Muslims who converted to Christianity in Iran
In Iran, the Gospel and the Old Testament have suddenly become in demand. Many people want to buy the Holy Scriptures in Farsi. According to various sources, the number of Iranian Christian converts ranges from 500 thousand to 1 million people. In total, about 70 million people live in Iran. Every day, about 50 Muslims convert to Christianity, and they do it secretly. This is understandable, because such actions are prohibited under pain of death. But in Europe they are more accepting of this. Thus, in the capital of Great Britain alone there are 3 Christian churches for Iranians. There are also similar churches in 9 cities in England, 14 European countries, and 22 states of America. There are 8 cathedrals in major cities in Canada and 4 in Australia. In total, there are over 150 similar churches in the West.
^ 4. The gradual collapse of the power of the clan under the influence of the era of enlightenment
The next obstacle that keeps a Muslim from deciding to become a Christian is his attachment to a large family or clan. Most Muslims are not yet aware of themselves as an independent self, but are rooted and live in the consciousness of a kind of we. And this is one of the most basic differences between the West and the East. We are at the stage of disintegration of the spirit of solidarity of the big surname “we” and are sliding into the isolation of a single I, risking dissolving into the impersonal mass of man. Songs from the Reformation period with their "we" consciousness and songs from the Enlightenment with their "I" attitude clearly show this change, while our society of material prosperity is shaped by an increasingly unifying impersonal mass. Such dissolution into the general mass has not yet been observed among Arabs, which is why various societies, clubs, and entertainment houses are so rarely found in the Arab world.
Many Arab countries are on the path to the transition from the gens to the individual. The self-awareness of some Arabs is gradually born under the influence of East-Western materialism. In this painful process, the family experiences a crisis. Until now, only single people have escaped the influence of the clan, since the majority still understand themselves only in the company of their father, uncle and brothers. Often a young Muslim man does not marry the girl he loves, but takes the one his family advises him. Likewise, religion is a matter for the whole family, and not the result of the decision of one individual.
If, nevertheless, a Muslim leaves his old faith, then this is not only a great shame for his entire family, but first of all for himself it means a separation from the usual family, the unity with which he feels with every fiber of his soul. This process is deeper and longer than we imagine, and gives rise to complete loneliness in many proselytes, that is, Muslims who have converted to Christianity, which often leads them to despair, and sometimes to thoughts of suicide.
Half of all Arabs are under 20 years of age. That is why modern schools and universities, films, technology and wars contribute to a turning point in Islamic culture. Multi-storey buildings in big cities rise like silos; there is no room for a whole family in them, since the apartments in such buildings are designed for families with 2–4 children. In this regard, many Muslims become lonely and seek a new spiritual homeland and a new basis for spiritual life, so that the call of the Gospel is now understood by them much more easily than before.
Muslims who converted to Christianity in Algeria
Massive changes in faith are also observed among the Berber tribes. In 2006, a law was even passed banning missionary activity. Despite the fact that it restricts human rights (according to UN agreements), the law is still in effect today.
According to this, a person who forces or incites a Muslim to change his faith risks being imprisoned for 2-5 years. The same punishment is provided for the distribution, creation and storage of religious literature that may undermine the faith of Muslims.
^2. Who is Allah
The three fundamental contradictions between Islam and Christianity are comparable only to the surface, visible part of the iceberg, but the bulk of the causes and problems are invisibly deeper. It is hidden in the very concept of the deity of Allah, which is perceived by Muslims with extreme pedantry. Allah is incomprehensible, incomprehensible and inaccessible. It is unimaginably large and stands, according to Muslim concepts, beyond the reach of the human mind. He is not born and does not give birth. He has no equal. And the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary as the Son of God is rejected by Islam as an unthinkable humiliation of Allah. The Muslim concept of deity has had a decisive influence on the formation of all areas of Islamic culture and is precisely the spirit that binds Muslims and prevents them from becoming Christians. Thus, according to Islam, man was created not in the image and likeness of God, but as His servant, which is emphasized by the ritual of prostrating a praying Muslim, personifying the literal meaning of the word “Islam.” It means complete surrender, submission, devotion to Allah. When a Muslim thinks about prayer, he does not imagine a free conversation with God, but participation in a service designed to the smallest detail, in which his worship of Allah is manifested several times a day. This prayer shapes the Muslim subconscious more than we imagine. The concept of Christian prayer is completely different. Here lies one of the deepest contradictions between these two religions.
