of faith. However, the definition of “danger to the Islamic state” is important. Sheikh Tantawi, the Grand Imam of the influential Egyptian University Al-Azhar, says that an apostate “should be left alone as long as he does not pose a threat or belittle Islam”. It is hard to imagine how those who have left Islam could say anything about their conversion without in some sense being critical of Islam. Muslims would then, by Tantawi’s logic, be “forced to take action”. It is worth noting that he does not specify what that “action” should be, leaving open the possibility of killing the apostate.
Conclusion The Islamic law of apostasy, framed in medieval times, has a huge impact today. Indeed, its impact is increasing. This change is partly because of the rise of Islamism (Islamic fundamentalism) and the increased application of shari‘a in new regions and states, not only in the Muslim world but also now in the West. It is also because more Muslims are becoming Christians than ever before in history, so that there are more apostates to be dealt with. The apostasy law exerts its influence not only through direct application of the law but also indirectly by shaping Muslim minds, creating immense hostility towards those who leave Islam.
Maldives
Muslims are well aware that the rest of the world finds their apostasy law outrageous, and much has been written to try to defend it. The only hope for real freedom of religion within Islam lies in the abolition of the harsh death penalty for apostasy, indeed any penalty, and allowing total freedom to leave Islam for those who want to do so.
A new constitution for the Maldives was ratified on 7 August
© Barnabas Fund, 2009
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Newsroom Petition We, the undersigned, have put our names to this document to draw attention to the serious danger faced by Muslims who choose to leave their faith. Shari‘a (Islamic) law prescribes the death penalty for adult male Muslims who choose to leave Islam. Most of the Islamic schools of law also have the death sentence for women. Other penalties are also imposed.
We call on our national government to support all efforts by Muslims to have the apostasy law abolished, so that Muslims who choose to leave their faith are no longer liable to any penalty but are free to follow their new convictions without fear, in accordance with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. What you can do to bring change This is more than a campaign. It is a matter of life and death. Please sign this petition by writing your name and address clearly below. We will then send you future editions of our free magazine, Barnabas Aid, containing updates on the campaign and information to encourage your prayers and involvement.
If you do not want to receive this material or to participate further in this campaign, then please do not sign the petition. Signature
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BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
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Poem
“ And we for the sake of Christ all things bear...” Fatima Al-Mutairi’s story Fatima Al-Mutairi, a 26-yearold Saudi Christian, had her tongue cut out and was burnt to death, apparently by her brother, when her family found out that she had converted from Islam to Christianity. Shortly before her death she wrote the poem printed on the right, which she posted on the internet (translation from Arabic). *Notes: � The “forum” refers to a website where Arab believers gather in online fellowship and witness. � “Master of the prophets” is normally a title for Muhammad but is used in this poem as a title for Christ. Muslims commonly believe that Christians insult Christ by speaking untruths about him. � “The Clear Truth” is often used as a name for God in Islam. � In the last blog that Fatima wrote before her death, she found comfort and strength in the opening verse of Psalm 27, “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?” � “The Lord of the worlds” is an Islamic name for God, used in the first chapter of the Qur’an. Fatima attributes this name to Jesus Christ, her Saviour.
