Petition to Muslims: Stop killing converts

[humus_sapiens]

Petition to Muslims: Stop killing converts
Urges reform of apostasy law mandating death for leaving Islam
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=33406
http://www.barnabasfund.org/Apostasy/petition.htm

A British charity has issued a petition challenging Muslim leaders to call for reform or reinterpretation of the Islamic law of apostasy.

Under Shariah, or Islamic law, Muslims who convert to another faith and refuse to repent must be put to death.

The petition by the England-based Barnabas Fund asks for signatures from those who believe "Muslims who choose to convert to another faith should be free to do so without having to face a lifetime of fear."

The group acknowledges the tradition is upheld and taught by most Muslim religious leaders around the world. But it notes a reformist interpretation that claims an apostate can be put to death only if he also is a danger to the Islamic state.

Traditionalists insist, nevertheless, every apostate is a danger to the Islamic social order and has committed high treason.
...
The petition urges Western governments, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and other international institutions to urgently raise the issue with Muslim leaders and organizations.
...
"Through its new petition, Barnabas Fund is calling on all people of good will to help moderate Muslims by lending their support to these calls for change," the group said.

[abu afak]

Converts?

I don't think so.
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47 Pakistanis Die in Attack on Shiite Rites

By DAVID ROHDE


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 4 — Suspected Islamic militants, including a suicide bomber, attacked a mosque today, killing 47 Shiite Muslim worshipers and wounding 65 others as they gathered for Friday Prayers in the southwestern city of Quetta, officials said.

Three attackers died, Pakistani officials said. The mass killing, the first sectarian strike here to use a suicide bomber, appeared to be an effort to ignite a cycle of violence between Sunnis and Shiites and destabilize the country, the officials said. They said it was too early to pinpoint which group was responsible.

There were conflicting accounts tonight of the details of the attack. Senior Pakistani law enforcement officials said two attackers were believed to have entered the Hazara Mosque early this afternoon as hundreds of faithful gathered. The Hazara are a predominantly Shiite minority ethnic group in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The officials said one attacker hurled hand grenades at worshipers before detonating a bomb attached to his waist. The other hurled hand grenades and sprayed worshipers with bullets from a rifle, they said.

"The third one was outside, also shooting," said Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, a senior Interior Ministry official.

The suicide bomber died instantly, Brigadier Cheema said. The two other attackers were also killed, although the details were not clear. Reports that a fourth attacker had been captured could not be confirmed.

The Associated Press reported that a witness, Zulifqar Ali, who was slightly wounded by shrapnel, said the attackers had first focused on the mosque's security guards.

"First they killed security guards outside the mosque," he said. "Then they moved inside the mosque and started firing on the people."

A guard killed one attacker, Mr. Ali said, adding, "The other attacker blew himself up."

After the attacks, survivors rushed wounded and maimed worshipers to overwhelmed local hospitals, the authorities said.

In an effort to prevent rioting and retaliatory killings by angry Shiites, large numbers of heavily armed policemen and soldiers flooded the streets of Quetta.

Exact casualty figures changed throughout the day. Early tonight, Sheik Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan's information minister, said 31 people had died and 52 had been wounded.

Late tonight, Naeem Ahmed, an official with the Edhi Foundation, a private emergency service that works across Pakistan, said 47 had died and 65 had been wounded....""

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/05/in...ia/05STAN.html