An Affront To Islam

"He has frequently denied the prophethood of the great prophet of Islam and the rule of the sacred religion of Islam. And he has proven his apostasy by organizing evangelistic meetings and inviting others to Christianity, establishing a house church, baptizing people, expressing his faith for others and denying Islamic values."

This is how an argument for a death sentence is expressed. The denial of Islamic values becomes grounds for meting out death to apostates. What are Islamic values? After all, isn't Jesus Christ accepted in the pantheon of Islamic historical figures of great respect? Did not Islam come to being through a synthesis of Judaism and Christianity? Is not Islam part of the "Abrahamic" Faith?

How can it conceivably be possible, even remotely logical, that the wellspring of Islam is a predecessor religion that is deemed to be respected because it is part of that Abrahamic faith, yet it becomes a deadly sin punishable by a death sentence to leave Islam and embrace Christianity? How is it possible that such a life-denial can be construed as a "value"?

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is a devout Christian and has been since the age of 19, although he was born a Muslim, in his country of Iran. He is a member of a Protestant evangelical church, and he refuses to abandon his faith in Christianity. "Repent means to return. What should I return to? to the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?"

That statement alone qualifies him for death. He is to be put to death; this is what sharia law offers the unrepentant apostate; and Pastor Nadarkhani is scheduled to "be executed by being hung until somehow his soul is taken from him". This is the judgement put forward at a hearing in his place of residence in Iran, Rasht, on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

The court has ordered Mr. Nadarkhani to "return to the religion of your ancestors - Islam", and he responded by saying "I cannot". The Supreme Court of Iran finds this unacceptable. It is also unacceptable to Iran that 100,000 Christians are resident in the country, along with 350,000 Baha'i. These insults to Islam corrupt and derange the Iranian population of 78 million.

They are an affront to Islam. A religion which its faithful claim to be one of peace. Apostasy and evangelizing Muslims are both capital offences deserving of the death penalty. Pastor Nadarkhani's wife was originally sentenced to life imprisonment, but was released on appeal.

Islam is much misunderstood. That is, of course, the fault of those indulging in Islamophobia.