Free Republic

How do Muslims see Barack Obama? They have three choices: either as he presents himself, as one who has "never been a Muslim" and has "always been a Christian"; or as a fellow Muslim; or as an apostate from Islam. Reports suggests that while Americans generally view the Democratic candidate having had no religion before converting at Rev. Jeremiah Wrights's hands at 27, Muslims the world over rarely see him as Christian but usually as either Muslim or ex-Muslim. Lee Smith of the Hudson Institute explains why: "Barack Obama's father was Muslim and therefore, according to Islamic law, so is...

A former Sunni Muslim has been elected as the new president of Truett-McConnell College in Georgia. Dr. Emir Caner, who was the founding dean of the College at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, was voted by Truett-McConnell’s board of trustees to become its eighth president on Aug. 8, according to the Cleveland, Ga.-based college. His new appointment makes him the first former Muslim to be elected as president of a Southern Baptist college or university. He will officially begin his duties on Aug. 18. “It’s a great day in the life of Truett-McConnell College and Georgia Baptists!...

Her crime? Converting to Christianity. "Saudi man kills daughter for converting to Christianity," by Mariam Al Hakeem for Zawya, August 13:Riyadh: A Saudi man working with the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice recently killed his daughter for converting to Christianity. According to sources close to the victim, the religious police member had cut the tongue of the girl and burned her to death following a heated debate on religion. The death of the girl sent shockwaves and websites where the victim used to write with various nick names have allocated special space to mourn her, while...

Saudir Arabian Muslim father cut out his daughter's tongue and lit her on fire upon learning that she had become a Christian. The child became curious about Jesus Christ after she read Christian material online, the Gulf News reported. Her father read of her Internet conversation, detached her tongue and burned her to death "following a heated debate on religion," according to an International Christian Concern report...

Mosab Hassan Yousef is an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary story. He was born the son of one of the most influential leaders of the militant Hamas organization in the West Bank and grew up in a strict Islamic family. Now, at 30 years old, he attends an evangelical Christian church, Barabbas Road in San Diego, Calif. He renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and is seeking asylum in the United States. The story of how his life unfolded is truly amazing, whether you agree or disagree with his views. Below is a transcript on...

CALIFORNIA - A moment before beginning his dinner, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates. It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization in the West Bank, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian....

A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates. It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. "I'm now called Joseph," he says...

“Send regards to Israel, I miss it. I respect Israel and admire it as a country,” - these words are not something you would expect to hear from a Palestinian, let alone someone who grew up in the family that has led the radical and terrorist Islamic ideology of Hamas. But these are the words coming from non other than Masab Yousef - son of one of the leaders of Hamas in the West Bank, Sheikh Hassan Yousef. Masab Yousef - a Christian convert now living in California - in an interview with Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz talks about the “bottom...

A growing number of Christians in Britain from a Muslim background are facing harassment and persecution, warns Release International. They include ‘Yasmin’, whose ex-husband planned to kill her. She’s been attacked in the street, driven from her home and was taken under police protection. Yasmin became a Christian after receiving a vision of Jesus during the difficult birth of her son. She tried to keep her faith a secret from her family, but eventually told her mother. “When my mother found out I had become a Christian she went to the local mosque and told them that I had gone...

Magdi Allam, the Christian convert from Islam who was baptized by Pope Benedict XVI at an Easter service in April, has reacted to Islamist death threats posted on a web site said to be close to al-Qaeda. He has expressed particular concern that the writers of the threatening messages may be Italian. Allam, an Egyptian-born writer and deputy editor of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, has been a controversial figure in Italy for his regular critiques of Islam. In fact, in his book “Long Live Israel,” Allam wrote “the root of evil is innate in an Islam that is physiologically...

The question of weather Barack Hussien Obama is a Muslim, ever was a Muslim, is a good or bad guy brand of Muslim, is still haunting Barack Obama. As he scrambles to set up an internet war room to counter what he calls e-mail lies and smears, allegedly being spread about him, Obama continues to deny that he was ever a Muslim, or that he ever went to a Muslim school. I wrote nearly 3 months ago facts about Obama's Muslim & Communist ties including photos. There is so much Obama baggage it just keeps building and building until it...

As noted here yesterday, Barack Obama's half-brother Malik says that the candidate has a "Muslim background." Barack Obama himself, however, says he doesn't. This is question of his honesty, but it also raises another question: by all this increasingly implausible denial that he was ever identified as a Muslim, Barack Obama is implying what he would almost certainly strenuously deny if asked directly. He is implying that there is something wrong, something that would raise questions about one's loyalties, about being a Muslim. He is implying that people would have legitimate concerns about a Muslim President of the United States....

