As Shia Muslims in Iraq become more aggressive in their demands for an Islamic state based on Shari’ah, anti-Christian violence has escalated with the brutal murder of two Christian men.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph reports the deaths of Sabah Gazala and Abdul Ahed, who were killed by two Islamic gunmen in Basra on May 8. Like a number of the 700,000-strong Christian community in Iraq, they were involved in the sale of alcohol, forbidden for Muslims but permitted for Christians under Saddam Hussein’s rule.
In recent weeks such vendors have faced severe threats from Shia Muslim conservatives seeking to impose de facto Islamic law (which bans alcohol completely) in Iraq in the chaotic wake of the victory of coalition forces in the country. Many Christian shop owners have been forced to close, others to defend their premises with metal bars across the windows.
In Basra, Baghdad and across Iraq some Christians are beginning to suffer harassment, threats, intimidation and even violence at the hands of conservative Shia Muslims who want to impose Shari’ah law on both Muslim and non-Muslim alike. On Friday, May 2, Moqtada Sadr, one of the main Shia leaders in the country, openly declared in a sermon in Kufa that ‘the banning of alcohol and the wearing of the veil should be spread to all and not only to Muslims’.
In Baghdad, Christians are ‘terrified’ and ‘hesitating to come to church’ as services at one church in the city are drowned out by Islamic teaching broadcast by loudspeaker from a new mosque across the street.
In early May in Basra, Shereen Musa, a Christian woman, was pelted with vegetables to chants of “Shame! Shame!” as she walked through a market, simply because her head was not covered in accordance with the Shari’ah.
“Everyone was laughing at me, and I was crying,” Shereen told the Los Angeles Times. “When I had to walk back through the same place someone saw a cross on my neck and said: ‘Oh, you’re a Christian. You’ll suffer a terrible fate.’”
Christian families like Shereen’s have begun to leave Basra to return to the traditional Christian heartland around Mosul. Away from the violence elsewhere in Iraq, the situation in Mosul appears more promising.
The security rating of Mosul, capital of the Ninevah region, has been downgraded and western civilians are now allowed to stay. Christian aid agency World Vision has been appointed lead agency in the region and will oversee reconstruction of schools, health care, water and santitation facilities. There are also an estimated 100,000 refugees in the Ninevah district
Ian Curtis, an Australian, has been appointed national director of World Vision Iraq, and he will arrive in Mosul early in June.
The Rev George Matti-Gorges of By Faith Ministries, which represents Iraqi evangel-icals in Australia told Southern Cross that churches in the city were planning a big role in the reconstruction. They were also championing a federal system in order to give themselves more autonomy from the Shi’a majority in the south.
Mr Matti-Gorges’ brother is head of a Bible College in Mosul and a team of 30 from the college have already begun planting new churches. Yet, said Mr Matti-Gorges, there is an urgent need for funds for this work and other reconstruction. His ministry has launched an appeal to assist.
Mr Curtis said the cost of reconstruction is minimal compared to the huge impact on people’s lives. He gave the example of the town Al Rutbah where electricity was reconnected for just $25.
“All they needed was someone to pay the taxi fare for a skilled worker to come out to them,” he said.
Likewise Iraqi Church leaders from all major denominations have issued a joint statement asking that the new Iraqi constitution, ‘consider Christians as Iraqi citizens with full rights’ and ‘guarantee the right to profess our faith according to our ancient traditions’ a clear indication of their concern.
Said one Christian man in Baghdad, “It is going to be like Iran … all Christians are afraid now.”
Jeremy Halcrow with Barnabas Fund reports
