Sudanese Christian Woman Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag Sentenced to Death for Apostasy

A court in Sudan has sentenced a Christian woman to death for apostasy. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag says that she has always been a Christian (Christianity is the religion of her mother). But since her father was a Muslim (who most likely got her to recite the Shahada when she was a child), she is considered a Muslim. Amnesty International has called the sentence “appalling and abhorrent” and a “flagrant breach of international human rights law.” The problem is that the Sudanese court is more concerned with enforcing Sharia than with international human rights law.

Muhammad ordered his followers to kill anyone who leaves Islam:

Sahih al-Bukhari 6922—Allah’s Messenger said: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, kill him.”

Sunan Ibn Majah 2535—It was narrated from Ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever changes his religion, execute him.”

Al-Muwatta of Imam Malik 36.18.15—Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that the Messenger of Allah said, “If someone changes his religion—then strike off his head!”

According to Muhammad’s companions, this penalty applies to women also:

Sahih al-Bukhari 6921—Ibn Umar, Az-Zuhri and Ibrahim said, “A female apostate (who reverts from Islam), should be killed.”

Hence, Sudan is doing exactly what Muhammad commanded. Politicians and the media will condemn the sentence, but they won’t dare condemn the prophet who ordered the sentence. Meanwhile, people like me who condemn the source of Islamic law are labeled “racists” and “Islamophobes.” Apparently, I’m intolerant for condemning intolerance.

BBC News—A Sudanese court has sentenced a woman to hang for apostasy – the abandonment of her religious faith – after she married a Christian man.

Amnesty International condemned the sentence, handed down by a judge in Khartoum, as “appalling and abhorrent”.

Local media report the sentence on the woman, who is pregnant, would not be carried out for two years after she had given birth.

Sudan has a majority Muslim population, which is governed by Islamic law.

“We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death,” the judge told the woman, AFP reports.

Western embassies and rights groups had urged Sudan to respect the right of the pregnant woman to choose her religion.

The judge also sentenced the woman to 100 lashes after convicting her of adultery – because her marriage to a Christian man was not valid under Islamic law.

This will reportedly be carried out when she has recovered from giving birth.

Earlier in the hearing, an Islamic cleric spoke with her in a caged dock for about 30 minutes, AFP reports.

Then she calmly told the judge: “I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy.” (Continue Reading.)