More on the Slaughtered Convert to Christianity

I just received an email from the editor of a large website, who posted my story from yesterday about the slaughtered apostate. He writes:

The story generated a huge number of commentaries from readers, some of them originating from Muslim Countries. They harshly dispute and deny the veracity of the facts you mention in your paper. Some argue that this abomination did not take place in Tunisia—and I do believe so—but somewhere in Iraq, that the young man is not a Christian but a Shiite, that he was not slaughtered for apostasy but for being a spy of the Americans, and so on… It’s true that the facts are not properly documented: we don’t know even the date of this event, the place, the name of this unfortunate young man… Do you have any additional details and data to help answering ? Many thanks for your kind and urgent attention.

I responded with a quick list of facts, which I repost here, enlarged and augmented, for anyone else interested:

• Fact 1: The Egyptian TV host, who recently aired this video—which went viral on the Arabic blogosphere on Sunday, when I wrote my report—said this occurred in Tunisia. Yes, others have subsequently said that this was in Iraq, others in Syria; but, from what people have sent me, the only “evidence” is the same video—but with a title that indicates Iraq or Syria. Personally, I am inclined to believe a formal Arabic current events program devoted to the topic than an anonymous Internet posting with no further details. Either way, the issue is less which country, and more why the man was slaughtered. Read on.

• Fact 2: The Muslim narrator who speaks while the man is being slaughtered specifically names and continually condemns “apostasy”—the crime of leaving Islam—and even calls the executed man an apostate, i.e., the man is being slaughtered for apostasy, a capital offence in Islam. If the world is not surprised that the actual “government” of a Muslim nation, Iran, is preparing to execute a man simply for converting to Christianity, are we supposed to be surprised when roaming bands of jihadis take it upon themselves to execute apostates to Christianity in their midst?

• Fact 3: The Muslim narrator specifically names and condemns al-mushrikin, and calls the executed man amushrik—i.e., a “polytheist”; in fact, he calls him a mushrik murtadd, an “apostate to polytheism”: this is the standard appellation for Christians, who are regularly called polytheists for “associating” Jesus with God. Yes, there are other religions deemed polytheistic in Islam, such as Hinduism, but one rarely if ever hears of Muslims in the Middle East converting to, and dying for, Hinduism, whereas conversion to Christianity—with all the attendant consequences—is a regular occurrence. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of apostasy cases, from one end of the Muslim world to the other, cases of attacks, imprisonments, etc., deal with Muslim converts to Christianity (see my monthly Muslim Persecution of Christians reports for an idea)…. Continue reading.