Persecution of Ex-Muslims (United States)

Falls Church conference registration and entrance process under tight security to protect converts who fear for their lives

As the world recoils in horror at the massacres of children by Chechen jihadists in Beslan, Russia, security agencies are examining the possibility that such an attack could happen in an American school. And why couldn't it? After all, at a conference held last weekend, security was tight because of death threats from people holding the same ideology as that of the Beslan barbarians: radical Islam. The conference was held in Falls Church, Va.
. . .

The Times noted that "the convention kept the registration and entrance process under tight security to protect the participants, many of whom say they face death threats or ostracism from their families for leaving the Islamic faith."
. . .
When converts are not killed, they are otherwise pressured. The organizer of the conference has felt the force of this firsthand: "I was called by my embassy and told I'd better repent or I could not go back home with my family." Another convert reported that she had not yet told her family that she had become a Christian. "I know they're going to disown me," she said, "if they don't kill me." In America.

These people have to live in fear because of the long-entrenched and continuing unwillingness on the part of American authorities to face up to the realities of Islam. Law-enforcement officials either haven't known or haven't cared that Islam mandates the death penalty for those who leave the religion. They assumed, if they knew that this provision existed at all, that Muslims who settled in the United States would discard it and accept the parameters and principles of American secularism.

Ex-Muslims fear for their lives – in America
Robert Spencer, WorldNetDaily, September 11, 2004

Planned opening of a refuge center for Christian converts in New York City, as the plight of ex-Muslims in western countries continues to be ignored

“'We will kill you.' That's the verbal abuse--OK?” Khaleed said. “’…One day you'll die. And you will die suddenly.’ It was death threats all the time. And I got more and more -- actually physical attacks several times -- from them.”

Khaleed left Europe and now lives in the U.S., but he is careful not to advertise his Christian faith.

So what is being done to protect converts like Khaleed? According to one former Muslim, who also wanted his face hidden, not nearly enough.

Author and renowned scholar Ibn Warraq said, “I would find it difficult to give you precise statistics, but many people have been killed by the family to save the family honor if they discover the family member has converted to Christianity, especially...and you don't hear about it. The police just turn a blind eye to it.”

Warraq is the author of Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out. Warraq considers himself a secularist and lives in an undisclosed location because he fears for his family's safety. He says the left, in particular, has largely ignored the plight of apostates.

"There was an article by a Muslim in the Columbia Law Review that argued strongly enough that even Muslims in the West who leave Islam should be punished in the most severe form possible," Warraq said. “No one thought to criticize this,” Warraq said. “It was accepted by the Columbia Law Review.”

Gartenstein-Ross points to what he calls a stark contrast in the West: “Those who convert out of Christianity and to Islam are often interviewed favorably in glossy magazines, talk about their conversion very openly, and are lauded for it. It's seen as something of a brave step.”

But he says that those who leave Islam usually do so quietly, even in the Christian world, because it's dangerous -- “In large part, because even in the Christian world, those who leave Islam for Christianity are not safe,” he said.

Fred Farrokh wants to change that. Farrokh is executive director of the Jesus for Muslims Network. Raised Muslim, he is now a Christian. His book is called Jailbreak: A Christian's Guide to Praying for the Muslim World. Farrokh is opening a refuge center for Christian converts in New York City.

“Muslim background believers who are suffering persecution can come live and receive discipleship, training, equipping...and then, they themselves will be among the greatest missionaries, if you will, to Muslim people,” Farrokh said.

Warraq says that the West needs more people like Farrokh--who are willing to stand up and protect the rights of apostates here. But he says that even after the Abdul Rahman fiasco, the West remains crippled by political correctness--and largely indifferent to the plight of apostates.

Muslims Turned Christian Pay the Price
Erick Stakelbeck, CBN News, June 7, 2006

Ohio teenager in State custody after her father threatens to kill her because she converted to Christianity

Rifqa Bary, 17, ran away from her family in Columbus, Ohio, in July and took refuge in the central Florida home of the Rev. Blake Lorenz with the Global Revolution Church in Orlando.

The teen heard of the pastor and his church through a prayer group on Facebook. The girl's parents reported her missing to Columbus police, who found her two weeks later in Florida through cell phone records.

The teenager, in a sworn affidavit, claims her father, Mohamed Bary, 47, was pressured by the mosque the family attends in Ohio to "deal with the situation." In the court filing, Rifqa Bary stated her father said, "If you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me!" The teenager claims her father added, "I will kill you!"

Muslim teen fears for life after changing religion
John Couwels, CNN News,September 3, 2009

Runaway teen convert to Christianity who suffered from random, violent, and unprovoked beatings from her father, gets internet death threat: 'We need to kill her'

An Internet blogger who has followed closely the case of a teenager who fled her Muslim family after she converted to Christianity, expressing concern she would become the victim of an "honor killing," is reporting an Internet threat to the life of the young girl.
. . .

"There is a pro-Islamic site on Facebook that threatens Rifqa Bary with death. Will everyone stop the PC, religion of peace nonsense … and get serious? Is law enforcement going to stop playing games and protect this young girl or what?"
. . .
Geller earlier reported the girl's friends accompanied her to the school counselor after they noticed bruises covering her arms and legs that allegedly resulted from beatings by her father.

