Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 064 | Wed 14 Jul 2010
EGYPT: PERSECUTION STILL ESCALATING
In May 1980 Egypt amended its constitution to elevate Sharia (Islamic Law) as 'the principal source of legislation'. This provision is now common in Muslim constitutions, including the new constitutions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Constitutional guarantees of religious liberty and equality before the law are illusory under Sharia. It forbids apostasy (leaving Islam) and eliminates fitna (anything that could even tempt a Muslim to leave Islam). Sharia also establishes dhimmitude: the subjugation of Jews and Christians as second class citizens; systematic discrimination; religious apartheid.
In Egypt, as in virtually every Muslim state, a person's official religion is displayed on their identity (ID) card. According to Sharia, every child born to a Muslim man is automatically Muslim from birth. If a Christian man converts to Islam, his Christian children are automatically deemed Muslim. If a Muslim parent converts to Christianity they lose custody of their children. Sharia mandates that a Muslim girl may marry only a Muslim man, thereby ensuring that her children will be born Muslim. (This is the main reason why some female converts to Christianity dare to adopt falsified ID cards.)
In 2007 a Muslim-born convert to Christianity, Mohammed Hegazi (24), applied to have his ID card changed. Not only did he want to have his ID card reflect reality, he did not want his unborn child to be officially deemed Muslim from birth. When his application was rejected, Hegazi sued the Interior Ministry for his constitutional right to religious freedom (Article 46). The court ruled against Hegazi on the grounds that Sharia prohibits apostasy. Death threats resulting from the publicity drove Hegazi, his wife and new-born daughter into hiding. In August 2008 Maher el-Gowhary took up the same fight for the sake of his daughter, Dina (14). El-Gowhary (55), who had quietly converted to Christianity 35 years earlier, wanted his true religious identity acknowledged and his ID card corrected before his daughter turned 16, when she would be issued her own ID card.
Islamic religious leaders issued fatwas calling for Hegazi's and el-Gowhary's blood to be shed and in September 2008 the men narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. In June 2009 the court ruled against el-Gowhary because Sharia prohibits apostasy and conversions would pose a threat to the 'public order'. When el-Gowhary and his daughter subsequently tried to leave Egypt their passports were confiscated. In April 2010 Dina el-Gowhary was attacked with acid, causing her jacket to ignite. Fortunately she survived unharmed. On 5 July 2010 Maher el-Gowhary was ambushed by two men on a motorbike who abused him as an apostate, shouted 'Allahu Akbar' and stabbed him in the neck. The seriously wounded el-Gowhary is too afraid of the authorities to go to hospital as Egyptian police are infamous for their corruption and brutality.
Nagla Al-Imam (36), an Egyptian attorney, Sharia expert and prominent human rights activist, publicly announced in 2009 that she had converted from Islam to Christianity. In early July 2010 Egyptian security officials detained Nagla, bashed and threatened her. On 8 July she responded by posting an Internet video of herself (battered and bruised) and her two young children singing a Christian lament requesting Christ's comforting and strengthening presence through the high waves of persecution. Shortly after this, Nagla and her children disappeared and the offices of Al-Tarek TV, from where she used to broadcast, were vandalised by Egyptian security forces.
WE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:
* shield, protect, comfort and strengthen those Egyptian Christians who, while embracing Christian freedom, are risking much to challenge Islamic totalitarianism.
'Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.' (Psalm 59:1,2 ESV)
* redeem this suffering for the salvation of many and for his glory.
'Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.' (1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV)
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PERSECUTION STILL ESCALATING IN EGYPT
Egypt's Constitution elevates Sharia as 'the principal source of legislation', rendering constitutional guarantees of religious liberty illusory. In 2007 Mohammed Hegazi and in 2008 Maher el-Gowhary courageously pursued the Interior Ministry for their constitutional right to have their conversion from Islam to Christianity officially recorded. They did this for their children who would thus be free to be Christian. The courts, however, ruled that Sharia prohibits leaving Islam (apostasy). Their lives are seriously imperilled with fatwas issued against them. After Nagla al-Imam (36), an attorney and Sharia expert, had publicly announced her conversion to Christianity, police detained, bashed and threatened her in early July. She then posted an Internet video of herself (battered) and her two young children singing a Christian lament. The three have since 'disappeared'. Please pray.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
063. Bekasi (West Java), Indonesia: jihad threat level high
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 063 | Wed 07 Jul 2010
BEKASI (West Java), INDONESIA: JIHAD THREAT LEVEL HIGH
On Sunday 27 June Islamic fundamentalist leaders at the Bekasi Islamic Congress demanded the city administration of Bekasi, West Java, enact Sharia (Islamic) laws so as to 'limit' apostasy. (Sharia limits apostasy by making it a capital offence.) They also proposed that every mosque in Bekasi form its own paramilitary unit ('laskar') that can be quickly mobilised for 'war' against Christians if 'Christianisation' is not halted in line with Muslim demands.
