Joshua RodatusApril Paper Hood CollegeSpring Semester 2011ITLS 300 “Middle Eastern Cultures”Professor Krysiek

“Muslim Conversion to Christianity in the Middle East”

THESIS: Notwithstanding the persistent and widespread persecution of Muslim background believers in the Middle East, the fundamental factors driving their conversions show no signs of diminishing in the years to come.

“Ahmed could feel the depression tugging at his mind, ready to suck him down again into

a pit of despair….Ahmed knew he was playing with fire and in his nightmares he was always

burned. Yet he couldn’t escape from the pages of the Bible.”1 What is it like for a Muslim to give

his life to Christ in the Middle East? How does it happen in a region that is 90% Muslim, and

what are the social consequences? In the long run, will conversions to Christianity continue or

die out?

It is my observation that scholars in both hemispheres sometimes overlook certain

intimate dynamics involved in these questions, each for a different reason. Western scholars,

shrouded in their ivory towers from the blunt realities of both Middle Eastern day-to-day life and

visceral spiritual experience, tend to view the plight of Christianity in the Middle East through

the sterile lens of social science. Eastern scholars, on the other hand, seem quick to defend their

culture to an increasingly Westernized world, discrediting the conservative interpretations of

Shari’a law enforced in a number of Middle Eastern states, and downplaying social problems.

Such omissions from both parties lie unchallenged by Westerners’ general ignorance of the Arab

world. If we want to uncover the varied experiences of Muslim converts to Christianity in the

1 Brother Andrew and Al Janssen, Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe in Christ (Grand Rapids: Revell, 2007), 24.

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I pledge that I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment.

Middle East, we are forced to consult less recognized sources such as missionary organizations,

Christian news networks, and personal testimonies—these we will attempt to use with caution.

However, our discussion must begin with the broad historical, social, and theological

context of Middle Eastern Christianity and its converts. We will then characterize the experience

of the Muslim background believer (MBB) by three vignettes of contrasting Middle Eastern

societies, including two testimonies. Finally, we will compare these images with the most recent

information across the entire Middle East, and attempt to identify some trends and draw our

thesis.

The birthplace and epicenter of Christianity was in the heart of the Middle East,

Jerusalem, where the disciples gathered on the day of Pentecost after Jesus’ departure. Filled

with the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Peter addressed the men of Judea in his famous sermon

recorded in the book of Acts, upon which “there were added that day about three thousand

souls.”2 The faith swept outward as each believer took the gospel to his own land, so that it was

“in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.”3 (Antioch today is a small town in

southern Turkey.) When the disciples later entered Thessalonica, the devout Greeks exclaimed,

“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,”4 (emphasis added)

describing the breathtaking inertia with which Christianity overtook the Middle East.

Fast-forward six centuries to the year 634 A.D., to a town in eastern Saudi Arabia called

Medina, two years after the Prophet Muhammad’s death. From this place Caliph Umar led the

Muslim army northwest into Syria, where the inhabitants surrendered without a battle. Jerusalem

and Antioch each held out for a year before surrendering. This was the beginning of the rapid

2 Acts 2:41 (ESV)

3 Acts 11:26 (ESV)

4 Acts 17:6 (ESV)

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expansion of Muslim rule, which by the 8th century was to extend from North Africa in the west

through Arabia and Asia Minor and Persia all the way to the edge of China in the east. In his

authoritative work The Arab Christian, Kenneth Cragg describes the early tone of Muslim-

Christian relations: “The high disdain Muslims had for the [Christian] faith they invaded has

been a permanent circumstance attending Arab Christianity. It derived not only from the sanction

of conquest and the contrast between victors and victims. It stemmed also from the assurance of

a superior theism.”5 Cragg describes the Muslim conquest as a ‘rough wind’ blown out of Arabia

to ‘inferiorize and ghettoize’ the historic Christian church.6 As non-Muslims, Christians were

permitted a safe but limited existence under the dhimmi system, which counted them as non-

citizens and predicated the suspension of jihad (holy war) upon their complete political

submission. Notwithstanding their freedom to assemble and worship and teach their offspring,

conquered Christians were subject to myriad regulations designed to introvert, stagnate, and

ultimately diminish their communities.

Among them were the prohibition against the building of new churches or the repair of existing ones; the obligation of Christians and Jews to wear distinctive dress, to avoid using cherished Arabic words or exchange greetings with Muslims, to dismount in Muslim presence from their donkeys, to have their dwellings lower than those of Muslims, to refrain from bell ringing and public use of crosses, and the prohibition against possessing arms.7

As a constant reminder of their vulnerability to jihad, such regulations made Christians

dependent and pliable under their Muslim rulers. Prohibition of prozelytization restricted church

growth, while the disadvantages of dhimmi status in fact drove many to convert to Islam.

