April 2006

A Witness

            I will assume that the leading Muslim clerics understand their own Scriptures better than I.  During a recent trial of a man who committed the unspeakable crime of converting from Islam to Christianity, one of the leading clerics of Afghanistan, Khoja Ahmad Sediqi, who is also a member of the Supreme Court, stated: “The Quran is very clear, and the words of our prophet are very clear.  There can only be one outcome: death.”  Sediqi had been considered a moderate.  But it is not only Sediqi who has demanded the death sentence, it is the overwhelming consensus of the Muslim clergy.  In fact, if there was a dissenting voice, it was not heard. 

            Abdul Rahman, a father of two, is being prosecuted under Afghanistan’s Islamic laws for converting 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan.  “They want to sentence me to death, and I accept it," Rahman told reporters last week.  One news source reported: “Rahman, meanwhile, said he was fully aware of his choice and was ready to die for it, according to an interview published Sunday in an Italian newspaper La Repubblic.  ‘Somebody, a long time ago, did it for all of us,’ he added.”

            At the time of this writing, Rahman’s case has been dismissed after international outcries.  He is in hiding and hopes to find safety in another country.  If he is released without protection, Muslim clerics have sworn that he will be “torn to pieces.” 

            Imagine someone in the United States even being scolded by the government for converting to another religion, let alone sentenced to death.  It happens all the time and not a word is said.  What if our country was taken over by a group that said we had to convert to their religion or die.  What would we do?  The amazing thing about Abdul Rahman is that he seemed serene and at peace with what was happening to him.  He said he was willing to die, because Someone had died for him. 

            In the New Testament, the Greek word for witness is martus.  It is the word from which we get the word “martyr.”  In the early church to witness often meant to become a martyr — to be killed for your faith. 

            This whole matter has made me admire this courageous man who obviously loves Jesus enough to die for his faith in him.  It has also made me question the quality of my faith — whether I would be as willing to die as Abdul Rahman.

            The words of Jesus haunt me: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). 

Seeking to be a faithful witness,

Rod