According to Muslims, Allah is so great that he alone determines the fate of all people. Happiness, disaster, death, misfortune and failure are all attributed to the will of Allah. Fatalism - the belief in a predetermined, inevitable fate - is deeply rooted in Islam and fetters their creativity. The way of life of a Muslim is fundamentally different from the way of life of a Christian. The mind and all the motives of a Muslim are predetermined by the concept of the deity of Allah.
And “sin” is understood by Islam not as a cause that separates man from God, for which man is responsible, but as an oversight or mistake that ultimately occurred through the fault of Allah, who created man so weak and easily tempted. Thus, Allah is indirectly responsible for all the evil in this world. And he alone, arbitrarily, as he pleases, assigns one to heaven, the other to hell. He is like a great dictator, whom everyone fears and no one can hide from. And all the thoughts of a Muslim, and all his decisions, are ultimately predetermined by him, Allah.
Similarly, the cross of Calvary is not needed by Allah, but, on the contrary, it represents an attack on his sovereignty. Allah does not need a sacrifice and does not need a mediator to reconcile him with the world, since he forgives whomever he wants and when he wants. This Muslim concept of the greatness and exclusiveness of Allah is the deepest reason dividing Muslims and Christians.
This ingrained concept of the deity of Allah shaped all areas of Islamic culture. For many centuries the husband ruled over his wives and children as a patriarch. The teacher towered over his students. The employer was often like a slave owner, as were many caliphs and sultans, who often enjoyed unlimited, bloody power. The sick, weak and poor were considered punished, while the strong, rich, and powerful were considered approved by Allah. The humility of Christians, the cross of Jesus Christ and Paul's praise of his weakness - all this is diametrically opposed to the spirit of Islam and makes Christianity in the eyes of Muslims an inferior and degenerate religion.
So the idea that the Lord God is our Father and that out of love for the corrupt world He sacrificed His only Son seems not only alien to a Muslim, but also ridiculous, if not blasphemous! Instead, the Muslim worships and fears the distant and great dictator - God! Any statement about God's closeness, about His paternal care is considered self-deception. Even in the future Muslim paradise, Allah will not be personally present, since He remains always distant, great and invisible to His creatures. Whoever says that God revealed Himself to people in the image of Jesus Christ is considered a liar and a seducer.
How are things going in other countries?
Every year about 35 thousand Turkish Muslims become Christians. In Malaysia, approximately 100 thousand people changed their faith. In Indonesia, about 10 thousand people become Christians every year. In this country, transitions from one religion to another are allowed, but disputes around this phenomenon are still ongoing. In Yemen, the exodus of Muslims to other faiths is strongly condemned. Therefore, newly converted Christians organize joint prayers in strict secrecy in the homes of foreigners. Because if anyone finds out that a Muslim woman has converted to Christianity, she will certainly be executed. The same applies to young people who have violated Sharia law.
CHRISTIANIZATION OF MUSLIMS AS A MEDIA PERFORMANCE
| Part one | Part two |
“Muslims are quietly leaving Islam. This is a tragic secret that is spoken about in whispers in the Islamic community, but we do not hear these whispers because we are deafened by the cries that Islam is the fastest growing religion."
Lara Hasson
The public consciousness has become increasingly convinced that Muslims do not convert to other faiths, but it would be more accurate to define Islam as a religion whose members do not easily convert to other faiths. There is also a stereotype about the ineffectiveness of Christian missions in the Islamic world, which is not true.
Incredibly, but it seems true, one of the first to draw public attention to the current trend of Muslims converting to Christianity is the television station Al Jazeera and its guest Sheikh Ahmad Al Qataani, who in an interview given in 2006 said: “ Every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every day 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, six million Muslims convert to Christianity."
Muslims have no rational explanation for the new wave of Christianization; they rely on mysticism and the prophecies of Muhammad, who predicted that there would be a conflict of civilizations in which Muslims would win.
***
The competition between two religions, Christianity and Islam, is their constant companion. “Because Islam wanted, like the other two other monotheistic religions, only victory”[1]. To the history of mistrust between the two religions it is necessary to add the jealousy of Christians over the Arab conquests, which in itself was a sufficient reason for the caution and hostility of Europe towards this religion. “The conflict between Islam and Christianity undoubtedly increased the unpleasant fact that within a hundred years after the declaration of Islam, the militant and missionary-minded caliphs expanded their territories so that a new kingdom was created, larger than the Roman one at the zenith of its glory. It was not possible to avoid conflict”[2].
