All posts tagged: Islam

Will San Francisco State University enforce Islam’s blasphemy law?

An incident in California has exposed an interesting division in Islam. You have undoubtedly heard of Muslims becoming outraged when people show images of Muhammad. Many Muslims, but not all, consider such images as an act of blasphemy. Maziar Behrooz, who teaches at San Francisco State University, found himself under investigation by school administrators for allegedly showing a picture of Muhammad in one of his classes, Front Page reports. This is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this story as it appears by opening an investigation, the university is prepared to enforce Islam’s blasphemy laws in America. But here is the fascinating twist. Behrooz is a Muslim and teaches Islamic history at the university. But he is also a Shia Muslim and Shiites actually allow and use pictures of Muhammad as part of their religious expression. However, Sunnis, another branch of Islam do not, and they consider it a blasphemous act to have a picture of Muhammad. And according to Front Page, Behrooz was allegedly showing a Shiite icon of Muhammad, and it is suspected …

Pakistan hikes up punishment for blasphemy

Christians in Muslim-dominated Pakistan are expressing concerns about recent changes to the country’s blasphemy law, the Christian Post reports. The change increases the punishment for anyone who criticizes the companions, wives, and friends of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. Under old legislation, a person could potentially face a prison sentence of three years for such criticism. This has now been increased to a maximum of 10 years, and a potential fine of approximately $4,500US. Over the years, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have been abused. People have made false allegations in an effort to seize lands, take out competitors and as revenge in petty disputes. The irony is that during cases, people accusing others of blasphemy are not allowed to reveal what the accused said, because that would be an act of blasphemy as well. So it comes down to the justice system having to take the accuser’s word for it, which has opened the process up to corruption. There are also reports of prosecutors offering to drop the charges, in a non-blasphemy-related case, against non-Muslim citizens if they …

Man murdered after helping lead 8 Muslims to Christ in Uganda

When six Muslim men and two women became Christians after a public debate between Christianity and Islam in the village of Sirimula, in Uganda on July 6, 2022, Islamic extremists attacked the Christian participants, killing Robert Bwenje, 28. As Pastor Ambrose Mugisha, 25, and Bwenje, who had participated in the debate, were returning to their home village, Nyamiringa, they were attacked by a group of men shouting, “Allah akbar, Allah akbar [Allah is greater].” The assailants fled when a passerby stumbled upon the assault. Both the Christian men were taken to a local hospital, where Bwenje later died from his injuries. Mugisha, who works as an assistant pastor at Elim Pentecostal Church in Nyamiringa, had initiated the debate as part of a plan to establish a church in Surimula. READ: Christian man killed by Islamic extremists in ambush attack after 8 Muslims put their faith in Christ

Is America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan a fulfillment of Islamic end-times prophecy?

Similar to Christianity, Islam also has an end times theology that involves the arrival of a Muslim Messiah, who will set up Islam on world-wide scale. This person is referred to as the ‘Mahdi’ According to CBN, the take over of Afghanistan by the Taliban, after America’s withdrawal, is now being heralded as a fulfilment of prophecy paving the way for the arrival of the ‘Mahdi.’ It reports that the radical Islamic group’s twitter page is specifically referencing ‘black flags’, that are tied to the Islamic end times. The radical Islamic group states, “Black flags will arise from Khorasan and nothing will be able to return them.” According to author Joel Richardson, the reference to black flags from Khorasan, which is located in Afghanistan, is connected to the arrival of the Islamic Messiah. In a webinar sponsored by CBN, Richardson explained: “It says an army will come from Khorasan carrying black flags and then it says this: ‘If you see them give them your allegiance.  Even if you have to crawl over ice.  Because this …

Islamophobia: What is the lesson for us?

What do you think when you hear the word “Islamophobia?” This is a new word, and it refers to prejudice and dislike of Muslims. Recently, in Canada, the government held a summit on the topic of Islamophobia. I should give a disclaimer here. The conference was about the religion of Islam, and I am a Christian. I remember a song when I was younger, with these words: “Jesus is the answer, for the world today. Above him there’s no other, Jesus is the way.” That is a good description of what I believe. I will give a link to that song, below. The old saying is ‘If you don’t play the game, you can’t make the rules.’ That applies to me. Imagine if I gave advice about what Jewish people should have done to resist their persecutors. That would be offensive. I am an outsider looking on from a distance. So, what can we say about Islamophobia? The conference came and went quickly, and most people missed the information. There was also a conference just …

Muslims and Christians: Did one of ours kill some of theirs?

