Saturday, October 18, 2008

Bassam Zawadis of the World Rejoice: The Killing of Apostates in Iran May Soon Be Official

While my friend Bassam Zawadi may not agree with many of the religious teachings in Iran, he must surely respect Iran's willingness to murder all those who leave Islam.

Hanged for being a Christian in Iran

Eighteen years ago, Rashin Soodmand's father was hanged in Iran for converting to Christianity. Now her brother is in a Mashad jail, and expects to be executed under new religious laws brought in this summer. Alasdair Palmer reports.

A month ago, the Iranian parliament voted in favour of a draft bill, entitled "Islamic Penal Code", which would codify the death penalty for any male Iranian who leaves his Islamic faith. Women would get life imprisonment. The majority in favour of the new law was overwhelming: 196 votes for, with just seven against. READ MORE

Bassam, like all dedicated Muslims, condemns those who reject this atrocious practice. Christians should be praying for the persecuted church in Iran.

(Before Bassam or Sami comment, let me just say that I know there's a war in Iraq, and that I know there's a nation called Israel. If you can show that these are remotely similar to killing people for leaving a false religion, please bring up the war in Iraq and the nation of Israel. Otherwise, please stop sounding like a broken record anytime someone points out the facts about your religion.)

16 comments:

B said...

I am not ashamed of Islam ordering the killing of apostates. Rather, i will defend it.

However, we are interested in seeing how you can justify the state of Israel according to the Bible.

Can't wait to see you write a post on that.


P.S. I don't know if Iran properly implements the procedures and policies regarding execution of apostates. So I don't know if I should "rejoice".

Anonymous said...

bassam,

It seems to me that satan has convinced you to kill people who accept Christ.

Islam is so clearly a plot by satan to get people to deny Christ's salvation. Satan hates God but can't do anything about it. Because we are in Gods image he wants to harm us. Since God made a way for the world to be saved through Christ, Satans way of getting at God and hurting us is to possess an Arab and get him to spread a false doctrine that denies the only way to salvation.

Galatians 1:8

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

B said...

"Galatians 1:8

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!"

Keith, for all we know we can apply this verse to Paul and his experience on the Damascus road.

For all we know, Satan is deceiving you into thinking that Islam is false.

Don't just speculate Keith.

Anonymous said...

Bassam,

Your response is problematic for several reasons, let me list three:

One: According to acts, Paul was accepted by barnabas and the rest of the apostles, Peter so much so that he was willing to travel all the way to Tarsus to grab Paul to go on a missionary journey after Paul had a price on his head for witnessing to people who didn't accept Christ.

Two: Paul wrote that so it is unlikely that he would warn people of something he was guilty of being that he would be suspect to other Christians.

Three: If the original followers of Christ opposed Paul and suspected him of being influinced by a false angel we would have some early evidence of this. There is early evidence that muhammad thought he saw a devil and not gabriel.

David Wood said...

Bassam,

I want to make sure I have you on record. So here's the question.

Islam is spreading, and Muslims are evangelizing around the world. According to you, in a Muslim country, apostates are to be killed.

Wouldn't you agree with me, then, that people in the West who value freedom of religion should take the spread of Islam very seriously, and that they should do everything in their power to stop it?

David Wood said...

BTW, I'm still waiting to hear from Sami. I want to hear him say that he agrees with Bassam, and that, in our debate, he never denied that apostates are to be killed.

B said...

"Wouldn't you agree with me, then, that people in the West who value freedom of religion should take the spread of Islam very seriously, and that they should do everything in their power to stop it?"

If I were a non-Muslim who took a strong anti-islamic stance then it is only common sense that I should try to stop Islam from spreading. Yeah from a non-Muslim perspective it seems like the right thing to do. But it depends on what you mean by that. There are ways to stop Islam from spreading. I wouldn't stop Muslims from preaching Islam in the West, all I would do is ensure that the government is not ruled by Islamic law. Because Muslims living under a non-Muslim law cannot implement their Islamic laws upon others, thus I as a non-Muslim wouldn't perceive that as a threat.

