A female Christian university professor was forced to convert to Islam last week, according to a claim by an official from the Palestinian Authority that has been refuted by the Hamas militant group.
If true, Todd Nettleton from Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) says the professor, Sana-al-Sayegh, would find it hard to come back because she signed a document stating that she is a Muslim. Reconverting to Christianity is apostasy – which is punishable by death under Islamic law.
"It is extremely difficult now for her to come back and say ‘Wait a minute! I'm not a Muslim, I'm a Christian,'" Nettleton told Mission Network News (MNN). “Because of the signed documents, even if they were signed under duress, in the minds of the Muslim populous, she is a Muslim."
According to reports, the professor’s family said Sayegh would never convert to Islam by choice.
It was also reported that the woman called her parents five days after she went missing saying that she was being held against her will so she could be married to a Muslim man.
The family later received a copy of the conversion documents, which had been signed by witnesses.
Since Hamas claimed Sayegh converted willfully, it was hard to say what kind of help the government will offer, explained Nettleton.
"In the government's mind then, ‘OK, she changed her faith. That's fine.' So it's hard to know how the government will play this - what type of a role they will take. I assume that there will not be penalties," the VOM spokesman said.
In June of this year, Hamas had seized complete control of the Gaza Strip. A Hamas-allied militant leader, in an interview with World Net Daily, said that the region’s Christian minority could live there safely on the condition they accept Islamic law.
Of the nearly 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip, the CIA estimates the Christian population to be about 10,000 (or 0.7 percent). Muslims, meanwhile, reportedly make up 98.7 percent of the population.
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I'd be willing to bet more over that she did not convert at all, in the article it states that she contacted her mother and said that she was being held hostage and then they recieved a later stating she had converted. God will give us the strength to with stand the onslaught of the enemy...
On one hand I agree with the theology of angelus5370, but on the other hand what art wrote is also true. I know I denied Him when I sinned today. I hope and I believe I would be a martyr rather than deny Him, but until we've personally crossed that bridge, we can't know what we would do. We think we know. But we don't until we've walked a mile in her mocassins. If she is being forced into marriage, that is also rape - she is probably trying to survive the horrors of today in order to live to fight another day, and escape, as is taught in counterterrorism and rape survival classes. So my heart goes out to her. pathroe - so glad to hear you are a servant of the one true God, His names are Jehovah and Jesus Christ, so glad to hear you worship Jehovah as the One True God. The Qur'an commands that you learn of Jesus and study him - have you looked at His statements recorded in the Bible, and read them yourself, for yourself, first hand, in obedience to the Qu'ran? Or are you accepting what you've been told all your life?
There were 600,000 christian Palestinians in1967 in the occupied territories. Now there are 23,000. Is it possible that the christian zionist rhetoric lead to this change? Or were they killed in the conflict with Israelis? Its a shame you orthodoxers are so hardened to promote this conflict. It makes me sad.
We all deny Christ everytime we commit a sin. It is not our place to judge her but God's if she asks for his Grace and is repentant he will forgive her. I agree with Art most americans know very little of how hard it is to live as christian in some parts of the world.
She must have either been a new christian, or not strong in her faith! Jesus always told people take up your cross and follow me. What did people think he meant? He even told His disciples, you will be arrested, beaten, and killed in my name. Anyone who is a faithful christian, even in the face of death, should not be pushed in to denouncing Jesus as their Savior. I would not have bowed down or denied Christ, so I probably would die, but Jesus said if you are ashamed of Me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father. He also said that anyone who tries to save his life will lose it. If this woman had known the Bible, and Jesus's promise of eternal life, maybe she would have acted different. Anyway, I was very disappointed and ashamed of her.
No "allah" is not God. It is the pagan moon god. The so-call prophet is not a true one. Jesus is Lord and God over all. Even the Qu'ran states that everything Jesus said is true. He, Jesus, said He and the Father are One.
I would like to convey the message to the sister who reverted back to Islam (either wth her will or unwillingly) that she has done the right thing in her life. She will become the source of motivation to the other christian brothers and sisters living in that region. I request that sister to go throught the teachings of Glorious Qur'an and feel the blessings that Allah Ta'ala has given to her and to rest of them living on earth. After all, we all are the servants of One True God Allah Ta'ala. Sister, believer me, Allah loves you more than anyone else.
Christians in america know little about the kind of persecution that this sister has experienced. I do not condemn her, I would tell her to just have a little talk with jesus.
I beleive what she has done is serious, but the God of Grace and Mercy loves her. Art.