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Why Robert Hussein is a Marked Man

In Kuwait it's open season on a Christian convert

by Tony Hays

We sit in the dark of a walled garden, surrounded by palm trees and close-trimmed grass; a warm, mid-May breeze doesn't quite dry our thin sheen of sweat. He leans across the table; his shirt, open three buttons, exposes an impressive gold cross. Thin, almost emaciated, Robert Hussein, a former building contractor, moves even closer, both frustration and determination wrenching his face. "What is my guilt; what is my crime?" he asks.
Unemployed, estranged from his wife and children, Robert Hussein, 45, is a marked man. He has done the unspeakable in the Middle East; he has chosen Christianity over Islam, and the Islamic world seeks its revenge.

"From birth I have been a Muslim. I have known nothing else. [But] if I learn of another path and choose the new one, where have I gone wrong?" Robert frowns again, the wrinkles deepening with anguish: "What is my crime? What have I done? This is my home; this shouldn't be happening here. This is Kuwait."

The warm breeze turns warmer, a foretelling of the blazing summer to come, as Robert fingers his cross and ponders his dilemma.

U.S. government officials as diverse as Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Tom Daschle (D-S.Dak.) want answers, too. They want to know what crime Robert Hussein committed by embracing a different faith. Along with thirty other members of the U.S. Congress, they've directly questioned the Emir of Kuwait, who has failed to offer substantive answers. Two members of the British Parliament, Michael Allson and David Alton, also have expressed a growing interest in the case.

And a complicated case it seems to be, one quickly becoming a focal point for human rights in the Middle East, watched carefully by groups such as the Jubilee Campaign in Great Britain, the Rutherford Institute, and Amnesty International. Robert Hussein has been charged with apostasy, forsaking his religion. Under Kuwait's constitutional law that is not a capital crime; by Islamic law, he should be publicly stoned to death.

Truth and consequences

Kuwait, a hot, barren country still rebuilding from the Gulf War, has a history of moderate religious tolerance, at least when compared to Saudia Arabia, where tales of the arrest of clandestine Christian congregations are plentiful. The Anglican Church has at least two congregations in Ahmadi, in central Kuwait. The Evangelical Church has a sprawling compound near downtown Kuwait City. And a large Catholic church meets in the same area. According to one source, some 15 percent of Kuwaiti residents claim a faith other than Islam.

But, and this is where Robert Hussein's problems begin, Kuwait is a Muslim state, governed by a mixture of French and Islamic law. Islamists, strategic players in the resistance movement during the war, have grown in political strength. Two types of law exist in Kuwait: constitutional law and Islamic, with the constitution citing Islamic law as the main source but not the only source of law.

Robert's case is not just about one man's religious preference. According to Robert Pelletreau, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, his case is "part of a broader political pressure campaign to change the constitution to establish Islamic law as the sole source of legislation and jurisprudence in Kuwait." Yet at the heart remains what Islam sees as Robert's crime: converting to Christianity.

Born Hussein Qamber Ali, Robert was raised as a typical Muslim, learned the Qur'an as a child, prayed five times a day, and was taught that Mohammed was the greatest of all prophets. He became a contractor, specializing in new home construction, an especially lucrative business in Kuwait. He traveled a great deal throughout the Middle East, married, had two children, a boy and girl.

Then in 1984, the story changed.

"I began having visions, dreams," he says. As a culture, Arabs believe in dreams, especially to predict the future. But Robert's private dreams concerned the issues of Islam and Christianity. "This was the first time I began debating the Islamic religion," he explains. "I found myself asking, 'My Lord, I know you are here; how can I reach you?'"

Robert began to thoughtfully study the two religions-comparing, contrasting-until he reached his conclusion. Muslims, Robert explains eloquently, believe Mohammed is the greatest prophet, but they also believe "that Mohammed came from earthly parents who are now dead. Muslims also believe Mohammed is dead. But they believe Jesus is still alive and he is coming back, and his father is not an earthly father. They believe that." (Muslims believe Jesus neither was crucified nor raised from the dead; instead he was taken directly to heaven.)

"I ask other Muslims, 'Which one do you prefer-Mohammed or Jesus? They say, Mohammed.' This doesn't make sense, I tell them. If you believe that Jesus is still alive, then he is supernatural. It seems to me that they worship Mohammed, not Allah. But I cannot talk about my dreams to Muslims because these dreams deal with religious questions. If I mention them, they will accuse me of having a djin (genie/devil) inside."

Seeking God

Some dismiss him as an eccentric, but his defiance of authority, his consistency of message are engaging, arguing against eccentricity. As he speaks of these spiritually life-changing events, Robert's voice remains calm. He is forceful, dedicated, single-minded.

Robert's religious studies didn't go unnoticed. In 1994, he claims he was confronted by three Kuwaiti Criminal Investigation Division officers fully intending, he believes, to kill him as part of a secret persecution of Christians. The day before, Robert had revealed to a close friend that he had converted to Christianity. He knows of no other reason the cid officers tracked him down.

Feigning cooperation, he succeeded in locking the officers out of the house and made a hurried call to his brother-in-law, a judge. By intercom, he advised the officers that a judge was en route, and by the time his brother-in-law arrived, the officers were gone.

Together, they investigated the incident, filing a suit against the cid, "but after two months, my brother-in-law disappeared from the case." The judge broke contact with Robert, returning only once-to advise Robert of the death of his father. Calls to the cid were not returned, but officers at the time told Robert's brother-in-law that official reports of the incident had "simply disappeared."

Yet Robert continued his spiritual quest. His beliefs grew over time; there was no one single moment of conversion.

Other Kuwaitis are Christians, he claims, but they remain quiet. "The government gives you everything-money for children, money for houses, jobs. Why give that up?"