The history of the struggle between Islam and Christianity is long, the results (of the struggle) have been varied and changeable, but if we focus on the period after September 11, 2001 and the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York, it seems that after the huge success of Islam by then, now Christianity is winning [3]. Thus, the collected data suggests that this is the result of numerous factors, among other things, Christian missionary activity, a significant share of the new wave of Christianization of Muslims is due to Muslims themselves, namely the most radical ones, who with their terrorist acts and harsh interpretation and application of Sharia, force Muslims to embrace Christianity. The Christianization of Muslims is also promoted by the Muslim world, which is weak in the cultural, military and economic fields. In the words of Admir Pozderovich it sounds like this: “Today Muslims do not have a single serious player. Primarily due to disunity, mutual friction, and vassalage towards America. The economy is practically not worth mentioning, and the military power is negligible. The only Arab country that could become a world-class Middle Eastern player was Iraq. However, due to his naivety, Saddam Hussein was drawn into a war against Iran, where about 8 million people died on both sides, and then the invasion of Kuwait and the shameful defeat by American troops, and finally the American military intervention in Iraq, led to the fact that this country will be removed from the list of main geopolitical factors ... "[4]. However, Pozderovich forgot that the regime of Saddam Hussein was secular, that is, it was not Islamic. This points to an even more tragic situation in the Islamic world. Considering that the Islamic world has not had the strength to think of an attractive culture for non-Islamic peoples as a possible response to American culture, which is a magnet for young people, this space will definitely be open for a long time to test Muslims. This is precisely how Zbigniew Brzezinski saw the Islamic world. However, without political cohesion and since there is no truly powerful Islamic state, the threat of Islamic fundamentalism will lose its geopolitical core, and will likely be expressed through diffuse violence.”[5]
There is an opinion in the public consciousness that Muslims do not convert to other faiths, but it would be more accurate to define Islam as a religion whose members do not easily convert to other faiths. There is also a stereotype about the ineffectiveness of Christian missions in the Islamic world, which is not true. The first results and, of course, the first experience in this regard were the honored Orthodox missionaries. The conversion of Muslims to Christianity was especially numerous during the existence of the Byzantine Empire. Many Muslim nobles converted to Christianity at the end of the 9th and beginning of the 10th centuries.[6] The most striking example of a large conversion from Islam to Christianity occurred in 935, when the entire Arab Bedouin tribe Banu Habib, approximately 12,000 soldiers with families subordinates (they were part of the tribe), slaves approached the Greek borders and adopted Christianity. In total there are about 60,000 people. After that, they began to fight on the side of the Byzantine Empire, against Muslims[7].9 There were many such examples, and their common denominator was the cooperation of the Byzantine army and Orthodox missionaries. One could even say that the state did more than the Orthodox Church. The result of this joint activity was the conversion of at least 100,000 Muslims to Orthodoxy[8].10 Christianized Arabs played a significant role at the royal court, and one of them, for example, prevented a plot against Emperor Romanus II.
There is no exact data on how many Christians currently live in the Middle East. According to available data, the majority of Christians live in Lebanon[9].11 In 1932 they constituted the majority, but after the civil war in 1975-1990. the number of Christians has declined and now constitutes about 40 percent of the population of this country. In order to maintain peace, the president of the country is always a Christian, the prime minister is a Muslim - a Sunni, and the chairman of the parliament is a Muslim - a Shiite. Christians are divided, one part belongs to the Maronite Church, which entered into an alliance in 1736 with the Roman Catholic Church.[10] The other part belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church. In Syria, Christians make up 10 percent of the population, divided between the Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic Church (Uniates), Syriac Orthodox, Syrian Catholic Church, Armenian Church, Assyrian and others. The Roman Catholic Church considers Lebanon to be a stronghold of Christianity in the Arab world.[11] Israel is home to 20.5 percent of Arabs, of whom nine percent are Christians. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, just 5.3 percent of the population is Christian (the number has been cut by half under pressure from Islamic extremists: forced relocation and conversion to Islam). There are compact Christian communities (about 1,300 people) on the outskirts of Bethlehem and Ramallah, while there are about 2,000 Christians in the Gaza Strip. In Egypt, Coptic Christians, or descendants of ancient Egyptians, make up 10 percent of the population and are under constant pressure from Islamists and their situation is worsening. Christians have lived in Iraq since the second century. Most Christians belong to the Chaldean and Assyrian churches, but there is also a large Roman Catholic community. Following the US-led coalition's invasion of Iraq in 2003, the number of Christians began to decline, with approximately half leaving the country. About three percent of the population in Jordan is Christian, with the number known to have fallen by five percent from 1970 to today. In Iran, the largest Christian church is the Armenian Apostolic Church, which was founded around 300 AD. The second largest Assyrian church. Christians have rights that are guaranteed by the constitution and have freedom of religion. They also have representatives in parliament, but they are discriminated against in terms of employment and political rights.
