Former Muslims not immune to persecution in the West

Muslim converts to Christianity often face severe persecution in the Middle East, but they are not immune to violence in the West. A recent story from the United Kingdom highlights the tenacity of Islamic extremism, even in places where religious freedom has long been enshrined in law.

A U.K.-born Christian convert of Pakistani heritage was recently driven out of his community for the second time due to threats from his Muslim neighbors.

Nissar Hussain left Islam for Christianity 20 years ago, according to the Daily Mail. But for the past several years, especially since he appeared in a 2008 documentary about persecution of Muslim converts, he and his family have suffered “extreme persecution.”

Labeling them “apostates,” Muslims angry over the family’s conversion have egged their home, repeatedly smashed their car’s windshield, committed arson, threatened them, and physically attacked family members.

On Nov. 3, the Hussains were preparing to relocate from Bradford, West Yorkshire, when police arrived to take them to safety. Hussain was unaware of an immediate threat until officers arrived. It was the second time safety concerns forced Hussain, his wife, and their six children to move. The first was in 2006.

“I had been loading a van up with our belongings for eight hours, having to stealthily check no-one could see what I was doing, before they arrived,” he told the Daily Mail. “It took me completely by surprise, but their professionalism was deeply reassuring, and they escorted my family and I to a safe haven outside Yorkshire.”

A year earlier, two men wearing hoodies assaulted Hussain in what the West Bradford police deemed a religious “hate crime,” The Telegraph reported. One struck Hussain 13 times with a pick-axe handle, while the other kicked and punched him. The crime is still being investigated.

“The Muslim community are largely decent people but because of the taboo of converting to Christianity we are classed by them as scum and second-class citizens,” Hussain told The Telegraph following that vicious attack. He lamented multiculturalism’s failure: “Our lives have been jeopardized and subjugated, we have been forced to live under a climate of fear, this is not England.”

In May 2015, Hussain wrote a letter to newly elected Member of Parliament Naseem Shah, detailing the many abuses his family has suffered for Christianity since 1996, according to Barnabas Fund. He told Shah young men from the Pakistani community threatened to burn them out. When he reported the threat, the police didn’t have much sympathy, reportedly telling him,“Stop trying to be a crusader and move out!”

The family relocated, but following their appearance in the Channel 4 documentary, harassment and violence against them grew.

“I cannot express in words the police failure over the years which has led to our suffering and have no confidence in them whatsoever and am desperate for your help,” Hussain told Shah.

The Hussains aren’t the only former Muslims facing persecution in the U.K., according to the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary. Some of the estimated 3,000 former Muslim converts living in Britain worship secretly out of fear for their safety. One young women described how a mob of a dozen Muslims attacked her brother. He nearly died from his wounds, but they were too afraid to tell the police who was responsible.

In 2015, BBC News aired “Ex-Muslim: Leaving Islam,” a program about the “difficult path” for Muslims who leave their religion. But the documentary focused on those who become atheists, not those who now embrace Christ.