A Muslim man has been trying to win the custody of his nine-year-old daughter ever since his estranged wife decided to revert to Christianity. Expressing his disapproval of her new partner and condemning the debauched lifestyle that she has returned to, the unidentified man, a political analyst by profession, told a judge at the High Court in London that he cannot come to terms with his former wife’s un-Islamic ways. The man is currently involved in a bitter dispute over the custody and care of his nine-year-old daughter, who has been living with her mother since the breakdown of their marriage.
The man told Justice Hayden that his former wife reverted to Christianity only because her new partner is Christian and he is irresponsible for having taken his daughter for a vacation to Algeria and left her there with distant relatives. Details of the case emerged in a ruling by Hayden following a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. In his ruling, Hayden ordered the man to return his daughter to her mother, saying his former wife has done no wrong by reverting to Christianity as she had converted to Islam to marry him in the first place.
“The father has been extremely critical of the mother and of what he now regards as her un-Islamic lifestyle, which he has described as “debauched,” said the judge in a written ruling. He has been dismissive of her care of their daughter and of her choice of partner. He plainly does not consider it appropriate for (their daughter) to be brought up where her mother lives with a Christian man,” the judge said.
In an unrelated but similar case, a Muslim man in Uganda tied his nine-year-old son to a tree and set him ablaze after the young boy professed his faith in Christ earlier this year. Nassif Malagara from Kamuli District expressed his desire to convert to Christianity after a neighbor took him to visit a church in a nearby village.
“At the end of the service, Nassif stayed behind and then followed me to the church’s vestry room and requested that he wanted to receive Jesus as his personal savior,” said the pastor of the church. “I was a bit hesitant, but after his continuous pressing, I then prayed with him, and he left.”
Nassif subsequently refused to participate in any Muslim activity and declined to take lessons at the local madrasa. His 36-year-old father Abubakar Malagara and 35-year-old stepmother Madina Namwaje grew furious when they discovered their son had converted.
They prohibited him from eating and Nassif stayed hungry for more than two days during Ramadan before finally sneaking into his neighbour’s house in search of some food. As he continued to bring back food every day, his father caught him on June 9.
“He started beating me up with sticks, but I managed to escape to a nearby bush,” Nassif said. “My father then followed me and got hold of me back to the homestead, where he tied me up to a banana tree. He went into the house and came back with a hot piece of wood.
The banana tree had dry leaves, which caught fire and caused serious burns on my body.”
When Nassif’s neighbours heard him screaming in pain, they rescued and rushed him to Kamuli Hospital, where doctors found that he had been seriously injured.
“Nassif has been recovering, but at a very slow pace,” said Walwawo Zubari. “He might need to be referred to another hospital for specialized treatment.”
A relative of Nassif’s said she would take custody of him after his release from the hospital.
Local residents alerted the police of Abubakar’s crime.
The neighbor, who took Nassif to church, said he has received several death threats via phone calls and text messages.
“We know that you are behind the conversion of Nassif to Christianity,” one message read. “You will soon reap what you have sown, which will be a lesson to others. Islam is against such conversion.”
Nassif’s case emerged as another Christian was killed after being sent death threats from Muslim locals following a religious brawl on June 4. The body of 50 year old Yokannah Zirinkuma’s was found in a pool of blood in Kadama Village, near the residence of the primary suspect.
On May 15, 61-year-old Micah Byamukama, pastor at Kasecha Baptist Church, died after ingesting copious amounts of insecticide that was apparently added to his food by a Muslim neighbor.
On May 8, a Muslim man in Mayuge District strangled his wife to death after she renounced her faith. Awali Kakaire, 34, reportedly killed 30-year-old Mariam Nakirya for leaving Islam and embracing Christianity instead.
On April 19, Muslim men in Pallisa District sexually assaulted and gang-raped a Christian woman after she testified that the imam at a local mosque, Sheikh Musana Ibrahim, had killed her father, Samson Mukama, because of religious differences.
On April 4, another Muslim man in Budaka District strangled his wife after she turned to Christianity. He later told the judge his religion allows him to kill all apostates.
On March 16, death threats from Islamist hardliners and the rape of her 13-year-old daughter compelled Amina Napiya to flee with her children from Nakajete Village.
On January 27, Laurance Maiso’s body was discovered in a pool of blood in Numuseru Village after Imam Kamulali Hussein told him only four days earlier that he would have to give up his life at the behest of Allah.
On January 10, Abdu Nsera was beaten black and blue by his relatives for having renounced Islam and turned to Christianity.
Even though the eastern parts of Uganda have a largely Muslim population, almost 85 percent of all Ugandans abide by Christianity and only 11 percent adhere to Islam. According to the 2014 National Population and Housing Census, the number of Muslims in Uganda increased from 12.4 percent in 2002 to 13.7 percent in 2014 while the number of Catholics dropped from 41.6 percent to 39.3 percent and Anglicans from 36.7 percent to 32 percent in the same duration. The country’s constitution and other legislations however not only guarantee religious freedom to all citizens but also allow them to propagate their own faith and convert from one religion to another.
Photo Credits: Virtue Online
