RUTHFULLY YOURS

The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of March 2025.

The Muslim Slaughter of Christians

Uganda: On March 16, Hanifa Hamiyat, a Muslim woman poisoned and killed three people: a young Christian couple, as well as her own 18-year-old daughter, who accidentally ate the same poisoned food the Muslim woman had offered to the Christians for sharing Christ with the daughter. The Christian woman she killed was six months pregnant. When local leaders later questioned Hanifa, she confessed to poisoning the food, saying:

“I never intended to kill my daughter, but my plan was to kill the neighbors because of taking my daughter to church during this holy month of Ramadan. Our imam had assured us that when you kill a kafir [infidel], Allah rewards one with a Jannah [paradise] called Firdausi, so I wanted to get that Jannah.”

Separately, on March 23, a Muslim man stabbed his wife to death moments after she had attended her first church service. Two days earlier, on March 21, Nasiimu Mirembe, 41, had embraced Christ after hearing the Gospel from one of her female friends. On Sunday, March 23, she went with the friend to church. On their way, she recognized a Muslim friend of her husband’s and was concerned that he might tell him. After the church service, where she was welcomed as a new Christian, as she traveled home with her friend, she saw her husband, Adamu Mukungu, just 600 feet from the church. According to her friend, who remains anonymous for security reasons, Mukungu said to his wife, “I saw you come out of the church. What you have done is very bad, especially during this period of Ramadan.” Continues the friend:

“Immediately he started slapping his wife. I started screaming and shouting for help. Mukungu then removed a long knife and started cutting her with it.”

On hearing all the crying, several church members rushed to the scene, prompting the Muslim man to flee. His wife died of internal and external bleeding soon thereafter. She is survived by her six children, aged three to 18.

Nigeria: “Pure genocide” experienced by Christians at the hands of Muslims, some headlines:

• March 27: “Suspect Fulani Militants Kill 11 in Brutal Assault on Christian Farming Community.”
• March 6: “Priest Kidnapped and Slain in Kaduna State.”
• March 14: “Herdsmen Kill One Christian, then Six Others.”
• March 18: “Christian Found Dead after Kidnapping in Central Nigeria.”
• March 12: “Death Sentence Upheld for Christian Defending against Attack: Farmer tried to ward off Fulani herdsmen.”
• March 6: “Ramadan School Closures Affect Christian Students.”

Muslim Abduction, Rape, and Forced Conversion of Christian Girls and Women

Pakistan: On March 25, three Muslim men abducted a married Christian woman at gunpoint and gang-raped her in a field. The incident occurred as Shumaila, who works as a sweeper at a university, and her husband Adnan Masih, a brick-maker, were making their way home after a long day’s work. Two armed men hiding behind trees ambushed, beat, and robbed them. According to Adnan:

“They snatched my cell phone and some money at gunpoint and then started threatening me to give them more money. When I told them that I was a poor Christian and an ordinary worker at a brick kiln, they started whispering something into each other’s ears.”

They made a phone call, and a third man quickly arrived on a motorcycle:

“One of them grabbed my wife’s arm and pulled her into a nearby sugarcane field while the other two men loosened the string of my shalwar [baggy pants] and used it to tie me to a tree. They then followed their accomplice into the field and took turns raping my wife.”

His cries for help went unheard, and after the assault the men left the scene hurling threats:

“I do not have the words that can express the helplessness and agony I felt during that time. After some time, my wife emerged from the field, her clothes torn and tears flowing down her face. She could barely walk due to the assault, but she slowly approached me and untied my hands. Both of us then just sat there together and cried our hearts out, our minds numbed by the trauma and unable to think anything.”

When the traumatized couple finally arrived home later than their usual time, their three children and other worried relatives were waiting for them in the courtyard:

“We did not have the courage to tell them what had happened to us, so we just kept silent and went to our room. We then decided to pray and seek justice from God, which helped in comforting us and gave us hope.”

The next morning, he called the police helpline and, thanks to a Christian lawmaker who helped draw attention to the case, the three men were arrested.

