HOPE AND AID FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH www.barnabasfund.

org

January/February 2011

IN THIS ISSUE
Christian women and girls: victims of oppression in Muslim societies
God’s people in Egypt: vulnerable and persecuted once more
The spread of halal products: why should Christians be concerned?
 Welcome from the Director

Contents

3 Project News
Long-term care after
Trusting God in a
Pakistan floods
year of uncertainty
6 Focus
How Muslims
persecute Christian
The year 2011 looks set to be wracked by
instability and violence. In Sudan a
referendum about independence for the
powerful Organisation of the Islamic
Conference calling for an end to all
evangelism and conversion of Muslims. As
women and girls mainly Christian South, planned for 9 the coming months unfold, these issues will
January, may lead to renewed conflict be top of the agenda, if our Lord does not
with the Islamic North. The last bout of come, for Christians already in difficult
civil war between North and South lasted situations.

9 Testimony
An Egyptian Christian
convert from Islam
from 1983 to 2005 and resulted in the
deaths of around two million Southerners,
mainly Christians. But if the South gains
We do not know the times and seasons. What
we do know is that our times are in God’s
hands (Psalm 31:15). We put our trust in the
tells her story its independence, further problems may
Lord (v.14) who holds the world, history and
result. Will the South then fragment, and
time in His hands. In an age of uncertainty
Christians fight against each other? What
and with dark clouds looming, we need to

10
Resources
New book on how to
share your faith with
Muslims
Pull-out Supplement
A Christian response to the
halal controversy
about the treatment of Christian
remember that God remains in control.
Southerners living in the North – will they
be punished for the South’s As we look to the coming year, the suffering
independence? Church needs your prayers and support more
than ever. We also need more people to get
There is also potential for armed conflict in
involved with the ministry of Barnabas Fund.
the Middle East in the coming year. Iran may
Would you consider asking some of your
acquire nuclear weapons. If a war is fought it
friends and relatives to let us send them our
could draw in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and
magazine and prayer diary? I am enclosing a
perhaps other countries. The war in
card for you to reply to us with names and
Afghanistan continues, and its impact on
addresses of those who are willing to learn
Pakistan is growing, with Pakistan becoming
more about the persecuted Church and
increasingly destabilised as militants take
perhaps to join us in helping our brothers and
their fight deeper into Pakistani territory.
sisters. Furthermore as we focus on
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement is

11
Operation Nehemiah and the need to bring a
Operation growing in influence. These are but a few of
spiritual transformation to the countries in
Nehemiah the difficulties facing us in the new year.
which we live, will you join with us in the
Challenging the spread The position of Christians in these and other programmes we are developing? (Please see
of halal in the UK countries, particularly Islamic countries, is page 11 for further details.)
now very dangerous. In recent months we
I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to our
have heard Al-Qaeda’s call to attack Christian
friends and partners in the ministry for all

12
churches, leaders and institutions across the
Country Profile Middle East, the growing calls for the
your prayers, encouragement and support.
The deepening plight implementation of sharia in Muslim countries,
of Christians in Egypt thereby marginalising Christians, calls for the Dr Patrick Sookhdeo
killing of all converts in Afghanistan, and the International Director

16 Newsroom
Dozens killed in attack
on Baghdad church
To guard the safety of Christians in hostile environments, names may have been changed or omitted.
Thank you for your understanding.
Front cover: A Christian woman in Cameroon at a conference for worship and fellowship (see pages 6-9)
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version®.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission for stories and images used
in this publication. Barnabas Fund apologises for any errors or omissions and will be grateful for any

18
further information regarding copyright.
In Touch The cover design on page 15 of the November/December 2010 issue was taken from the Farsi
 Helping
BARNABAS AID us help the 2010
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER Contemporary Bible. Copyright © 1995 by BiblicaTM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

persecuted Church © Barnabas Fund 2011

 Project News
Thanks to your generous support, we can bring aid to Christians who suffer discrimination
or persecution because of their love for the Lord Jesus Christ. These gifts are changing lives
and are bringing renewed hope for the future. Below and on the next pages you will find a
selection of updates and news from just a few of the many projects we have been able to
support because of your gifts. Please pray as you read.

Russia and Iraq: Equipment

for Printing Christian Literature
Barnabas often funds Christian literature
projects, which bring such encouragement to
believers under pressure. Usually we pay for
the printing of particular Christian books or
other materials. Recently, however, we paid
for the purchase of printing equipment, on a
small scale in Russia and a larger scale in Iraq.
A grant of £69,707 (US$112,713; €80,761)
was provided in order to make the printing
plant in Iraq operational. Based in a relatively
stable area, it will be used to produce
Christian literature to strengthen the faith of
Iraqi Christians who now face extreme
pressure and hostility in many parts of their
homeland.
Barnabas Fund also provided a ministry in
Russia with a grant of £463 (US$749; €536)
to buy a computer and printer for producing
Christian literature for evangelism amongst
the Central Asian immigrants living in one
particular city. For example, the equipment
was used to print hundreds of invitations to
Uzbeks to come to a Christian celebration.
More than 200 Uzbeks came to the event,
many of whom were Muslim. Many were
surprised to hear the pastor preaching about
Jesus rather than Muhammad. People were
invited to have a meal together and talk about
what they had heard. A local contact told us,
“It was very interesting because it was the
first time that there was such a chance to talk
with Muslims about Jesus. Some people after
that started to phone us and say that they
wanted to read the New Testament and talk
more with us about Jesus.”
Project references
20-905 (Iraq – Christian printing
house)
00-360 (Russia – Christian
literature project)

New printing equipment being unloaded in

Iraq. It will be used to print Christian literature
to encourage the beleaguered Iraqi Christians

BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 

 Project News
Egypt: New Trades for Former
Pig Farmers
Christians face much discrimination in
Egypt and find it hard to get jobs. Many
are forced to do the most menial of jobs
and live in squalid and unhealthy
conditions, such as the “garbage cities”
surrounding Cairo. A number of
Christians living here used to be pig
farmers. The pigs ate the waste food and
were a source of protein for the families.
In April 2009 the pig farmers lost their
livelihood when the Egyptian
government decided to have all pigs in
Egypt killed, supposedly to protect
citizens from swine flu.
Barnabas Fund is helping former pig-
farmers to become self-sufficient
again by providing goats, sheep, buffaloes
or plastic recycling machinery. Our latest
grant was £32,000 (US$51,750; €37,000).
The goat around the boy’s shoulders
represents his family’s new livelihood after
their pigs were culled by the Egyptian
government
Project reference 11-819 (Help for
Christians whose Pigs were Culled)
Ukraine: Water and Gas
Provision for Convert
Christian Worker
“Farid”, a Tatar church leader in the Crimea,
Ukraine, has no water or gas on the premises
where he, his wife and four children live. Farid
converted from Islam more than ten years ago
and has a ministry amongst Tatars in the
region. His neighbours have wells but refuse to
let his family access them because they are
Christians. The family has to fetch water from
a long distance, which is especially hard in the
winter when the roads are blocked by snow. In
the summer, they need a lot of water for
growing vegetables.
Barnabas Fund is financing the boring of a well
on Farid’s property as well as creating a
connecting gas line to a central gas line near
his house. A total of £2,695 (US$4,358;
€3,123) will cover all the costs and will enable
Farid to focus on his ministry and outreach.
Project reference 00-345 (Victims
of Violence Fund)

Pakistan: Long-term Care for Flood Victims

The floods that ruined the lives of so many
people in Pakistan in August this year have left
many Christians completely dependent on help
and support from outside. Having assisted with
emergency aid at the beginning of the floods,
Barnabas is now helping with long-term
needs, such as the repair and rebuilding of
Christian’s homes.
For example, one recent grant of £19,806
(US$32,019; €22,947) paid for 15 new houses
to be built, and another grant of £11,530
(US$18,638; €13,354) for renovating 31
houses severely damaged by the floods. A
Christian whose house was repaired with aid
from Barnabas Fund said, “Prior to the
reconstruction of the house we were extremely
worried at how to restore our devastated lives.
Thanks to our Barnabas Fund friends, we are
able to live a more dignified and respectable
life.” Rebuilding their houses themselves is
almost an impossible task. A homeless
Christian told us, “On my present salary, even
in 50 years, I can’t rebuild my house.”
We are also sponsoring 1,000 Christian
families who have been affected by the floods
to provide their food needs while they re-
establish their lives and livelihoods. Every
family receives a monthly food package with
basic foods to support them. Sponsors are still
needed to join this programme and support a
family for just £30 (US$45; €35) per month. A
photo and some details of the sponsored family
are provided to regular donors as well as a
twice-yearly newsletter about the programme.
Barnabas Fund is also helping the victims in
other innovative ways. Our coordinator for South
Asia provided a workshop on disaster risk
reduction to 13 local partners from four different
areas. This training enables our partners better Donors who sponsor a family like this in
to prepare themselves for future disasters and Pakistan with monthly food packages receive
also plan a more durable reconstruction. For details about the family they are helping
example, they are now looking to rebuild
houses on higher ground where they are less
vulnerable to flooding.
Another unusual need concerned two families
with daughters who were about to get married.
But the floods completely destroyed the
furniture and bedding that the future brides
would have used as dowries. Without them,
according to the local culture, the weddings
cannot take place. A grant of £1,488
(US$1,724; €2,406) was provided so that new
furniture and bedding could be bought.
Project references
00-634 (Disaster Relief Fund) Local partners working in the flood-affected
41-919 (Sponsoring a Pakistani areas in Pakistan attend a workshop on
Christian flood victim family) disaster risk reduction

 BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011


Indonesia: Church-planters
in Java
In the past year, 38 church planters have
started churches in remote, rural areas of
Java, where the majority of people are
Muslim. Church growth is slow due to
resistance from the Muslims, but the pastors
are persevering in their work. The villages
and hamlets in which they work are generally
very poor, and unemployment is high.
Because of this, the new believers in their
Pastor Y. and his wife decorate wedding
dresses as a way to earn money to support
their church-planting ministry. Barnabas is
providing the rest of their support, until their
church has grown large enough to support
them
Nigeria: Aid for Victims of
Anti-Christian Riots
Large-scale anti-Christian rioting is an all-
too-frequent event in certain parts of Nigeria,
and 2010 saw an unprecedented number of
such incidents. Barnabas sent aid to the
victims in a number of places, including two
grants totalling £6,400 (US$10,300; €7,500)
to help after severe rioting in and around Jos,
Plateau State.
Arson had left many of the victims homeless
after the riots. They received emergency
supplies such as mattresses, blankets,
clothing, soap, vegetable oil, and bags of
corn, rice and beans. Because many of the
victims are farmers and their machinery was
lost during the looting, Barnabas also
provided farming machinery so that they
could continue producing food. Two new
water pumps which had been destroyed by
the fires were installed for use by the
community.
A local partner told us that the donations
greatly “encouraged the traditional leaders
churches can contribute only modest amounts
in weekly offerings and monthly tithes.
The church-planting pastors are encouraged
to develop sidelines to generate income.
Pastor Y. and his wife and son, for example,
receive a weekly offering of only 50 pence
(US$0.60; €0.80) from the congregation. He
supplements their living by collecting grass
and selling it as cattle fodder. Together with
his wife, he also decorates wedding dresses.
A recent grant of £6,731 (US$10,884;
€7,797) will help support the 38 pastors for
another year. A further grant of £500
(US$800; €600) will provide for their medical
expenses. And still another grant of £2,617
(US$4,231; €3,302) will be used to renovate
three church buildings that are in urgent
need of repair. One church, for example, is
no more than a hut, and the pastor and his
wife have to sleep behind the pulpit.
Project reference 22-828
and the recipients. They were glad that,
though the state government and other
politicians took little notice of their plight, the
body of Christ thought of them and acted in
goodwill towards them.”
Project reference 39-772
Equipment for two new water pumps
enabled local farmers to harvest their
fields after their original pumps had been
damaged during anti-Christian riots.
Clothing was also distributed
Project News
Indonesia: Help
for Christians in
Triple Disaster
In the evening of 25 October 2010 an
undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami
that hit the coast of the small and remote
Mentawai islands just west of Sumatra,
whose population is mainly Christian. Many
houses and at least five schools and six
churches were damaged or destroyed. A
week later, Mount Merapi, a volcanic
mountain on Java, started spewing
blistering gas over the area nearby.
Hundreds of people died in the triple
disaster and thousands more were
displaced. Christians on the Mentawai
islands feared that aid would be slow to
arrive and that the disaster would be used
as an opportunity to increase the Islamic
presence there, as has happened in other
Christian-majority parts of Indonesia after
some natural disasters.
Barnabas sent immediate aid to Mentawai
through Christians in nearby Sumatra, who
provided the stricken islanders with
medicine, food and clothing.
Project reference 00-634
(Disaster Relief Fund)
Christians from Sumatra bringing food to
their brothers and sisters in the
predominantly Christian Mentawai islands.
(Source: IFGF GISI Mentawai Relief Team)
BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 
 Focus
Shah Taj (14), a Pakistani Christian, was
kidnapped at gunpoint by three Muslim
men in December 2008. She was raped
and forced to sign a blank piece of paper.
On it the men later wrote a statement that
she had embraced Islam of her own free
will and was “happily married” to the man
who had held the gun while she was
kidnapped. She was held prisoner at an
unknown location for two months but was
eventually rescued when she managed to
get a message to her mother.
Christian girls and women are greatly
despised in Muslim countries. In their own
cultures, Muslim women are treated as
inferior to men1 and Christians are
harassed and persecuted as members of a
minority faith in Muslim countries, so a
Christian woman in this context is likely
to suffer doubly harsh treatment.
Christians are treated as second-class
citizens according to the principle of
dhimmitude, which grants fewer rights to
Christians and Jews. In addition, Muslims
often equate Christianity with what they
perceive to be the immorality of the Western
world. The argument runs that the immoral
Western society is “Christian” so local
Christians must also be immoral.
Some Muslim men therefore think they are
justified in attacking Christian women and
girls because of the “lax morals” among
Christians. Worse still, Christian women are
often easy to identify, either because they
do not dress in an Islamic way or sometimes
because they are a different ethnic type
from the Muslim majority; for example the
Christians of Iraq, as ethnic Assyrians, are
often much fairer-skinned than the Muslims,
who are Arabs.
1
Islam teaches that the woman’s place is in the home and that she is always under the protection of a male relative. Although a number of verses in the Qur’an teach that men
and women are equal, this theoretical equality is not seen in practice. Traditionally, women in Islam are viewed as “weak, inferior, inherently evil, intellectually incapable and
spiritually lacking”. (Rosemary Sookhdeo, Secrets behind the Burqa. USA: Isaac Publishing, 2008, p37.)
 BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
“I hate what has happened to me,” says
Shah Taj (right), who was kidnapped, raped
and forced to convert to Islam and marry a
Muslim man in Pakistan in December 2008
In Islamic culture, the all-important honour
of a family is held to reside chiefly in its
women. So someone may retaliate against
a man if he has a grudge by dishonouring
a female relative, for example, by raping
her. This is another reason why Christian
women suffer under Islam. In the case of
Shah Taj, described above, her kidnapping
and rape were a form of revenge following
a disagreement between her father and
the Muslim men.
Islam considers that the religion of a
family is set by the husband and father. In
many African countries it is reported that
Islam is being deliberately spread by a
campaign of Muslim men marrying
Christian women. Some are even paid a
reward for doing so, and extra if they
manage to marry a pastor’s daughter.
In Pakistan and Egypt violent assaults by
Muslim men on Christian girls and women
are frequent and increasing and their
suffering goes largely unreported. Christian
girls are being kidnapped, beaten, raped,
forced to recite the Muslim creed (thus, in
Muslim opinion, converting to Islam) and
forced into marriages with Muslim men. The
global number of forced conversions to Islam
per year is unknown, though it is definitely more
than the number of cases reported in national
media. (The lack of data shows the authorities’
lack of interest in the problem.)
In Pakistan, marriages of Christian girls to
Muslims as a result of forced conversions are
on the rise. Christian sisters Parvisha (18) and
Sanam (14) were abducted in November 2008
by a Muslim man who promised them free
training and jobs in his beauty salon. But
instead the girls were repeatedly raped by their
abductor and other Muslims, forced to convert
to Islam and given new Islamic names. After
being rescued the girls declared in front of a
magistrate that they wished to live and die in
their own faith, Christianity.
In Egpyt, Zeenahom Nady Adly, 19, was
abducted by two Muslim men as she walked
to the shops in her small village near Samalut
in June 2010. The men sprayed a substance in
her face to make her lose consciousness and
when she awoke two hours later she found
Christian women share a meal together at a
conference for Christian converts from a
Muslim background in Central Asia