And we for the sake of Christ all things bear May the Lord Jesus guide you, O Muslims And enlighten your hearts that you might love others The forum does not revile the Master of the prophets* It is for the display of truth, and for you it was revealed This is the truth that you do not know What we profess are the words of the Master of the prophets* We do not worship the cross, and we are not possessed We worship the Lord Jesus, the Light of the worlds We left Muhammad, and we do not follow in his path We followed Jesus Christ, the Clear Truth* Truly, we love our homeland, and we are not traitors We take pride that we are Saudi citizens How could we betray our homeland, our dear people? How could we, when for death – for Saudi Arabia – we stand ready? The homeland of my grandfathers, their glories, and odes – for it I am writing And we say, “We are proud, proud, proud to be Saudis” We chose our way, the way of the rightly guided And every man is free to choose any religion Be content to leave us to ourselves to be believers in Jesus Let us live in grace before our time comes There are tears on my cheek, and oh! the heart is sad To those who become Christians, you are so cruel! And the Messiah says, “Blessed are the Persecuted” And we for the sake of Christ all things bear. What is it to you that we are infidels? You do not enter our graves, as if with us buried Enough – your swords do not concern me, not evil nor disgrace Your threats do not trouble me, and we are not afraid* And by God, I am unto death a Christian – Verily I cry for what passed by, of a sad life I was far from the Lord Jesus for many years O History record! and bear witness, O witnesses! We are Christians – in the path of Christ we tread Take from me this word, and note it well You see, Jesus is my Lord, and he is the Best of protectors I advise you to pity yourself, to clap your hands in mourning See your look of ugly hatred Man is brother to man, Oh learned ones Where is the humanity, the love, and where are you? As to my last words, I pray to the Lord of the worlds* Jesus the Messiah, the Light of Clear Guidance That He change notions, and set the scales of justice aright And that He spread Love among you, O Muslims
Fatima Al-Mutairi
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Testimony
Persecuted and Disfigured for Proclaiming Christ to Muslims If converts from Islam to Christianity are liable to severe persecution, so also are those who proclaim the Gospel to them. We bring you here the story of Elias Maalouf, a Palestinian Arab who first converted to Islam, then from it to Christianity, and who engaged in evangelism among Muslims in the Holy Land. Elias was born in 1956 into a Christian family and has lived most of his life in Jerusalem. After studying at an Arab school he left without completing his education, and joined the Communist Party in 1972. He worked with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and led various youth groups opposed to Israel.
They beat him until he was bleeding profusely, and then cracked his skull with a bat. “I had no strength left in me,” says Elias, “I was praying silently. I could hardly pronounce a word as I was so badly beaten.”
Elias attended many debates, especially on communism and Islam, and in 1976-7 he became a Muslim. But then he read the New Testament and was deeply influenced and stirred by it. He found an echo of his former communist convictions in the sharing of possessions by the early Church. Confronted with the claims of Christ, he was baptised in 1982 in the River Jordan.
The men smashed a bottle on a wall and removed Elias’s left eye with it. As his eyeball fell to the ground Elias collapsed. He says, “While on the ground on my face I saw a man looking exactly like Jesus. I knew it was the Lord. He knelt down. He was wearing dark brown trousers but not like our trousers: they were sewn at the side with threads. He was wearing sandals that had laces going round to his ankles. His shirt was one piece of cloth with no seams. I could not see His face, and I was afraid to look at Him too. He asked me to give Him my hand and He pulled me up. Suddenly I had so much energy, and I was flooding with joy.”
Elias began to witness to Muslims and communists, both verbally and through the distribution of Christian literature. He was attacked several times and beaten up, but eleven Muslims were converted and baptised through his ministry. This success greatly angered the Muslim youth, who threatened him with severe punishment. The new Christians began to witness to their families, and in 1984-5 Elias suffered further heavy beatings. On one occasion he was stabbed, and on another he had to escape from his burning car when Molotov cocktails were thrown at it. Then in 1985 Elias was invited by the brother of one of the converts to meet him at a Bible exhibition at Bethlehem University. When Elias arrived in the square six youths from the militant Islamic organisation Hamas approached him armed with chains, baseball bats and glass bottles.
Elias Maalouf, a Christian evangelist who lost his left eye in an attack by a Hamas gang and had to flee to the West
Elias walked in the scorching sun to an Arab hospital carrying his eye. The staff gave him painkillers but took no action to save the eye. By the time they had transferred him to an Israeli hospital it was too late. Elias remained in hospital for two months and was blind in his remaining eye for nearly six as a result of the blow to his head Elias was wondering whether his ministry could continue, and prayed that he might serve the Lord fully, to the end. With his other eye he began to see first shadows, then colours, and he was eventually able to read again, though with great pain. He
engaged in a lengthy and deep study of Islam, which greatly enhanced his evangelistic work when he resumed it in 1987. In 1989 a terrorist cell was arrested in Ramallah, and Elias’s name was found to be fourth on their list of assassination targets. The next year he was repeatedly interrogated by both the PLO and Hamas, and on one occasion he was seconds away from being hanged by a Hamas gang. They had tied his hands behind his back and put a bag over his head when an Israeli jeep appeared unexpectedly and they fled. Elias was strongly advised to leave his homeland, and later in 1990 he moved to the West. He has a wife and 16-year-old stepson, and also cares for his disabled brother. With help from friends he has bought a small grocery shop, which is run by his wife. He has also continued with his ministry, and he has written twelve books on Islam in Arabic. Sadly Elias now has cancer, and to secure the most effective treatment he will have to pay for it. Barnabas Fund has supported him with a gift, and he was touched and moved to tears by this demonstration of Christian love. (Project reference 00-345 Victims of Violence Fund) BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
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Country Profile
Country Profile:
China Sixty troubled years China is a great and ancient nation. After nearly two centuries of decline and humiliation at the hands of the Western powers and Japan, in the last 60 years it has regained its place of importance in the world, and has become a major player both politically and economically. Yet this progress has been won at the price of immense human suffering and the frequent and severe repression of unauthorised religious groups. In 1949 the Communist revolutionaries under Mao Zedong completed the conquest of mainland China, and they then began to reshape the nation on Marxist lines. This policy reached its nadir in the Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976, which caused huge distress and economic chaos. Some estimates put the death toll at 20 million. Since Mao’s death the government has adopted a more pragmatic approach, including the initiation of economic reforms and international relationships, but it has not relaxed its political grip. A student protest in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989 was ruthlessly crushed, and ethnic and religious dissent has been suppressed wherever possible. China has become an unusual combination of an open capitalist economy and a controlled communist state.
