Cahaya’s Rants

The case of a Malaysian syariah court’s decision to allow a Chinese woman to renounce Islam (re Malaysiakini news), has caused some to be very upset and to blame the government, the religious departments, the Muslim political parties, and fellow Muslims for failing in their duty to ensure non-Malay converts to Islam become grounded in their new Muslim faith.

One blogger even asked if the decision to allow Siti Fatimah Tan to renounce Islam as tantamount to legalizing apostasy in Malaysia! If only these worried Muslims knew the real number of Malay Muslims who had secretly renounced Islam and became Christians! There would most certainly be a great uproar and would cause a great strain in ethnic and religious relations in the country!

Here is CBN news report on how people who were formerly Muslims have come to know Jesus Christ through visions, and are being baptised in droves. This original news story is found here.

Muslims who do not like to hear news of this sort will, as indicated by some of the comments left on YouTube, call them lies.

CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM - The Muslim call to prayer resounds through a large part of the Earth, where more than one billion people call themselves Muslims.

Throughout the Islamic world, many Muslims from Gaza to London are also responding to the call to global jihad, where the goal is to take over the world for Islam. It’s a clash of civilizations with the Christian faith in the middle.

Throughout the nearly 1,400 year history of Islam, Muslims have resisted the Christian Gospel. Many Christians tried to reach them with the good news, but with little success.

But according to many reports from the Middle East and around the world, that history is changing.

“I see many, many Arabic-speaking people turning to Christ, accepting Him as Lord and Savior,” said Nizar Shaheen, host of Light for the Nations, a Christian program seen throughout the Muslim world. “It’s happening all over the Arab world. It’s happening in North Africa. It’s happening in the Middle East. It’s happening in the Gulf countries. It’s happening in Europe and Canada and the United States-in the Arabic-speaking world. Everywhere, people are accepting Jesus.”

“What’s happening nowadays in the Muslim world has never happened before,” said Father Zakaria Boutros, an Egyptian Coptic priest who is one of the foremost evangelists to the Muslim world. He says a cross-section of Muslims are accepting Jesus Christ. “Young and old, educated and not educated, males and females, even those who are fanatic.”

One fanatic Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ is Samer Achmad Muhammed. He studied for years to become a Wahhabi sheik, one of the most virulent forms of Islam. He hated Christians and the church, but his heart changed when he heard the Gospel.

“I dedicated my life to Jesus Christ, Jesus forgave me for my sins,” he said. “He gave me eternal life and peace. And the second thing, I really suffered in my daily life, but I had peace, I had joy because Jesus entered my heart.”

Muhammed is just one of many who are coming to Jesus. Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries sees thousands of African Muslims receiving Jesus and getting baptized.

“It’s probably the only place in the world where they are coming so quickly,” she said. “Many people are having dreams. They see Jesus appear to them. Probably half our pastors were leaders, imams in Moslem mosques. They were leaders in these mosques, now they’re pastors.”

Another significant evangelistic movement among Muslims links China and Jerusalem. Chinese house churches plan to send at least 100,000 evangelists from China through many predominantly Muslim nations all the back here to Jerusalem.

This quiet but powerful movement of itinerant evangelists is bringing the story of Jesus Christ into the heart of the Muslim world. Technologies like satellite television and the Internet also penetrate the world of Islam.

But beyond technology, many say a supernatural dimension is at work throughout the Islamic world.

“There is an end-time phenomenon that is happening through dreams and visions,” said Christine Darg, author of The Jesus Visions: Signs and Wonders in the Muslim World. “He is going into the Muslim world and revealing, particularly, the last 24 hours of His life - how He died on the cross, which Islam does not teach - how He was raised from the dead, which Islam also does not teach – and how He is the Son of God, risen in power.”

“We receive lots of letters about people who have had dreams about the Lord, visions, even miracles,” Shaheen said. “When they watch the program, they say yes, we had a dream or a vision, and they accept Jesus as Lord.”

But Muslims who accept Jesus face persecution, discrimination or even death. Despite the dangers, many continue to live out their faith and lead others to Jesus Christ.