Separately, on March 5, a young Christian girl was finally reunited with her parents. Two months earlier, on Jan. 5, Muhammad Ali, a 35-year-old married Muslim man, abducted Saba Masih, the 12-year-old daughter of his Christian neighbor. After forcibly converting her to Islam, he “married” her through a fake Muslim certificate stating that the girl was 18-year-old, even though “Saba’s physical appearance also doesn’t match the age stated in the alleged marriage and Islamic conversion certificates,” her father, Shafique Masih, had said. “Whoever facilitated this sham conversion and marriage should be equally punished along with Ali.” When he first reported the kidnapping to police, “the police deliberately misstated Saba’s age,” writing down that she was 16, even though her father kept insisting she was 12. They also wasted time and offered pretexts before acting:

“The police told me that they needed official permission to go to Sindh Province to recover Saba, but three weeks have passed and there’s no progress in the matter. I’m visiting the police station on a daily basis to plead with them to act, but it seems now that they are not serious in finding my minor daughter.”

Finally, on March 5 police forces raided an outhouse in a village of Shaheed Benazirabad, recovered Saba and arrested Ali: “I cannot express my joy when I hugged Saba after so many days,” her mother, Rakhil Shafique, said. “Her father and I haven’t been able to sleep properly all this time, but now we will finally take rest.” The 12-year-old Saba also shared what happened on that day when Ali, her trusted 35-year-old married neighbor, kidnapped her:

“On the day he took me from my home, he asked me to accompany him to the bazaar where he would buy me presents. After some time, I asked him to take me back home as my parents would be worried about me, but he snubbed me and forced me to sit on a bus.”

He took her to another city where a Muslim cleric fabricated a false religious conversion certificate and performed a sham Islamic marriage that stated her age as 18 years:

“Ali then forced me to record a video saying that I had converted to Islam and married him of my free will. I was also forced to state that I’m 18 years old, and that my parents should not take any action against us… During the time I was there, Ali did bad things with me which numbed my mind and body. He also beat me whenever I used to cry for my parents and told him that I wanted to go back home. I was kept locked in a room most of the time.”

Egypt: On March 24, another Christian woman, Damiana Farah Ishaq, 28, disappeared “under mysterious circumstances,” off the streets of Cairo. A married mother of a two-year-old child, she had left home to purchase some cooking supplies but never returned. When her family tried calling her cell phone, it was turned off. Her distraught husband and parents have appealed to the minister of interior to help find their daughter.

This scenario — a Christian girl or woman goes somewhere, disappears, and then her phone is turned off — has played out several times in Egypt. Less than one month earlier, for instance, on Feb. 28, 17-year-old Irene Emil, also “vanished” off the streets of Cairo. According to her distraught parents, the girl, still in high school, was on her way to church but never reached it. When they tried calling her cell phone, it had been turned off.

In August 2024, Christina Karim Aziz, a 20-year-old Christian girl, also disappeared off the streets of Asyut, where she had gone to apply for a job. Also in Asyut in 2024, another Irene (Ibrahim Shehata), a 21-year-old Christian, “disappeared”…. (For more on this topic, see Coptic Solidarity’s report, “Jihad of the Womb: Trafficking of Coptic Women & Girls in Egypt.”)

Muslim Violence and Hostility against Christians

Pakistan: On March 21, Muhammad Zohaib, a Muslim supervisor at a paper factory, “violently assaulted a 22-year-old Christian man, Waqas Masih, after he refused to convert to Islam.”

“The altercation began when Zohaib confronted Waqas about handling paper with Islamic verses printed on it, deeming him ‘impure’ because of his Christian faith. Zohaib then demanded that Waqas renounce Christianity and embrace Islam. When Waqas refused, Zohaib viciously attacked him with a sharp paper cutter, slashing his neck in a brutal assault. Severely injured and drenched in blood, Waqas managed to tie his shirt around his neck to control the bleeding while awaiting medical assistance…. Doctors performed surgery, stitching his deep wound with 32 stitches. Although Waqas cannot currently speak due to the severity of the injury, doctors believe it will take at least two months for him to fully recover and regain his speech.”

Egypt: On March 16, in Alexandria, a Muslim man hurled rocks at a small Christian girl, severely wounding her head and leaving extremely visible bumps and scars. Her crime? She had been eating in public, and he, the pious Muslim, had been fasting for Ramadan and unwilling to see anyone else eat.

The girl’s mother, Marcelle, shared the incident on her Facebook page:

“I was on my way to drop my daughter off at daycare around 9:00 in the morning. As we walked, we ate some food we had bought. Suddenly, a man got out of a private car, shouted, ‘Oh Allah—I am fasting!’ and hurled stones at us three times. One of them hit my daughter’s head.”

Although the assailant was identified by surveillance cameras, according to the report, “Ms. Marcelle wonders what legal action can be taken to obtain her rights—or whether it’s pointless?”