Ottoman rule beginning in 1299 A.D. did little to alter the dhimmi system, only perpetuating the

introversion and stagnation of the church. In fact, the Ottomans added devsirme (army

5 Kenneth Cragg, The Arab Christian (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1991), 17.

6 Ibid., 17.

7 Ibid., 57.

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recruitment), which systematically drafted Christian children into the Janissaries, permanently

extracting them from their Christian communities and “holding them to be”8 Muslims.

In modern times, the legacy of the dhimmi system is alive and well: whether by way of

actual legal injunctions or lurking in the attitudes of Middle Eastern populations. An astonishing

demonstration of this occurred in Egypt in the winter of 1910. After the Muslim assassination of

Butrus Ghali, a Coptic Christian who had been prime minister for two years, “partisan Muslims,

backed by a virulent press campaign, celebrated their riddance of one they saw as properly

eliminated.”9 To them, the assassin was a national hero. Coptic Christians protested with a

counter campaign, petitioning for renewed political and social freedom. Then in May 1911, the

Egyptian congress convened at Heliopolis; it condemned the Coptic campaign as exhibiting

“insubordination” and reasserted the complete political submission of the Christian minority—

the very essence of the dhimmi system.

As we transition our discussion to modern times, we must highlight a historical

phenomenon that played a key role in defining modern Muslim attitudes toward Christians in the

Middle East: Western protectionism. In the first instance, the Crusades in the 11 th, 12th, and 13th

centuries purported to “protect the holy places,” though their real motivations were worldlier.

Nonetheless, they “planted in Muslim hearts the seeds of suspicion and doubt against their

Christian compatriots, a persistent image that pictures Arab Christians as agents of a greedy

West, a 'fifth column' poised to stab Muslims in the back,”10 write Betty and J. Martin Bailey in

their volume Who Are the Christians in the Middle East? The impact of the Crusades in

8 Ibid., 120.

9 Ibid., 171.

10 Betty J. Bailey and J. Martin Bailey, Who Are the Christians in the Middle East? (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2010), 15.

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associating Middle Eastern Christians with the meddlesome and “abominable” West is not to be

underestimated. Yet upon these embers were heaped more coals of Western protectionism in the

Ottoman centuries, further searing Middle Eastern Christians in the Muslim eye. European

powers developed the practice of recruiting Middle Eastern Christians en masse for commercial

purposes in the attractive Ottoman economy. Such Christians held elevated degrees of economic

and social freedom within Muslim societies, with the full protection of their European sponsors.

Hence, for this period, protégé status practically displaced dhimmi status. The Ottomans did not

appreciate this.

Cragg aptly summarizes the Ottoman perception of this form of Western protectionism:

When Ottoman power declined in the nineteenth century, protection became...more suspect and even treacherous. Long legacies of ambivalence, perplexity, and suspicion were bequeathed to Arab Christianity from this history, as well as rivalries within it.11

Two centuries of Crusades together with more than three centuries of European “protectionates”

(Lebanon being the most tragic) have worked upon the Muslim mind a more thorough distrust

and animosity toward Middle Eastern Christians than ever fueled by religious conviction alone.

Today however, the primary determinant of Christian treatment—especially of Muslim

converts to the faith—in a given Middle Eastern society is the level of compromise that the

government has established between the rigorous political nature of Islam (which we have

observed thus far) and the global trend of secularization (debuted in the Tanzimat reforms of

1839). Pressure is strong on both sides of the conflict. The vastly supported and indefatigable

campaigns of Islamic rigorist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood check secularizing

pressure from European powers. Hence, the situation of religious freedom varies greatly among

Middle Eastern states. For example, the governments of Jordan, Syria, and Turkey have almost

11 Cragg, Arab Christian, 123.

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completely ceded to their moderate elements, so that religious freedom has few restraints besides

a restriction on proselytization, whereas the governments of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Yemen

routinely enforce the death penalty for apostasy.

Having laid a broad historical and social context for the phenomenon of Muslim

conversion to Christianity, we now turn to its theological context: apostasy in Islamic law. An

apostate, or murtadd, is literally “one who turns back from Islam.”12 This includes those who turn

from Islam into unbelief as well as those who turn to a religion that denies some principle of

Islam. “Any verbal denial of any principle of Muslim belief is considered apostasy,” explains Ibn

Warraq in Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out. For example, one who accepts the Trinity has,

according to Sura 5:73-75, denied the oneness of God, and is thereby guilty of apostasy. One

who believes that God is incarnate in Jesus Christ has committed the unpardonable sin of shirk

(idolatry), both by attributing human attributes to Allah and deity to a human, and is thereby

guilty of apostasy. One who denies Muhammad’s prophethood or defames his character is

likewise guilty of apostasy. Christianity has concertedly denounced Muhammad and the Qur’an

as heretical since the earliest contact between the two faiths. On account of these points and

more, notwithstanding the superficial similarities between Christianity and Islam touted by

modern ecumenists, Islamic law incontrovertibly pronounces Christians “disbelievers” and

Muslim converts to the faith murtadd—apostates.

