Sudan: Police aid in Muslim's effort to take over church land

Jihad Watch

This story has come out of Sudan. Just days ago, there was a college chapel seized in Pakistan. Wow, did these guys call each other?

No. What is most revealing about such stories is how often the same acts of discrimination (if not violence) against non-Muslims occur, geographically far removed from one another, but with the same intent: to make the unbelievers "feel themselves subdued" (Qur'an 9:29), and to establish and maintain Islamic supremacy by any means necessary. "Police in Sudan Aid Muslim's Effort to Take Over Church Plot," from Compass Direct News, October 25:

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 25 (CDN) -- Police in Sudan evicted the staff of a Presbyterian church from its events and office site in Khartoum earlier this month, aiding a Muslim businessman's effort to seize the property.

Christians in Sudan's capital city told Compass that police entered the compound of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) on Oct. 4 at around 2 p.m. and ordered workers to leave, claiming that the land belonged to Muslim businessman Osman al Tayeb. When asked to show evidence of Al Tayeb's ownership, however, officers failed to produce any documentation, the sources said.

The church had signed a contract with al Tayeb stipulating the terms under which he could attain the property - including providing legal documents such as a construction permit and then obtaining final approval from SPEC - but those terms remained unmet, church officials said.

Church leader Deng Bol said that under terms of the unfulfilled contract, the SPEC would turn the property over to al Tayeb to construct a business center on the site, with the denomination to receive a share of the returns from the commercial enterprise and regain ownership of the plot after 80 years.

"But the investor failed to produce a single document from the concerned authorities" and therefore resorted to police action to secure the property, Bol said.

SPEC leaders had yet to approve the project because of the high risk of permanently losing the property, he said.

"The SPEC feared that they were going to lose the property after 80 years if they accepted the proposed contract," Bol said.

SPEC leaders have undertaken legal action to recover the property, he said. The disputed plot of 2,232 square meters is located in a busy part of the heart of Khartoum, where it has been used for Christian rallies and related activities.

"The plot is registered in the name of the church and should not be sold or transfered for any other activities, only for church-related programs," a church elder who requested anonymity said.

The Rev. Philip Akway, general secretary of the SPEC, told Compass that the government might be annoyed that Christian activities have taken place there for many decades.

Sharia is unique in how readily people suppose lapses in enforcement represent its true form, extolling what happens in spite of Sharia as merits of the law itself. But whatever relative tolerance has been observed decades past does nothing to defang Sharia, once its proponents assert themselves. It is at that point that this church now finds itself.

"Muslim groups are not happy with the church in north Sudan, therefore they try to cause tension in the church," Akway told Compass.

The policeman leading the officers in the eviction on Oct. 4 verbally threatened to shoot anyone who interfered, Christian sources said.