RLPB 657. Islamic State Seeks Recruits; Calls for Attacks on Churches

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 657 | Wed 10 Aug 2022
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com
View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.
For bite-size: follow religiouslibertyprayer on Instagram

ISLAMIC STATE SEEKS RECRUITS; CALLS FOR ATTACKS ON CHURCHES
By Elizabeth Kendal

In the past two months, the transnational Islamic jihadist organisation known as Islamic State (IS) has released three propaganda videos in non-Arabic languages. On 14 June IS West Africa Province (in Nigeria) released a video in Hausa (the largest ethnic/language group in West and Central Africa). On 1 July IS in Iraq released a video in Kurdish (spoken in Iraqi Kurdistan, north and east Syria, and much of eastern Turkey). On 30 July IS in Somalia released a 25-minute video in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. Then, on 3 August, IS in Khorasan Province (greater Afghanistan) released a fatwa calling for attacks on Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Shi’ite places of worship.

According to ‘The New Arab’ (18 June), ISWAP’s Hausa-language propaganda video (with Arabic subtitles) calls on Muslims to make ‘hijrah’ – migration and permanent settlement – to IS controlled territory, where IS promises to ‘protect’ and defend them. ISWAP is now the strongest Islamic terror/jihadist group in Nigeria. The federal capital, Abuja, is on high alert, especially after the 6 July jail break [see RLPB 655 (27 July)]. On 8 August, IS released a poster in English and Arabic versions titled 'Harvest of African Christians' (pictured) boasting 13 churches burned, hundreds of homes burned, and 190 Christians killed in June-July 2022 amidst ethno-religious cleansing campaigns in D.R.Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Meanwhile, IS in Iraq and Syria is ready to exploit any breach in the already fragile security situation. It is clearly seeking to divide the Kurds and recruit Islamist Kurds into its ranks, which would be catastrophic for Christians in northern Iraq and eastern Syria [see RLPB 654 (20 July)].

The Amharic video was released just a week after Islamic State forces from Somalia were routed in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region [see RLPB 655 (27 July)]. 

The video – which is entitled ‘On the Path of the Conquerors,’ includes Arabic subtitles and is narrated by a jihadist named Abu ‘Isa Al-Ethiopi – has been analysed by MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorist Threat Monitor (JTTM). Abu ‘Isa opens with a narration on the long 1400-year struggle between Muslims and ‘unbelieving Christians’ in the Horn of Africa. The key take-away is Abu ‘Isa’s claim that Abyssinian Christians not only reject and resist Islam, but have always hated, persecuted and plotted against Muslims. He blames ‘hypocrite’ Muslims (i.e., Muslims who neglect jihad) for the decline of Islam in Ethiopia, saying it was only after the Muslims abandoned jihad in the 17th Century that the Christians were able to regain the ascendancy. He laments that today Christians rule Ethiopia and have ‘caused people to leave Allah’s religion in droves’. He derides Ethiopia’s parliament as a ‘parliament of polytheism’ and condemns Muslim clerics who support the government as ‘apostate clerics’. He then exhorts Ethiopian Muslims to reject humiliation, relocate to Islamic State territory and ‘fight for your religion’. He tells Muslims that if hijrah is not possible, then ‘wage war on the unbelievers wherever you are’. A trainee jihadist further extends that invitation to all ‘the Muslims of East Africa’.

On 3 August MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorist Threat Monitor (JTTM) ran the headline: ‘Fatwa by Islamic State’s Khurasan Province (ISIS-K) Orders Attacks on Places of Worship of Christians, Jews, Hindus…’ The 18-page Pashtu-language fatwa (legal order) refers to these places of worship as ‘Masjid-e-Zarar,’ or Mosques of Dissent, in reference to a masjid/mosque (place of prayer) established by a Christian monk named Abu ‘Amir al-Rahib, with the backing of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, for the purpose of subverting Islam and opposing Muhammad. When Muhammad became aware of the plot, he had the masjid burned [see Quran, Sura 9:107-110 https://quran.com/9/107-110]. Ever since then, this incident has been used to legitimise the destruction of Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Shi’ite places of worship. After the fatwa was released, attacks on Shi’ite mosques in Kabul began almost immediately. IS Khorasan [Greater Afghanistan] Province (ISKP) is based in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar and Nangarhar Provinces, which border Pakistan’s north-western tribal areas. As RLPB has repeatedly noted, while the Afghan Church is and has long been an ‘underground’ Church, the Pakistani Church just over the border is not and never has been ‘underground’. As warned in RLPB 632 (9 Feb 2022), ‘Peshawar’s churches and Christian communities may be more at risk now than at any time in Pakistan’s history.’