What are the consequences of apostasy in Islam? Apostasy is a very grievous sin in Islam.

First and foremost, “Islam considers him [the apostate] a dead person and issues the rule of the

dead about his property and wife.”13 Spousal divorce and reapportionment of property are thus

12 Ibn Warraq, Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out (Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2003), 16.

13 Ibid., 27.

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mandatory. But there are sometimes wider social consequences as well. One who was born into

the Muslim faith and then renounces it has committed “a willful and obstinate act of treason

against God and the one and only true creed, and a betrayal and desertion of the community.”14

The shame that an apostate brings upon his or her family is unbearable in many conservative

Muslim communities; the guilty may be subject to physical harm from family or community

members. We will visit this phenomenon later. Finally, there is the death penalty for apostasy,

which only in modern times has become controversial among Islamic scholars. Historically,

many medieval schools of Islam have upheld the death penalty. During the lifetimes of

Muhammad and the four Rightly Guided Caliphs, thousands of Muslims were executed for

leaving the faith. And according to both Ibn ‘Abbas and Abu Dawud, the Prophet said “Kill him

who changes his religion.”15 But such sunnah and hadith are an embarrassment to many modern

Islamic scholars and Western Muslims, who have begun to doubt their authenticity and literal

application, choosing rather to emphasize Islam’s respect for life and avoidance of compulsion in

religion.

Before proceeding further, we would like to address the objection raised by these

moderate Muslims that true Islam is much more peaceable toward other faiths than its history

suggests. We are told that so-called Qur’anic injunctions to persecute disbelievers are extremists’

misinterpretations, and that Muhammad’s mass execution of apostates has “nothing to do with

Islam today.” Two texts often quoted in support of this view are Sura 2:256, “there is no

compulsion in religion,” and Sura 5:32, “whoever slays one soul…it is as if he slew all men.” A

Muslim reviewer of the compilation of narratives Secret Believers: What Happens When

14 Ibid., 16.

15 Ibid., 18-19.

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Muslims Believe in Christ was shocked at what he perceived in the book as a misrepresentation

of Islam:

Add this to the pile of endless drivel rolling off the printing presses in the west… True, in some cases Muslims persecute apostates- however, this runs counter to Islamic Law and teaching, which is clear about the freedom to choose one's own faith. Judgment belongs to God alone in this case…Books like these are the equivalent to the hate mongering of the radical Islamists. Take a look at the history between Muslims and Christians (or the historical relationships Christendom has had with any non-believing peoples for that matter) and the identification of the oppressor is clear.16

To this a commenter replied:

This reviewer is greatly in error. The death penalty for apostasy still thrives in Islam, though often it's carried out by family or mob. Those of us involved in missions to the Arab and Islamic world are well aware of this.…This review[er]…[claims] coexistence of Muslims and traditionally-Christian background Christians as proof of lack of anti-Christian hostility of Islam, totally failing to note…the difference between treatment of traditionally-Christian Christians (i.e., "born into it" Christians) versus Muslim background Christians [i.e. apostates]…This reviewer is either very, very out-of-touch with what is going on in the world of Muslim background believers, or the reviewer is outright lying.17

And another wrote:

My daughter has experienced persecution for her faith in Jesus while living in a Muslim county [sic]. Her life has been threatened, she has had her home searched, and has been interrogated by police. This, after being welcomed by the government to work in the country! She is a lovely woman, respectful of Islam in her manner and dress and fluent in the language. She has made many friends the past 4 years, but also has enemies who hate her.18

Determined to defend their faith to Westerners, moderate Muslims tend to downplay the harsh

realities of persecution in many Muslim communities. They also tend to gloss over suras and

hadiths which seem indeed to call for harsh persecution, and are often interpreted as such

16 Stowell, “Rubbish.”

17 Ibid.

18 Ibid.

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(whether correctly or incorrectly). Following are several examples of these (among many) with

commentary from the website TheReligionOfPeace.com:

Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.” No reasonable person would interpret this to mean a spiritual struggle.

Quran (9:73) – “O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.” Dehumanizing those who reject Islam by reminding Muslims that they are merely firewood for Hell makes it easier to justify slaughter. It also explains why today's devout Muslims have little regard for those outside the faith.

Quran (48:29) – “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves.” Islam is not about treating everyone equally. There are two very distinct standards that are applied based on religious status.

Ibn Ishaq: 992 – “Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah.” Muhammad's instructions to his men prior to a military raid.19

The same Qur’anic texts and hadiths which originally justified the dhimmi system—

commandments to “be ruthless with” disbelievers and bear “hatred and enmity” toward them

(Sura 60:4)—are not annulled in modernity. Try as they might, moderate Muslims can never

wipe the blood stains off the Qur’an, and we ought not to be surprised to find both extreme and

moderate interpretations significantly represented across Middle Eastern states and societies.