Christianity in China Christianity was introduced into China no later than the 6th century, probably by Assyrian Christians from the Middle East. Missionaries from Western Europe arrived in the 13th century, and the first Protestant mission was established by Robert Morrison in 1807. In the later 19th century the number of Christians began to increase rapidly, but the perceived association of the Church with Western colonialism led to Christianity’s being regarded by many Chinese people as Yang Jiao, a foreign religion that had invaded their country. 14
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The early 20th century saw renewal and further substantial growth, so that by 1949 there were about 5.5 million Christians in China. But following the Communist takeover all foreign missionaries were expelled, and the government sought to bring organised Christianity under state control. As a result a number of “house churches” broke away from their denominations, refusing to register with the authorities and choosing to operate independently. During the Cultural Revolution all Christian activity was forced underground, but after restrictions were relaxed somewhat in the late 1970s the churches began to grow again. The registered churches are organised in the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and the Patriotic Catholic Association. The communist state designates itself as the head of these bodies, and Christians are forbidden to give allegiance to foreign or international leadership. Among the Protestant churches the TSPM decides on which buildings may be used for worship, who may be a pastor and which activities may be undertaken. Members are not allowed to read Christian literature from abroad, or to listen to recorded addresses from foreign preachers. An attempt has been made to reconstruct the churches’ theology to make it compatible with socialism, and proclamation of the Christian distinctives is discouraged. The government has sought to make the organisation as uniform as possible, even preventing some churches that have wanted to register from doing so for fear of increasing diversity. The unregistered house churches have enjoyed massive growth, but owing to their marginal social status many lack resources and trained leadership. Also the authorities target them for persecution of various kinds (see below). Reliable data on the number of Christians in China today are not available. A modest government estimate put the figure at 54 million, but a senior official has admitted in private that it may be as high as 130
Bibles can be printed and distributed in China, but other kinds of Christian literature are subject to restrictions million. Wherever it falls between these extremes, the rapid growth of the Chinese church since 1976 is historically unparalleled.
