Islam’s apostasy law: join our campaign for its abolition

The Church in China: hard pressed but growing fast

Burma: rebuilding lives and livelihoods after the cyclone
January/february 2009
 To guard the safety of Christians in hostile
environments, names may have been changed or
omitted. Thank you for your understanding.
Front cover: Christian converts from Islam martyred
for their faith: (top row, left to right) Shamimu Muteteri,
Uganda, †2007, killed by her father/ Necati Aydin,
Turkey, †2007, tortured and killed by Muslim
extremists/ David Abdulwahab Mohamed Ali, Somalia,
†2008, killed by his cousin/ Hussein Soodmand, Iran,
†1989, hanged for apostasy/ (bottom row, left to right)
Liibaan Ibraahim Hassan, Somalia, †1994, executed by
Muslim extremists/ Ghorban Tori, Iran, †2005,
abducted and murdered/ Esther John, Pakistan,
†1960, presumed murdered by her brothers/ Urgur
Yuksel, Turkey, †2007, tortured and killed by Muslim
extremists: Pictures 3 and 5: © Somalis for Jesus
Contents
3 Projects
Rebuilding lives and
livelihoods in Burma
FROM THE DIRECTOR
Why should they die?
In 2003-4 Barnabas Fund organised
a campaign about the Islamic law of
apostasy, the law that prescribes
death for any adult male Muslim
who chooses another faith. It also
decrees many other penalties for
apostates, such as loss of spouse
and children and loss of property
and inheritance.
A petition with 88,890 signatures from 32
different countries was presented to the
United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights on 28 July 2004, calling for
Muslims who choose to convert to another
faith to be “free to do so, without having to
face a lifetime of fear as a result”.
Many Barnabas Fund supporters wrote
letters on the issue to key people,
including HRH Prince Charles. As a result
the Prince convened a private meeting of
Christian and Muslim leaders at Clarence
House on 2 December 2004. The aim of
the meeting was to seek ways to reform
2 BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
6 Newsroom
Iraqi Christians flee from
deadly campaign in Mosul
9 17
Petition
Join our campaign against
the Islamic apostasy law
Information Pull-Out
The meaning and application
of the apostasy law
12 Poem
Confession of faith by a
martyred convert
13 Testimony
An evangelist among
Muslims tells of his ordeal
14 Country Profile
 he growth and suffering
T
of the Church in China
the shari‘a apostasy law. The Muslim
leaders admitted to the Prince that shari‘a
did indeed lay down a compulsory death
penalty for converts from Islam to other
faiths but that it could never be changed.
However, they said, there is no shari‘a in
the UK, so the apostasy punishments could
never be implemented in the UK.
Four years later, things are different. Shari‘a
is being practised in the UK. In 2008 the
British government awarded five shari‘a
courts in England the official status of
arbitration tribunals, making their decisions
enforceable with the full authority of the
British judicial system. They have been
given power to rule on divorce, domestic
violence and financial disputes. (For more
detailed information turn to p.8.) Secret
talks have been reported about establishing
shari‘a courts in Scotland too. Will these
shari‘a courts one day be allowed to punish
apostates, for example by annulling their
marriage or removing their right to inherit
from Muslim relatives?
16 Barnabas News
Presentation of the Save Iraqi
Christians petition
Resources
New book from Patrick
Sookhdeo on Islamic finance
18 In Touch
Pray in Lent for the
persecuted Church
Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David
Miliband, is one of very few Western
politicians to have expressed open
opposition to making apostasy a crime
punishable by death.
We at Barnabas Fund believe it is now an
appropriate time for another campaign on
the Islamic apostasy law. Please turn to
pages 9-12 to read about our campaign
and please get involved. Although the
apostasy law is many centuries old, and
although most Muslims concur with it,
there are many liberal Muslims who
actively oppose it and argue against it
from the Islamic sources. It is my heart’s
desire to see this iniquitous law lose its
hold on Muslim people worldwide, to see it
rejected as a wrong interpretation of the
Islamic sources.
Dr Patrick Sookhdeo
International Director
There are more details about the apostasy law
in the pull-out supplement, pages i-iv.
 Newsroom
Desperation is written on the face of
this Indian Christian woman, who has
lost everything in the ongoing anti-
Christian violence in Orissa State
Violence against Christians
continues in Orissa, India
In 2008 the Christian community in
Orissa State, India, experienced one of
the most brutal and drawn-out periods
of Hindu extremist violence. The
statistics of the attacks, which started on
24 August 2008 and continued almost
unabated for two months, are staggering:
at least 59 Christians have been murdered,
some cut to pieces and others burnt alive,
and many fear that the death toll might be
even higher. One estimate suggests that
120 Christians have been killed. Complete
villages have been cleansed of all
Christians. Some 18,000 people have
been injured, many of them severely;
numerous Christian women have been
raped; around 4,400 homes have been
destroyed; and several orphanages and
hundreds of churches and church
buildings have been torched and razed.
Over 50,000 Christians are thought to be
homeless, and around 30,000, more than
half of them children, are hiding in the
jungle. Many of them do not have any food
6 BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
or water, and face starvation. Barnabas
Fund has been helping to provide those
worst affected by the violence with
emergency aid, food parcels, medical help
and shelter.
There have been numerous reports of
forced conversions as Hindu extremists try
to turn Orissa into a Hindu state. Christians
who wanted to return to their homes were
told by the Hindu extremists: “Come back
as Hindu or don’t come back at all.” In
some cases the Hindu extremists poured
petrol over the Christians and then asked
them to convert; if they refused they were
burnt. Ashish Digal, a Christian leader, was
told by the extremists that if he did not
convert to Hinduism, they would burn his
house and kill him. A young Hindu woman
was gang-raped by her grandparents’
neighbours because her uncle refused to
renounce his Christian faith. Jaspina, a 32-
year-old Christian woman, was warned by
her neighbours, “If you go on being
Christians, we will burn your houses and
your children in front of you, so make up
your minds quickly.” She was forced to
attend a conversion ceremony together
with her husband and three children,
during which they had to eat cow dung
to “purify” themselves. Jaspina says:
“I’m totally broken. I’ve always been a
Christian. Inside I’m still praying for Jesus
to give me peace and to take me out of
this situation.”
The Indian federal government as well as
regional and local authorities showed
themselves reluctant to put an end to the
violence. Although there was talk of banning
the Bajrang Dal, one of the Hindu nationalist
groups responsible for the gruesome acts,
and of imposing presidential rule over
Orissa, no action was taken. Officials
continue to advise journalists and members
of NGOs (non-governmental organisations)
not to go into the affected areas as they
cannot provide protection.

