Christian Mum Stunned After Teen Son Tricked Into Becoming Muslim on Live Turkish TV

May 17, 2019

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The Christian mother of a 13-year-old boy is fuming after a Turkish TV star tricked her son into “converting” to Islam on a live show broadcast on 11 May.

“My son did not convert to Islam. We are Armenians and Christians. If I had known [what would happen on the show], I would have been with my son,” said Alia, the boy’s furious mum.

The story was a hot news item in Turkey, but the boy’s parents now plan to sue the producers of the ATV television show for tricking the child live on air. Garo Paylan , a Turkish MP, is driving the mother’s legal case.

Caption
Muslim theologian Nihat Hatiopoglu encouraged a boy from a Christian family to recite the Muslim creed live on Turkish TV, infuriating the child's mother [Image source: Ayselyilmazz]

On TV, the boy, Arthur, was told the Islamic profession of faith by popular Muslim theologian Nihat Hatiopoglu and asked to repeat it before being given a Muslim name.

“Arthur is a naive 13-year-old boy,” said his mum. “A Syrian friend of his told him: ‘Come, we’ll talk on live TV. They will give us toys, and we will eat with the stars.’ And my son went with him. He's a child, he made a mistake, but he did not convert."

Some Muslims believe that the mere recitation of this Islamic creed is sufficient to convert a non-Muslim to Islam, even if there is no belief. And once one becomes a Muslim – no matter what the circumstances – the person is considered an apostate if they return to their original religion. According to the Hanafi school of Islamic law, which is dominant in Turkey, the punishment for a boy (child) apostate is to be imprisoned until he comes of age and then killed.

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Turkey