“Jesus loves all people, Jesus changes all people and Jesus is the One who places love and peace,” Shaheen said. “I was not like this but Jesus changed my life and I am not scared to talk about Jesus because praise is unto Him.”

Some believe the Church’s response to jihad must be a fearless proclamation of the Gospel to Muslims. Through prayer and evangelism, many see an unparalleled opportunity for the Gospel.

“I anticipate that very soon – perhaps within two or three years-we are going to see the greatest harvest in history,” Shaheen said.

The following is Singaporean Malay Christian blog:

1 Flock 1 Shepherd

I find it amusing to read the emotional responses of some Malaysian Muslims to the syariah court’s decision to allow Siti Fatimah Tan, a Chinese convert, to renounce Islam. (re Malaysiakini news) Siti Fatimah converted to Islam when she married an Iranian because in Malaysia a non-Muslim marrying a Muslim has to convert to Islam. But Siti Fatimah converted to Islam not out of conviction but out of necessity. She remained a Buddhist after the conversion and never practised Islam.

One blogger even compared the Syariah Court’s decision to legalizing apostasy! If only that was true! People like Lina Joy will no longer have to go into hiding. This particular blogger went on to quote a fatwa that called on the apostate to be executed if he/she does not repent in three days after being brought in front of a Qadi. This blogger also blamed the Malay Muslim political parties and Muslim politicians for failing to speak out against this apostasy case.

Another blogger is frustrated and blamed everyone especially Penang’s Islamic Council and Siti Fatimah’s ex-husband for failing to ground her in the Islamic faith. One blogger even called the decision a dark and tragic day for Islam.

Others wonder if this decision will bring a deluge of such cases. What if indeed it resulted in a deluge? The non-Malay who is longer practicing Islam should be able to leave Islam without being forced to “rehabilitate” or even punished for apostatizing.

Datuk Ahmad Zahid, minister in charge of religious affairs in the Prime Minister’s Department said “there was no law at the federal level to bar a convert from renouncing Islam”. Since that is the case presently, one hopes that it will stay that way.

I don’t think there is anyone who might see this case as a light at the end of the tunnel, as one blogger puts it, for cases involving Malay Muslims who have left Islam. That is , however, not to say that there have not been cases of Malay Muslims who have successfully renounced Islam in the past. But then again, those cases were before the requirement to state one’s religious status in one’s identity card. Nobody had to go to that unnecessary hurdle.

Nowadays people like Lina Joy have to either live a double life or in hiding for fear of some zealot taking it upon himself to execute them for apostasy.

Good luck to Tan Ean Huang on her new life free of the burden of being called a Muslim when she has never been one.

Hundreds of protesters chanting “Kill, kill” set fire Monday to an Indonesian mosque belonging to a Muslim sect they claim is heretical, police said.

A policeman was wounded in the head when the crowd stoned the mosque in West Java province before setting it ablaze, said police spokesman Col. Dade Ahmad. Several suspects were taken in for questioning.

The attack was the latest targeting the Ahmadiyah sect in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

Most mainstream Muslims consider Ahmadiyah heretical because it does not consider Muhammad to be the final prophet. The sect was founded at the end of the 19th century in Pakistan.

Last week, a team of prosecutors, religious scholars and government officials said the sect “had deviated from Islamic principles” and recommended it be outlawed. There have been several acts of vandalism targeting Ahmadiyah since then.

About 300 people torched the mosque and destroyed an Islamic school building inside the Ahmadiyah compound in Sukabumi town just after midnight. Many sect members have since fled the area, seeking refuge with friends and relatives.

“We heard the attackers chanting ‘Burn, burn’ and ‘Kill, kill,’” said Zaki Firdaus, one of the sect’s members. “It was horrifying.”

Around 200 people living on the mosque’s compound got away before the crowd arrived. The police were called, “but the attackers came faster,” Firdaus said.

Read the rest of the story here.

“Mainstream Muslims” do not consider the Ahmadiyah sect Muslim. Shias do not consider Sunnis Muslims and vice versa. So who is the real Muslim?

Muslims have been fighting each other since Muhammad’s death, and they will continue to do so long into the future.

So much for Islam being a monolithic religion! So much for Islam being the religion of peace!