Nor would I continue to suppport the terrorist state of Israel that kills and humiliates Palestinian Muslims in order to stop Islam, since it would only strenghten the Islamic movement to fight the West.

So yeah David, as a non-Muslim I would probably do my best to ensure that the government is not ruled by Islamic law in order to not get affected by it.


Keith, I would like to answer you but this is not the place to discuss a historical Christianity topic, since it is not the appropriate thead. However, you can always email me at b_zawadi@hotmail.com if you feel like talking theology.

Elisha Kai said...

IS there any possibility to organize and start at worldwide demonstration outside Iranian embassies and expose Islam to the mass media.
The fact is if any country in the world legalised the killing of individuals becoming Muslims you would have world-wide riot and the mass-media involved, why don't we do the same--for crying out loud we live in the west we have a right to demonstrate, barricade and speak out like anyone else.

We simply need those individuals who have the call to organise such activity.

And Bassam shame on you for openly supporting such attrocities, at least you are not a hypocrite, however living in the West and encouraging the such evil you ought to exposed publically to the authorities as a preacher of hatred and supporter of suppression.

Perphas my Christian brothers on here could make sure that happens.

Nakdimon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nakdimon said...

Bassam wrote:

"However, we are interested in seeing how you can justify the state of Israel according to the Bible. "

Everytime a muslim starts about the legitimacy of Israel from the Bible I get excited, because I wonder how they would responde to the overwhelming amount of prophecies in the Tenach (OT). So let me take a stab on this one and see how you will be able to responde other than using the "the bible is corrupt" argument. Here are a few prophecies about the restoration of Israel, after their exile (warning: If you are a muslim with a heart contidion, you might want to consider not reading the following prophecies. It doesn't look good for your side at all):

Joel 3:1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided My land. 3 And they have cast lots for My people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, and have drunk. 4 And also what are you to Me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the regions of Philistia? will you render retribution on My behalf? and if you render retribution on My behalf, swiftly, speedily will I return your retribution upon your own head. 5 Forasmuch as you have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My goodly treasures; 6 the children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the sons of Jevanim, that you might remove them far from their border; 7 behold, I will stir them up out of the place whither you have sold them, and will return your retribution upon your own head; 8 and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far off; for Yahweh hath spoken. [Note: The only place that God calls “my land” in the Bible is the land of Israel, which the nations (UN!) has devided right now. And the UN want to strip Israel of more land and God will not be happy! In 1948, for the first time in history, the land of Israel had been devided. Yahweh will call everyone in account who participated in this act against His people and His Covenant with them. Notice also the names of what are now Muslim places rallying against Israel, including “the regions” of the people that call themselves the descendants of the Philistines, i.e. the Palestinian Areas. Now is this something that Allah would say? Nope! Allah despises Jews, he only likes Muslims.]

Joel 2:23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in Yahweh your God; for He giveth you the former rain in just measure, and He causeth to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, at the first. 24 And the floors shall be full of corn, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpiller, and the palmer-worm, My great army which I sent among you. 26 And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of Yahweh your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be ashamed. 27 And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Yahweh your God, and there is none else; and My people shall never be ashamed. [Note: This kind of endtime prophecy is damaging to the Islamic claim]

Zachariah 12:1 The burden of the word of Yahweh concerning Israel. The saying of Yahweh, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him: 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of staggering unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it fall to be in the siege against Jerusalem. 3 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. 4 In that day, saith Yahweh, I will smite every horse with bewilderment, and his rider with madness; and I will open Mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 And the chiefs of Judah shall say in their heart: 'The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength through Yahweh of hosts their God.' 6 In that day will I make the chiefs of Judah like a pan of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire among sheaves; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7 Yahweh also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah. 8 In that day shall Yahweh defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that stumbleth among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Yahweh before them. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. [Note: The battle over Jerusalem is already decided before it began. The nations surrounding it, which all happen to be Muslim nations, don’t even stand a chance. Be forewarned by verse 9. Taking on Israel is trying to dwarf God's purpose for mankind and God will not allow that to happen.]

