‘Head Separated from Body’: The Muslim Persecution of Christians, July 2024

Beheaded Christ statue, Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, NY

The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of July 2024.

Muslim Slaughter of Christians

Democratic Republic of Congo: According to a July 28 report, “Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) claimed, in four statements published on July 25-27, 2024, that on July 24 its fighters attacked six villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) northeastern provinces, beheading more than 57 Christian villagers. In the two largest attacks that day, 54 villagers were beheaded, 30 and 24 respectively.”

Nigeria: A couple of July headlines from the ongoing Muslim genocide of Christians in the African nation follow:

July 19: “Fulani Extremists Kill 18 Christians in Benue State.”
July 8: “Terrorists Shut Down 70 Churches in Nigeria.”

Speaking about the ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria, Fr. Andrew Dewan, the Director of communications in Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Pankshin, wrote in a July 16 report that Christians “feel helpless … We keep encouraging them as priests, as pastors of souls to be hopeful, to be resilient. But things don’t seem to get better… So, there is an atmosphere of hopelessness.” He goes on to lament that “elected officials are just not interested in the welfare of the people,” and are offering no protection or other practical support to Christian communities whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed. He recalled a couple of recent attacks—including the July 13 kidnapping of a Christian woman and her daughter, and the Sunday, July 14 storming of a Christian village, where the village head was murdered by Muslim herdsmen—adding that “there is a clear religious dimension to the attacks.”

Pakistan: Late night on July 10, four Muslim men broke into the home of a Christian man and murdered him for having the temerity to confront them about sexually harassing Christian women in their Lahore neighborhood. Marshall Masih, 29, was the sole breadwinner for his elderly parents, wife and four children – the oldest 10, the youngest 18 months old. His sister, Goshi, who was at the house that night, said the family was asleep when four armed Muslims, led by Muhammad Shani, broke into the home around 4:30 am:

The assailants broke the door of my brother’s bedroom on the first floor of the house and held him and his family hostage on gunpoint. They then opened indiscriminate fire on him, riddling his body with 16 bullets in the presence of his wife and minor children…. I was horrified to see his blood-soaked body lying on the floor while his wife and children were huddled in a corner crying frantically.

Although rushed to a hospital, he died of his many wounds. The sister said that Marshall had filed a complaint with police against Muhammad a couple of months earlier, after repeated, unsuccessful attempts to dissuade him and his cohorts from harassing Christian women and shooting their guns in the air:

Though the police arrested Shani and recovered illegal weapons from his possession, he was freed after a day without any case. Instead, the police pressured my brother to stop pursuing the matter. The Muslims were offended that a Christian had taken a stand against their criminal activities, and by killing him in cold blood, they have shown that our lives do not matter… [O]ur pleas have fallen on deaf ears, and so far none of the accused murderers have been arrested… My brother was the sole provider for the family, but with his untimely death, we are clueless as to how his young widow and four children will survive now. Our entire world has crumbled after this incident.

Muslim Rape of Christian Girls in Pakistan

On July 1, two Muslim men drugged and raped a 15-year-old Christian girl. As she was returning to her family home from a nearby grocery store, the Muslim men accosted and pressured her to drink some water, which was laced with drugs, the mother, Sonia, said: “She fell unconscious after drinking the drug-laced water, after which the accused took her to a house and raped her.” When the girl did not return, the mother and father went looking for her. “After some time, we saw [Muhammad] Amjad coming out of a house followed by [my daughter], who was struggling to walk.” On seeing her parents, Muhammad immediately fled. They ran to their daughter, who appeared drugged and unable to speak:

Her clothes were drenched in blood. We immediately called the police, who took her to the hospital for treatment and medical examination. The medical examination showed that she has been raped. There were also torture and bite marks on her body.

According to the daughter herself, whose name is withheld,

My mind was numb and vision was blurry when I gained consciousness. At first, I couldn’t figure out what had happened to me, but then I started to feel the pain. It was awful. There were some bite injuries on my body which also hurt a lot…. [At one point during her captivity] I tried to run, but he beat me up, biting me on the cheek when I was struggling to free myself. I started screaming for help, after which he let go of me and left the house. I followed him outside, and while I was trying to make out where I was, my parents saw me and took me in their arms…. I’m still unable to sleep at night. The bitter memory of that night continues to haunt me to this day.