PLEASE PRAY THAT THE LORD OF HOSTS WILL

* send his heavenly hosts (angelic forces) to watch over and protect all churches and Christian communities at risk of Islamic terror attack. We pray especially for Christian churches and communities in regions where Islamic State is pursuing gains, in particular Nigeria, Iraq and Syria, Ethiopia, and Pakistan (especially Peshawar). May the Lord draw his people close, and thwart all evil plots hatched against them.

Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me (Psalm 17:8-9 ESV).

* intervene to prevent the consolidation and expansion of Islamic State sanctuaries in Nigeria, Iraq and Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan; may the Lord of Hosts fight with all who seek to defeat Islamic jihadists; may security be restored.

But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenceless! Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers! Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely. (Psalm 141:8-10 ESV)


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
------------------------------------------
ISLAMIC STATE SEEKS RECRUITS; CALLS FOR ATTACKS ON CHURCHES

Recently Islamic State (IS) has released three propaganda videos in non-Arabic languages. IS in Nigeria released a video in Hausa, IS in Iraq released one in Kurdish and IS in Somalia released one in Amharic. The Amharic-language video specifically calls for jihad against Ethiopia’s Christians and government. The videos call for recruits to migrate to Islamic State-controlled territory or, if that is not possible, ‘wage war on the unbelievers wherever you are’. On 3 August Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) – based in eastern Afghanistan – issued a fatwa in Pashtu-language calling for attacks on Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Shi’ite places of worship. Please pray that the LORD will protect Christian churches and communities at increased risk of terror attack. Pray especially for the Church in Nigeria, Iraq and Syria, Ethiopia, and Pakistan.

------------------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church.

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information, or to support this ministry, visit www.ElizabethKendal.com.

RLPB 607. The Sahel: Africa's Afghanistan? Christians Imperilled.

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 607 | Wed 21 Jul 2021
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

To subscribe (free) or view archives, visit the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) blog.  The RLPB is sponsored by Christian Faith and Freedom Inc. 

THE SAHEL: AFRICA'S AFGHANISTAN? CHRISTIANS IMPERILLED.
- PLUS Pressing South: from the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea
by Elizabeth Kendal

In 2013, French troops entered the Sahel to counter Islamic jihadists who, in 2012, had seized control of Northern Mali in a blitzkrieg. Since 2014, some 5100 French troops have served alongside soldiers from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger in what has been known as Operation Barkhane. French policy was to hold off the jihadis while African states developed the capacity to defend their own territories. Operation Barkhane has been hugely unpopular in France, where citizens have questioned why French money should be spent and French lives lost (albeit very few) defending France's former colonies in Africa. Making matters worse, with troop numbers insufficient for the task, Operation Barkhane has not been successful. Instead, jihadists groups have both proliferated and grown stronger, while impoverished Sahelian armies remain ill-equipped and hopelessly overstretched.

At a press conference on 10 June, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Operation Barkhane will officially end in the first quarter of 2022; an orderly withdrawal has already begun. Some 2000 French troops will join Task Force Takuba, a recently established European Union force that will advise and assist African forces in their counter-terror operations. Troops will arrive home just in time for the French presidential election, scheduled for 10 April 2022. It comes at a time when jihadists are: (1) escalating activity to record levels; (2) enforcing Sharia law and implementing Sharia penalties in territories they control; and (3) actively working to expand south towards the Gulf of Guinea. Christians in the Sahel - especially those in the Liptako-Gourma [Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger tri-border] region - are imminently imperilled.