Apparently the Obamas of Kenya have been reading those scurrilous emails to which Barack likes to refer, because they have no doubt -- contrary to the claims of the Obama campaign, that the presidential candidate was raised a Moslem. They take that as a given. As the Jerusalem Post reports, "Barack Obama's half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background. In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya." The Obama brothers' father, a senior economist for the...

Barack Obama’s half brother claims that his brother Democrat Presidential candidate Barack Obama was raised as a Muslim. Contrary to the Obama campaign’s assertions otherwise Malik says he will make a good president in spite of his Muslim upbringing.

Apparently the Obamas of Kenya have been reading those scurrilous emails to which Barak likes to refer, because they have no doubt -- contrary to the claims of the Obama campaign, that the presidential candidate was raised a Moslem. They take that as a given. As the Jerusalem Post reports, "Barack Obama's half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background. In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya." The Obama brothers' father, a senior economist for the...

Andy Martin says Barack Obama is lying about his religious roots Andy Martin counters Barack Obama with new blog: http://BarackObamaWasAMuslim.blogspot.com Andy Martin 2008-06-13 02:31:29 - Barack Obama has raised the issue of his religious history by starting a web site to deny his origins, Martin says. Obama will not be allowed to lie any longer. The undisputed facts reveal Obama was a Muslim. Martin is the legendary Chicago Internet warrior and columnist who has pursued Obama with the truth for four years. Andy is the author of Obama: The Man Behind the Mask, scheduled for publication this month. orangestatepress.com NEW...

Again: if Obama had simply acknowledged that he was known as a Muslim as a child in Indonesia, and had left Islam later, none of this (besides the ties to the Islamic supremacists in Kenya) would be of any concern. But he has made it a matter of concern by denying what has been affirmed by so many others.

Election 2008: It's fitting that an ex-Muslim chaplain who once insisted there weren't any terrorists at Gitmo is a delegate for Barack Obama, who's itching to shut down Gitmo.James "Yousef" Yee, a former Army Muslim chaplain charged with espionage while serving at Gitmo, will represent Washington state for Obama at the Democratic National Convention, where he'll likely have a center-stage speaking role. The two are a perfect match. Obama promises to not only close Gitmo, but "reform" the USA Patriot Act. He apparently plans to take those steps in between tea parties with state sponsors of terror. Since the Pentagon...

You can't preach the Bible here, this is a Muslim area(What a community policeman told two Christians)  By Steve Doughty and Andy Dolan Last updated at 1:19 AM on 02nd June 2008  Readings from the Koran: Naeem Naguthney Two Christian preachers were stopped from handing out Bible extracts by police because they were in a Muslim area, it was claimed yesterday. They say they were told by a Muslim police community support officer that they could not preach there and that attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity was a hate crime. The community officer is also said to have...

On May 12, Iranian police arrested 12 known Muslim converts to Christianity and confiscated their books, computers and printers in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz. According to Compass Direct News, "The arrests began at 5 a.m. on May 11, when two couples were taken into custody before boarding their flights at the Shiraz International Airport and sent directly to jail. All four were subjected to hours of interrogation, questioning them solely 'just about their faith and house church activities.'"

Al-Jazeerah Website Synopsis from The American Thinker by James M. Arlandson. This translation of a televised conversation reveals a rare glimpse into the outlook of Muslim scholars who are concerned about Christianity’s growth. The invited guest is Sheikh Ahmad Al Katani; the president of The Companions Lighthouse for the Science of Islamic Law in Libya, which is an institution specializing in graduating imams and Islamic preachers. Katani starts off describing the overall problem: Islam used to represent, as you previously mentioned, Africa’s main religion and there were 30 African languages that used to be written in Arabic script. The...

“I am a part of all that I have met.” Ulysses by Tennyson The Obama-lovin’ media wants you to believe that the Reverend Wright earthquake has passed. Some would have you believe that Obama turned a negative into a positive with his embarrassing public contortionism defending Wright and giving us a history lesson on American racism from Plymouth Rock to the Freedom Riders, as if Reverend Wright’s inexcusable hate needs a context. Nothing is further from the truth. There is much to be told about Reverend Wright, Obama’s mentorship with this hate-monger, and the larger implication this relationship has for...