herself at the Islamic Sharia Association,
facing a Muslim leader who tried to
intimidate her and force her to convert to
Islam.
A Christian girl who has been abducted and
forced to marry a Muslim man faces a virtually
hopeless future, held captive by a family who
may treat her as nothing more than a slave. In
Pakistan and Egypt, once all the paperwork is
finalised for the conversion and marriage, her
whole identity is changed. She receives an
Islamic name and her Christian religious
status is removed from her identity card.
Governments, local authorities and police
often turn a blind eye to the mistreatment of
Christian women. This is the case in Egypt,
where the police do little to help in cases of
abduction of Christian girls and women.
Zeenahom (mentioned above) was, however,
one of the fortunate ones. Her family
demonstrated outside the police headquarters
demanding her return and compelling the
security forces to intervene and return the girl
to her family. For many Christian women this
will not happen.
The same problem occurs in Pakistan. In
February 2009 Ambreen, a 13-year-old
Christian girl from a poor family, was
kidnapped as she put out the rubbish in her
village in the Sangla Hill region, Punjab
province. She was taken to a nearby
farmhouse by her abductors, where she was
gang-raped at gunpoint by five Islamic
extremists. When she was kidnapped, she
was told by her captors, “We will kill your
parents if you tell them this.” Following her
rescue, a case was registered against the
alleged rapists, but despite eyewitness
accounts and medical evidence indicating
guilt, police declared the men innocent of
rape.
Mothers who are converts from Islam to
Christianity can face an even more heart-
breaking trial as they find their children being
used in an attempt to convert them back. In
December 2008 Martha Samuel, an Egyptian
convert, was detained and beaten at Cairo
airport as she tried to emigrate with her
family. Emmanuel, aged 4, and his younger
brother Carlos (2) witnessed their mother
being stripped and kicked, and the boys were
deprived of food to pressure her into
returning to Islam. The judge, who tried her
case, imprisoning her for a month, told her
that if he had a knife he would kill her for
leaving Islam.
In Islamic society, sharia (Islamic law)
teaches that women are of less worth than
men. Sharia includes strict rules about
women’s clothing, leaving Christian women
in those societies particularly vulnerable.
Sometimes Christian women are attacked,
Focus
Christian girls in Kenya sit outside
the Rescue Home supported by
Barnabas Fund
even having acid thrown at them, or arrested if
they fail to follow the laws.
Silva Kashi, aged 16, was arrested by police in
December 2009 for wearing a knee-length skirt
while walking near her home in Muslim-majority
Khartoum, Sudan. She was immediately
presented before a judge, who sentenced her to
50 lashes. Silva is originally from the South of
Sudan, which is Christian-majority, and the skirt
and blouse she was wearing were normal for
Southern Sudanese women. But sharia is in
force in North Sudan, and its regulations are
applied to Christians as well as Muslims.
Although the law states that under-18s should
not be lashed, Silva’s parents were not even
aware that their daughter had been arrested
until after the punishment had taken place.
Sharia also forbids marriage between a Muslim
woman and a Christian man. A female Christian
convert from Islam who wants to marry a
Christian man from a Christian background may
find that this is not allowed if she lives in a
country where her new faith is not recognised.
Egyptian convert Raheal was arrested on her
way to work because of her marriage to a
Christian-background man in April 2010. As a
convert she could not have her new faith
officially recognised, and so the marriage was
considered to be between a Muslim woman and
a Christian man, and was thus forbidden by
sharia. Five days after her arrest, she was
handed over to her Muslim family, but she
managed to escape two days later. She
immediately went into hiding.
BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 
 Focus
Barnabas Fund seeks to serve our
persecuted Christian sisters in countries
where they are targeted because of their
faith and their gender. Many are very poor
and have had little opportunity for education.
We assist with programmes to educate
women through literacy classes, health
courses and income-generation projects. In
Pakistan, we provided funding for two female
doctors to visit the Christian communities
weekly to discuss women’s health issues,
give medical checkups and prescribe
medicine. In East Africa, Barnabas has
provided accommodation for Christian
women from an Islamic background with
nowhere else to live, whilst giving them
discipling in their new faith and training in
tailoring, computing and English language to
enable them to support themselves. We have
supported Christian women in prison in North
Sudan where many of the women were
imprisoned for breaking sharia dress codes.
Barnabas has also funded camps and
conferences in Cameroon and Kyrgyzstan for
Christian girls and women to meet together
for worship and fellowship. In the Arab world,
Barnabas funded a women’s camp in
Cameroon to give Christian women the
chance to meet for fellowship and worship
 BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
one Barnabas project provided training for
young Christian women from very deprived
backgrounds who had finished school, to help
them prepare for their adult responsibilities.
Below are some of Barnabas Fund’s
current projects which specifically help
Christian women and girls:
n Pakistan: Women’s refuge for Christian
girls and women. (Project reference 41-
465)
n Uganda: Supporting the Mothers Union
Training Centre and Guest House which is
currently being built in an Islamic part of
the country to train vulnerable women,
girls and boys with a view to employment
and self-sufficiency. (Project reference
56-909)
n Kenya: Cana Girls Rescue Home. Christian
women also need protection in African
Will you support our Christian sisters in contexts where they are treated as
second-class citizens through your prayers and your generous gifts?
countries where they are under pressure
from African traditional religious beliefs
and practices. Barnabas Fund financed
the construction of a refuge centre for
around 50 Christian girls and young
women, and we continue to assist with
its running costs. (Project reference 25-
663)
n Niger: This project provides goats and
sheep for needy Christians to help them
support their families. A number of the
local churches we work through select
only women to receive the livestock.
(Project reference 38-929)
n Central Asia: This project helps to
support “Jamilya”, a widow who is
sharing the Gospel amongst women in
her homeland. She is herself a convert
from Islam and her husband was
murdered by Islamists. (Project
reference XX-861)
 Testimony

Beaten and Bruised

but Standing Strong
in Christ
Egyptian lawyer and convert
from Islam Nagla Al-Imam
was detained, interrogated and
beaten by security personnel
after a peaceful demonstration
of her Christian faith and against
Egypt’s lack of religious freedom
in July 2010.
Mrs Al-Imam was standing with her children in front of a
cathedral when two men called her name. “We need you for a
few seconds,” they said. Feeling suspicious, she asked a fellow
Christian to take her children to their own church. She was taken
to an office and made to wait four hours before her interrogation
began.
Below she describes her treatment at the hands of the interrogator:

’t you
you making trouble for us? Don
He said, “Yes my lady, why are trav elli ng, and I am
e restrained me from
want to be safe?” I said, “You hav e hol d of the
, “Yes.” Then he went to tak
a human rights’ activist.” He said
neck] and asked, “Who is this?”
cross [on a chain around Nagla’s
worth.” He
the cross, for you don’t know its
I told him, “Take your hands off it aro und my
held the chain and tightened
said, “No, I know its worth.” He in, or to hurt
was threatening to cut the cha
neck. He was showing that he touch me, I
I answered him. I said, “If you
my neck, or do anything. Then
real man, hit me.”
will react severely. If you are a
g my hair, he
complete the sentence. Holdin
He did not give me a chance to n once, and
k. He slapped my face more tha
bashed my face against the des was blee ding from
my arm. By this time I
punched me in the ribs, and on
the side of my mouth.
.” He said,
documentation, if you have any
I told him, “Proceed with your this . Thi s is just
n. I am just telling you
“I don’t have any documentatio you have not
be safe, you will receive what
having fun. If you don’t want to me in
t I could not expect? Will you put
expected.” I said, “What is it tha converts
in jail. You will kill me? So many
jail? So many other converts are ere I will be
am not afraid because I know wh
have been killed.” I told him, “I goin g?
do not know where will you be
going, but what about you, who

Mrs Al-Imam was eventually released and later reflected on her
ordeal: “My ribs and my body were hurting, my neck and my
shoulders... But my real hurt was not the [physical] pain. My real hurt
was that there was no real reason for them to do this. There is no
safety – human safety, worldly safety – apart from the true safety I
found with the Lord Jesus Christ. I am without work; threatened to
be deregistered; without an income; without family. I have no one but
enemies. I felt this was God’s discipline: He was teaching me what it
means to be humble; what it means that the Lord will fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace; what it means to focus my sight on
Christ alone, and not to depend on human hands.”
Following the incident, Mrs Al-Imam announced on an Arabic Christian
TV website that she would stand up for the human rights of converts
from Islam and would not leave her homeland. She sang a Christian
song with her two children, asking Christ to strengthen them through
their time of persecution. The bruises were clearly visible on her face
and she could barely open her mouth to sing. This broadcast was
immediately followed by fatwas calling for her death. Soon after this,
Mrs Al-Imam was kidnapped and beaten by people in burqas and
abandoned, unconscious, in the street. At the time of writing, she is in
hiding, from where she continues to broadcast and testify to the Lord
Jesus on an Arabic television channel.

BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 

 Resources
In this issue we feature a new book by Rosemary Sookhdeo on how
to reach Muslims for Christ, and our Barnabas Fund year journal.
Breaking Through the Barriers: Leading Muslims to Christ
Rosemary Sookhdeo
Would you like to reach your Muslim friends
and neighbours for Christ? If so, you will
share your faith most effectively if you know
something about what they believe, and also
about how they expect you to relate to them.
Rosemary Sookhdeo has provided this
accessible introduction to help you get
informed. In it she lifts the veil on Muslim
culture, practices and faith, and identifies
the points of contact that will help Muslims
respond to the Christian Gospel.
Part I explains the basics of Muslim culture
and how it differs from Western culture, and
outlines the attitudes and responses that
should shape our outreach to Muslims. It
covers such issues as what we should do
when we invite a Muslim friend for a meal,
what type of gift to bring on various
occasions, and how to relate to different
members of a Muslim family. It also explains
how to lead a Muslim to faith in Christ.
Part II sets out some of the central beliefs of
Islam and also its key practices, such as
Now in stock!
My Devotional Journal: A spiritual journey of prayer and
encouragement with God’s suffering people Patrick Sookhdeo
This Barnabas Fund year journal is an
inspiring collection of short testimonies,
poems and prayers from Christians around
the world. It also includes uplifting Bible
verses and lined pages for you to record
your own thoughts and reflections
throughout the months.
My Devotional Journal takes us on a
journey with God’s suffering people,
exploring themes such as loss, forgiveness
and the cost of discipleship. Their stories
demonstrate how Christians can
experience God’s peace and presence as
To order either of these books, please visit www.barnabasfund.org/shop. Alternatively
please contact your nearest Barnabas office (addresses on back cover). Cheques for the
UK should be made payable to “Barnabas Books”.
10 BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
prayer, fasting and giving. We often
overlook the place of spiritual conflict in
evangelism: another chapter describes how
it can affect our outreach to Muslims, and
tells us how to pray and what to do to
protect ourselves. The final sections outline
various barriers that hinder Muslims from
coming to Christ and the main differences
between Islam and Christianity, answering
such questions as:
n Is the Biblical God the same as Allah?
n Is the Muslim Jesus, Isa, the same as
the Jesus we know in the Gospels?
n How do Muslims view heaven and hell?
n What part does the second coming of
Jesus play in Muslim thinking?
This helpful book will guide us safely
through the challenges of Muslim
evangelism and enable us to be good
witnesses for Christ.
Isaac Publishing, paperback, 160 pp,
offer price £5.00 plus £2.00 postage
(RRP £8.99)
sources of great joy and deep comfort in
the midst of “trials of many kinds” (James
1:2), and find God to be the protective
Father who cares and provides for His
people.
This book can both inspire you in your own
Christian journey and be a great present
for your Christian friends. The pages begin
from January, but you can start using it at
any time.
Isaac Publishing, casebound, 96pp, offer
price £5.00 + £2.00 postage (RRP £7.99)
 Pull-out
supplement

