The disturbing treatment of Arafah Senyange and his brother Zulufa Hajati Nakimuli illustrates yet again how conversion to Christianity is so often the occasion for persecution of Christians — both of the converts and of those who brought the converts the word of the Gospel.
Among the Christians of Uganda are around 35,000 Orthodox Christians.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of Christian persecution in Uganda, see here.
“Home Burned, Two Christians Injured in Separate Attacks,” Morning Star News, December 4, 2022:
NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Muslim extremists on Nov. 20 burned down a house where a cell fellowship was meeting in eastern Uganda, a week after Muslims in another area caned two converts, sources said.
Arafah Senyange, 28, and his brother Zulufa Hajati Nakimuli, 43, were beaten with cane on Nov. 13 in Busembatia town, Bugweri District (formerly in Iganga District) for converting from Islam to Christianity in October, Nakimuli said.
The two brothers were studying the Bible under a mango tree outside their father’s home after returning from a Sunday service in Busembatia when one of their brothers, mosque leader Hamuza Lubega, arrived shouting the jihadist slogan, “Allah Akbar [God is greater],” he said.
Lubega seized their Bible and began tearing its pages, then called their brothers Shafiki Kato and Ahmad Sewanyana, Nakimuli said.
“We were accused of bringing an unholy, corrupted book into the home of a Muslim family and following Issa [Jesus] as the Son of God, which is blasphemy in Islam,” Nakimuli told Morning Star News. “Shafiki was sent to get some more family members with cane to use on us. As they arrived, they started beating us with it.”
Nakimuli, a father of four children ages 10, 15, 18 and 22, sustained wounds throughout his body, especially on the shoulder, arms, knees, back and face. Senyange was left with deep cuts on his mouth, hands and head. Senyange’s wife, fearing trouble from her Muslim in-laws, took their three children ages 2, 3 and 7, immediately after the attack and went to live with her Muslim relatives.
A group of Christians including the pastor of another church passed by in a truck after attending a gathering to mourn the death of a Christian mother in another village, and the Muslim assailants paused, Nakimuli said. The attackers told the travelers to leave them alone, “as they were disciplining their family members who had left their family religion of Allah,” Nakimuli said, but the Christians were able to rescue the two brothers.
They took the injured Christians to a private clinic belonging to another pastor, where they received treatment, he said.
Nakimuli put his faith in Christ on Oct. 11 after a pastor had visited with him for six months, and Nakimuli led his brother to Christ on Oct. 23, he said….