The next day militants belonging to the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) raided a restaurant in Banyuwangi, East Java, where MPs were running a health bill familiarisation program. FPI secretary general, Awit Mashuri, defended the FPI's actions, telling TVOne that the FPI is not a law unto itself and always 'coordinates' with state apparatus before taking any action. According to Awit, on this occasion the FPI's intelligence came from a 'district military intelligence unit'. The FPI claimed the raid was necessary to destroy an illegal meeting of 'Communists'. Outraged Indonesian legislators called for the FPI to be banned. However, others simply recommended rule of law, noting that if the FPI is banned other groups will just emerge in its place.
This is the watershed issue on which the future of Indonesia hangs: is the government prepared to enforce the law, especially in the context of rising Islamic fundamentalism, belligerence and 'talibanisation'? According to Eva Kusuma Sundari, an Indonesian MP with the Democratic Party of Struggle, 'There is information saying the FPI is a pet of the TNI [Indonesian military], and the police hesitate to deal face-to-face with the military, because police consider the armed forces their elder brother.' Of course the Defence Ministry denied the allegation, maintaining that all TNI were 'professional soldiers who obey the law'. Eva Kusuma Sundari has also learned that the FPI was registered by a decree of the Home Ministry in 2006, so it cannot be banned without an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Last Saturday 3 July some 100 jihadist recruits turned out for an inaugural military training exercise in an open field in Bekasi. The stated aim was to 'strike fear into the hearts of Christians'. 'If they refuse to stop what they are doing, we're ready to fight,' said Murhali Barda, the head of the local FPI chapter. One Bekasi mosque has erected an enormous banner that reads ' Death penalty for Andreas Dusly Sanau . . .' and pictures the local Protestant pastor with his head in a flaming noose.
The government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is reluctant to act against the Islamic fundamentalists because it is dependent upon the support of Islamic parties in the parliament. With the Islamic parties holding the balance of power, nobody, especially the ruling party, can afford to be deemed 'un-Islamic'.
Many analysts are warning that the situation threatens to deteriorate into religious war similar to that which convulsed Indonesia between January 1999 and February 2002. It must be noted though that those conflicts in Central Sulawesi and Maluku occurred on Indonesia's periphery where the Muslim-Christian demographic is around 50-50. If conflict erupts in Bekasi, which is 98 percent Muslim and only 15km east of Jakarta in densely populated West Java, then it will be a totally different proposition.
WE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:
* use these tense, dark times to awaken Indonesia's majority nominal Muslims to the inherently intolerant, dictatorial and repressive nature of Islam, exposing it as man-made, self-interested and false; may the darkness only serve to make the gospel truth shine more brightly and warmly.
* watch over and shelter his faithful servants and bring the schemes of the wicked to ruin. (Psalm 146:9)
* give the Indonesian government the moral courage it needs to uphold the rule of law in Indonesia, for the sake of the nation and the persecuted Church.
' . . . I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' (Matthew 16:18 ESV)
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JIHAD THREAT LEVEL HIGH IN BEKASI, INDONESIA
Bekasi is only 15 km from Jakarta in densely populated West Java and is 98 percent Muslim. On Sunday 27 June Islamic fundamentalists in Bekasi called for the city administration to enact Sharia law and for every mosque to form its own paramilitary in preparation for war against Christians. Last Saturday 3 July some 100 jihadist recruits did military training in an open field in Bekasi with the aim of 'striking fear into the hearts of Christians'. One mosque displays an enormous banner picturing a local Protestant pastor with his head in a flaming noose. The government is reluctant to act against the Islamic fundamentalists because it depends on the support of Islamic parties in the parliament. The situation is extremely serious for the Church in Indonesia. Please pray.
