Posted on 04/18/2019 5:11:44 AM PDT by Cronos
Though Islamic State's ultra radical interpretation of Sunni Islam has been repudiated by the Islamic mainstream, the legacy of its violence has affected perceptions of faith.
KOBANI, Syria - A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani, a town besieged by Islamic State for months, and where the tide turned against the militants four years ago.
The converts say the experience of war and the onslaught of a group claiming to fight for Islam pushed them towards their new faith. After a number of families converted, the Syrian-Turkish border town's first evangelical church opened last year
Jerusalem Post Middle East MUSLIMS CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY IN SYRIAN TOWN ONCE BESIEGED BY ISIS Though Islamic State's ultra radical interpretation of Sunni Islam has been repudiated by the Islamic mainstream, the legacy of its violence has affected perceptions of faith. BY REUTERS APRIL 16, 2019 18:54 3 minute read.
b A woman sits with children on a rubble from damaged buildings in Kobani, Syria April 3, 2019 A woman sits with children on a rubble from damaged buildings in Kobani, Syria April 3, 2019. (photo credit: REUTERS/ALI HASHISHO)
KOBANI, Syria - A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani, a town besieged by Islamic State for months, and where the tide turned against the militants four years ago.
The converts say the experience of war and the onslaught of a group claiming to fight for Islam pushed them towards their new faith. After a number of families converted, the Syrian-Turkish border town's first evangelical church opened last year.
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Robert E. Lee’s Virginia Home Now More Than $2 Million Cheaper (Mansion Global) Recommended by Islamic State militants were beaten back by U.S. air strikes and Kurdish fighters at Kobani in early 2015, in a reversal of fortune after taking over swaths of Iraq and Syria. After years of fighting, U.S.-backed forces fully ended the group's control over populated territory last month.
Though Islamic State's ultra radical interpretation of Sunni Islam has been repudiated by the Islamic mainstream, the legacy of its violence has affected perceptions of faith.
Many in the mostly Kurdish areas of northern Syria, whose urban centers are often secular, say agnosticism has strengthened and in the case of Kobani, Christianity.
Christianity is one of the region's minority faiths that was persecuted by Islamic State.
Critics view the new converts with suspicion, accusing them of seeking personal gain such as financial help from Christian organizations working in the region, jobs and enhanced prospects of emigration to European countries.
The newly-converted Christians of Kobani deny those accusations. They say their conversion was a matter of faith.
"After the war with Islamic State people were looking for the right path, and distancing themselves from Islam," said Omar Firas, the founder of Kobani's evangelical church. "People were scared and felt lost."
Firas works for a Christian aid group at a nearby camp for displaced people that helped set up the church.
He said around 20 families, or around 80 to 100 people, in Kobani now worship there. They have not changed their names.
"We meet on Tuesdays and hold a service on Fridays. It is open to anyone who wants to join," he said.
The church's current pastor, Zani Bakr, 34, arrived last year from Afrin, a town in northern Syria. He converted in 2007.
"This was painted by IS as a religious conflict, using religious slogans. Because of this a lot of Kurds lost trust in religion generally, not just Islam," he said.
Many became atheist or agnostic. "But many others became Christian. Scores here and more in Afrin."
MISSIONARIES AND CRITICS
One man, who lost an arm in an explosion in Kobani and fled to Turkey for medical treatment, said he met Kurdish and Turkish converts there and eventually decided to join them.
"They seemed happy and all talked about love. That's when I decided to follow Jesus's teachings," Maxim Ahmed, 22, said, adding that several friends and family were now interested in coming to the new church.
Some in Kobani reject the growing Christian presence. They say Western Christian aid groups and missionaries have exploited the chaos and trauma of war to convert people and that local newcomers to the religion see an opportunity for personal gain.
"Many people think that they are somehow benefitting from this, maybe for material gain or because of the perception that Christians who seek asylum abroad get preferential treatment," said Salih Naasan, a real estate worker and former Arabic teacher.
Thousands of Christians have fled the region over decades of sectarian strife. From Syria they have often headed for Lebanon and European countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to help minorities fleeing the region when he imposed a travel ban on Muslims in 2016, but many Christians were denied asylum.
"It might be a reaction to Daesh (Islamic State) but I don't see the positives. It just adds another religious and sectarian dimension which in a community like this will lead to tension," said Naasan, a practicing Muslim.
Naasan like the vast majority of Muslims rejects Islamic State's narrow and brutal interpretation of Islam. The group enslaved and killed thousands of people from all faiths, reserving particular brutality for minorities such as the Yazidis of northern Iraq.
Most Christians preferred not to give their names or be interviewed, saying they fear reaction from conservative sectors of society.
The population of Kobani and its surroundings has neared its original 200,000 after people returned, although only 40,000 live in the town itself, much of which lies in ruins.
Maybe they’ll send missionaries to Paris.
I wish them safety.
Brave souls.
May the Lord keep and bless them.
“It might be a reaction to Daesh (Islamic State) but I don’t see the positives. It just adds another religious and sectarian dimension which in a community like this will lead to tension,” said Naasan, a practicing Muslim.
...........................................
I see nothing but positives from this repentance of souls.
Those not belonging to Christ have no clue how precarious their eternal souls are hanging in the balance. They are a heartbeat away from a Christ-less eternity with weeping and gnashing of teeth.
A hopeful foothold.
The middle text is Kurdish. I wonder where the photo was taken. Only the Holy Spirit could bring Syrians and Kurds together peacefully.
Amend my post, Kobani is in northern Syria. Quite a ways from the border where Kurds might be.
The Assad dynasty are in no way “nice” people, but conversions like this could only occur and the converts hope to survive while they rule. Fact.
I get the intent. But for once could we all just celebrate something good with a “Hallelujah” instead of cynicism?
"Repudiated" in the sense of: "Of course we don't condone these acts of violence...but the Jews made them do it!"
Praise God for this miracle!
Didn't the Apostle Paul say he got saved in Syria?
That is true — i have no idea why so many fellow Americans were ok with America getting rid of Assad
The complex history, politics, religious alliances and hatreds in that country are way beyond the capacity of we simple minded Good vs. Evil Americans to possibly comprehend. So people were easily misled by a Muslim Brotherhood Sunni adherent president and his utterly corrupt Secretary of State (not to mention the Songbird of the Hanoi Hilton) into the wrong side of a civil war that was and is none of our business, except as it affects our one true ally in the region, Israel. Who, by the way, are quite capable of handling things on that front without our help or advice.
“...which in a community like this will lead to tension,” said Naasan, a practicing Muslim.”
Heh. Where I live all the muslims say that building a new mega-mosque in the neighborhood will add diversity and build community.
Like a basketball court in the hood.
Correct.
Syria is a mix of not only muslim and christian but others - Druze who are arguably not Muslim by their beliefs (probably a mix of neo-Platonism and Christianity and Islam) and Alawites (Crypto-Christians that became their own religion) but also other esoteric religions like Yazidism (ancient indo-european probably), Zoroastrianism, Mandaens (john the Baptist as the prophet, while Moses, jesus and Mohammad were “false” - talk about p*ss*ng every one of your neighbours off!),
and not to mention the stunning complexity of christianity and islam there
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