A Muslim who put his faith in Christ after receiving a vision in a mosque in Uganda was hospitalized after relatives beat him, demolished his home and took in his wife and six children, sources said.
Wambuzi Maka Uthman, a 39-year-old former sheikh (Islamic teacher), went to Friday prayers in Mayuge town council, Mayuge District in eastern Uganda on Aug. 1 as usual, then went to sleep in a corner of the mosque, he said.
“There I saw a man dressed in white, long clothing surround by four angels – the man called me by my name, ‘Uthman, Uthman, Uthman,’ three times,” Uthman told Morning Star News. “I was so frightened as I drew near to him, knelt down and worshipped Him. Thereafter He told me to go to my people and to tell them to repent and turn to the living God.”
As he returned home at about 5 p.m., he met a pastor from Elim Church, he said.
“I shared with him the strange message that I received of repentance,” Uthman said. “He took me to his church and shared deeply about the vision that I had. I then understood that it was Issa [Jesus] who had sent me to my fellow Muslims to repent.”
One Aug. 4, he began telling his wife and six children, as well as his neighbors, about Christ, he said.
“I was so happy beyond expectations as I developed a deeper love for Jesus – my wife could not believe the Good News which I was sharing with her,” Uthman said. “She thought I was out of my mind. She went and told my brothers about the strange teaching about Jesus which I had shared with her.”
Thinking he had taken leave of his senses, his brothers and wife arranged for a van to take him to Butabika medical center, he said.
“When we were about to leave, I told them that I am not mad and started sharing with them of the dramatic vision of Issa appearing to me,” Uthman said. “Immediately after realizing that I was not mad, my elder brother hit me with kicks and blows on my mouth, nose and eyes, and I started bleeding, while others started beating me with sticks. I developed an extra energy and managed to escape mysteriously through a thick bush, then arrived at house of a nearby neighbor who happened to be a Christian.”
The neighbor rushed Uthman to hospital in Mayuge town, where he was treated for one week. A photo of Uthman with swollen eye and lips from the beating is too graphic to publish.
While he received treatment at the hospital, his wife took their six children with her to live with relatives.
Family members went to his house and demolished it, where Uthman’s brother, Said Isabirye Muhammad, told Morning Star News, “We cannot continue staying with this infidel who is telling us things about Jesus as the Son of God, yet for us we know him as a messenger of Allah alone.”
Uthman left the hospital on Aug. 11 and is staying at an undisclosed location for his safety.
The attack was the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.
Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12 percent of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.