Iraqi Christians flee Mosul as Islamic extremists launch
campaign to drive out all Christians
Thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled
the city of Mosul in northern Iraq after a
deadly campaign was launched to
remove the Christian community from
the city at the beginning of October.
At least fourteen Christians, including one
fifteen-year-old, have been murdered,
many of them killed execution-style by
gunmen. Other estimates suggest that as
many as 25 or even 40 Christians might
have been killed. The number of Christian
families fleeing the city and seeking refuge
in churches, towns and villages to the north
and east of Mosul reached 1,350 on 15
October. Barnabas Fund is helping to
provide practical aid such as food and
blankets to the families. Five Christian
homes were blown up. Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki urged Christians to stay despite
the ongoing violence and “not to give in to
the criminal plan”.
Earlier, leaflets were distributed in Mosul,
threatening Christians with death unless
they convert to Islam or pay the Islamic
jizya tax that marks them as second-class
citizens. The leaflets, which are an effective
tactic used before in Baghdad and
elsewhere, were condemned by the
Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq and
the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. One source
reports that on Thursday 9 October
extremists drove around the Mosul
neighbourhood of Sukkar, shouting
through a loudspeaker that Christians
would be attacked unless they left the
city. Others reported that false checkpoints
were set up in the city to stop cars and
check IDs. Christians were told to leave the
city within 24 hours. One Christian family
were confronted by three young people
Iranian Parliament provisionally approves death
penalty for leaving Islam
On 7 October the Iranian Parliament gave
provisional approval, by a majority of 196
to seven, to a bill that mandates the death
penalty for apostasy from Islam. Until now
Iranian judges could impose the death
penalty in such cases only on the basis of
Islamic law and fatwas, not on the basis of
Iranian law.
The bill prescribes a mandatory death
sentence for any male Muslim who converts
from Islam to another religion, and lifelong
imprisonment for female converts from Islam.
It also gives the Iranian secular courts
authority to convict Iranians living outside the
country of crimes relating to Iranian national
security. It seems likely that this could be
used against the many Iranian Christians
who live outside Iran but are
who came to their home and told them to
leave or convert to Islam.
Many believe that the extremists behind the
campaign are linked to al-Qaeda, but some
suggest that Kurds might be responsible as
many of the attacks happened in areas
controlled by Kurdish militia. The attacks
follow another blow to the Christian
community: on 24 September the Iraqi
Parliament agreed to remove Article 50
from the Provincial Election Law, which had
guaranteed a specific number of seats for
minorities, including Christians, on the
Regional Councils. The UN recommended
that twelve seats should be set aside for
Christians. But despite this international
pressure and assurances by the Iraqi
President that he would overturn the
decision, the Iraqi Parliament on 3
November conceded only three guaranteed
seats for Christians out of 440. The first
draft of the law had allowed 15 seats in six
different provinces for minorities, including
13 for Christians. A few days later the Iraqi
presidential council ratified the law without
any changes.
Mosul is the historic centre
of Christianity in Iraq
involved in evangelism within it. Apostasy
from Islam is viewed by most Muslims as
equivalent to treason.
The bill, which was drafted earlier this year, is
now being reviewed in parliament, giving
MPs the opportunity to amend it. Before it
becomes law the bill will also be vetted by
the Council of Guardians, a twelve-member
legislative body with the power to veto any
bill that does not conform to Islamic law and
the constitution.
Article 23 of the Iranian constitution states
that “the investigation of individuals’ beliefs is
forbidden, and no one may be molested or
taken to task simply for holding a certain
belief”. Iran is also a signatory of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, which guarantees freedom of belief.
Newsroom
Somali Christian
converts from Islam in
fear of their lives as
two more are killed by
Muslim extremists
Somali Christian converts from
Islam are facing increasing attacks
by Muslim extremists trying to
instil fear among the Christian
community and those contemplating
conversion from Islam to Christianity.
In September a 22-year-old Somali
Christian convert from Islam, Ahmadey
Osman Nur, was murdered while
attending a Muslim wedding. Nur had
asked for a translation of the wedding
service, which was held in Arabic, a
language that is traditionally used in
Muslim ceremonies because it is
considered to be the “language Allah
hears”. However not many Somalis speak
Arabic and very few guests would have
understood the service. The sheik who
performed the ceremony took offence at
Nur’s request. Knowing of Nur’s
conversion to Christianity, he declared
him to be guilty of apostasy and asked a
guard to “silence” him. As Nur left, he was
shot dead by an armed guard. Nur is the
third Christian known to have been
murdered for his conversion since the
beginning of 2008.
In the same month, on 23 September,
a Somali humanitarian aid worker and
Christian convert from Islam, 25-year-
old Mansuur Mohammed, was
beheaded by a group of Muslim
extremists in Manyafulka village, about
six miles from Baydhabo. The militants
called Mohammed an infidel and a spy
for the occupying Ethiopian soldiers, and
then cut off his head in front of the
terrified villagers.
Numerous Somali Christians have fled to
neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia,
Kenya and Djibouti in fear of attacks such
as these. Yet even there, safety is not
guaranteed: Nur Mohammed Hassan, a
Somali Christian refugee in Kenya, and his
family were attacked and forced out of
their home in Nairobi on 14 October by a
group of Somali Muslims. The family had
fled Somalia after Mohammed Hassan’s
sister was murdered by Muslims in April
2005 for allegedly distributing Bibles in
Mogadishu.
BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009 7
 Newsroom

Algerian court dismisses case against three Christians

accused of “blasphemy”
The case against three Algerian
Christian leaders accused of
“blasphemy” was dismissed on 29
October by a court in Ain Turk, Algeria.
The three Christians had been informed on
5 February that they had been sentenced
in absentia to three years in prison and
fines for “insulting Islam and its prophet”
and “threatening” Mr Al-Aid, the man who
brought charges against them. Mr Al-Aid
had “converted” from Islam to Christianity
for a period of time during which he also
attended a Bible school. Mr Al-Aid turned
away from Christianity when the material
benefits did not meet his growing
expectations and fell in with a group of
Islamists who used him to bring the three
Christian leaders to court on trumped-up
and vague charges of insulting Islam and
its prophet. He also claimed that the three
Christian leaders threatened him because
he had returned to Islam.
When offered the option of countersuing
their accuser, the three Christian leaders
declined to bring charges against Mr
Al-Aid, saying that they forgave him.

The Algerian Church is growing despite harassment and pressure from the
government and attempts by Islamic extremists to defame Christians and their
leaders. In this context it is very good news that an Algerian court recently
dismissed the case against three Christian leaders accused of “blasphemy”
by a supposed convert from Islam to Christianity

Shari‘a courts officially recognised as arbitration courts in the UK

In September the UK government
declared that rulings of British
shari‘a courts would be enforceable
in the British legal system through
the county courts or the High Court.
Courts in London, Birmingham, Bradford,
Manchester and Nuneaton, Warwickshire,
have been awarded the official status of
arbitration tribunals. Further courts may
be established in Edinburgh and
Glasgow.
Arbitration tribunals enable individuals to
settle their differences privately without
recourse to public legal proceedings. If
the parties agree to submit their case to
arbitration, and provided that the
proceedings are fair, the arbitrator’s
decision is then binding in the same way
as a court ruling.
Shari‘a courts have been operating and
passing judgments in Britain for a number
of years. They have limited powers to
pronounce on various civil disputes,
including some family and financial
matters, and on certain criminal offences
such as domestic violence. Previously
enforcement depended on whether the
Muslim parties involved were willing to
comply with the courts’ rulings. Now,
however, their decisions on private
disputes between individuals, such as
those concerning commercial contracts
or debt, will be binding.
For now the jurisdiction of the courts is
tightly circumscribed. They are not
authorised to resolve questions of
personal status: they cannot, for example,
grant a divorce that would be recognised
in civil law. Nor can they make decisions
in inheritance disputes that can be
enforced by the civil courts. They have no
power to determine guilt or innocence in
criminal cases, or to impose any
punishment other than those prescribed
under English law.
Many commentators believe, however,
that the growing presence and influence of
shari‘a law in Britain is cause for serious
concern. Some have suggested that
Islamic hard-liners may try to make shari’a
the dominant legal system in Muslim
neighbourhoods, so that non-Muslims are
put under pressure to submit disputes with
Muslims to Islamic arbitrators.
Others fear that Muslim women are being
encouraged to withdraw charges against
abusive husbands, who then escape
prosecution. In some recent cases of
domestic violence the husbands were
ordered to take anger management
classes and receive mentoring from
community elders. In each case the wife
subsequently withdrew her complaint, and
no charges were brought by the Crown
Prosecution Service.
Disquiet has also been expressed over
recommendations by the courts that sons
should receive larger sums than daughters
in inheritance disputes. In a recent case
brought before a shari’a court in
Nuneaton, two sons of a Muslim man were
awarded twice as much as the three
daughters in accordance with shari’a.
Many Muslim women are not in a strong
position to claim their legal rights, because
of culture, language, tradition, and family
ties and pressures that may involve threats
and violence.
The safety of converts from Islam would
also be further endangered if the
judgments of shari‘a courts against them
were ever given the force of civil law. Their
marriages might be annulled or their right
to inherit from Muslim relatives might be
removed.
Finally, a recent survey by the Centre for
Social Cohesion found that 40% of British
Muslim students support the introduction
of shari’a law in the UK, while 33% want a
global Islamic government based on
shari’a law. These opinions have raised
fears of further powers being granted to
shari‘a courts in future.

