Saudi cleric issues fatwa to demolish Christian Churches in Arabia

Reported by the Washington Times: Bill Gertz, April 6, 2012

Saudi Arabia’s top Muslim leader recently issued a religious decree calling for all Christian churches on the Arabian peninsula to be demolished, a move that elicited protests from the U.S. government and undermines recent efforts in the kingdom to promote interfaith tolerance.

Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Shaikh issued the fatwa, or Muslim religious decree, on March 11, although government-controlled media in the country so far have not reported it.

A U.S. official said the mufti’s fatwa is causing embarrassment for King Abdullah because al-Shaikh is said to be closely aligned to the king and ruling royal family.

Some observers note that the fatwa could put the mufti at odds with the monarch.

Also, King Abdullah recently sought to develop interfaith dialogue centers in Europe. The anti-Christian edict is undermining those efforts.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised the issue of the fatwa during a meeting with the king March 30.
A State Dept. official declined to comment when asked if the fatwa was raised during the meetings, but said “issues of religious freedom and tolerance were raised in the secretary’s bilateral meetings in Riyadh.”

According to State Department officials who briefed reporters on the March 30 meeting between Clinton and the king, Clinton discussed the plight of women in Saudi Arabia during her 1 hour and 40 minute talk.

The meetings included discussion of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear defiance, Syria’s revolution, Yemen, oil, and “reform in the Kingdom, including the role of women,” a senior State Department official said after the meeting.

According to Arabic press reports, the mufti made the comments to members of Kuwait’s parliament, stating that building any new churches in the Arabian Peninsula is forbidden under Islamic law. He then went on to state that all existing churches in the region should be demolished, according to Kuwait’s Arabic newspaper Al-Anba.

The comments followed a Kuwaiti government official’s call for ban on construction of new churches.

The Muslim cleric’s edict is likely to cause a further rupture with the West, which widely views Saudi Arabia as a breeding ground for Muslim terrorists. Fifteen of the 19 suicide aircraft hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks were Saudi nationals.

According to reports from the region, Christian leaders in Europe have condemned the fatwa and called on Riyadh to explain the religious ruling.

Reuters reported that Christian bishops in Germany, Austria, and Russia criticized the cleric’s edict as a denial of human rights and religious freedom to millions of foreign workers in the Persian Gulf.
Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, head of the Russian Orthodox department for churches abroad, described the fatwa as “alarming” in a statement March 20. The criticism by mainstream Christian leaders of their Islamic counterparts is rare.

Austrian bishops also asked the Saudi government to explain the fatwa because of King Abdullah’s plans to open a center for interfaith dialogue in Austria.

The grand mufti is the most senior religious law official in the Sunni Muslim kingdom. He also heads the Supreme Council of Ulema, or Islamic scholars, and the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Issuing of Fatwas.

The mufti’s remarks followed an announcement on Twitter by Kuwaiti parliamentarian Osama Al-Munawer that he planned to submit a draft law that would ban all churches in the country.
Al-Munawer later clarified the comment by saying existing churches should be permitted to remain but that a ban should be imposed on the building of new, non-Islamic houses of worship.

The banning of Christian churches and destruction of the existing ones would represent a more extreme form of Islam than existed in the past when Christians and Jews were free to practice their faith openly in the region.

There are large numbers of Christians in Egypt and Lebanon.

Hardline Islamists are demanding that only Islam be allowed in the region.

The State Department’s annual report on religious liberty said there were no comprehensive numbers of Christians in Saudi Arabia, but that at least 1 million Roman Catholics reside in the country, mainly among the estimated 12 million foreign workers.

“Freedom of religious assembly is severely limited [in Saudi Arabia], because the government does not allow individuals to publicly assemble based on religious affiliation,” the most recent State Department religious freedom report says. “This freedom is also limited in other ways, including the government’s hindering of the establishment and maintenance of non-Sunni places of worship.”

Additionally, the report said, “Sunni clerics, who received government stipends, occasionally used anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-Shiite language in their sermons.”

The report also noted that the government’s official policy of allowing private religious worship for all, including non-Muslims, is not followed in practice.

Photo: Associated Press

A Voice of the Martyrs Volunteer

TESTIMONY OF FAWZI AND NADIRA

Dear Friends:

Thank you for joining us in praying for and supporting
persecuted Christians around the world.

Our contacts in Pakistan recently learned of an evangelist and his wife who were forced to flee their village. "Fawzi" and his wife, "Nadira," have been through tremendous struggles, yet their faith and commitment to Christ remain strong. We want to share their story with you.