The most difficult situation for Christianity is in Saudi Arabia, where there is not a single church. The cross and other Christian symbols are prohibited there, and some Muslims believe that non-Muslims have no right to come to this country at all. Other Gulf states are tolerant. In the emirate of Qatar, there is a church for visitors from Asia, however, the situation with local Christians is becoming more and more difficult, because they are being attacked by Sunni Muslims. In Egypt, Coptic Christians make up 10 percent of the population, but they face discrimination, which the Vatican interprets as a reason to renew Christianity.
“I ask the Pope, who was not afraid to convert me to Christianity, having won victory over his personal fear, over the fear of the reaction of the Islamic community, and opponents of such an act in the Church itself, to receive me with a delegation of Muslims who converted to Christianity in Europe and in the world.”[ 12]. These words belong to Mohamed Christophe Bilek, who was born in Algeria, and now a French citizen, who founded the association Kabila de Notre Dame (Notre Dame Kabylie). Through his website, he tries to do missionary work and convert Muslims to Christianity, as he says, “through dialogue based on commitment to our faith and observance of Christ's call to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel” (Mark 16: 15-18).
The quote above shows that this wave of Christianization of Muslims is taking on the contours of a spectacle, as the media is actively participating in this process, even showing reality shows featuring former Muslims, with the aim of further encouraging Muslims to convert to Christianity. A respected journalist and expert on radical Islam and Islamic extremism, 56-year-old Magdi Alam converted to Christianity from Islam and his act attracted enormous media attention. Namely, after Easter in 2008, according to the Roman Catholic calendar, in Rome, the deputy editor-in-chief of the leading Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, Magdi Alam, switched from Islam to Catholicism. The Holy Sacrament of Baptism was carried out personally by Pope Benedict XVI in the Church of St. Peter, he was baptized with the new name Christiano, so from then on he began to call himself Magdi Christiano Allam. And then, he sent an open letter to the editor Paolo Mieli, where he explained his motives for converting to Catholicism. The letter says that he did this because he understood that Christianity is the faith of Truth, Life and Freedom[13].
Incredibly, but it seems true, one of the first to draw public attention to the modern trend of Muslims converting to Christianity is the television station Al Jazeera and its guest Sheikh Ahmad al Qataani, who in an interview in 2006 said: “ Every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every day 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, six million Muslims convert to Christianity.”[14]. At a scientific conference held in Paris on September 5, 2012 (Topic: Ways to combat Christianophobia), the mentioned Bilek presented information that in Saudi Arabia alone, the cradle of Islam, 120,000 Muslims converted to Christianity. According to 2008 data, five million Muslims converted to Christianity in Sudan, 250,000 in Malaysia, more than 50,000 in Egypt, between 25,000 and 40,000 in Morocco, 50,000 in Iran, 5,000 in Iraq, 10,000 in India, 10,000 in Afghanistan, 15,000 in Kazakhstan and 30,000 0 in Uzbekistan[15]. The scientific conference was organized by the association “Tradition of Family and Property” (Tradizione Famiglia Proprietà), headed by Xavier Da Silveira and the association “Christianity and Solidarity”, which was founded by Bernard Antony . This was the day before the announcement of the decision to award the Nobel Prize to the European Union, with which the Nobel Prize Committee, together with the Union, took the side of Islamic terrorists in Syria, who are currently committing genocide against Christians in this country [16]. About this The conduct of the Nobel Prize Committee, as well as the conduct of the Union in the Middle East, Bilek said, is proof "that the future of liberalism and secularism of civilization, democracy and the rule of law, depends on the ability to move away from Islam as a religion, without discriminating against Muslims, as personality"[17]. Bilek goes on to say: “I am increasingly confident that we will be saved by Christians who escaped Islamic persecution. Only those who have experienced the tyranny of Islam in their own skin can tell the West the truth about this religion. Those who firmly believe in Christ will defeat Islam, save Christianity in the Christian West and save our civilization. Of course, thanks to God![18].” Bilek thinks that many Muslims would convert to Christianity, namely Catholicism, if there were more Roman Catholic priests who are not afraid to convert them. “There are a number of applications from Muslims who want to convert to Christianity, but they remain unsatisfied because Roman Catholic priests do not want to violate the laws of the Islamic countries in which they work, which prohibit Muslims from converting to another faith, anticipating long prison sentences or even death penalty (“for proselytism and apostasy”[19]). Therefore, Bilek turned to the Pope with a request to receive him with a group of former Muslims, in order to clearly show before the whole world that the Church is fulfilling its mission of evangelization in favor of Muslims. Thus, the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church are helping Muslims “get rid of the religious dictatorship of relativism.” In this way the Roman Catholic Church saves liberalism and world civilization, and it is all based on Christianity[20].22
