Life under Islam
Bangladesh: 69 Children Missing
Submitted by Pilgrim. on September 28, 2012 - 09:20
This summer, eighty Christian children were taken under false pretenses by mullahs (Islamic clerics) to various madrasas (Islamic boarding schools) to be trained for jihad. The children were abused if they refused to pray, read the Qu’ran, or learn Arabic. Eleven of the children have been rescued, but the other 69 are still missing.
Sharia in Northern Mali
Northern Mali is in turmoil. Many of the Christians in the region have fled, including more than 90% of the Christians in Timbuktu.
Sharia in Russia
Chechnya, a region of Russia inhabited predominantly by Sufi Muslims, has established Sharia law over the years. For example, government authorities openly approve of honor killings.
Churches in the Arabian Peninsula
A member of Kuwait’s legislature reportedly planned to draft a law calling for the removal of all churches in Kuwait.
Evangelism, Charity, and Persecution
The staff members at Good Samaritan Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan are Christians, but nearly all of their patients are Muslims. According to a police investigator, most Islamic terrorist groups in the region think that Christian organizations are evangelizing “under the guide of charity.”
On March 1, two of the hospital’s staff, Issac Samson and Indrias Javaid, were kidnapped. Sometimes terrorists kidnap for ransom, but as of the last report no ransom demand had been issued.
Opposition against Churches in Egypt
Muslim’s opposition against the church in today’s prayer request was reported by the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) and later by Assist News. AINA writes,
Dhimmis in Egypt?
Following a mob attack in Egypt, women and children were in the streets, terrorized, not certain where to go. Christians who lost their homes have had to leave the village. The tragedy was complicated by the lack of assistance that Christians received. Home and business fires were allowed to burn themselves out because Muslims prevented the fire brigade from entering the village.
High Price for Obedience
In Malaysia, following Christ can be costly. The nation claims to offer its inhabitants religious freedom, but defines ethnic Malays as Muslims. Muslims are forbidden from converting out of Islam, and non-Muslims are forbidden from sharing their faith with Muslims. The reverse, however, is permitted: Muslims may proselytize non-Muslims, and non-Muslims are allowed to convert to Islam.
Kuwaiti scholar: women can vote, but are unsuited to run for political office
Kuwaiti scholar Dr Ajeel Al-Nashmi, who serves as the head of the Sharia Scholars League in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), believes that women are not fit to hold public office.
Islam and Sex Slaves: 84,000 girls in Iran
"In 2002, a BBC journalist was deported for taking photographs of prostitutes. Officials told her: 'We are deporting you … because you have taken pictures of prostitutes. This is not a true reflection of life in our Islamic Republic. We don’t have prostitutes.' Yet, earlier the same year, officials of the Social Department of the Interior Ministry suggested legalizing prostitution as a way to manage it and control the spread of HIV.
Muhammad's Treatment of Women
“Iqbal, an elderly Muslim lawyer told me that a man needs a fresh spouse every ten years in order to meet his sexual needs. And true to his word, he has had six wives, three of whom he has divorced. Iqbal has operated well within Quranic parameters. Never more than four wives at a time, and he has financially cared for each one.”
Muhammad's Wives
In his book, Jesus and Muhammad: Profound Differences and Surprising Similarities, Mark A. Gabriel conducts a factual analysis of the life and teachings of Jesus and Muhammad, sourcing his statements with primary texts and reputed historical reports.
Another Hero in Somalia
It’s men like Juma Kamil who are with the Lord now, under the altar asking for justice.
Biblical Fasting - Reflections during the month of Ramadan
Have you ever gone a day without food? Gone straight through your work day, with no pause for breakfast, lunch, or dinner? No coffee, no snacks…nothing to propel you through hectic moments or the sleepy stretches of the afternoon? It’s tough. You can’t rely on your physical body for energy or focus. You have to find another source.
Lust for Power vs. Covenant Love
About six hundred years before Muhammad’s birth, Jesus was striding throughout Israel, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and proclaiming God’s message of salvation to all who were willing to repent and believe. Crowds gathered to hear Him. He interacted with both the rich and the poor, both the powerful and the oppressed, both women and men; His following swelled into the tens of thousands.
Yet He raised no army. He took no captives.He amassed no wealth.
Wearing the Veil in India
A sobbing woman comes to a Lalitpur hospital in northern India. She begs the doctor to perform an operation that will make it impossible for her to get pregnant again. Already mother to three daughters, the woman is terrified – if her husband knew of her hospital visit, he would kill her. “Every night my husband comes home drunk and beats all of us because he wants a son. I have failed my duty as a woman, but I will not risk bringing another girl into such misery.”*
A snapshot from the life of the Prophet
Media sources are familiar with the Qur’an as the sacred text of Islam, but they rarely reference the hadith, biographical anecdotes from the life of Mohammed that the majority of Muslims view as morally binding. Many passages reference the way Muhammed dealt with women (a selection can be found here); as a woman, I find them troubling, including the ones quoted below:
The “Freedom” of Churches in Egypt
A news story from the fall has been resurfacing in my mind a lot lately. Islamic “experts” criticized Franklin Graham for saying that Christians don’t have the freedom to build churches in most Muslim countries. One of the countries they used to “disprove” Graham was Egypt.
Denying Something of Ourselves
In “Christianity Face to Face with Islam,” published in the January 2009 issue of First Things, Robert Louis Wilken tries to draw parallels between Christianity and Islam and describe their “kinship”:
The Alphabet of Progress
"There have been roughly ten thousand books translated into Arabic during the last millennium...about the same number of books that Spain translates into Spanish each year."
I've learned a lot during Dr.
The Missing Context
Read through the Christian Today story on David Fulton's release from prison. Are you happy the 61-year-old chaplain is back in his homeland? Of course. But what do phrases like "found guilty of sedition," and "convicted of forgery" suggest about Fulton's moral history? After reading through the scanty details of Fulton's release, I had a few questions. So I did a little digging.
Context is everything.
Duty, child of Privilege
Lining the edge of my desk, next to my Japanese peace lily which needs to be watered, are a number of books I'm in the process of reading.
Christ Crucified
One of the five conversation topics at this year’s Lausanne Conference in Cape Town is Muslim Background believers. Some articles in the discussion were alarming. They deal with the question of whether a Muslim can follow Jesus without leaving Islam. Some argued that Islam and Christianity belong to different cultures, and that a follower of Jesus shouldn’t have to leave one culture for another.
Just Ethnicity?
In an article I was reading by Hagai Mazuz, I came across an interesting statement: “In our ‘post-modern’ age, most Western scholars, who are secular, find it difficult to accept the idea that medieval texts [like the Koran] can dictate the lives of, or even inspire, people today. They criticize those who see the conflict [between Muslims and Jews] as religious, arguing that scholars who see the conflict as religious, place too much emphasis on these ancient texts, as both the times and circumstances have changed. For them, these texts are outdated.
Love and Tolerance are Different Things
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our generation has been sold the bill of goods about tolerance.
