UAE: helpful new law
Barnabas Fund
Widely hailed as a positive move in a region
where Islamic radicalism is spiralling, United
Arab Emirates
(UAE) President Sheikh
Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan in July passed a
new law that outlaws ‘all forms of discrimination based on religion, caste, creed, doctrine, race, colour or ethnic origin’.
Announced on 20 July, the law makes takfir
an offence. Takfir is the pronouncement and
labelling of Muslim individuals or communities as apostates and infidels (kafirs), deserving
the death sentence, thus making them legitimate targets for jihad. Under the new law, takfir is a crime which carries a death sentence
if the discrimination leads to murder.
Syria: pray for Christians
Barnabas Fund
Aleppo was under severe bombardment in
early July – the city appeared to be on the
brink of falling as the situation rapidly
deteriorated. On 15 June, 150 people were
injured in fighting, while ten people were
killed, most of them children.
Two
of Aleppo’s
large minority
of
Armenian Christians were killed in a mortar
explosion on 20 June. One of the men, a visiting pastor, had arrived from Armenia only
two days earlier.
Tanzania: Islamic courts
Barnabas Fund
Breaking into his home during the night of 14
May, armed men attacked a Tanzanian church
pastor, slashing his head with a sword.
Pastor Samson’s brother, Bishop Gwajima,
also faces eviction from his church premises,
as well as court charges, because of his outspoken opposition to the proposed Kadhi
(Islamic) courts Bill. If implemented, these
Kadhi courts would deal with family matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance
for Tanzania’s Muslim population. Tanzanian
Christians are particularly concerned
that
rulings cannot be appealed or referred to the
High Court. Already in place in the Muslim-majority Zanzibar archipelago, the Bill proposes to introduce Kadhi courts across mainland Tanzania.