8 BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009


Why should
they be secret?
Islam is a one-way street. You can
convert to Islam but you are not allowed
to convert from Islam. All schools of
Islamic law, shari‘a, agree on this rule
and specify the death sentence for an
adult male Muslim who chooses to leave
his Islamic faith. Most also impose the
death penalty on women apostates.
The rule was established many centuries ago by Islamic
scholars, but even today most Islamic religious leaders and
many ordinary Muslim people agree with it. In 2007 a study
found that 36% of British Muslims aged between 16 and 24
believed that those who convert from Islam to another
religion should be punished by death.
Only a handful of countries today have the death penalty for
leaving Islam written into their legal system, and even in
these countries it is rarely put into practice. Nevertheless,
the existence of the “apostasy law” is so well known
amongst Muslims that it generates strong hostility towards
apostates, whether from family or community, from religious
or secular sources, from police or judiciary.
So it is normal for converts from Islam to face persecution
and violence. They may be arrested, perhaps for apostasy,
but more likely on a pretext. They may be attacked, beaten
or even murdered by their own relatives. And those who
commit the violence will probably not be punished for it.
There is also another whole range of penalties for apostasy
laid down in shari‘a: losing your spouse and children and
losing your property and inheritance are some of the most
important. These are also put into effect in many Muslim
contexts today.
Petition
“Hannah” is a Christian and the
daughter of a British imam (leader of a
mosque). She had to be taken under
police protection in December
2007after she received a death threat
via text message from her brother,
warning that he could not be
responsible for his actions if she did not
return to Islam. Hannah became a
Christian when she was 16, after she ran
away from home to escape an arranged
marriage. Since then she has moved
house 45 times to escape detection by
her family.
“Adel” and “Ishtar”, an Iranian Christian
couple, were whipped for their apostasy
from Islam in September 2007. Six
Iranian officials came to their home to
administer the punishment. Adel is
indeed a former Muslim who turned to
Christ many years ago, but Ishtar is from
a Christian background. The couple were
charged with apostasy because they were
married under Islamic law after they
were unable to find a church willing to
marry them because of their different
backgrounds. The Iranian court held that
if non-Muslims marry under Islamic law
they thereby convert to Islam.
BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009 9
 Petition

Imagine being a secret believer Ziya, a Turkish Christian, was disowned by

It is not surprising that many converts from Islam to
his parents after he converted from Islam.
Christianity keep their new faith secret. Imagine what this When his parents found out that he had
means. You cannot go to church for teaching or the uplifting become a Christian, they told people that he
joy of worshipping with others. If you know any other had died in an accident rather than have to
Christians, you cannot meet them for fellowship except very
live with the “shame” of admitting that their
carefully and discreetly. If you have a Bible you must keep it
safely hidden. Perhaps you watch a Christian TV programme
son had left Islam. They told him “Go away,
and you contact the show to ask for help with understanding you are not our son.”
your new faith; what happens if they mail you some Christian
literature and someone else opens the envelope? You live
with daily uncertainty about the future, never knowing when
your love for the Lord Jesus might be discovered or what the
Sophia, a 28-year-old Pakistani Christian, was
terrifying consequences of discovery would be.
living with her family in London when she
Why should Christians from a Muslim background have to be
decided to follow Christ. After her family
secret believers? Islam actively encourages non-Muslims
to convert to Islam. But it is the only world faith with a death found out that she had left Islam, they tried
sentence for those who leave. everything to make Sophia change her mind.
They told her again and again “The
Things can change punishment is death, do you know the
It does not have to be like this. punishment is death?” Sophia ran away from
There is debate amongst Muslim scholars regarding the home, but her mother tracked her down,
harshness of the apostasy law. Some point out that the turned up at her baptism and tried to pull her
Qur’an has no clear statement about the need to punish out of the water. Her brother phoned Sophia
apostasy in this life; it says simply that God will punish
on her mobile saying “I’m coming down to
apostates in the next life. Others doubt the genuineness of
the traditions recounting Muhammad’s words and actions burn that church.”
against apostates. Still others say that when apostates were
put to death in the early days of Islam, it was not because
they had changed their faith but because they had rebelled
against the Islamic state.
Mohammad Abbad, a 40-year-old Christian
from Jordan, is about to lose his wife and his
There are brave Muslim voices calling for the apostasy law to
be abandoned.
two children. Mohammad converted from
Islam to Christianity 15 years ago, and in
You can help make it happen March last year was charged with apostasy
after he and his wife sheltered in their home
Barnabas Fund’s campaign for 2009 seeks to bring an
end to the Islamic apostasy law. Although only Muslim
two converts who were receiving death
leaders can make this happen, we as Christians can help threats from their relatives . The relatives
the process. Sign the petition on page 11, and get your managed to track them down and attacked
church and friends to sign it too. It will be presented to both couples. When Mohammad went to the
Western governments a year from now.
police to report the assault he found that his
In future issues of Barnabas Aid we will be suggesting own father had already reported him to the
people of influence to whom you can write about the
police, seeking custody for Mohammad’s
apostasy law: political leaders, Church leaders and
Muslim leaders.
two children. Lawyers advised Mohammad
that he would lose the case if he did not
Above all, please pray.
renounce his Christian faith. Mohammad, his
For more information about the Islamic apostasy law, its wife and their children fled the country, but
origins and its current use, turn to the pull-out supplement,
pages i-iv.
learned soon afterwards that his father had
started procedures also to have his son’s
See also the Director’s letter, page 2.
marriage dissolved.

10 BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009

 Pull-out supplement

THE ISLAMIC LAW OF APOSTASY

The Islamic Law
of Apostasy
Introduction
The right to religious freedom, including the right of individuals to change their religion, is taken for granted
by most people in the West. But in Islam people are only free to change from a non-Islamic faith to Islam;
they are not free to change in the opposite direction. All schools of shari‘a (Islamic law) agree that adult
male Muslims who leave their faith should be killed. In line with this view, the majority of Muslim scholars
past and present hold that apostasy from Islam is a crime carrying the God-prescribed penalty of death.
Likewise, for most ordinary Muslims today, across the spectrum of beliefs and ideologies, apostasy carries
shocking and dreadful associations as a most abhorrent sin. In 2007 a study found that 36% of British
Muslims aged between 16 and 24 believed that those who convert from Islam to another religion should be
punished by death.1 Even for modernist and secularist Muslims apostasy carries negative ideas of treason
against one’s community. Apostates are viewed as traitors, bringing great shame on their families and
communities. This attitude explains why so few Muslim voices are ever raised in defence of those accused
of apostasy.

The legal basis in Islam emphasis of these verses is on God’s punishment of apostates
in the next life. Here are some examples:

for the apostasy law
Shari‘a is based on the Qur’an and on Muhammad’s example,
as recorded in traditions called hadith. In the early centuries of
Islam, these sources were developed by consensus (ijma‘) and
analogy (qiyas) into rules and regulations that were set down in
the manuals of the various shari‘a schools of law.
According to criminal law in shari‘a, the state must impose
mandatory punishments (hudud, sing. hadd) for certain specific
crimes that are supposedly committed against God and his
rights. These hudud crimes make up a separate category in
shari‘a criminal law, because they are the only ones to carry
divinely-ordained punishments, which cannot be altered by
humans. Apostasy (irtidad) is included in the list of hudud crimes
by three of the Islamic schools of law; apostasy is thus viewed
as a very severe crime for which God himself has prescribed
the death penalty. The other schools of law, though giving
judges greater flexibility in cases of apostasy, still decree the
death penalty for apostates.
Qur’an
Given the unanimous rulings of shari‘a about the death penalty for
adult male apostates, it is rather surprising to discover that the
Qur’an itself, the primary source from which shari‘a is derived, has
no clear statement about the punishment of apostates in this life.
Apostasy is mentioned in 13 verses of the Qur’an, but the
But if any turn away and reject God, God will punish him with
a mighty Punishment. (Q 88:23-24)
Anyone who after accepting faith in Allah utters unbelief
except under Compulsion his heart remaining firm in faith but
such as open their Breast to unbelief on them is Wrath from
Allah and theirs will be a Dreadful Penalty. (Q 16:106)
. . . and if any of you turn back from their faith and die in
unbelief, their works will bear no fruit in this life and in the
Hereafter; they will be Companions of the Fire and will abide
therein. (Q 2:217)
Hadith
Because the Qur’an is so ambiguous, the hadith are therefore the
main sources used to justify the shari‘a punishment of death for
apostates. For example:
N
 arrated ‘Ikrima: Some Zanadiqa [Muslim heretics] were
brought to ‘Ali and he burnt them. The news of this event,
reached Ibn ‘Abbas who said, “If I had been in his place, I
would not have burnt them, as Allah’s Apostle forbade it,
saying, ‘Do not punish anybody with Allah’s punishment (fire).’
I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah’s
Apostle, ‘Whoever changed his [Islamic] religion, then kill
him.’” (Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57)
There are also hadith that promise a special reward in paradise
for someone who kills an apostate.

