Many living in the free West take for granted the precious freedoms we enjoy, such as freedom of speech, belief, asso­ciation, and movement. But if we begin to reflect on this topic, we soon realise how privileged we are. Just looking back to the last century when millions suffered and died in two world wars should cause us to pause and reflect with gratitude on living in a civilised and free society.

Especially Christians should spare a thought and prayer for the millions of fellow Christians who are – again – suf­fering severe persecution simply because they are Christians. They are not the only ones suffering hardship and oppression. But this article will concentrate on the suffering of Christians living in sharia/Islamic-ruled countries.

Many hoped the Arab Spring would usher in a new phase of openness and freedom in the Arab/Muslim world. Instead, it has enabled a hard-line branch of Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood and its offspring, to obtain power in Egypt, the most, at least potentially, influen­tial country in that part of the world. Surrounding countries with a majority Muslim population are also experiencing a move toward strict sharia governance.

Turkey is now headed by a govern­ment that is determined to change from a secular to an Islamic country. Both Egypt and Turkey are facing strong op­position from citizens who are rioting in the streets. The outcome of these struggles is hard to predict, but so far it appears that the hardliners have the upper hand. The plight of Christians caught in the crossfire in Syria, where a reported 93,000 people have died, has become extremely precarious.

The New Exodus⤒🔗

In the midst of all these upheavals, there is one consistent trend: an increase in the persecution of Christians. The radicalization and upheavals in many sha­ria-ruled countries is forcing Christians to flee. Where can they go? Many have ended up in refugee camps in Jordan, Turkey, and in Syria prior to the out­break of civil war. Some have been able to emigrate to the West, but many do not have the means or opportunity to do that.

A 2010 report of the Vatican synod on the Middle East exodus stated that Christians numbered about 20% of the population a century ago, but that has now dropped to 5%. Ironically, the Christians in Iraq, the country liberated from the despotic rule of Saddam Hussein in 2003, has seen a large outflow of Christians, particularly after the massa­cre at Our Lady of Deliverance Church in Baghdad on October 31, 2010, that killed 58 church members, including two priests, and severely wounded many more. Raymond Ibrahim, author of Cru­cified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians, writes: “Today, Christians are an all-but-extinct species in Iraq – more than half have fled – and what few churches remain are still under attack.”

Michael Terheyden writes that after the attack in October 2010, terrorist groups have attacked Christians in their homes. Church leaders were reluctant to hold Christmas services, and about 80% of Christians were afraid to attend church. About 10 churches were closed and Sunday school was cancelled (Cath­olic Online, July 30, 2012).

The same story applies to the Chris­tians in Egypt, where they are fleeing in unprecedented numbers. The Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organizations states that 100,000 Christians have emi­grated since March 2011. “The Coptic Christians are one of the earliest Christian communities in the world, and they are the largest minority in the Middle East today” (about 10% out of a population of 80 million).

Terheyden reports that Islamist groups have stepped up their campaign of threatening, beating and even murder­ing Christians in Egypt. “Their churches, businesses and homes have been ran­sacked and burned to the ground. As it turns out, the so-called Arab Spring has allowed Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis to grab power. Some Copts fear this is an ominous turn of events. They worry that life in Egypt will grow much worse in the next few years.”

Why do they hate?←⤒🔗

Attacks on Christians and their churches and homes are happening all over the Muslim world. No doubt, the perpetra­tors were encouraged in their violence by the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, who declared on March 12, 2012 that it is “neces­sary to destroy all the churches of the region.” Thanks to the Internet and to a number of valiant authors, including Raymond Ibrahim, whose new book Crucified Again, as well as his regular monthly reports on the Muslim perse­cution of Christians, are goldmines of information and insight.

In his book he traces the source of Muslim hatred of Christians to the Koran and the hadith (words and deeds at­tributed to Muhammad). Following is a condensed summary of the information in Crucified Again, pages 18-30:

The Koran contains a number of anti-Chris­tian verses, including Koran 5:73, 'Infidels are they who say Allah is one of three,' a reference to the Christian Trinity; and Koran 5:17, 'Infidels are they who say Allah is the Christ, (Jesus) son of Mary' (see also Koran 4:171). To be referred to as an infidel (that is, a 'kafir') is to be categorized as an enemy of Islam, who must be either eliminated or subjugated (see Koran 9:5 and 9:29).

