Pakistan: Court upholds marriage of forcibly converted 13-year-old Christian girl to Muslim man
The Muslim community must grow at the expense of the Christian community. “Islam must dominate and is not be dominated” — Muhammad (Sahih Al-Jami 2778)
Muslim Man’s Custody of Christian Girl Upheld in Pakistan
Morning Star News, March 26, 2026:
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A court in Pakistan on Wednesday (March 25) upheld the marriage of a forcibly converted 13-year-old Christian girl to the Muslim man accused of kidnapping her, sending a wave of anguish and alarm through the Christian community.
Christian rights advocates and civil society groups strongly condemned the verdict by the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), which granted custody of young Maria Shahbaz to Shehryar Ahmad, a 30-year-old Muslim alleged to have forcibly converted and married her.
Maria was abducted on July 29, and since then, her family has repeatedly sought judicial intervention to recover her, without success.
In a detailed judgment issued on March 25 – nearly two months after its short order on Feb. 3 – a two-judge bench comprising Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha ruled that Maria was of “mature age” and therefore in the lawful custody of her “husband.”
The court held that sharia (Islamic law) permits Muslim men to marry women from Ahl al-Kitab (People of the Book), and found that Maria’s conversion to Islam was valid. It stated that no formal rituals are required for conversion beyond a declaration of faith, accepting an affidavit attached to the alleged fake marriage certificate and a Islamic seminary-issued certificate as sufficient proof.
“In Islam, no specific rituals are required for a non-Muslim to be regarded as having embraced the faith,” the judgment stated, adding that a declaration affirming core beliefs is sufficient to establish conversion. “What is required is a declaration and recitation of the Kalima, with belief in the Oneness of Allah, the Finality of the Prophethood of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and the Holy Quran, as well as belief in earlier Prophets, Divine Scriptures, and the Day of Judgment.”
Addressing assertions by Maria’s father, Shahbaz Masih, that she was a 12-year-old minor at the time of the illegal marriage, the court dismissed documentary evidence of her age as “unreliable.” The judges cited inconsistencies in the father’s initial police report and delays in the issuance of official records, including her birth registration and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) documents….
No comments:
Post a Comment