Tag Archives: Sharia

News

Update on Christian teen Rifqa Bary

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Story from Fox News.

Excerpt:

A 17-year-old runaway who claims she fled her Muslim family’s home in Ohio because she feared becoming the victim of an “honor killing” will stay in Florida — temporarily — a judge ruled Friday.

Rifqa Bary, a Christian convert whose parents are Muslim immigrants from Sri Lanka, will remain in foster care in Florida until another hearing is held Sept. 3.

Rifqa fled to Florida after her parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, learned that she was baptized earlier this year without their knowledge. The parents reported her missing to Columbus, Ohio, Police on July 19. Weeks later, using cell phone and computer records, police tracked the girl to the Rev. Blake Lorenz, pastor of the Orlando-based Global Revolution Church.

This part of the article is scary:

Dr. Phyllis Chesler, an author and professor of psychology at the Richmond College of the City University of New York, said she believes Bary will be in danger if she is sent back to her parents.

“Anyone who converts from Islam is considered an apostate, and apostasy is a capital crime,” Chesler wrote FOXNews.com. “If she is returned to her family, if she is lucky, they will isolate her, beat her, threaten her, and if she is not ‘persuaded’ to return to Islam, they will kill her. They have no choice.”

Chesler, who wrote “Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence?” for Middle East Quarterly, said the tradition of such slayings is not fully understood by most Americans, including those in law enforcement.

“She escaped from her family’s brutal tyranny and shamed her family further through public exposure,” Chesler said. “Muslim girls and women are killed for far less.”

I have been praying for Rifqa and the two Iranian Christian women now being help in an Iranian prison. I hope you have been praying, too!

News

Two women imprisoned in Iran for converting to Christianity get their day in court

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The story is here. (H/T Reasonable Faith)

Excerpt:

In a dramatic session before the revolutionary court today in Tehran, Maryam Rustampoor (27) and Marzieh Amirizadeh (30) were told to recant their faith in Christ. Though great pressure was put on them, both women declared that they would not deny their faith. Maryam and Marzieh were originally arrested on March 5, 2009 and have suffered greatly while in prison, suffering ill health, solitary confinement and interrogations for many hours while blindfolded.

[…]Mr. Haddad, asked the two women if they were Christians. “We love Jesus,” they replied. He repeated his question and they said, “Yes, we are Christians.”

Mr. Haddad then said, “You were Muslims and now you have become Christians.”

“We were born in Muslim families, but we were not Muslims,” was their reply.

Mr. Haddad’s questioning continued and he asked them if they regretted becoming Christians, to which they replied, “We have no regrets.”

Then he stated emphatically, “You should renounce your faith verbally and in written form.” They stood firm and replied, “We will not deny our faith.”

During one tense moment in the questioning, Maryam and Marzieh made reference to their belief that God had convicted them through the Holy Spirit. Mr. Haddad told them, “It is impossible for God to speak with humans.”

Marzieh asked him in return, “Are you questioning whether God is Almighty?”

Mr. Haddad then replied, “You are not worthy for God to speak to you.”

Marzieh said, “It is God, and not you, who determines if I am worthy.”

Mr. Haddad told the women to return to prison and think about the options they were given and come back to him when they are ready (to comply). Maryam and Marzieh said, “We have already done our thinking.”

Read the whole thing. Please pray for these two brave women, and consider sending a donation to Answering Muslims.

News

Reviewing honor killings in Canada

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I was just browsing on Blue Like You and found this post that links to an article in the National Post about sharia law and honor killings.

Excerpt:

The practice of honour killing was born hundreds of years ago, rooted in a primitive patriarchal belief that a woman who chooses her own sexual partner is disreputable and must die. But in recent years, along with waves of immigration, alleged honour killings have started happening on Canadian soil, spurring a heated debate imbued with religious and political implications.

The article is a must-read. It contains a time-line for the most recent honor killing of 4 victims in Kingston, Ontario. And there is also a history of several other recent honor killings in Canada.

Where are the feminists? Where are the secular humanists? Where is the vaunted atheistic morality that is so much better than traditional Christian morality?

Other related article at Blazing Cat Fur.

UPDATE: ECM sent me this article that says that Muslims in the UK may get an all-Muslim police force to investigate their honor killings.

Excerpt:

MUSLIM crime victims could gain the right to have their cases overseen by police from their own religion, it emerged last night.

But Palbinder Singh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Sikh Association, said: “I don’t believe a white officer is ever going to be fully conversant with a Sikh.”

Police in London already give victims the right to ask for a Sikh officer to be involved in an investigation but the scheme could be introduced for other religions elsewhere.

Chief Supt Joanna Young, from the Met’s Criminal Justice Policy Unit, said: “If it’s a success, I would encourage the other (police) associations to do likewise.”

The project is intended to help investigate “honour” killings and forced marriages but Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Peter Smyth said: “We’re stretched thin enough already. Are Sikh officers going to have their rotas changed so there’s always one on duty?

“It’s political correctness gone mad. We talking about the creation of a separate force within a force.”

Way to go, secular humanists!

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115757/Muslims-could-get-own-police