Muhammad commanded: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him” (Bukhari 9.84.57).
Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most renowned and prominent Muslim cleric in the world, has stated: “The Muslim jurists are unanimous that apostates must be punished, yet they differ as to determining the kind of punishment to be inflicted upon them. The majority of them, including the four main schools of jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi`i, and Hanbali) as well as the other four schools of jurisprudence (the four Shiite schools of Az-Zaidiyyah, Al-Ithna-`ashriyyah, Al-Ja`fariyyah, and Az-Zaheriyyah) agree that apostates must be executed.” There is only disagreement over whether the law applies only to men, or to women also – some authorities hold that apostate women should not be killed, but only imprisoned in their houses until death.
“A Christian Convert, on the Run in Afghanistan,” by Azam Ahmed, New York Times, June 21, 2014:
KABUL, Afghanistan — In a dank basement on the outskirts of Kabul, Josef read his worn blue Bible by the light of a propane lantern, as he had done for weeks since he fled from his family in Pakistan.
His few worldly possessions sat nearby in the 10-by-10-foot room of stone and crumbling brown earth. He keeps a wooden cross with a passage from the Sermon on the Mount written on it, a carton of Esse cigarettes, and a thin plastic folder containing records of his conversion to Christianity.
The documents are the reason he is hiding for his life. On paper, Afghan law protects freedom of religion, but the reality here and in some other Muslim countries is that renouncing Islam is a capital offense.
Josef’s brother-in-law Ibrahim arrived in Kabul recently, leaving behind his family and business in Pakistan, to hunt down the apostate and kill him. Reached by telephone, Ibrahim, who uses only one name, offered a reporter for The New York Times $20,000 to tell him where Josef was hiding.
“If I find him, once we are done with him, I will kill his son as well, because his son is a bastard,” Ibrahim said, referring to Josef’s 3-year-old child. “He is not from a Muslim father.”
For Josef, 32, who asked to be identified only by his Christian name to protect his wife and young child, the path to Christianity was only one segment on a much longer journey, a year of wandering that took him through Turkey, Greece, Italy and Germany, seeking refuge from Afghanistan’s violence.
But at each stop he found misfortune. He was detained in Greece and deported from Germany, and he lived on the streets in Italy before he truly understood that there would be no happy ending in Europe, where his application for asylum has gone nowhere. He voluntarily left Italy for Pakistan to be with his wife and son, but that is no longer an option.
Neither is reverting to Islam. “I inherited my faith, but I saw so many things that made me discard my religious beliefs,” Josef said. “Even if I get killed, I won’t convert back.”
In official eyes here, there are no Afghan Christians. The few Afghans who practice the faith do so in private for fear of persecution, attending one of a handful of underground churches that are believed to be operating in the country. Expatriates use chapels on embassy grounds, but those are effectively inaccessible to Afghans.
Only a few Afghan converts have surfaced in the past decade, and the government has typically dealt with them swiftly and silently: They are asked to recant, and if they refuse, they are expelled, usually to India, where an Afghan church flourishes in New Delhi….
boakai ngombu says
May the Omniscient Unique God keep Josef in His constant care, reassuring him from the revealed Word of Scripture that the AZEEM has been paid (for his deliverance from all that would condemn him to Hellfire) by Jesus.
May the only God of love protect Josef and his wife and child.
Daphne Donges says
I agree with you in prayer. May the Lord send His angels down to protect Josef, his wife and son. Greater is He that is in them than the one that is in the world.
Champ ✞ says
Amen, Daphne.
MikeR says
It is stupid and suicidal for a Christian in a Muslim country to talk about his religion. Believe what you want to believe, but keep your mouth shut. Belief is in your head, it doesn’t have to be shared with anyone. The pope and other Christian leaders should be telling Christian believers that, instead of expecting them to be victims of murdering thugs. There is a very fine line between courage and stupidity.
Greyhound Fancier says
It may be that Josef’s wife noticed something different about him since his conversion. Maybe he treats her differently, perhaps she heard him say something in an unguarded moment.
dumbledoresarmy says
In some cases, the wives notice because the newly-Christian husbands *stop beating them* and start treating them kindly and lovingly…
There are the cases – as here , sadly – where the wife disowns and denounces and “rats out” her husband to the Mob.
There are other cases where, basking in the unaccustomed sunshine of love, warmth and genuine care – “would you like me to make you a cup of tea, my dear wife?” – their heart melts, the Islam washes away, and they follow their husband into the Light.