Like Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso is majority Muslim (52 percent Muslim and 21 percent Christian), with a proud tradition of religious freedom and social cohesion. Today, jihadist violence is escalating markedly, specifically in the Liptako-Gourma / tri-border region. The situation is particularly severe in Burkina Faso, which has suffered seven major attacks in quick succession since the beginning of April. On Friday night 4 June, jihadist gunmen on motorbikes killed 13 civilians and a soldier in Tadaryat, a village in Sahel Region's Yagha Province which borders Niger in north-eastern Burkina Faso. Hours later, at around 2am on 5 June, the jihadists attacked Solhan Village, around 150 km further south. In a shocking explosion of violence, the jihadists - including 'young people aged 12 to 14' - massacred at least 160 civilians, including 20 children, leaving 40 wounded. They stole motorbikes and cattle and torched homes and a market. It was the worst massacre in Burkina Faso's six-year battle against Islamic jihadists. No group has claimed responsibility, although analysts suspect Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) is to blame. 

Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN, 11 June), Bishop Laurent Dabiré of Dori (the capital of Burkina Faso's northern Sahel Region) described Solhan as 'a vibrant Christian community'. The Bishop said: 'Just like everyone else in Burkina who is being targeted by terrorism, the Christians were overcome by fear. However, as Christians, they have more reason to fear a forced imposition of Islam. Their religious freedom and even their lives are at stake.' Solhan Village had recently established a Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP) corps, an anti-jihadist civilian defence militia that co-operates with the government to protect communities. Jihadists have long held vast swathes of gold-rich eastern Burkina Faso, leading some to surmise the massacre was a case of jihadists punishing Solhan for its VDP while reasserting their supremacy over the region. Whilst they have long demanded Muslims submit to fundamentalist Islam, there are concerns that jihadists in eastern Burkina Faso are widening their scope to include Christians. A regional Bible school has been targeted, its library burned and its staff and students threatened. Please pray. 

PRESSING SOUTH: From the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea

click on map to enlarge

In February, France's head of foreign intelligence warned that terrorists based in the Sahel are actively working on expanding into the countries of the Gulf of Guinea - specifically Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin, all of which border Burkina Faso. For supply and income, jihadists partner with organised crime to conduct illicit trade in weapons, drugs, gold, cattle, fuel etc. Consequently, the jihadists are eager to secure their supply lines and smuggling routes, many of which transit through Gulf of Guinea states. Ivory Coast has seen a 'stark increase' in terror attacks this year, with nine attacks since 29 March (up from one in 2020), predominantly in the northern districts of Savanes and Zanzan. Jihadist violence has also begun to spill over into northern Benin, where five jihadist cells are known to have a presence on the border. Responding to the escalating threat, Togo and Ghana have increased security along their northern borders. 

On 21 June a suicide bomber named Abu Dujana, from al-Qaeda affiliate Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM: Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims), attacked a French reconnaissance mission near the central Malian town of Gossi, wounding six soldiers and four civilians. In his martyrdom video, Abu Dujana - a Fulani reportedly from Tamale, the capital of Ghana's Northern Region - urged his Fulani kinsmen to rise up and fight those who fight them.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:

* draw the churches of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger into prayer, that religious freedom and social cohesion might be not merely preserved but promoted, respected and treasured; may the Lord redeem this crisis to amplify the Gospel message, magnify Christian witness, and open many hearts to receive Jesus Christ, the hope of nations (see Matthew 12:14-21).

'It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.' (Psalm 118:8 ESV)

* intervene to thwart every wicked plot of Islamic jihadists based in the Sahel. May supply lines be severed and smuggling routes compromised; in the name of the Lord we cut them off. May criminals who partner with terrorists be caught, arrested and permanently put out of business; in the name of the Lord we cut them off. May terrorists find themselves besieged, denied access to everything they need to survive, commit terror and advance jihad; in the name of the Lord we cut them off. (Prayer based on Psalm 118:10-13 ESV).

SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
------------------------------------------
THE SAHEL: AFRICA'S AFGHANISTAN? CHRISTIANS IMPERILLED.

France's Operation Barkhane, tasked with fighting terrorism in the Sahel, will come to an end in early 2022, just ahead of France's presidential election. Troops are already being withdrawn. It comes as jihadists in the Sahel are: (1) escalating their activity; (2) enacting Sharia laws and penalties in territories they control; and (3) actively working to expand south into Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin. On the night of 4-5 June, Islamic jihadists - many of whom were mere children - massacred at least 160 civilians in Solhan Village, Yagha Region, north-eastern Burkina Faso. Separately, jihadists in eastern Burkina Faso have targeted a Bible school, burning its library and threatening its staff. Christians in the Sahel - especially those in the Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger tri-border region - are imminently imperilled. Please pray.

