•Zainab Muhamadu
A 22-year-old woman, Zainab Muhamadu, is facing a possible death sentence in Zamfara State after being charged with apostasy following her conversion from Islam to Christianity.
Zainab’s ordeal began after her conversion, which reportedly followed her interaction with a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, identified simply as Pastor Samuel, who was posted to her area, reports The Guardian.
Family sources disclosed that Zainab had formed a spiritual connection with the pastor, leading to her eventual decision to embrace Christianity.
Authorities detained Zainab after learning of her conversion. She is scheduled to appear before a Sharia Court this Friday, where she could face the death penalty under Islamic law, which criminalises apostasy, the act of renouncing Islam.
In Islamic jurisprudence, converting from Islam to another religion is considered a grave offense.
Individuals accused of apostasy are typically given three days to recant or face punishment. Children of ‘apostates’ are still considered Muslims unless they reach adulthood without returning to Islam, in which case they may also be put to death.
In April, Dr. Ibrahim Jalingo, an Islamic cleric and National Chairman of the Council of Ulama, publicly endorsed the death penalty for those who renounce Islam.
In a statement posted on his official Facebook page, Jalingo defended a Hadith that states, “Whoever changes his religion, kill him,” and accused critics of Hadith literature of “compound ignorance.”
Jalingo wrote, “Today, I came across the first Hadith among the supposed ‘100 Hadiths’ which the fabricators claim contradict the Qur’an. They assert that Muslims who believe in both the divine revelation of the Hadith and the Qur’an cannot respond to them! The Hadith in question is: ‘Whoever changes his religion, kill him.’ The person who presented this statement by the fabricators to me is someone named Issiyaku Abdulkadir.
“Here is what I wrote in response to the claims of these fabricators: First, I thank you for starting to bring me what this compound ignoramus refers to as ‘100 Hadiths that contradict the verses of the Qur’an.’ This will, God willing, give me the opportunity to expose his ignorance to the world.”
Zainab’s case mirrors similar high-profile incidents in northern Nigeria. In 2020, a Sharia Court sentenced Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, a 22-year-old gospel musician, to death for blasphemy over private WhatsApp messages.
In the same year, 16-year-old Umar Farouk was sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad during an argument with a friend.
