Islamist Ultimatum to Syrian Christians: Convert, Leave, or Die

In October when I was in Jordan, we spoke with people who were ministering to refugees, many of them Orthodox Christians. With all the trauma in the news this week, fromBoston to West and then to the earthquake in China, the ongoing disaster in Syria has been overshadowed. TheU.S. has just announced we will send more non-military aid to the rebels, a decision I support.Here’s the latest from Jeremy Reynalds, Senior Correspondent forASSIST News Service. 

SYRIA (ANS) — Syria’sChristians fear an Islamist takeover should the current government beoverthrown. During the ongoing civil war there has been a well-documented risein the number of salafi-jihadist groups operating in Syria that pose a directthreat to Syria’s Christian community.

According to a story by Matthew Thomas for theAssyrian International News Agency (AINA), these militant opposition forcesespouse an Islamist ideology, which incorporates elements of Wahhabism andSalafism and whose stated goals and objectives are hostile towards Christians.

AINA said firsthand accounts from Syrian Christianrefugees in Lebanon reported by award-winning investigative journalist NuriKino detail the horror in which they described kidnappings, rapes, harassment,theft and other violent reprisals at the hands of Islamist groups.

AINA said those who survived reported “just beingChristian is enough to be a target,” disproving theories that violence andkidnapping directed towards Syrian Christians is purely incidental or foreconomic reasons. One individual said, “We’re not poor. We didn’t run frompoverty ... we ran from fear.”

AINA said there are dozens of armed Salafi-jihadistgroups both foreign and domestic currently operating in Syria. They overtlyadvocate Islamist agendas and possess the intentions and capabilities toviolently persecute Syria’s Christians.

Most notably from the global Sunni jihadist milieuis al-Jabhat al-Nusra lil-Ahl al-Sham min Mujahedin al-Sham fi Sahat al-Jihad(The Front for Supporting the People of Greater Syria by the Mujahedin of Syriaon the Battlefields of Jihad). It’s also known as Jabhat al-Nusra, which inDec. 2012 the U.S. government officially listed as a terrorist organization.

In addition, AINA said, on April 9 the leader ofTanzim Qai’dat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (Organization of Jihad’s Base inMesopotamia) aka al-Qaeda in Iraq released an audio announcement thatofficially declared the unification of al-Qaeda in Iraq and Jabhat al-Nusra. Itincluded the establishment of an Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, effectivelyexpanding the threat to Syria’s Christians.

AINA said the other notable militant Islamist groupis al-Jabhat al-Islamiya al-Suriya (Syrian Islamic Front), a large armedcoalition force comprised of several interdependent blocs and alliancesorganized throughout Syria.

AINA said even the relatively less hardlineal-Jaysh al-Suri al-Hurr (Free Syrian Army) and al-Majlis al-Watani al-Suri(Syrian National Council) are by no means monolithic entities. They both existas umbrella organizations, comprised of several independent and competingideological currents and sub-currents including Islamism.

AINA said regardless of the means employed, whetherviolent or non-violent, to achieve the goals of these Islamist movements, thefuture is unfortunately no less hostile toward Christians.

AINA said within an Islamic State governed by Shari’a(Islamic Law), Jews and Christians, known colloquially as ahl al-Kitaab (Peopleof the Book), are afforded a certain protected status called dhimmi, but onlyif they willingly submit to a tribute or coercive tax known as jizya.

Based on Islamist interpretation, which is strictlyliteral and uses the “doctrine of abrogation” first instituted by the 13thcentury Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, the later and more belligerent suras(chapters) of the Qur’an take precedence over the earlier and more tolerantsuras.

As a result, AINA said, the salafi-jihadistsfrequently reference Sura al-Tawba (The Repentance) otherwise known as Suraal-Bara’a (The Ultimatum), which is the 9th chapter of the Qur’an, to justifytheir violent actions.

AINA said, “Numerous internationally recognizedtranslations of Verse 29 of Sura al-Tawba explicitly state, “Fight those whobelieve not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath beenforbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth,(even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya withwilling submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

Ultimately, AINA said, Syria’s Christians as wellas Jews will suffer persecution at the hands of Islamists unless they convertto Islam, submit to Shari’a and pay the jizya, emigrate or die.

Guilt by association: Syria’s Christians labeledpro-Assad
The question of who would protect the SyrianChristians after the fall of Assad has historically led many Christians tosupport the status quo out of fear. AINA said a Congressional Research Servicereport from Aug. 2012 accurately portrays the dilemma of Syrian Christians whoare “caught between their parallel fears of violent change and of beingassociated with Assad’s crackdown.”

AINA said according to a Sept. 2012 report by theInstitute for the Study of War, President Assad has “used the threat ofjihadists within the opposition to galvanize support for the regime among theAlawite and Christian communities.”

Similarly, AINA said, the U.S. State Department’s2011 International Religious Freedom Report for Syria also recognizes therising level of animosity towards Syria’s Christians. It also acknowledgesAssad’s attempts to translate their fears into political support by sponsoringpro-government demonstrations in predominantly Christian neighborhoods, andviolently rebuffing those viewed as undermining this effort.

AINA said, consequently, even individual Christianswho don’t in any way support the regime may still be identified as pro-Assadand thereby targeted for violent persecution by the Islamists and otheropposition forces, or by government security forces for being perceived asunsupportive.

“Arab Spring” is “Christian winter.” Persecution ofChristians is a regional issue

AINA said Christian persecution is prevalent notonly throughout Syria but also the entire region.

Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) hasconsistently published reports testifying that Christians throughout the MiddleEast, specifically in Syria, Egypt and Iraq, have been suffering persecution atan alarming rate. It includes a sustained campaign of violence, discrimination,mass emigration and internal displacement, all of which too often gounrecognized and unreported.

In an urgent attempt to bring attention to and spuraction from policymakers, Wolf recently traveled to the region and met firsthandwith Christian refugees from several Arab nations, including Syria.

AINA reported he said, “In fact, it often appearsthat there is an anti-Christian bias at the State Department. For years thedepartment refused to recognize that Iraqi Christians were being targeted,insisting instead that they were simply victims of generalized violence.”

AINA said unfortunately, the same can now be saidof Syria’s Christians, as Western naivety falsely assumes that anti-Assadopposition forces are automatically pro-democracy, pro-secular, and pluralistand Christians are merely victims of incidental violence.

However, AINA said, a recent report from theBritish newspaper The Guardian revealed that until recently hundreds ofthousands of Iraqi Christians sought refuge in neighboring countries likeSyria. Now they are once again forced to flee due to rampant religiouspersecution.

The Guardian report continued by saying that themajority of Christians have been emptied from the broader Middle East, andwhile the “Arab Spring” may have sprung new life for Islamists in the region,it has brought death to Christianity in places like Syria.

For more information go to www.aina.org