In Iran, about a million people are Christians, and according to Iranian Education Ministry official Iamam Hassan Mohammad, who spoke to students in Tehran, every day about 50 young Iranians convert to Christianity, although this is punishable by the state with a death sentence. The main “missionary” is the Iranian diaspora. There is an Iranian Christian Church in London, which has churches in nine British cities, and in 14 European countries. The Iranian Christian Church exists in the USA (in 22 states), Canada, Australia and New Zealand[21].23
In Algeria, Berber tribes were converting from Islam to Christianity en masse; the authorities stopped this in 2006 by passing a law prohibiting the conversion from Islam to Christianity, although it contradicts United Nations human rights documents[22].
According to data published in the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the Christian Church in Bahrain will become the new center of Catholicism in the Arabian Peninsula. This Gulf state plans to show the world its openness in this way, although Muslims protest against this government intention[23]. Namely, the Vatican plans to build a huge temple in Bahrain, the area of which will be the same as that of a large shopping center. Some Muslims protest because they believe that “in the holy Arab land there is no place for another culture other than Islam.”[24] On the other hand, Muslims are building, more or less quietly, mosques in Europe. However, the King of Bahrain is insistent that the church must be completed. The monarch personally perceives the structure of the church building as “proof of the religious and cultural openness of Bahrain”[25]. According to the Vatican's plan, the new church should become the main place for the introduction of evangelization (mission) in the Arabian Peninsula, in particular in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. In addition, the Vatican wants to govern its new diocese from Bahrain, which includes the above-mentioned countries, because more and more Christians (guest workers and local residents who were converted to Christianity) are appearing here. We are talking about millions of Christians[26].
On Saturday October 13, 2012, Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, presented to the Synod held in Rome a seven-minute film about the demographic growth of Muslims in Europe[27].29 After this, Islamists accused the cardinal of Islamophobia , intolerance and hatred of Islam. The Vatican has rejected these accusations because the film has been on YouTube for a long time. If the current trend continues, France will become an Islamic republic in thirty-nine years. The cardinal personally denied the accusations and added that his origins are Muslim (his paternal grandfather was a Muslim). The problem is that some centers of power do not want to talk about demographic statistics and the possible shift in cultural patterns in Europe. Silence on this issue is in favor of Islam. The cardinal's main goal is to initiate the Roman Catholic Church on the issue of political doctrine and to evangelize the political system, but in such a way as to gain support from the European centers of power for the adoption of Catholicism by Muslims in Europe [28]. The cardinal simply asked the question: who should solve this problem in the West (demographic decline of natives)? If the Roman Catholic Church wants to re-evangelize Europe, it cannot ignore the problem of a future Islamic Europe. The Cardinal addressed all European citizens, and especially politicians. In his opinion, they have an obligation to support the new evangelization, and not to position themselves as religiously indifferent people[29].
The cooperation of the Roman Catholic Church with the secular authorities of the countries of the European Union, as it were, received a new dimension [30]. Because it was enough for the Vatican to turn to Paris to protect Christians in Mali (Africa), as he responded and joined the fight against Islamists in Mali [31]. According to available data from Western media, Germany is also ready to take such a step; this sheds new light on the issue in relation to Muslims.
According to the Assyrian International News Agency, the Grand Mufti of Egypt has allowed Muslims to change their religion because the number of secret Christians in this country has reached several million. It was former Muslims from Egypt who created the organization “Liberation of Christ” and the TV channel “Way TV”, which deals with religious issues.