1
Ruth Gledhill, “British imam’s daughter under police protection after converting to Christianity”, The Times, 5 December 2007.

BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009 11I

 Pull-out supplement
THE ISLAMIC LAW OF APOSTASY

The death sentence for apostates from Islam, according to the five main schools of shari‘a
School of law Hanafi (Sunni) Shafi‘i (Sunni) Maliki (Sunni) Hanbali (Sunni) Ja‘fari (Shi‘a)
Sane adult male Death Death Death Death Death
Sane adult female Imprisoned until Death Death Death Imprisoned and
she repents beaten with rods
until she repents
or dies
Period for Three days Three days Three days Immediate Born Muslims
repentance repentance required must repent
immediately;
converts to Islam are
given time to repent.
Apostasy a Yes Yes No No Yes
hadd offence?
Must apostasy be Yes No - inward apostasy No - inward apostasy No - inward apostasy
spoken to incur penalty? is punishable. is punishable. is punishable.
Establishing guilt Two witnesses Even words spoken Ascertain whether Confession and
required in jest are counted the individual two truthful male
as apostasy. was previously a witnesses.
Two witnesses true practising Words spoken
required Muslim. in anger, jest,
and unintentionally
do not count.

Other punishments for apostasy
The shari‘a also lays down other types of punishment for an
apostate. These include confiscation of his/her property,
separation from spouse and children, loss of inheritance and
denial of burial in a Muslim graveyard.
In practice the death penalty is rarely implemented by Muslim
states today, but apostates are commonly deprived of all their
civil rights. This practice is termed “civil death” in Egypt.
A broader definition
In Islamic law and tradition, apostasy (irtidad) has always been
linked to the concepts of unbelief, blasphemy and heresy (all
combined under the term kufr), which are sometimes used
interchangeably. In a sense kufr is the main category, while
apostasy, blasphemy and heresy are its sub-categories.
Although apostasy, blasphemy and heresy are distinct terms in
English, in Arabic kafir is often used to describe an apostate, a
blasphemer or a heretic, and all three categories are closely
linked, even interchangeable, in the minds of Muslims.
Although the term “apostate” (murtadd) usually refers to a
Muslim who has officially converted to another faith, individuals
who consider themselves to be good Muslims also may be
accused of unbelief, blasphemy and heresy as well as of
apostasy, for reasons such as scepticism, atheism, or not
obeying shari‘a properly. Some authorities list 300 different
acts that could make a person a kafir, thus giving Muslims
plenty of possible reasons for denouncing other Muslims as
infidels liable to the death penalty. This process is known as
takfir.2 In many cases multiple charges of apostasy,
blasphemy, unbelief, heresy and insulting Islam and
Muhammad are brought against the accused, thus giving the
judges greater flexibility in deciding under which category to
define the crime and ensuring that the accused actually is
convicted of something. A feature of accusations of apostasy
and blasphemy is the way they are often uncritically accepted as
true by members of the police and of the criminal justice system,
who require little or no evidence.
Shari‘a in modern Muslim states
Although most modern Muslim states have ratified international
agreements on human rights, they limit their validity by adding
that the agreements are subject to the authority of shari‘a.
Human rights and equality of all before the law are thus
interpreted by shari‘a, which discriminates on the basis of both
religion and gender.
Many Muslim states had secular constitutions at independence
but have engaged in a gradual process of Islamisation since
then. Most have declared Islam to be their state religion, and
many have declared shari‘a to be the primary source of their law.
Many Muslim states have two parallel legal systems operating:
the Western secular system and the Islamic shari‘a system.
Although most states with a mixed system and a written
constitution guarantee freedom of religion and equality of
treatment to all citizens, in practice a Muslim who rejects his or
her faith is often treated as if guilty of treason and liable to the
death penalty even if there is no official punishment for apostasy
laid down in the constitution or legal system.
Muslim states and apostasy
In some countries the state legal system has adopted shari‘a
laws that enable official charges to be made within the state
courts against converts from Islam. (These blasphemy and
apostasy laws also enable the state arbitrarily to detain citizens
who for any reason are viewed with disfavour by the authorities
or by militant Muslims.)