That was what happened with the wife of Bishoy Ahmed Boulos, formerly Mohammed Hegazy; and when she was baptised she chose the name of a famous Egyptian saint who died for her faith, Catharine. It happened with Daniel Shayesteh; his wife and daughters followed him out of Islam. It happened with the lady who helped translate the Gospels into the Azeri language; her husband converted to Christianity first, then – having observed his transformation into a whole new person – she decided to follow suit.
Angemon says
MikeR posted:
“It is stupid and suicidal for a Christian in a Muslim country to talk about his religion.”
Being any religion other than the majority and/or ruling sect(s) of islam in a muslim majority country is living with a sword over your head 24/7/365. If history teaches us anything is that anyone from a religious minority doesn’t actually have to say or do anything to face a rioting mob thirsty for their blood, someone (most likely a devout, pious muslim of the majority sect) just has to say that they offended muhammad, or desecrated the quran, or committed any other act of “blasphemy”
MikeR says
Yes, that’s true, but why increase your chances of being headless or imprisoned just because you blabbed about your Christianity?
Kepha says
Amen, and Amen.
Rob says
A religion that maintains its hegemony by promising death to any who leave it, must be a very insecure religion indeed.
Kepha says
So., his path to Christ led through Turkey, Greece, and Germany? See what some other Christians on the way accomplished by refusing to shout “Raghead!”, but perhaps showed the love and compassion of Jesus Christ to a stranger.
Josef’s brother-in-law understands better than too many people in the West what Josef represents: a crack in the foundations of Islam.
gravenimage says
Kepha wrote:
See what some other Christians on the way accomplished by refusing to shout “Raghead!”
………………………..
Kepha, I know you have mentioned this before.
But—with respect—I don’t believe this is Josef’s main problem *at all*.
For one thing, I think being called a “raghead” or some other ethnic pejorative is increasingly rare in the West.
Instead, his problems are the savagery of Islam and the *willful refusal of the West to recognize that savagery*.
*This* is why his life is in danger—not over some yahoo allegedly calling him a “raghead”.
Mirren10 says
graven, I replied to your question, here.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/06/uk-born-isis-jihadis-black-flag-of-jihad-will-fly-over-london/comment-page-1#comment-1079188
Wellington says
Just as Mohammed is the anti-Jesus, so is Islam the anti-Christianity——-which is why those who assert that Islam and Christianity are so similar lose me very early on, sometimes accompanied by contempt.
London Jim says
Me too, Wellington. I hope that you and yours are well, and with others above pray for Josef’s safekeeping.
Jaladhi says
And our stupid PC lefty liberal media, academia and Govt. explain this “oh this is only a cultural thing – it has nothing to do with Islam” !! morons of first order – can never see, accept or utter truth about Islam even if it stared them in their eyes!!
Champ ✞ says
Muhammad commanded: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him” (Bukhari 9.84.57).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The only way islam can keep it’s followers is through death threats and carrying out those evil threats.
And Josef stated:
Neither is reverting to Islam. “I inherited my faith, but I saw so many things that made me discard my religious beliefs,” Josef said. “Even if I get killed, I won’t convert back.”
Yes, I can certainly understand why! …islam is wholly evil; whereas the truth and love of Jesus Christ is beyond measure and beauty!
MikeR says
Have you considered the possibility that maybe Josef is just f’ing nuts? He traded one absurd belief for another absurd belief. Did that improve his situation?
Champ ✞ says
Is he nuts? No, not at all …
The truth of Christianity rests completely in the person of Jesus Christ.
Champ ✞ says
MikeR …
Christianity is a true religion of peace, and attempting to make enemies with Christians–by mocking and ridiculing them here–only reflects poorly on you.
And since you’ve found Jihad Watch, then you might consider reading one of Robert Spencer’s books:
“Religion of Peace?: Why Christianity Is And Islam Isn’t”
Christianity or Islam: which is the real “religion of peace”?
Almost any liberal pundit will tell you that there’s a religion bent on destroying our Constitution, stripping us of our liberties, and imposing religious rule on the U.S. And that religion is . . .Christianity! About Islam, however, the Left is silent–except to claim a moral equivalence between the two: if Islam has terrorists today, that’s nothing compared to the Crusades, inquisitions, and religious wars in Christianity’s past.