Persecution The persecution of Chinese Christians did not originate with the Communist revolution. In the Boxer rebellion of 1900 against Western influence 189 Christians were martyred, including many children, and a nationwide anti-Christian movement was launched in 1922. But conditions for the churches certainly deteriorated after 1949, and eventually became desperate. In the early years of the new regime many church leaders were arrested, imprisoned and even tortured. Then during the Cultural Revolution church buildings were closed or destroyed, and numerous clergy were sent to labour camps for “reeducation”, or executed. Improvements since 1976 have proved inconsistent: the 1980s saw a further crackdown on Christian activity among the house churches, and in the 1990s greater efforts were made to force them to register. The present Chinese government is committed to the promotion of a “harmonious society” organised on communist principles. For this reason diversity is inherently suspect, and so are connections to organisations located in the West. Religious groups are expected to conform their activities to the constraints of the socialist order, and to achieve this conformity the authorities attempt to organise them in national, state-controlled organisations such as the TSPM. Churches that refuse to register with these bodies are therefore seen as unpatriotic and subversive, and their leaders as “unstable social elements”. Their activities
Country Profile are illegal; their members are subject to harassment and violence; their buildings may be closed; and many of their pastors are arrested and imprisoned. Instances of torture and even murder have been reported. So, for example, on 16 October 2008 the sons of one of China’s best-known house church leaders, “Bike” Zhang Mingxuan, were beaten up by 15 officials of the Public Security Bureau (PSB) armed with iron bars. The eldest son, Zhang Jian, was attacked for 25 minutes and suffered serious injury, and the ambulance service refused to come for him. Later he spent time in intensive care, in a critical condition, but left hospital early because PSB officials were watching him and he feared for his safety. Zhang Jian’s mother was thrown out of her house, and all the family’s furniture was left in the street. Hotels were ordered not to rent to them. Bike Zhang, who is President of the Chinese House Church Alliance, was detained by PSB officials in June while on the way to meet the European Union rapporteur between the EU and China. In 2007 he had written three open letters to the international community detailing the
persecution and harassment faced by house church leaders and members. Since becoming a Christian in 1986 he has been arrested, beaten and imprisoned numerous times. Some restrictions apply to all Christians, whether outside the official groups or within. Religious belief is supposed to be incompatible with Communist party membership, which is required for those in almost all high-level positions. Foreign nationals are not allowed to engage in evangelism among the Chinese (and they may not take part in any other kind of Christian ministry except by invitation of a registered organisation). Bibles are allowed to be printed in China, but religious material from abroad may not be distributed without its being officially approved. It was hoped that the holding of the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 might encourage the Chinese leadership to concede greater religious freedom to its people. In fact, however, the event was preceded by increased harassment and repression of house churches and their leaders, especially in urban areas, and by additional restrictions on Christian
publications, foreign Christians and missionaries. The head of the Political and Legal Committee of the Communist Party later called for “extraordinary measures” to be taken against those who create social instability, and house church leaders were explicitly mentioned in a new legal directive to that effect. The Chinese government’s opening up to the West, stimulated by the country’s remarkable economic growth, has led it significantly to improve its policies on both human rights and religious liberty. But paradoxically, in its desire to maintain internal stability and “harmony” it is also bringing pressure to bear on Christians in the unofficial churches, whom it perceives to be upsetting the social balance.
Barnabas Fund at work in China Barnabas Fund works in various ways in China to support and strengthen the Church and individuals who suffer for their faith. (China General Fund, project reference 09-780)
Religious practice in China Only five religions are officially permitted to function in China: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. Each has its own state-controlled, national organisation, and the government claims that all religious believers are represented by these. In fact millions of Christians practise their faith in unregistered house churches. The authorities’ attempt to integrate each of the official organisations has also enjoyed only limited success. Despite the prohibition, some believers have even continued in relationship with religious bodies outside China. Diversity within the TSPM has persisted and arguably has increased recently, partly because of the churches’ maintaining of denominational ties. The government has begun to endorse elements of Confucianism, but it is unlikely that this policy reflects a greater commitment to religious freedom. Confucianism is a complex system of moral, social, political and religious teaching built up by Confucius (551-478 BC) on a foundation of ancient Chinese traditions. It is arguably a philosophy rather than a religion, in which the notion of duty is extended into almost every detail of daily life. It includes no revelation and very little doctrine, and its worship is centred in offerings to the dead. In the hands of the Chinese authorities it may be merely a political instrument to uphold the state and ensure conformity. They may see it as an effective rival to non-Chinese religions, and as a means of promoting Chinese nationalism in the face of increasing cultural influence from the West.
These charts show the relative extent of the various religious and Christian affiliations among the Chinese population. Precise estimates vary, sometimes quite widely
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Barnabas News Newsroom
Barnabas Fund UK meetings with Patrick Sookhdeo Islam is spreading throughout the UK and transforming British society. The Muslim community is growing rapidly, and the influence of Islam on law, politics and economics is getting stronger. In the face of this challenge, what role should the Church play in shaping the future of Britain? In 2009 Dr Patrick Sookhdeo will be holding a series of speaker meetings under the title “Islam, the Church and the Future of Britain”. He will address the urgent need for the Church to understand Islam and engage constructively with the Muslim community without compromising its own Christian beliefs, the truth of the Gospel, and our society’s Judeo-Christian heritage. Confirmed dates and venues are listed below, and updates will be included in future editions of Barnabas Aid. Please do come and reflect with us on this important issue, and bring your Christian friends too! Saturday 10 January Woodford, 7.00 pm All Saints Church, Inmans Row London Sunday 11 January Southend 3 - 5 pm St Michael & All Angels Church, Leigh Road, Westcliff-on-Sea Saturday 31 January Glasgow 7.00 pm Victoria Evangelical Church, Langside Road Saturday 28 February N Ireland Details to be confirmed Friday 6 March Wirral 7.30 pm Grange URC, Kings Road, Higher Bebbington Saturday 16 March Ipswich 10.00 am To be confirmed (If you are unable to attend any of these meetings you may like instead to read Patrick Sookhdeo’s book The Challenge of Islam to the Church and Its Mission, available from Barnabas Fund. Details are on the opposite page.)