Kenneth Cragg wrote wisely, “Episodes as a means to overview avail if used with

caution. Incidents that recede into obscurity nevertheless suggest the clues essential to the story

as a whole.”20 And so we have decided to include several testimonies of actual Muslim

conversions to Christianity, set in contrasting Middle Eastern states. They will serve to

19 “What does the Religion of Peace Teach About…Violence,” TheReligionOfPeace.com, accessed April 17, 2011, http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/023-violence.htm.

20 Cragg, Arab Christian, 172.

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characterize (or “incarnate”) three general categories of religious freedom that are present in the

region. The “green” category describes a state whose government is moderate, allowing religious

freedom with few restraints, and whose religious population is generally peaceable toward other

faiths and tolerant of defectors. The “yellow” category describes a state inconsistent with itself,

whose government legally prescribes freedom of religion but is, along with its Muslim

population, sometimes hostile toward Christians and apostates. The “red” category is the most

dangerous of all, in which the state government is officially Islamist and known to enforce

extremist Islamic policies, and whose Muslim population as well is often violently aggressive

toward Christians and apostates. Unfortunately, we were able to obtain personal testimonies for

only the latter two regional categories. However, we will try to augment our vignette of the

“green” category with enough detail to compensate.

For our “green” state we consider the Syrian Arab Republic, one of the most religiously

free states in the Middle East alongside Jordan and Tunisia. “Since 1920,” Bailey writes, “the

country has respected all religions.”21 The secular Ba’ath party allows Muslims, Christians, and

Jews to practice their faith openly. Though the head of state must be a Muslim, there is no

official state religion. Many among the 10% Christian population are employed in government

and civil service positions. The government allows Christian schools to run, and also broadcasts

Christian holy day services on television. The country is characterized as a “tolerant land of

friendly and generous people”22 and has become a refuge for Christians experiencing persecution

elsewhere. In addition to its resident Christian population estimated at over 1 million, Syria is

also home to about 80,000 Iraqi Christian refugees.23 The government is known for being

21 Bailey and Bailey, Who Are, 202.

22 Ibid., 202.

23 Ibid., 202.

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proactive in protecting peace among its different religious groups, albeit sometimes at the

expense of religious freedom. For example, religious meetings of all faiths are highly supervised

and monitored by government security services. Membership in the Muslim Brotherhood is

illegal due to fear of possible extremist tendencies. While there is no civil law prohibiting

proselytization (i.e. evangelism), the government discourages it and occasionally prosecutes

missionaries, according to the U.S. Department of State.24 Moreover, conversion from Islam to

Christianity is technically illegal; the government regards such converts as Muslims subject to

Shari’a law. The report states that “Muslim converts to Christianity [last year] were sometimes

forced to leave their place of residence due to societal pressure.”25 We observe that the particular

act of apostasy remains by and large a social disgrace, even in the most religiously tolerant

Middle Eastern countries. A convert in Syria or Jordan may be tolerated by his or her family, but

in some cases will be forced to find residence in a nearby town.

Open Doors International, in the World Watch List 2011, reports that last year some

Christian groups in Syria began evangelizing Muslims. The resulting conversions have “caused

much annoyance among the local Muslim population.”26 In fear of violent repercussions from

Islamic fundamentalists, the Syrian government summarily closed at least six buildings where

Christians were meeting. The report states that “several Christians were arrested and interrogated

during the reporting period because of their Christian activities.” The government denied foreign

Christians renewal of their visas, requiring them to leave the country. Christian conferences and

24 U.S. Department of State, “Syria” in International Religious Freedom Report 2010.

25 Ibid.

26 “World Watch List 2011,” Open Doors USA, accessed April 9, 2011, http://members.opendoorsusa.org/worldwatchlist/downloads/WorldWatchList2011.pdf.

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camps were also cancelled. The report concludes, “This begs the question of how long Syria will

continue to be known as a relatively tolerant state regarding religious freedom.”

We will briefly compare the situation in Syria to that in the two other leading “green”

states. In Jordan and Tunisia, government officials are known to harass and discriminate against

converts from Islam to Christianity, who often lose their civil rights. Proselytization, otherwise

known as evangelism, is prohibited in these “green” states as well.

For our “yellow” state we consider the Arab Republic of Egypt, one of the most

hypocritical states in the Middle East alongside Turkey and Oman. The Egyptian constitution

under article 46 provides for “freedom of belief and the practice of religious rites,” but the

government restricts this freedom in practice. Many church buildings are dilapidated, having

been long disallowed government permission for repair. In addition, the Egyptian government

routinely denies instances of violence between religious groups and fails to prosecute the

perpetrators, which has “contributed to a culture of impunity,” according to the U.S. Department

of State.27 “It is extremely rare [in Egypt] for anyone to be punished for sectarian violence

against…Christians,” noted Paul Marshall of the Hudson Institute.28 The large, historic Coptic

Christian population holds both government offices and economically privileged positions. This

contributes to the deep animosity which the majority of Egyptian Muslims exhibit towards their

Christian compatriots. Frank Wolf, representative of Virginia, has been following the situation

closely. “There are tremendous problems for the Christian community for Iraq, Egypt and also in

other places,” said Wolf. "The Coptic Christians are being persecuted in Egypt quite

27 U.S. Department of State, “Egypt” in International Religious Freedom Report 2010.

28 “Running for Their Lives: Christians in the Middle East.”

