Letter: Islam doesn't mandate conversion
In this image made from an undated video provided Thursday, June 5, 2014, by Al Fajer, a Sudanese nongovernmental organization, Meriam Ibrahim, sitting next to Martin, her 18-month-old son, holds her newborn baby girl that she gave birth to in jail last week, as the NGO visits her in a room at a prison in Khartoum, Sudan. The Sudanese woman sentenced to death for refusing to recant her Christian faith after allegedly converting from Islam has appealed the sentence, her lawyer said. (AP Photo/Al Fajer) Credit: AP
As a Muslim, I am shocked that Meriam Yehya Ibrahim was sentenced to death for the sole reason of changing her faith from Islam to Christianity ["Forced faith can't ever be real faith," Opinion, June 6].
What shocked me even more was that the government of Sudan, where Ibrahim resides, supports such a heinous punishment. The Quran explicitly states that there is no compulsion in religion. The Quran clearly prohibits forcing someone to convert to another religion and rejects any justification for it.
I support Ibrahim's decision to stick to the faith she chose. I hope that she receives her freedom very soon.
Taimur Ahmad, Dix Hills