Isaiah 49:13 Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains; for Yahweh hath comforted His people, and hath compassion upon His afflicted. 14 But Zion said: ‘Yahweh hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.'15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee. 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me… 25 But thus saith Yahweh: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; and I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. 26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I Yahweh am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. [Note: Notice that verse 26 doesn’t say “I Allah”, but “I Yahweh”. And that these promises are to Zion and NOT to Mecca or any other Arab name. So I ask again: does this sound like something that your god would say? NO! They just aren't one and the same!]

Isaiah 54:4 Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed. Neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and the reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no more. 5 For thy Maker is thy husband, Yahweh of hosts is His name; and the Holy One of Israel is thy Redeemer, the God of the whole earth shall He be called. 6 For Yahweh hath called thee as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit; and a wife of youth, can she be rejected? saith thy God. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great compassion will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have compassion on thee, saith Yahweh thy Redeemer… 13 And all thy children shall be taught of Yahweh; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 14 In righteousness shalt thou be established; be thou far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear, and from ruin, for it shall not come near thee. 15 Behold, they may gather together, but not by Me; whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall because of thee... 17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Yahweh, and their due reward from Me, saith Yahweh. [Note: verse 8 talks about everlasting kindness. Israel will never be forsaken again. They will be rooted in their land and not be plucked out. The only way for you to get around this is to claim that this part was corrupted.]

Jeremiah 30:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying: 2 'Thus speaketh Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying: Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. 3 For, lo, the days come, saith Yahweh, that I will turn the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, saith Yahweh; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.' 4 And these are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah… 8 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Yahweh of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bands; and strangers shall no more make him their bondman; 9 But they shall serve Yahweh their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. 10 Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob My servant, saith Yahweh; neither be dismayed, O Israel; for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall again be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. 11 For I am with thee, saith Yahweh, to save thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; for I will correct thee in measure, and will not utterly destroy thee… 18 Thus saith Yahweh: Behold, I will turn the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be builded upon her own mound, and the palace shall be inhabited upon its wonted place. 19 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry; and I will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished, I will also increase them, and they shall not dwindle away. 20 Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and I will punish all that oppress them. 21 And their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto Me; for who is he that hath pledged his heart to approach unto Me? saith Yahweh. 22 And ye shall be My people, and I will be your God… 25 At that time, saith Yahweh, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people. [Note: Excuse me? I can’t believe that you have missed all this. Does all this look as if God was through with Israel, as your religion led you to believe?]

And I could go on, quoting Zechariah 8, Revelations 12, Jeremiah 31, etc, etc, etc,. But I think that the point has already been established thoroughly.

So Bassam, this is how we justify the establishment of the state of Israel from the Bible. The texts justifying Israel's existence are just too many. These texts don't only justify the exsistence of the state of Israel, but utterly destroy ANY claim of ANY nation having ANY right in ANY way shape or form, to the Land that God has promised to the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchaq and Yisrael. Only extreme selective reading of the biblical text will lead one to believe that Islam has it right when it says that Israel has no right to exist.

Nakdimon

El-Cid said...

"If I were a non-Muslim who took a strong anti-islamic stance then it is only common sense that I should try to stop Islam from spreading....I wouldn't stop Muslims from preaching Islam in the West, >>all I would do is ensure that the government is not ruled by Islamic law<<...."

Ok, first problem arises at this point. While not all Muslim want to live under Shariah, it is undeniable that a portion do, and that portion is relative to the whole. The larger the whole, the larger that portion that want Shariah is likely to be.

"Because Muslims living under a non-Muslim law cannot implement their Islamic laws upon others, thus I as a non-Muslim wouldn't perceive that as a threat."