-------------------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom Inc. (CFF) and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

RLPB 562. Nigeria (2): Insecurity Enables Terrorist Expansion

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 562 | Wed 12 Aug 2020
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

NIGERIA (2): INSECURITY ENABLES TERRORIST EXPANSION
Part 1: Christian Crisis in Kaduna [RLPB 561 (5 Aug)]
Part 3 will be the subject of next week's RLPB 563
By Elizabeth Kendal

BACKGROUND: TERRORISM IN NIGERIA

ORIGINS: Boko Haram (also known as the 'Nigerian Taliban') was founded in 2002, in Nigeria's north-eastern state of Borno, by a religious teacher named Mohammed Yusuf. The group took up militancy and by 31 July 2009, Yusuf was dead (in custody). On 9 August 2009 Boko Haram (BH) issued a statement lauding Yusuf as a martyr and declaring jihad with the aim of rendering Nigeria ungovernable and imposing Islam by force. In June 2010 BH - now led by Abubakar Shekau - formalised its ties with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), giving it access to training, funding and advanced weapons. In June 2011 BH bombed the UN headquarters in the capital, Abuja: a clear declaration of war!

Abubakar Shekau (Nov 2018)
"the longest-lasting jihadist leader globally"
(Jamestown Foundation, 28 July 2020)

FIRST SPLIT: Between 2011 and 2013, BH targeted government offices, markets, businesses, churches, mosques and schools across the north, mostly in Kaduna, Kano and Plateau, mostly using suicide bombers. Shekau is a takfiri: i.e. one who deems Muslims who disagree with him as apostates deserving death. The group suffered a split in 2012 when AQIM-trained jihadist Khalid al-Barnawi broke away in protest against Shekau's indiscriminate killing of Muslims. With AQIM's permission, K.al-Barnawi formed Jama'at Ansar al-Muslimin fi Bilad al-Sudan (Vanguard for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa), popularly known as 'Ansaru'. Divided and lacking local support, BH and Ansaru abandoned the Northwest in 2014. BH returned to the Northeast and set up base in Borno, while al-Qaeda affiliate Ansaru opted to maintain sleeper cells across the Northwest.

SECOND SPLIT: In March 2015 Shekau pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS). However, in August 2016, IS emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi demoted Shekau and appointed Abu Musab al-Barnawi (son of BH founder Mohammed Yusuf) as leader of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in his place. Furious, Shekau denounced A.M.al-Barnawi as an 'infidel' and split from the group. Shekau's BH faction, also known as Jama'atu Ahlissunnah Lidda'awati Wal Jihad (People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad) or JAS, is based in Borno State's Sambisa Forest (about 60 km south-east of Maiduguri), while its Bakura faction is located in the Chad Basin (in the Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad tri-border region). In February 2019 ultra-radical elements within ISWAP ousted A.M.al-Barwani in a bloodless coup, having rejected his al-Qaeda-inspired 'Long War' strategy which involves winning Muslim hearts and minds while targeting 'apostate' government, army and other bodies. His replacement, Umar al-Barnawi (also known as Ba Idrissa), follows the IS strategy of 'Caliphate Now! Whatever it takes! No mercy!'

These three jihadist factions - Al-Qaeda affiliate Ansaru, IS affiliate ISWAP, and Shekau's BH/JAS - have the same goal: a Caliphate. Personality issues aside, they differ only on strategy. They all view Christians as the enemy and Christianity as a problem to be eliminated.

------------------------------------------

Praying for peace: 2nd 'Black Sunday' service, Kaduna, 9 Aug 2020
(images courtesy Christian Solidarity Worldwide)
click on collage to enlarge

NIGERIA (2): INSECURITY ENABLES TERRORIST EXPANSION

Analysts are warning that gross insecurity is paving the way for Boko Haram/JAS (Shekau faction), Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and Al-Qaeda affiliate 'Ansaru' to make a comeback in Nigeria's Northwest Region. In a report for Jamestown Foundation published 28 July, terrorism analyst Jacob Zenn sounds the alarm: 'Nigeria should approach Boko Haram, ISWAP and Ansaru in Northwestern Nigeria as the most serious security crisis since the insurgency began [in 2010].' He warns that, while Boko Haram and ISWAP are relatively contained in Borno amongst their ethnic Kanuri kin, if these groups get a foothold among the Fulani in the Northwest, then nothing 'will prevent their continued expansion until northern Nigeria becomes overwhelmed ...' If security is not improved, and if the government does not address the issues that make recruitment attractive - i.e. poverty and ideology (specifically Wahhabi ideology imported from Saudi Arabia) - then Nigeria could come to resemble Syria 2013-2017, with heavily-armed and internationally-backed al-Qaeda and IS-aligned terrorist organisations in control of the north.

