Muslim relatives of Muluuta Kuzaifa, who left Islam and put his faith in Christ, cut and stuck pins into his body before burying it, the wife, Fatuma Muluuta, who also turned to Christianity, has said.
Fatuma told Journalists that Muslims in Kachomo village, Budaka District mutilated her husband’s body (likely killed for his faith last month) and have since threatened to kill her.
When her husband put his faith in Christ two years ago, his family immediately ostracized him, she told Christian persecution watch dog, Morning Star News on May 4.
The couple and their two children found refuge with a church pastor whose name is withheld for security reasons.
After two years, Kuzaifa decided to return home with his wife and children, but relatives chased them away, and they left for Kampala. He found menial work on the outskirts of the city.
Within a few weeks, Kuzaifa began receiving threatening messages, Fatuma Muluuta told Morning Star News.
“You think you are safe in Kampala,” one text message read. “We shall soon come for your neck.”
On April 1, while returning from work in Kampala, unknown assailants attacked him near their home, she said.
“I heard him shouting for help, and immediately some neighbors rushed to the scene, and we found him bleeding with head injuries,” she said.
Kuzaifa was taken to a nearby clinic for treatment, but he died the next day.
After his wife and others transported his body to a Kachomo funeral home, they went to his family to inform them of his death.
She said her father in-law, Mukongo Jamada Muluuta Mubaraka, gave them a cold reception, and those who accompanied her gave him Ush400,000 for funeral preparations.
Kuzaifa’s father, she added, had called Muzaifa in Kampala several times.
“I think that is why the attackers managed to get hold of him,” Fatuma Muluuta said. Before the indecent burial of Muzaifa, she added, his father had said, “My son thought that he can run away from Allah, but he could not.”
On April 4, family members and other Muslims took the body from the mortuary and buried it in an indecent manner, she said.
“Word went around that Kuzaifa’s body was mutilated and not properly buried,” Fatuma Muuluta said. “His body was not washed, several pins were inserted into his body, they dug a very small grave for the body, and several cuts were made on his corpse.”
Enraged Christians in Kachomo Sub-County mobilized in large numbers and stormed the burial site to exhume Kuzaifa’s body. They washed it and provided a decent burial service, his widow said.
Kuzaifa’s pastor said many Muslims put their faith in Christ at his funeral.
“But tension has been mounting up between the Christians and the Muslims after the burial of Kuzaifa,” the pastor said. “The family of Kuzaifa needs prayers for God to comfort the young family left behind and for financial assistance.”
Muluuta Mubaraka said she is now being threatened.
“If you continue with Christianity,” read one text message, “you will go the same way of your husband,” she said.
By Staff Writer.