Somalia: After a Muslim woman converted to Christianity, after what she perceived as a miracle in her life, one by one, her husband and extended family abused and ostracized her. On March 20, Fatuma Hussein, 30, was banished by her husband for talking about Christ. He sent her to her parents—without her three young children, aged three, five, and seven. Then, on March 22, learning that Fatuma was talking about Jesus with her sister, her father assaulted her:

“My father started beating me with sticks and threatening to kill me and immediately kicked me out of the family by chasing me away with a sharp sword. He even told my husband to beat and even kill me whenever I am seen around…. I have lost my children, but the peace of God will continue comforting my heart. Please tell Christian families wherever they are to continue praying for me and support me … I am lonely, but Issa [Jesus] is with me.”

Muslim Persecution of Christian Apostates and Blasphemers

Iran: On March 8, three Muslim converts to Christianity received a combined total of 42 years in prison for practicing their faith: Narges Nasri, who was pregnant, and two men, Mehran Shamloui, and Abbas Soori. They were all initially arrested last November for attending a home church. All were found guilty for engaging in activities “contrary to Islamic law.” Discussing the fate of these three Christians, a different report notes:

“Christians, especially those who convert from Islam, are often targeted for persecution and mistreatment in Iran. Moreover, attempting to evangelize about Christianity is prohibited and publicly elevating Jesus Christ over Islamic beliefs about God could get an individual a prison or a death sentence… Iran passed legislation in 2021 that would allow authorities to target religious minorities with prison time in the nation. The law penalizes anyone “engaging in propaganda that educates in a deviant way contrary to the holy religion of Islam.'”

Separately, according to a March 31 report:

“Two brothers who were arrested at a Christmas gathering over three years ago have both been sentenced to four years in prison, fined, and exiled from their home province for two years after their release.”

Christian converts Mahmoud Mardani-Kharaji, 56, and Mansour, 50, were also convicted under the amended Article 500 of the penal code, which criminalizes “deviant propaganda activities contrary to the holy religion of Islam.” The report adds that “Christian converts are routinely pressured to recant their faith or sign commitments to refrain from any further involvement in Christian activities.”

Finally, according to a March 21 report, Mehdi Salim, a Muslim prison guard, beat Amirali Minaei, a Christian convert held in Evin Prison. Knowing that Amirali was suffering from a bad heart and “receiving medical care for pre-existing heart conditions before his imprisonment,” the guard intentionally punched him in his chest. Afterwards, prison officials refused Amirali access to the prison clinic or a cardiologist. The 31-year-old convert to Christianity began serving his three years and seven months prison sentence in April 2024 for his Christian activities and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

Pakistan: On March 17, federal agents arrested a young Christian man under a blasphemy law that mandates the death sentence. Arsalan Gill, 24, was seized late at night as he was returning home from his daytime job as a sweeper and charged with sharing blasphemous content on Facebook. According to his brother, Suleman Gill:

“The next morning when we were finally able to meet him briefly, we asked him about the accusation. He told us that some unknown persons had added him to two groups on Facebook without his knowledge, and he had no idea about the content that was shared on those pages.”

Arsalan Gill was charged with multiple sections of the nation’s widely abused blasphemy codes, including Section 295-C, which carries a mandatory death penalty, and Section 11 of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act 2016, which prescribes imprisonment of up to seven years for preparing or disseminating blasphemous content. Rights activists say that the impoverished Christian was targeted by a “blasphemy business group” which have entrapped hundreds of innocent people, especially Christians, in false cases of online blasphemy. According to attorney Lazar Alla Rakha:

“The modus operandi is the same in all cases registered by the anti-blasphemy unit of the FIA’s Cybercrime Wing. This unit is colluding with Islamist lawyers and activists to trap innocent youths in false cases of blasphemy for extorting money and defending the blatant abuse of the blasphemy laws for other vested interests.”

In a separate case, although an 18-year-old Christian won bail against blasphemy charges leveled against him, he remains in jail because the presiding judge is being influenced or pressured by Islamist groups. According to Morning Star News:

“[Judge Naveed Khaliq] initially gave the family of Akash Karamat, who has been jailed for 18 months in three blasphemy cases, the impression that he would accept their March 5 applications to accept bail bond of 100,000 rupees each ($358 USD) as per a high court’s orders but kept delaying the written order on one pretext or another.”