On 15 June BH/JAS released a video in which Shekau sent greetings to the group's 'brothers' in the Northwest's Zamfara State. On 10 July Nigeria's Defence Headquarters (DHQ) warned that terrorists from the Northeast were moving to the Northwest with sophisticated weapons. On 7 August AQIM-affiliate, Ansaru, claimed to have attacked a Nigerian Army position in Kaduna State, allegedly resulting in 25 'apostates' being killed and 10 wounded. Analysts suspect that Ansaru is recruiting Fulani herdsmen and bandits into its ranks and that Ansaru jihadists, posing as herdsmen and bandits, are participating in the Fulani jihad.

See also:  VIDEO (8:29 mins), TVC News Nigeria, 6 Aug 2020
Al-Qaeda Expanding in Nigeria, United States Warns Nigeria

Cameroon's Centre for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) was established in Mora, in Cameroon's Extreme North region in 2019. The centre works to rehabilitate ex-militants who surrender to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) in return for amnesty. The program is not 'de-radicalising' Islamist prisoners, which rarely works. On the contrary, it is rehabilitating those who, having risked their lives to escape, have surrendered and are seeking rehabilitation. The facility was built to handle 100 ex-militants at a time; it is currently hosting more than 250. On 7 August Voice of America reported that 109 people had surrendered to the MJTF in the past two weeks. The 109 comprised 45 Nigerian and 3 Cameroonian ex-militants, 45 Nigerian children and 16 women who had been kept as sex-slaves. All of them - including the fighters who had joined voluntarily - report being held captive, threatened with execution should they try to escape, and fed the lie that MJTF soldiers will kill them. Centre director Oumar Bichair has appealed for more resources to accommodate the increasing numbers. They need facilities, workers, psychologists and people who can train ex-fighters in literacy and trade skills. The Church has done this before, for example in northern Uganda; the Church can do it again.

PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR ALMIGHTY GOD WILL

* intervene in Nigeria to bless, protect and empower those who would 'turn back the battle at the gate' (from Isaiah 28:5-6).

* frustrate every wicked plot devised by violent men; may Nigeria be liberated from the threat of Islamic terror once and for all.

'As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number ... He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success ... So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth' (From Job 5:8-16 ESV).

* move powerfully by his Spirit through Borno's terrorist base-camps to bring hope and courage to those held captive behind a wall of terror and lies; may the dam be breached so that the trickle of defectors might become a flood. Lord have mercy!

* protect Cameroon's Centre for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration and supply it with everything it needs to rehabilitate disillusioned and traumatised men, women and children who have risked their lives in search of new life.

'Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful ... [He] preserves the simple [naive, seducible] ... he saved me' (Psalm 116:5-6 ESV).

SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
------------------------------------------------------------
INSECURITY ENABLES TERRORIST EXPANSION IN NIGERIA

On 10 July Nigeria's Defence Headquarters (DHQ) warned that terrorists based in Northeast Nigeria – i.e. Boko Haram (BH) and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) - were moving to the Northwest with sophisticated weapons. On 28 July terrorism analyst Jacob Zenn warned that if these groups get a foothold amongst the Fulani in the Northwest, then nothing 'will prevent their continued expansion until northern Nigeria becomes overwhelmed'. Analysts already suspect that al-Qaeda affiliate, Ansaru, is recruiting Fulani herdsmen and bandits into its ranks and participating in the Fulani jihad. Meanwhile, Cameroon's Centre for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (launched 2019, in Extreme North region) reports that growing numbers of mostly-Nigerian ex-militants, children and women (sex-slaves) are escaping, surrendering and seeking rehabilitation. The Centre needs help to meet the growing demand. Please pray.