Save Iraqi Christians petition presented in London and Canberra A total of 42,627 people put their names to the petition created by Barnabas Fund for our Save Iraqi Christians campaign. On 5 November 2008 the British and European signatures were presented to the Human Rights, Democracy and Governance Group and the Iraqi Group of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office by Barnabas Fund’s International Director, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo. He was accompanied by a senior leader of the Iraqi community in the UK. The Australian signatures were presented to Russell Broadbent MP at the Federal Parliament on Monday 10 November. Give thanks to God that so many people worldwide have signed the petition. Please pray that Western governments will recognise the severity of anti-Christian violence in Iraq and will welcome Iraqi Christians into their countries to live and worship in peace and security. Pray too that immigration officials reviewing asylum applications will recognise the particular dangers faced by Iraqi Christians.
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“Partnership of Partnerships” conference, July 2008 At St Petersburg Christian University in Russia last summer, Barnabas Fund brought together 75 delegates from around 14 republics and territories in Central Asia and the Caucasus. They represented a wide range of contexts, from places of relative religious freedom to those with draconian regimes and many militant Islamists. Several delegates had recently suffered imprisonment or violent persecution, or had relatives in jail for outreach to Muslims. The conference included worship and prayer, talks and lectures, seminars and meetings. Delegates shared news from their homelands: official regulations and restrictive laws, persecution, poverty and anti-Christian violence. But they also testified to God’s goodness and provision for His people, and to strong fellowship between believers. One common theme was the significant growth of the Church despite persecution. One delegate was the first male convert to Christianity from his people-group, and now, 15 years later, he pastors a convert church among his own people. Another major theme was the need for national Christians to develop patterns of church organisation that are appropriate to their context and not merely to copy models from elsewhere. Many delegates gave examples of house churches and underground fellowships that are based on diffuse and multiple leadership rather than a single pastor. These are much more resilient against state action. Delegates were also able to discuss their needs with the Barnabas Fund team, and over 60 potential projects were examined. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to exchange views on how best to strengthen the Church in a variety of situations. For everyone involved it was a rich experience.
Ian Wright, CEO of Barnabas Fund in Australia, presents the Australian signatures of the Save Iraqi Christians petition to Russell Broadbent MP
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Barnabas Fund has an office for the former Soviet Union, which has recently moved to Moldova. Please pray for the staff as they seek to support our partners in a variety of challenging circumstances.
Resources
In this edition we profile a new book from Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, and look at related resources from Isaac Publishing. Understanding Shari‘a Finance: The Muslim Challenge to Western Economics Patrick Sookhdeo
NEW TITLE
The last twenty years have seen a distinctively Islamic financial system become a major player on the world economic stage. Many Muslims have rejected Western financial products and institutions, which they believe to be incompatible with shari‘a law. They have also generated a wide range of alternative economic tools, first in Muslim countries and now in the West, and an increasingly lucrative international market.
