DeDufrene
07-08-2005, 11:33
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/r/reynalds/2005/reynalds030205.htm Former Muslims Subject to Abuse, Violence and Murder The first brick was thrown through the living room window at one o'clock in the morning, quickly waking Nissar Hussein, his wife and five children with an adrenalin-laced jolt.The second brick went through his car window. It was a shock, but hardly a surprise. The week before, according to the Times Online, another brick had been thrown through the window as family members were preparing for bed in their home in England. The victim of a three-year campaign of religious hatred, Hussein's car has also been rammed and torched, and the steps to his home have been strewn with garbage. Hussein and his family have been regularly abused and attacked, yelled at to move out of the area, and given death threats in the street. His wife has been held hostage inside their home for two hours by a mob. In addition, the Times Online reported, Hussein's car, walls and windows have been vandalized with graffiti reading,"Christian bastard." The problem isn't so much what Hussein, whose parents came from Pakistan, believes but what he doesn't believe. Born into Islam, he converted eight years ago to Christianity, and his wife, also from Pakistan, did likewise. While those who convert to Islam, such as Cat Stevens, the sons of Frank Dobson, the former British Health Secretary and Lord Birt, the former BBC Director-General, can publicly celebrate their new religion, those whose faith goes in the other direction face persecution the Times Online reported. Hussein, a 39-year-old hospital nurse in the English town of Bradford, is one of a growing number of former Muslims in Britain who face not just being shunned by family and community, but attacked, kidnaped and in some cases killed. The situation is so severe that there is even a secret underground network to support and protect those who leave Islam. One estimate, the Times Online reported, suggests that as many as 15 per cent of Muslims in Western societies have turned away from the Muslim faith, which would mean that in Britain there are about 200,000 "apostates." For police, religious authorities and politicians, it is an issue so sensitive that they are accused by victims of refusing to respond to appeals for help the Times Online reported. It is a problem exacerbated by Islam's post 9/11 identity crisis that seems to be worsening as Muslims feel more threatened. In the Netherlands, the former Muslim Member of Parliament Ayan Hirsi Ali had to go into hiding after renouncing her faith on television. The Prince of Wales recently held a meeting with religious leaders to consider ways to stop former Muslims being persecuted in other countries, but Britain itself is also affected. Hussein told the Times Online, "It's been absolutely appalling. This is England — where I was born and raised. You would never imagine Christians would suffer in such a way." The police have not charged anyone, but told him to leave the area. "We feel completely isolated, utterly helpless. I have been utterly failed by the authorities. If it was white racists attacking an Asian guy, there would be an absolute outcry," Hussein told the Times Online "They are trying to ethnically cleanse me out of my home. I feel I have to make a stand as an Asian Christian." YASMIN Yasmin, who was raised in the North of England, has been forced out of her town once, and is now trying to resist being chased out again. Raised in a Muslim family, she converted after having a vision of Jesus when she gave birth to her youngest son and was baptized in her thirties, the Times Online reported. "My family completely disowned me. They thought I had committed the biggest sin — I was born a Muslim, and so I must die a Muslim. When my husband found out he totally disowned my sons. One friend tried to strangle me when I told him I was converting," she said. "We had bricks though our windows, I was spat at in the street because they thought I was dishonoring Islam," Yasmin told the Times Online. "We had to call the police so many times. I had to go to court to get an injunction against my husband because he was inciting others to attack me." She fled to another part of Britain, but the attacks soon started again as locals found out about her. "I wasn't going to leave again," Yasmin told the Times Online, adding that it was the double standards of her attackers that made her most angry. "They are such hypocrites — they want us to be tolerant of everything they want, but they are intolerant of everything about us." With other converts, Yasmin has helped to set up a series of support groups across England, who have adopted a method of operating normally associated with dissidents in dictatorships, not democracies. The Times Online reported that they not only have to meet in secret, but cannot advertise their services and have to screen those that approach them for infiltrators. "There are so many who convert from Islam to Christianity. We have 70 people on our list who we support, and the list is growing. We don't want others to suffer like we have," shetold the Times Online. Although some Christian converts are severely beaten for their new-found faith, others suffer even more. The family of an 18-year-old girl whom Yasmin was helping found that she had been hiding a Bible in her room, and visiting church secretly. "I tried to do as much as possible to help her, but they took her to Pakistan ‘on holiday.' Three weeks later, she was drowned. They said that she went out in the middle of the night and slipped in the river, but she just wouldn't have done that," Yasmin told the Times Online. RUTH Ruth, also of Pakistani descent, found out recently that she had only just escaped being murdered. When she told her family that she had converted, they kept her locked inside the family home all summer. "They were afraid I would meet some Christians. My brother was aggressive, and even hit me. I later found out he wanted me dead," she told the Times Online. A family friend had suggested taking her to Pakistan to kill her and her brother suggested the idea to her mother, who ruled against it. "You are very isolated and very alone. But now, my brother is thinking about changing and a cousin has made a commitment to Christianity." NOOR Noor, from the Midlands region in England, was raised as a Muslim but converted to Christianity at 21. "Telling my father was the most difficult thing I have ever done. I thought he would kill me on the spot, but he just went into a state of shock," she told the Times Online. He ended up almost kidnaping her. "He took drastic actions. He took the family to Pakistan, to a secluded village with no roads to it. He kept us there for many years, putting pressure on me to leave my Christian faith. I endured mental and emotional suffering that most humans never reach," Noor told the Times Online. Eventually, her father realised that he could not shake her faith, and released her with strict conditions. She said, "In desperation my father threatened to take my life. If someone converts it is a must for family honour to bring them back to Islam, if not, to kill them."