A 56 year old former sheikh or Islamic teacher in the eastern part of Uganda was poisoned last Saturday, shortly after his wife found out he converted to Christianity.

Hiire Sadiki, who lives in Masjidi Uthuman at Nawanjofu village, Butaleja District, reported from his hospital bed that he converted to Christianity on March 27 after months of dialogue with a Christian pastor. After refusing to observe the Islamic rituals of Ramadan, his wife found that he prayed in the name of Christ.

"She realized that I had converted to Christianity," Sadiki admitted, as per the Christian Headlines. "She questioned me because of the mode of my praying. I told her that I had believed in Issa [Jesus]."

Sadiki explained that his wife had studied the Koran at Bugembe Islamic Institute and was knowledgeable about the verses for punishment for apostasy. Upon finding out her husband had converted to Christianity, she left the room and called Muslim leaders. She later returned and started preparing supper.

"After 30 minutes, a lady who is a neighbor arrived and went to the kitchen, and after a short while, she left," Sadiki recounted. His pastor told Morning Star News that Sadiki experienced convulsions and vomiting after eating. The former sheikh called his pastor, who then came to Sadiki's house to take him to the hospital.

"As we arrived at the hospital, his condition worsened," the pastor recalled. "He started having diarrhea with blood, nausea, vomiting and severe abdominal pain."

Doctors diagnosed Sadiki with food poisoning and went on to treat him with ptomaine poisoning. The former sheikh's wife and children, however, were unaffected by the same food. Sadiki did not immediately respond to medication and his condition worsened. Tests revealed that his food was laden with a toxic substance related to organophosphate insecticides used to kill rats, the pastor reported.

The pastor added that Sadiki "lost some amount of blood." He called the former sheikh's wife to tell her about her husband's situation but she became "so annoyed and started abusing me for converting her husband," the pastor said. He added that the wife "did not want to be identified with him because he had become an infidel, and that she was leaving him and going back to her people, that her husband deserved death for forsaking Islam, and that she didn't want to relate with an infidel."

The pastor then called Sadiki's sister-in-law, who had a similar reaction. According to the pastor, the sister-in-law was also very bitter because their family had "incurred a great loss" after the sheikh left Islam. The pastor warned nurses and doctors not to let anyone approach Sadiki as his family members "might come and further harm him." Sadiki's wife had left with their three children aged 16, 10, and six.

According to International Christian Concern, Muslims who convert to Christianity in Uganda often face "extreme danger" as they "lose relationships, security, safety, and other worldly comforts." Like Sadiki, Nalubega Janat also faced these struggles when she gave up everything to convert to Christianity. In 2014, when she accepted Jesus as her savior, her family disowned her. She also endured abuse at the hands of her husband. But in October 2021, ICC helped Janat by supplying her with all the necessary supplies to open her own hairdressing shop. She had previously taken courses to become a hairdresser, which was a dream of hers.