The halal controversy

The halal
controversy
Introduction
In August 2010 Harrow Council in North-West London introduced
halal-only menus at its 52 state primary schools. The Arabic word
halal means “permitted”, and halal food is anything that Islamic sharia law
allows to be eaten. The Muslim population in Harrow is not very large: according to the 2001 census only 7 per cent is
Muslim. But the dietary principles of this small religious group are now to influence the diet of primary-school children
of all faiths and none, and without the consent of their parents.

This incident is one of many that have raised the issue of the place of halal food and other halal products in Western
societies. Its increasingly extensive use by retail outlets and restaurants, often without the approval or even the
knowledge of customers, has caused widespread disquiet. Consumers are being denied the possibility of choice
because they are not given the necessary information to make a decision. The practice of slaughtering animals by halal
methods has also been called into question on ethical grounds.

There are four principal reasons why many Christians and others are concerned about the increased presence of halal
products:

n The denial of choice to consumers, unless food is labelled and alternatives provided, and following from this:
n The commitment of many Muslims to Islamic mission (dawa) and the Islamisation of their non-Muslim host
societies, which includes imposing Islamic practices and Islamic law on non-Muslims. Halal food is an important
example of this.
n The unnecessary suffering to animals involved in halal-compliant methods of slaughter.
n For Christians in particular, the Biblical teaching on the eating of foods associated with non-Christian religious
practice. (Space prevents us from examining this issue further here.)

Sharia and the halal / haram system
Halal food laws in Islam are part of a much wider system in sharia
law. In the Muslim worldview they are based on Allah’s direct
revelation in the Qur’an and sunna1, part of his sovereign will that
cannot be changed by humans. Halal (permitted, lawful) and haram
(forbidden, unlawful) represent a god-given, identity mark of Allah’s
pure community. These rules must be kept to ensure the pleasure
of Allah and due rewards for the believers who keep them.
The realm of halal and haram extends beyond food and clothing to
all matters relating to human life, both individual and communal.
All beings and things are divided into pure and impure categories.
These include foods, all goods and services, entertainments,
finance and commerce, tourism, lifestyles and new technologies.
The quest for purity and the fear of pollution are very strong
motivators in Islam.
This wide range of applications gives the halal and haram rules a
very important economic role in all Islamic societies. Institutions
have to be established to control and license goods and services to
ensure their sharia compliance. Religious specialists in the field of
halal and haram gain positions of power and influence, as they can
offer or withhold licences and so ensure or endanger the survival of
businesses. This process can sometimes lead to corruption.
Several criteria must be met before products can be certified as
halal:
n Halal meat products must be produced from animals
slaughtered according to Islamic law
n Halal products must be free from any haram substance or
ingredient, such as enzymes and emulsifiers made from pigs or
from other haram sources
n Halal products must be produced, manufactured and stored

1
The sunna is Muhammad’s way of life (sayings and behaviour), codified in the traditions (hadith). Muslims see the sunna as a model which they must follow. It is also one
of the main sources of Islamic law (sharia)

BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 i

 Pull-out
supplement
The halal controversy

using utensils, equipments and machines that have been
cleansed according to Islamic law
n Manufactured products should be free of contamination and
must not come into contact with haram substances during their
preparation, production and storage
Islam requires that animals should be slaughtered in a way that
ensures the draining of their blood before they are eaten. The
Islamic method of slaughtering is to cut the animal’s throat, while it
is alive, to enable the blood to run out and not congeal in its veins.
At the same time the slaughterman proclaims in Arabic either the
bismillah (in the name of Allah) or the shahada, the Muslim
credal statement (there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his
messenger). The incision is made with a sharp blade, cutting the
throat and oesophagus, the jugular vein and the carotid artery
but leaving the spinal cord intact. Most Muslim slaughterers do
not stun the animal first before slitting its throat, in the belief that
drainage will be complete only if the animal is conscious.
These rules are derived from the Quran:
Muslim hands. Halal foods are promoted as ethical alternatives
for all people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
The population of Muslim states has outpaced the local food
supply, forcing them to import foods from countries such as New
Zealand, Australia, Brazil and the USA. As the Muslim market
became globally significant, Muslims demanded that producers
and distributors provide certified halal products.
The Muslim market represents one-fifth of the world’s total
population (estimated at 1.2 billion people). The global halal market
is potentially worth $2.3 trillion. Large Western multinationals
are eager to tap into its vast potential, and many have started to
introduce halal products into their ranges. Some have gone over
to marketing only halal products to simplify their processes and
cut costs. Hundreds of companies across the world are becoming
sharia-compliant or halal-compliant, and much halal food is now
produced and processed in non-Muslim countries under Muslim
religious supervision and certification. This means that some
slaughterman posts are open only to Muslim applicants.

“O you who believe! Eat of the good and pure things We have Halal products have now spread into many non-food sectors,
provided you with, and render thanks to Allah if it is He alone including cosmetics, tourism and holidays, clothing, stickers, rugs,
Whom you really worship. He has forbidden you only (to eat greeting cards and logos and ring tones on mobile phones. The list
carrion) that which dies of itself, the blood, the flesh of swine is growing.
and that over (the sacrifice of) which the
name of someone other than Allah has Halal products in Britain
been invoked.” (Q 2:172-3)
Halal food is being introduced secretly
“And do not eat that on which Allah’s name to Britain. All over the country, schools,
has not been pronounced.” (Q 6:121)
Halal food is being hospitals, pubs and sporting venues are
serving halal meat, often without informing
Muslims also argue that the halal / haram introduced secretly the public. It has also been alleged
laws are scientifically proven to promote
individual and societal health. They also
to Britain. All over that some big supermarkets are selling
unlabelled halal meat products.
stress the universal ethical value of halal the country, schools,
products, arguing that because of the religious
conditions imposed on their production,
hospitals, pubs and The British halal meat industry is expanding
so fast that many more halal butchers are
stringent controls are in place throughout. sporting venues needed. A programme has been organised
Halal can therefore, they say, be accepted as are serving halal that could enable as many as 5,000
a trustworthy brand that ensures the safety, Pakistani butchers to obtain jobs in the
quality and humane treatment of animals. meat, often without British halal meat industry.
Halal is also claimed to guarantee just and fair informing the public.
business methods and to embody values of
social justice and welfare. Non-Muslim halal producers
It is estimated that currently some 90% of the
The process of world’s halal food market is supplied by non-Muslims.
Islamisation Major halal meat producers are found in Argentina, Australia,
Brazil, Canada, China, India, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.
Many Muslim scholars assert that the halal / haram rules are not
just for Muslims, but for all human beings. Thus, they believe, The Middle East has become a major market for New Zealand meat
halal and haram are part of dawa (Islamic mission): it is the duty of exports. As a result New Zealand has become the largest exporter
Muslims to spread their rules to non-Muslims. of halal-slaughtered sheep meat in the world and a significant
exporter of halal beef. About 98% of lamb and sheep as well as
Religious, economic and political pressures combine to further 60% of cattle in New Zealand are halal-slaughtered, as companies
the spread of the halal / haram system around the world. The find it easier and more cost-effective to shift their production
architects of the current Islamic resurgence want to establish the processes to halal only. Halal meat production has become an
global dominance of Islam. As large, international, non-Muslim essential part of New Zealand’s economy.
companies adopt halal products, they introduce sharia into their
structures, thus expanding its reach in the non-Muslim world. In New Zealand is also targeting countries with wealthy Muslim
several sub-Saharan African states with non-Muslim majorities populations for inbound tourism. This has increased the demand
most butchers and most of the meat trade has passed into for halal food in the local catering, hospitality and tourism