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 (Bernama) — The Islamic Missionary Foundation (Yadim) has called on the media to be more active in correcting the perception of Islam among non-Muslims.

Its head Datuk Mohd Nakhaie Ahmad said the lack of articles on Islam in most newspapers had resulted in the manipulation of information on Islam and Muslims by certain quarters.

“When the reports are not clear or inaccurate, various issues would emerge such as Muslims being labelled as terrorists, giving the feeling that the negative image created by these irresponsible quarters was to cover up their own injustice or cruelty,” he told reporters in conjunction with the pre-launching of a tabloid, “The Criteria”, which is in English, here today.

It is jointly published by Yadim and Saba Islamic Media Sdn Bhd.

The tabloid aims to educate Muslims and non-Muslims on Islam, to help preserve understanding and harmony among the people

Source: Bernama

Datuk Mohd Nakhaie is most certainly right. And wrong. Right about the negative image non-Muslims have of Islam. And wrong that the negative image is created by “irresponsible quarters was to cover up their own injustice or cruelty”.

Who would not have a negative image of Islam when you hear reports such as the following?

BAGHDAD (AP) - An Assyrian Orthodox priest was killed in a drive-by shooting Saturday in Baghdad, police and an assistant said, the latest attack against Iraq’s Christian minority.

The priest, Youssef Adel, was shot by gunmen who drove up in a car and opened fire as he was opening the gate of his house near the St. Peter and Paul church where he presided, an assistant said.

Christians have frequently been caught up in the violence or been targeted in this predominantly Muslim country.

The body of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, one of Iraq’s most senior Chaldean Catholic clerics, was found on March 13, about two weeks after he was seized by gunmen in the volatile northwestern city of Mosul. (re AP news)

When even Islamic clerics indulge in paranoia and racism?

TEHRAN (AFP) — Israel and unidentified “oppressive powers” are behind the production of an anti-Islamic film by right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders, a prominent conservative Iranian cleric claimed on Friday.

“Behind these satanic acts can be found the oppressive powers and the Zionist regime,” Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said during a Friday prayer sermon in the capital broadcast by state radio.

“This poor Dutch deputy has made 40 trips to Israel over the past 25 years,” Khatami said. “He has himself said he is close to (Israeli President) Shimon Peres and (Prime Minister) Ehud Olmert.

“We see the hand of the Zionist regime behind these satanic acts and we cry ‘death to Israel,’” he added. (re AFP)

Are the discrimination and violence against churches by Muslims in Indonesia also caused by “irresponsible quarters”?

JAKARTA, April 2 (Compass Direct News) – Islamic extremist groups and local governments in Indonesia closed 110 churches from 2004 to 2007, according to religious and human rights organizations.

The Wahid Institute, a moderate Muslim non-governmental organization, along with the Communion of Churches of Indonesia (Persekutuan Gereja-Gereja di Indonesia), the Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia (Konferensi Waligereja Indonesia) and the Indonesian Human Rights Commission reported that discrimination and violence against churches was most common in the provinces of West Java, Banten, Central Java, South Sulawesi and Bengkulu.

Radical Muslim groups attacking churches included the Islamic Defender Front (Front Pembela Islam, or FPI), the Indonesian Mujahidin Council, Hizbullah Front, Muslim Clergy Members Forum (Forum Ulama Umat Islam) and the Muslim Safety Forum (Dewan Keamanan Masjid). (re Compass Direct)

How can non-Muslims not have a negative image on Islam when there is, among other things, visceral hatred for the Jews?

SANAA, April 6 (Reuters) - Yemen’s Shi’ite rebels destroyed the vacant house of the mainly Muslim Arab state’s top rabbi, a security official said on Sunday.

Residents said the assailants from a group opposed to the U.S.-allied government destroyed the house of Yehia Youssuf in Saada, a northern province. The security official said it was not immediately known what weapons were used in the attack.

“They turned to the houses of other Jews after,” one resident said.

About 200 Yemeni Jews who lived in Saada, including Youssef, have been living in the capital Sanaa due to sporadic fighting between government forces and the rebel group, known as the Houthis. (re Reuters)

When non-Muslims are daily faced with these kinds of news and images of paranoia, discrimination and violence perpetrated by Muslims in the name of their religion, is it any wonder that the non-Muslims associate terrorism and violence with Islam?