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extensively.”29 According to the December 2010 Pew Research Center survey of Middle Eastern

Muslims’ attitudes, 84% percent of Muslims in Egypt say they would favor making the death

penalty for leaving Islam the law in their country.30 And despite the government’s hypocritical

claims to religious freedom, each month are recorded multiple incidents of violence against

Christians. The relief organization Barnabas Aid reported one of three major instances last month

(March 2011). “Thousands of Christians took to the streets of Cairo last week in protest over the

attack on the village of Soul, 30 km from the capital, where Christian homes were targeted and

the church destroyed by a mob of nearly 4,000 Muslims.”31 The government itself continues to

detain and harass citizens for their Christian beliefs, including but not limited to denial of basic

civil rights, confiscation of Christian literature, and imprisonment.32 According to several

sources, violence from the Egyptian Army toward Christians has increased since former

president Mubarak’s departure.33

In this context we would like to introduce the personal testimony of Suraj El-Din, a

former Egyptian Muslim. Despite the risk of persecution, Suraj became a believer in Christ—an

apostate according to Islam. He relates the following account of his conversion:

Islam is the main religion in fact, the state religion in my country. Our law is subject to the demands and teachings of Islam. But I am a traitor to Islam. I was born into a Muslim

29 “As Unrest Spreads, Middle East Christians More Vulnerable Than Ever,” CrossWalk, accessed April 10, 2011, http://www.crosswalk.com/news/as-unrest-spreads-middle-east-christians-more-vulnerable-than-ever-11645293.html.

30 “Muslim Publics Divided on Hamas and Hezbollah,” PewResearchCenter, accessed April 17, 2011, http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah.

31 “Christian protestors attacked by Egyptian army,” Barnabas Aid, accessed April 17, 2011, http://barnabasfund.org/US/News/Archives/Christian-protestors-attacked-by-Egyptian-army.html.

32 U.S. Department of State, “Egypt.”

33 “Could the Middle East Become ‘Christenrein’?” RedState, accessed April 9, 2011, http://www.redstate.com/heartlander/2011/03/28/could-the-middle-east-become-christenrein.

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family and therefore knew nothing about Jesus Christ. I had many nominal Christian friends, and I asked one of them for a Bible. When I read it, I was surprised to find that God loves me and made a way to forgive my sins… In studying the Bible I found that only Jesus could satisfy my hunger for Him. I decided to believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him. When I did that, my life changed in a very good way. I had peace for the first time. I was baptized and became a member of a church. Then I began to speak about my newfound life in Jesus Christ in many churches and among my friends.

One day in December 1981 I talked with some people in a taxi about Jesus Christ. They led me to believe they were open to hear about the Lord. When I left the taxi, they asked for the address of my church and said they would like to attend. I gave them the address, not knowing I had already been reported because of my Christian faith. That evening they came to the church, bringing the secret police with them. I was arrested without a warrant or any legal grounds.

When I arrived at the jail, one of the guards asked why I was there. When I told him it was because I was a Christian, he called the barber to shave my head. They kept me 5 days in solitary confinement, and I was not allowed to call my family or friends to tell them where I was. The guards beat me and said I could go free if I would renounce my faith in Christ.

When I refused, the officials transferred me to the prison for the most dangerous criminals in the country. I was never given a trial by a court of law. I was put in a small room in solitary confinement for the next 8 months…Occasionally the secret police would send a man to ask: Will you renounce your faith in Jesus Christ and be a good Muslim again? They would try to tempt me with the offer of money and a car, my freedom, and a job with the secret police. I said no.

When the authorities realized I would not give up my faith in Jesus Christ, they decided, with no explanation, to let me out of prison on bail. The secret police told me not to go to any church and said if they saw me in church they would arrest me again and kill me. Muslim law requires that anyone who converts from Islam to another religion should be killed. If another Muslim were to kill me for any reason, the government would excuse him, and he would not be arrested or even punished. I am considered a traitor to Islam, deserving to be killed.34

It is interesting to note Suraj’s assumption that Islamic law requires the death penalty for

apostasy. This extremist notion is widespread in many Muslim countries including Egypt, the

“red” states which we will discuss next, and even the “green” Kingdom of Jordan.35 Correct or

not, devout family and community members render conversion to Christianity a mortal risk in

34 “Suraj El-Din’s Testimony,” Answering Islam, accessed April 17, 2011, http://www.answering-islam.org/Testimonies/suraj.html.