Recently, a young man drove his pickup truck at a high speed, and drove into a family that was walking on a summer day. Four adults were killed, except for one survivor, a young boy who was badly injured. The whole family was Muslim, originally from Pakistan, and that was obvious by their appearance. They were attacked because they were identified as Muslims. In the world, the number of Muslims is almost two billion, 1.8 billion, and this incident is being reported everywhere. This all happened in a peaceful country, Canada, in a very quiet part of that country, London, Ontario. The family probably felt very safe walking in London on a summer day. The young man, who drove the truck, was arrested, and now he is being charged with a hate crime. READ: Terror charges against London, Ont attack suspect could be Canadian legal milestone At this time, people who knew the young man are surprised that he did this. He had issues with his mental health, but otherwise there is nothing in his …

Pastor murdered after debate between Christianity and Islam

According to Morning Star Ministries, a Pentecostal pastor in Eastern Uganda was allegedly killed by Muslim extremists shortly after engaging in a public debate between Christianity and Islam. Muslims in Pallisa Town, where Pastor Thomas Chikooma has his church, had been holding nightly discussions in a community park and decided as part of this to set up a public debate between Christianity and Islam. Though only 14% of Ugandans are Muslim, they are concentrated in the eastern region of the country where the debate took place. The Islamic group invited Pastor Chikooma, a popular minister who had established over 50 churches in the area, to speak on behalf of Christianity during the debate between to the two faiths. However, things did not go as anticipated for the Muslim organizers as Pastor Chikooma effectively used both the Bible and the Koran to present his case for Christianity. At the end, he invited those watching to receive Christ and according to reports, 14 people, including six Muslims, made a decision to become Christians. This turn of events …

Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy

A Pakistani Christian man, Asif Pervaiz, 37, has been in jail since 2013 after he refused his supervisors request to convert to Christianity. When Pervaiz refused, the factory supervisor then accused Pervaiz of sending blasphemous texts against Islam, that the Christian man denied sending. Pervaiz has been in jail since 2013 and this year was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to death.

The Spiritual Life of Turkey

For a generation, Turkey has been governed by conservative Muslims, who want to revive the old religion. For decades before that, the nation was officially secular and religion was excluded from government. That changed about twenty years ago. The return-to-religion plan has been very successful, except for one thing; teenagers don’t like it. In time, children grow to be adults, and soon the new generation will be the majority. That new generation has a very different culture from official government policy. The generation raised to be pious in the old religion has its own ideas. READ: Turks Examine Their Muslim Devotion After Poll Says Faith Could Be Waning

Are Muslims Changing?

I have a new phone. My old Motorola still worked well, but it couldn’t accept all the upgrades to the apps loaded onto it; bloatware. My new phone has the capacity, and I am surprised by the huge volume of information that I can get from that small computer in my pocket. I can watch movies, and the news, play video games, or learn a new language, and so much more. When I go to church, I don’t need to carry a Bible; I just click on a Bible app on my phone. There are many of these apps, in most languages, and most are free. You knew that already, but imagine living in a small town in the conservative Middle East. You belong to the religion of your father, by law, and you can never quit or change to something different. For many the highest education you can achieve is in a Koranic school, where you memorize the holy book. In your lifetime, you might never meet a person who has a different religion …

The new Babylon?

In 597 BC, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah and part of his strategy involved removing defeated peoples from their homeland and transporting them to other regions of the empire. It was thought if they were living in another area of the world there would be less incentive to rebel and try to reclaim their country. And for the most part that was probably true. Part of this process also involved bringing the best and brightest of the conquered nations into Babylon where they were trained in the ways of Babylon. These young leaders were undoubtedly expected to influence Jews now in captivity. Initially, these men including Daniel were allowed to practice their faith and eat the foods approved under the Mosaic law. However, things took a dramatic change when Nebuchadnezzar constructed a giant statue and required everyone to bow down and worship it, under the threat of a fiery death if they didn’t obey. When three of Daniel’s friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) refused to compromise their faith in Jehovah by bowing to another …

Credit: Fergus Macdonald/Flickr/Creative Commons

Is Islam Incompatible with Christianity?

