The American hostage
Abdul-Rahman Kassig, known as Peter Kassig before he converted to Islam,
is now a "dedicated Muslim", according to a former cellmate. The aid
worker was kidnapped in Syria by the so-called Islamic State.
Abdul-Rahman Kassig, 26, always cut a slightly unworldly
figure on the Turkish-Syrian border: open, honest, slightly intense,
beguiled by Syria's uprising and motivated by the simple desire to help
people. It didn't surprise me when his parents later spoke about him
"searching for his place in the world".
He found that place giving medical training to Syrians,
teaching skills that probably saved a number of lives. It was a job with
many risks: bullets and bombs; air strikes and kidnapping.
"The last time I saw him," said a Syrian colleague, Dr Anas
Mulla, "I asked: Aren't you scared for your life? He said: My life isn't
worth more than all of yours."
Going to Deir Azour in northern Syria a year ago, Abdul-Rahman was
seized by the group calling itself Islamic State. They have said he will
be the next Western hostage to die.
The French journalist Nicholas Henin was held with
Abdul-Rahman for four months - before being freed along with the other
French hostages.
"The beginning of his detention had been a bit hard," Nicolas
said of his former cellmate. "He was quite affected by his captivity."
Nicolas spoke to me in Paris. Taxis trundled by on a cobbled
street outside as he described the mixture of hunger, boredom and terror
experienced by the Western hostages.
"The routine was mostly waiting for food, because we never received
enough. And Abdul-Rahman was basically sharing all of his food but
looking for sweets. He was always looking for some extra marmalade."
Shortly after being kidnapped, Peter converted and now uses the Muslim name Abdul-Rahman.
"When I first met him, he was introducing himself already to all the guards as Abdul-Rahman," said Nicolas.
"Peter told me about how important Islam was to him, how much
it helped to overcome his situation in captivity. And he was a very
dedicated Muslim. He gave me the impression that he was a bit fragile,
but that Islam was strengthening him."
Abdul-Rahman wasn't the only Western hostage to become a Muslim.
"In our group of hostages there were a few who converted.
They were practising … the five daily prayers and they would even
sometimes perform two extra prayers…They would fast on Mondays and
Thursdays, which is extra [to what is mandated] … like … dedicated
Muslims."
Wasn't this just Stockholm Syndrome, I asked, a perfectly understandable defence mechanism?
"Our captors were not very good at psychology," Nicolas
replied. "But they were extremely good at preventing us from having any
Stockholm Syndrome."
That was an elliptical reference to the stories about the hostages being beaten and even tortured.
He continued: "For some guards, there would be more respect
to those of us who had converted. But for other captors, I had the
feeling that it made no difference."
I asked Nicolas if he had seen the latest hostage video, the
one where Alan Henning is killed, and where Abdul-Rahman Kassig is
threatened with death. There was a very long pause before he told me he
had seen all the videos.
"It's very traumatic for me," he said, "because I can very much imagine seeing me being in their place."
Abdul-Rahman managed to get a letter out to his family.
In it, he wrote: "In terms of my faith, I pray every day and I am not
angry about my situation in that sense. I am in a dogmatically
complicated situation here, but I am at peace with my belief."
His parents interpret that as a statement he is now Muslim. They hope desperately that his faith will save him.
Of course, for the group that calls itself Islamic State, hostage-taking and summary executions are an everyday tactic of war.
His family must hope that "Peter Kassig" becoming
"Abdul-Rahman Kassig" may help. They will also be painfully aware that
Islamic State have not hesitated to kill many Muslims - Iraqis and
Syrians - in the course of their bloody campaign.
-bbc
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