CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM BATTLE FOR SOULS OF IRANIANS
Written by Rachelle Kliger

The Media Line, NY
Feb 12 2007

"Hallelujah" – A Christian CD in Persian.

Fereshteh Dibaj and her husband Reza Montazemi, a Christian couple in
Iran, were released from an Iranian jail last October after spending
10 days in detention.

The charges against them are still unclear, but it is likely to do
with their religious affiliation. They belong to Iran’s little-known
Christian population, a minority that constitutes less than one
percent of the country’s 70 million inhabitants.

According to Amnesty, Reza’s mother, who owns the house in which they
live, was reportedly ordered to sign a document two days before the
couple was arrested, promising that no more Christian meetings for
worship, prayer or Bible study would be held there.

It should come as no surprise that Tehran’s religious authorities
are concerned about the Christian community.

According to Christian organizations, the country is witnessing a
huge spate of conversions from Islam to Christianity. The trend began
shortly after the Islamic revolution in 1979, increased during the
Nineties and has continued since President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad came
to power in the summer of 2005.

The number of Christians in Iran who hail from Muslim backgrounds is
approximately 70,000, based on estimates of churches and individuals.

There are no accurate figures of converts. Discretion is vital in
order to avoid the wrath of the religious authorities.

Fereshteh Dibaj is the daughter of Reverend Mehdi Dibaj, a Christian
convert who spent 10 years in prison on grounds of apostasy. He was
murdered in 1994, shortly after his release from prison.

Fereshteh’s husband Reza reportedly converted to Christianity in
his youth.

Flouting government orders, the couple continues to lead an independent
house church in Mashhad, in northeastern Iran.

Christians in Iran break down into several groups. The larger and
older communities include the Armenians, who immigrated from Armenia
and Turkey several centuries ago, and the Assyrians, who likely
originated from Syria and Iraq.

Smaller and more recent congregations include quite large numbers of
converts to Christianity.

Under the Islamic regime that came to power in 1979, there has never
been total religious freedom for the Christian population in the
country, says Wilfred Wong, a researcher with the Jubilee Campaign,
a pressure group that lobbies to protect the persecuted church.

"The situation has fluctuated between bad and worse," he says. "At
the moment it’s worse."

All agree that Christians who bear the brunt of persecution in Iran
are the evangelicals and converts from Muslim backgrounds.

"This is not to say that the traditional non-evangelical churches
have complete freedom. That would be naïve," Wong says. "They also
suffer varying degrees of difficulties."

Fereshteh’s older brother Issa, who has lived for several years in the
United Kingdom, says he never faced the problems that his father did,
as he was born and raised a Christian.

"The reason my sister had problems was because of her active
evangelism," he says.

Iran ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, which preserves the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion in 1976, prior to the Islamic Revolution. But the current
Islamic character of the regime is problematic, Issa says.

"Even if the constitution guarantees these freedoms, they aren’t
really recognized," he says.

So, with all the problems it entails, what is reportedly pushing
Iranian Muslims to Christianity?

Ironically, many believe Iran’s rigid regime is inadvertently driving
this trend of conversions rather than preventing it.

The trend is partly due to the Muslim population’s disenchantment
with the regime and all it has to offer, Dibaj says.

"Up until the revolution, the clergy said if Iran became an Islamic
state all the problems would be solved," he says.

"Now, 20 years or so after the revolution, people have seen the
restrictions, they’ve seen the economic decline, people have seen the
real face of Islam and they had an eight-year war with Iraq. They say
to themselves: ‘If this is Islam, we don’t want to have any of it.’"

The impressionable nature of the Iranian population is also a
determining factor, he believes.

"You have to recognize that Iran is a very young country. Nearly 70
percent of the country’s population is under the age of 25. Most of
the population had nothing to do with the start of the revolution
and they have access to Christian television programs and websites.

They’re curious to find out more and they contact these outlets."

Iranian officials failed to respond to The Media Line’s queries
regarding the treatment of Christians in the country and the reported
large wave of conversions to Christianity.

The Muslim world is not happy, to say the least, about Christian
missionaries converting their believers. At the start of the war
in Iraq, reports of Christian missionaries entering the country to
win over Muslim hearts and souls reinforced perceptions of the West
as crusaders.

But Christians say the converts are hardly influenced by Western
missionaries, as these are barred from entering the country.

Even local evangelists are too few to be a key driving force behind
the conversions, Wong says.

"In many cases it’s a dream or a vision leading them to conversion,"
he says.

But the regime’s way of handling this trend – namely, by clamping
down on the Christian population – is not the right way to go about
it, and is even unIslamic, says Dr. Muhammad Serag, a professor of
Islamic studies at the American University in Cairo.

Traditionally, a Muslim man who turned his back on the religion would
be executed and a woman would be imprisoned until she repented, he
says. But this penalty is only applied if these people pose a threat
to Muslim society, such as propagating their new religion, he explains.

However, this does not correspond with the Quranic verse, "Let there
be no compulsion in religion" (Al-Baqara, verse 256).

The severe attitude toward converts was originally adopted for
political reasons, in order to preserve the interests of the Muslim
society, Serag says.

"In the past it could be appreciated, understood or justified, but
not in modern times," he adds.

Conversion from Islam is still frowned upon in Muslim society and is
a matter of concern.

"Conversions are associated always with Western influence or military
interference in Muslim society," Serag says. "They may not feel
easy about it, they may not be welcoming this attitude, but they do
not take violent action against them and I think this should be the
right attitude."

"I don’t mind if they convert. It’s their free choice," says Sami
Zaatri, a young Muslim who has created a website called Muslim
Responses to counteract Christian missionary arguments.

"What I do have a problem with are evangelicals," he says. "They call
the Prophet Muhammad a terrorist and then they come to our countries
and try to missionize."

Zaatri, an American of Iranian descent, says he is not necessarily
trying to convert people to Islam, but urges Muslims to make their
decision only after they have all the information.

"Some people have been lied to. If you read the missionary arguments,
you see they are distorting the Arabic, taking things out of context
and quoting weak sources. It preys on weak Muslims who don’t know
the sources."

Sofyan Abdelaziz, director of the American Muslim Association of
North America (AMANA), says that even if converts are deserving of
punishment, the Islamic regime should not have the authority to mete
out these penalties, as they do not represent Islam.

At the end of the day, the decision to punish someone is in the hands
of an authority much higher than Tehran, he says.

"If somebody wants to convert, it’s between them and God."

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