Ghlamallah admitted the presence of missionaries

By Omima Ahmad, IOL Correspondent

ALGIERS, June 23 (IslamOnline.net) – Missionary work is reportedly growing in Algeria and cases of proselytized Muslims are making the news in the North African country.

Newspapers like El-Youm and Echourouk El-Arabi said the phenomenon was on the rise while El-Bilad said the new converts already perform Christian rituals in some 15 churches.

Al-Akhdar Bin Khallaf, a prominent member of the Movement for National Reform confirmed the reports.

"The missionary work first started at the tribes area and then spilled into other Algerian states like Annaba (600km northeast of Algiers) and Constantine (430km northeast of the capital)," he told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, June 22.

Khallaf said he has copies of glossy gospels and Christian books like the Greatest Stories, which target children.

He added that missionaries are distributing CDs on the life of Jesus Christ in the widely-spoken dialect of the country to appeal to a wide range of people.

"Add to that, mosques are immediately being closed after the performance of the prayers at the orders of authorities," Khallaf remarked.

Islamic Country

The activist said Algeria is an Islamic country that can by no means tolerate missionaries.

He stressed that proselytizing has nothing to do with the Algerian constitution’s freedom of religion.

Khallaf said his party, which has seats in the parliament, will request the government on Thursday, June 24, to respond to questions on the worrying phenomenon.

Sheikh Abdul Rahman Shaiban, the head of Algeria’s Muslim Scholars Association, said the missionary work is an "unprecedented aggression" on Muslims in the country.

He added that Christians in the country are entitled to practice their rituals and stick to their religion, but have no right whatsoever to dissuade Muslims and shake their beliefs.

Shaiban said proselytizing is a leftover from the colonial ages, recalling the French occupation’s catchphrase that Algeria was a Christian country before the Arab conquest.

Exaggerated

Though admitting the presence of missionaries, who play on the youth’s unemployment and immigration dreams, Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs, Bouabdellah Ghlamallah, argued that the matter is highly exaggerated.

He denied setting up a fact-finding committee and said the government cannot place restrictions on the missionary work given the freedom of religion enshrined by the constitution.

Ghlamallah further acknowledged that a man had asked the ministry for a license to import gospels.

The minister, however, warned that the missionaries were misleading the youth into thinking that conversion to Christianity was a panacea for their problems.

The semi-official religious councils in the northern states of Tizi Ouzou and Bidjaia also played down the reports.

They said in a joint statement that some parties are stirring unrest in the tribes area, which is regarded as a fortress defending the Islamic identity.

But they agreed that a few cases of youths were mislead into converting to Christianity.