Before they gave their lives to Jesus in 2006, Fawzi and Nadira were both Muslims living in a majority Muslim village. After they became Christians, Fawzi, a farmer, continued to work for a Muslim landlord. For years he and Nadira actively ministered to others, offering their home for prayer meetings and sharing the gospel. In the daytime Fawzi worked in the field, and in the evening he visited and prayed with local Christian families.

Fawzi often rode his bicycle to neighboring Muslim villages to share the gospel and pray with the few Christian families living there. Many people whom Fawzi prayed for were healed of illnesses.

In 2009, a Muslim man asked Fawzi to come and pray for his sick mother. When local Muslim leaders learned that Fawzi was visiting and praying for Muslims, they were infuriated. Fawzi expected the Muslims leaders to make his life difficult, but, in faith, he committed himself daily to sharing God's Word. The Muslim leaders and other fanatical Muslims began harassing Fawzi, blocking his way when he tried to attend prayer meetings. He was beaten seven times and once was forced to cut wood all night in the forest.

In September 2009, several Muslims showed up at Fawzi's house. Fawzi gave his Bible to his 7-year-old nephew and said, "Today they will kill me; please hold my Bible and keep it with you." At gunpoint, one of the Muslims told Fawzi, "Today I will shoot you if you don’t accept Prophet Muhammad as the true prophet." Fawzi replied, "I cannot do this. If you want to shoot me, do it. I will accept being killed, happily, but remember if this is not from Heaven, you cannot kill me."

Rather than shooting Fawzi, the Muslims filed a false robbery report against him. The police arrested him and held him for 13 days, and the Muslim leader paid the police to beat Fawzi until he returned to Islam. Every day, the police hit the bottom of his feet with sticks, dragged him across the room by his beard and lashed his back and buttocks with a leather strap. He was told the beatings would stop if he would accept Islam, but Fawzi remained firm in his faith.

When the police realized that their efforts were futile, they registered the false robbery report and sent Fawzi to the district jail in another city in October 2009. Fawzi's wife, Nadira, borrowed money from relatives to hire a lawyer, and Fawzi was released on bail in January 2010.

Nadira was joyful to have her husband home, but her joy was short-lived. That evening the village leader came and forced them out of their home, telling Fawzi, "Today if you don't leave this village I will shoot you and your wife. Get out of here."

The couple fled with only the clothes on their backs and $2 in their pocket, leaving behind their home and all their possessions. They spent the night at a friend's home in a nearby village, but the friend asked them to leave the next day because he feared the village leader.
Fawzi and Nadira knew that God would provide their needs, but they didn't know how or where. They walked several miles to another village, and as they sat to rest on a footpath they saw a man with a donkey cart approaching. The man stopped and asked them, "Who are you? Do you need help?" Tearfully, Fawzi thanked the Lord and shared his testimony. The man, "Saleem Masih," was a Christian. He took them into his home and offered to let them stay in a small, sparsely furnished house nearby until they could get their own place.

Saleem Masih and his family prayed faithfully with Fawzi and Nadira and also provided food for them when they had nothing to eat. The couple regularly attends a local church, and Fawzi still has a strong desire to grow in and share God's Word.

The last two years have been a test of faith for this precious couple. Nadira has emotional scars, and Fawzi has difficulty finding steady work because of illness and chronic pain from the beatings. He struggles to keep food on the table and purchase medication for his physical problems. In addition, he attends court hearings every month on his robbery charge, but the case has not been settled.

Christians often face hostility in Pakistan. Muslim extremists consider Christians "kafirs" (infidels) and "churas" (sweepers), treating them as third-class citizens. Muslim hairdressers will not cut the hair of a Christian, and local eateries keep separate utensils for Christians. In schools, Christian students have to wait until Muslim students finishing drinking water before they can drink. Local Christians are fearful and do not dare plan an activity without permission from the Muslims.

Please remember Fawzi and Nadira in your prayers, and thank God for providing for them through his servant Saleem Masih. VOM is also providing assistance to the couple, including physical therapy and medication for Fawzi. In addition, VOM purchased a rickshaw for the couple so they will have a source of income and Fawzi can continue his ministry. Both are receiving trauma counseling to help restore their spiritual and emotional health and further strengthen their relationship with the Lord.

Thank you for your faithful service to the persecuted church. We are only able so assist believers like Fawzi and Nadira because of faithful partners like you. May God pour out His abundant blessings on all your efforts to glorify Him in your life and work.

VOM Staff

A Voice of the Martyrs Volunteer