Thursday, March 23, 2006

A different kind of martyr


I haven't gotten into the story of Abdul Rahman, an apostate from Islam in Afghanistan and a convert to Christianity who faces a possible death sentence for his apostasy.

In that respect, Islam is a bit like the Mafia...once you're in, getting out can be hazardous to your health.

Baron Boddisy at Gates of Vienna has a superb post on Abdul Rahman here called "A different kind of Martyr" in which he examines the difference between an Islamic shaheed and a Christian martyr...and talks about the spectacle of an Islamic regime in Afghanistan, supported by US troops putting Abdul Rahman at risk of execution for being a Christian!

The Baron writes:

"An Islamic martyr – a shahid – is a follower of the prophet who dies fighting for Allah during jihad, and his goal is to enter Paradise while killing as many of the enemy as possible. In recent years martyrdom has increasingly been associated with the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent infidel (or apostate) civilians, even children.

But Christian martyrs are somewhat different. In the Christian tradition, a martyr faces death rather than renounce his faith, and dies without violent resistance, with his eyes turned towards God. To target anyone else during martyrdom, especially the innocent, would be specifically un-Christian.

At the dawn of Christianity innumerable believers were martyred at the hands of the Romans. Throughout the centuries since there have been many more dying at the hands of pagans, or during the internecine strife that has been all too common within Christianity. The latest examples occur in places like Nigeria, Sudan, Malaysia, and Indonesia, often at the hands of Muslims. The news doesn’t generally make it to the newspapers or TV, but there are Christians being martyred for their faith almost every day.

Abdul RahmanNow we come to Abdul Rahman, who has made it to the newspapers and TV. He is an apostate from Islam in Afghanistan, a convert to Christianity, and he faces a possible death sentence for his heinous act.".....


Read the rest here

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Abdul Rahman is not a different kind of martyr - he is a true martyr if anything happens to him. It is the Islamic jidahists who will be confronted with the blood of the innocent when they die and instead of their supposed virgins they will see men, women and children who were beloved by God and whose lives they cut short and deprived so many of their presence . Muslims will pay for the innocent blood they have shed. Before God Himself.

Kenny said...

We are rebuilding Afghanistan, Why? We send a BILLION dollars a month over there so they can kill Christians.

Freedom Fighter said...

As I've said, gentlemen...Islam is a whole other ballgame.

The Afghanis are merely following what is written in the Qu'ran.

Islam canot allow apostasy because it is a diret challenge to the Islamic worldview. If people are free to leave it, than the entire Islamic protrayal of itself as G-d 3.0 tumbles down in a heap.

It's kind of like the old Cold War joke about the two Bulgarians:

Peter- `If they opened the borders. would you leave?'

Ivan- `Of course! Who would want to stay in Bulgaria all alone ?'