Some Koranic verses speak well of Christians but there are many more that condemn Christians. That contradiction is resolved by the doctrine of “abroga­tion,” that is, the later (hostile) verses cancel out the earlier (tolerant) ones, which date back to the time Muham­mad had no political power. The Koran’s final word on the fate of Christians and Jews is found in Koran 9:29: “Fight those among the People of the Book who do not believe in Allah nor the Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and His Messen­ger have forbidden, nor embrace the re­ligion of truth, until they pay the yizya with willing submission and feel them­selves subdued.”

The idea of fighting non-Muslims until they pay tribute is imbedded in Islam. Muhammad made this claim about himself: “I have been commanded to wage war against mankind until they testify that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; and that they establish pros­tration-prayer, and pay the alms-tax (that is, until they become Muslims). If they do so, their blood and property are protected” (Ibn al-Hajjaj Muslim, Sabib Muslim, C9BIN31). There are hundreds of similar Islamic texts enjoining Muslims to fight non-Muslims until the latter either convert or pay tribute and live in submission.

It is on the basis of such exhortations that Islamic scholars hold that their re­ligion is destined to wage a continuous war against the non-Muslim world. This is how the Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun explained this feature of Islam, as quoted by Raymond Ibrahim: “In the Muslim community, the holy war (jihad) is a re­ligious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force.” Other religions do not have such universalistic duty. “But Islam is under obligation to gain power over other nations.” (Emphasis added.) No one can be excused for not knowing that this branch of Islam means what it says about its goal of world domination.

The Conditions of Omar←⤒🔗

This historic document also called the Pact of Omar dates back to the reign of the second caliph Omar bin al-Khat­tab (634-644). It had its origin in an “agreement” between the caliph and the conquered Christians. Muslim schol­ars disagree about the exact dating and subsequent redaction, but they agree that it is authentic and relevant for today.

The eighth-century Muslim jurist Abu Yusuf declared that the Conditions must “‘stand till the day of resurrection’ because they are in agreement with the Koran and the Hadith literature.”

In the 14th century Ibn Qayyim wrote what became accepted as the au­thoritative document, Rulings Concerning Dhimmis. (Dhimmis are defeated and subjugated non-Muslims.) He praised the Conditions for their faithfulness to the essence of Islamic teachings. Here follows a small selection of the Condi­tions as reproduced in the Ibn Qayyim version, quoted in Crucified Again. The conquered Christians appear to be speaking:

When you came to our countries, we asked you for safety for ourselves and the people of our community, upon which we imposed the following conditions on ourselves for you:

Not to build a church in our city – nor a monastery, convent, or monk’s cell in the surrounding areas – and not to repair those that fall in ruins or are in Muslim quarters; Not to prevent Muslims from lodging in our churches, by day or night, and to keep their doors wide open for (Muslim) pas­sersby and travelers;

Not to harbor in them (churches, monas­teries) or our homes a spy, nor conceal any deceits from Muslims;

Not to clang our cymbals except lightly and from the innermost recesses of our churches;

Not to display a cross on them (church­es), nor raise our voices during prayer or readings in our churches anywhere near Muslims;

Not to produce a cross or (Christian) book in the markets of Muslims;

Not to congregate in the open for Easter and Palm Sunday, nor lift our voices (in lamentation) for our dead nor show our fire-lights with them near the market places of the Muslims;

...Not to display any signs of polythe­ism, nor make our religion appealing, nor call or proselytise anyone to it;

...To honor the Muslims, show them the way, and rise up from our seats if they wish to sit down;

...To host every traveling Muslim for three days and feed him adequately;

We guarantee this to you upon ourselves, our descendants, our spouses, and our neighbors, and if we change or con­tradict these conditions imposed upon ourselves in order to receive safety, we forfeit our dhimma (covenant), and we become liable to the same treatment you inflict upon the people who resist and cause sedition.

Ibrahim points out that these abject humiliations imposed on Christians in the past, are now again inflicted on the Christians in the Muslim world. He quotes part of a recent Friday mosque sermon by the Saudi Sheikh Marzouk Salem al-Ghamdi as follows:

If the infidels live among the Muslims, in accordance with the conditions set out by the Prophet – there is nothing wrong with it provided they pay Jizya to the Islamic treasury. Other conditions are ... that they do not renovate a church or a monastery, do not rebuild ones that were destroyed, that they feed for three days any Muslim who passes by their homes ... that they rise when a Muslim wishes to sit, that they do not imitate Muslims in dress and speech, nor ride horses, nor own swords, nor arm themselves with any kind of weapon...Crucified Again, p.30

The Syrian Disaster←⤒🔗

The case of Syria is especially tragic where Christians are having to flee for their lives because of the civil war, and then are running headlong into Islamist rapists and killers.