According to the Turkish newspaper Milliet, every year about 35,000 Muslims convert to Christianity in Turkey, namely Protestantism. However, they stay away from the public. In Malaysia in 2006, 250,000 Muslims abandoned Islam, and 100,000 of them became Christians. Another 100,000 Muslims are in the process of leaving Islam because they have applied to change their Muslim name because they belong to another religion. In Yemen, Muslims began converting to Christianity in large numbers, so the government and representatives of the Islamic community began organizing conferences on how to prevent Muslims from converting to Christianity. A scholarly article read before Muslim politicians and theologians entitled “Christian missionaries are reshaping the Islamic world,” authored by Sheikh Salman al-Oda, talks about the situation of Islam in Indonesia, where 80 percent of the population belongs to this religion. In his opinion, Christian missionaries have achieved great success because 65 percent of business companies are owned by Christians, as are most schools, and these are very respectable institutions. Most political figures in Indonesia are Christians, as are 65 percent of the officer corps. There are 27,324 foreign missionaries in Indonesia. Christian missionaries have a budget of $100 million a year.
Sheikh Salman al-Oda admits that Islam is losing its position in Africa. In the Republic of Malawi, Muslims used to make up 66 percent of the population, but currently only 17 percent. In Somalia, Muslims until recently made up 100 percent of the population, but now the situation is changing, just like in Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria...
TV channel SAT-7 which began work in 1996 with the task of broadcasting Christian programs for the Islamic world. The channel broadcasts in Arabic, Farsi and Turkish. This year, in 2012, representatives of the TV SAT-7 channel announced that television viewership among Muslims has increased and is now watched by an average of nine to ten million people in the Islamic world. This means that the process of Christianization of Muslim countries is irreversible, as is the process of destruction of the Sharia order.
[1] Rade Bozovic, Islam and Arabi, People's Book/Alfa, Belgrade, 2007, p. 83.
[2] Ibid. Page 97 “Saint Sava, of course, saw Islam as a “heresy,” just as it was understood almost five centuries before him by one of the greatest Orthodox theologians, John of Damascus. In a similar way, the West also understood this “heresy” as an Eastern, Orthodox “heresy.” See Rade Bozovic, Islam and Arabi, p. 82
[3] Bozovic writes that historical data show that the people of Byzantium quite easily converted to Islam in peacetime, and vice versa, the Arabs were not much more difficult to convert to Christianity. The Byzantines were generally more accepting of the Arabs and Turks than the Christian Frank brothers. Rade Bozovic, Islam and Arabov, p. 94.
[4] Admir Pozderovich, The Clash of Civilizations and the 21st Century and the Triumph of ISLAM, Patriotic Studies “Vatan”, Brčko DC,
[5] Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Great Chessboard, CID, Podgorica, 1999, p. 54
[6] Yuri Maksimov, Transitions from Islam to Christianity in the 9th-10th centuries according to the evidence of Arab chronicles,
https://www.pravoslavie.ru/archiv/obrashenie.htm 29/01/2002
[7] Same thing
[8] Same thing
[9] Los cristianos en Oriente Próximo, El Mundo, 09/17/2012
[10] About the Union, as a separate part of the problematic policy of the Catholic Church, this can be seen in the collection of Proceedings of the Union. Union. Policy of the Catholic Church towards the Orthodox Slavs, Institute for Political Studies, Belgrade, 2002.
[11] Antonio Picasso, I maroniti in Libano sono pochi e divisi, Limes, 04/28/2012
[12] Caro Papa, accogli in Vaticano i musulmani convertiti a Gesù, Il Giornale, 15/10/2012
[13] https://www.kiev-orthodox.org/site/cults/1768/
[14] Same thing
[15] Same thing
[16] See: Zoran Milošević, Khrishěnski identitet u svrememom svetu sa posebnym osvrt na Bliski istok, Politichka revija, br. 3, Beograd, 2012, pp. 133 – 144.
