Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | No. 492 | Wed 20 Aug 2008
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SAUDI ARABIA: SHAKEN BY APOSTASY AND DISSIDENCE
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In 1683, centuries of Islamic advance through military conquest came to a halt at the gates of Vienna. Islam then went into almost 300 years of decline. In the early 1770s, an Arab named Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab embraced the teachings of Ibn Taymiyya denouncing idolatry and syncretism in Islam. After extensive travels Wahhab concluded that Islam's decline was due to its corruption. He advocated Islamic Reformation: a return to the Qur'an and 'true Islam' as practised by Muhammad and the early Muslims. But Wahhab's exhortations to reform and his destruction of shrines made him very unpopular.
Eventually Wahhab found a protector in Muhammad ibn Saud, the ruler of Diriyah (in Saudi Arabia, near Riyadh). In 1744 Wahhab and ibn Saud struck an alliance: Wahhab would spread his reformed, puritanical Islam and legitimise ibn Saud as ruler over all the Najd, while ibn Saud would protect Wahhab and wage jihad against infidels. This al Saud - Wahhabi partnership has operated in Saudi Arabia ever since. This was of little consequence before oil was found under the Arabian desert. Since the 1970s the al Saud regime has been able to spend billions of petrodollars funding the global dissemination of intolerant, anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, pro- Sharia, pro-jihad (armed struggle) Wahhabi Islam.
MEANWHILE the revolution in information and communication technologies is making it impossible for Islam to maintain its 1400- year-long dictatorship over Muslims that has been sustained through enforced ignorance, isolation and fear. Even in Saudi Arabia, information gleaned from satellite television and the Internet is leading some Saudis to question Wahhabi Islam. In November 2007 a Saudi girl aged 19 was sentenced to jail and lashes after being kidnapped at knife-point and gang-raped, because when she was kidnapped she was in the company of a male not her relative. A most courageous Saudi human rights lawyer named Abdulrahman Al Lahim stepped up to defend her, which guaranteed the case would attract wide media attention. Al Lahim is also suing the muttawa (religious police) for abuse of power. In July 2008 Al Lahim received the American Bar Association's International Human Rights Lawyer Award.
In November Human Rights Watch will honour him with its 'Human Rights Defender of the Year' award.
On 12 August, Gulfnews.com reported that a Saudi man, said to be a member of the muttawa, brutally killed his daughter for converting to Christianity. However, this young martyr had been blogging on the Internet about her new faith and trials. She wrote that her brother had been abusing and threatening her ever since he found some Christian articles she wrote as well as a cross sign on her computer screen. According to a friend who contacted 'Free Copts', the killer is in police custody and being investigated over the 'honour crime'. Gulfnews reports, 'The death of the girl sent shockwaves and websites where the victim used to write with various nicknames have allocated special space to mourn her, while some others closed temporarily in protest.' Saudi Christianity is a reality, and it is no small thing that the death of this 'apostate' is being widely mourned.
This killing will probably lead to two things: (1) increased calls for anti-apostasy Internet laws (as in Iran); (2) increased rejection of Islamic intolerance. Pray that this martyrdom will herald the beginning of a great apostasy debate in Saudi Arabia.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR --
* our Redeemer God to be mightily at work inside Saudi Arabia, using this girl's martyrdom for his purposes: enlightening minds, softening hearts and breaking chains -- preparing the ground for the gospel of the love of Christ.
* God to grant all Saudi dissidents great strength and courage; especially that converts to Christianity will receive immense wisdom from the Holy Spirit, protection by God the Father, and the perfect love and salvation they have in Jesus Christ will drive out all their fear.
'When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." . . . Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.' (1 Corinthians 15:54,58 ESV)
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SAUDI ARABIA SHAKEN BY APOSTASY
Saudi Arabia is modern Islam's beating heart. A 1744 pact between the Islamic reformer Wahhab and ibn Saud resulted in a state where Wahhabi clerics would legitimise Saudi rule in exchange for Saudi protection as they advanced Wahhabi Islam. Since the 1970s, billions of Saudi petrodollars have funded the global growth of intolerant, anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, pro-Sharia, pro-jihad Wahhabi Islam. But things are changing deep inside Saudi Arabia, in the hearts and minds of young and educated Saudis accessing satellite TV and the Internet. Not only are some Saudis reportedly questioning the intolerance of Islam, some are even converting to Christianity. A young Saudi girl was recently brutally executed by her father for apostasy in converting to Christianity, but because of the Internet her murder has been exposed and her martyrdom widely mourned. Please pray for Saudi Arabia.
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