Muslims Turned Christian Pay the Price

As I have pointed out many times, Abdul Rahman's case was not isolated. The killing of apostates is sanctioned by Islamic law. Note the interview below with Jihad Watch Board member Ibn Warraq. Islamic Tolerance Update from CBN, with thanks to Twostellas:

CBN News spoke to one Christian convert we will call “Khaleed.” Khaleed works for the popular Web site, answering-islam.org. His story is one of rejection and abuse by Muslims in his own community in Western Europe.

“A lot of people don't even want to talk with me or even sit with me at the same table. I was like the reject of the community,” Khaleed said.

It was not long before Khaleed was forced to defend himself against physical violence.

He said, “They'd get very angry and very abusive verbally--call me "traitor" and things like that. And I'd even sometimes get into fistfights with some angry Muslims who hated the fact that I left Islam.”

And when he began doing Christian missionary work in these European Muslim communities, things only got worse.

“'We will kill you.' That's the verbal abuse--OK?” Khaleed said. “’…One day you'll die. And you will die suddenly.’ It was death threats all the time. And I got more and more -- actually physical attacks several times -- from them.”

Khaleed left Europe and now lives in the U.S., but he is careful not to advertise his Christian faith.

So what is being done to protect converts like Khaleed? According to one former Muslim, who also wanted his face hidden, not nearly enough.

Author and renowned scholar Ibn Warraq said, “I would find it difficult to give you precise statistics, but many people have been killed by the family to save the family honor if they discover the family member has converted to Christianity, especially...and you don't hear about it. The police just turn a blind eye to it.”

Warraq is the author of Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out. Warraq considers himself a secularist and lives in an undisclosed location because he fears for his family's safety. He says the left, in particular, has largely ignored the plight of apostates.

"There was an article by a Muslim in the Columbia Law Review that argued strongly enough that even Muslims in the West who leave Islam should be punished in the most severe form possible," Warraq said.

“No one thought to criticize this,” Warraq said. “It was accepted by the Columbia Law Review.”

Gartenstein-Ross points to what he calls a stark contrast in the West: “Those who convert out of Christianity and to Islam are often interviewed favorably in glossy magazines, talk about their conversion very openly, and are lauded for it. It's seen as something of a brave step.”

But he says that those who leave Islam usually do so quietly, even in the Christian world, because it's dangerous -- “In large part, because even in the Christian world, those who leave Islam for Christianity are not safe,” he said.

Fred Farrokh wants to change that. Farrokh is executive director of the Jesus for Muslims Network. Raised Muslim, he is now a Christian. His book is called Jailbreak: A Christian's Guide to Praying for the Muslim World.

Farrokh is opening a refuge center for Christian converts in New York City.

“Muslim background believers who are suffering persecution can come live and receive discipleship, training, equipping...and then, they themselves will be among the greatest missionaries, if you will, to Muslim people,” Farrokh said.

Warraq says that the West needs more people like Farrokh--who are willing to stand up and protect the rights of apostates here. But he says that even after the Abdul Rahman fiasco, the West remains crippled by political correctness--and largely indifferent to the plight of apostates.

“All we would have to do in the West is to simply stick to our own principles,” Warraq said, “and we would bring about change in the Islamic world. But we don't seem to be able to do that. We seem to be incapable of defending our own values.”