I heard last weekend about an interview on a radio station with Sheikh Dr Muhammad Al-Hussaini, founder of Scripture Reasoning and Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Leo Beck Rabbinical College, has said that the ‘church hierarchy’ in the UK is to blame for Christian persecution around the world because it ‘simply doesn’t care’ and only offers a ‘whimper’ in response to incidents:
The one thing we Muslims can absolutely rely upon is that whereas the tiniest thing kicks off in Gaza or the West Bank and there are protests in Muslim cities all the way from Jakarta to Timbuktu, in the case of persecuted Christian minorities—horrendous machete attacks take place in Nigeria, Christians in Iraq are burned out of their houses, Christians in Pakistan are stoned or attacked on the slightest pretext, Christians in Palestine suffer under Israeli occupation—in all cases what we will hear is just a whimper.
Interestingly and, perhaps, surprisingly, he calls upon the Church to be a voice for justice for persecuted minorities, which he claims would speak ‘into the heart of the Muslim community.
He saves a lot of his
criticism for the established church in this country, which he says is more
concerned with social position and power than fighting the injustices on behalf
of the poor in other parts of the world. If it was, it would be a faith worth listening to. Although, there is perhaps some truth in the cleric’s words, maybe we should remember that this is not an
excuse for bringing daily misery to the lives of thousands normal Christians who
are just trying to survive as a minority in a religiously hostile environment.
ASD
