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A Sudanese woman who converted from Islam to Christianity is living in terror after the people closest to her suddenly turned on her and left her beaten, homeless, and in jail for becoming a follower of Jesus Christ.
Compass Direct News reported that Halima Bubkier converted to Christianity last year after watching the Jesus Film. Her husband had initially supported her new found faith and allowed her to attend church services because of positive changes he saw in her, including her ability to overcome her alcoholic problem.
But when word of her conversion spread to the community, Islamic hardliners felt she had betrayed Islam and blocked her husband from participating in communal meals during Ramadan.
“My husband was totally rejected by his colleagues,” Bubkier, who lives in northern Sudan, told Compass. “They even refused to eat the food that I had cooked for him, saying that Muslims could not eat food cooked by infidels.”
The new follower of Christ said she never expected the hardships that followed.
Her husband, angry for being ousted from the Muslim community, threw an armchair at her and injured Bubkier’s back. He then removed all his belongings from the house and set it on fire with all her possessions still inside, she said. He then chased her away.
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When she sought the protection and help of her brother, Nur Bubkier - who was told about her conversion - he beat her and then attempted to stab her with a knife.
Bubkier was rescued from the attack by two Christians from the Sudanese Church of Christ, but she was afterwards jailed for three days on the false charge of “disrespecting Islam.”
One of the church members took care of her 2-year-old baby while she was in jail. But her two older children – age six and eight – are still with her former husband who has reportedly married another woman.
A Coptic priest spoke privately to a police officer before Bubkier’s trial and reminded him that under the Sudanese law no one is supposed to be imprisoned because of religion. She was subsequently freed and now remains in hiding where her former husband cannot find her.
Although Bubkier is safe for now, she is concerned about the safety of her two older children who remain with their father.
“I expected my husband to appreciate my positive change, but instead he responded negatively,” she said. “Indeed there is something wrong with Islam where good is rewarded with evil. But I feel normal. Now I have a better life to live for. I was lost and in darkness. Let God forgive all those who have wronged me. I know I cannot go back.”
Sudan is split between a Muslim-dominated north and a Christian and animist south. During the 20-some year civil war between North and South Sudan, which officially ended in 2005, hundreds of churches were destroyed by the northern military.
North Sudan is now ruled by Islamic law while the south is a semiautonomous secular state.
