Captured for Faith
Islam, Jon knew, is more than a religion for indigenous Malays; it is their national identity. Muslims who try to leave Islam can be subjected to many hardships, including imprisonment in rehabilitation camps. So when the policeman used the word rehabilitated, Jon’s mind turned to what might happen next. Four hours later, he stumbled out of the SUV and into a walled compound in the northern Malaysia jungle near the border with Thailand. Barbed wire along the tops of fifteen-foot-high walls communicated that regardless of what happened inside, officials didn’t want anyone leaving on their own.
Islamic Purification Center
Jon had heard of such places. They were called Islamic purification centers and were presented as “voluntary retreat centers” for Muslims who struggled with their faith. But Jon wasn’t a voluntary guest. He was bound hand and foot and placed in a small room with three other men who he later learned were Christian converts. Then his “purification” began. Several times a day, long-bearded Islamic scholars interrogated him. They wanted him to chant with them. He refused. “All I could hear,” he said later, “was people praying for me.” They poured Islamic “holy water” over his head to “cleanse” him. When that didn’t work, they used seven buckets of water.
Defiance and God’s Presence
He refused to deny Jesus. “You must embrace Islam again,” a scholar declared. “I will not,” Jon replied. “Even if you chop off my head right now, it’s okay. I have my God.” Angered by Jon’s defiance, “rehab” workers beat him. When he was on the ground, they kicked his stomach and back. “But I didn’t feel any pain or humiliation,” he recalled later. “I believe the Lord came, and I could hear angels and the prayers of my Christian friends. When those men stepped on me and kicked me, that’s when I felt the prayers; that’s when I felt the presence of God.”
After additional beating and kicking failed, the leaders switched to a new method to “cure” Jon of his conversion to Jesus. They forced him to sit naked on ice while men shouted verses from the Quran at him. “We are going to kill you if don’t confess the Muslim prayer,” one said.
To be continued…
Date: 20th September 2025
Martyr: Jon
Location: Malaysia
Source: The Voice of the Martyrs ‘I am n’
Author: Not specified
Suffering Saturday 161
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