ii BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011


A certificate in a New Zealand restaurant window, approving all
the ingredients used there as halal-compliant
industries. People involved in these industries are being made
aware of halal rules concerning food production and catering.
In Australia, halal slaughter is carried out through the Australian
Government Muslim Slaughter programme by government
employees supervised by independent Islamic halal agencies.
Muslim food authorities
Muslim and non-Muslim governments and public bodies have
encouraged the formation of halal food certifying bodies to oversee
the abattoirs and the slaughtering process and offer detailed
guidelines on how to ensure food remains halal right through the
various modern production, distribution and catering processes.
Worldwide it is estimated that there are over 300 bodies offering
global halal certification. Most of the bodies justify their demands
to oversee the food industry and ensure that it meets the religious
standards of the Muslim community by claiming that Islam is a
total way of life that embraces all spheres of human activity.
Halal certifying agencies charge fees to companies to undertake
audits of production facilities, inspect documentation on products
and manufacturing, and issue halal product certificates. These fees
are passed on to the customers in higher prices.
In some countries there exist several independent and competing
Muslim food councils, sometimes representing various streams
of Islam. Different organisations often accuse their competitors of
fraud or of not being Islamic enough, casting doubt on the validity
of their certification.
For example, in the UK there are at least two competing halal
2
R
 eport on the Welfare of Farmed Animals at Slaughter or Killing. London: Farm Animal Welfare Council FAWC, June 2003.
Pull-out
supplement
The halal controversy
certification organisations: the Halal Food Authority (HFA) and the
Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC). The HFA allows the use of
machines in the slaughtering process, while the HMC says that only
animals slaughtered by hand are halal.
It is argued by Muslims that the absence of globally recognised halal
certification bodies and standards poses a serious problem to the
industry and that there is an urgent need to have clear standards
that apply globally. There are calls to regulate the halal industry,
harmonise halal certification rules and create binding, global halal
standards to promote trade and speed up the certification process.
Implications
While the halal / haram system has always been part of Muslim
religious doctrine, it was usually applied only to Muslim populations.
But in the context of Islamic resurgence and Islamist growth, the
expansion of halal across the world is seen by many commentators
as part of a global Islamisation project, designed to extend the reach
of sharia in both Muslim and non-Muslim states and to restore the
power of Islam worldwide. The economic interests of the large global
industries seeking to penetrate the growing Muslim markets tend to
encourage this Islamisation drive.
Many Christians are uneasy about buying halal food or other products
because of its inseparable association with Islamic dawa. They
see such purchases as advancing the cause of global Islam, and of
Islamist radicalism in particular, and as putting themselves implicitly
under the authority of Islamic sharia. For this reason they argue that
halal products should not be forced on the non-Muslim community or
sold without appropriate labelling. Christian farmers also do not want
to be responsible for sacrificial slaughter of animals to Allah.
Cruelty to animals
Many believe that halal slaughter is cruel. Western animal welfare
groups consistently criticise Muslim halal slaughtering methods and
call for their prohibition. They also criticise the stressful methods of
restraint used in some halal slaughtering plants.
The Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) reported on Muslim
slaughter practices in 2003:
When a very large transverse incision is made across the neck
a number of vital tissues are transected including: skin, muscle,
trachea, oesophagus, carotid arteries, jugular veins, major
nerve trunks (e.g. vagus and phrenic nerves) plus numerous
minor nerves. Such a drastic cut will inevitably trigger a barrage
of sensory information to the brain in a sensible (conscious)
animal. We are persuaded that such a massive injury would
result in very significant pain and distress in the period before
insensibility supervenes.2
The report concluded that killing animals without first stunning them
causes unnecessary pain and suffering. It therefore recommended
the government to pass legislation banning all religious slaughter
of animals. The British animal welfare charity RSPCA also opposes
halal slaughter on grounds of animal welfare, and it advocates
clear labelling of halal products to inform the welfare-conscious
consumer about the method of slaughter.
BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 iii
 Pull-out
supplement
The halal controversy

Animal welfare groups also insist that humane slaughter must
involve pre-stunning, which renders the animal unconscious,
before the killing. Animal-cruelty regulations throughout Europe
say that livestock must be stunned before slaughter, but Britain
and most countries allow exemptions on religious grounds for
Muslim (and Jewish) religious slaughter practices. Several states
have however forbidden these exclusions on the grounds that pre-
stunning is more welfare-friendly. (It should be noted that Muslims
do not agree among themselves over
whether an animal needs to be conscious
when killed for its meat to be halal.)
Implications
Many Christians believe the method of
killing without stunning to be cruel and The freedom of
therefore contrary to the Biblical creation
mandate. Some of them endorse the calls Muslim people to
from animal welfare organisations for the follow their own
banning of halal slaughtering practices. religious practices
Others defend the current exemptions for
ritual slaughter on grounds of religious should be affirmed.
freedom, while not wanting themselves But the freedom of
to eat meat from animals that were killed
without first being stunned. However, non-Muslims not
the prescription of ritual slaughter in the to follow Muslim
Old Testament leads other Christians to practices should also
question the animal welfare argument
against halal killing. be protected.
Recommendations
While Christians and other non-Muslims
should argue for the right of Muslims to observe
their religious rules in matters of halal food and other products
within their own community, they must protest at the Islamisation
project that seeks to impose these rules and products on all non-
Muslims, expand the reach of sharia, advance Muslim economic
interests and dominate world trade in the food and related
industries. The domination of sharia often results in anti-Christian
discrimination and persecution and hinders Christian mission.
Christians should therefore be committed to the struggle against
Islamist ideology, the Islamisation process and the extension of
sharia to include non-Muslims, including the spread of the halal
system. If we do nothing, Muslims will believe that we do not mind
about these things.
Christians should also object to having to pay for certification
agency fees and the other extra costs involved in the halal
processes and industries. These should be borne exclusively
by Muslims. We should also protest against the greed of
businessmen who withhold choice from most of the world’s
population because of their eagerness to tap into the lucrative
global Muslim market.
Regarding the spread of halal to many
commercial outlets, and halal food’s being the
only kind offered to non-Muslims in schools
and other government and public institutions,
Christians should object when there is no
choice for non-Muslims. We must challenge
the view that the majority must conform to the
practices of a minority.
In the public square, Christians and other
non-Muslims ought to support the following
demands:
n G  overnments should not legislate
regarding the standards required for
halal products, thus endorsing them by
implication.
n A ll halal products should be clearly
labelled as such.
n Government
 and public institutions
should offer halal products only as a
choice. Halal should never be the only
option available there.
Due weight should be given to the argument, on
grounds of religious liberty, that halal slaughter should
not be prohibited by law, and different views are held among
Christians (and others) regarding its alleged cruelty. Even so,
however, the case against the practice on the basis of animal
welfare is very compelling, and suggests that halal slaughter
should be modified or banned by government legislation.
Moreover, the aversion of many Christians to eating meat from
animals that have been slaughtered inhumanely is another
reason to insist on the provision of choice and the labelling of
halal products.
The freedom of Muslim people to follow their own religious
practices should be affirmed. But the freedom of non-Muslims not
to follow Muslim practices should also be protected.

Barnabas fund hope and aid for the persecuted church

UK
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Email info@barnabasfund.org
www.barnabasfund.org

iv BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011


Halal Awareness Campaign
Operation Nehemiah has received an encouraging response
from supporters since we launched our Halal Awareness
Campaign in October.
Further investigations have revealed the
extent of the problem. Many UK
supermarkets, restaurants and schools are
serving meat that has been sacrificially
slaughtered, prepared and transported in
accordance with sharia (Islamic law), often
without telling the public. Pressure is now
mounting on these outlets and institutions to
let consumers know what they are eating.
We do not object to Muslims eating halal
food. But we believe that Christians and
other non-Muslims should have the freedom
to make an informed choice about whether
or not to eat it. We are therefore asking that
halal food should always be labelled as such,
and that non-halal alternatives should always
be available to consumers.
There are several reasons why Christians
and others may not want to eat halal food:
Focus on Education
In October, 35 Church of England schools in
Blackburn received Muslim Council of Britain
(MCB) “Books for Schools” packs as part of a
project to reach 23,000 primary schools. The
packs, which contain £250 worth of books and
Islamic items, are carefully designed to appeal
to young children. In an email to its supporters,
the MCB describes this as a dawa project.
These and similar reports, which include
compulsory visits to mosques and the
building of an RE classroom facing Mecca,
raise serious questions about the elevating
of Islam and sidelining of Christianity in
education. The former Bishop of Rochester,
Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, writing in Standpoint
magazine, has urged Education Secretary
Operation Nehemiah Updates
If you would like to receive Operation Nehemiah news and prayer updates, please email ON@barnabasfund.org
to register your interest in the campaign, or phone 01672 564938. Regular updates are also available on the
Operation Nehemiah section of the website www.barnabasfund.org/nehemiah.
Operation Nehemiah
n The spread of halal is part of the
commitment of many Muslims to Islamic
mission (dawa) and the Islamisation of
their non-Muslim host societies, which
includes the imposition of Islamic
practices on non-Muslims.
n Halal-compliant methods of slaughter
raise questions relating to animal cruelty,
as many Muslims believe that animals
must not be stunned before killing
(although others disagree).
n The eating of foods associated with non-
Christian religious practices and its
spiritual and social effects within the
Christian community are also a concern
for many Christians.
An article, “The Halal Controversy”
(http://barnabasfund.org/spread-of-halal ) is
Michael Gove to restore the teaching of
Christianity in Britain’s schools. He says that
Christianity was the most significant link in
the story of Britain.
Operation Nehemiah wants to appeal to our
supporters to provide us with information
about what is being taught in primary schools
about Christianity and Islam. We are also
planning to launch a school pack about
Christianity later in 2011, which will be
available for supporters to sponsor and even
donate as a gift to local schools. We hope that
it will be a transforming and treasured
investment for them.
Please pray that God will give us His wisdom
for this developing project.
available on the Operation
Nehemiah section of our website
(www.barnabasfund.org/nehemiah) and
explains the background and serious
implications of the spread of halal
products. An abridged version has been
included as a pull-out in this magazine.
Operation Nehemiah would like to thank
those supporters who have made
enquiries or complained to local suppliers.
Please visit the Operation Nehemiah
section of the Barnabas Fund web site
to participate in the Halal Campaign
and register your support for proper
labelling and the freedom to choose.
To receive further updates about the halal
campaign, please contact Operation
Nehemiah at ON@barnabasfund.org.
“Greater
Understanding of
Islam” seminars
Operation Nehemiah is planning a
series of training seminars across
Britain in 2011 to provide churches
with a greater understanding of
Islam and training in outreach to
Muslims and care for converts.
Topics will include sharia, why
women convert to Islam, and
theological differences between
Christianity and Islam.
Any church or group of churches that
would like to host a seminar is invited
to contact Operation Nehemiah.
BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 11
 Country Profile