BEKASI (West Java), INDONESIA: JIHAD THREAT LEVEL HIGH
On Sunday 27 June Islamic fundamentalist leaders at the Bekasi Islamic Congress demanded the city administration of Bekasi, West Java, enact Sharia (Islamic) laws so as to 'limit' apostasy. (Sharia limits apostasy by making it a capital offence.) They also proposed that every mosque in Bekasi form its own paramilitary unit ('laskar') that can be quickly mobilised for 'war' against Christians if 'Christianisation' is not halted in line with Muslim demands.
The next day militants belonging to the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) raided a restaurant in Banyuwangi, East Java, where MPs were running a health bill familiarisation program. FPI secretary general, Awit Mashuri, defended the FPI's actions, telling TVOne that the FPI is not a law unto itself and always 'coordinates' with state apparatus before taking any action. According to Awit, on this occasion the FPI's intelligence came from a 'district military intelligence unit'. The FPI claimed the raid was necessary to destroy an illegal meeting of 'Communists'. Outraged Indonesian legislators called for the FPI to be banned. However, others simply recommended rule of law, noting that if the FPI is banned other groups will just emerge in its place.
This is the watershed issue on which the future of Indonesia hangs: is the government prepared to enforce the law, especially in the context of rising Islamic fundamentalism, belligerence and 'talibanisation'? According to Eva Kusuma Sundari, an Indonesian MP with the Democratic Party of Struggle, 'There is information saying the FPI is a pet of the TNI [Indonesian military], and the police hesitate to deal face-to-face with the military, because police consider the armed forces their elder brother.' Of course the Defence Ministry denied the allegation, maintaining that all TNI were 'professional soldiers who obey the law'. Eva Kusuma Sundari has also learned that the FPI was registered by a decree of the Home Ministry in 2006, so it cannot be banned without an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Last Saturday 3 July some 100 jihadist recruits turned out for an inaugural military training exercise in an open field in Bekasi. The stated aim was to 'strike fear into the hearts of Christians'. 'If they refuse to stop what they are doing, we're ready to fight,' said Murhali Barda, the head of the local FPI chapter. One Bekasi mosque has erected an enormous banner that reads ' Death penalty for Andreas Dusly Sanau . . .' and pictures the local Protestant pastor with his head in a flaming noose.
The government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is reluctant to act against the Islamic fundamentalists because it is dependent upon the support of Islamic parties in the parliament. With the Islamic parties holding the balance of power, nobody, especially the ruling party, can afford to be deemed 'un-Islamic'.
Many analysts are warning that the situation threatens to deteriorate into religious war similar to that which convulsed Indonesia between January 1999 and February 2002. It must be noted though that those conflicts in Central Sulawesi and Maluku occurred on Indonesia's periphery where the Muslim-Christian demographic is around 50-50. If conflict erupts in Bekasi, which is 98 percent Muslim and only 15km east of Jakarta in densely populated West Java, then it will be a totally different proposition.
WE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:
* use these tense, dark times to awaken Indonesia's majority nominal Muslims to the inherently intolerant, dictatorial and repressive nature of Islam, exposing it as man-made, self-interested and false; may the darkness only serve to make the gospel truth shine more brightly and warmly.
* watch over and shelter his faithful servants and bring the schemes of the wicked to ruin. (Psalm 146:9)
* give the Indonesian government the moral courage it needs to uphold the rule of law in Indonesia, for the sake of the nation and the persecuted Church.
' . . . I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' (Matthew 16:18 ESV)
~~~~
SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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JIHAD THREAT LEVEL HIGH IN BEKASI, INDONESIA
Bekasi is only 15 km from Jakarta in densely populated West Java and is 98 percent Muslim. On Sunday 27 June Islamic fundamentalists in Bekasi called for the city administration to enact Sharia law and for every mosque to form its own paramilitary in preparation for war against Christians. Last Saturday 3 July some 100 jihadist recruits did military training in an open field in Bekasi with the aim of 'striking fear into the hearts of Christians'. One mosque displays an enormous banner picturing a local Protestant pastor with his head in a flaming noose. The government is reluctant to act against the Islamic fundamentalists because it depends on the support of Islamic parties in the parliament. The situation is extremely serious for the Church in Indonesia. Please pray.
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