Very recently, in a “town hall” meeting, a citizen questioned the Prime Minister of Canada, and stated that Islam is not compatible with Christianity. People in the audience booed, and I have since read comments aimed at the citizen, about Fascists and Nazis and intolerant people. RELATED: Trudeau stands up for immigrants as town hall questioner slams Islam I know the speaker had one big problem. He is an unsophisticated citizen and he was up against a skilled and sophisticated spin-doctor politician. My advice to anyone who disagrees with a professional politician, is to stay away from the microphone. We can’t compete in their arena. In the case of the Canadian Prime Minister, the citizen with a grievance became a foil. In literature, that means a mirror. If the citizen can appear to be bumbling and unsophisticated, the politician can look like a shining star of reasonableness, in contrast. The citizen’s concern will never be heard, and no-one will try to understand. Modern western culture is dominated by sound bites, and insulting put-downs, and bitter …

Stockholm, Sweden Credit: Pedro Szekely/Flickr/Creative Commons

Despite death threats, former Iranian woman leads hundreds of Muslims to Christ in Sweden

Annahita Parsan, 47, now lives in Sweden where she pastors two churches. A former Muslim herself, she actively reaches out to Muslim refugees in her adopted country and trains other churches on how to reach those of the Islamic faith. Over the last 15 years, Parsan estimates she has led 1,500 Muslims to Christ. In an interview with Foxnews, Parsan tells how she was born into a Muslim family in Iran and was married at age 16, Two years later, her husband died in a car accident shortly after she gave birth to their son. According to Iranian law, on the death of a husband, the husband’s father becomes responsible for raising any boys. This required Parsan to take legal action to win her son back. During what is referred to as the Islamic Revolution, in 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini took power in Iran. The country dramatically changed over night. Parsan remarried and in 1984, her husband decided they needed to flee to Turkey where they were arrested for illegally entering the country. On their release, …

Camels crossing a desert in Iran Credit: my life, the Universe and everything/Flickr

Similar to Evangelicals, Roman Catholics are reporting Muslims converting to Christianity

According to World Watch Monitor, on November 12, an Iranian who had converted to Christianity, lost his appeal of a ten-year prison sentence for sharing his faith. In May, Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh, along with three men from Azerbaijan were sentenced to ten years for missionary activity along with trumped-up charges of “actions against national security.” The secret police arrested the four men when they attended a wedding in June 2016. Shortly after their arrest, the Iranians allowed the three Azerbaijans to leave Iran while on bail and then sentenced them in abstention. It is doubtful they will return to complete their sentence. But unfortunately, Naser must fulfill his sentence in the brutal Iranian prison system renown for its torture. Since early spring, human rights groups have noticed Iranian courts are handing out unusually long sentences to Christians for simply sharing their faith. Yet despite Iran’s crackdown on Christianity, or maybe because of it, reports are coming in about the large numbers of Muslims abandoning Islam and embracing Christianity in Iran and other Islamic countries. Even …

Louis Farrakhan at a press conference in Iran. Credit: Tasnim News Agency/Wikipedia/Creative Commons

Has Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan become a Christian?

Christian Post (CP) recently reported on a curious video posted to Youtube last week by Louis Farrakhan, the former leader of the Nation of Islam. It suggests the controversial leader may have become a Christian. Farrakhan, 87, gave up leadership of the 50,000 Black Muslim group in 2006 due to ill-health. He was suffering the after effects of prostate cancer. William Fard started the Nation of Islam in 1934 and during the 1970s it had upwards of two million members. The organization holds to the tenants of Islam and believers that Allah is the only god. Some believe Fard was the Muslim Mahdi, the Islamic equivalent of a messiah. Farrakhan became involved with the Nation of Islam after a brief career as a professional musician. In the mid-70s, he even served as a Sunni Muslim Imam for about three years. As early as 2015, a video shows Farrakhan talking about Jesus as the Redeemer though at the time he said Jesus was a Muslim. However, in the video posted recently Farrakhan seems to have a …

