Woman Stabbed To Death By Her Husband For Converting From Islam To Christianity

A follower of the Holy Spirit Movement church performs rituals at a shrine in Gulu town, north of Uganda capital Kampala February 15, 2015. |
A 26-year-old mother of two in eastern Uganda is recovering from deep knife wounds after her Muslim husband stabbed her on Easter Sunday because she had put her faith in Christ two weeks earlier.

Zaina Gimbo, who is from Sirinya B Island in Mayuge District’s Lake Victoria area, sustained wounds to her face, head and back, and bruises on her hand, Morning Star News reported.

The young mother of a 4-year-old boy and a 5-year-old daughter, who had secretly put her faith in Jesus on April 2, was attacked after she got back from an Easter worship service on April 17.

Carrying her Bible, She left for the service after her husband, identified as Jamiru Mwima, left to catch fish. “It was a wonderful celebration. At about 1 p.m., I went home not knowing that he had come back. I came back with a lot of joy, singing Christian songs that I had learned in the church,” Gimbo was quoted as saying from her hospital bed.

As soon as she arrived home her husband came out “very furious,” Gimbo said. He grabbed her hand and asked her many questions about her faith, which she did not answer. “My husband beat and cut me with a long knife. I made an alarm that brought many people who came and disarmed him. I fell down bleeding seriously and lost consciousness.”

Her friends then took her to a hospital where she is still recovering.

Gimbo accepted Christ after interacting with a Christian businesswoman to whom she would sell fish caught by her husband.

“I started sharing Christ with her and, after a week, on April 2, she embraced the Christian faith. Every time she brought fish, we were able to have a few hours sharing about Christianity,” the businesswoman was quoted as saying.

In a separate incident earlier this month, a Muslim woman in Nawanjofu village of Butaleja District added poison to her husband’s food after he converted to Christianity.

Hiire Sadiki, 56, a former Islamic teacher, was poisoned because he had declined to observe the Islamic rituals of Ramadan and his wife noticed him praying in the name of Christ.

While most people in Uganda are Christian, some regions in the country have higher concentrations of Muslims.

The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project estimates that about 11.5% of Uganda’s population is Muslim, mostly Sunni. Armed attacks and murders of converts are not uncommon in the region.