Issue1/4

International Christian Concern | April 2013

PERSECUTION

Your Bridge to the Persecuted Church

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Jeff King, President International Christian Concern

Islam entered into the region of Pakistan through bloodshed and murder. Historians have numbered the victims of Islam in what is now India and Pakistan at up to 70 million. What the actual number is will never be known, but we do know that it came first by the sword and rules today with an iron fist.

Muhammad called for (and practiced) violent subjugation of non-Muslims and oppression of women. These exercises and rules are still in practice today, as Islam’s holy books have encoded these methods.

Bottom line: the more fundamentalist a Muslim culture is (then and today), the more intolerant and oppressive they will be towards non-Muslims and towards women.

The tragic outworking of that reality is cases like Shumaila. In Pakistan, the abduction, rape, and forced conversion of Christian girls is an all too common occurrence.

Shumaila was able to escape, but her parents are now facing ruinous legal action if they do not turn their daughter over to the man who kidnapped and raped her.

This is not an aberation; but rather in keeping with Islam’s founder and its history. (If you haven’t studied Islam, that may sound like hate-mongering, but I tell you that unfor-tunately it is just the truth stated plainly without the West’s usual politically correct spin on things.)

It is for victims like Shumaila, and so many other daugh-ters of Christ, that we work tirelessly to protect and to serve. We have set up a work skills training program for women in Pakistan to keep them from being put into vulnerable situa-tions and to help those already victimized regain their lives.

Come join us in our holy work of bandaging and building the suffering body of Jesus. I promise you that partnering in this work is worthy of your time, treasure, and talents.

Bless you for caring and know that your gifts will be used ethically, efficiently, and effectively.

I promise!

“I WANT TO LIVE WITH MY PARENTS AND PRACTICE MY CHRISTIAN FAITH. I REFUSED TO MARRY

MUHAMMAD SEVERAL TIMES AND FOR THAT HE RUINED MY LIFE.”

-SHUMAILA, a Christian girl abducted and sexually abused by a Muslim admirer who’s advances were rejected

(see “Abuse, Rape, Forced Conversions: Reclaiming the dignity of Pakistan’s Christian daughters)

THE OPPRESSION OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN PAKISTAN

MIDDLE EAST

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“You’re very beautiful Shahtaj. You know, if you come to Islam, you’ll go to paradise,” Shahtaj’s teacher, an older bearded man, told the 10-year-old girl. Shahtaj was confused. Though born into a Christian family, she did not fully understand the differences between her faith and that of Muslims. She did, however, love Jesus and knew that Muslims did not accept Him as Lord.

“I invite you to become a Christian,” Shahtaj replied. “You will be very blessed if you do.”

The teacher was not impressed with Shahtaj’s response. Day after day he grew bolder, ordering Shahtaj to stand in front of class while mocking her beliefs. Classmates

joined the ridiculing. “Girls say their parents won’t allow them to sit with me be-cause it’s haraam (forbidden). ‘You’re a kafir (disbeliever),’ they tell me,” said

Shahtaj.

“I asked the teacher to just do his job and to stop talk-ing about Islam,” Lubna, Shahtaz’s mother, told

ICC. “My son has the same teacher, but he only

Children in Phani village near the India border in Lahore, Pakistan

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picks on Shahtaj. He’s after my daughter to convert her.”Though Christians must attend Islamic classes in public schools, it is not required of children Shahtaj’s age. But Shahtaj is not the only Christian to face such pressures. Thousands of Christian students in Pakistani schools share similar experiences of being harassed by teachers for no oth-er reason than being Christian.

Lubna, however, fears far worse for her daughter. “I worry that the teacher will dishonor her and ruin her reputation if he doesn’t get his way. I’m afraid someone will hurt her or kidnap her. There’s no telling what they’ll do to her if this continues.”

Lubna’s fear that her daughter could be kidnapped is not un-founded. Young Christian girls are commonly abducted with the intent to forcibly convert them to Islam and marry them to older Muslim men (see “Abuse, Rape, Forced Conversions next week). Christian parents like Lubna, however, have no other options to give their children an educa-tion. Some Christian families opt out of sending their kids to school altogether, arguing that education makes no difference in Pakistan. They are convinced that their child’s future has al-ready been determined sim-ply because they are Christian.

“It’s difficult for a Christian to get a good job in Pakistan,” the director of a Pakistan human rights organization in Lahore told ICC. “They can’t even be-come cooks because they’re con-sidered unclean and Muslims won’t eat after them. Street sweepers, maids, the men sitting outside public toilets collecting money… those are Christian jobs.”

SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS

While Christians in many Muslim countries, like Lebanon, Iraq, and the Palestinian territories, are wealthier per capita than their Muslim neighbors and often hold higher profes-sions, Pakistani Christians are considered to be the poorest

of the poor. Oddly, Christians are still accredited for two things in Pakistan: good schools and good hospitals. These institutions, however, began under British occupation when Pakistan was still a part of India. When Pakistan became independent in 1947, nearly 60 percent of Pakistani chil-dren receiving an education were enrolled in Christian-run schools. But in the 1970s, schools and hospitals were na-tionalized by the Pakistani government and the foreign mis-sionaries running them left the country. While some univer-sities still have “Christian” in their names, Christianity is no longer taught there.

Today, there are several hun-dred primary and secondary private schools that remain under Catholic, Anglican, and Presbyterian churches, but most Christians cannot afford the high tuition. In fact, more than 80 percent of children enrolled in these schools, considered among the best in Pakistan, are Muslim students.

“My wife and I visit the school’s office twice a week and call everyday to see if they will lower the cost for our son or give us a grant,” a driver who works for a Christian organiza-tion in Lahore told ICC. “They say we must pay, but only Muslims can afford to go. It’s a burden just send-ing our older daughter to school. Even if I worked 24 hours a day, I couldn’t afford to send our son.”

Unable to attend private Christian schools, Christian chil-dren are forced to study the Quran and take Islamic classes, or worse, they abandon their education altogether. Some re-ports estimate that less than eight percent of Christian chil-dren complete a secondary education in Pakistan. Without an education, Christians will forever be marginalized and viewed as second-class citizens. Likewise, persecution will inevitably increase as Christians remain defenseless to stand against it.

I WORRY THAT THE TEACHER WILL DISHONOR HER AND RUIN HER

REPUTATION IF HE DOESN’T GET HIS WAY. I’M AFRAID SOMEONE WILL HURT HER OR KIDNAP HER. THERE’S NO TELLING WHAT THEY’LL DO TO HER IF THIS CONTINUES.

A MOTHER’S CONCERN OVER HER CHRISTIAN CHILD’S FUTURE IN AN ISLAMIC-RUN SCHOOL

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