2
John L. Esposito, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, pp439-443.

II BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009


Though official proceedings against those who reject Islam are
rare, apostasy is punishable by death in Afghanistan, Iran,
Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen. It is also treated
as illegal in the Comoros, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia and
the Maldives.
Where legal provisions for punishing apostasy do not at
present exist, the state or local authorities may harass
converts by arresting them on various pretexts, such as public
order offences, or by framing them for other “crimes”. These
practices also help to avoid any unwelcome attention from
Western media.
Where state legal systems are not interested in such
prosecutions, or where they dare not prosecute for fear of
condemnation by the West, groups or individuals within the
society may act instead to carry out the shari‘a penalties.
Islamic scholars and mullahs may issue fatwas demanding the
killing of the accused, and families may use force and violence
against the convert, which sometimes end in murder as they try
to remove the shame that they feel the conversion brings on the
whole family. In some contexts, mobs can be easily incited to
frenzied attacks against an alleged apostate. Individual Muslims
zealous for their religion and its honour may take it on
themselves to assassinate the accused, believing that they are
doing a holy service to God and to Islam.
The application of the apostasy
law in the world today
The examples below focus on countries where there are laws
against apostasy, but it is important to remember that everywhere
– even in the West – unofficial persecution of converts by family
and community is likely to occur. Furthermore, those who
perpetrate the unofficial persecution often go unpunished in
Muslim countries, and sometimes even in the West.
Saudi Arabia
The Qur’an is the state constitution and shari‘a the legal system.
Judges have freedom to decide what constitutes apostasy. In a
1992 case brought against a Shi‘a Muslim, who had converted
from Sunni Islam, it was reported that the judge told the
accused: “Abandon your rejectionist beliefs or I will kill you”.
A young Saudi woman called Fatima al-Mutairi learned about
Jesus Christ on the internet and decided to follow Him. But in
2008 her family discovered her faith, and her brother cut out her
tongue and then burned her to death. It is apparently being
considered an “honour crime”, and her brother may therefore
receive a relatively lenient sentence. (Turn to page 12 to read a
poem written by Fatima.)
Afghanistan
The 2004 Afghan constitution states that “no law can be contrary
to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred law of Islam” (Article
3). On this basis an Afghan judge and prosecutor declared in
2006 that the death sentence for apostasy was part of Afghan
law and threatened Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old convert to
Christianity, with death. In the end, under pressure from Western
governments, the Afghan authorities found a pretext to dismiss
the case.
Pull-out supplement
THE ISLAMIC LAW OF APOSTASY
Egypt
Although there is no direct law against apostasy, Egyptian
Christians who have converted from Islam are often arrested and
imprisoned, typically on charges of endangering social peace.
While in detention they may be beaten or tortured.
Between 1970 and 1982 the courts decreed that apostates had
neither the right to marry nor the right to inherit and that their
existing marriages were invalid as they were civically dead
according to Hanafi shari‘a law.
In 2002 Al-Azhar University recommended a change in the
application of the apostasy law by giving the accused a lifetime
to renounce the apostasy instead of the three-day period laid
down in shari‘a. This recommendation was severely criticised by
many religious leaders.
A serious problem for Egyptian converts is the fact that they are
never given permission to change the religion entered on their ID
card from Muslim to Christian. This makes it very difficult for
them to live as Christians and their children also will be
registered as Muslims. On 29 January 2008 Mohammed Hegazy
lost his court case against the Egyptian Interior Minister on this
issue. The judge ruled that, according to shari‘a, it was lawful to
convert only to Islam, not to any other religion.
Jordan
The Jordanian authorities can be harsh in their treatment of
converts from Islam. On 24 March 2008 Mohammad Abbad, a
Christian who had converted from Islam 15 years earlier, was
charged with apostasy before the North Amman Shari‘a Court.
Earlier that month he and his wife had sheltered in their home
two converts who were receiving death threats from relatives.
But the relatives tracked them down and attacked both couples.
When Mohammad went to the police to report the assault, he
found that his own father had already reported him to the police,
seeking custody of Mohammad’s two children. Lawyers advised
Mohammad that he would lose the case if he did not renounce
his Christian faith. Mohammad and his family fled the country on
28 March. His father then started procedures to have his son’s
marriage dissolved.
Sudan
President Nimeiri introduced shari‘a law to North Sudan in 1983
and tried also to impose it on the South. Two years later, an
Islamic scholar, Mahmoud Muhammad Taha, was executed for
apostasy because of his efforts to liberalise and reform Islam. In
1989 the National Islamic Front came to power, and in the 1991
constitution the Islamic Code was again enforced. The use of
shari‘a as the basis of law and government in North Sudan has
since become ever more explicit.
Section 126 of the Sudan Criminal Law 1991 makes apostasy
from Islam a criminal offence punishable by death. Although this
extreme penalty is seldom implemented, apostates face arrest,
imprisonment and torture.
Iran
Since the 1979 Iranian revolution Shi‘a Islam has been the state
religion. Article 4 of the constitution states: “All civil, penal
financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and
other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria.”
BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009 III
 Pull-out supplement
THE ISLAMIC LAW OF APOSTASY
Although the state recognises Christianity, Judaism and
Zoroastrianism as official religions and gives their followers
limited freedoms to worship within their communities, the Baha’is
face severe persecution as unprotected infidels. Various laws
place restrictions on religious freedoms. In cases where there are
no specific codified laws to cover a particular case, judges have
the right to deliver fatwas based on Islamic sources. By use of
this right, a number of converts from Islam have been sentenced
to death for apostasy, and one of them, Hossein Soodmand, was
hanged in 1990. Another convert, Mehdi Dibaj, was sentenced to
death in December 1993, released the following month, and then
mysteriously murdered in July 1994.
In recent years many converts active in Christian ministry have
been arrested and charged not with apostasy but with, for
example, “activities against Islam”. Others have been murdered
by security forces. For example, Ghorban Tori was kidnapped by
security forces in November 2005 and stabbed to death. In July
2008, a couple in their 60s, Abbas Amiri and Sakineh Rahnama
Amiri, were beaten so badly by security officers that both later
died of their injuries.
On 2 September 2008, the Iranian Parliament gave provisional
approval to a bill that mandates the death penalty for any male
Muslim who converts from Islam to another religion, and lifelong
imprisonment for female apostates. If passed into law, this would
introduce the death penalty for apostasy into Iranian law, so that
judges no longer have to look to Islamic sources to justify death
sentences.
Malaysia
The constitution declares Islam to be the official state religion
while guaranteeing religious freedom. Two states, Kelantan and
Terengganu, have passed laws to provide the death penalty for
apostasy, but these cannot be enacted because of federal
opposition.
A 1993 law states that it is illegal for a Muslim to change his or
her religion. A convert named Lina Joy took her request for her
conversion to Christianity to be formally recognised right to the
top of the secular court system, but on 30 May 2007 the Federal
Court ruled that the decision must be made by a shari‘a court,
which was equivalent to a refusal.
Malays are given political and economic advantages as the
indigenous people of the country. But the legal definition of a
Malay includes that the person must be a Muslim, so Malays
who convert from Islam lose their ethnic identity and its
associated privileges.
Maldives
A new constitution for the Maldives was ratified on 7 August
Barnabas fund hope and aid for the persecuted church
UK New Zealand
9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX 14A View Road, Mt Eden, Auckland 1024
Telephone 024 7623 1923 Telephone 09 630 6267 or 0800 008 8805
Fax 024 7683 4718 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz
From outside the UK
Australia
Telephone +44 24 7623 1923 Postal Suite 107
Fax +44 24 7683 4718 236 Hyperdome
Email info@barnabasfund.org Loganholme QLD 4129
Registered Charity Number 1092935 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365799
Company Registered in England Fax: (07) 3806 4076
Number 4029536 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org
IV BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
2008. It states that “a non-Muslim may not become a citizen of
the Maldives” and “no law contrary to any tenet of Islam shall be
enacted”. As a result, around 3,000 Maldivians – and any future
converts from Islam - lose their citizenship and all the rights that
accompany it, such as freedom of speech, freedom of
movement and habeas corpus.
Amending the apostasy law?
There have been Muslim calls for a reform of the harsh apostasy
law and for Islamic leaders to proclaim that it is permissible for
Muslims to choose other faiths, just as non-Muslims are allowed
(indeed, encouraged) to choose Islam.
Some modernist Islamic scholars argue from the Qur’an and
from the historical context of the hadith that an apostate should
not be put to death unless s/he is also a danger to the Islamic
state. They argue that the death sentence given to apostates in
early Islam was for their rebellion against the Islamic state, not
for their change of faith. However, the definition of “danger to the
Islamic state” is important. Sheikh Tantawi, the Grand Imam of
the influential Egyptian University Al-Azhar, says that an apostate
“should be left alone as long as he does not pose a threat or
belittle Islam”. It is hard to imagine how those who have left
Islam could say anything about their conversion without in some
sense being critical of Islam. Muslims would then, by Tantawi’s
logic, be “forced to take action”. It is worth noting that he does
not specify what that “action” should be, leaving open the
possibility of killing the apostate.
Conclusion
The Islamic law of apostasy, framed in medieval times, has a huge
impact today. Indeed, its impact is increasing. This change is
partly because of the rise of Islamism (Islamic fundamentalism)
and the increased application of shari‘a in new regions and states,
not only in the Muslim world but also now in the West. It is also
because more Muslims are becoming Christians than ever before
in history, so that there are more apostates to be dealt with.
The apostasy law exerts its influence not only through direct
application of the law but also indirectly by shaping Muslim
minds, creating immense hostility towards those who leave Islam.
Muslims are well aware that the rest of the world finds their
apostasy law outrageous, and much has been written to try to
defend it. The only hope for real freedom of religion within Islam
lies in the abolition of the harsh death penalty for apostasy,
indeed any penalty, and allowing total freedom to leave Islam for
those who want to do so.
© Barnabas Fund, 2009
Jersey International Headquarters
Le Jardin, La Rue A Don, Grouville, The Old Rectory, River Street,
Jersey, Channel Islands JE3 9GB Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK
Telephone 700600 Fax 700601 Telephone 01672 564938
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Email bfusa@barnabasfund.org www.barnabasfund.org
 Newsroom
Petition

We, the undersigned, have put our names to this document to draw
attention to the serious danger faced by Muslims who choose to
leave their faith.
Shari‘a (Islamic) law prescribes the death penalty for adult male Muslims who choose to leave
Islam. Most of the Islamic schools of law also have the death sentence for women. Other
penalties are also imposed.

We call on our national government to support all efforts by Muslims to have the
apostasy law abolished, so that Muslims who choose to leave their faith are no
longer liable to any penalty but are free to follow their new convictions without fear,
in accordance with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

What you can do to bring change

This is more than a campaign. It is a matter of life and death. Please sign this petition by writing
your name and address clearly below. We will then send you future editions of our free magazine, Barnabas Aid,
containing updates on the campaign and information to encourage your prayers and involvement.

If you do not want to receive this material or to participate

further in this campaign, then please do not sign the petition.

Signature Name and address Postcode Email Country

Please return completed petition forms to Barnabas Fund at your national office by the end of 2009.

9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX www.barnabasfund.org

Telephone 024 7623 1923 Fax 024 7683 4718
Email info@barnabasfund.org
Registered charity number 1092935 Company registered in England number 4029536

New Zealand Australia Jersey USA International Headquarters

14A View Road, Mt Eden,
Auckland 1024
Telephone 09 630 6267 or
0800 008 8805
Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz
Postal Suite 107, 236 Hyperdome
Loganholme QLD 4129
Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365799
Fax: (07) 3806 4076
Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org
Le Jardin, La Rue A Don, Grouville,
Jersey, Channel Islands JE3 9GB
Telephone 700600
Fax 700601
Email bfjersey@barnabasfund.org
6731 Curran St, McLean, VA 22101
Telephone (703) 288-1681
or toll-free 1-866-936-2525
Fax (703) 288-1682
Email bfusa@barnabasfund.org
The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey,
Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK
Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030
From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938
Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org

BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009 11

 Poem
“And we for the sake of Christ
all things bear...” Fatima Al-Mutairi’s story
Fatima Al-Mutairi, a 26-year-
old Saudi Christian, had
her tongue cut out and was
burnt to death, apparently
by her brother, when her
family found out that she
had converted from Islam
to Christianity. Shortly
before her death she wrote
the poem printed on the
right, which she posted on
the internet (translation
from Arabic).
*Notes:
� The “forum” refers to a website
where Arab believers gather in
online fellowship and witness.
� “Master of the prophets” is
normally a title for Muhammad
but is used in this poem as
a title for Christ. Muslims
commonly believe that
Christians insult Christ by
speaking untruths about him.
� “The Clear Truth” is often used
as a name for God in Islam.
� In the last blog that Fatima
wrote before her death, she
found comfort and strength in
the opening verse of Psalm 27,
“The Lord is my light and my
salvation – whom shall I fear?”
� “The Lord of the worlds” is an
Islamic name for God, used in
the first chapter of the Qur’an.
Fatima attributes this name to
Jesus Christ, her Saviour.
12 BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
And we for the sake of Christ all things bear
May the Lord Jesus guide you, O Muslims
And enlighten your hearts that you might love others
The forum does not revile the Master of the prophets*
It is for the display of truth, and for you it was revealed
This is the truth that you do not know
What we profess are the words of the Master of the prophets*
We do not worship the cross, and we are not possessed
We worship the Lord Jesus, the Light of the worlds
We left Muhammad, and we do not follow in his path
We followed Jesus Christ, the Clear Truth*
Truly, we love our homeland, and we are not traitors
We take pride that we are Saudi citizens
How could we betray our homeland, our dear people?
How could we, when for death – for Saudi Arabia – we stand ready?
The homeland of my grandfathers, their glories, and odes – for it I am writing
And we say, “We are proud, proud, proud to be Saudis”
We chose our way, the way of the rightly guided
And every man is free to choose any religion
Be content to leave us to ourselves to be believers in Jesus
Let us live in grace before our time comes
There are tears on my cheek, and oh! the heart is sad
To those who become Christians, you are so cruel!
And the Messiah says, “Blessed are the Persecuted”
And we for the sake of Christ all things bear.
What is it to you that we are infidels?
You do not enter our graves, as if with us buried
Enough – your swords do not concern me, not evil nor disgrace
Your threats do not trouble me, and we are not afraid*
And by God, I am unto death a Christian – Verily
I cry for what passed by, of a sad life
I was far from the Lord Jesus for many years
O History record! and bear witness, O witnesses!
We are Christians – in the path of Christ we tread
Take from me this word, and note it well
You see, Jesus is my Lord, and he is the Best of protectors
I advise you to pity yourself, to clap your hands in mourning
See your look of ugly hatred
Man is brother to man, Oh learned ones
Where is the humanity, the love, and where are you?
As to my last words, I pray to the Lord of the worlds*
Jesus the Messiah, the Light of Clear Guidance
That He change notions, and set the scales of justice aright
And that He spread Love among you, O Muslims
Fatima Al-Mutairi

Persecuted and Disfigured for
Proclaiming Christ to Muslims
If converts from Islam to Christianity are
liable to severe persecution, so also are
those who proclaim the Gospel to them.
We bring you here the story of Elias Maalouf,
a Palestinian Arab who first converted to
Islam, then from it to Christianity, and who
engaged in evangelism among Muslims in the
Holy Land.
Elias was born in 1956 into a Christian
family and has lived most of his life in
Jerusalem. After studying at an Arab school
he left without completing his education,
and joined the Communist Party in 1972.
He worked with the Palestine Liberation
Organisation (PLO) and led various youth
groups opposed to Israel.
Elias attended many debates, especially on
communism and Islam, and in 1976-7 he
became a Muslim. But then he read the
New Testament and was deeply influenced
and stirred by it. He found an echo of his
former communist convictions in the
sharing of possessions by the early Church.
Confronted with the claims of Christ, he
was baptised in 1982 in the River Jordan.
Elias began to witness to Muslims and
communists, both verbally and through the
distribution of Christian literature. He was
attacked several times and beaten up, but
eleven Muslims were converted and
baptised through his ministry. This success
greatly angered the Muslim youth, who
threatened him with severe punishment.
The new Christians began to witness to
their families, and in 1984-5 Elias suffered
further heavy beatings. On one occasion he
was stabbed, and on another he had to
escape from his burning car when Molotov
cocktails were thrown at it.
Then in 1985 Elias was invited by the
brother of one of the converts to meet him
at a Bible exhibition at Bethlehem
University. When Elias arrived in the square
six youths from the militant Islamic
organisation Hamas approached him armed
with chains, baseball bats and glass bottles.
They beat him until he was
bleeding profusely, and then
cracked his skull with a bat.
“I had no strength left in me,”
says Elias, “I was praying Elias Maalouf, a Christian evangelist who lost his left
silently. I could hardly eye in an attack by a Hamas gang and had to flee to
pronounce a word as I was the West
so badly beaten.”
The men smashed a bottle on a wall and
removed Elias’s left eye with it. As his
eyeball fell to the ground Elias collapsed.
He says, “While on the ground on my face
I saw a man looking exactly like Jesus. I
knew it was the Lord. He knelt down. He
was wearing dark brown trousers but not
like our trousers: they were sewn at the
side with threads. He was wearing sandals
that had laces going round to his ankles.
His shirt was one piece of cloth with no
seams. I could not see His face, and I was
afraid to look at Him too. He asked me to
give Him my hand and He pulled me up.
Suddenly I had so much energy, and I was
flooding with joy.”
Elias walked in the scorching sun to an
Arab hospital carrying his eye. The staff
gave him painkillers but took no action
to save the eye. By the time they had
transferred him to an Israeli hospital it
was too late. Elias remained in hospital for
two months and was blind in his remaining
eye for nearly six as a result of the blow to
his head
Elias was wondering whether his ministry
could continue, and prayed that he might
serve the Lord fully, to the end. With his
other eye he began to see first shadows,
then colours, and he was eventually able
to read again, though with great pain. He
Testimony
engaged in a lengthy and deep study
of Islam, which greatly enhanced his
evangelistic work when he resumed it
in 1987.
In 1989 a terrorist cell was arrested in
Ramallah, and Elias’s name was found to
be fourth on their list of assassination
targets. The next year he was repeatedly
interrogated by both the PLO and Hamas,
and on one occasion he was seconds
away from being hanged by a Hamas
gang. They had tied his hands behind his
back and put a bag over his head when an
Israeli jeep appeared unexpectedly and
they fled.
Elias was strongly advised to leave his
homeland, and later in 1990 he moved to
the West. He has a wife and 16-year-old
stepson, and also cares for his disabled
brother. With help from friends he has
bought a small grocery shop, which is run
by his wife. He has also continued with his
ministry, and he has written twelve books
on Islam in Arabic.
Sadly Elias now has cancer, and to secure
the most effective treatment he will have to
pay for it. Barnabas Fund has supported
him with a gift, and he was touched and
moved to tears by this demonstration of
Christian love. (Project reference 00-345
Victims of Violence Fund)
BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009 13
 Country Profile
Country Profile:
China
Sixty troubled years
China is a great and ancient nation. After
nearly two centuries of decline and
humiliation at the hands of the Western
powers and Japan, in the last 60 years it
has regained its place of importance in the
world, and has become a major player
both politically and economically. Yet this
progress has been won at the price of
immense human suffering and the
frequent and severe repression of
unauthorised religious groups.
In 1949 the Communist revolutionaries
under Mao Zedong completed the
conquest of mainland China, and they then
began to reshape the nation on Marxist
lines. This policy reached its nadir in the
Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976, which
caused huge distress and economic
chaos. Some estimates put the death toll
at 20 million. Since Mao’s death the
government has adopted a more
pragmatic approach, including the
initiation of economic reforms and
international relationships, but it has not
relaxed its political grip. A student protest
in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989
was ruthlessly crushed, and ethnic and
religious dissent has been suppressed
wherever possible. China has become
an unusual combination of an open
capitalist economy and a controlled
communist state.
Christianity in China
Christianity was introduced into China no
later than the 6th century, probably by
Assyrian Christians from the Middle East.
Missionaries from Western Europe arrived
in the 13th century, and the first
Protestant mission was established by
Robert Morrison in 1807. In the later 19th
century the number of Christians began to
increase rapidly, but the perceived
association of the Church with Western
colonialism led to Christianity’s being
regarded by many Chinese people as
Yang Jiao, a foreign religion that had
invaded their country.
14 BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009
The early 20th century saw renewal and
further substantial growth, so that by 1949
there were about 5.5 million Christians in
China. But following the Communist
takeover all foreign missionaries were
expelled, and the government sought to
bring organised Christianity under state
control. As a result a number of “house
churches” broke away from their
denominations, refusing to register with
the authorities and choosing to operate
independently. During the Cultural
Revolution all Christian activity was forced
underground, but after restrictions were
relaxed somewhat in the late 1970s the
churches began to grow again.
The registered churches are organised in
the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM)
and the Patriotic Catholic Association. The
communist state designates itself as the
head of these bodies, and Christians are
forbidden to give allegiance to foreign or
international leadership. Among the
Protestant churches the TSPM decides on
which buildings may be used for worship,
who may be a pastor and which activities
may be undertaken. Members are not
allowed to read Christian literature from
abroad, or to listen to recorded addresses
from foreign preachers. An attempt has
been made to reconstruct the churches’
theology to make it compatible with
socialism, and proclamation of the
Christian distinctives is discouraged. The
government has sought to make the
organisation as uniform as possible, even
preventing some churches that have
wanted to register from doing so for fear
of increasing diversity.
The unregistered house churches have
enjoyed massive growth, but owing to
their marginal social status many lack
resources and trained leadership. Also the
authorities target them for persecution of
various kinds (see below).
Reliable data on the number of Christians
in China today are not available. A modest
government estimate put the figure at 54
million, but a senior official has admitted
in private that it may be as high as 130
Bibles can be printed and distributed
in China, but other kinds of Christian
literature are subject to restrictions
million. Wherever it falls between these
extremes, the rapid growth of the Chinese
church since 1976 is historically
unparalleled.
Persecution
The persecution of Chinese Christians did
not originate with the Communist
revolution. In the Boxer rebellion of 1900
against Western influence 189 Christians
were martyred, including many children,
and a nationwide anti-Christian movement
was launched in 1922. But conditions for
the churches certainly deteriorated after
1949, and eventually became desperate.
In the early years of the new regime many
church leaders were arrested, imprisoned
and even tortured. Then during the
Cultural Revolution church buildings were
closed or destroyed, and numerous clergy
were sent to labour camps for “re-
education”, or executed. Improvements
since 1976 have proved inconsistent: the
1980s saw a further crackdown on
Christian activity among the house
churches, and in the 1990s greater efforts
were made to force them to register.
The present Chinese government is
committed to the promotion of a
“harmonious society” organised on
communist principles. For this reason
diversity is inherently suspect, and so are
connections to organisations located in
the West. Religious groups are expected
to conform their activities to the
constraints of the socialist order, and to
achieve this conformity the authorities
attempt to organise them in national,
state-controlled organisations such as
the TSPM.
Churches that refuse to register with these
bodies are therefore seen as unpatriotic
and subversive, and their leaders as
“unstable social elements”. Their activities
 Country Profile