LOS ANGELES – The editors of a new book compiling the testimonies of ex-Muslims say they weren't surprised when the Council on American-Islamic Relations attacked their work without reading it. But, say Islamic experts Joel Richardson and Susan Crimp, they were shocked that the New York Daily News characterized the group as the voice of moderate Muslims. "Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out," published by WND Books, was skewered by CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper in the paper – weeks before today's official release date. The book is controversial for two reasons – the gripping firsthand personal accounts of...

Today I came across this year-old, largely biographical article about Barack Obama. It reads as though Lizza relied on Obama for large chunks of the piece, with other material coming from his books and interviews with those who knew him. About 2/3's down the page, I came across this astonishing nugget: After many lectures like this, Obama decided to take a second look at Wright's church. Older pastors warned him that Trinity was for "Buppies"--black urban professionals--and didn't have enough street cred. But Wright was a former Muslim and black nationalist who had studied at Howard and Chicago, and Trinity's...

A British citizen who converted to Christianity from Islam and then complained to police when locals threatened to burn his house down was told by officers to “stop being a crusader”, according to a new report. Nissar Hussein, 43, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who was born and raised in Britain, converted from Islam to Christianity with his wife, Qubra, in 1996. The report says that he was subjected to a number of attacks and, after being told that his house would be burnt down if he did not repent and return to Islam, reported the threat to the police. It...

There's a widespread belief that the penalty for leaving Islam is death - hence, perhaps, the killing of a British teacher last week. But Shiraz Maher believes attitudes may be softening. Ziya Meral's parents disowned him when he converted from Islam to Christianity. "They said 'go away, you're not our son.' They told people I died in an accident rather than having the shame of their son leaving Islam." Born and raised in Turkey, he decided to convert to Christianity after moving to university. He knew telling his parents would be a difficult moment even though they're not particularly observant...

THE NETHERLANDS - Dutch politician Ehsan Jami is closing down his Central Committee for Ex-Muslims. He claims people are scared to join the organisation because of threats from Muslims. Jami sits on the municipal council in Voorburg, formerly for the Labour Party, now as an independent. He presented plans for a committee for former Muslims last year. He was subsequently assaulted in the street and was provided with police protection. Jami was planning to make a cartoon animation on the Prophet Muhammad, which was to feature explicit sexual scenes, but recently agreed to give up the idea in response to...

A reader from Free Republic has dug up an old article last year (March 07) From TNR about Obama. It was written by Ryan Lizza, Senior editor at The New Republic. It's a biographical piece, but in the article, it explicitly states that Jeremiah Wright is a former Muslim.

Pope Benedict’s choice to publicly baptize the most prominent Muslim in Italy, Egyptian-born Magdi Allam, highlights a quiet worldwide exodus from Islam. In recent years, millions have moved on. With this high-profile action, Pope Benedict demonstratively blesses this massive conversion from the highest levels of the Church. Interviewed by al-Jazeera in 2006, Ahmad al-Qataani, leader of the Companions Lighthouse for the Science of Islamic Law in Libya, explains the decline: Islam used to represent … Africa’s main religion and there were 30 African languages that used to be written in Arabic script. The number of Muslims in Africa has diminished...

http://joshuafund.blogspot.com/2008/03/big-untold-story-in-middle-east-2008.html THE BIG (UNTOLD) STORY IN THE MIDDLE EAST: Muslims converting to faith in Jesus Christ in record numbers -- 2008 Update "I will build my church," Jesus said, "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18) The lead story on Drudge over the weekend was the Pope baptizing a prominent Egyptian author who converted from Islam to Catholicism, and for good reason. It's a huge story in Italy and the Muslim world, especially coming as it did the week that Osama bin Laden accused the Pope of waging a "crusade" against Islam. But this particular...

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Hossain Salahuddin, a poet, essayist and an ex-Muslim who is the author of several books. He is the editor of the magazine Maverick, which promotes literature, freethinking and rationalism. FP: Hossain Salahuddin, welcome to FrontPage interview. HS: Thanks very much for having me. It’s a real pleasure to be here. FP: Tell us about your childhood and your upbringing within Islam. HS: I was born in 1984, into a Muslim family in Bangladesh . My family was rather orthodox and they made sure I learn the Quran properly even before they enrolled me in a...