Good luck trying to rehabilitate the image of Islam as a religion of peace.

In a Malaysiakini report entitled Religious scholar dismisses khalwat proposal for non-Muslims, Syed Ali Tawfik Al-Attas, the head of the Malaysian Institute of Islamic Understanding, is quoted as saying “In Islam it says to you yours to us ours in terms of religion.” On the face of it, Syed Ali Tawfik Al-Attas, sounds like a very progressive and tolerant Muslim, but the reality of the matter is that in Malaysia there is no such freedom for the Muslim who has chosen to live Islam.

No person who was born into a Muslim family has the legal right to leave Islam. The case of Lina Joy, Kamariah Ali, and most recently that of Revathi Masoosai are just a few examples where there is no freedom of conscience and the right to practise one’s religion of choice for the Malays.

In Revathi Masoosai’s case her marriage to a Hindu man is not recognized because she was born a Muslim and her husband never converted to Islam. The law in Malaysia does not recognize the marriage between a Muslim and a non-Muslim.

Apostasy is viewed as a serious matter in Malaysia because racial identity and religion for the Malays are one and the same. To be a Malay means to be a Muslim. Hence, the fear among the Malays is that if apostasy is allowed, that means eventually there will no longer be Malays.
Malays who have left Islam and converted to Christianity for example, have to live a double life, and their new found religion kept a secret. If they are found to have left Islam they would be sent to a rehabilitation center like what happened to Kamariah Ali and Revathi Massoosai.

In Malaysia the Sharia law is meant to be applied to Muslims, but where does that leave the non-Muslim who has left Islam? Lina Joy insisted that the Sharia law was not applicable to her because she had left Islam, but that did not help her case at all. The Sharia Court is still the one to determine whether or not people like Lina Joy and Revathi Masoosai are Muslims or not.

As a Malaysian who values freedom of religion, I feel that the Constitution of Malaysia needs to be amended so that people can have the right, a real right, to practise the religion of their choice without fearing threats of detention, rehabilitation and threats of death hanging over their heads. And words like “You can’t at whim and fancy convert from one religion to another,” from a Federal Court Judge, a thing of the past.

Religion should be a personal matter between an individual and his/her God.  And as such no apostasy law is ever going to stop a person from exercising his or her right to freedom of conscience.

VATICAN CITY - Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world’s largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday.”

For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us,” Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican’s yearbook.

He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population — a stable percentage — while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.

“It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer,” the monsignor said.

Formenti said that the data refer to 2006. The figures on Muslims were put together by Muslim countries and then provided to the United Nations, he said, adding that the Vatican could only vouch for its own data.

When considering all Christians and not just Catholics, Christians make up 33 percent of the world population, Formenti said.

Source: MSNBC

That bit of news made a big splash around the world when it came out on March 30. I am pretty sure that bit of news was a big boost to the morale of Muslims the world over. It confirms their belief that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world.

But the fact is there are still more Christians in the world - 33 percent Christians compared to 19.2 percent Muslims.

And the other fact not mentioned in the belief that Islam is the fastest growing religion is the number of people leaving Islam. In Iran it has been reported that in the last five years about 1 million Iranians have left Islam for evangelical churches. This has alarmed the Iranian Parliament so much that a death penalty has been proposed to punish those who leave Islam.

In November 2005, Interfax news agency reported that in Russia, 2 million ethnic Muslims left Islam and were baptised.

In June 2004, International Antioch Ministries reported that 50,000 Iraqi Muslims embraced Christianity as a result of their satellite TV broadcast.

The London Times estimates that about 200,000 Muslims living in the UK have left Islam. In Malaysia, the Mufti of Perak estimates that about 250,000 Muslims have abandoned Islam.

These are just a small sample of Muslims leaving the fastest growing religion in the world. On leaving Islam Magdi Allam, the most recent apostate of Islam, writes that he “has been freed from the obscurantism of an ideology that legitimizes lies and deception, violent death that leads to homicide and suicide, blind submission to tyranny, permitting me to join the authentic religion of Truth, Life, and Liberty”.