INDIA – Muslim converts threatened with death
13/0/07
Pressured by thousands to renounce their faith
Six Muslim-background Believers (MBBs) and their families in Nutangram village of Murshidabad district in West Bengal have been pressured to recant their Christian faith.
The mosque committee called for thousands of villagers from nearby areas to come against the Christian families on 4 September, as they wanted the families to recommit themselves to Islam.
The believers, who came to faith little more than one year ago, are terrified.
A few days prior to 4 September, the mosque issued a ban against anyone communicating with the MBBs. As a result, vegetables were not sold to them, no workers came to do jobs in their fields, and no customers came to their shops.
They were further threatened that they would be killed and their homes burned if they did not give up their Christian faith.
Islamists stirred up the women to attack one of the Christian women. They physically tortured her, examining her body as they searched for 'Christian signs' on her.
Faithful shepherd
Open Doors came to know about this incident through Pastor Bashir, who works with the Khoda-e-Jamat ministry and is based in Behrampur (the district headquarters of Murshidabad district), about 2.5 miles from where this incident occurred in Nutangram.
Pastor Bashir requested intercessory prayer for these Christian families. He has been a mentor and pillar of support for the believers, leading worship every Friday from a healthcare centre located in Behrampur.
He told Open Doors about how a Muslim couple came to know the Lord two years ago through the heathcare centre run by his wife and himself.
Tasleema (29) first believed and then her husband, Johad (aged 35).
Pastor Bashir said he encouraged them to share the gospel of Christ with their relatives. As they did so, he said God’s Spirit inspired the relatives at Nutangram to accept Jesus as their saviour after a few months, and they were baptised with water.
Six families came to accept Christ and grew strong in faith.
Opposition
Johad and his wife have been facing opposition from his family for quite some time. They have been boycotted from any further social interaction with any of the family members and have been asked to leave the house.
The other MBB relatives and neighbours who live in Nutangram are suffering hardship from the social boycott raised by the mosque. They own homes and land within the village and have no where else to go.
Recently Pastor Bashir and the Khoda-e-Jamat ministry have also been threatened by the Muslims. When Open Doors personnel spoke with him on 6 September, he said the situation was tense.
He believes the Lord’s grace will sustain every MBB in Nutangram in these difficult days, but requested prayer from the Open Doors family at this time so that not a single family will give in to the pressure to recant their faith.
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