Christian Converts in Danger — In the Netherlands

The transcript below is taken from an undated Nova TV video and was translated by our expatriate Dutch correspondent H. Numan:

Anchor:		Muslims in the Netherlands who convert to Christianity, and are used to convert other Muslims are in danger.
		During the last few months several incidents took place with these converted missionaries. The police corps in the country has been asked to be on alert for this sort of incident.
		Watch a report from Arnold Chakrabartie [name?].
Anonymous convert:		We actually don’t do anything bad.
		We love everyone.
		We love everybody.
		What we do is just.
		We want to bring God’s love, the love of Jesus Christ, to see and show to men around us.
Voice:		It is no more than a minor item in a regional newspaper.
		Rolde [a city in Drenthe province], last summer.
		An Iraqi man was knifed.
		The newspaper reported it was an incident within the relational atmosphere.
		But something else played a role [was going on].
Young girl:		It happened in the street here.
		Near the pizzeria.
		It was about a man.
		Who had an argument with someone from Assen. [city in Drenthe]
		It was about faith.
Reporter:		About faith?
Young girl:		Yes. The man was Christian,
		The man from Assen was Muslim.
		He [first man] wanted the other to become Christian, because that is a good religion.
		That’s why they got an argument.
		That is why he [second man] came to Rolde and stabbed him.

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Marco Vermin:		A team member who is busy preaching the gospel amongst Iraqi Muslims, his fellow countrymen, was knifed during or after his work by a man who is Muslim.
		That was related with the fact that the wife of the assailant had converted to Christianity, and remained in contact with this missionary.
Voice:		The police confirmed that the aspect of religious conversion played a role [part] in the investigation, but refuses to comment any further.
		The victim refuses to speak [to the reporter] out of fear for his life.
		[What happened in] Rolde is not an incident.
		During the last months several similar incidents took place.
		Such as in Rotterdam, Zuthpen and Hengelo.
		Achmed converted a few years ago to Christianity.
		Nowadays he works as a missionary amongst Muslims.
		He doesn’t want his true name to be known.
Achmed:		My car was damaged, and stones were thrown through the windows of my house in the middle of the night.
		We were actually stoned in our own house.
Voice:		Marco Vermin is the director of the “Gave Foundation”, an organization that preaches the gospel amongst Muslims.
Marco Vermin:		A brother of a Turkish girl was trying to murder his sister, but was prevented by somebody else entering the room.
		We know of Iraqi people living in the Netherlands who had to move [relocate] themselves to other cities on the advice of police.
		Also a Moroccan girl was advised by the police to move to another city for the same reasons.
		Because the threats were that severe.
		Our people [the missionaries] are threatened from their home countries.
		By mail, by phone.
		It is a real danger we see here.
		I was called by an imam.
		He told me I deserved death.
		He quoted a few passages from the Koran.
		“Kill on the road of Allah. Kill, but they are alive.”
Voice:		We presented this case to Driss El Boujoufi, chairman of the Contact Organization for Muslims.
		[listens to threats]
Driss El Boujoufi:		This is a text from the Koran, yes.
		But the words have been wrongly interpreted.
		I believe this text has nothing to do with the incidents.
		I know for certain that someone who uses this text knows very little about Islam, and is not an imam.
Reporter:		Can you explain why people are irritated or shocked?
Driss El Boujoufi:		Why they use violence is something different.
		That is based on their psychology.
		Where some people use violence, others will not.
		But the shock and irritation can be explained in several ways.
		The first is for religious reasons.
		Apostasy is a mortal sin in Islam.
		So you have a situation where someone who committed this mortal sin now asks you to also commit this mortal sin.
		Second, missionary activities rarely happen amongst Muslims.
		Christian missionaries in the Muslim world are rarely successful.
		But it always creates irritation.
		In some countries this is seen as disturbing public order or perverting state security.
Marco Vermin:		We want to make sure that shame or threats or any other barrier don’t prevent people from speaking about their deepest convictions.
Reporter:		Don’t you take a risk for/with [?] your own people?
Marco Vermin:		Now, I don’t think so. For I don’t do it (personally).
		I offer people a place, and I am there for support.
		So they can do their work in a safe environment.
		I find that threats or danger may prevent people from talking about their [religious] convictions.
Driss El Boujoufi:		I want to make two calls: [very bad Dutch, barely comprehensible]
		A call to people in the missionary organizations to look at themselves first. It is not acceptable by society, and forbidden by Islam.
Anonymous missionary:		I am frightened. Not for myself, but for my wife and children.

Hat tip: Frontinus.