------------------------------------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF) and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

RLPB 500. Sri Lanka: A Rattled Church; Fragile Nation

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 500 | Wed 01 May 2019
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

Please join us in 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World
Coinciding with Ramadan: 6 May to 4 June. https://www.30daysprayer.com/

------------------------------------

Sri Lanka's Resurrection Sunday (21 April) church bombings have rattled the Sri Lankan Church and exacerbated the nation's fragility and vulnerability. [For background see: RLPB 499, 'Easter Church Bombings in Sri Lanka,' 24 April 2019].

SRI LANKA: A RATTLED CHURCH; FRAGILE NATION
-- by Elizabeth Kendal


Nothing epitomises the horror of Sri Lanka's Resurrection Sunday terror attack more than the fact that the large number of body parts collected led to many victims being counted more than once. The authorities have since revised the death toll down by 100, from 359 to 253. The traumatising horror of what many Christians saw and suffered that day is unfathomable. The greatest loss of life was inflicted in St Sebastian's church, Negombo, where more than 100 worshipers perished. By Wednesday 24 April the anger roused in Negombo could no longer be contained. Grief-stricken and angry, traumatised Christians took to the streets to drive out the city's Pakistani Muslim refugees -- newcomers, most of whom belonged to the non-violent Ahmadiyya sect deemed heretical in Pakistan. While no-one was killed, more than 600 refugees -- mostly Pakistani Ahmadiyya but also some Pakistani Christian and Afghan refugees -- were displaced. The city's 5000 native Ahmadiyya Muslims went generally unmolested, although some Muslim-owned businesses were destroyed. Christian leaders have called for calm and stressed the need to demonstrate grace and maintain openness. Sri Lankan theologian, Ajith Fernando, put forward six responses: lament loss, condemn evil, alleviate suffering, leave vengeance to the Lord, do not bear false witness (for it is an injustice 'to lump all Muslims under the category of terrorist sympathisers'), and pray (Christianity Today, 23 April 2019). The Church in Sri Lanka needs our support (e.g. financial aid for medical care) and our prayers.


On Friday 26 April authorities raided a suspected terrorist safe-house in the east coast city of Kalmunai, 44km south of Batticaloa. Inside the house were militants and family members. After a lengthy shootout, several militants blew themselves up, killing 15 of their own including six children; several more were wounded. In a second house raided nearby, police found bomb-making materials, including 150 sticks of gelignite and thousands of ball bearings to be used as shrapnel. Police reported that they were tracking down around 130 suspects identified by intelligence agencies of having links with Islamic State. One of the Easter suicide bombers -- J.M.A. Latheef, who studied in the UK and Australia, earning a degree in aeronautical engineering -- is known to have been trained by IS in Raqqa, northern Syria. So far, the authorities have reportedly detained more than 100 suspects, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt. Security officials have received intelligence indicating that further terror strikes are being planned. As is routinely the case, the suicide bombers were neither poor nor uneducated. On the contrary, they were middle and upper-middle class: two were sons of a millionaire spice merchant and at least some had earned their law and engineering degrees overseas. Their driving motivation was ideology, specifically fundamentalist Islam.

Zaharan Hashim, the terrorist ring-leader, lived and preached in the almost exclusively Muslim east coast town of Kattankudy, 9.5km south of Batticaloa. Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi clerical establishment has been investing in Kattankudy since the 1980s, building and running mosques (there are now 60 in a town with a population of 45,000) and madrassas (Islamic/Qur'anic schools), and providing locals with jobs and scholarships in Saudi Arabia where they are inevitably fully radicalised/'Wahhabised'. The growth of intolerant Wahhabi Islam has divided Sri Lankan Muslims, fuelling tensions and arousing fears. Muslims comprise ten percent of the Sri Lankan population, with fully-fledged Wahhabis estimated to comprise around one percent. Sri Lankan Muslims have been warning of the dangers since the 1990s. In 2014 a group called 'Peace Loving Moderate Muslims in Sri Lanka' published a statement in the local Daily Mirror newspaper denouncing National Towheed Jamaat (NTJ, the group that perpetrated the Easter terror attack), warning that NTJ was 'fast becoming a cancer' within Sri Lanka's Muslim community. The statement said, 'We fear that these activities, ... if left unchecked by the authorities, would create a situation in which the majority of Muslims in Sri Lanka, already under threat and harassment from this extremist minority, may have to face the wrath of other religions.'