Patrick Sookhdeo sees this fast-developing “shari‘a finance” as part of the Islamist agenda to subvert and subjugate Western systems under the rule of Islam. In this study he discusses the history and ideas of the movement, the character and spread of the Islamic economy, and the problems and dangers that it may present. In particular he reveals the connections between Islamic finance and radical Islamist groups. This stimulating and accessible study will interest anyone concerned about the worldwide Islamic resurgence and its possible implications for global finance and politics. “This book is vital to educating businessmen and citizens about the threats posed to our economic and political system by Shari‘a Compliant Finance (SCF). Read it and understand that if you accept SCF, you could face terrible unintended consequences.” US Representative Sue Myrick, Founder and Co-Chair, Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus Isaac Publishing, paperback, 114 pp, offer price £4.99 + £1.50 postage (normal price £6.99)
Faith, Power and Territory: A Handbook of British Islam Patrick Sookhdeo
The Challenge of Islam to the Church and Its Mission (revised and expanded edition; first edition published as Islam: the Challenge to the Church) Patrick Sookhdeo
Islam is a religion and also recognises itself as a political and territorial power. This book has been written as an easyto-use resource to help nonMuslims understand Islam in Britain today and how it is seeking to transform the country. The author considers the beliefs and actions of British Muslims, including their unity and diversity, and examines their key movements, figures and organizations. He also asks penetrating questions about the future development of Muslim communities in the UK and the yielding of British authorities and institutions to the process of Islamisation. His insights are applicable to other countries with significant Muslim minorities.
The growing impact of Islam on Western societies raises many issues and poses many challenges for the Church and its mission. This book is written for Christians as they seek to think through those issues and respond to those challenges in a wise, loving, Biblical, effective and Christ-like way. The author explains the nature of Islam and how it differs from Christianity, and then looks at a number of questions raised by its presence in the West. He also discusses the various aspects of Christian-Muslim relations, including worship, “dialogue” and evangelism, encouraging Christians to extend compassionate concern to Muslims while remaining faithful to Christ.
Isaac Publishing, paperback, 370 pp, offer price £8.00 + £2.50 postage (normal price £12.99)
Isaac Publishing, hardback, 193 pp, offer price £8.99 + £2.00 postage (normal price £14.99)
To order any of these books, please visit www.barnabasfund.org/shop. Alternatively please contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office (addresses on back cover). Cheques for the UK should be made payable to “Barnabas Books”.
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In touch
Pray in Lent for the persecuted Church A prayer request from In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul writes about his experiences in the province of Asia, “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-11, emphasis added) For Lent 2009 we would like to encourage you to join us in prayer for the many persecuted Christians around the world who, like Paul when he was in Asia, find themselves under great pressure and often beyond their ability to endure. They need our prayers.
history and current context of the Church and offering suggestions for prayer. The booklet can be used for individual prayer or prayer groups during Lent as we remember our Lord’s passion and prepare to celebrate His sacrifice on the cross and the glorious hope we have through His resurrection.
We have put together an informative and attractive prayer booklet that can be used as a guide to lift up in prayer our brothers and sisters around the world where they suffer persecution. The booklet features a mini-profile of the Christian communities in each featured country, describing the
You will receive your prayer booklet with the March/April issue of Barnabas Aid. Extra or advance copies can be ordered from your national Barnabas Fund office or the UK office using the form opposite or online from www.barnabasfund.org/resources.
Barnabas Fund
We would like to ask for your prayers at this time when the credit crunch and talk of recession are raising fears of material hardship with many people. The difficult economic climate obviously could also affect the amount of giving we receive from supporters to help our brothers and sisters who suffer persecution because of their faith. Pray that we all will put our trust in God, who is our provider, and that He will continue to stir the hearts of people to support the work of Barnabas Fund financially as well as prayerfully. Together we can continue to bring aid and hope to persecuted Christians around the world whose needs are so much greater than ours, no matter how much the credit crunch and recession may be affecting us.
Why make a will? Many people underestimate the importance of drawing up a will. A will is a vital means of providing security for family and friends, of preventing unnecessary heartache and disputes and of giving oneself the peace of mind that comes with knowing that one’s affairs have been put in order. It is also a great opportunity to leave a legacy that will help the growth of God’s Kingdom. This is a marvellous way of thanking our Lord for the goodness of all His gifts that you have enjoyed during your lifetime. Sadly a large number of people still die without having written a will: sometimes because they do not want to consider their mortality, sometimes because the process seems too complicated. To help you with this important task we have put together a booklet, “A Christian guide to making and changing 18
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your will”, explaining in five easy steps how to draw up a will. It also includes a section on the Biblical basis for making a will, thereby offering a Christian perspective on this vital issue. Order your free copy using the form opposite or go to www.barnabasfund.org/resources.
Advance notice: Barnabas Fund UK Supporters’ Day This will be held on Saturday 6 June 2009 at Freshbrook Evangelical Church, Worsley Road, Swindon, Wiltshire. Further details will be provided in a future edition of Barnabas Aid, but please book the date in your diary now!