35 “Muslim Publics Divided on Hamas and Hezbollah.”

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many Middle Eastern countries. Since we have previously cited Turkey as another hypocritical or

“yellow” state, we will briefly support our claim. Although Turkey is officially a secular state,

discriminatory laws are in effect against Christians, and Muslims are known to harass Christians

and threaten apostates. According to the 2010 report of the United States Commission on

International Religious Freedom, Turkish government restrictions “effectively deny non-Muslim

communities the right to own and maintain property, train religious clergy, obtain and renew

visas for religious personnel... [or] offer religious education.”36 The Open Doors World Watch

List 2011 gives the following report:

During the last year [in Turkey] there were arrests of Christians and also physical assaults…Religious meetings in homes are strongly discouraged in some parts (for fear of Muslim extremists). Major structural issues remain concerning church property and the portrayal of Christians in the media. It is seen as a big disgrace if someone in Turkey leaves Islam for Christianity. Threats against non-Muslims created an atmosphere of pressure and diminished freedom for other Christian groups.37

The organization Open Doors International rates conditions in many other states professing

religious freedom such as Oman and Algeria as even more hostile.

For our “red” state we consider the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one of the most extremist

states in the Middle East alongside Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen. According to the U.S.

Department of State, freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia is neither recognized nor practiced.38

The country is an Islamic state ruled by a monarch, with the Holy Qur’an as its constitution. The

Hanbali school of Sunni Islamic law governs jurisprudence. The adage “no news is good news”

does not apply in assessing the situation of the Christian church here. Bailey says that “very little

36 “Running for Their Lives: Christians in the Middle East,” CrossWalk, accessed April 9, 2011, http://www.crosswalk.com/news/running-for-their-lives-christians-in-the-middle-east-11644488.html.

37 “World Watch List 2011.”

38 U.S. Department of State, “Saudi Arabia” in International Religious Freedom Report 2010.

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is known about the circumstances of these Christians.”39 But that is largely because Christian

worship in Saudi Arabia is “unofficial or even secret.”40 “According to the MECC [Middle East

Council of Churches],” Bailey explains, “Christians live under strict surveillance and are not

permitted to show outward signs of their being Christian.”41 The U.S. Department of State

reports that speaking against Allah or Muhammad is a crime punishable by long prison sentences

or even death. Muslim converts to other faiths are legally subject to execution. Open Doors

International reports that any Christian practicing public worship risks “arrest, imprisonment,

lashing, deportation, and sometimes torture.” Elementary and secondary education textbooks

retain “language intolerant of other religious traditions, especially Jewish, Christian, and Shi'a

beliefs, including commands to hate infidels and kill apostates.”42 In addition to extremist

government policies, “the culture also exerts intense pressure on the population to conform to

socio-religious norms.”43 For apostates who escape government execution, honor killings are a

serious risk in some communities.44

We now introduce the personal testimony of a brother from Saudi Arabia, who has chosen

to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. Hopefully, the reader will excuse us for including the

testimony in its entirety.

"Born to a Saudi family, in Saudi Arabia, and living very close to Mecca, I grew up with strict principals and traditions of Islam and the Arab culture. As a teenager I went to the mosque five times a day in obedience to my parents. One night, while I was asleep, I had

39 Bailey and Bailey, Who Are, 191.

40 Ibid., 191.

41 Ibid., 191.

42 U.S. Dept. of State, “Saudi Arabia.”

43 U.S. Dept. of State, “Saudi Arabia.”

44 “World Watch List 2011.”

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this horrible dream of me being taken into hell. And what I saw there brought me real fear and these dreams kept coming to me almost every night. At this point I was really wondering as to why I should be seeing hell in this manner. Suddenly one day, Jesus appeared to me and said, "Son, I am the way, the truth and the life. And if you would give your life to Me, and follow Me, I would save you from the hell that you have seen."

This came as a surprise to me, for I did not know who this Jesus was. Of course, He is mentioned in the Koran in the book Surah Mariam. He is stated as one of our prophets, but not as a Savior who could save us from hell. So I started looking out for a Christian who could give me some advise [sic] about this Jesus I have seen and possibly get one of the Christian Holy Books, which I now know is the Bible. But it was a difficult task for me to get any Christian to speak to me about Jesus. As you would know, Christianity is totally banned in Saudi Arabia and if a Christian is caught witnessing to a Muslim, he could be almost sure that he would be beheaded.