As usual in Pakistan, police have been reluctant to move against the accused, a fellow Muslim. According to the victim’s mother, “We made several visits to the police station, but each time we were treated harshly by the police. When the police finally registered our FIR, no attempt was made to arrest the accused, enabling them to obtain interim bails from the court.” “The police are clearly siding with the accused,” said Christian attorney Zunaira Yousaf; “nearly a month has passed, yet the police have not conducted DNA tests of the accused and the victim. Due to this, the accused have thrice managed to get their pre-arrest bails extended from the court.”

Separately, according to a July 30 report,

A Christian girl was abducted, raped, and sold to a brothel in Gujranwala by her captor. She was eventually found and returned home when her brother accidentally spotted her in a rickshaw en route to a hospital. Tragically, she passed away from a high fever and severe bleeding caused by abortion pills. In a further distressing turn, the perpetrator attempted to abduct her younger sister as well.

Muslim Attacks on Apostates and Blasphemers

Pakistan: On July 1, a young Christian man was sentenced to death for “blasphemy” in a Pakistani court. But first Ehsan Shan will need to serve a 22-year prison sentence and pay a fine of one million rupees. According to the report,

The young man was accused of sharing blasphemous content on the social media site TikTok, considered to be the cause of the violence that broke out in Jaranwala in August 2023…. [when] a mob of militants destroyed and burned dozens of Christian homes and some 26 churches in the Christian quarter of the Punjab city. Based on intelligence, police arrested people on blasphemy charges three days after the violence. According to police, the young man did not produce and package the blasphemous content himself, but shared it, which made it go viral. Representatives of the local Christian community have called the young man a ‘scapegoat,’ while those who attacked and burned Christian churches and homes go unpunished.

“A grave injustice has been committed,” noted the NGO Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS): “The verdict against Ehsan Shan symbolises the virtual death of all Christians in Pakistan today. For the violence and destruction that took place in Jaranwala, only one culprit has been identified, and that is a Christian.”

Separately in Pakistan, on July 20, a Christian man learned that a Muslim organization had offered a $20,000 reward to anyone who beheads him for “blasphemy.” Since first being accused of supposedly producing pictures and sketches of the Muslim prophet, Muhammad, a decade ago, Faraz Pervaiz, a Pakistani Christian activist, has been living in exile in Thailand. Threats against him broke anew, however, with posters circulating in Pakistan in July showing his picture and calling upon Muslims to hunt the infidel down and to perform, in the words of the posters, sar tan se juda—“head separated from body”—on him. In a recent interview, Faraz revealed the “sinister plans” of Muslims trying to kill him: “Pakistani Muslims are calling me, pretending to be officials from the Indian Embassy. They claim to help me and insist that I meet them in person. This is akin to honey trapping. They want to get a hold of me, torture and then kill me.” He said the reason the false blasphemy accusation was leveled against him in the first place was to intimidate him from his activist work: “I have been reporting about the forced conversion and rape of minor Hindu girls and their subsequent marriages to Muslim Men.” Although he and his family had fled Pakistan a decade ago, the threats and attempts on his life continue, he said, because “Revenge has no age, time or boundaries.” He added that his family “continues to live in fear.”

Uganda: On July 21, a Muslim father burned his 19-year-old daughter on learning that she had become Christian a week earlier. Naasike Maliyati came home a week after her conversion to find her father, Abdulrahim Kutosi, and uncles angry with her:

They tied me up, beat me, and finally my dad picked up a hot flat iron and hot water and burned me and shouted loudly that I was an embarrassment to the family. I was burnt for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, as my father furiously continued shouting that I had ashamed [sic] the family. He continued saying that even Allah is annoyed with me as the pain continued inside my body.

She was then taken and unceremoniously dumped by the Namatala River, where a Christian passerby found and took her to a hospital.

