John R. Houk
© October 27, 2011
Asia Bibi has been imprisoned for her faith in Christ in the Islamic nation of Pakistan. Her crime is leaving Islam and converting to Christianity complicated by drinking water from a Muslim well. Her punishment for such a heinous crime in a Muslim nation is capital punishment.
The last that I had read about Asia’s plight as a Christian is that she has been tortured in a notorious Pakistani prison in which people charged with blasphemy mysteriously end up dead prior to the completion of trial options.
Two Recent Articles on Asia Bibi Torture:
Jason Campbell believes that Asia Bibi is a heroic figure on the scale of civil rights icon Rosa Parks. Parks was arrested for refusing to sit at the back of a public bus.
I am not sure Asia will have the same effect as Rosa because Rosa lived in a society in which the rule of law out values cultural prejudice. The Civil Rights Movement became codified into law with the backing of the Office of POTUS and SCOTUS. Civil Rights will only work if civil disobedient Christians in Muslim nations have the rule of law override Islamic Sharia Law and end the use of Islamic Supremacism to the detriment of non-Muslims.
Nevertheless, Campbell’s article does relate the kind of prejudice that Christians experience not only Pakistan but in the entire Muslim world.
JRH 10/27/11
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Asia Bibi: The Rosa Parks of the Islamic World
By Jason Campbell
October 25, 2011
Rosa Parks is an iconic figure in the history of America and the struggles for civil rights around the world. Everyone remembers how she protested segregation by defiantly refusing to sit in the back of the bus and was arrested. She may not have known it, but the world changed the second the handcuffs were put on her wrists. To be called the “next Rosa Parks” is a compliment of the highest order, and a mother in Pakistan named Asia Bibi is well-deserving of it.
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks’ actions led to riots and an “awakening” across America. The civil rights movement took on a new life. On November 13, 1956, less than a year later, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation of buses. The U.S. Congress has since called her “the first lady of civil rights” and a statue was erected in her honor in the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall.
Today, a Christian convert from Islam in Pakistan named Asia Bibi has been given the death sentence for daring to talk about her change in faith. She knew the consequences of her actions and now, the world is watching as she prosecuted under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, a modern equivalent of the discriminatory and oppressive laws that put those handcuffs on Rosa Parks.
Asia Bibi is the mother of four daughters, one of which is disabled. She has been physically attacked, arrested, sentenced, and has become a lonely outcast from Pakistani society. Preachers of hate openly call for her death should she be released.
From the day she converted, Asia Bibi was discriminated against. She couldn’t drink from the same water as her Muslim co-workers. They repeatedly urged her to revert back to Islam. In a heated discussion, Bibi explained why she chose to believe in the salvation of Jesus Christ instead of following Mohammed, enraging her co-workers who attacked her. She was reported to the police and arrested under the blasphemy laws of Pakistan.
She has been in jail, away from her four daughters, for a year and a half, simply for trying to exercise free speech, freedom of religion and freedom of thought. But, as the world changed when the handcuffs were slapped onto Rosa Parks, a similar “awakening” is happening because of Asia Bibi. She has become a hero to millions of persecuted Christians around the world and opened the eyes of Christians living in freedom.
Unfortunately, there is no way to know if Bibi’s fate will be the same as Parks’.
That is why the Christian Action Network is committing itself to rallying its supporters to try to save her life. We are in contact with other Christian organizations in the U.K., Italy, the Netherlands and even Pakistan.
“This could become a momentous time in the history of civil rights. This isn’t a partisan, religious or ethnic issue. This is a cause that everyone should support and if we save her life, it could set off a chain reaction in the Islamic world that will go down in the history books,” said Martin Mawyer, President of CAN.
CAN is urging members of Congress to pass legislation supporting Asia Bibi and demanding the repeal of such blasphemy laws. To sign our proposed Congressional Resolution, click here. We have to do everything we can to have Asia Bibi pardoned and escape safely, as there will be hordes of Islamic extremists hoping to take her life the second she is released.
Like Rosa Parks, Asia Bibi has never yieled (sic) in spirit, courage or faith, even in the face of serious persecution. Please stand with us in support of Asia Bibi, the Rosa Parks of the Islamic world.
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Keep Public Pressure on to Support Asia Bibi
John R. Houk
© October 27, 2011
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Asia Bibi: The Rosa Parks of the Islamic World
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