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LIVING IN SECRET IN SAUDI ARABIA

  • 06-04-2011 1:14am
    #1
    Donatello
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭


    I thought this was really interesting. Considering the bickering that is going on over a Mass translation (caused by ultra-dissenting priests), we don't know how blessed we are that we can practise our faith publicly.

    ROME, APRIL 4, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Saudi Arabia is considered holy ground by the Muslim majority who live there. Hence, Christians and even Muslims of other sects, face severe restrictions.
    Christians make up only about 3% of the population, but they have no churches and never display their faith in public.
    Professor Camille Eid, a journalist, author, professor at the University of Milan and expert on the Churches of the Middle East, spoke about the Saudi Arabia situation with the television program "Where God Weeps"...

    [...]

    The Quran distinguishes between Christians and Jews, and other unbelievers. Christians and Jews are called the “People of the Book,” or the books if you want -- the Gospel and the Torah. Sometimes in the Quran, Christians are described in a very positive way. The Christian monarch and priests pray. But, during the second period in the Prophet’s revelation, Christians are described as unbelievers and [it's said they] should pay the "Jizya," the tax necessary to be protected in an Islamic society. There seems to be a contradiction in the book itself. That is why we have a liberal and a violent Islam. The violent Islam is a result of the second revelation that occurred during the last reign of Mohammed and as a result the current Islamic societies state that the events of the second revelation should be followed and not the previous revelations, which are more tolerant.

    [...]

    Q: Christians constitute the biggest non-Muslim group in Saudi Arabia. How do Christians live their faith in Saudi Arabia?
    Eid: In secret. It is forbidden to have Bibles, religious images and rosaries; if they are detected at the airport they are immediately confiscated. There was an instance when I was at the Jeddah Airport with a videocassette and they asked to view this cassette. The video was about Spartacus. I was suddenly fearful that they would see the image of the crucifixion. The guard eventually allowed it because it was a soldier being crucified and not Jesus Christ. ... It is hard. They say that Christians can pray privately but what does private mean? Does it mean alone or with your family? When more than two, or a group of families, are praying together in the privacy of their home the religious police can come in and intervene and arrest them.
    Q: What happens to the Christian that is caught with a rosary in their pocket or wearing a cross?
    Eid: If it is in a pocket nobody can see it. If, however you are seen wearing a cross, any Muslim -- and not just the police -- can take it away. You will be arrested and risk expulsion from the kingdom. They will haul you to prison and after a few days you will be issued an exit visa. It will be over for you.

    [...]

    Q: We have talked about discrimination. We have talked about persecution. How far can this persecution go?
    Eid: To death. We have a case of the martyrdom of a Saudi girl who converted to Christianity. Her brother discovered her. She wrote a poem to Christ and she had her tongue cut, she disappeared and was later found dead. Her name was Fatima Al-Mutairi and this happened in August of 2008. In 2008 two cases of raids by the religious police saw men, women and children less than 3 years old arrested. We have many reports of torture; before they are deported to their country these Filipinos, Indians and Eritreans are tortured by the police in the prisons.

    [...]

    Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the lay Catholics living in Saudi Arabia?
    Eid: It is hard to be a lay Catholic in Saudi Arabia because you have to have a very deep background in your faith. You cannot have copies of the Gospel in your home. You cannot have a rosary. You cannot have contact with your Christian friends as a community; you can have Christian friends, you can frequent the foreign communities but you are prohibited from talking about your faith. So the only possibility is to have a strong awareness and knowledge of your faith that you can bank on in this environment.

    Read the full article:
    http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-32222
    Follow-up letter:
    http://www.zenit.org/article-32236?l=english


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