Some History of Forced Conversions

In the highly celebrated case of Rifqa Barry in the US, a moslem girl who converted to Christianity and moved in with Christian friends, despite her clear public declarations that she chose to become a Christian of her own free volition, and the well-known and fully acknowledged death sentence that hung on her head, compelling her to run away from home, (http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Rifqa_Bary) , she was nevertheless NOT allowed to continue to stay with her Christian friends, but placed within the public domain.  Similarly in the UK in 2009, a moslem girl who insisted on converting to Christianity while staying at a Foster home run by a Christian lady, got the Foster parent into deep trouble as she (the young girl) insisted against all entreaties that she must convert to Christianity.  According to the Foster parent, “ I offered her alternatives. I offered to find places for her to practise her own religion. I offered to take her to friends or family…”  Not only was the young convert removed from the Foster home, for her failure to prevent the convertion, the Foster parent also lost her licence and meal ticket!  (see CA! Vol 12 No 2).

  Contrast these situations with the current case of Charity Uzoechina in Bida, Nigeria, where the so-called Islamic proselytizers are not only proudly announcing their “catch”, they are also scrupulously keeping her away from the public domain - not even to appear at the Courts for cross-examination. Rather, they keep on insisting that they have “legal documents” (rooted in their religion), authorizing them to keep the lady perpetually within their own enclave. They are even already making marriage plans for the lady!

For years, we have reported on this sad trend of forced Islamic conversions, which is common in Islamic communities with Christian minorities.  Most notably in Egypt, where innumerable ladies are being abducted, either blackmailed or brainwashed to claim conversion to Islam,  and thereafter married out to Moslem men. (http://christiannews.over-blog.com/article-the-disappearance-forced-conversions-and-forced-marriages-of-coptic-christian-women-in-egypt-40541012.html)  In 2012, the U.S. Congress held a special hearing to receive testimonies about the “escalating abduction, coerced conversion and forced marriage of Coptic Christian women and girls in Egypt.  Earlier in 2009, the Christian Solidarity International and the Coptic Foundation for Human Rights had jointly commissioned an investigation into the cases of Islamic forced conversions in that country.  One of the attorneys interviewed during the Investigation indicated that as many as a thousand ladies forcefully converted to Islam in recent years, have initiated petitions to have their Christian identities restored.

The report of the Investigation (available here) describes the common pattern of Islamic abductions-cum -forced conversions:

“Most cases referenced in this report began with a trusting relationship that ultimately led to disappearance or abduction and finally marriage to a Muslim man and conversion to Islam.  These friendships may include a school friend or peer; an older woman who fills the role of a mother figure, a Muslim boyfriend, or a benevolent provider.  These relationships offer a sense of belonging, camaraderie and emotional as well as financial support. In some cases, they also provide vital services and tangible forms of assistance in the case of need.  These supposed new friends exploit the vulnerability of young Coptic women for the purposes of forced marriage and conversion…”

All these elements are clearly visible in the current case of Charity Uzoechina.

Another report cited by the catholic news agency contain similar details. According to the report, “The individuals interviewed also said that the disappearances are the result of ‘organized and systematic planning.’  They often involve attempts to befriend victims, or else use force and fraud.  Abductors target vulnerable young ….. women… They physically separate these women from their families and proceed to abuse, threaten and brainwash them. ”   http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/hearing-outlines-forced-marriages-conversions-in-egypt/

Clearly there is nothing original in all the drama scripts currently being played out at the palace of the Etsu Nupe in Bida as regards Charity Uzoechina. It’s just a crude copy mainly from Egypt.  And on this note, we again wish to emphatically warn the Christian community in Nigeria that the perpetrators of this grand evil have no intention of stopping any soon unless they are forcefully confronted and stopped. As far as they are concerned, they have virtually no other hope of getting people to embrace Islam other than these foul, despicable means.

 In 2007, we reported the case of Victor Udo Usen, a Christian boy who went missing in November 2006 in Sokoto; and was later spotted in the house of a moslem neighbor several months later.  Shame of a nation, rather than the abductors being charged, they piously claimed the 13 year old boy, whom they had renamed Abdulkarim, had chosen to convert to Islam.  He could therefore not be released back to his infidel parents!  Even the police and state security, when contacted, could only counsel that the parents appeal to the Sultan of Sokoto that their child be kindly released to them!  (See CA! Vol 10 No 2).  What then is kidnapping?

At that time we noted that Christian leaders were reporting that abductions “of boys and girls by Islamists”  in Northern states of Nigeria are now becoming “increasingly common”.  As the case of Charity and the several other ladies of unknown identities currently swarming around the Etsu Nupe’s palace indicate, these incidents are not about to stop.

Of course if Charity or anyone else wishes to become moslems, (or pagans for that matter) they should be free to do so.  Yes, free to move around and not be locked up in an emir’s enclave.  Of course moslems who also wish to become Christians should also be similarly free to do so and continue to move freely in society.  That’s what civility is all about, and all religions MUST subscribe to this basic fundamental human right!

The really sorry aspect of all these nauseating stories is the countless Christian lives that have been wasted in Northern Nigeria on the charge that they attempted to convert Moslems to Christianity.  Popular cases highlighted by CA! included the 20 year old Christian lady who in the same Niger state as the case of Charity, was forcibly removed from the Police Station at Izom where she had sought protection, and brutally murdered in cold blood on Wednesday June 28, 2006 – all because she shared Gospel tracts with willing moslem youths. (see CA! Vol 9 No 4).  Also at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi in December 2004, the President of the campus fellowship of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Church, Sunday Ezekiel Achi was murdered near the University mosque for the mortal sin of leading the distribution of some gospel tracts on the campus! (See CA! Vol 8 No 2). 

   Now, in the same country, so-called respectable moslem clergy and traditional rulers are claiming that they have not only effected the conversion of the daughter of a christian pastor to Islam, they proudly announced that they have commissioned people to be teaching her the basics of Islam as well as arranging a number of suitors to take her in marriage!

This is not a case just for the Christian Association of Nigeria   – who under the current leadership of Pastor Ayo Oritsajefor is already doing a yeoman’s job.  Unfortunately, for so many so-called Christians in authority (politics, business, etc), the people who should speak out for their brothers and sisters, life is all about concessions and compromises.  Until Christians in positions of authority decide to arise, and stop making silly selfish concessions to moslems, we are not likely to see too soon an end to these sort of Islamic supremacist feelings.  Christian legislators, ministers, captains of industry etc should however remember the words of Mordecai to an initially reticent Esther:   “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? “ - Esther 4:14

 

For a detailed account of Islamic forced conversions, please read Raymond Ibrahim’s article at http://frontpagemag.com/2013/raymond-ibrahim/islamic-forced-conversions-past-and-present/

Furthermore, for a graphic demonstration of the sad reality of sadistic Islamic forced conversions, see the video at this link showing a Coptic Christian girl, from a wealthy family, being kidnapped, stripped and abused by a group of Muslims in Egypt. According to the group “Free Copts” who provided the video, the plan was to blackmail the lady into marrying the moslem man she had been videoed completely naked with.  They also threatened her with the same fate as had befallen another girl not far away, a girl who had been raped by 8 Muslim men, murdered, and had her body dumped in a nearby graveyard. The police and the prosecuting authority let those eight men go free.   http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/02/shock-video-shows-sexual-abuse-and-forced-conversion-of-coptic-christian-girl-in-egypt/