Make Some Noise: The Story of Meriam Ibrahim - 3 Jun 2014
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“Take up your cross and follow me”. Here in the west this verse serves as a parable for resilience in the face of adversity. And it’s easy to forget how literal the command can be for brothers and sisters around the world.
Since her imprisonment on May 15th, the world has been talking about Meriam Ibrahim - a Sudanese Christian imprisoned for her dedication to her faith.
On Saturday (May 31st ) reports surfaced that Meriam was set to be released – however, these rumours have since been discredited. The foreign minsitry have stated that her freedom can only be granted following a successful judicial appeal and Meriam and her husband’s representatives went on to claim they believed the false reports had been an intentional ploy intended to “silence the international media”.
Raised as an orthodox Christian, the courts declared her officially Muslim under Sudanese law – the faith of her father; who had abandoned the family when Meriam was 6 years old. With both interfaith marriage and the abandonment of religion against the Muslim law upheld in Sudan – Meriam’s marriage has been annulled, she has been sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery and to death for apostatsy.
Upon sentencing, Meriam, 8 months pregnant, refused to renounce her faith and was placed into custody along with her 20 month old son, at the Omdurman women’s prison in Khartoum, a ‘notoriously crowded’ prison with ‘insufficient medical care’.
In a report from the Guardian, journalist Harriet Sherwood wrote that Meriam ‘…could not have known that her convictions of adultery and apostasy, and subsequent sentences of 100 lashes and death by hanging, would ricochet around the world, drawing in political and religious leaders, celebrities and human rights organisations to demand her release’. She must have known though, writes Sherwood, that as she declared in court on the 15th of May ‘"I am a Christian and I am not an apostate", her determination to stand by her faith would cost her liberty and possibly her life’.
Meriam’s stand was not simply a political statement of a right to freedom. It was a testimony of faith; a declaration that she loved her God more than she loved her life.
And now we have to stand with her. Share her story, Spread the word. Sign petitions. Make some noise.
And pray
Pray for strength for Meriam. Pray for her week old daughter and her 1 year old son, both being raised behind her bars. Pray for her husband, separated from his wife by lawful annulment and physical distance. Pray for intersession. For wisdom and mercy for the Sudanese government. And pray for strength in support as this cause’s profile is raised.
Pray for God’s will on earth and an end to this story. And pray for real change - so no one else suffers this same fate.