Somalia: On July 8, Muslim relatives, for a second time, attacked and injured a convert to Christianity and his family. Two months earlier, Mohammad Abdul, 40, had survived a knife attack, which left him with a scar on his forehead and a fractured hand. Then, Muslims had destroyed his home, and his in-laws had seized his wife and five children. On June 10, Abdul rented a home and regathered his family in it. Before long, his wife “started receiving calls from my relatives that I should return back to my people before we get converted to a religion which is not approved in Islam – ‘Please come back home to avoid endangering yourself and the children.’” Thinking they were safe in her new and undisclosed location, the wife initially ignored the threats. “As several frequent and threatening messages continued streaming in, I started getting fearful.” Suddenly, on July 8, five of her relatives appeared pounding on her front door: “My husband was then in the washroom. Immediately they started asking the whereabouts of my husband.” When she remained silent,

One of my relatives went outside the sitting room and came back with sticks and started beating the children, who started crying loudly. Another relative went outside and came with a blunt object and hit me on my left ankle. My husband gained courage and dashed out of the bedroom and came trying to save me, but he was easily overpowered and knifed at the stomach as another hit him all over his body.

Once many neighbors started appearing, her relatives fled. Because her neighbors are all Muslim, the wife was grateful that that they did not know what the quarrel was about, thinking it a mere robbery attempt:

I thank God that this time round they [her relatives] did not mention their usual Islamic slogan of, ‘Allah Akbar [Allah is greater], which could have endangered our lives, because we are living in an Islamic region… The neighbors found my husband in a pool of blood and took us to a nearby medical clinic.

She was left with a broken ankle; her husband has lost the ability to speak.

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches

USA (New York): On July 4, a taxi driver—later revealed to be Jamshaid Choudhry, 44, a Muslim man of Pakistani origins—was arrested for committing a hate crime. On the previous Sunday, June 20, he attacked the large marble statues of the Holy Family, that had stood before a church for 42 years, culminating with the decapitation of the young Christ statue. Video footage shows the man stopping his taxicab near the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Fresh Meadows around 5:30 am. He then removes one of his shoes and charges at the three statues of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, savagely swatting at the heads of Mary and Joseph. He then turns his attention to the Christ child, and repeatedly strikes his head until it goes spiraling to the ground. He concludes his jihad by spitting at the statue. Choudhry is then seen calmly walking off with the weapon—his shoe—in hand. Repairs to the beloved statues will cost $20,000. In a statement, Queens District Attorney Katz said: “We will not tolerate unprovoked attacks, especially those driven by hate. Queens stands as a beacon of diversity and inclusivity, where freedom of religion and expression are celebrated as fundamental pillars of our democracy.” Choudhry pled not guilty at his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court and was released.

France: On July 24, a Muslim man barged into the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption basilica in Nice, splattered water on the lit candles, performed Arabic prayers, and recited the Koran, before declaring “Allah will judge!” Police, who were quickly contacted, arrived and took the 29-year-old man, who the report describes as “suffering from psychiatric disorders,” into custody.

In another incident, late Sunday night, July 14, another Notre-Dame-du-Travail church in Paris was vandalized. A knife was left planted in the throat of a statue of St. Mary, and the pillars of the church were desecrated with anti-Christian tags, including “Infidels should pray five times a day,” “Bastard Jesus one God Allah,” “The church is consecrated by Satan,” “The church will be burnt,” “The last prophet Muhammad,” “Those who continue will have their heads cut off,” “I will wage war against you Christian world,” “We Muslims cannot accept this whore of a religion/Mary is your destiny,” and “Go to hell.”

On July 3, various graffiti inciting violence against Jews and Christians—including one that literally read, “Death to Jews and Christians”—was found in Croissy-sur-Seine, just west of Paris. Among these hate-filled messages, which were found on the wall of the Canotiers’ underground parking lot, was “Free Palestine.”

Finally, on July 8, another church in Lyon in the Rhône “caught fire,” with little other information.

