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Newsletter Sunday October 27, 2013
Israel saved me
Reverend Mulinda from Uganda and his friend Majed El Shafie from Egypt both converted to Christianity from Islam, and paid a heavy price for sticking to their beliefs. Today they fight against anti-Semitism and advocate human rights and a love for Israel.
Amit Lewinthal
Rev. Omar Mulinda (left) and Majed El Shafie
Photo credit: Uri Lenz
These two men should never have met, but today they are close friends. They were born in two different countries at different ends of the world, but their life stories are very similar, and today, they both advocate a love for Israel.
On December 24, 2011, Christmas Eve, Rev. Omar Mulinda addressed a congregation of 300 Christians at one of Uganda's biggest churches. Mulinda is highly regarded as an impressive orator, and thousands come to hear his sermons.
Preparations were well underway to celebrate Christmas the following day, but the anticipation and joy were soon replaced with sadness when, as Mulinda recounts: "I left the church early. I was about to enter my vehicle and drive home when someone pretending to be a member of the congregation approached me and said: 'Reverend, can you help me?' I turned around, and I saw another person standing next to him, and there was a third man who closed in on me from behind whom I could not see. I realized that this was an ambush so I turned back to get into my car, but then they poured a bucket full of acid on my head. It was terrible."
Unfortunately for the 41-year-old Mulinda, this attack was not the end of the persecution against him, which ultimately made him a famous reverend in Uganda.
Mulinda was the 52nd of 54 children (!) in a highly respected Muslim family. His mother was the daughter of the great imam. He was brought up Muslim and was slated to become a clergyman. "We were taught not to associate with or become friendly with Christians or Jews," he says. But in 1990, when he was 18 years old, Mulinda met a man who preached about reading the Bible and a love for Israel. This man introduced him to the New Testament.
Born again in Israel
"I decided that this was the truth, but I could not convert to Christianity then. I would not have survived. I would have had to part ways with my, rich, respected extended family, which viewed Islam as its very foundation. But in my heart, I knew the truth," he says.
In 1993, Mulinda mustered up the courage and secretly converted to Christianity. But his secret was not kept for long -- on his very first day at church, as he was exiting the building after prayer, some of his Muslim friends spotted him and reported him to the Muslim community. At that moment, Mulinda's personal version of hell began. At first it was just his family, which renounced him. Then it was violent persecution, which peaked with the acid attack on that fateful Christmas Eve.
"I felt a fire burning inside me," he says. "With my last remaining strength I tried to flee to my office at the church, but as I was running my attackers flung more acid on my back -- in an effort to kill me. I tripped, but I managed to get to my office while they yelled out 'Allahu akbar'. That is when I realized that these men were Muslim terrorists."
Two days later, a letter was left at the church, saying "We are sorry to learn that you are still alive. We wanted you to die, but Allah will give us the strength to complete the task." The letter listed four reasons for the act of terror: 1. Omar converted to Christianity; 2. He is promoting a love for Israel; 3. He preaches against Muslims (they claim); 4. He dared question Shariah law as it appears in the constitution of the Republic of Uganda.
It is important to clarify: There is an overwhelming Christian majority in Uganda (84 percent of the population is Christian), and a Muslim minority (12% of the population). But in the past, the republic was a Muslim state, under the rule of the Muslim despot Idi Amin. Today, the constitution in Uganda respects the laws of the religious minority, even though the Sunni Muslims in the country continue to demand that Shariah law will be the only law in the land.
Mulinda, who has become a leading figure among Christians in his country, has tried to combat this effort and even formulated a petition and addressed the Ugandan parliament on the topic. "My argument is that, as a Christian, I oppose the abuse of people and the violation of human rights. If Shariah law is implemented, there will be much hatred toward Israel, and every Muslim who converted will be executed by law."
Let's go back to that nightmarish night: Mulinda was rushed to the hospital, suffering from third degree burns. His face was completely disfigured and his upper body twisted and deformed. "If you survive," a doctor who examined him said, "you will have to be transferred to a better hospital that will be better equipped to care for you."
Mulinda almost didn't get the opportunity to receive better care. The day after he was hospitalized, a terrorist impersonating a doctor made his way to Mulinda's bed, carrying a syringe filled with poison. Luckily, Mulinda's friends from church were there to stop the assassin in time.
The next day, Mulinda was flown to India, but there, too, the danger did not let up. There was a large community of Muslim immigrants from Uganda there. Several days later, his Christian and Jewish friends joined forces and made it possible for him to be taken to Israel. On Jan. 5, 2012, Mulinda was admitted to Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv.
This saved his life. "I came to Israel in bad shape," he recalls. "I couldn't swallow, I couldn't speak and I couldn't move my head or neck. My body was rotting -- I lost my nose and my mouth was dripping downward. In Israel, the doctors did an amazing job rehabilitating me with many skin grafts and facial reconstruction. Everything you see now is only thanks to the Israeli doctors."
Symbolically speaking, the man who insisted on preaching love for Israel (and had even visited Israel several times), received his life back on its soil. "My soul has been spiritually linked to this place for decades, and now, my body is as well," Mulinda says humorously.
Upon his recovery, Mulinda resumed preaching to Christian communities around the world. He became an icon in his native land -- a symbol of the Christian battle against the state and against extremism. However, despite the massive support, he cannot return to his native country. The hot weather there could damage his delicate facial skin, regardless of the fact that his ideology could get him killed. He is a martyr.
Deep in the ground
Majed El Shafie, 36, was born in Cairo to a family with a legal orientation: his father and brothers worked as lawyers and his uncle was a Supreme Court justice in Egypt. His childhood was accompanied by a giant library filled with books on human rights, justice and freedom. He drew his information from these books, and when he grew up he set out to study law at the University of Alexandria.
El Shafie was ready to become a lawyer, but "during my first year of law school, the persecution of the Christian minority that I saw shocked me," he says. "There was a law in Egypt making it against the law to build new churches or to renovate old churches. Somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 Christian activists are in prison for no reason."
El Shafie decided to study the persecution of Christians, thinking that "no one persecutes another unless they are afraid of the truth that they hold." At first he was assisted by a close Christian friend, who handed him a copy of the Bible and promised: "you will find all the answers in this book." El Shafie began reading, and when he finished the first story -- about Adam and Eve -- he recognized the fundamental difference between Christianity and Islam. "Under Islam," he explains, "Eve would have been murdered for her actions -- under the concept of 'an eye for eye'. But in the Bible, God sends a message of forgiveness and reconciliation."
"In the Bible, I found a message of sacrifice, and today I preach about the difference between the faiths," he goes on to say. "There are 300-400 differences between Islam and Christianity. I believe that the god of Islam sent people out to die in his name, while the god of Christianity was willing to die for the sake of his people."
From here on out, El Shafie's story resembles Mulinda's in many respects -