Indeed, the danger in Sri Lanka now is that the Easter terror attacks will trigger a resurgence of violent religious nationalism among Buddhist Sinhalese (76 percent) and even among Hindu Tamils (14 percent). This would not only cause persecution to skyrocket but could return Sri Lanka to civil war. And civil war could make it so much easier for an Islamic State regional franchise to get a foothold.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL

* protect his precious Church from those who would bring her harm.

* infuse the whole Sri Lankan Church with a spirit of peace -- shalom -- and with the 'rest' that comes from trusting Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30).

* strengthen the Sri Lankan Church with grace to demonstrate grace, with courage to maintain openness and with wisdom to navigate the way forward.

'Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.' (Isaiah 41:10 ESV)

* redeem this horrific evil so that good might emerge from it: may Sri Lankans of every ethnic group and religion reject all intolerance and ethno-religious supremacy, resist incitement to violence, pursue national unity and preserve the peace.

'For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.' (Isaiah 61:11 ESV)


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
-------------------------------------------------------------
SRI LANKA: A RATTLED CHURCH AND A FRAGILE NATION

On Sunday 21 April nine Sri Lankan suicide bombers killed 253 people in three churches -- St Anthony's in Colombo, St Sebastian's in Negombo and Zion Church in Batticaloa -- and three hotels. Over 100 Christians died in St Sebastian's church. On 24 April anger overflowed in Negombo as traumatised Christians took to the streets to drive out at least 600 newcomer, mostly Ahmadiyya (non-violent Muslims) Pakistani refugees. The Church is exhorting Christians to demonstrate grace and maintain openness. On Friday 26 April Sri Lankan authorities targeted more terrorists and uncovered a huge cache of explosives as they raided terrorist safe houses in the city of Kalmunai. The bombings have rattled the Sri Lankan Church and exacerbated the nation's fragility and vulnerability. Please pray for Sri Lanka and its Christians.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF), and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

RLPB 435. Philippines: Battle for Mindanao far from over.

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 435 | Wed 06 Dec 2017

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely, and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

PHILIPPINES: BATTLE FOR MINDANAO FAR FROM OVER
-- plus, Risk of Advent and Christmas Terror 

by Elizabeth Kendal

In a military offensive on 16 October the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) killed Isnilon Hapilon (former leader of Abu Sayyaf and Islamic State's 'emir' for Southeast Asia) and Omarkhayam Maute, leader of the pro-ISIS Maute group and the last of the Maute brothers to be killed. Commenting on the killings, Singapore-based terrorism expert Kumar Ramakrishna warned (16 October): 'Just because the Marawi siege is coming to an end does not mean the threat is over. ISIS-linked militants there will regroup ... and lay low for a while, while rebuilding their strength.' Recent reports from Mindanao indicate that this is precisely what is happening.

Whilst the Battle for Marawi is now over, the conflict has left Marawi City uninhabitable. The city is mostly rubble, all the banks have been emptied and every house and business has been looted and destroyed. Eager to exploit the situation, Islamic State recruiters target displaced Muslims and Islamist sympathisers who are furious about the destruction of Marawi, which they blame on the AFP (rather than on the jihadists whose plot to seize Marawi for their Caliphate started the conflict). Sources report that ISIS is actively recruiting across Mindanao, including in Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) in Zamboanga. Recruits receive a 'sign-up purse' (one-off payment) with the promise of further payments and benefits if they join a battlefront. Rommel Banlaoi from the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research warns that cashed-up 'sleeper cells are everywhere'.

Ominously, Banlaoi also warns that Islamic State is encouraging the Philippines' four main pro-Islamic State groups -- the Bangsamoro ¬Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), the Abu Sayyaf Group, Khilafah Islamiyah Mindanao and Ansarul Khilafah Philippines -- to unify. Lt-General Carlito Galvez Jr, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, warns that Cotabato City (around 60 percent Muslim and 35 percent Christian) in Mindanao's Maguindanao Province 'could be the next Marawi'. 