[17] Caro Papa, accogli in Vaticanoimusulmaniconvertiti a Gesù, Il Giornale, 10/15/2012
[18] Same thing
[19] Same thing
[20] It is worth noting the changes among the Israeli Arabs. The education of Arabs in Israel is growing, much more than that of their compatriots in other countries, and they are increasingly accepting the Israeli way of life. This means that young Arabs who live in Israel are increasingly establishing themselves in science, manufacturing, sports and other industries. In addition, young Arabs in Israel are increasingly participating in public and political life (They formed the Arab Party), while at the same time not defending Islamism, but the national interests of the Arabs in a secularized way, while they do not want to get rid of the Jews in Israel, but on the contrary are committed to common life. See Alim Mantullin, Arab youth accepts the Israeli way of life, https://stop-news.com/1871-arabskaya-molodezh-prinimaet-izrailskiy-obraz-zhizni.html, 21-10-2012
[21] Siman Sarjis, Muslims are converting to the Christian faith, https://www.katolik.ru/vatican-city/sady-vatikana/item/2915-musulmane-obraschayutsya-v-hristianskuyu-veru.html
[22] Same thing
[23] Tomas Avenarius, Vatikan auf Expansionskurs, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, 06/09/2012
[24] Same thing
[25] Same thing
[26] Same thing. There are currently 35 Roman Catholic churches in Bahrain
[27] Stefano Fontana, L'inconsistente caso delle accuse al Cardinal Turkson, L'Occidentale, 23/10/2012
[28] See: Zoran Milošević, The Christian Doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, Institute for Political Studies, Beograd, 2001.
[29] Stefano Fontana, L'inconsistentecasodelle accuse al Cardinal Turkson, L'Occidentale, 23/10/2012
[30] In Denmark, the government actively supports Christian churches and denominations that help Muslims convert to Christianity and as a result, Muslims convert to Christianity en masse. Namely, in 2010, according to the Politiken list, more than 150,000 Muslims were converted to Christianity.
[31] Yuri Sosinsky-Semikhat, France will help Africa against the Islamists of Mali, https://www.pravda.ru/world/restofworld/africa/15-10-2012/1131395-france_mali-0/
Zoran Milosevic
Doctor of Sociology, Professor at the Institute of Political Studies (Belgrade).
Continuation
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^ 7. Reception by the Arab Church of a convert into its midst
Not all Arabs are Muslims. In many Arab countries, churches have existed since the time of the Byzantine Empire. The number of members of these churches is approximately 5 to 8 million, with a total Arab population of about 100 million. These minorities developed their own Christian terminology. Although Arabic is spoken on such islands of Christianity, the words have a completely different meaning than the same words in the concept of Muslims. Thus, language, customs, spirit and life experience separate these islets from the surrounding Muslim sea, which for many centuries raged violently, trying to swallow Christian communities.
The churches of the Orthodox, Copts, Maronites, Nestorians, Sirians and Catholics have been infiltrated during the last 150 years by evangelical missions and organized more or less large communities of Arabic-evangelical churches with a total number of about 400,000 members, which are copies in their songs, in their clothing and in their general way of life. their sister churches in the USA, England and Germany, which never became missionary communities in relation to Islam. A chasm separates Arab Christians from Muslims. Persecution and oppression over the past centuries, a different way of thinking and different prayers, in addition to mistrust and hidden fear - all this has hardened the hearts of Arab Christians.
If a young Muslim, after a long internal struggle, leaves Islam, cutting himself off from his clan and family and, probably, losing his job or even hiding from persecution, turns with hope to one of the Christian groups - he becomes uneasy, as if A tub of cold water was poured on his head. Most of the members of this group stay away from him, look at him critically and with distrust, thinking that he may be a spy, that he is looking for an opportunity to get a cheap school education in one of the missionary schools. Thus, he is forced to experience the most incredible thing: he is thrown out by the Islamic world and not accepted by the Christian world. It often turns out that the convert is, as it were, between two fires, he hangs between heaven and earth, he loses his homeland, his job, his honor.
Of course, the sad experience with Muslims of old and young church communities is a bitter reality, but perhaps 20% or more of the total number of such seekers of Jesus Christ are true believers. But they are also repelled by precisely those whom they, converts, according to the Bible, consider saints, children of God. This sobering shocks them to the very core.
If churches and missionary organizations fail to accept these Muslim converts into the community of Christians or create a society of the converts themselves, then they should not mission to Muslims at all. Every repentant person needs to communicate with like-minded people, friends and children of God. He again needs the warmth of home comfort, this we, which he lost, but now, of course, in the spirit of Jesus Christ, with a liberated way of thinking and free prayer, and conversation with God,
This includes both a workplace and vocational education that matches his abilities. It is not handouts that the convert needs, but practical assistance in finding a job so that he can earn his bread with dignity and not sink to the position of a beggar.