But is this true? Are conservative Christians really more of a threat to free societies than Islamic jihadists? Is the Bible really “just as violent” as the Qur’an? Is Christianity’s history really as bloodstained as Islam’s? In Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t, New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer not only refutes such charges, but also explains why Americans and Europeans must regain an appreciation of our Christian heritage if we ever hope to defeat Islamic supremacism. In this eye opening work, Spencer reveals:
* The fundamental differences between Islamic and Christian teachings about warfare against other religions: “Love your enemies” vs. “Be ruthless to the unbelievers”
* The myth of Western immorality and Islamic puritanism and why the Islamic world is less moral than the West
* Why the Islamic world has never developed the distinction between religious and secular law that is inherent in Christianity
* Why Christianity has always embraced reason–and Islam has always rejected it
* Why the most determined enemies of Western civilization may not be the jihadists at all, but the leftists who fear their churchgoing neighbors more than Islamic terrorists
* Why Jews, Christians, and peoples of other faiths (or no faith) are equally at risk from militant Islam
Spencer writes not to proselytize, but to state a fact: Christianity is a true “religion of peace,” and on it Western civilization stands. If we are not to perish under Islam’s religion of the sword–with its more than 100 million active jihadists seeking to impose sharia law–we had better defend our own civilization.
http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Peace-Christianity-Islam-Isnt/dp/1596985151
MikeR says
Champ, I’m not going to respond to every line in your long comment, but I will tell you two things. I’ve read every one of Robert Spencer’s books, and I’ll read the next one.
It is extremely naïve to believe that ANYONE loves his enemies. Yes, I know that Christians believe that Christ loved his enemies. Look what happened to him.
Champ ✞ says
MikeR …
Look, you addressed ME, and you also insulted me in your first comment by indicating that I’m “f’ing nuts”, too, since you know I’m a Christian, and now you appear *inconvenienced* by my response to your rudeness?
Please notice that the information I provided was from Amazon, regarding Robert’s book, and not a long list of questions that you were expected to answer. BTW, the information about the book isn’t long at all, but in fact a really short read; which is a rather odd complaint for someone who enjoys reading as you do …
Which brings me to my next point, and that’s why Jesus died; along with a reading assignment, since you like to read so much.
*You* raised the issue of Jesus being killed, and in your mocking remark about Jesus’ death you implied that Jesus was just a hapless victim, but nothing could be further from the truth! And you continue to mock Jesus and Christians with your snide attitude–but like I said before, your attitude only reflects poorly on you.
Ok, here’s the reading assignment that I hope you will read from “Got Questions”, so that you can better educate yourself on *why* Jesus died, since your ignorant statement above (to me) indicates that you have NO CLUE why Jesus died …
Question: “Why did Jesus have to die?”
Answer: http://www.gotquestions.org/why-Jesus-die.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BTW, this information is very thorough–yet succinct, so you can read it in less than 5 minutes.
Hey, if **you’re** going to raise the issue of Jesus’ death and be snide about it, then I’m going to defend my faith and offer resources whereby you can educate yourself.
MikeR says
Champ, I have know for a long time about the Christian belief in ‘original sin’. It is a primitive concept attributed to a cruel and vindictive God by primitive men two thousand years ago. Original sin, or inherited sin, is analogous to convicting a person of a crime committed by his grandfather. No rational judge or jury would convict someone of such a crime, but people like you think it is part of your ‘faith’. I have no respect for such an unjust and sadistic belief.
Champ ✞ says
Read it and be blessed, MikeR.
Champ ✞ says
I have no respect for such an unjust and sadistic belief.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That DOES not describe my faith at all! It’s one thing to deny Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior–which is certainly your choice, but it’s quite another thing to imply that Jesus Christ, or the Christian faith, is in any way “sadistic”. Your allegation is beyond absurd, MikeR, and does not resemble the truth. For shame.
gravenimage says
MikeR wrote:
Have you considered the possibility that maybe Josef is just f’ing nuts? He traded one absurd belief for another absurd belief. Did that improve his situation?
…………………………………..
MikeR, even is you believe nothing about Christianity, how can you hold there no benefit to embracing a creed that shows that love and caring are possible?
It seems you are rather too sanguine about handing things over to the thugs—this may seem acceptable if we are living in the free West, but what would you do if Shari’ah is imposed *here*?
Certainly, this is what pious Muslims are trying for.
And I am not talking about just religion here—would you be willing to give up Humanism, democracy, love, caring for your fellow man, the diktats of your own mind and your own conscience?
Islam would demand all of this, and more.
Jay Boo says
MikeR wrote:
that Josef “traded one absurd belief for another absurd belief”
That old smug equivalence argument is wrong and simplistic yet will open many doors into the world’s pits of elitist relativist social circles.