By mid-1995, Robert's Christianity was public. He began having Bible studies with Western expatriates he met through the Evangelical Church. He learned more about Christianity. Newspapers reported his conversion and the change of his name from Hussein Qamber Ali to Robert Hussein-a name specifically chosen because it means "bright fame."

That fame began to complicate things even more. His wife wasn't willing to convert. When Robert objected to his children saying "Baber Jaber" (Father Jaber, a term of respect for the Emir), his wife told him that she wanted the children raised as Muslims.

"I said, 'I don't mind whatever you want to believe. If you want to be Muslim, go ahead and be Muslim. If you want to teach my kids Islam, go ahead, but I have a right to teach them the truth.'"

She left, taking the children with her, but Robert arranged a court order for visitation, and she allowed him to visit every Friday. The estrangement did nothing to weaken his faith.

"I became stronger and stronger; I started a Bible study. I was seeing my kids each Friday, and I told her we were being a bad husband and wife, so let us be good parents. When I had a Bible study, she came home to live again. She also participated in our Bible study. For seven months."

All lost but Christ

Then the storm struck, quickly, forcefully. "I don't know why it happened," he says, shaking his head as a quick breeze snaps at his hair. Arriving home from church with his children one evening about 9:30 p.m., he found his wife's car, packed with her belongings, parked in front of their house.

"She was running up and down in the street screaming, 'My husband became a Christian! My husband is a Christian!' My neighbors came out in the street. I told them to go back inside, that everything was all right. I put the kids in her car and tried to calm her, but she just kept screaming. I was frantic; I didn't know what to do." His wife left with the children.

A court awarded Robert weekly visitation privileges, but his wife refused him access to his children for seven months. When Robert sought police help, they refused to enforce the court order.

Robert's house was broken into by unknown persons, his belongings stolen, his papers rifled. He filed for custody of his children, but as soon as his lawyer found out he was a Christian, she withdrew. "I had another lawyer but there was too much pressure; he dropped the case, too. I had to go by myself."

In a bold move, Robert told his story to the newspapers, which reported the government's inaction.

For the first time as he talks, he hangs his head, dejected. Not for the loss of his possessions, but for his family, his independence. "I lost my house, my job, my children, my life."

As news of his wife's abandonment hit the papers, the personal war against him accelerated with Scud rocket velocity.

First, Islamic preachers denounced Robert's conversion during sermons. "A member of the parliament stood up during a session of the National Assembly," Robert says, his palms turned skyward in disbelief, "and demanded that I be stoned to death."

Under Islamic law, any sane Muslim who converts to another faith and refuses to repent loses many of his rights-marriage to a Muslim, custody of his Muslim children, and inheritance in accordance with Islamic law. More importantly, Sharia (Islamic) law offers no penalty for killing any such convert. "In fact," according to Robert, "it's a shortcut to heaven for the murderer."

"Apostate"

By March 1996, three Muslim lawyers, headed by Mohammed Al-Jadai, filed suit in Kuwait's family court (a court regulated by Islamic law) to have Robert Hussein declared an apostate, stripping him of his civil rights, and leaving the door open for legal murder. Jadai told Reuters news agency at the time, "We believe in Christianity, but we will not permit Mr. Qamber to harm the feelings of Muslims. He provoked the feelings of Muslims, telling the newspapers about his conversion and distorting Islam's image."

Once again needing an attorney, Robert sought help. "One lawyer asked $1,000,000 and another $650,000," he said. "So, I didn't have a lawyer."

Forced to represent himself, Robert's plan was to get the case moved out of the family court to Kuwait's constitutional courts, where apostasy is not recognized. "This is a constitutional matter; it is not a family matter. It is not about marriage or divorce; it's about whether a person has the right to live when he has become a Christian."

With that, Robert challenged the world of Islam, and on May 29, 1996, despite a rising storm of protest in the United States, the family court-in a matter of minutes-declared Robert an official apostate. An appeal is underway, but hopes for a reversal are slim. The only statement offered by the Kuwaiti government is an assurance that Robert will be protected, but there are no signs of protection.

Powerful voices in the United States have come to Robert's defense. A letter to the Kuwaiti ambassador from Rep. Herbert Bateman (R-Va.), Chairman of the U.S. Subcommittee on Military Readiness, spares no words: "The American people will not support [the Kuwaiti] government continuing to maintain the kind of relationship our two countries currently enjoy if citizens of Kuwait are persecuted and their lives threatened because of their religious beliefs." Others, Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond (R.-S.C.), Tom Daschle, and Sam Nunn (D.-Ga.) among them, have written directly to the Emir supporting Robert's case. But the Kuwaiti government remains stubbornly silent.

Robert's life is a round-the-clock ordeal. The death threats-by mail, phone, and face-to-face-began as soon as the newspapers announced his conversion. With the court's recent decision, the tension heightened.

"My friends shelter and clothe me," he says. Where he is living is a closely-guarded secret. He always travels with someone, preferably a Westerner, and he arranges meeting places only an hour before an interview, convinced he is being watched most of the time.

Westerners who help Robert are putting themselves in jeopardy. Two Canadians were threatened with losing their jobs by their employers if Robert continued to stay in their apartment. Since the Kuwaiti government controls most of the contracts awarded to foreign companies, it can exert tremendous pressure.

Robert doesn't hesitate when he talks about his future. "I will stay in Kuwait and keep fighting. It is a question of independence. It is a question of choice. This is my country. I should be able to choose whether to be a Muslim or a Christian."

Robert Hussein has made his decision. His Christianity is his strength, worth fighting over, and possibly even dying for.

A Christian Reader original article.

Copyright © 1996 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine (formerly Christian Reader).
Click here for reprint information.

Last updated: September 10, 1996

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