Fr. Daniil Sysoyev, a Russian Orthodox priest well known for his missionary activities among Muslims, occultists and others, was shot an killed in the St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Moscow on Thursday evening. The killer reportedly entered the church, asked for the priest by name, and then opened fire at close range with a pistol. Sysoyev was hit in the head and chest and died later in hospital. He was 35 years old and the father of three.
There seems to be little doubt that religious motives are behind the killing. Syosyev had reportedly been receiving a number of death threats because of his teachings and missionary activities.
Please remember Fr. Daniil’s wife and children during this time of grief. You can post prayers on their behalf on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.
Assalaamu Alaikum.
ReplyDeleteMy condolences to the family, friends and devotees of Father Sysoyev. His cold blooded murder is inexcusable. God teaches humanity, first trough the Old Testament and again in the Quran that to kill one innocent person is like killing all of humanity. This simile expresses very clearly that murder is a hated crime in Islam. Furthermore, Islam also teaches that there is no compulsion in religion. Thus, if Muslims converted to Christianity it was more so a commentary on their religious experience and perhaps, to a lesser degree, the influence of Father Sysoyev and even the lack of influence by the local Muslim spiritual leaders.
Even if the accused gunman thought he was acting in accordance with Islam, the reality is that he was not. If the gunman is a Muslim then his ignorance of his professed faith is something he'll have to reckon with when he meets his Lord. He will be asked why he ignored one Quranic injunction after the other that exhorted him (as a Muslim) to resist injustice and to face oppression with patience and to promote peace. Knowing that murders will be forced to face justice before God is for me, as a bystander, a source of solace. No doubt this does little to lessen the pain of those closest to Father Sysoyez.
Those who will use this as an opportunity to malign Islam are clearly in the wrong. The Quranic exegisis does not support them. The statistics do not support them and history does not support them.
Junaid M. Afeef
www.americanmuslimjournal.typepad.com
It must get tiresome to have to apologize so frequently for the acts of those who claim to be your co-religionists.
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