There is a book that highlights the glaring differences between Christianity and Islam and yes certain apparent ‘similarities’ as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Muhammad-Differences-Surprising-Similarities/dp/1591852919
MikeR says
Jay Boo, Mark Gabriel is a muslim, and of course he would like for you to think that there are similarities between Jesus and Muhammed. Jesus was a decent man, and Muhammed was a murdering thief, rapist, and pedophile.
Jay Boo says
BTW the author’s last name is happen to be Gabriel.
And
What was the name of the angel that supposedly told MO to recite?
Jay Boo says
@MikeR
Correction Mike,
Mark Gabriel is a former Muslim who became a Christian which his book clearly illustrates.
The (apparent similarities) I mentioned are superficial
Get the book and skim the chapter and this will become clear.
MikeR says
Mark Gabriel CLAIMS to be a Christian so that he can sell books to naïve Christians. Anyone who has ever read the Koran or the Hadith knows that Muhammed is not at all like Jesus. Muhammed was a murdering thug.
Jay Boo says
@MikeR
Hmmmm
I noticed that you latched on to an untruth
I am not sure if this was accidental or deliberate.
Jay Boo says
@MikeR
Strawman
Jay Boo says
MikeR
You obviously have no idea who Mark Gabriel is other than a Google search
Jay Boo says
MikeR
You deliberately ignore that I wrote ‘apparent similarities’
Jay Boo says
So good to have you defend Christianity now but
MikeR wrote:
that Josef “traded one absurd belief for another absurd belief”
That old smug equivalence argument is wrong and simplistic yet will open many doors into the world’s pits of elitist relativist social circles.
There is a book that highlights the glaring differences between Christianity and Islam and yes certain apparent ‘similarities’ as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Muhammad-Differences-Surprising-Similarities/dp/1591852919
Salah says
“He did not leave himself without witness” acts 14:5-18
Any Muslim who carefully reads and understands his “holy” books will have to come to the conclusion that Jesus (Isa) is indeed the Holy One.
It’s right there, in their books!
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2011/05/saint-and-sinner.html
eib says
It is by the Holy Spirit and Jesus himself, that Muslims will read and be called to salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.
I read the prophecy of Zechariah about his own son John quite often, when I think of the people trapped in the Ummah and yet still worthy of salvation.
eib says
Dear Lord, protect Josef, who is walking in the way of the cross. The mercy of Christ, the Son of God, surround and protect this man. Holy Spirit, inspire him, God the Father, lead him to safety as you did the Israelites– out of Egypt and into freedom.
Water from the rock, salvation from the Word. The saints watch over him and all Jesus calls.
Champ ✞ says
I love your prayer, Eib …Amen to that!
Islamisdeath says
Amen!
gravenimage says
Afghanistan: Convert to Christianity’s family seeks to kill him for leaving Islam
Josef’s brother-in-law Ibrahim arrived in Kabul recently, leaving behind his family and business in Pakistan, to hunt down the apostate and kill him. Reached by telephone, Ibrahim, who uses only one name, offered a reporter for The New York Times $20,000 to tell him where Josef was hiding.
………………………………
Here’s a Muslim who would *kill his own brother* for daring to leave the vile creed of Islam. And why not? A famous Hadith has a man converting *to* Islam because he is so impressed that this own Muslim brother would have no compunction about killing him (this is after the Muslim slaughtered his beneficent Jewish employer).
And he is willing to pony up *$20,000* in a bribe to a journalist for ratting out his brother—note: this is country where the annual per capita income is just $687—meaning that if the family isn’t wealthy that they are willing to go into considerable debt to murder their own “loved one”. (Either that, or else this pious Muslim hope the journalist was both profoundly venal *and* stupid, and could be made to give up the information before being cheated out of his ‘reward’).
More:
“If I find him, once we are done with him, I will kill his son as well, because his son is a bastard,” Ibrahim said, referring to Josef’s 3-year-old child. “He is not from a Muslim father.”
………………………………
And, if murdering his brother were not evil enough, he is also eager to butcher his little *three-year-old nephew*. Despicable beyond words.
More:
For Josef, 32, who asked to be identified only by his Christian name to protect his wife and young child, the path to Christianity was only one segment on a much longer journey, a year of wandering that took him through Turkey, Greece, Italy and Germany, seeking refuge from Afghanistan’s violence.
But at each stop he found misfortune. He was detained in Greece and deported from Germany, and he lived on the streets in Italy before he truly understood that there would be no happy ending in Europe, where his application for asylum has gone nowhere….
………………………………
And here I was, thinking, “if he can only get to the West!”. Have we really failed a victim of Islam so badly?
And meanwhile, the same homicidal Muslims who would kill this apostate from Islam are flooding into the very countries that refused him asylum. Madness…