Philippines
click on map to enlarge

Furthermore, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is exploiting the situation for political gain. During the conflict, MILF (which seeks to rule an autonomous Islamic sub-state Mindanao) took up arms against IS-linked BIFF, which split from MILF in 2010. Though it was doubtless little more than a power struggle, it afforded MILF the opportunity to present itself to Mindanao's Muslims and to the Philippine government as a rescuing counterforce to the ultra-hardline transnational ISIS, and the best hope for peace. MILF maintains that peace on Mindanao can be secured only through the creation of an autonomous Islamic sub-state, with local Muslim (MILF) rulers and Islamic Sharia Law. Not only would MILF defend this Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, it maintains that Muslims living there would no longer have any reason to sympathise with transnational groups like ISIS which threaten the central government. President Duterte (a 'Catholic') does not need convincing -- he is eager to see the potentially unconstitutional Bangsamoro Basic Law passed and enacted by March 2018.  Pressure is mounting and Christians in western Mindanao are exceedingly anxious about the future. While the predominantly Christian cities of Zamboanga and Davao would not be forced to join the Bangsamoro political entity, thousands of Christian villages throughout western Mindanao will be offered a plebiscite, which (I fear) could trigger ethnic-religious cleansing.

An analysis of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, see:
Philippines: Bangsamoro Basic Law Looms over Mindanao
By Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring, 11 Dec 2017

Vandalised chapel, Shariff Aguak
images

On 9 November vandals broke into a Catholic chapel in a village in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao Province. The intruders gathered the Catholic icons onto the central table, dowsed them in gasoline and burnt them. No group has claimed responsibility and residents suspect that jihadists (possibly from BIFF) are attempting to generate religious conflict between the town's Muslims and minority Christians.  Late on Sunday 3 December some 30 BIFF fighters attacked a village in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, killing two and wounding seven (including four pre-schoolers) in homes adjacent to a military base. The Battle for Marawi is over, but the Battle for Mindanao most certainly is not.


PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR:

* the Lord to protect, bless, fortify and sanctify Mindanao's Christian minority; may the Church grow in prayerfulness, faith and grace, that God will be glorified in Mindanao.

* the Holy Spirit to energise, empower, sustain and bless all those who minister to Mindanao's multitudes of harassed and helpless Muslims and displaced persons; may the Lord provide all their needs and send out more workers into that harvest field. (Matthew 9:35-38)

* the Almighty Creator God -- for whom 'nothing will be impossible' (Luke 1:37) -- to intervene in the political process so that conditions in the south will be improved as constitutional freedoms are retained.


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
--------------------------------------
PHILIPPINES: BATTLE FOR MINDANAO FAR FROM OVER

With the battle for Marawi City over, ISIS and its affiliates are recruiting and regrouping across western Mindanao. They target displaced Muslims and Islamist sympathisers who are furious about the destruction of Marawi, which they blame on the Philippine military. Senior intelligence officials warn that cashed-up 'sleeper-cells are everywhere' and that Cotabato City 'could be the next Marawi'. Exploiting the situation for political gain, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is insisting that peace in Mindanao is only possible with the establishment of an autonomous Islamic sub-state. President Duterte agrees and is eager to have the potentially unconstitutional law enacted by March 2018. With continuing Islamic guerrilla war and the prospect of MILF rule, there is much to concern Mindanao's Christian minority. Please pray for the Philippines and its Christians.

---------------------------------------

RISK OF ADVENT & CHRISTMAS TERROR

Islamic State (IS) and its affiliates are taking a battering from the Philippine military in Mindanao, the Egyptian military in Sinai, the Nigerian military in northeast Nigeria and from Russia and the West in Syria. Consequently, we should assume that IS will seek to inflict pain and send a symbolic message to these governments by bombing a Philippine, Egyptian, Nigerian, Russian or Western Cathedral over Christmas. Failing that (should security prove too tight) IS will doubtless seek out softer targets, such as Christmas or New Year festivities. May the Lord be powerfully present, working in and through his Church. May the Lord watch over and protect his precious children (Psalm 121:7) and 'frustrate the ways of the wicked' (Psalm 146:9 ESV).

THREATS TO THE WEST:  Using posters and videos, IS has issued Christmas threats against London, New York, a Mormon Temple in San Diego, the Vatican and Europe's Christmas markets. Melbourne, Australia, is on alert, after a major terror plot targeting St Paul's Cathedral was averted last Christmas and one plot for a New Year's Eve massacre has been foiled so far this season.

May the message of Christmas ring out loud and clear: 'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.' John 1:5 ESV

----------------------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF), and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com