Egypt
Egypt has a mixed reputation in the Bible. On the one hand it is a place of refuge, for Jacob
and his family in a time of famine, and for the infant Christ and His family fleeing from
Herod. But on the other hand it is the place of Israel’s enslavement, from where God
liberates them in the Exodus, and where He several times forbids them to return. It stands
both for God’s gracious provision for His people, and for their oppression and persecution
by their enemies.
Egypt continues to have this mixed reputation today. It is home to the largest Christian
community in the Middle East, whose origins lie in the first Christian centuries. Numerically
and historically the Church is a testimony to God’s faithfulness to His people. But the
country also has a dismal record of anti-Christian hostility, and it is ranked among the
world’s worst persecutors of converts from Islam.

No safety in Restrictions church buildings (see p14). Many local

officials delay the application process,

numbers on buildings demanding documents from the Christians

Estimates of the size of the Christian
population in Egypt vary between 8 and 12
per cent, or about six to ten million people.
The early Church flourished in Egypt, and
many of today’s Christians are descended
from these early believers. But in AD 651
the land was invaded by Arab Muslims. The
dominance of Islam was quickly established,
and the Christians were reduced to the
status of second-class citizens. Today the
great majority of the population are Sunni
Muslims, and despite their numbers the
Christians are an oppressed minority.
The Egyptian constitution guarantees
freedom of religion, but it also specifies that
sharia (Islamic law) is the principal source of
the country’s legislation. In 1980 Islam was
declared to be the state religion. More
recently Egyptian courts have ruled that
religious freedom does not extend to Muslim
citizens who want to convert to another
religion, and that it is restricted by the
principles of Islam. In 2010 the Supreme
Council of Islamic Affairs, a government
body, stated that Egypt is an Islamic state
where “the citizenship rights of non-
Muslims were conditional to their abiding by
the Islamic identity of the State”.
that are almost impossible to obtain, and the
security forces may prevent them from using
One major area in which Christians find any permits that are given. Some church
themselves severely restricted is the properties have even been destroyed by the
construction and repair of church buildings. authorities.
All applications for new buildings must be
approved by the President in person. No As a result there are not nearly enough
church building may be put up within 100 church buildings in Egypt to meet the needs
metres of a mosque, and the approval of of the Christian community, so Christians
the neighbouring Muslim community must have sometimes to resort to meeting in
be secured before a permit can be granted. private buildings or homes. But because
The expansion or rebuilding of existing these buildings are unlicensed places of
churches require the consent of a Provincial worship, the churches are sometimes closed
Governor, and not even the smallest of down by the local authorities.
repairs, such as the
replacement of a broken
window, can be made
without local authority
agreement.
These restrictions make the
process of obtaining permits
long, slow and often futile.
The Muslim community is
generally hostile to the
construction of Christian
places of worship: on many
occasions Muslim mobs
have attacked Christians Although the Church in Egypt is large and has a long history, it
because of information or faces severe hostility from the country’s Muslim majority
rumours about work on

12 BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011


Discrimination
and poverty
Christians in Egypt have to endure another,
more indirect limitation of their freedom, in
the form of serious discrimination in many
areas of life. For example, they are largely
excluded from government jobs, high-
ranking positions in the military and
security services, and positions in the state
universities. They are rarely nominated to
stand in elections, and there are very few
Christian members of the People’s
Assembly. Only a handful of Christians
hold senior political office. The long-
standing contempt of most Egyptian
Muslims for their Christian neighbours has
been exacerbated in recent decades by the
political instability of the wider region.
Although there used to be many
prosperous Egyptian Christians, most of
them have emigrated because of anti-
Many of Egypt’s Christians are very poor and have to earn a living sorting rubbish in
“garbage cities”
Christian pressure and hostility. The majority
of the Christians who remain in Egypt live in
extreme poverty, and thousands are in
“garbage villages”, where they earn a living
sorting household rubbish. Two years ago
many of them lost a major part of their
livelihood when the government culled their
pigs on the pretext of restricting the spread of
swine flu.
Persecution
of converts
Egyptian converts from Islam to Christianity
are particularly vulnerable to hostility from
the government and wider society. There is
no law against leaving Islam, but converts
usually face harassment and severe
pressure, and sometimes even threats to
their lives. Some have been detained and
pressured to return to Islam, and have
suffered physical abuse while in custody.
Country Profile
It is not possible for
converts to Christianity
to register their change
of faith officially or to
alter the religion listed
on their identity cards.
Converts whose
religion is still listed as
Islam face difficulties
in marriage, These twin boys, wh
inheritance, and even committed Christi o are
in attending church.
ans, had
the religion on their birth
Attempts in the courts certificates changed from
by converts to have
their conversions
Christianity to Islam when
their father converted. They
formally recognised have been denied the right
or their ID cards to have it changed back
altered have
repeatedly failed. (By contrast, if a Christian
converts to Islam their ID card is promptly
changed to show that they are now Muslim.)
When one or both Muslim parents convert to
Christianity, their children are still considered
to be Muslims. But when a Christian parent
converts to Islam, the children are reckoned
to follow his or her Islamic faith, and the
religion on their birth certificates can be
changed to Islam. In March 2010 a court
rejected a lawsuit from a Christian mother
asking for the Christian identity of her twin
sons, whose father converted to Islam, to be
reinstated before their identity cards were
due to be issued at the age of 16. This
decision was made despite the fact that the
boys are firm believers in Christ.
ONE CONVERT’S
STORY
Maher el-Gohary is a convert from
Islam to Christianity, and in May 2009
he tried to have the religion on his ID
card changed to reflect his faith. He
and his daughter Dina, also a
Christian, were forced into hiding,
and they had to move repeatedly to
avoid detection. In June 2009 a court
refused his request, and when el-
Gohary and his daughter attempted
to leave the country, they were
stopped at the airport and their
passports were confiscated. More
than one attempt has been made on
Maher’s life, and Dina has been
attacked with acid.
BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 13
 Country Profile

