“JOURNEYS INTO THE HEART AND THE HEARTLAND OF ISLAM:

VICTIMS SPEAK OUT”*

A Review Article by Jacob Thomas

Even though Islam has been explored by various authors in recent years, one wonders if
the doctrines and worldview of this religion have been fully grasped by those reading
such books. We certainly hope enlightenment is growing. Among electorates in various
nations this appears to be the case. Yet, actions by many leaders of Western nations and
liberal intellectuals the world over often indicate willful blindness to Islam’s teachings
and desire for world conquest.

Therefore another book on Islam is in order. Marvin W. Heyboer has written a timely
book reflecting upon his travels in several Muslim countries in order to find out for
himself the condition of non-Muslim people living under Islamic rule. It is a sad story.
He was moved to embark on his project soon after 9/11/2001; seeking to understand what
impelled young Muslim men to attack important centers of America, killing thousands in
the most fiendish manner

Before Heyboer gets to the personal details of his journey, he sets forth the background of
Islam. He has made an effort to study the authoritative texts of Islam: the Qur’an, the
Hadith, and Sirat (Life) of Muhammad. Islamic aggressiveness in doctrine and life is
outlined in the first three chapters of the book. While these facts are generally well
known, they bear reiterating, because they still hold sway in the Islamic mind.

Muhammad began his mission in Mecca (610 A.D.) as a preacher of monotheism, and
after moving to Medina (622) he became a successful military commander launching
several raids on the Meccan caravans on their way to Syria. He became the absolute ruler
of the territory he commanded, and went on to eliminate Jews and Christians from
Arabia, finally decreeing that the Islamic Umma, the community of true believers, must
involve itself in Jihad. Non-Muslims coming under Islamic rule, and who desired to
remain in their own religions, had to pay the Jizya tax, and were designated as Dhimmis.
Heyboer explains this dual aspect of Islamic Imperialism: Jihad and Dhimmitude.

In the final seven chapters devoted to Heyboer’s “Journeys into the Heartland of
Islam” he relates the many obstacles he had to overcome in order to interview the victims
of Islamic persecution.

In the spring of 2004, the author arrived in Nigeria and began his visit to the northern part
of the country, where the population is predominantly Muslim. The authorities had been
persecuting Christians for decades. I can attest to this because in May, 1966, I happened
to be in Kano, one of the major cities in Northern Nigeria. I witnessed firsthand the
beginning of the riots that were to result in the killings of many Christians who lived in
the area. I shall never forget my ride to Kano’s International Airport, as I attempted to
escape the dangerous situation. Eventually I did manage to escape to Lagos. The native
Christians, however, could not escape.
Heyboer almost 40 years later ventured into Nigeria and met a pastor in the town of
Gillian. How little things had changed. Marvin listened to a shocking account of a
tragedy that took place in 2002:

“Several church members were killed as they rushed through here to escape the
armed Muslims. This is where we lost ten of our smallest children. They ran
here for safety. They locked the door for protection. All of them died from
burns and suffocation.” P. 95

Marvin later visited the Sudan and his account of his travels there reads like a thriller. It
is almost impossible to obtain a visa to the country; but having finally succeeded and
gotten into the country, Heyboer’s difficulties mounted.

“Hotel registration was no formality. Front desk personnel were pushed aside,
and I faced a second port of ‘official’ immigration. My passport with visa was
withheld. I was not to venture beyond the Khartoum city limits during my stay
in Sudan!” P. 156

Before too long, Marvin discovered that a Sudanese woman with a gold colored jacket
showed up wherever he went. He later learned that she was from the Sudanese
Intelligence and was assigned to keep a watch on his movements. However, with the help
of a Christian Sudanese, he managed to escape her surveillance. In a visit to a Christian
home, he heard the heart-rending story of John, a young Christian, who one day, was
caught by Sudanese soldiers and sold into slavery. Eventually, John managed to escape,
but still suffers physically and mentally, from his time of captivity.

Finally, Marvin ended his journey in Egypt. Whether he was in Cairo, Alexandria, or in
Upper Egypt**, he learned about the almost unbearable conditions that the Copts
(Egyptian Christians who are the original inhabitants of the land) have undergone for
decades.

A young Christian, Brahim, shared his frustrations with Heyboer, and described the
plight of Coptic Christians in the land of his forefathers.

“In America, Muslims have the freedom to build mosques. In Upper Egypt,
Christians cannot even use a speaker system to address an audience in their
local church building.” P. 205

The list of indignities suffered by Copts is long, and somehow the West seems to be
blissfully ignorant of it!

Summarizing his experiences in the African “Heartland of Islam,” Marvin Heyboer

writes:

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 “At journey’s end, I have seen the wounded, broken victims easily camouflaged
by Islam behind the Crescent curtain. Many suffer in tears of silent dignity.
Why do some religious leaders praise a religion of such oppression? Why do
they argue that only some of the more radical Muslims perpetrate such
violence? That is exactly not the point. It is not about what every Muslim does
or does not do. It is about what Islam (sharia) instructs them to do. In my visits
and studies, I did not once, not once uncover leaders of Islam (political or
religious) who seriously condemned terror jihad and compensated those looted
or offered healing to those wounded. The point is Islam teaches terror
behavior.” P. 283

“JOURNEYS INTO THE HEART AND HEARTLAND OF ISLAM” is a timely book

that serves as a corrective to the superficial and deceptive accounts of Islam that depict it
as a “religion of peace,” which has been high jacked by extremists. I am thankful to the
author for undertaking his journey “into the heartland of Islam,” and providing us with
this much-needed account of the sufferings of Christians under Islam. It should further
persuade Western readers particularly of Islam’s intolerance toward other religious
beliefs. It should prevent them from being fooled by the political correctness that appears
to have paralyzed so many others in political and journalistic circles in the West
hindering them from grasping the inherent danger of Islam and its relation to world-wide
terrorism.

The book suffers from the lack of a Table of Contents and Index and some misspellings.
But this should not distract from its overall importance.

*Journeys into the Heart and Heartland of Islam: Victims Speak Out
By Marvin W. Heyboer. Published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.
701 Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

**Upper Egypt stands for the south of the country, while Lower Egypt designates the
area from Cairo all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. A few miles north of Cairo, the
Nile River divides into two branches, thus forming the Delta region.