Thursday, February 24, 2011

Afghan Apostate Said Musa Released Due to International Pressure

Muhammad ordered his followers to execute apostates.

Sahih al-Bukhari 6922—Allah’s Messenger [said], “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”

However, such barbaric punishments are frowned upon in the twenty-first century. Muslim countries are therefore in a tight spot. They want to follow Islamic law to please the orthodox Muslims in their countries, but they don't want to appear backwards and unjust to the rest of the world. Thus, they prefer carrying out their Islamic punishments quietly. This means that, in many cases, the only way to protect victims of Sharia is to draw international attention to what's going on in the Muslim world. Sometimes, pressure from the international community can have a tremendous impact. Can anyone imagine what would happen if the media stopped bending over backwards to defend Islam? What would happen if the media did its job and made the truth known? I can only wonder.

ISTANBUL, February 24 (CDN) — After intense diplomatic pressure last week, authorities released Afghani Christian Said Musa, who had been in prison for nearly nine months on charges of apostasy (leaving Islam), punishable by death under Islamic law. Another convert, however, remains in prison.

A source in Afghanistan told Compass that the 46-year-old Musa (alternately spelled Sayyed Mussa) was released last week and had left the country on Monday (Feb. 21), but the date of his release was not clear.

Musa had written a series of letters from his prison cell, the last one dated Feb. 13, according to Compass sources. In that letter Musa, an amputee and a father of six, said that representatives of embassies in Kabul visited him and offered him asylum.

After the representatives left, according to the letter, Musa was taken to another room where three Afghani officials tried to convince him to recant his faith. They promised to release him from prison within 24 hours if he would do so. He refused and was sent back to his cell.

“I told them I cannot [follow] Islam,” he wrote in his letter. “I am Jesus Christ’s servant. They pushed me much and much. I refused their demands.”

Details of Musa’s release remained confidential in order to protect him and his family, who still remain in danger, sources said.

A source in Afghanistan close to Musa praised the efforts of the international community.

“We feel that the release reveals that when many, many people come together trying to enforce justice, in some case like for our friend Said Musa, good things happen, even though it looks impossible,” said the source on the condition of anonymity. “The voices of the people outside Afghanistan who put pressure on the Afghan government and on the international diplomats have been heard.” (Read more.)

For those who still don't believe that the penalty for apostasy in Islam is death, watch the following video:

5 comments:

Radical Moderate said...

He had to leave the country? I wonder why? After all Islam is peaceful and Muslims protect Christians.

GreekAsianPanda said...

Wow! I thought God would answer our prayers by helping Said Musa not to fall away as he faced death, and God granted that (as seen in Said's refusal to reconvert to Islam), and also something even better! Praise be to God Almighty for Said's release!

Christie said...

Praise God! May he be reunited with his family soon.

goethechosemercy said...

God bless and give a good life to Said Musa.
A brave, brave man.

southwood said...

This is good news but the apostasy law remains in place in a country the West is helping. Dreadful.