And, in addition, a convert needs a believing wife who will patiently help him grow into a Christian worldview.
But, unfortunately, none of these three basic requirements of missionary work are usually met. Everywhere there is a shortage of society, jobs, spouses. Perhaps the path proposed by Catholics sending Muslim converts to monasteries is not the worst solution! The main problem of missionary work among the Arabs today is not establishing contact with a Muslim and his slow spiritual growth, but his acceptance into Christian society. We know that some Muslims say among themselves that it is better to remain a Muslim outwardly and secretly believe in Jesus Christ, since if you are rejected by your relatives, then Christians will not accept you. Of course, there are exceptions on both sides, but as a rule, there is no desire for missions among Muslims in almost all Arab churches and societies. Therefore, those who intend to mission among them must first prepare their churches.
^ 6. Conversion to Christ
If a Muslim seriously studies the Gospel, he cannot hide this from others. Most of his friends first try to convince him, then warn him, leave him and despise him. And his wife has the right to divorce him. In this case, the children no longer belong to him.
But first of all, his family begins to watch him critically. They speak to him in a friendly manner, asking him not to disgrace the name of the family with his betrayal, which would entail economic consequences. If the person mentioned does not listen, they threaten him, for which they often deprive him of his pocket money or beat him, or do not allow him to finish school. And if all this does not help, it happens that his own family suspects and accuses him of theft or moral decline in order to put him in prison and thus show that a worthy family has broken all relations with this “spoiled” person who denies Allah and became an “atheist.”
The Koran requires the death of every apostate (suras “Women” -90, and “Bees” -107). Even today, every convert has to reckon with this threat. Since this danger still exists in the central Arab countries, official conversions to the Christian faith are not yet known there. In Arab countries that have contact with the West, a kind of religious tolerance has developed, which, thanks to Western education, does not welcome these transitions, but also does not carry out the executions required by the Koran. The convert's parents look upon their child as if he were dead, or see to it that he emigrates, and thus remove him from sight. True, the reformation of Islam, forced by billions of oil-producing countries, is again trying to introduce exactly this law on the death penalty, required by the Koran, in many Arab countries.
But in any case, an internal and external break with parents, with brothers and sisters, with all relatives and with all acquaintances is a very bitter and difficult process for a convert: he never parted peacefully with his loved ones, he is considered cursed and despicable. And his break occurs not only logically and dogmatically in thoughts, but it shatters his rooted “we” into pieces, so that he finds himself in a world that knows no compassion, deprived of everything, lonely and shocked.
All Arab countries except Lebanon prohibit the transition from Islam to Christianity. Constitutional freedom of religion applies only when Christian minorities remain Christians or when they wish to become Muslims, but not vice versa. The law does not provide for the possibility of Muslims converting to Christianity at all, and therefore a lawsuit against the government, as one former Muslim in Syria tried to do, cannot achieve this. An Arab Muslim does not yet have the opportunity to legally change his religion, except if he emigrates and takes on another citizenship. This lack of flexibility of the law becomes especially tragic when the convert is planning to marry a Christian girl, since the functions of the registry office in almost all Arab countries are performed by Islam or a mullah. If a Christian girl marries a convert, the groom has to appear with his bride to the sheikh, like all Muslims, to formalize his marriage; the children of this marriage automatically become “Muslims.”
In some Arab countries, authorities took drastic measures, dispersing and prohibiting meetings of converts to Christianity, and active leaders were arrested and imprisoned, and in exceptional cases even tortured. But there are no known death sentences in our time, except for attempts by illiterate parents in anger and rage to kill their children who believed in Jesus Christ. It should be added that, according to the Arabic newspaper El-Arabi in April 1972, approximately 70% of Arabs cannot read or write. Hence it is clear that illiterate parents fanatically cling to the texts of the Koran and traditions memorized by heart and obediently, in the spirit of Muhammad, hate their blood and flesh in order to have the blessing of Allah and not leave the unity of the entire society of Islamic culture. The clan is the body in Islam that zealously implements and protects the Koran, and thus this clan becomes the biggest obstacle for every Muslim who decides to become a Christian.
Time will tell whether Egypt and Pakistan as states will submit to the demands of fanatical Muslims from oil-producing countries and whether they will approve a law on the death penalty for apostates from Islam.
