Sudanese Christian Woman Faces Ordeal as Convert from Islam

Islamic apostasy laws in action. Read and share this harrowing story of a brave Christian confessor from Sudan, whose enemies are "those of her own household."

Sudanese Woman Faces Ordeal as Convert from Islam

Long before current crackdown in Sudan, Muslim society punished ‘apostates.’

Morning Star News — 9/20/2013

JUBA, South Sudan (Morning Star News) – After her family in Khartoum, Sudan nearly buried her alive for leaving Islam and authorities imprisoned her for six months, a Sudanese Christian thought she might find refuge in Ethiopia.

She had fled to Ethiopia in 2010, five years after putting her faith in Christ. By the following year, she found herself face-to-face with hostile Sudanese officials.

“Some security personnel from the Sudan Embassy in Addis Ababa informed me that I must leave Ethiopia because I was an infidel,” the 35-year-old woman, whose name is withheld for security reasons, told Morning Star News.

Now in South Sudan, which split from Sudan on July 9, 2011, she still lives in hiding. Sudanese Muslims in South Sudan, she says, are monitoring her movements.

She had come to faith when a Christian woman told her about the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus, and soon she began attending church. When her family learned of her conversion, she said, they locked her in a dark room for six months and arranged visits from an Islamic sheikh who struck her 10 times each day.

“After six months, I was released and was very frustrated and went into hiding, but my family discovered where I was hiding in Khartoum and reported to the police that I had left Islam,” she said.

Her family learned of her hiding place, found and beat her, and threw her from a second floor landing.

“I was bleeding and my ribs were broken,” she said, tears streaming from her eyes.

Family members threatened to charge her with apostasy unless she repented and returned to Islam, telling her, “You are an infidel, you are no longer a good Muslim,” she said. Apostasy is punishable by death in Sudan, which upholds sharia (Islamic law) as a source of legislation, according to the U.S. Department of State.

APOCALYPTIC: 'The world is watching the effective extinction of Christianity from its birthplace.'

This is a must-read, must-share report on a landmark briefing in London which addresses "the worst persecution in 700 years against the oldest, largest remaining Christian minorities in the Middle East," and the media's "utter trivial" and "anemic" coverage.

Christianity becoming extinct in its birthplace, says Historian Tom Holland

Lapido Media via MarkDurie.com — 9/20/2013

‘Medieval scale of horror...’ 

—Historian Tom Holland. 

MIDDLE EAST historian Tom Holland told a briefing in London last night that the world is watching the effective extinction of Christianity from its birthplace.

In an apocalyptic appraisal of the worsening political situation in the region, a panel of experts provided a mass of evidence and statistics for the end of the region’s nation states under the onslaught of militant Islam.

‘In terms of the sheer scale of the hatreds and sectarian rivalries, we are witnessing something on the scale of horror of the European Thirty Years War,’ said Holland.

‘It is the climax of a process grinding its way through the twentieth century – the effective extinction of Christianity from its birthplace.’

The event titled ‘Reporting the Middle East: Why the truth is getting lost’ at the National Liberal Club in Whitehall, sought answers to the ‘anaemic’ coverage of attacks on Egypt’s Christians on 14 August.

‘Horrific levels of violence’ 

—Nina Shea

Pre-planned destruction of scores of ancient churches, monasteries, schools, orphanages and businesses had gone unreported for days across the West, Nina Shea, Director of the Hudson Institute Religious Freedom Centre in Washington said.

Time For Some Serious Questions, revisited - Part 2

My first 'revisited post' qualified as a standalone article. This is more of an attempt to reply to a flurry of concerns raised by a commenter over at Monomakhos. There are some great questions and points raised here, which provide several "teachable moments", so I decided to post the commenter's points, interspersed with my replies. Many of my replies are derived primarily from my book, FACING ISLAM, which is a well-rounded resource for Christians confronting the religion of Muhammad.

________________

Commenter: Do you not realize that “Allah” is not a proper name? it is the Arabic word for “God” and it should be used, lest the Muslim teaching be distorted unfairly. Arabic-speaking Christians use the word “Allah” when they pray in Arabic, just as not Arabs use God. 

My Reply: 

I would respectfully suggest that there is a considerable amount of complex etymology surrounding the word/name Allah and its adoption by Muhammad during the formation of his religion of Islam, which should urge us to caution in trying to generalize about its proper use. 

