Iran: Nine evangelical Christians reported arrested during Christmas week
“The Islamic Republic regularly persecutes people who convert from Islam to Christianity and most converts try to worship secretly in home-churches.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran is not “extremist” in this: the death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law. It’s based on the Qur’an: “They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.” (Qur’an 4:89)
A Sunni hadith depicts Muhammad saying: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him” (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence.
This is still the position of all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, both Sunni and Shi’ite. Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most renowned and prominent Muslim cleric in the world, has stated: “The Muslim jurists are unanimous that apostates must be punished, yet they differ as to determining the kind of punishment to be inflicted upon them. The majority of them, including the four main schools of jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali) as well as the other four schools of jurisprudence (the four Shiite schools of Az-Zaidiyyah, Al-Ithna-‘ashriyyah, Al-Ja’fariyyah, and Az-Zaheriyyah) agree that apostates must be executed.”
Qaradawi also once famously said: “If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment, Islam wouldn’t exist today.”
“Nine Evangelical Christians Reported Arrested During Christmas Week In Iran,” Radio Farda, December 30, 2018:
Tasnim news agency connected with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reported on Sunday that nine evangelical Christians have been arrested in recent days in Alborz province, neighboring the capital Tehran.Tasnim had already reported the arrest of four Christians on Saturday and on Sunday it said five more were arrested on December 26, a day after Christmas. It is not clear when exactly the first four were detained.The Islamic Republic regularly persecutes people who convert from Islam to Christianity and most converts try to worship secretly in home-churches. A few Christian preachers have been killed or received long prison terms in the past. International human rights organizations have condemned Tehran for its policy towards converts.Conversion to another religion is forbidden in Islam and punishable….According to the Islamic constitution of Iran, traditional established Eastern churches are officially recognized and are free to operate and serve their congregations, which mainly have ethnic composition; such as the Armenian or the Assyrian communities.
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