Prayer Focus Update September 2007 Issue 131 PRAYER FOCUS UPDATE is a monthly information bulletin with up-to-date news on the persecuted Church to help Christians pray for their suffering brothers and sisters. You can use this for prayer groups, your own information and for inclusion in church magazines. It can be sent via email, is available as printable versions on the Barnabas Fund website or can be sent through the post FREE OF CHARGE. Please contact your national Barnabas Fund office or the UK office if you would like to receive this in the post. You can select an A4 or A5 PDF version to download by clicking here <http://www.barnabasfund.org/support/pfu.php> * NORWAY - Christians and Muslims agree on the right to convert between faiths <#NORWAY - Christians and Muslims agree on the right to convert between faiths> * PAKISTAN - Christian girls kidnapped. 11 year old forced to convert to Islam and marry <#PAKISTAN - Christian girls kidnapped. 11 year old forced to convert to Islam and marry> * PAKISTAN - Convert seized <#PAKISTAN - Convert seized> * SAUDI ARABIA - Christian doctor released <#SAUDI ARABIA - Christian doctor released> * AFGHANISTAN - South Korean Christian released, but at a price <#AFGHANISTAN - South Korean Christian released, but at a price> * UZBEKISTAN - Churches and ministries raided <#UZBEKISTAN - Churches and ministries raided> * EGYPT - Hopes raised then dashed for converts from Islam <#EGYPT - Hopes raised then dashed for converts from Islam> * EGYPT - Christians arrested for exposing alleged murder of another Christian <#EGYPT - Christians arrested for exposing alleged murder of another Christian> NORWAY - Christians and Muslims agree on the right to convert between faiths Christian and Muslim groups in Norway signed a joint declaration on 22nd August affirming the right to convert from one faith to another without fear of harassment or violence. The statement signed by the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations and the Islamic Council of Norway said, "We reject and want to work against violence, discrimination and harassment due to a person wanting to convert or having converted from one religion to another." This simple statement contradicts the teaching of Islamic law (shari 'a) that apostasy from Islam is a serious offence punishable by a raft of penalties including death for adult males. As such, the Norwegian statement could set an important precedent. "As far as we know, this is the first time that a church and representative national Muslim organisation have jointly acknowledged the right to convert," commented Olav Fykse Tveit, secretary-general of the church council. /Praise God for this momentous agreement and pray that it will open the way for many similar agreements in other countries. Pray that it will lead to real change for the better in the way converts from Islam to Christianity are treated. The Muslims who signed the agreement are certain to be severely criticised by other Muslims for going against the shari'a in this way. Pray for many other Muslims to speak out against the traditional apostasy law and to call for this aspect of shari'a to be reformed in line with modern standards of religious liberty./ PAKISTAN - Christian girls kidnapped. 11 year old forced to convert to Islam and marry An 11-year-old Christian girl called Zunaira, living in Faisalabad, was kidnapped on 5th August by a Muslim called Muhammad Adnan and his sister. They forced Zunaira to convert to Islam (reciting the Islamic creed is usually considered conversion) and then to marry Muhammad, her kidnapper. Zunaira's desperately poor mother gave money to the kidnappers to try to gain her daughter's freedom, but she has not been released. On 16th August Shumaila Tabussum (aged 16) was kidnapped from her home in the same city by a group of Muslims, who got her into their car by telling her that her father had been seriously injured and offering to drive her to the hospital where he had been taken. Sadly, such abuse of Christian girls by Muslim men is not uncommon in Pakistan. The police normally do little or nothing to help. /Pray for Zunaira, Shumaila and other girls in this kind of terrible predicament. Pray that they will be sustained by the Lord in their ordeal and that they will be returned to their families. Pray that the Pakistani police will put more effort into helping Christian victims of crime./ PAKISTAN - Convert seized We would like to ask you to pray for a Pakistani Christian from a Muslim background who was arrested earlier this year in Islamabad when five truck-loads of police descended on his home. He has been charged with "arrogance against Islam", a crime which was unheard of before this accusation was made. He is currently in prison and has been tortured. He came to Christ some years ago and married an orphaned Christian girl from a Christian background. She has now disappeared, believed abducted. /Pray for this Christian couple, that their faith will not fail. Pray that both will be released and that they will be re-united and able to live in peace and security together. Pray for an end to the unjust treatment of Pakistani converts from Islam to Christianity. There is no law against converting from Islam in Pakistan, but that does not prevent converts from being harassed and persecuted. / SAUDI ARABIA - Christian doctor released A Christian doctor has been released by the Saudi authorities and allowed to return home to Egypt, where he arrived on 15th August. Dr Mamdooh Fahmy had been a surgeon in Riyadh but was removed from his position by the religious police when it was discovered he was a Christian. The police insulted him in front of colleagues and patients, handcuffed him, shackled his legs and dragged him to the police car. They searched his home, confiscating all written materials and accused him of being a Christian missionary. /Praise God for the release of Dr Mamdooh Fahmy. Pray for many other Christian expatriates working in Saudi Arabia. Any kind of public Christian activity is forbidden and they are vulnerable to being arrested even for meeting in private for prayer and worship. Pray for the protection of all of them. Pray also for Saudi believers, whose very lives would be in danger if discovered./ AFGHANISTAN - South Korean Christian released, but at a price After the last issue of Prayer Focus Update, another man in the group of