Northern Colorado Gazette

While many Christians are aware of Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who is facing a possible death sentence for refusing to recant his Christian faith he, is not the only one awaiting news of his fate.

On Easter Sunday, a dozen Christians in Iran were prosecuted and are currently awaiting the verdict in their trials.

The Christians were put on trial for crimes “against the order,” which usually means Muslims who convert to Christianity. Jason DeMars of Present Truth Ministries says a pastor and his wife are two of the accused.

“This is the second time they were tried for the same crime. The first time was in Bandar Anzali; this time was in Rasht,” he reports. “Previously, they were acquitted for the crimes, so they were tried again in a different court. [It] seems to me to be an attempt to find an agreeable court to convict them on the charges.”

While the pastor and his wife are not charged with apostasy, they were allowed to testify. The verdict is due within two weeks, however, Nadarkhani has had his sentencing postponed multiple times.

Nadarkhani was charged with apostasy for leaving the Islamic faith despite his never having been a Muslim.

While Nadarkhani tells the world that he was never a Muslim that statement is contrary to Muslim teaching. According to Islam, everyone is born a Muslim. Thus, Nadarkhani or for that matter, any person who becomes a Christian or follows any other religion has “left Islam.”

On page 28, in the introduction of a copy of the Qur’an, printed by Ansariyan Publications in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the translator, M.H. Shakir in the section “Islam and Muslims” states, “In fact, every child that is born is a Muslim. It is the parents who make him a Jew, Christian or Hindu.”

Based on this teaching, even if Nadarkhani had never visited a mosque a day in his life he is still considered a Muslim. Therefore, when he accepted Christ as his savior and became a Christian he left the Muslim faith whether he knew it or not.

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