KALLUR KOT, Pakistan — The four older Muslim brothers of a 26-year-old Christian beat him unconscious in Kallur Kot in early February because he refused their enticements to convert to Islam, the victim said.
Riaz Masih, whose Christian parents died when he was a boy, said his continual refusal to convert infuriated his siblings and the Muslim cleric who raised them, Moulvi Peer Akram-Ullah. On Feb. 8, he said, his brothers ransacked his house in this Punjab Province town 145 miles southwest of Islamabad.
“They threatened that it was the breaking point now and that I must convert right now or face death,” Masih said. “They said killing an infidel is not a sin; instead it’s righteousness in the sight of Allah almighty.”
He said Akram-Ullah and his brothers offered him $11,790, a spacious residence and a woman of his choice to marry in order to lure him to Islam, but he declined. The Muslim cleric had converted Masih’s brothers and sisters in like manner, according to human rights organization Rays of Development (ROD), which has provided financial, medical and moral support to Masih.
Adnan Saeed, an executive member of ROD, said that when Masih’s parents passed away, Masih and his siblings were tenants of Akram-Ullah, who cared for them and inculcated them with Islamic ideology. ROD began assisting Masih after a chapter of the Christian Welfare Organization (CWO) brought the injured Christian to ROD.
A spokesman for CWO who requested anonymity said that Akram-Ullah had offered Masih’s brothers and sister a large plot of residential land, as well as $5,895 each, if they would recite the “Kalimah,” the profession of faith for converting to Islam.
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