Yesterday's Orlando (FL) Sentinel carries a long article giving a different perspective on the family of Rifqa Bary, the 17-year old girl who fled her parents' home in Columbus, Ohio after converting from Islam to Christianity. The girl says her father threatened to kill her because she converted. A Florida court has ordered her into protective temporary foster care. (See prior posting.) Rifqa's father, Mohamed Bary, says that when school ended this year, Rifqa began spending all night online on Facebook, talking with evangelical Christians and withdrawing from her family and friends. He says some of these people turned her against her family. Those who know the Bary family say that 47-year old Mohamed Bary, a salesman of jewelry and Amway products, would never hurt his daughter. Rifqa's parents learned of her conversion a year ago. They discouraged her carrying a Bible to school, concerned that she would get in trouble for violating separation of church and state. Her father said he merely encouraged Rifqa to learn more about Islam.
Now today's Orlando Sentinel reports that the Bary case threatens to turn into an anti-Muslim campaign by some evangelical Christians. Rifqa's attorney, John Stemberger, exemplifies the rhetoric, saying: "My concern is she is literally a dead girl if she is sent back to Ohio. It's only a matter of time until she disappears into the night." At the same time, a Christian church in Gainsville posted a sign on its property reading: "Islam is of the Devil," and several children were sent home from school for wearing the same slogan on T-shirts. Imam Tariq Rasheed, director of the Islamic Center of Orlando, says this is a misrepresentation of Islam.
UPDATE: According to the Sept. 1 St. Petersburg Times, Rifqa Bary's attorney has released two documents. One is a memo (full text) arguing that the leaders of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin, Ohio have links to terrorist organizations. A second is an affidavit from Rifqa (full text) indicating that her parents are actively involved in that mosque.
