'I Am for Christ': Ugandan Christian Attacked by Muslim Brother with Machete After Standing for Jesus

A Christian man in eastern Uganda is recovering after his Muslim brother hit him in the head with a machete. The reason for the attack? He converted to Christianity.  

Morning Star News (MSN) reports Abudlawali Kijwalo, 39, who comes from a family of devoted sheiks and hajjis (pilgrims to Mecca), was grazing his cattle on June 27 in Nankodo, Kibuku District when his brother, Musoga Murishid, confronted him.

Kijwalo said his family had warned him about listening to gospel music or claiming that Jesus Christ was his Lord and Savior.

He told the media outlet he had been listening to a Christian radio station earlier that day.

"Are you still a Muslim, or you are now a Christian?" Murishid asked him.

"I am for Christ," Kijwalo told him.

Kijwalo said his brother then pulled a machete from underneath the long robe he was wearing and struck him on the head with it. The brother walked away, likely thinking he had killed Kijwalo due to the wound which caused a heavy amount of bleeding. 

A village elder witnessed the attack and contacted first responders who rushed to help the man.  

Kijwalo has since gone into hiding, fearing for his life, according to MSN. 

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As CBN News has reported, the assault on the new believer is just the latest of several incidents of persecution against Christians in Uganda. 

Reports of Muslim attacks against Christians in the eastern African country go back several years. 

Earlier this month, a woman in eastern Uganda, who recently converted to Christianity, was recovering in the hospital after her Muslim father and family members attacked her and forced her to drink poison.

Her mother had warned her that her family was planning to kill her. 

In June, a 70-year-old pastor was killed in Uganda after a group of radical Muslims stopped him and his wife on their way home from a market.

Bishop Francis Obo was the senior pastor of Mpingire Pentecostal Revival Church Ministries International in Odapako village Mpingire Sub-County and oversaw 17 churches across the region.

Muslim extremists dressed in Islamic attire confronted him and his wife, Christine Obo. She said one of the men called her husband an "infidel" who drives Muslims to leave Islam and "blaspheme the words of Allah" but "Today Allah has judged you." 

Police later found Imam Uthman Olingha wearing bloody clothing and arrested him for murder, along with another suspect, who was identified as Jafari Kato.

Olingha reportedly confessed to killing Bishop Obo, with an officer telling the family, "Olingha openly confessed that he can't regret that he killed the bishop because he did it in the cause of Allah's word to kill all infidels who mislead Muslims."

In January, a mob of radical Muslims killed a man in Uganda one week after he converted to Christianity.

Uganda's constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to share one's faith and convert from one faith to another, MSN noted. 

Muslims make up only 12 percent of Uganda's population with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country. Christians make up 84 percent. 

World Watch Monitor, a persecution watchdog, notes on their website, "A home-grown Islamist rebel movement has taken root in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has emboldened Ugandan radicals to increase pressure on Christians."