The family of the youth kept going to the court and appealing the judge, but he kept stalling. On March 19, the impoverished parents again waited in the court for several hours before being presented before the judge:

“Finally, the judge asked us to come forward and categorically told us that he would not give a written decision on our applications… Earlier when our attorney submitted an application with the judge for declaring Akash a juvenile, he sat on the decision for six months. Now he has dragged the matter for 15 days, when he could have simply rejected the applications so that we could go to the next forum, i.e. the Lahore High Court.”

After saying that it was clear that the judge was under immense pressure from Muslim groups, the father added, “but isn’t it his responsibility to decide the matter as per the law even if it is against us?”

Indonesia: Although Pakistan seems to be the primary or even only nation to zealously enforce Islamic blasphemy laws, according to a March 21 report, even in Indonesia, which is often presented as an exceptionally moderate Muslim nation, Christians are being persecuted for blasphemy: “A rash of complaints to police in Indonesia accusing Christians of blasphemy on social media has driven several of them abroad to seek refuge.” The report offers several examples:

“Abraham Ben Moses, previously known as Sjaifuddin Ibrahim, a former Muslim lecturer at an Islamic college and now a Christian pastor, was imprisoned for blasphemy from 2018 to 2022 and later again charged with blasphemy for proposing to remove 300 quranic verses that he deemed unfriendly to non-Muslims. His actions sparked outrage among hardline Muslims, leading to a call for a six-year prison sentence and a fine of 1 billion rupees. He avoided prosecution by fleeing to the United States, as did another Christian apologist, Sofia al-Hayat…

“In Indonesia the state is usually absent when Christians are persecuted but shows up large when Muslims in the Muslim-majority country face opposition…”

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said it was clear why Christians took refuge abroad:

“Here, in Indonesia, they cannot speak freely because they probably receive physical threats and be [sic] criminalized on blasphemous charges.”

Muslim Attacks on Churches and Christian Institutions

Indonesia: Local officials in East Borneo Province refused to allow Christians to build a church, even though the congregation had met all legal requirements for a permit. According to the March 31 report:

“The congregation has spent 10 years on the application, obtaining names and ID cards of 90 people approved by local officials, approval of 60 local people and village heads and last September winning recommendations of the local Interfaith Forum.”

Hendra Kusuma, chairman of the East Kalimantan Alliance for Advocacy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, accused the government of being more interested in appeasing Muslim groups that are religiously intolerant rather than enforcing rules:

“They are more afraid of a handful of people who reject the church’s existence, even though the state guarantees freedom of religion and worship… Not a single party is brave and firm enough to resolve the problem.”

A church member, Elizabeth, expressed the congregation’s frustration:

“We just want to build a church for worship. We all have the right to embrace our respective religions and worship in our respective places of worship. Our rights should still be given according to the law.”

Similarly, on March 10, Muslim residents of Wakaboti demonstrated against the planned construction of another church, although the congregation—which was forced to hold Christmas services in a police hall last December— desperately needs a place to worship in.

On March 5, fasting Muslims demonstrated against the use of a building for Catholic worship in Jalan Ski Air, even though the building is on Catholic owned land. The report adds:

“The Catholic congregation in Arcamanik, which has 1,400 members, needs a proper place of worship. The church has owned the building since the 1980s and is currently processing the official permit that was submitted a year ago.”

Finally, according to a March 18 report:

“although a construction permit for Gamaliel Christian School was approved, local authorities of Parepare City stopped construction after a group of Muslims protested the Christian school’s presence.”

Egypt: On March 17, another fire “broke out” in another Coptic church, St. Athanasius the Apostolic Church in the Qalyub al-Mahta district, causing material damage, but no casualties. Firefighters contained the blaze before it spread to the rest of the building. Although the authorities were quick to rule out arson, this was just the latest of many churches to “accidentally” catch fire in Egypt in recent months and year. (See here, here, here, here, here, and here for examples.

In one month alone, August 2022, 11 churches supposedly “caught fire.” In one of these fires, 41 Christian worshippers, including many children, were killed.) That many “accidental” fires suggest one of two things: either the “radicals” have—possibly with insider help, possibly from state security—become more sophisticated and clandestine in their attacks on churches (in one instance, a surveillance camera caught a votary candle suddenly and randomly exploding and creating a fire), or else Coptic Christians, for some inexplicable reason, must have become the most careless and fire-prone people in the world: more Coptic churches than any other kind seem to keep “accidentally catching fire.”

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

About this Series

While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location. It includes incidents that take place during, or are reported on, any given month.