Their churches are attacked, often with loss of lives. In October 2012 a car bomb exploded near the only Syriac Orthodox Church in the town of Deir Ezzor; five people were killed. There were three attacks on Aleppo churches in four weeks. The number of people killed in the November 2012 attack on the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo was estimated to be between 20 and 80.

In the same month the historic Arabic Evangelical Church of Aleppo was mined and blown up. The pastor Ibrahim Nasir expressed bitterness and sadness of all Syrian citizens that makes Christians “in­consolable ... Today is the day when we cry out to Christ to say: my God, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Crucified Again, p.69).

On June 1, 2013, Mark Durie, Angli­can vicar in Melbourne, and author of The Third Choice, posted (markdurie.com blog) a report of Martin Janssen (trans­lated from the Dutch) about the heart­breaking stories of Syrian Christians who had escaped to Jordan. Janssen had par­ticipated in a prayer walk for two Syrian clergy, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim, who had been abduct­ed by Syrian rebels. Afterwards he met with a number of Syrian refugees who told about the hardship and losses they had experienced as they were forced to flee their homes and villages when the rebel forces moved in.

The rebels announced that from now on the villagers would be under an Islamic emirate, and were subject to sharia law. The Christian residents were offered four choices:

1. renounce the idolatry of Christianity and convert to Islam;
2. pay a heavy tribute (jizya) to the Muslims for the privilege of keeping their heads and their faith;
3. be killed;
4. flee for their lives, leaving all their belongings behind.

The Janssen report continues: “Some Christians were killed, some fled, some tried to pay the jizya and found it too heavy a burden to bear after the rebels kept increasing the amount they had to pay, and some were unable to flee or pay, so they converted to Islam to save themselves ... The scenario reported by Syrian refugees is a re-enactment of the historic fate of Christians across the Middle East.”

Even when the Syrian refugees manage to escape to surrounding coun­tries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, they find no peace. They are not wel­comed but experience growing hostility.

The Syrian Christians who met with Janssen came from Idlib, Aleppo and vil­lages in the countryside between these two cities. Their testimony was unani­mous. Many of these villages had a large Christian presence until a few years ago, but now Christians no longer live there. One of the group, Jamil, an elderly man, told the following story about his village near Idlib where 30 Christian families had always lived peacefully alongside some 200 Sunni families. That changed dramatically in the summer of 2012.

One Friday trucks appeared in the village with heavily armed and bearded strangers who did not know anyone in the village. They began to drive through the village with a loudspeaker broadcasting the message that their village was now part of an Islamic emirate and Muslim women were henceforth to dress in accordance with the provisions of the Islamic sharia. Christians were given four choices. Eventually Jamil fled the village; he lost his land and farm. Some families who could not escape or pay the Jizya con­verted to Islam. To his knowledge there were no Christians killed in his village, but he heard about a neighboring village where three Christian families survived, who were then murdered in the middle of the night.

Miryam, an Armenian middle-aged woman from Aleppo told about the looting and plundering by armed mili­tias, stealing wheat, bread and fuel, and entire inventories of schools, businesses and factories. If owners protested they were executed. She said that it is pos­sible to adapt to the most difficult con­ditions. But it is impossible to live with constant fear that even the simplest daily activities such as taking your children to school, attending church, and trying to sleep when you know that there are people in your neighborhood who consider it their religious duty to kill as many Christians as possible.

Miryam and others in the group saw no future in staying in a country where their lives have been turned upside down. But where can they go? Listen­ing to such stories and trying to imagine what unspeakable trauma these Chris­tians experience is heart breaking.

What can we do? What should we do?

1. Pray for the persecuted;
    
2. Be well informed about the Koran and hadith-inspired hatred towards Chris­tians and other infidels in the Arab/Muslim world;
    
3. Do everything possible to inform others in your families, churches, schools, and communities about the devastation caused in all cultures where sharia law is supreme;
    
4. Reach out to the persecuted, through international agencies, especially churches;
    
5. This may require that we in the West get ready to welcome a flood of ref­ugees whose lives have been made impossible in the Muslim world.