Karachi, Pakistan Credit: Benny Lin/Flickr/Creative Commons

Marilyn Hickey, a Pakistani anomaly

As we read about Christians being persecuted in Muslim countries, a weird anomaly keeps popping up — American televangelist Marilyn Hickey. Aged 86, last November during a eight-day tour she preached the gospel in Karachi, Pakistan before crowds totaling nearly one million people. She did it freely with no resistance from the government or threats from Muslim extremists. According to reports she is known as the ‘mom of Pakistan” and for some reason has even been accepted by imams in the Muslim Pakistani community. The terrorists basically ignore her because she is an old woman. Officially known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, with 201 million people it is the sixth most populated country in the world. It was formed in 1947 as a home for Muslims living in India and nearly 95% of the country is Muslim. In its revised 1973 constitution, the country declared Islam its state religion and all laws must be in accordance with the Qur’an and Sunnah. At this point, the country has not implemented Sharia law, however polls indicate …

Tolerating Muslims

Last Sunday, as I drove to church, I noticed police cars on the road ahead, with flashing lights. It looked like a big accident or a crime scene, but when I got to the site I saw people coming out of the Islamic Center. Muslims celebrate Eid, at the end of the fasting time of Ramadan, and the police were managing traffic and providing security. With crowds of people and busy parking lots at an Islamic center, the police were being careful. So, are we supposed to tolerate those people? They were mostly new immigrants and most wore ethnic costumes from the old country. And they certainly have values that are different from mine. So, should we tolerate them? No, certainly not. I am a Christian and I follow the example of someone who loved us so much He died for us. Barely tolerating my neighbor is wrong for me. What I give out must be in the higher levels of kindness, at least; God’s love is the language of Christians. This is not even …

Village in Indonesia Credit: Jose Javier Martin Esparto/Flickr/Creative Commons

A Muslim man’s journey to Christ through the Quran

Evangelical Focus recently shared the testimony of a young Muslim man who became a Christian because of what he read in the Quran — Islam’s version of the Bible. Markus was raised in a strict Sudanese Muslim family in Western Java, Indonesia. His father, a high ranking Muslim leader, led the Muslim University that Markus eventually attended. As part of an Islamic youth group, Markus actively shared Islam with non believers. It was the result of one encounter with a Chinese Christian man who led Markus to leave Islam and become a Christian. As he shared his Islamic views with the man, he responded stating he was confident that he was going to His Father in heaven. For Muslims, heaven is a such a sacred place, they rarely talk about it. Markus was also puzzled over how this man referred to God as his father as Muslims consider themselves slaves of Allah. When Markus challenged the Christian on who his God was, the man answered simply Jesus. This answer began to haunt Markus. According to …

Eski Müslüman imam, Hıristiyanlığa dönüşmesinin sebebi Kuran olduğunu söylüyor

English translation of article: Former Muslim imam says the Qur’an is the reason he converted to Christianity Mario Joseph, Hindistan’da yaşayan ve bakan olan bir Katolik öğretmen / evanjisttir. Bir rahipten farklı olarak, çocuklarıyla evlidir. Ayrıca bir başka bakımdan farklıdır – dönüşümünden önce Müslüman bir imamdı. Hindistan’da ağırlıklı olarak Müslüman ve Hindu olan birkaç Hıristiyan ile büyüdü. Ailesinin güçlü Müslümanları vardı ve Mario, 8 yaşında Kuran’a gönderildi. 18 yaşındayken Mario, kendi camisinde imam olarak görev yapıyordu. Bu videoda, Mario, İslam’dan Hıristiyanlığa dönüşmesinin büyüleyici ayrıntılarını sunmaktadır. Tuhaf bir şekilde, nerde öğrettiği camide sorulan soru yüzünden başlar. O toplananlara, İsa’nın Tanrı olmadığını, birileri seslenince: “İsa kim?” Bu soru yüzünden Mario, Mesih hakkında daha fazla bilgi edinmek için Kuran’ı aradı. Ne keşfetti onu şaşırttı. Mario’ya göre, Kuran sadece dört kez Muhammed’den bahsediyor; İsa Mesih’e ise 25 bahsediliyor. İkincisi, İsa’nın annesi Meryem, Kuran’da adıyla anılan tek kadın. Muhammed’in annesi bile bu şerefi kabul etmedi. Kuran ayrıca birtakım mucizeleri İsa ile ilişkilendirir. Bazıları İsa’nın doğumdan iki gün sonra konuşması gibi İsa’nın Kitabı olmadığı gibi, nasıl çamurdan kuş çıkardığı, onun üzerinde …

