SOMEWHERE IN THE U.S.A. -- This summer the startling comments of a frightened 17-year-old girl captured the attention of America and the Western world. Runaway Rifka Bary alleged her family would kill her if she were sent back home -- because she had converted from Islam to Christianity.
Bary has said she is just one of hundreds of cases.
Amani Mustafa is a former Muslim who fled oppression in Egypt only to experience further abuse in America.
Mustafa thought she would be safe in the U.S.A.
"The first thing I said, this cannot happen here. This is the land of freedom. They cannot reach me here. I couldn't believe it," she said.
For more than 10 years, Mustafa and her two children were on the run in the United States hiding from her ex-husband and his brother. She says both had threatened to kill her if she did not return to Egypt and to Islam.
Mustafa became a Christian after reading the Bible in secret in the bathroom. When her father learned she had left Islam, he summoned her to his home.
"He said, 'I have a straightforward question for you. Is it Islam or is it Christ?' As I was about melting, I answered, 'It is Christ' and at this point he got up to hit me," explained Amani. "He was very threatening and said he was going to tie me to his car and make me an example in the city."
Mustafa fled and was in hiding for several years. She later married a Muslim who promised she could practice her Christian faith in secret. But his attitude changed after their second child was born. Mustafa was no longer allowed to attend church. She had to wear a veil.
Still a Christian in her heart, Mustafa tearfully explained how she struggled when her husband forced her to read the Koran, the Islamic holy book, to their children.
"I felt like I'm feeding my children poison and that was the hardest thing to know the truth and not be able to speak it," she told CBN News.
Mustafa's husband agreed to send her and the children to live in the United States. He vowed to join them later.
She says she felt a sudden sense of freedom and relief when the plane left Egyptian airspace.
"The first thing that went was my veil," she recalled. "That terrified my son as he looked at me and he said, 'Mom you're going to go to hell' and I said, 'Son, we just left it.'"
Once in America, Mustafa recommitted herself to Christ. That's when the persecution returned. When she told her husband that she was filing for divorce. He demanded the children be brought back to Egypt and Islam. He told her she would "pay a price" for her decision.
"He sent his brother after us," she told CBN News. "His brother threatened me and said if I wouldn't comply and go back with him with the kids that I will pay the price and I will go by force. And when I said, 'No I'm not going to come,' my phone in the apartment that I lived in was tapped. They were listening to our conversations for myself and for my family, my mom also. There were people doing surveillance on us. I didn't know that this could even happen," she explained.
Mustafa and her children fled to another state where her husband could not find them. Today -- more than 10 years later -- the threats have disappeared. She's no longer in hiding. Mustafa has moved forward publicly with her life.
She feels called to serve in various ministries, reaching out to women facing Islamic oppression. She is the host of a new woman's television show that is broadcast throughout the Middle East. Mustafa and her co-hosts -- all former Muslims -- talk about their experiences with Islam.
"There are so many women living under Muslim husbands or Muslim fathers or Muslim families that are living the same things that I lived back then," she said. "There are so many women that need to know and hear about the freedom of Christ that I experience today. Those tears are not tears of pain, but actually they are tears of appreciation, because now I know that I am saved though the grace of Christ."
Mustafa feels privileged to share her joy on television and she is proud of her children. Her son, Joshua, has become an ordained pastor. Her oldest daughter is also in ministry.
Mustafa now enjoys a loving marriage with her American Christian husband and their daughter, Mary.
"I am convinced that every experience that I lived through in my life was to be for His glory, to be used for His glory," she exclaimed. "You see, we have a choice. Either we sit and mope over spilled milk, or we can just use the hardship and the bad experiences for His glory and I choose to glorify God's name."
CBN Thursday, September 24, 2009
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NO ONE WILL KNOW THE TRUE ANSWERS UNTIL JESUS CHRIST COMES AGAIN.... SO ITS POINTLESS IN FIGHTING AND GETING ANSWERS MIXED UP... LET IT ALONE UNTIL GOD COMES ONCE AGAIN HE WILL TELL THE RIGHT ANSWERS AND TELL THE WHOLE STORY OVER AGAIN FOR US LETS JUST LOVE EVERYONE AND DO WHATS RIGHT TO FIND THE RIGHT ANSWERS
InperenSerenity 11 hours ago
She is trying to get asylum
Elmanmn 1 week ago
Sh
Elmanmn 1 week ago
@92reshaun God didnt create misery, he never will. It is humans who create it. God sent us messengers who give us a path to follow, it is humans who chose to neglect their teachings. YOu have no proof of anything, just books that you cant even ensure the credibility of the authors.
wildmanauh 1 month ago
@wildmanauh wow i never knew you even wrote me back sorry for that. But here I'll give you all the shots you want to ask away any question you might have and i will answer them but ask one by one so we don't clash.
92reshaun 1 month ago
why wld she who believed in christ marry a muslim man in the first place when clearly the difference in religion would eventually clash.
for so much of her faith to christ, isnt interfaith marriage prohibited not only in Islam but Christianity?
And to codemn another religion is low lying! No religion condones or teach us to codemn other religion or human being.
This woman is twisting the words not only from the Koran but from the Bible!
yanidutoit 2 months ago
this women has to pick better husbands, this has nothing to do with islam, and islam dose not enforce this
hi4411 3 months ago
First of all, you didnt answer my question and that is good enough for me because it confirms what i already know from the many christians that i have met, there are no answers! you guys hide when we confront you with critical questions! To answer u, u have no proof for anything, you just wrote it in capitals as a way to show ur weakness and ur dependence on your whim! As for the jews, god never created a race and called it JEWS, they called themselves jews not god. I dare u to prove otherwise!
wildmanauh 3 months ago
@wildmanauh And anyway answer these questions for me because i just have to know. So if your so called god was to be God then why on earth would he create a race of people in the first place "JEWS" that he hates so much? How can he be of love and yet promote Lying, rape, murder, adultery, self righteousness, abuse of women, cutting of hands etc etc. the answer to this is because HE IS SATAN! deceiving you all the way into hell.. I HAVE THE PROOF
92reshaun 3 months ago
@wildmanauh No disrespect but.. CAN YOU READ? because in my other message i made it very clear that "Jesus Christ took the sins of all mankind (IN HISTORY - PRESENT - AND TO COME) (John 1:29) the word "WORLD" in this scripture symbolizes any human being that ever walked this earth at any time period. So Jesus Christ payed the debt to our sins but we as individuals being responsible for ourselves must accept him and his sacrifice for us in order to be saved.
92reshaun 3 months ago