A Call for Action: Meriam Yehya Ibrahim

by Ibrahim Abdil-Mu’id Ramey

The Temple of Understanding, an interfaith organization dedicated to promoting peaceful collaboration among the faith traditions of the world, joins with numerous human rights, humanitarian, and religious organizations in our call for the release of Meriam Yehya Ibrahim from imprisonment in Sudan.

Mrs. Ibrahim, a 27 year old Christian mother, who just gave birth to a baby girl, has been sentenced to death by a Sudanese court on the charge of Apostasy-that is, the renunciation of the religion of Islam. Although she is the daughter of an Orthodox Christian mother and a Muslim father, and she freely admits to her Christian faith, she faces execution in two years. While her death sentence is being appealed in the Sudanese court system, Mrs. Ibrahim, whose husband is a United States citizen, remains imprisoned, under presumably harsh circumstances, with her 20 month old son.

We resolutely believe that no person, anywhere in the world, should face persecution, imprisonment, or death simply because of the exercise of their human right of freedom of religion.  Indeed, this fundamental human right is upheld by international law and numerous human rights covenants, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Sudan is a signatory. 

Indeed, the Holy Qur'an, as the religious text of the Islamic faith, affirms that there is no compulsion in religion, and that Christian and Jewish believers, and their communities, must be recognized, protected, and respected by Muslims as People of the Book.

In calling upon the religious and civil authorities of Sudan to immediately release Mrs. Ibrahim from prison and to vacate her death sentence, we uplift the sacredness of individual spiritual freedom, and our deeply held belief that Christians, Muslims, and people of all spiritual and ethical traditions, must live together in peace and mutual respect.  This principle is evident in both religious scriptures and in much of our shared interfaith history. 

Such mutual respect and tolerance must guide the leaders and religious authorities of Sudan, and the world. Let us all strive to build a world of interfaith understanding based on these sacred principles.