Brunei, Iran, and Yemen, among others, follow Sharia law, a legislative system that governs citizens using various interpretations of Islamic criteria. In Pakistan and the Maldives, Christians are often targets of Islamic extremist discrimination and harassment.
The system of sharia, according to Britannica, dictates not only laws governing an individual’s interactions with others but also their interactions with their own consciences and how they choose to worship God. Sharia, as understood and implemented in most countries, forbids individuals from leaving Islam for another religion.
In Yemen, Islam is the official religion of the nation, and denouncing it is a crime. According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2023 report on religious freedom, “International Christian Concern [stated] most Christians [in Yemen] were converts from Islam and practiced their faith in secret.” The report also cited Open Doors, stating that “hospitals refused care to Christians” and “Christian women experienced sexual harassment, rape, or forced marriages to Muslim men.”
The State Department also reported that in Brunei, “the government enforces the Sharia Penal Code (SPC), which states offenses such as apostasy and blasphemy are punishable by corporal and capital punishment, including stoning to death, amputation of hands or feet, or caning, although no capital or corporal sentences were issued or enforced during [2023].”
Iran arrests and imprisons Christians routinely based on their faith, and in Pakistan, Christians are forced into labor-intensive work like sewer cleaning and street sweeping through discriminatory practices. In the Maldives, citizens are required to be Muslim, making it difficult to follow Christ.
The abuse inflicted upon the Christians of these nations is an open secret. And, for some government authorities carrying out these horrific acts, the persecution becomes a source of pride. Forcing Christians into prisons — often under the guise of slanderous accusations, sexually assaulting Christian women, and forcing Christ followers into demeaning work has become commonplace in far too many nations. So much so that many individuals, both on the worldwide stage and in communities directly affected, have become numb to the atrocities.
The loss of Christians’ basic human rights has become normalized under Sharia practices and Islamist extremist prejudice. The implication of these discriminatory systems is that Christians are treated as inferior and left with little recourse in their respective nations. Without global attention and systemic change within these governments, the abuse of Christians is not only likely to continue but, if history is any teacher, will most certainly deepen.
