Tag: Sharia

Hurricane of violence has left landscape of blood

September 19, 2016 Nigeria Fulani herdsmen, Kidnapping, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Sharia

Nigerian Catholic bishops, deploring have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to restore confidence amidst growing public frustration with his government. President Buhari was elected in Feb. 2015 on a platform of change and reform, but the clerics say “most Nigerians are today disillusioned by the frittering away of the high . . . Read More

Prosecutor demands ‘harshest punishment’ for pastors charged with highlighting Sudan Christians’ suffering

August 30, 2016 Sudan Abdulmonem Abdumawla, Hassan Taour, Khartoum, Kuwa Shamal, Nuba Mountains, Peter Yen, Petr Jašek, Religious freedom, Sharia, South Kordofan, South Sudan, SPLM-N, Sudan, Yat Michael

A trial of four men, including two Sudanese church leaders and a foreign aid worker, resumed on 29 August in Khartoum, with Sudan’s prosecution accusing the defendants of highlighting alleged Christian suffering in war-ravaged areas of the country. The four defendants are a Czech Christian aid worker named Petr Jasek; . . . Read More

Copts attacked, forced to settle for nothing, in absence of Egyptian justice

July 27, 2016 Egypt Al-Azhar, Anba Macarius, Bishop Angaelos, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Luxor, Pope Tawadros II, Salafism, Sharia, Soad Thabet, Sunni

Eight Christian homes were attacked and an equal number of Copts were detained after Muslims in an Egyptian village went on a rampage following rumours of a house church being built. The attack last week in Saft el-Khirsa (180km south of Cairo) trails more than a dozen others that have, . . . Read More

Al-Azhar: to leave Islam is ‘treason’

June 22, 2016 Al-Azhar, Apostasy, Cairo, Converts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Mohammed Hegazy, Ramadan, Sharia, Sunni

To convert away from Islam is “treason” that should carry the death penalty, according to Sunni Islam’s topmost religious authority. “The penalty for an open apostate, departing from the community, is well stipulated in Sharia,” Al-Azhar’s Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayyib declared on Egypt television last week. “An apostate must be . . . Read More

Nigeria considers giving Islamic appeals courts authority to take criminal cases

June 5, 2016 Nigeria Apostasy, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Hudud, Islamic extremism, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Plateau, Sharia, Yobe, Zamfara

A Sharia court in northern Nigeria.Courtesy of Open Doors The situation Nigeria’s National Assembly is considering a change to the country’s constitution that would expand the scope of jurisdiction of the country’s Islamic Sharia courts of appeal. Currently, the constitution limits those appellate courts to matters concerning family law. . . . Read More

Malaysian bill amendment to tighten Sharia punishments alarms non-Muslims

June 3, 2016 Malaysia Brunei, Hudud, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Kelantan, Najib Razak, PAS, Sharia, Southeast Asia, UMNO

On the last day of Malaysia’s latest session of Parliament, a member of the ruling coalition, UMNO (United Malays National Organisation), had a bill amendment approved which has provoked an outcry in the country. That’s because it aims to tighten the implementation of Sharia; and critics claim it intends to . . . Read More

1.3 million Christians displaced in N. Nigeria

May 31, 2016 Nigeria Adamawa, Agatu, Benue, Borno, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Middle Belt, Nasarawa, Nigeria, Plateau, Sharia, Taraba, Yobe

Christians in northern Nigeria have paid a heavy price for Fulani herdshmen’s attacks and Boko Haram’s insurgency, which aims at implementing Sharia in Africa’s most populous country. An estimated 11,500 Christians were killed, over 1.3 million others were displaced and 13,000 churches destroyed or abandoned between 2006 and 2014, said . . . Read More

The UN is about to take a very close look at Sudan’s treatment of Christians

May 4, 2016 Bahri, Converts, Darfur, Hassan Taour, Human rights, International Criminal Court, Kuwa Shamal, Mariam Ibrahim, NISS, Omar al-Bashir, Religious freedom, Sharia, South Sudan, Sudan, Sunni, Telal Rata, UN

What is happening? The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights is scheduled to hold a 3 1/2-hour hearing in Geneva on Wednesday, 4 May, at which UN member nations will examine the state of human rights in Sudan. It promises to be an interesting meeting. Sudan’s president, . . . Read More

Malaysian Muslim’s right to convert appealed

May 3, 2016 Malaysia Borneo, Constitution, Converts, Malaysia, Religious freedom, Sarawak, Sharia

An appeal has been lodged against a landmark ruling by the Malaysian High Court that a Sarawak Muslim can officially convert to Christianity. just ahead of the 24 April deadline. The reasons for the appeal need to be revealed within eight weeks. Rebit was born into a Christian family that . . . Read More

Indonesian laws thwart new church plans

April 28, 2016 Indonesia Aceh, Churches, Indonesia, Sharia

Protestant church leaders in Aceh, Indonesia are pushing for consistent application of Islamic law in the province, after the destruction of 10 churches in the last nine months, . Last August, a mob burned down the Pakpak Dairi Christian Protestant Church, killing one person and forcing thousands of Christians to . . . Read More

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