are illegal; their members are subject to
harassment and violence; their buildings
may be closed; and many of their
pastors are arrested and imprisoned.
Instances of torture and even murder
have been reported.
So, for example, on 16 October 2008 the
sons of one of China’s best-known house
church leaders, “Bike” Zhang Mingxuan,
were beaten up by 15 officials of the
Public Security Bureau (PSB) armed with
iron bars. The eldest son, Zhang Jian, was
attacked for 25 minutes and suffered
serious injury, and the ambulance service
refused to come for him. Later he spent
time in intensive care, in a critical
condition, but left hospital early because
PSB officials were watching him and he
feared for his safety. Zhang Jian’s mother
was thrown out of her house, and all the
family’s furniture was left in the street.
Hotels were ordered not to rent to them.
Bike Zhang, who is President of the
Chinese House Church Alliance, was
detained by PSB officials in June while on
the way to meet the European Union
rapporteur between the EU and China. In
2007 he had written three open letters to
the international community detailing the
persecution and harassment faced by
house church leaders and members.
Since becoming a Christian in 1986 he
has been arrested, beaten and
imprisoned numerous times.
Some restrictions apply to all Christians,
whether outside the official groups or
within. Religious belief is supposed to
be incompatible with Communist party
membership, which is required for those
in almost all high-level positions. Foreign
nationals are not allowed to engage in
evangelism among the Chinese (and
they may not take part in any other
kind of Christian ministry except by
invitation of a registered organisation).
Bibles are allowed to be printed in
China, but religious material from abroad
may not be distributed without its being
officially approved.
It was hoped that the holding of the
Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 might
encourage the Chinese leadership to
concede greater religious freedom to its
people. In fact, however, the event was
preceded by increased harassment and
repression of house churches and their
leaders, especially in urban areas, and
by additional restrictions on Christian
publications, foreign Christians and
missionaries. The head of the Political
and Legal Committee of the Communist
Party later called for “extraordinary
measures” to be taken against those
who create social instability, and house
church leaders were explicitly mentioned
in a new legal directive to that effect.
The Chinese government’s opening up
to the West, stimulated by the country’s
remarkable economic growth, has led it
significantly to improve its policies on
both human rights and religious liberty.
But paradoxically, in its desire to
maintain internal stability and “harmony”
it is also bringing pressure to bear on
Christians in the unofficial churches,
whom it perceives to be upsetting the
social balance.
Barnabas Fund at
work in China
Barnabas Fund works in various ways
in China to support and strengthen the
Church and individuals who suffer for
their faith. (China General Fund, project
reference 09-780)

Religious practice in China

Only five religions are officially permitted to function in China:
Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism.
Each has its own state-controlled, national organisation, and
the government claims that all religious believers are
represented by these. In fact millions of Christians practise
their faith in unregistered house churches.
The authorities’ attempt to integrate each of the official
organisations has also enjoyed only limited success. Despite
the prohibition, some believers have even continued in
relationship with religious bodies outside China. Diversity
within the TSPM has persisted and arguably has increased
recently, partly because of the churches’ maintaining of
denominational ties.
The government has begun to endorse elements of
Confucianism, but it is unlikely that this policy reflects a greater
commitment to religious freedom. Confucianism is a complex
system of moral, social, political and religious teaching built up
by Confucius (551-478 BC) on a foundation of ancient Chinese
traditions. It is arguably a philosophy rather than a religion, in
which the notion of duty is extended into almost every detail of
daily life. It includes no revelation and very little doctrine, and
its worship is centred in offerings to the dead. In the hands of
the Chinese authorities it may be merely a political instrument These charts show the relative extent of the various
to uphold the state and ensure conformity. They may see it as religious and Christian affiliations among the
an effective rival to non-Chinese religions, and as a means of Chinese population. Precise estimates vary,
promoting Chinese nationalism in the face of increasing sometimes quite widely
cultural influence from the West.

BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009 15

 Barnabas News
Newsroom

Barnabas Fund UK meetings “Partnership of

with Patrick Sookhdeo Partnerships”
Islam is spreading throughout the UK and transforming conference,
British society. The Muslim community is growing rapidly,
and the influence of Islam on law, politics and economics July 2008
is getting stronger. In the face of this challenge, what role
At St Petersburg Christian University in
should the Church play in shaping the future of Britain?
Russia last summer, Barnabas Fund
In 2009 Dr Patrick Sookhdeo will be holding a series of brought together 75 delegates from
speaker meetings under the title “Islam, the Church and the around 14 republics and territories in
Future of Britain”. He will address the urgent need for the Central Asia and the Caucasus. They
Church to understand Islam and engage constructively with represented a wide range of contexts,
the Muslim community without compromising its own Christian beliefs, the truth of from places of relative religious freedom
the Gospel, and our society’s Judeo-Christian heritage. to those with draconian regimes and
many militant Islamists. Several delegates
Confirmed dates and venues are listed below, and updates will be included in future
had recently suffered imprisonment or
editions of Barnabas Aid. Please do come and reflect with us on this important issue, violent persecution, or had relatives in jail
and bring your Christian friends too! for outreach to Muslims.
Saturday 10 January Woodford, 7.00 pm All Saints Church, Inmans Row
The conference included worship and
London
prayer, talks and lectures, seminars and
Sunday 11 January Southend 3 - 5 pm St Michael & All Angels Church, meetings. Delegates shared news from
Leigh Road, Westcliff-on-Sea
their homelands: official regulations and
Saturday 31 January Glasgow 7.00 pm Victoria Evangelical Church, restrictive laws, persecution, poverty and
Langside Road anti-Christian violence. But they also
Saturday 28 February N Ireland Details to be confirmed testified to God’s goodness and provision
Friday 6 March Wirral 7.30 pm Grange URC, Kings Road, Higher for His people, and to strong fellowship
Bebbington between believers.
Saturday 16 March Ipswich 10.00 am To be confirmed
One common theme was the significant
(If you are unable to attend any of these meetings you may like instead to read growth of the Church despite
Patrick Sookhdeo’s book The Challenge of Islam to the Church and Its Mission, persecution. One delegate was the first
available from Barnabas Fund. Details are on the opposite page.) male convert to Christianity from his
people-group, and now, 15 years later,
he pastors a convert church among his
Save Iraqi Christians petition own people.

