Qaraqosh Man Captured By ISIS for Christian Heritage

Hani was imprisoned by ISIS because of his Christian heritage. But it was only after his escape that he came to know Jesus.

As members of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) eagerly broke their Ramadan fast for the day by digging into large, round plates of rice, Hani, his brother and several other prisoners started running. They ran as hard as they could, hoping to reach the cover of some nearby hills while their captors ate.

After reaching the hills, they called their families on a phone one of the prisoners had managed to conceal. “Tell the Peshmerga not to shoot!” they urged. “There are seven of us.” Their families then alerted the Peshmerga, the Kurdish militia protecting the city of Qaraqosh from ISIS invaders. Hani and the others knew the land well, and soon they were crossing the Peshmerga lines into the arms of their waiting families. Their 26-day ordeal was over.

Kidnapped by ISIS

Hani was a proud citizen of Qaraqosh, a Christian city about 20 miles from Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. The 50,000 Chaldean Christians in Qaraqosh still spoke Syriac, a dialect of the Aramaic language of Jesus, and traced their Christian heritage back to the first century. Hani’s family were well-known sheep ranchers in the region, and Hani was in charge of their recently-begun poultry operations.

While managing the poultry farm three miles outside Qaraqosh one day in July 2014, Hani suddenly found himself caught in the crossfire between ISIS fighters and Peshmerga forces protecting the city. Although he knew the Islamists had invaded Mosul several weeks earlier, he never expected them to attack Qaraqosh. After three days of fighting, ISIS took control of the poultry farm. “They said, ‘We are the Islamic State; don’t worry,’” Hani recalled.

The fighters told Hani and the other employees to continue their work, but they wouldn’t let them return to Qaraqosh. “The fear and confusion were unbearable,” Hani said.

Then, after two days under the watchful eyes of ISIS, Hani and the others learned their true agenda. “They started to talk to us about Islam … and how [Christianity] is wrong,” Hani said. “They were telling us, ‘You are welcome to clarify your faith, to do the right thing.’”

The extremists gradually increased the pressure on Hani and the others, threatening to break all their crosses. Finally, the ISIS leaders told Hani and the other six captives that they had called their families and demanded a $470,000 ransom.

The men knew their families couldn’t come up with the ransom, and they believed they would be killed even if the ransom were paid. “There were one or two that were really scared,” Hani said. “It was a very hard moment. I always pray no one gets in this position.”

The ISIS fighters broke their Ramadan fast each day at 5:50 p.m., when the sun set. Knowing that the Peshmerga forces, also Muslims, were breaking their fast at the same time, even the guards relaxed enough to take a break and eat. That’s when Hani and the others took the opportunity to escape.

Focusing on Muslims in Iraq

After spending 26 days in captivity and losing his farm valued at more than $1 million, Hani couldn’t imagine anything worse happening. But one week after his return to Qaraqosh, an Arab friend called him at 10 p.m. with an urgent warning. “Hani, please leave,” he said. “Please, there is no chance for you if you stay.”

At about midnight, the Peshmerga troops suddenly left the city, and 30 minutes later ISIS rolled in with no resistance. Hani, his pregnant wife, his parents and all of his extended family fled Qaraqosh, heading for the Kurdish-controlled city of Erbil.

“I was heartbroken when I came here,” Hani said. “I had no vision, nothing. We loved our cities; it is something very near to our heart. When I came here, I was 27 years old. All my work and all my money in one second disappeared. It was like hell for me.”

Hani wondered where God was. He was emotionally drained, and he hated Muslims like never before. He had attended the Chaldean church with his family, but he felt so betrayed by God that he decided he was done with church.

Then, one day while driving through a suburb of Erbil with his uncle, he noticed a sign for one of the few evangelical churches in the area. Hani had always despised evangelicals for “destroying” what he thought of as Christianity. Even though he had recently turned his back on the Chaldean church, he decided to walk into the church and challenge them, to prove that they were not really Christians.

Once inside, everyone welcomed him with smiles. The pastor seemed genuine, and the sermon touched him. With some of his anger toward God relieved, he decided to go back and even began attending a discipleship class. “I was a very tough guy in those days,” he recalled. “I was asking questions I thought would embarrass the one who was teaching. [But] I always received an answer from the Bible.”

Hani discovered that the evangelical church, which was led by a VOM partner (and still is), taught from the Bible rather than merely emphasizing Christian traditions. “From that day, I didn’t miss any Sunday,” he said.

He learned to pray and gained a new understanding of Scripture, which had always been a mystery to him. He also sensed a new peace inside and began to understand his purpose. “Before, I hated Muslims,” he explained. “Now I see them as victims because if they knew Jesus they would not do these works.”

After Hani’s wife saw her husband transformed from an angry, hard man into a peaceful, loving follower of Jesus, she, too, placed her faith in Christ.

Hani could not keep his new faith to himself. “I understand when someone becomes a believer, he has a duty to tell others,” he said. He is saddened by his many Christian brothers and sisters who sit in church on Sunday but don’t act on what they say they believe. “They have chances to know Jesus, but Muslims don’t have these opportunities, so I am focusing on Muslims.”

Hani spends his days passing out Bibles throughout the Erbil area, and he intends to return to Qaraqosh to plant an evangelical church. “We think he will be the pastor of our church there,” his pastor said.

Above all, Hani wants to spread the love of Christ throughout Iraq. “We want to see Qaraqosh for Jesus, and Mosul, too,” he said. “We want the light of Jesus to stay in Iraq.”