"Beatings were random, violent, unprovoked," Geller reported. "Take, for example, when Rifqa and her father Mohamed were driving in the car. He would force her to wear the hijab (head covering), which she hated. In her discomfort she would slouch down, embarrassed, and her father would haul off and sock her in the face so that she never forgot to sit up straight in her costume. The beatings were regular and so much a part of the landscape of Rifqa's life, she became inured to them …" Bary's attorney confirmed that the teen had been a victim of beatings at the hands of her father.

'We need to kill' Christian girl
WND, September 8, 2009

Convert's brother brags he leaked her foster care location to Muslim stalker-blogger, who issues veiled threat, "if she's not safe in Ohio, she's not safe in Florida"

Our source, who is a member of the Central Ohio Islamic community and is close to the Bary family, claims that Rifqa Bary’s older brother, Rilvan, has repeatedly bragged about providing specific information on Rifqa’s Florida foster family to San Francisco-based Islamic stalker-blogger Davi Barker (whose email is themuslimagorist@gmail.com for anyone who is curious), who claimed in one post that he knew Rifqa’s present location and issued this veiled threat:

I'll tell you one thing reader... if she's not safe in Ohio, she's not safe in Florida. All it took was a little creative Googling and I was able to determine the likely address where she's staying*... But I digress.

Since Rifqa is currently in state custody and living with a Florida DCF-approved foster family, her location is confidential.

According to the source, Rilvan Bary provided Barker with the home phone number of the foster family – a potentially criminal act. (At some future point we might tell the scandalous story of how exactly how Rilvan obtained the home phone number of the foster family.) With that critical piece of information virtually anyone could locate her through “creative Googling”. The source further explained that Rilvan has bragged about passing off the information “to let her (Rifqa) know she could be gotten to anywhere” – a message Barker repeated with his “if she’s not safe in Ohio, she’s not safe in Florida” threat.

Source: Rifqa Bary’s brother brags he leaked her foster care location to Muslim stalker-blogger
The Jawa Report, October 5, 2009

Ex-Muslim atheist ostracized and threatened with death by Muslims temporarily living in Tulsa. His mother is told "You're not going to see your son anymore", and his Muslim wife is offered $10,000 to leave him

Sabri Husibi, a former Muslim who is now an atheist, says he has been ostracized and threatened with death since publication of a Tulsa World article Saturday in which he was critical of Islam and all other religions.
. . .

Husibi, who has an unlisted telephone number, said he received about 30 calls Saturday from people who were cursing him, calling him a traitor and threatening him.

Most were foreign-born, Tulsa-area Muslims whom he knows, he said. He also received angry calls from friends and relatives in Syria.

One caller, whom Husibi would not identify, said that if he spoke at the meeting and said anything against Shariah (Islamic law), he would be killed.

Another caller offered Husibi's young Muslim wife $10,000 to leave him and return to her native Syria, he said.

"Someone from Tulsa called my 76-year-old mother in Syria and said, 'You're not going to see your son anymore,' " he said.
. . .
He said Tulsa Muslims are awaiting an apology from him.

"I won't apologize," he said. "I'm not going to be a chicken. This is my right, to give my point of view."

Former Muslim receiving death threats
Bill Sherman, Tulsa World, October 1, 2009

Father attempts to assault his daughter and have her marriage annuled after learning of her conversion to Christianity

Nishan was married last month to a man she began dating this year when she converted to Christianity, the ACLJ said.

She didn't reveal her conversion to her "devout Muslim family members" until just before the marriage because she feared what they might do.

When her father discovered her plans, he allegedly tried to assault her and then filed a claim that she had falsified her marriage-license application because of the earlier arranged marriage.
. . .
The court listened to testimony from Nishan, her father and the man who claimed to be her Pakistani husband, and said Nishan's version of the events was "credible."

"On cross-examination, the father denied assaulting or abusing his daughter or making any threat to his daughter that a 'fatwa' – an Islamic religious ruling – could be issued against her. In fact, the father told the court that he did not know what the term 'fatwa' meant – testimony that the court labeled 'not believable,'" the organization reported.

"This is an important case involving the rights of a former Muslim to accept and convert to Christianity. And this decision no doubt will be watched closely by other Christian converts in this country who cannot publicly testify about their conversion to Christianity for fear of facing retaliation – and even harm – from their own family members," the report said.

Judge: Christian's 'arranged' Islamic marriage invalid
Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily, November 28, 2009

New imam at the Ground Zero mosque believes people who are gay were probably abused as children and that people who leave Islam and preach a new religion should be jailed

The new imam at the Ground Zero mosque and cultural center believes people who are gay were probably abused as children and that people who leave Islam and preach a new religion should be jailed.

Abdallah Adhami's remarks on homosexuals, religious freedom and other topics have brought renewed criticism of the proposed community center and mosque near the World Trade Center site, which purports to be an inclusive organization.
. . .
Jordan Sekulow, a lawyer at the Pat Robertson-founded American Center for Law and Justice in Washington, questioned why the mosque project, called Park51, would choose a leader who advocates retribution for those who leave the faith.

"To be in the United States of America and to tell former Muslims to 'keep your mouth shut' is against the Constitution," said Sekulow, whose organization is suing to stop Park51 from being built.

Outrageous teachings by new GZ mosque big
Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein, Ney York Post, January 30, 2011

---

• ← Back to Persecution of Ex-Muslims