Father Jacques Mourad escapes Islamic State militants with help from a Muslim friend and the Virgin Mother

'[W]hile I was a prisoner I was waiting for the day I would die, but with a great inner peace'

Syrian priest credits the Virgin Mary and a Muslim friend with his escape from Islamic State militants.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Father Jacques Mourad is a Syrian priest who was captured in May. He believed he would die for his faith and told Italian TV 2000 "This is the miracle the Good Lord gave me: while I was a prisoner I was waiting for the day I would die, but with a great inner peace. I had no problem dying for the name of Our Lord; I wouldn't be the first or the last, just one of the thousands of the martyrs for Christ"

He was one of two men captured on May 21 when militants entered the Monastery of Mar Elian in Al Qaryatayn. Mourad described his captivity, saying, "The first four days we were in the mountains, locked up in the monastery's car we were captured in. On Aug. 11 we were taken to near Palmyra, where there are 250 other Christian prisoners from the city of Al Qaryatayn."

The Islamic State had captured Al Quaryatayn at the beginning of August and only 30 Christians were able to escape for Homs following its capture. Father Mourad explained that he was asked to declare his faith often. "Almost every day there was someone who came to my prison and asked me 'what are you?' I would answer: 'I'm a Nazarene, in other words, a Christian.' 

"'So you're an infidel,' they shouted. 'Since you're a Christian, if you don't convert we'll slit your throat with a knife.'"

He was threatened each time and each time Father Mourad refused to renounce his belief in Christ. When he finally escaped, he wore a disguise.

"I escaped on a motorbike with the help of a Muslim friend. But now I'm working with an Orthodox priest and other Bedouin friends and a Muslim friend to free the 200 other Christians who are still imprisoned."

The day he was interviewed by Italian television, Father Mourad announced that 40 other Christians managed to escape the same day. 

Agence France Presse reported Father Mourad's first Mass since his release was on October 10.

 The Monastery of Mar Elian was over 1,600-years-old and had been undergoing restorations for several decades. Syrians and displaced Al Quaryatayns sought refuge there when Muslim donors providing necessities, but sadly Islamic State militants destroyed the monastery three months after Father Mourad was captured.

Since March 2011, the beginning of the Syrian civil war, over 250,000 people have been killed, leaving four million refugees and 8 million displaced Syrians.

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