The Story of a Convert from Islam – Baptized by the Pope at St. Peter's His name is Magdi Cristiano Allam. For five years he has lived under guard, threatened with death. But his baptism has raised harsh criticism, against him and against Benedict XVI. The complete text of the accusation written by Aref Ali Nayed, architect of the letter of the 138 by Sandro Magister ROMA, March 28, 2008 – Three days earlier, in an audio message released over the internet, Osama bin Laden had accused "the pope of the Vatican" of having "a significant role" in fighting a...

On the world stage, and under the auspices of Pope Benedict, Magdi Allam, a staunch Egyptian critic of radical Islam, became a member of the Roman-Catholic faith. The significance and symbolism of this conversion cannot be understated, particularly in the current climate of Islamic-Catholic affairs. In embracing Roman Catholicism and rejecting Islam, Mr Allam (a formerly self-avowed secular Muslim) breached one of the most fundamental precepts of traditional Islam by committing the “crime” of apostasy.

ROME (CNS) -- The Muslim-born journalist baptized by Pope Benedict XVI at the Easter Vigil said he wanted a public conversion to convince other former Muslims not to be afraid of practicing their new Christian faith. But a representative of a group of Muslim scholars who recently launched a new dialogue with the Vatican said the prominence given to the baptism of Magdi Allam, a frequent critic of Islam, raises disturbing questions. Allam, 55, was one of seven adults baptized by the pope March 22 in St. Peter's Basilica. Aref Ali Nayed, a spokesman for the 138 Muslim scholars who...

Magdi Allam Recounts His Path to Conversion Benedict XVI Baptized the Journalist at Easter Vigil VATICAN CITY, MARCH 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Magdi Allam’s account of his conversion to Catholicism. The Muslim journalist was baptized by Benedict XVI at Saturday's Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. An abbreviated form of this account appeared as a letter to Paolo Mieli, the director of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Allam is the paper’s deputy director. The Italian version of the complete text is available at magdiallam.it. * * * Dear Friends, I am particularly happy to...

Muslim Converted by Pope Says Life in More Danger ROME - An outspoken muslim author and critic of Islamic fundamentalism who converted to Christianity at the hands of Pope Benedict said on Sunday he realised he was in greater danger but he has no regrets. «I realise what I am going up against but I will confront my fate with my head high, with my back straight and the interior strength of one who is certain about his faith» said Magdi Allam. In a surprise move on Saturday night, the pope baptized the 55-year-old, Egyptian-born Allam at an Easter eve...

Muslim Converted By Pope Says Life In More Danger March 23, 2008 By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - An outspoken Muslim author and critic of Islamic fundamentalism who converted to Christianity at the hands of Pope Benedict said on Sunday he realized he was in greater danger but he has no regrets. ADVERTISEMENT "I realize what I am going up against but I will confront my fate with my head high, with my back straight and the interior strength of one who is certain about his faith," said Magdi Allam. In a surprise move on Saturday night, the pope...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Italy's most prominent Muslim commentator converted to Roman Catholicism on Saturday during the Vatican's Easter vigil service presided over by the pope. Italian journalist Magdi Allam attends a meeting in Milan in 2005. An Egyptian-born, non-practicing Muslim, Magdi Allam has infuriated some fellow Muslims with his criticism of extremism and support for Israel. The deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Allam often writes on Muslim and Arab affairs. He told the Il Giornale newspaper in a December interview that his criticism of Palestinian suicide bombings generated threats on his life in 2003, prompting the...

Italy's most prominent Muslim commentator is converting to Catholicism by being baptized by the pope at an Easter vigil, the Vatican announced Saturday. Magdi Allam is the deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera newspaper and writes often on Muslim and Arab affairs. Born in Egypt, he has described himself as a non-practicing Muslim. He has long spoken out against extremism and in favor of tolerance. Pope Benedict XVI was baptizing seven adults during the service, which marks the period between Good Friday, which commemorates Jesus' crucifixion, and Easter Sunday, which marks his resurrection. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico...

A new film on Jesus, told from an Islamic perspective, has drawn mixed reactions from the Christian community over its claim that Jesus did not die on the cross but was replaced by Judas Iscariot. “The Messiah” – written, produced and directed by Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh - was filmed in the Islamic Republic of Iran with Iranian actors to portray how Muslims understand the life of Jesus based on the teachings of the Qur’an and the Gospel of Barnabas – a book not included in the Christian Bible and in which the Prophet Mohammed appears. The movie features two...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict led the world's Catholics into Easter on Saturday at a Vatican service where he baptized a Muslim-born convert who is one of Italy's most famous and controversial journalists. The German-born pontiff, marking the third Easter season of his pontificate, began the service in the atrium of a darkened St Peter's Basilica where he carved the Greek letters Alpha and Omega on a large candle. The basilica became a sea of flickering flames as thousands of faithful inside lit candles before the lights were turned on in a ritual symbolizing the darkness in the world...