There exist strong reasons to consider that Allah was but one of the many pagan deities worshipped by the Arab polytheists before Muhammad elevated him to pre-eminent status. The frequency of the crescent moon in archeological digs from the pre-Islamic pagan epoch, the Sabean lunar calendar so prevalent in the Arabian peninsula, and the apparent correspondence to the Babylonian deity Baal are indicators, as is Allah’s most used title in the Koran, Ar-Rahman (the Merciful), who was known in South Arabia as a moon deity. Perhaps due to the influence of Christianity and Judaism, there can be traced a development towards a proto or pseudo-monotheism in the Arabian peninsula, with the moon god’s domination earning him the appellation “Lord of Heaven and Earth.” This trend throughout the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., especially in the north around Mecca, and significantly in Muhammad’s own Quraysh tribe, paved the way for the “Prophet.” The Quraysh had come to be known even before Muhammad’s rise as the “People of Allah.” Thus Serge Trifkovic concludes, “the word [Allah] was well familiar to Muhammad’s contemporaries, denoting a pagan deity that his tribe revered as superior to all others, rather than the Supreme Being, creator and sustainer of the universe. He did not need to invent a completely new word but eventually redefined the uniquely Arab Allah on his own terms” (Trifkovic, The Sword of the Prophet, pp 19-24). 

Russian Patriarch to Obama: Syria’s Christians Nearing ‘Extermination’

by Raymond Ibrahim — PJ Media
9/20/2013

While many were fixated on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent letter to the American people, another letter from another Russian leader—this one directly addressed to the U.S. president—was missed.

On September 10, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill issued a letter addressed to “His Excellency Mr. Barack Obama, President, United States.”  Whether one wishes to interpret this communique as a product of politics or sincerity, it accurately highlights the plight of Syria’s Christians, especially in the broader context of a larger civilizational struggle.

I repost major portions of the letter below, interspersed with my observations for added context:

Your Excellency, Dear Mr. President, 

The tragic events in Syria have raised anxiety and caused pain in the Russian Orthodox Church. We receive information about the situation there not from the news reports but from living evidence coming to us from religious figures, ordinary believers and our compatriots living in that country.

This is an important point: the “news reports” evaluated by the Russian church are from “living evidence coming to us from religious figures, ordinary believers and our compatriots living in that country.”  The fact is, outside of America’s biased “mainstream media,” the evidence concerning what is going on in Syria—namely, that Islamic militants are committing human rights atrocities, including possibly the chemical attacks in question—is overwhelming.  Countless eyewitness testimonies, videos, pictures—all those things that rarely make it to the U.S. MSM—make this abundantly clear.

Ask the average Syrian about the current turmoil engulfing their land—and I have, as have numerous Russian Orthodox representatives in communion with Syria’s ancient Christian community, as noted by Kirill—and few have any illusions as to its nature: an authoritarian, but secular, Assad vs. radical Islamists and jihadis.

Naturally most Syrians choose Assad.

Only in America, and to a lesser extent Western Europe, is the myth of “freedom fighters” trying to “liberate” Syria still being peddled.

Time For Some Serious Questions, revisited

Back in May, following the broad daylight murder and beheading of British soldier Lee Rigby by a Qur'an-quoting Muslim on the streets of London, I posted an article, Message to Muslims: Time for some Serious Questions, which you may wish to re-read (or read for the first time), as the post below refers to it.

This article was recently picked up by Monomakhos blog, and lots of comments were posted. Many of the comments which stayed on topic tended to miss the point I was trying to make. Some felt I was tarring all Muslims with the broad brush of communal guilt for the violent acts of a few of their co-religionists. Others trotted out staples of the "religious equivalency fallacy" such as the atrocities committed by Christians against Muslims during the Crusades, and so on.

These are all very involved issues, and I eventually composed a fairly thorough follow-up comment, expanding my main point. Thankfully, it seems this was widely read at Monomakhos, and received positive comments and "likes."  I am posting it below, as it is good to revisit these issues from time to time.

Patriarch Kirill participates in celebrations on the occasion of consecration of the Armenian church complex in Moscow

Further nurturing of conciliar bonds among the traditional Christian communities, led by the Moscow Patriarchate.

PRAVMIR — 9/19/2013

On 17 September 2013, a solemn ceremony of the consecration of the church complex belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church took place in Moscow, in Trifonovskaya Street.

Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos Karekin II of All Armenians officiated at the consecration. Attending the celebration was His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

At the main gate of the church complex, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was met by Bishop Ezras (Nersisyan), head of the New Nakhichevan and Russia diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Among the honorary guests of the ceremony were Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, hierarchs of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Russian and Armenian statesmen, representatives of Christian confessions and the Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist communities.

His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II addressed the participants and numerous guests of the celebrations. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill also greeted all those present, saying in particular:

A Mysterious Mass Conversion From Islam to Christianity in Georgia

MYSTAGOGY — 9/18/2013

The Church of Saint Nicholas in Batumi

Ian Hamel — September 15, 2013

Oumma.com

In 1991, 75% of Adjarians in Georgia were Muslims. Today, they have become 75% Orthodox Christians. How can these conversions be explained, which is apparently unique in the world?