There are Muslims who are seeking to use democracy the overthrow the very democratic system to which they live under. The Muslim Brotherhood is one such group. So the question becomes, in a system of government based on a tally of numbers how does a non-Muslim ensure that Muslims do not tally up enough numbers to impose Shariah? This is the question that keeps me up at night. I respect human life and believe in absolute equality of all people, so what does someone who passionately disagrees with Islam, yet sees a threat to my way of life, yet at the same time is conscience bound to equality do?

Without a massive apostasy, a monumental reform of the way Muslims interpret their texts, or a dramatic shift of the way Muslims see their relationship to secular governments I don't see a palatable outcome.

As it stands now, the orthodox Islamic position of ALL non-Islamic governments is "eradicate it and establish Shariah", and this is seen as a divine mandate from Allah.

By the way Bassam, you might be my new favorite Muslim apologist :-). I find you to be honest, and generally ready to stay on topic in order to handle tuff issues. PLEASE keep doing that.

george said...

bassam is a true muslim who is following his false prophet muhamamd.how many laws we need to stop muslims leaving islam? muslims often says islam is the fastest growing religion but thats not true coz if that was then why they wud make laws to stop muslims leaving islam?
more and more people will leave islam and let we see how those satanic laws will stop.
bassam if a muslim has to be killed coz he leaves islam then what about a non-muslim who becomes muslims,shall we kill them? when a muslim leaves islam he will be gud man ,never harms anybody,but when a non-muslim who is very gud yet when he became muslim he became terrorist or even A COUSIN OF TERRORIST.so decide who must be killed

Nakdimon said...

Quick question for Bassam.

Bassam, since you proudly promote Islamic law, would you think that it would be appropriate if the West returned the favor: If, in the West, there would be a law that utilised the killing of anyone that became a muslim under western rule? And that muslims living in western countries would have to pay extra taxes, equivalent to the Jizyah in Islam and that muslims would become less in societal status than any western non-muslim?

WOULD THAT BE A FAIR TREATMENT OF MUSLIMS IN THE WEST? IF NOT, THEN WHY NOT? AND IF NOT, WHY DOES ISLAMIC LAW DEMAND SUCH BEHAVIOUR FROM MUSLIMS, YET DOESN'T ALLOW THIS TREATMENT TOWARDS MUSLIMS?

Elisha Kai said...

Lets get this straight. There are according to statistics millons, one statistic says 20 million ex-muslims who are now Christians in this world, that does not even include secular and atheist ex-muslim who would number probably the same.
I hope Bassam could explain how he as a sincere-thinking person (and living in West) can defend the correct genocide of at least 30 million people. Considering Bassam's statement: 'I am not ashamed of islam ordering the killing of apostates, rather I will defend it', we need to conclude that Hitler compared to Bassam and other faithful muslims appears as a mere sunday school boy.

Angelo_Arts said...

Two Points:

1)If most widely recognized Sunni Scholars, such as Dr. Yousef Al Qaradhawi and others admit that it is not even allowed to preach Shia Islam inside Sunni Muslim Lands, and that "conversion" from Sunni Islam to Shia Islam and vice versa must be avoided as possible as it is a main cause to fatal and bloody struggles between Muslims (take a look), then how can one get astonished if Muslims ban preaching Christianity, which is a totally different religion, inside the Islamic Land, and kill those who convert to Christianity in the Lands of Islam?! If same-religion-intra-conversion is condemned and not allowed,how can from-a-religion-to-another conversion be accepted?

2)If anyone in the world may "think" that Iran as a system is a true representation of the Islamic Sharia, regardless of which "version" this Sharia is - the Sunni or the Shii version - then he has to conclude the deep failure of such a life system to the people who live underneath.
Take a look!

BlackBaron said...

I've heard many muslims say that Islam doe not allow forced conversions. Isn't the death sentence for leaving Islam pretty much the same thing?