VATICAN CITY - Italy's most prominent Muslim commentator, a journalist with iconoclastic views such as support for Israel, converted to Roman Catholicism Saturday when the pope baptized him at an Easter service. As a choir sang, Pope Benedict XVI poured holy water over Magdi Allam's head and said a brief prayer in Latin. "We no longer stand alongside or in opposition to one another," Benedict said in a homily reflecting on the meaning of baptism. "Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close." Vatican...

Muslim in-laws seize his wife, kill his young son. ZALANGA, Nigeria, February 7 (Compass Direct News) – A little over a year after becoming a Christian in Ngudungudu, Chad in December 1995, Jeje Nehamiah Baki left the town to meet up with his nomadic family in the wilderness. His wife had already returned to her parents and their nomadic lifestyle, and Baki, a former Muslim and nomadic Fulani of the Bororo dialect in Chad, was looking forward to reuniting with her and their two children. But he said his father-in-law, having learned of his conversion, seized his wife and would...

An Egyptian court has ruled that 12 Christians who converted to Islam and then reverted to Christianity can have their faith officially recognised. The decision overturns a lower court ruling by a lower court, which said the state need not recognise conversions from Islam because of a religious ban. This is a case that has tested Egypt's tolerance of conversions from Islam. A lawyer for the 12 Coptic Christians described the case as a victory for human rights and freedom of religion. He says it could open the door for hundreds of other Copts who want to revert to their...

Muslim group says Air Force Academy speakers use hate speech By: IVAN MORENO - Associated Press DENVER -- A Muslim advocacy group is decrying the U.S. Air Force Academy's decision to invite three former "terrorists" who the group said slam the religion with "hate-filled" rhetoric. The D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations said one of the speakers, Walid Shoebat, has said that "Islam is the devil." Shoebat, along with Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani are scheduled to speak Wednesday at the 50th Annual Academy Assembly in Colorado Springs, where the topic of the four-day event is "Dismantling Terrorism." Maj. Brett Ashworth,...

No one ever leaves Islam, according to a judge in Egypt who has cited Islamic religious law in rejecting a request from a Muslim convert to Christianity to be allowed to change his religious affiliation on his national identification card. In a decision that forecasts more and more decisions being based on Shari'a, Islam's religious law, Judge Muhammad Husseini has concluded it violates the law for a Muslim to leave Islam. According to a report from Compass Direct News, the judge found that the convert, Muhammad Hegazy, "can believe whatever he wants in his heart, but on paper he can't...

Saying Christians and Muslims can be friends, a Muslim scholar from Canada gave 15 reasons why they should to a downtown Tulsa audience Friday night. But a Christian minister from Tulsa who used to be a Muslim questioned the tolerance of his former religion and asked whether a program such as Friday's, held at the Tulsa Convention Center, could even take place in a Muslim nation.

<p>LYING in a pool of his own blood, a Gold Coast doctor sobbed that he had lost his baby daughter after a fight over her conversion from Islam to Christianity, a court has been told.</p> <p>Yesterday saw the reopening of a committal hearing against Kaihana Tahseen Hussain, 18, who stands accused of murdering her mother and stabbing her father at their Southport unit just days after they moved to the Gold Coast in October 2006.</p>

When Sofia Allam left the Muslim faith for Christianity, the response from her family was one of persecution and threats. Alasdair Palmer explores the dangers facing Islam's apostates Sofia Allam simply could not believe it. Her kind, loving father was sitting in front of her threatening to kill her. He said she had brought shame and humiliation on him, that she was now "worse than the muck on their shoes" and she deserved to die. Religious persecution of the kind Sofia suffers is increasingly common in Britain today And what had brought on his transformation? He had discovered that she...

The daughter of a British imam is living under police protection after receiving death threats from her father for converting to Christianity. The 31-year-old, whose father is the leader of a mosque in Lancashire, has moved house an astonishing 45 times after relatives pledged to hunt her down and kill her. The British-born university graduate, who uses the pseudonym Hannah for her own safety, said she renounced the Muslim faith to escape being forced into an arranged marriage when she was 16. She has been in hiding for more than a decade but called in police only a few months...