Then the Lord led me to an Egyptian Christian who was sick. I prayed for this man’s healing and this man gave me a Bible. Then I, by myself, started reading the Bible. By this time Jesus had become a close friend to me. Soon I started witnessing about the experience I had with all my family relations and friends. Soon the authorities were informed that I had converted to Christianity, and I believe this was done by one of my family members. As it states in the Koran, if someone would turn away from Islam, he is a traitor to the faith and he should be executed. So I was taken into custody and tortured. They told me that I would be beheaded if I would not turn back to Islam. But I had already made my decision that I would never turn back. So I told the authorities I’m willing to die for Jesus and that I would never come back to Islam. After much torture and imprisonment, I was sentenced to be beheaded. They gave me a date and a time and I told them, "You go ahead and execute me. I’m going to heaven to see Jesus. But I pray that what you would do to me would stay in your minds and not give you rest until you come to Jesus."

The appointed day and time came for my execution, and I was waiting with much anticipation, yet very much strong in my faith in Jesus. Generally the executions are carried out on the set time and date. But to my amazement, no one turned up. One hour lapsed, two hours went by, then it became three hours, and then the day passed by. And no one turned up. Then two days later, the authorities turned up and opened the doors and told me, "You demon! Get out from this place!" I also noticed that the main person who was determined to get me beheaded was not present when they came to release me. I asked them where this guy was. And with much hesitation they replied that his son had died on the same day they planned to execute me. Although I continue to go through much persecution, one thing I know is that the Lord’s hand is upon me.45

Observe that the young man’s vision of Christ seemed to be the key event which drove his

pursuit of Christ and ultimate conversion, although other factors were certainly instrumental as

45 “A Testimony from a Saudi Believer,” Answering Islam, accessed April 17, 2011, http://www.answering-islam.org/Testimonies/saudi.html.

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well. Our extensive survey of personal testimonies from across the Middle East shows that

similar visions of Christ are a common factor motivating conversion to Christianity in spite of

the risks of persecution.46 We will return to this observation in our conclusion.

The situations of Christian persecution in other “red” states such as Iran, Iraq,

Afghanistan, and Yemen are comparable to that in Saudi Arabia. Incidents of religious and

politically motivated violence against Christians in these Islamic states are somewhat regular.

One Iraqi archbishop describes the “near genocide” conditions for Christians in Iraq, and the

systematic bombing of sixty-six churches in the area.47

Figure 1 graphs the intensity of Christian persecution in each Middle Eastern country

using data from Open Doors USA,48 with North Korea added for scale. Observe firstly that

46 Warraq, Leaving Islam; Andrew and Janssen, Secret Believers; “Testimonies of Muslims who became Christians,” Answering Islam, accessed April 10, 2011, http://www.answering-islam.org/Testimonies/index.html.

47 “‘Near-genocide conditions’ for Iraqi Christians, archbishop says,” Catholic San Francisco, accessed April 17, 2011. http://www.catholic-sf.org/news_select.php?newsid=2&id=58348.

48 “World Watch List 2011.”

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several of the “green” states do not significantly differ from “yellow” states in their rating of

Christian persecution. This is primarily explained by the fact that denial of basic civil rights to

Christians and especially Muslim converts to the faith is a widespread cultural phenomenon in

the Middle East. Observe secondly that the graph primarily describes treatment of the general

Christian population in each state, the vast majority of which are native born Christians. The

experiences of Muslim background believers, on the other hand, are generally more severe.

What is driving Muslim conversions to Christianity? We have cited the ubiquitous

accounts of seeing Christ as one fundamental factor. But there are at least two others. Dale

Eickelman in his essay Inside the Islamic Reformation describes increasing education levels

throughout the Islamic world. He shows that overall literacy rates in the Middle East have

dramatically increased since the middle of the 20 th century, and university enrollment is on the

rise. Eickelman writes:

A far more important element of the Islamic Reformation [than fanaticism] is the unprecedented access that ordinary people now have to sources of knowledge about religion and other aspects of their society. Quite simply, in country after country, government officials, traditional religious scholars, and officially sanctioned preachers are finding it very hard to monopolize the tools of literate culture.49

Eickelman describes seeing educated young people in Morocco boldly asking political

candidates probing questions, a sight unknown in prior decades.50 An explosion in religious

literature also has accompanied the increase in literacy rates across the Middle East. One

category of this literature seeks to question traditional Islam and reevaluate its application in the

modern world. “In unprecedentedly large numbers,” Eickelman writes, Muslims “are examining

and debating the fundamentals of Muslim belief and practice in ways that their less self-

49 Dale F. Eickelman, “Inside the Islamic Reformation,” in Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East, ed. Donna Lee Bowen et al. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002), 248.

50 Ibid., 249.

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conscious predecessors in the faith would never have imagined.”51 But questioning is a double-

edged sword. We note the testimony of a Muslim youth who first began to “view things more

objectively” when he reached college, questioning his faith, and ultimately converting to

Christianity.52 It seems that the Islamic Reformation is providing Middle Eastern people—

especially youth—with a more analytical mindset that is less susceptible to generational

indoctrination and more apt to skepticism. The door is swinging wide open for Muslims to

consider other faiths such as Christianity.

