I just received an email from the editor of a large website, who posted my story from yesterday about the slaughtered apostate. He writes:
The story generated a huge number of commentaries from readers, some of them originating from Muslim Countries. They harshly dispute and deny the veracity of the facts you mention in your paper. Some argue that this abomination did not take place in Tunisia—and I do believe so—but somewhere in Iraq, that the young man is not a Christian but a Shiite, that he was not slaughtered for apostasy but for being a spy of the Americans, and so on… It's true that the facts are not properly documented : we don't know even the date of this event, the place, the name of this unfortunate young man… Do you have any additional details and data to help answering ? Many thanks for your kind and urgent attention.I responded with a quick list of facts, which I repost here, enlarged and augmented, for anyone else interested:
• Fact 1: The Egyptian TV host, who recently aired this video—which went viral on the Arabic blogosphere on Sunday, when I wrote my report—said this occurred in Tunisia. Yes, others have subsequently said that this was in Iraq, others in Syria; but, from what people have sent me, the only “evidence” is the same video—only with a title that indicates Iraq or Syria. Personally, I am inclined to believe a formal Arabic current events program devoted to the topic than an anonymous Internet posting with no further details. Either way, the issue is less which country, and more why the man was slaughtered. Read on.
• Fact 2: The Muslim narrator who speaks while the man is being slaughtered specifically names and continually condemns “apostasy”—the crime of leaving Islam—and even calls the executed man an apostate, i.e., the man is being slaughtered for apostasy, a capital offence in Islam. (If the world is not surprised that the actual “government” of a Muslim nation, Iran, is preparing to execute a man simply for converting to Christianity, are we supposed to be surprised when roaming bands of jihadis take it upon themselves to execute apostates to Christianity in their midst?)
• Fact 3: The Muslim narrator specifically names and condemns al-mushrikin, and calls the executed man a mushrik—i.e., a “polytheist”; in fact, he calls him a mushrik murtadd, an “apostate to polytheism": this is the standard appellation for Christians, who are regularly called polytheists for “associating” Jesus with God. Yes, there are other religions deemed polytheistic in Islam, such as Hinduism, but one rarely if ever hears of Muslims in the Middle East converting to, and dying for, Hinduism, whereas conversion to Christianity—will all the attendant consequences—is a regular occurrence. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of cases--from one end of the Muslim world to the other--of attacks, imprisonments, etc. deal with Muslim converts to Christianity (see my monthly Muslim Persecution of Christians reports for an idea.
• Fact 4: My contacts in the Middle East, many well-connected with the doings of the region, regularly see and hear of such things, and are confident that he was beheaded for converting to Christianity. The reader is free to hold their opinions as biased or subjective; but if so, why hold the protests of Muslim apologists, equally biased and subjective, as more authoritative--especially in light of history, doctrine, and ongoing current events, which support the former opinion?
• Fact 5: Muslim apologists always deny anything and everything that makes Islam look bad and will, naturally, try to put the best spin on this video—turning the victim into the aggressor, portraying him as a “traitor,” a “spy,” etc.—just like the Iranian regime, after unequivocally stating that Pastor Nadarkhani is to be executed for converting to Christianity, began backtracking by saying he is to be executed for being a “Zionist spy,” an “extortionist,” etc.
At day's end—and here is the most indisputable fact—we are left with a man having his head hacked off while his murderers scream Islamic slogans and accuse him of apostasy.
Raymond Ibrahim is a Shilliman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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There you are Shelley, try to wriggle out of that one: .....Iran, is preparing to execute a man simply for converting to Christianity, (so) are we supposed to be surprised when roaming bands of jihadis take it upon themselves to execute apostates to Christianity in their midst?
Too true!