Syrian Orthodox Christian: 'I lived in Romania for 7 years and I tell you honestly that I do not think that the Romanian Christians have more freedom than the Syrian Christians'

"We saw what the Americans did when they invaded Iraq. The solution is that the West stops supporting the terrorists and that Turkey keeps its borders closed. Let our country live, let my people live. Syria throughout time taught the world the Power of Civilization, not the Civilization of Power. It is only this that I want to tell to the whole world."

Drum european via Pravoslavie — 9/16/2013

Photo: Khalil Ashawi | Reuters

From the Editor Romanian magazine: He is Syrian, he is Orthodox Christian and he just finished his studies in Romania. S.M. lives through the war in Syria as an eye-witness and views it completely different than it is presented to us in Romania. (The Syrian asked me not to give his name; I guarantee that the following interview is an honest one, that S.M. is not forced by the Syrian authorities to talk nice about Bashar Al Assad).

How does a Christian living in Syria view the current situation from Syria?

I am a Syrian who studied in Romania. I just finished my studies and I returned to my country. The situation is very sad, because few years ago Syria was one of the best countries in the world (in 2009 it was the fourth most peaceful in the world and in 2010 it was the eighth tourist attraction in the world) and now the situation has changed and in 2012 Syria was among the ten most miserable countries in the world. The sad and very rapid change was a shock not only for me but for all Syrians throughout the world. Personally in these past couple of years I was continuously worried for my family as they were in danger and I, being in Romania, couldn’t do anything to help them. Now that I returned I understood what kind of danger the Syrians faced these two years and a half and, unfortunately, the situation is much worse than I imagined.

What I will tell may come as a shock to you, who are miss-informed by the Western mass-media. Yet, I have to tell you the truth. From the point of view of a Syrian Christian I can tell you that what is now happening in Syria is not a revolution. Why would we need a revolution when we go to schools, to universities, to hospitals for free? The prices used to be very low. We cannot say that life in Syria was perfect, but did that require a revolution? Not at all! The corruption in my country exists in any other country. At the same time the rights we had are beyond any comparison to the other Muslim countries. A Syrian Christian lived very well; he had all the rights a Muslim had. I never felt that I was somehow obstructed or that I needed more freedom. As a Christian I had all the rights a Muslim had except that of becoming president. We even had more rights compared to some Christian or secularized countries. For instance, the clergy can wear their vestments in the public areas; they are even treated with respect, whereas in Turkey only the Ecumenical Patriarch can wear his cassock in the public areas. In Syria the churches are exempted from paying the utilities, a thing that doesn’t happen in Romania etc.

CHRISTIANS WILL BE MASSACRED: If Syrian army leaves Aleppo, faithful will be killed, Chaldean Catholic leader warns

Catholic Online — 9/10/2013

Chaldean Catholic Church in Syria in complete unity with the Holy See, Pope Francis

The United States ostensibly backs the rebel factions in war-torn Syria, but as one Christian leader that has ministered to the faithful in the Middle East warns, government forces are the ones protecting the Christian minority there. "The Syrian Army is protecting the Christian community [in Aleppo]," Reverend Raymond Moussalli says. "But if [the Army] leaves, they will be massacred."

Maaloula refugees celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross, pray for their martyrs

AsiaNews via Pravmir — 9/17/2013

“The small town conquered by the rebels is now deserted,” sources told AsiaNews. In the capital, refugees organised celebrations-Mass, Eucharistic adoration and vigils-in lieu of traditional processions and bonfires. “The event was dedicated to our martyrs and the suffering of Syria,” a Maaloula Christian said.

Damascus (AsiaNews) – Christian refugees from Maaloula and Damascene Christians celebrated the feast day of the Exaltation of the Cross on Saturday with a Mass, prayer vigils for the martyrs and small celebrations outside churches across the capital.

The celebration dates back to 320 AD, when Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, sent officials to Jerusalem to find the Holy relic of the cross on Mount Golgotha, which they did on 14 September.

In order to inform the emperor and his mother, who lived in Constantinople, bonfires were lit on every peak located along the 1,170 km that separate the two cities.

For centuries, Maaloula was the centre of this celebration, with pilgrims and faithful gathering each year from around Syria and the world.

“Preparations [this year] have been very sober,” sources (anonymous for security reasons) told AsiaNews.

“This is a far cry from peace time when the whole town of Maaloula, now in the hands of Islamic extremists, was dressed up to the nines with bonfires burning until dawn.”

“This year the festival was dedicated to our martyrs, the suffering of Syria.”