Mecca at the birth place of Muhammad and the place he received his first revelation of the Qur'an is considered the holiest site in Islam. Photo: AKPhotoPro/Flickr/Creative Commons

Muslim group admits Islamic teaching is at the root of terrorism

One of the world’s largest Muslim groups has admitted that extremism and the groups associated with it — such as the Taliban, ISIS and al-Quaeda — are rooted in Islamic teaching. Earlier this month, Indonesian Muslim cleric Yahya Staquf was speaking on behalf of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim group in the world, to an international Muslim conference being held in Jakharta, Indonesia. In his address, Staquf said: “We keep on denying the source of the problem, name some ailments within Islam itself. To be able to combat the global jihadi movement, world leaders and the general public must recognize the fact that extremism originates from Islamic teachings.” He further stated that extremists use Islamic teaching to justify their acts of violence. Staquf believes the only way to stop Muslim terror is to reform Islam itself. Islam needs to change. Unfortunately, one of the biggest problems in Islam is that extremist elements consider any criticism of Islam as blasphemy and punishable by death. They use intimidation to quell any dissent and because of this few …

Women in Iran. Photo: Sebastia Giralt/Flickr/Creative Commons

Middle East Muslim leader puts daughter under house arrest for becoming a Christian

Paul Siniraj is founder of Bibles for the Mideast an organization that smuggles Bibles into Middle Eastern Muslim countries. In a recent report on his website, he told of the remarkable Christian conversion of an unnamed young woman, 16, who is the daughter of one of the rulers of an unnamed Mideast country. The young woman, who Siniraj gave the name Najima, was receiving a higher education at a Western school in that Muslim nation. Najima was eating in the cafeteria, when she noticed paper jammed between the tables. Pulling it out, she discovered it was a Gospel tract. She read it and one of the Bible verses on the tract caught her attention: “For God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21) Being from a strong Muslim family, Najima faithfully followed all the Muslim traditions, so she tossed the tract into the garbage. But though she got rid of the tract, the Bible verse began …

Photo Frontiersusa.org

Jesus appears to Muslim husband and wife in their dreams

Frontiers, is a Christian organization dedicated to preaching the Gospel among Muslims. One of their field workers recently reported on a remarkable conversion of a Muslim woman and her husband. According to the report, Gulzhan was meeting with a Christian worker for a Bible study in an unnamed isolated village. This went on for some time without the woman choosing to follow Christ. That all changed when Jesus appeared to Gulzhan in a dream. When that happened the woman knew she needed to become a Christian. As news of Gulzhan’s faith decision spread, the neighbors in the Islamic village where she lived were not impressed and immediately turned against the woman. But it was the onset of winter that drove Gulzhan from the proverbial pan into the fire. Though the cold weather reduced her interaction with the villagers, she was now in constant contact with her husband, Elemes, who was becoming increasingly agitated with Gulzhan’s faith. He would become enraged when he found his wife reading the Bible or singing hymns to God. In a …

Muslims threw Christians off refugee boat crossing the Mediterranean

[by Dean Smith – updated April 18, 2015] Italian police are reporting that Muslims on board a refugee boat crossing the North Mediterranean Sea from Libya threw 12 Christians off the boat. The 12 were murdered simply because they were Christians. The rubber boat held 105 people when it left Libya on Tuesday, April 14, 2015. Somewhere along their journey Muslims on board became aware of the Christians. The Muslims were from Senegal, Ivory Coast and Mali. [Since we posted this story, there have been more revelations on what happened on board the raft carrying the 105 refugees. Apparently, the rubber boat started leaking and people began praying. The Muslims on board became enraged when they heard a boy praying to God instead of allah. Screaming allah is great they threw the boy overboard. When other Christians tried to help the boy, the Muslims turned on them as well.] The murdered Christians were from Ghana and Nigeria and were likely fleeing the escalating Muslim violence against Christians in those countries.

