Muslim relatives of a Christian convert in eastern Uganda on Friday (July 18) forced their way into his locked home and killed him, sources said.
As he had done since accepting Christ in April, Kasajja Abdul Maliki of Kaliro village, Kaliro District had locked himself in his house during Friday mosque service to pray and study the Bible when his Muslim relatives burst in and stabbed him to death, his niece said. He was 37.
Maliki, who was unmarried, had begun receiving questions from his family members about his absence from mosque prayers earlier this month – he responded that he was getting training as a welder – and a week before his death, a Muslim neighbor informed relatives that he was seen leaving a church premise, sources said.
His niece, identified only as Shamina, said that on Friday (July 18) at about 3 p.m. the relatives heard Maliki praying loudly inside his house “in the name of Issa [Jesus], petitioning Issa to save the family members.”
“I then alerted the family members about Maliki’s strange way of praying, who hurriedly went to his house,” said Shamina, daughter of Maliki’s older brother Lubega Kalimu. “They found the house locked as Maliki was still praying. They pushed the door very hard and got inside and found Maliki still praying with the Bible placed beside him.”
They picked up the Bible and tore it to pieces, she said.
“As we were inside the house, other members of the family arrived and were so angry and started shouting the Islamic slogan, ‘Allah Akbar [God is greater],’ and began striking Maliki with kicks and blows,” Shamina told Morning Star News. “Soon more members of the family arrived with knives and sticks led by my father, Kalimu, and Sempa Arafat.”
As Maliki screamed for help, Kalimu “with a sharp knife pierced him through his chest,” she said.
Neighbors arrived too late to revive him.
“We tried to rescue Maliki, but it was too late to save his life, and he died on his way to a nearby clinic,” one of the neighbors said.
Maliki had put his faith in Christ on April 12 during an April 9-12 evangelistic event in Kaliro town, a church pastor said.
“After the campaign I took him to my house and discipled him in Christian teachings for a week, and thereafter he returned back to his home,” the pastor, whose name is withheld for security purposes, told Morning Star News.
Maliki had attended evening Bible study meetings twice a month on Fridays and a welding training session once a month, also on Friday, organized by the church.
“Since his conversion in April, Maliki had gained enough skills in welding, and we as a church were planning to start for him a small business in Kaliro town” the pastor said.
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.