presented in London and Canberra Another major theme was the need for
national Christians to develop patterns of
A total of 42,627 people put their names to the petition created by Barnabas church organisation that are appropriate
Fund for our Save Iraqi Christians campaign. On 5 November 2008 the British to their context and not merely to copy
and European signatures were presented to the Human Rights, Democracy and models from elsewhere. Many delegates
Governance Group and the Iraqi Group of the British Foreign and Commonwealth gave examples of house churches and
Office by Barnabas Fund’s International Director, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo. He was underground fellowships that are based
accompanied by a senior leader of the Iraqi community in the UK. The Australian on diffuse and multiple leadership rather
signatures were presented to Russell Broadbent MP at the Federal Parliament on than a single pastor. These are much
Monday 10 November. more resilient against state action.
Give thanks to God that so many Delegates were also able to discuss their
people worldwide have signed the needs with the Barnabas Fund team, and
petition. Please pray that Western over 60 potential projects were examined.
governments will recognise the The conference provided an excellent
severity of anti-Christian violence opportunity to exchange views on how
in Iraq and will welcome Iraqi best to strengthen the Church in a variety
Christians into their countries to of situations. For everyone involved it was
live and worship in peace and a rich experience.
security. Pray too that
Barnabas Fund has an office for the
immigration officials reviewing
Ian Wright, CEO of Barnabas Fund in Australia, former Soviet Union, which has recently
asylum applications will recognise
presents the Australian signatures of the Save moved to Moldova. Please pray for the
the particular dangers faced by
Iraqi Christians petition to Russell Broadbent MP staff as they seek to support our partners
Iraqi Christians.
in a variety of challenging circumstances.

16 BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009

 Resources

In this edition we profile a new book from Dr Patrick Sookhdeo,

International Director of Barnabas Fund, and look at related
resources from Isaac Publishing.

Understanding Shari‘a Finance: The Muslim Challenge to Western Economics

NEW
Patrick Sookhdeo TITLE
The last twenty years have seen a distinctively Islamic financial system
become a major player on the world economic stage. Many Muslims have
rejected Western financial products and institutions, which they believe to be incompatible
with shari‘a law. They have also generated a wide range of alternative economic tools, first in
Muslim countries and now in the West, and an increasingly lucrative international market.
Patrick Sookhdeo sees this fast-developing “shari‘a finance” as part of the Islamist agenda to
subvert and subjugate Western systems under the rule of Islam. In this study he discusses
the history and ideas of the movement, the character and spread of the Islamic economy,
and the problems and dangers that it may present. In particular he reveals the connections
between Islamic finance and radical Islamist groups.
This stimulating and accessible study will interest anyone concerned about the worldwide
Islamic resurgence and its possible implications for global finance and politics.
“This book is vital to educating businessmen and citizens about the threats posed to our
economic and political system by Shari‘a Compliant Finance (SCF). Read it and understand
that if you accept SCF, you could face terrible unintended consequences.”
US Representative Sue Myrick, Founder and Co-Chair, Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus
Isaac Publishing, paperback, 114 pp, offer price £4.99 + £1.50 postage (normal price £6.99)

Faith, Power and Territory: A Handbook of
British Islam Patrick Sookhdeo
Islam is a religion and also
recognises itself as a political
and territorial power. This book
has been written as an easy-
to-use resource to help non-
Muslims understand Islam in
Britain today and how it is
seeking to transform the
country. The author considers
the beliefs and actions of
British Muslims, including their
unity and diversity, and
examines their key
movements, figures and organizations. He also asks
penetrating questions about the future development of
Muslim communities in the UK and the yielding of British
authorities and institutions to the process of Islamisation.
His insights are applicable to other countries with
significant Muslim minorities.
Isaac Publishing, paperback, 370 pp, offer price £8.00
+ £2.50 postage (normal price £12.99)
The Challenge of Islam to the Church and Its
Mission (revised and expanded edition; first
edition published as Islam: the Challenge to the
Church) Patrick Sookhdeo
The growing impact of Islam on
Western societies raises many
issues and poses many challenges
for the Church and its mission. This
book is written for Christians as
they seek to think through those
issues and respond to those
challenges in a wise, loving,
Biblical, effective and Christ-like
way. The author explains the nature
of Islam and how it differs from
Christianity, and then looks at a
number of questions raised by its presence in the West.
He also discusses the various aspects of Christian-Muslim
relations, including worship, “dialogue” and evangelism,
encouraging Christians to extend compassionate concern
to Muslims while remaining faithful to Christ.
Isaac Publishing, hardback, 193 pp, offer price £8.99
+ £2.00 postage (normal price £14.99)

To order any of these books, please visit www.barnabasfund.org/shop. Alternatively please

contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office (addresses on back cover). Cheques for the UK
should be made payable to “Barnabas Books”.

BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009 17

 In touch

Pray in Lent for the persecuted Church A prayer request from

In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul writes about his Barnabas Fund
experiences in the province of Asia, “We were under great We would like to ask for your prayers at
pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired this time when the credit crunch and talk
even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. of recession are raising fears of material
But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, hardship with many people. The difficult
who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, economic climate obviously could also
and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will affect the amount of giving we receive
continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.” from supporters to help our brothers and
sisters who suffer persecution because of
(2 Corinthians 1:8-11, emphasis added)
their faith. Pray that we all will put our trust
For Lent 2009 we would like to encourage history and current context of the Church in God, who is our provider, and that He
will continue to stir the hearts of people to
you to join us in prayer for the many and offering suggestions for prayer. The
support the work of Barnabas Fund
persecuted Christians around the world booklet can be used for individual prayer or
financially as well as prayerfully. Together
who, like Paul when he was in Asia, find prayer groups during Lent as we remember
we can continue to bring aid and hope to
themselves under great pressure and our Lord’s passion and prepare to celebrate
persecuted Christians around the world
often beyond their ability to endure. They His sacrifice on the cross and the glorious
whose needs are so much greater than
need our prayers. hope we have through His resurrection.
ours, no matter how much the credit
We have put together an informative and You will receive your prayer booklet crunch and recession may be affecting us.
attractive prayer booklet that can be used with the March/April issue of Barnabas
as a guide to lift up in prayer our brothers Aid. Extra or advance copies can be
and sisters around the world where they ordered from your national Barnabas Fund
suffer persecution. The booklet features a office or the UK office using the form
mini-profile of the Christian communities in opposite or online from
each featured country, describing the www.barnabasfund.org/resources.

Why make a will?

Many people underestimate the
importance of drawing up a will. A
will is a vital means of providing
security for family and friends, of
preventing unnecessary heartache
and disputes and of giving oneself
the peace of mind that comes with
knowing that one’s affairs have been
put in order. It is also a great
opportunity to leave a legacy that will
help the growth of God’s Kingdom.
This is a marvellous way of thanking
our Lord for the goodness of all His
gifts that you have enjoyed during
your lifetime.
Sadly a large number of people still die
without having written a will: sometimes
because they do not want to consider
their mortality, sometimes because the
process seems too complicated. To
help you with this important task we
have put together a booklet, “A
Christian guide to making and changing
your will”, explaining in five easy steps
how to draw up a will. It also includes a
section on the Biblical basis for making
a will, thereby offering a Christian
perspective on this vital issue. Order
your free copy using the form opposite or
go to www.barnabasfund.org/resources.
Advance notice:
Barnabas Fund UK
Supporters’ Day
This will be held on Saturday 6 June
2009 at Freshbrook Evangelical Church,
Worsley Road, Swindon, Wiltshire.
Further details will be provided in a future
edition of Barnabas Aid, but please book
the date in your diary now!

18 BARNABAS AID January/FEBRUARY 2009