Jihad versus the Crusades

I know it’s the politically correct thing to do — blame all the Muslim’s woes and outrage on the crusades that happened 11 centuries ago.  Even on the video when ISIS brutally beheaded 21 Coptic Christians on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, its spokesman indirectly referenced the Crusades. And in that spirit, President Obama did exactly the same thing at the National Prayer Breakfast held in Washington D.C. on the morning of Thursday, February 5, 2015. During his address to a largely Christian crowd, President Obama talked about the brutality of ISIS and then in almost the same breath spoke of the terrible brutality of the Crusades, “justified in the name of Christ.”

Has the Islamic State set its sights on the Vatican?

[by Dean Smith] For now I will call it a coincidence, but this past Wednesday, Israel announced the finding of a huge cache of gold coins by amateur divers off the coast of Caesarea. At first they thought the coins were fake because they were in such good condition. But the divers turned them over to a specialist for examination who discovered these were actually gold coins dated to the 10th and 11th century. But here is where it gets interesting, the coins were part of a Muslim caliphate that ruled North Africa during the tenth century. A caliphate is an Islamic state ruled by a political/religious leader called a caliph with either spiritual or hereditary connections to the prophet Muhammad. A Caliph’s power is absolute and the state is under Sharia law.

Imam expresses concern about rapid increase in Muslim converts since terrorist attack in Ottawa

[by Dean Smith] According to an article in the National Post, there has been a sharp increase in people converting to Islam since the terrorist attack on Canada’s House of Commons in Ottawa this past fall. The attack on Canada’s parliament by a lone terrorist took place on October 22, 2014. Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who converted to Islam in 2004, killed a soldier guarding the War Memorial on Parliament Hill. Armed with a 30-30 Winchester, he then made his way to the House of Commons, where Members of Parliament of both the governing Conservative Party and Liberal Party were having Caucus meetings. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was also in attendance.

Muslim Imam: saying “Merry Christmas” is the same as committing murder

[by Dean Smith] In this YouTube video, a Muslim imam warns his followers that saying “Merry Christmas” was a mortal sin. In fact, he described it as equal to murder. Imam is a term used to describe a Muslim leader, particularly those who lead prayers at a Mosque. On the video the imam says: “[saying “Merry Christmas”] is worse than fornication and drinking alcohol and killing someone, because you are approving of the biggest crime ever committed by the children of Adam’s sin.” So what is the big crime in the eyes of this imam?

Was the Dome on the Rock originally built for the Jews?

The Dome of the Rock has dominated the Jerusalem landscape for centuries. The Muslims use the Dome, built on the Temple mount between 689 – 691 AD, as a mosque. However, at the time of its construction, it was actually patterned off Byzantine churches in the area and evidence suggests it was originally intended as a Jewish building, not a Muslim one. The Dome, which is maintained by the Jordan government, is probably the most recognizable building in Jerusalem. Though Muslims allow limited visits to the Dome, they do not allow any type of religious expression to take place, other than Islam. As a result,  Jews have taken to praying at the wall.

Are women the secret to beating Islamic terrorists?

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) announced this month it will be training women as tank commanders. Initially, the women would function as back-ups and only join crews in emergency situations. But it is expected, they will eventually work into regular rotations. By including women, the IDF will increase the number of people it can draw from to fill positions by 50%. But there may be more to the decision than that.

Muslims and Terrorists

An English convert to Islam, Lauren Booth, published an article on CNN “Muslims and extremists – we’re not the same.” There are many opinions like this, telling us we are wrong about Islam. It is not a violent religion of terrorists and murderers. This defense of Islam is misguided. People I know think about Islam about as much as they think about Hindus or Jehovah’s Witnesses; and we don’t think all Muslims are terrorists. I met a Muslim at work who was a complete fanatic. He was from Pakistan and every conversation was about his beliefs. I enjoyed talking to him because he taught me so many things I didn’t know. Things about the sport of cricket. He was a sports fanatic and his fondest wish was for Pakistan to defeat India on a cricket pitch. He never talked about religion to me. If you meet a Pakistani, mention cricket and you will not hear much about religion. Most Muslims are ordinary people who follow the religion they were born into. They don’t get to choose, …