But there is a second fundamental factor that seems to be driving Muslim conversions to

Christianity: dogged missionary efforts to proclaim the gospel. Open Doors is a non-profit

Christian organization which has been supporting persecuted Christians in the most restricted

countries for 56 years. Stephan, an Open Doors worker in the Middle East, characterizes the

undaunted dedication typical of Christian missionaries in this dangerous region. “We don’t know

when the borders will close,” Stephan says. “That’s why we have increased the number of

Bibles, books, DVDs and other Christian materials to persecuted Christians. Whether the

situation improves or deteriorates, we will not abandon our persecuted brothers and sisters.”53

Christian organizations broadcast the gospel over satellite radio into dangerous territory. Voice of

the Martyrs has even conducted air drops of Christian literature into restricted areas by helium

balloon. An article appearing in the Algerian Arabic daily El Youm in December 2000 cites the

availability of Christian media—particularly gospel radio stations and local churches distributing

51 Ibid., 248.

52 Warraq, Leaving Islam, 95.

53 “In Midst of Chaos, Open Doors Reaches Christians in Middle East,” CrossWalk, accessed April 9, 2011, http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religion-today/in-midst-of-chaos-open-doors-reaches-christians-in-middle-east.html.

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Bibles—as playing a great part in conversions in the Algerian town of Kabylie.54 The same

article notes that one Algerian church alone recorded fifty baptisms in one year, “in a country

where a woman wearing lipstick could result in an entire family…having their throats cut.”55

Evidently, remnants of devoted believers across the Middle East manifest a fearlessness in

evangelism that is undeterred by Islamization.

The third fundamental factor is the supernatural draw toward Christianity to which

Muslim converts almost unanimously testify. Ibn Warraq dismisses this when he describes many

testimonies as “cloyingly sentimental, embarrassingly gushing about peace, harmony, and

Christ’s love.”56 Ibrahim, a convert in Egypt, characterizes the kind of supernatural experience

common to most testimonies:

One night Christ appeared to me in a dream and said with a tender sweet voice, "I love you!" I saw how obstinately I had resisted Him all these years and said to Him in tears, "I love You, too! I know You! You are eternal for ever and ever." I woke up with tears all over my face filled with abundant joy, believing that Christ Himself touched both my mind and my heart, and I yielded. I was filled with great passion for Christ, jumping up and down, singing praises to His name and talking to Him day and night. I would not even sleep without God's inerrant Word, the Bible, next to my chest.57

Other converts from Islam speak of feeling peace and love wash over them as they read the Bible

for the first time. Having reviewed numerous conversion testimonies, and taken them at face

value, we cannot deny the supernatural aspect that is present in every one of them.

These three fundamental factors which seem to be driving conversion, namely increased

education fueling skepticism of Islam, the dogged proclamation of the gospel, and a supernatural

54 Warraq, Leaving Islam, 92-93.

55 Ibid., 93.

56 Ibid., 93.

57 “Conversion Testimony of Ibrahim (Egypt),” Answering Islam, accessed April 17, 2011, http://www.answering-islam.org/authors/abraham/testimony.html.

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draw to the faith, are not deterred by Islamization. On this account, we may expect them to

persist. But are the fruits consistent with the branch? Salem Voice from the website Islam Watch

quotes Joel C. Rosenberg, a New York Times bestselling political novelist. After interviewing

three dozen Arab and Iranian pastors and evangelical leaders throughout the Middle East,

Rosenberg reports:

More Muslims converted to faith in Jesus Christ over the past decade than at any other time in human history. A spiritual revolution is underway throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. As a result, a record number of ex-Muslims are celebrating Christmas this year, despite intense persecution, assassinations, and widespread church bombings. 58

In 2001, Sheikh Ahmad al Qataani, a leading Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia, was interviewed

live on Al-Jazeera satellite television. "In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity," Al

Qataani warned. “Every day, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million

Muslims convert to Christianity.”59 Indeed, statistics demonstrate that the factors essential to

conversion—whatever they may be—are well and thriving. Despite persistently widespread

persecution of the Christian church and especially Muslim background believers in the Middle

East, the fundamental factors driving conversion show no signs of diminishing in the years to

come.

Ahmed…thought back to his youth, to the terrifying dreams of judgment, to the questions that had tormented him, and to the fact that his friend took a huge risk to point him toward the Bible and Jesus. That had started him on a journey, one that landed him in jail and almost killed him, but that had also brought him more joy than he ever thought possible… ‘That is what I want to thank you for, [Zaki,] for introducing me to the God from whom I cannot escape, from whom I never ever want to escape.’60

Muslims are still coming to Christ.

58 “Millions of Muslims Converting to Christianity,” Islam Watch, accessed April 9, 2011, http://www.islam-watch.org/LeavingIslam/Muslims2Christianity.htm.

59Ibid.

60 Andrew and Janssen, Secret Believers, 218.

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