Anti-Christian when they meet for worship or prayer, try to

convert a building into a church, or construct Inadequate
violence a new building. Buildings themselves may
also be targeted. Some incidents of protection
premeditated murder have been reported.
Recent years have witnessed an alarming The Egyptian authorities do very little to
surge in brutal attacks on Christian One specific and extremely distressing form help the victims of anti-Christian attacks.
individuals and communities in Egypt. A of anti-Christian violence is the abduction The police are often slow to respond to
study by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal and rape of Christian girls, their enforced reports of violence; they frequently seem
Rights found that in the two years to January conversion to Islam, and their marriage to unwilling to protect Christian properties or
2010 there were at least 53 incidents of Muslim men. For example, within the space Christian people, and there are
sectarian hostility or tension, in 17 of Egypt’s of a few weeks 15-year-old Marian Bishay documented cases of security forces
29 governorates. was kidnapped on her way to collect dinner joining the attackers or arresting the
for her family from the local restaurant, 50m victims. Normally little effort is made to
The acts of violence, which generally occur from her home in Giza, and 19-year-old Amal arrest those responsible.
in more remote or rural areas, take various Estephanos was abducted in broad daylight by
forms and arise from various causes. Some a group of Muslims. Witnesses reported that Even when suspects are detained and
of the most serious are acts of “collective Amal was drugged and bundled into a pickup their guilt is not in question, many cases
retribution”, when Muslims seek revenge truck with the assistance of local villagers. It never reach court. After major incidents
against all Christians in an area for the action appears that neither of the girls has ever been the government pressures the Christian
of one Christian. Christians also risk attack restored to their families. victims into “reconciliation”, supposedly
as a way of easing tensions and resolving
disputes. But the real goal of these
RECENT INCIDENTS OF ANTI- sessions, Christians believe, is to
persuade the Christian victims to withdraw
CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE their complaints against the Muslim
attackers, thus preventing their
A Muslim mob attacked the town of prosecution. Offenders who are brought to
Farshoot on 21 November 2009, court may receive very lenient sentences.
prompted by rumours of sexual abuse In the meantime Christians can be illegally
against a Muslim girl by a Christian expelled from their homes in order to
man. Up to 3,000 Muslims gathered appease Muslims in the affected areas.
outside the police headquarters in an
attempt to kidnap and murder the
The frequent failure to bring the
man. The mob then looted, vandalised
Christians in Farshoot were injured perpetrators of anti-Christian violence to
and burned Christian-owned shops
and their properties destroyed by a justice has created the impression, largely
and businesses and threw Christian
Muslim mob justified, that Muslims can attack and
families out of their homes. At least
seven Christians were injured. On 6 even murder Christians with impunity.
January 2010, in the neighbouring town of Nag Hammadi, six Christian Indeed, some Christians believe that the
worshippers and a security guard were killed when three gunmen stormed a Egyptian government is now deliberately
worship service. The church’s leader had previously been threatened because inciting Muslims against them, and using
of his requests for compensation for the Christians of Farshoot. Islamist radicalism as a political weapon.
On 12 March 2010 hundreds of Christians were trapped inside a church in
Marsa-Matruh for ten hours when thousands of Muslims attacked the building.
Some of the crowd entered the church and assaulted the Christians, and they Islamist
went on to burn property. Twenty-three Christians were injured. The pretext for
the attack was the construction without permission of a wall around a plot of threats
land owned by the church.
On 20 March 2010 a church in Luxor was surrounded by bulldozers and A number of militant Islamist groups
hundreds of police. The community centre was demolished and all the church’s operate in Egypt, with the goal of turning it
land was taken over, apart from the church building itself. The authorities said into an Islamic state under the rule of
that there were underground archaeological remains on the site, but the sharia law. They have secured a
Christians saw this claim as a mere excuse for destroying their property. significant place in education and the
A Muslim motorcyclist beheaded one Christian and injured two other Christians media, and have launched many violent
on 16 September 2009. The murder victim, Abdo George Yonan, was stabbed attacks. Some of these are against
nine times before being decapitated. The attacker then moved on to two Christians, and the government’s failure
neighbouring villages, where he severely injured a local shoemaker and adequately to counter Islamist activities
assaulted a blacksmith. and influence thus endangers the
churches. But now Islamist leaders are

14 BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

 Country Profile

also spreading unfounded accusations

against them.
THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD (MB)
In September 2010 Muslim anger was
ignited when Egyptian Christians were The Muslim Brotherhood, the first grassroots Islamist movement in modern
accused in the media of supporting Israel times, was founded in Egypt in 1928. Its main goal is to establish an
and stockpiling weapons in preparation Islamic state based on sharia in Egypt and other Muslim countries. This
for waging war against Muslims. Tensions would then be expanded to include non-Muslim countries and eventually to
were also fuelled by rumours that become a global Islamic Caliphate dominating the whole world. The MB
believes that all governing systems opposed to Islamist ideology must be
Christians were kidnapping and torturing
gradually infiltrated, abolished and replaced. It claims to work for its goals
women who had converted to Islam.
peacefully and within the law, and it won a substantial number of
Numerous mass demonstrations involving
parliamentary seats in the 2005 elections. But it has also established a
thousands of Muslims took place against
secret branch that uses violence against perceived enemies, and most of
Christians, with the previously unknown
the radical Islamist terrorist organisations in the Arab world are offshoots
group “Front of Islamic Egypt” promising
from the MB.
them a “bloodbath”.

The Egyptian authorities were accused of

complicity for political reasons in the
escalating crisis in light of forthcoming
elections. Christian leaders suggested
that the government was trying to use
Islamist threats and violence as a means
of channelling social discontent away
from itself and on to the churches.
Certainly it did little to quash the untrue
reports or restrain the hostility of the
demonstrators.
Pray for Egypt’s
Christians
The growing strength of Islamism, added to
the longstanding problems of restriction and
discrimination, harassment and violence,
places Egyptian Christians in a highly
precarious position. They are also unable to
turn to the authorities for protection with any
confidence of receiving it. Yet the Church
remains faithful to Christ, and even considers
martyrdom for His sake to be a great
blessing. Please pray for our brothers and
sisters, that the Lord will protect them from
harm and give them courage and strength to
stand firm in the face of hostility. Pray too
that the harsh conditions they have to endure
will be relieved.

BARNABAS FUND HELPING EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANS

Feeding and basic needs
Many Christians in Upper Egypt live in severe poverty, and some children do not even
know what an egg is. Barnabas Fund has given grants to help local Christians to supply
the poorest Christians with food and other basic needs. (Project reference 11-220)

Vocational training centres

In a very poor area Barnabas is assisting the Church to establish a number of vocational
training centres to help Christians learn skills by which they can support themselves and
their families. The courses include training as car mechanics, electricians and carpenters
and in IT skills. (Project reference 11-859)
This school was built with support from
Barnabas to provide a Christian education
Livelihoods for Christian pig farmers for students aged 12-15
In April 2009 many Christians lost their livelihood and an important source
of protein when the Egyptian authorities ordered the slaughter of 300,000
pigs on the pretext of preventing swine flu. This unnecessary measure
damaged only the Christian population, as Muslims do not eat pork or rear
pigs. A local church in one “garbage village” is providing alternative ways
for Christian families to support themselves, helped with funds from
Barnabas. (Project reference 11-819)

Desert reclamation and job training

In an area of high unemployment, this project supported by Barnabas is
reclaiming 80 acres of desert land for irrigation and farming. Between 80
and 100 Christian workers will receive job training and employment on
A project supported by Barnabas has supplied these goats
the farm. The project will also provide food for the local Christian
to provide a livelihood for Christian farmers whose pigs
community and a source of income from the sale of produce. were culled by the government
(Project reference 11-926)

BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 15

 Newsroom
IRAQ: CHURCH UNDER THREAT
AFTER BLOODY SIEGE
Fears for Iraq’s beleaguered Christian
community have accelerated after a bloody
siege at a Baghdad church left more than
50 dead and militants threatened further
violence.
The Islamic State of Iraq, an Al-Qaeda front
group, claimed responsibility for the attack
and afterwards said that the “killing sword
will not be lifted”. When a 48-hour deadline Mourners filled the streets for
for the release of Muslim women they
falsely claimed the Egyptian Church was
holding captive expired (see Egypt article,
page 17), the threat was extended to “all
Christian centres, organisations and
institutions, leaders and followers”.
On Sunday 31 October armed militants
entered the church in central Baghdad,
where around 100 people were taking part wedding ceremony.
in an evening service, and immediately
killed the church minister. The attackers
demanded the release of Al-Qaeda
prisoners as well as the women in Egypt.
But negotiations failed, and security forces in 2003. Hundreds of thousands have been
A door to the Baghdad church riddled
with bullet holes
ALGERIA: CHRISTIAN PAIR CLEARED OF OFFENDING ISLAM
Two Christian men who were arrested
in Algeria after they were seen eating
lunch during Ramadan have been
acquitted. Hocine Hocini and Salem
Fellak were accused of offending Islam
by breaking the rules of Ramadan, the
Muslim month of fasting during daylight
hours. The colleagues were arrested in
16 BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
the funeral
procession of those killed in
the siege
stormed the building in an effort to free the
hostages. Dozens of worshippers, as well as
security forces and attackers, died in the
ensuing fighting, with scores more
wounded. Among the victims were pregnant
Raghada al-Wafi, and Thar Abdallah, the
church minister who had conducted her
It was the deadliest recorded attack against
Iraq’s Christians, who have endured
repeated violence since the US-led invasion
forced to flee as a result of the repeated
attacks; the number of Christians has fallen
from 1.5 million in 1990 to perhaps as low
as 400,000 today.
In the last edition of Barnabas Aid we
reported that the Iraqi government had
pledged to help exiled Christians return to
their homeland. But the Iraqi Church could
now be facing further haemorrhage as
Christians are once again forced to consider
seeking asylum elsewhere in light of the
growing hostility.
August after eating on the building site
where they worked in Kabylie, northern
Algeria. They admitted they had been
eating but said they had done it discreetly.
A state prosecutor sought a three year
prison sentence, but at their trial in October
the judge threw the case out of court,
TURKMENISTAN:
PASTOR JAILED ON
FALSE CHARGES
A pastor in Turkmenistan has been jailed
for four years on what his wife and
church say are false accusations.
Ilmurad Nurliev (45) was convicted on 21
October on charges of swindling, which
they insist were fabricated as a
punishment for his religious activity.
He is expected to serve his sentence in a
labour camp where, according to some
claims, mind-altering drugs have been
used. Worryingly the grandfather-of-two
is diabetic, and his wife has not been
allowed to see him or give him his
medicines since he was arrested in
August.
The credibility of the prosecution
witnesses – one of whom was
apparently in jail when the authorities
claimed she gave Pastor Nurliev money
– has been strongly questioned.
According to his wife, Maya Nurlieva, the
court said that if Nurliev paid the money
he is alleged to have swindled from
people who came to his church, he
might be eligible for prisoner amnesty.
“But he’s not guilty,” she told Forum 18
News Service.
Pastor Nurliev had previously been
targeted by the authorities. He was put
on the country’s exit blacklist without an
official explanation. And the church he
leads in Mary has been repeatedly
denied registration since 2007.
saying, “No article [of law] provided for a
legal pursuit” against the men.
A group of people who had gathered
outside the courthouse applauded when
they heard the verdict.