South Korean Christians abducted by the Taliban was killed (31st July). Shim Sung Min was shot dead and his body dumped in a field. Then on 14th August two women who were seriously ill were released. The 19 other hostages were all released on 29th and 30th August. In return the South Korean government agreed to withdraw its 200 troops from Afghanistan as scheduled at the end of the year. It also agreed to end all missionary work in Afghanistan. /Praise God for the release of all the remaining South Korean Christian workers, and pray for those who mourn for the two who were killed by the Taliban. Pray for wisdom for all mission agencies seeking to show Christ's love and share the Gospel in very sensitive countries./ UZBEKISTAN - Churches and ministries raided On 9th August fifteen police officers came to a church called "Peace" in the town of Nukus with a video camera. The pastor and his family, who live in the building, were arrested, along with their guests who came from another church in the neighbouring town. Bibles and song books were seized. The following day another church in Nukus was raided and more books, CDs and other materials seized. The pastor was arrested. On 21st August officials from the Public Prosecutor's Office searched the storage facilities of a Christian charity in Tashkent, seizing medications, toiletries and Christian symbols such as crosses. Christians have been told that officials want to close down the ministry. They believe this attack may be at the request of a local mafia boss, who used to own the cinema which they bought and converted for use by the ministry. /Continue to pray for Christians in Uzbekistan as the wave of anti-Christian persecution continues. Thank the Lord that all the Christians arrested on 9th and 10th August in Nukus are now freed. / EGYPT - Hopes raised then dashed for converts from Islam In an extraordinary sequence of events in late July, Egypt's Grand Mufti first amazed Egyptians by stating that there should be no worldly punishment for "abandoning one's religion", and then issued a complete denial of what he had said. The end result is that Egyptian Christians from a Muslim background remain in the same predicament about legal identity and are facing the same kinds of harassment and persecution as before. On 24th July the Egyptian press picked up a statement by Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa from a posting on a Washington Post-Newsweek website, saying that abandoning one's religion is punishable by God on the Day of Judgement, but not in this world unless it involves undermining "the foundations of society". But the following day, 25th July, Gulf News reported that Ali Gomaa denied he had made the statement and reiterated his standard position that apostasy from Islam is a crime which must be punished. One of the biggest problems facing Egyptian Christians from a Muslim background is that the authorities will never change their identity cards to show that they are now Christians. Yet it is quick and easy to change a Christian identity card into a Muslim identity card. Being legally considered a Muslim has severe implications for Christians, especially in marriage, inheritance and other family matters. Although Egyptian liberals have been asking for decades that religion be removed from official documents like ID cards, so as to prevent discrimination, nothing has changed. However in the last few months, the issue has become one of public debate as a number of Christians have taken their cases to court. /Pray for Egyptians who have left Islam to become Christians. Although this is not a criminal offence in Egypt, they often face severe persecution from their family and may also be detained by the authorities on some other pretext, often leading to torture and long spells in prison. Pray that their hopes will be fixed on their heavenly Father "who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17) Pray for Mohammad Ahmad Hegazi (aged 25) and his wife Cristina (formerly Zeinab). Both are Egyptian converts from Islam to Christianity and are now expecting a baby. If their ID cards show the parents to be Muslims, the baby will automatically be registered as a Muslim too. Mohammad has gone to court to try to have his identity card changed to state that he is a Christian. Pray that the Lord will grant him success. Pray for many other similar court cases by former Muslims in Egypt, Turkey and Malaysia who have become Christians. Pray that the authorities in each of the states will recognise the new faith of these believers and allow them to live freely as Christians. / EGYPT - Christians arrested for exposing alleged murder of another Christian Two Egyptian Christians from a Canadian based organisation, the Middle East Christian Association (MECA), were investigating an incident in Cairo in which a Christian fell to his death from his balcony. The dead man had made a formal complaint about police attempts at extortion and brutality. Shortly afterwards, it is reported, two police officers came to his home to try to force him to withdraw his complaints. When he refused they allegedly threw him from the balcony in the presence of his family and other eye witnesses. On 7th August several members of MECA came to gather evidence of what had happened. Less than 24 hours later two of them were arrested by the State Security and now face a variety of charges. They were detained pending investigation. /Pray for the release of the two Christians, Dr Adel Fawzy Faltas and Peter Ezzat. Pray for justice for Christians in Egypt, who are so often discriminated against by the police and other authorities in their country. Pray for the grieving relatives of the man who apparently died for seeking righteousness and integrity. / Barnabas Fund's email news service provides the media and our supporters with urgent news briefs concerning suffering Christians around the world. If you would like to receive news briefs from the Barnabas Fund please contact us with your name, postal and email addresses. Further details, quotes and photos on this and other stories may be available for news editors on request. Barnabas Fund works to support Christian communities around the world where they are facing poverty and persecution. International Website: http://www.barnabasfund.org <http://www.barnabasfund.org>
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