Mourners and journalists gather on the rooftop of a Greek Orthodox church during the funeral of victims killed in an attack on the church in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)
FAITH & FREEDOM NEWS
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Religious Freedom & Middle EastAfter the October 23 attack on a church funeral in southern Jordan, a Palestinian-American Christian leader argues that gratitude for Muslim solidarity must be matched by equal citizenship and real prevention of religious hatred.
About This Page
This is an FFN summary of an opinion column first published by Religion News Service on October 29, 2026. The events described and the arguments made are those reported by the author, Fares Abraham, and are attributed to him throughout.
On October 23, gunmen opened fire at a church funeral in southern Jordan, killing nine Christians and wounding dozens, including Muslims who had come to offer condolences, according to Fares Abraham, founder of Levant Ministries. Three days later, Jordanian security forces arrested three suspects whom authorities described as violent extremists.
The Author
Fares Abraham
Palestinian-American Christian leader and founder of Levant Ministries, which works across the Middle East to strengthen Christian witness, serve various communities and promote peace. He says he has spent years working alongside Jordanian churches and young people.
Within 24 hours of the attack, hospitals in Karak collected 629 units of donated blood from across Jordan. Christian youth leader Yazan Melkonian told Abraham that Muslim men insisted on donating first. He welcomed that solidarity and praised Jordan’s stance against extremism, while urging concrete action against the religious hatred that still threatens Christians.
Abraham says the generosity was extraordinary, but the attack also exposed two concerns among Jordanian Christians:
Concern One
When some Muslims offered to protect Christians, believers asked why their safety should depend on anyone else’s promise. They are equal citizens, Abraham writes, and Jordan’s Constitution guarantees equality before the law.
Concern Two
Christians are grateful for the state’s firm stance against extremism, but know religious hatred remains a real threat. Their worry is not only who protects them after an attack, but what can prevent the next one.
Abraham notes that Christianity took root in Jordan centuries before Islam, and that Christians, though just over 2 percent of the population, have helped build the country’s schools, hospitals, businesses and public institutions. He also points to one victim, Dr. Mohammed al-Qassous, a Christian dentist known as the “doctor of the poor” for treating patients who could not afford care.
A Name That Tells a Story
Abraham writes that al-Qassous’s father chose the name Mohammed to express an Arab identity shared across religious lines, and that his surname means “pastors” in Arabic. Together, he says, the names show that Christianity is not foreign to Arab society.
The Royal Response
King Abdullah II visited the wounded, Crown Prince Hussein attended the funeral, and Queen Rania visited grieving families. Abraham recalls the king’s 2022 remark that Arab Christians have been in the region for 2,000 years, and his 2018 Templeton Prize for promoting religious harmony.
The Government’s Position
Abraham reports that Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya rejected describing Christians as “dhimmis,” the historical term for non-Muslims under Muslim rule, insisting they are equal citizens under the Constitution.
The Larger Point
Recalling U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’s 2018 remark about the king’s message, Abraham argues that the present debate in Jordan shows why equal citizenship must go beyond tolerance.
Abraham says Jordan’s security forces can arrest extremists, but preventing another attack means confronting the ideas that fuel religious hatred. He calls for equal citizenship that is more than legal recognition, so that Christians can live and worship without fear.
- Address incitement in schools, places of worship and online.
- Hold accountable those who promote violence.
- Protect freedom of religion in practice as well as in law.
- Make equal citizenship real, so Christians can live and worship without fear.
Abraham also draws a parallel to American debates over who belongs, citing an October 25 exchange in a U.S. Senate race in Michigan. He writes that, whatever one thinks of a candidate’s politics, a citizen’s faith should not decide whether he belongs, and that in both Jordan and America no citizen’s right to belong should depend on a religious majority’s approval. This is the author’s characterization and is not independently verified here.
The Author’s Invitation
Come Now, Not Only in 2030
Jordan plans to welcome pilgrims in 2030 for the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus’s baptism, with the king backing $120 million in development projects around Bethany Beyond the Jordan. Abraham urges Americans not to wait: visit now, worship alongside Jordanian Christians, listen to their stories, support their churches and invest in their young people. Jordanian Christians, he writes, deserve more than sympathy or admiration for their heritage. They deserve the unquestioned right to live and thrive in the country that is already theirs.
Source: “Jordan’s Christians are citizens, not guests” by Fares Abraham, Religion News Service, October 29, 2026. Author photo: courtesy of Fares Abraham. This page is an FFN summary, not a reproduction of the original.
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