Portugal: the Cross of Christ, a national monument, from 1386

Germany: On Sunday, July 28, a Muslim migrant of Afghan origins disrupted the service of the St. Maximilian Kolbe parish in Hamburg. According to the report,

The young man had tied a Palestinian flag around his neck and then displayed it on his back. Eyewitnesses reported that the young man then walked through the nave towards the priest and stood there. He was then asked to leave the church by church staff, which he complied with. At the door, however, he continued to cause a disturbance by playing loud music on a speaker at the open entrance. When the police arrived with several patrol cars, the man initially fled, according to a police spokesperson. He was later stopped by police officers who clarified his identity. He was then released from police custody.

There were many other acts of vandalism and arson against churches in Germany throughout July (see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Italy: On July 27, three Muslim migrants vandalized a church and beheaded a statue in Veneto. MP Erik Pretto condemned their actions in a press release:

Last Saturday, late in the afternoon, the small church of Scalini di Arsiero was brutally vandalized. The suspects, three young people, were of African origin according to witnesses. They allegedly entered the sacred place by breaking down the front door with their shoulders. They then destroyed furniture, candelabras and stained glass windows, going so far as to break and decapitate the statue of Saint Anthony of Padua with the Child Jesus, purchased by the local community at the time of the construction of the building.

There were many more acts of vandalism and arson against churches and the beheading of their statues throughout July in Italy (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Spain: On July 20, a 24-year-old Moroccan man, dressed in Islamic prayer attire, barged into the Church of Saint Lawrence in Pamplona where he “uttered shouts and threats of a jihadist nature.” He was involved in another public altercation earlier that day. Arrested on the scene, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation.

On the next day, Sunday, July 21 a woman barged into church in Navarra and threatened the officiating priest with a knife. Before being arrested, she also smashed the glass entrance to the church. The report does not indicate her identity or motive.

Portugal: On July 31, the Cross of Christ of the São Lázaro statue from 1386, a national monument, was destroyed by “Asian” migrants, said eyewitnesses.

Indonesia: On July 31, authorities foiled an Islamic terror plot to suicide bomb two churches. A 19-year-old Muslim and his parents were arrested. According to the report,

H.O.K [initials of the 19-year-old] had become a member online of Philippines-based Dawlah Islamiyah, said to be affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), and he and accomplices were planning to carry out suicide bombings using Triaceton Triperoxide (TATP) explosives at two Christian churches in Malang Regency, East Java. TATP, widely known as the “Mother of Satan,” is one of the most powerful and dangerous explosives. Preliminary investigations indicated that H.O.K. often accessed various websites containing Dawlah Islamiyah propaganda that led him to try to carry out suicide bombings.

In a separate incident, another church was pressured into halting its worship service in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. According to a July 24 report,

[Muslim] Residents living near the Tesalonika Church in Kampung Melayu Timur, Teluk Naga District, Tangerang, recently rioted and demanded that the church cease its worship activities. Footage of the rioters ridiculing the church for having to gather inside a home went viral on social media this week. One resident stated that the mob stopped the church’s worship because the service occurred in a majority-Muslim community…While churches in larger cities can generally worship openly, smaller churches in Indonesia’s villages are increasingly challenged, threatened, and attacked.

Turkey: The Diyarbakir Protestant Church Foundation, established in 2019, is facing overt discrimination from the government which is denying it the ability to build a much needed worship center for its growing congregation on land zoned for religious buildings. Despite repeated applications, the requests have been continually denied or ignored by the authorities. According to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF),

The land in question has been specifically designated for religious use, but the government is discriminating against the church because it is not associated with the state’s preferred religion… The systemic and bureaucratic persecution is not only in direct violation of the basic human right to religious freedom but also Türkiye’s international human rights obligations. The discrimination must stop…. Christians face numerous legal and practical barriers when they wish to establish a legally recognized worship place in Türkiye.

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

About this Series

The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic. Accordingly, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed in July 2011 to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that occur or are reported each month. It serves two purposes:

1) To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.

2) To show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytism laws that criminalize and sometimes punish with death those who “offend” Islam; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class, “tolerated” citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination thereof.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to Indonesia in the East—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

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