RUSSIA: THREE CHURCHES TORCHED
Three churches were torched by arsonists
in Russia’s mainly Muslim North Caucasus
region, where Islamists are fighting to
establish a separate state ruled by sharia
(Islamic law).
The fires at churches in Karachayevo-
Cherkessia republic all happened in the
early hours of 1 November in what was
described by a senior church leader as
“well-orchestrated provocation”. He
INDONESIA: CHRISTIANS AT CENTRE
OF TRIPLE DISASTER
Mainly Christian islands were at the heart
of a three-fold disaster of earthquake,
tsunami and volcanic eruption that killed
hundreds and left thousands homeless in
Indonesia.
A 7.7 magnitude undersea earthquake
triggered the three-metre high tsunami,
which pounded the Mentawai Islands, off
the coast of West Sumatra, on 25 October.
The following day Mount Merapi on Java
erupted, and afterwards continued to spew
out clouds of ash and gas. The combined
death toll reached 450, while tens of
thousands of people became refugees as
homes were destroyed.
Barnabas Fund sent immediate financial aid
for the provision of food, clothing and
Christians from Padang risked their safety
to help brothers and sisters in Mentawai.
(Source: IFGF GISI Mentawai Relief Team)
added, “The intention is to destabilise
inter-religious harmony, but they will
not succeed.”
One of the churches was almost
completely gutted, but all three buildings
were saved by the immediate intervention
of church members who, after alerting the
fire brigade, began fighting the flames
themselves. No one was hurt in the
attacks.
medicine in Mentawai, a collection of small
islands that are predominantly Christian.
Our partners from churches in Padang,
West Sumatra, worked with their Mentawai
counterparts to co-ordinate relief efforts.
Supplies were gathered by the Padang
churches and taken by boat to the islands,
with brave volunteers risking their own
safety in dangerous conditions to help their
brothers and sisters.
Around 500 homes were destroyed, with a
further 200 damaged. Six church buildings,
five schools, six government buildings,
seven bridges and an eight-kilometre
stretch of road were also damaged or
destroyed. The rescue and relief operation
was expected to last for up to three months
followed by extensive rehabilitation work.
Newsroom
The North Caucasus is plagued by
violence, but vandalism of churches is
rare. And Karachayevo-Cherkessia, which
has a sizeable Christian minority, had
previously enjoyed relative peace. It is not
known who was behind the fires, but
there has been an upsurge in Islamist
militancy in the North Caucasus region,
where radicalised youths are fighting for
an independent state separate from
predominantly Christian Russia.
EGYPT: CHRISTIANS
UNDER INTENSE
ATTACK
Thousands of Egyptian Christians staged
a demonstration in front of the United
Nations to appeal for international help in
stopping violence against the country’s
believers.
The protest at the end of October
followed a series of false allegations,
threats of violence, and mass
demonstrations by Islamists against the
Church in Egypt.
At least ten mass demonstrations
involving thousands of Muslims had taken
place against Egyptian Christians, with
the previously unknown group “Front of
Islamic Egypt” threatening them with a
“bloodbath”.
In addition to baseless rumours that
Christians were kidnapping and torturing
women who had converted to Islam,
Muslim anger was ignited when entirely
unfounded accusations were made on Al-
Jazeera TV that the Egyptian Church was
aligned with Israel and stockpiling
weapons in preparation for waging war
against Muslims.
Egyptian Christians’ rights were also
threatened by the Supreme Council of
Islamic Affairs, a government body,
following remarks by a church leader
about a verse in the Qur’an. The council
said that “the citizenship rights of non-
Muslims were conditional to their abiding
by the Islamic identity of the State”.
BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 17
 In Touch

Representing the
Suffering Church Find us on Facebook;
Follow us on Twitter
Barnabas Fund has a
Do you share our passion for persecuted Christians who are suffering for their Facebook page where
faith? You can stand with our brothers and sisters around the world by helping we can share
your local church to understand their plight. information, press
Barnabas Fund’s development manager in the UK, Peter Burnett, says: releases and items for prayer with
“For the work of Barnabas Fund to be effective, we need people who are our supporters. To receive frequent
willing to go that extra mile; people who will be a voice for our brothers and updates on current issues, visit
sisters who are discriminated against because of their faith in our Lord.” www.facebook.com/BarnabasFund
In your Church: Church representatives are a voice for the persecuted and “like” the page.
Church worldwide within their local congregations. The role can be adapted to
suit the individual and their church. You can also follow us on Twitter, a
quick and free service that lets you
What does a representative do? keep in touch with up-to-date stories
n Publicises the plight of persecuted Christians by distributing Barnabas relating to persecuted Christians
Aid magazine and other printed materials to church members. around the world. Barnabas updates
n Encourages prayer by raising items at church prayer meetings and/or for Twitter regularly with prayer points
the church’s notice sheet; perhaps setting up a local prayer group. and links to news
n Raises financial support by encouraging the church to consider allocating stories. To get involved
part of its outward giving and/or holding a special offering for Barnabas with Barnabas Twitter,
Fund projects. visit http://twitter.com/
n Promotes special events such as Suffering Church Sunday and BarnabasFund.
encourages people to support petitions and campaigns.
In your Area: Area representatives promote the work of Barnabas Fund
across a local area, organising and encouraging meetings for people from local
churches and Christian groups. They may speak at meetings themselves or
invite Barnabas Fund to provide a speaker for an event they are organising at a
local venue.
As a speaker: Barnabas Fund receives frequent enquiries from groups and Praying for the
churches for someone to speak to them about the persecuted Church. We
need volunteers who are gifted in preaching and public speaking to give a Persecuted Church
in Lent
voice to persecuted Christians who cannot speak for themselves.
For more information about the support available for these volunteer roles,
please visit our website (www.barnabasfund.org/volunteer) or contact Peter
Burnett at the Coventry office (address details on the back cover). The time In the weeks before Easter we
needed can be very flexible to fit in with your schedule and other especially remember our Lord’s
commitments. Many volunteers fulfil more than one of these roles! suffering, so this is also a very
appropriate time to remember those
around the world who are suffering

Regular Giving to Barnabas Fund?

Would you consider giving regularly to
Barnabas Fund? Regular gifts allow
us to plan ahead knowing that we will
have a steady income stream to rely
on. It also helps us respond quickly to
new or emergency requests.
If you would like to set up a regular
gift to Barnabas Fund, please
complete the Direct Debit form on the
inside back cover. If you are a UK
taxpayer, don’t forget to complete the
Gift Aid declaration, so that Barnabas
Fund can reclaim the tax on all of the
donations that you make. This means
that your gifts are worth up to 28%
more to us at no extra cost to you.
for their faith in Him. Barnabas Fund
invites you to join us in prayer for the
persecuted Church as you prepare for
Easter. Please look out for your copy
of the Barnabas Fund 2011 Lent
Prayer Booklet, which will be
included with the March/April 2011
edition of Barnabas Aid. We hope you
find this a useful tool to inspire and
assist your prayers for Christians
around the world.

18 BARNABAS AID JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

 The aid agency for the persecuted Church

Please send the following resources (indicate quantity required):

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Yes, I would like to help the persecuted Church

Here is my gift of ______________________ Gift Aid Declaration (Applicable to UK tax payers only)
Please use my gift for I authorise Barnabas Fund, registered charity no. 1092935, to treat all
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Mag JF11 Barnabas Fund.

DIRECT DEBIT for UK supporters who would like to give regularly Mag JF11

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where it is most needed (General Fund) or for ________________________________*(give reference number of project to be supported)
Name (Mr,Mrs,Miss,Ms,Rev,Dr) I would like to give a regular gift of £__________________________________
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pen and send it to: Barnabas Fund, 9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX
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 The “Barnabas Fund Distinctive”

Help us share the

message of Barnabas Fund
We are always seeking to make more people aware of the plight of the persecuted Church, and what
Barnabas Fund does to bring hope and aid to our suffering brothers and sisters. We would like to ask
you to help us spread our message wider. Will you introduce your Christian friends to our work and
encourage them to take an interest in it?
Why not send us names and contact details (with permission!) of your friends/family
who share your concern for the persecuted Church? Enclosed with this edition of the
magazine is a card for you to fill out and return to your nearest Barnabas office
(addresses below).
Thank you so much for anything you can do to raise awareness of the needs of our suffering brothers
and sisters, and of what Barnabas is doing to help them. We are so grateful for the faithfulness of our
supporters in prayer, concern and giving.

“Your love for the Lord’s people gives us great joy and encouragement, because you have
refreshed their hearts.” (Philemon 1:7)

How to Find Us Jersey

Le Jardin, La Rue A Don, Grouville, Jersey, Channel Islands JE3 9GB
You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses: Telephone 700600 Fax 700601 Email bfjersey@barnabasfund.org

UK New Zealand
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Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz
From outside the UK
Telephone +44 24 7623 1923 Fax +44 24 7683 4718 USA
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For a list of all trustees, please contact Barnabas Fund UK at the Coventry address above. International Headquarters
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