Mariam Ibrahim attachsk Saeed Abedini’s tirade, ‘this is not what the Bible taught us’
The Christian community prayed and rallied for the release of jailed pastor Saeed Abedini, but since his release he has divided believers with his actions. Most recently, Abedini faces harsh words from Mariam Ibraheem (also spelled Meriam Ibrahim).
“I am disappointed by the way that Saeed Abedini [is] handling his issues with some people (pastors, churches leaders, NGOs and others),” she wrote in an email to The Christian Post. “We are so grateful for what has been done for us from those people. They did a lot of work for us and they are doing more.”
Abedini, an Idaho pastor who was the center of an international outcry after being jailed and beaten in Iran. Just over a year after his release, his divorce from now ex-wife Naghmeh has been finalized and he has voiced outrage against Franklin Graham and George O. Wood, head of the Assemblies of God.
Meriam Ibrahim and family
Abedini has explained that he doesn’t have a job, complained that Naghmeh had sold their home and emptied their joint accounts, said he has very little opportunity to be in his two young children’s lives, argued that the American legal system has “tortured” him and his kids, and complained that a California church is keeping $200,000 it raised for his family from him.
Abedini claimed that Graham, president of both Samaritan’s Purse evangelical humanitarian organization and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, took advantage of his imprisonment for media attention. Abedini also claimed that Graham has done little to help him since he returned to the U.S. last January and couldn’t help him by offering him a good job, a claim that Graham shot down through his spokesman, Mark DeMoss, this week.
Ibraheem was sentenced to death in May 2014 because she married a Christian man and the Muslim community was outraged.
She suggested that even if some of the allegations Abedini made are true, it’s crucial to remember that no one is perfect and everyone needs forgiveness.
“[E]ven if many things are bad, they are human beings and they can make mistakes. There is something called forgiveness and this is what JESUS taught us,” she stressed. “If we are willing to forgive our enemies, [we] also need to forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ.
“We can talk with each other and resolve our problems personally, not on media or all over the places where our enemies [are] waiting to see the Christians falling apart and fighting each other. This is not [what] the Bible taught us to do with each other. We are one body in Christ. Our message to the world is peace, love and forgiveness. If we did not do that for each other, that means we can’t do it to anyone else.”
Abedini’s criticism of Graham on social media also garnered responses from others, including the severing of a relationship with the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Abedini explained in a Facebook post on April 11 that he received an email from Reza Safa of TBN Nejat Television explaining that his recent criticism of Graham “is not appreciated by us here at TBN and Nejat TV.”
“Unfortunately, we have to pause our relationship at this time,” the email said.
DeMoss told CP that Graham is no longer in communication with Abedini or Naghmeh and “exhausted efforts to help them be reconciled.”
“[Graham] does not intend to respond to future comments from either of them,” DeMoss said. “However, Franklin still requests prayer for Saeed, Naghmeh, and especially their children who don’t understand the adult issues they are facing.”
The California church that helped raise funds for Abedini’s family while he was in prison, filed a lawsuit to determine who is entitled to receive the $200,000 in charitable donations — Abedini or his ex-wife and children.
“Plaintiff (Joshua Springs Calvary Chapel) cannot distribute the benefits because it cannot determine which of the competing claimants, if any, is entitled to the said funds,” the lawsuit states.
