Pressuring Catholic Actress to Convert to Islam

[Michie]

She has been happily married to Muslim actor Hassan Ahmed for 14 years. He is now under pressure too.​

Another sign of the deteriorating situation of inter-religious relations in Pakistan is the media and Internet campaign trying to persuade popular Catholic actress and former model Sunita Marshall that she has a “duty” to convert to Islam.

Sunita Marshall married in 2009 fellow actor Hassan Ahmed. The couple decided to have two wedding ceremonies, one Muslim and one Catholic. They have two children, a boy and a girl, and until recently the question of Sunita’s religion was rarely debated in public. Under Sharia law, a Muslim man can marry a Christian woman (while a Christian man cannot marry a Muslim woman).

However, in June Sunita was interviewed by controversial YouTuber Nadir Ali and grilled on her Catholic faith. The interviewer told her in so many words that she should convert to Islam and repeatedly returned to the subject in an increasingly aggressive mood. This is not surprising since Nadir Ali has publicly defended Muslim clerics accused of organizing the kidnapping, forced conversion to Islam, and forced marriage of young Hindu girls.

Sunita handled the aggressive questions with good grace, telling the YouTuber that her faith is a personal matter, and she should be free to take her decisions about it. In other interviews, she stated she has no intention of converting to Islam.

Netizens in Pakistan debated the issue on social media, with many expressing support for how Sunita answered the attack, although others insisted she should convert to Islam. Soon, criticism involved her husband Hassan Ahmed, who was told he should have asked Sunita to convert to Islam before marrying her (in fact, he had no such obligation under the Sharia).

Ahmed was increasingly embarrassed by the criticism and had to tell media that he hopes his wife would convert to Islam and prays for it, but at the same time respects her personal decisions.

As an answer of sort to criticism, on August 9 through social media Sunita publicly endorsed the August 11 Karachi Minority Rights March, which protested the attacks against Christian churches, the kidnapping and forced conversion and marriage of minority religion girls, and the increasing religious intolerance in Pakistan.

Continued below.

Sunita Marshall: Pakistani Media Pressuring Catholic Actress to Convert to Islam

Sunita Marshall has been happily married to Muslim actor Hassan Ahmed for 14 years. He is now under pressure too.

bitterwinter.org

 

[PeterDona]

Hm, 7 years ago i met a pakistani pastor who estimated that the christian population of pakistan is 2-3% and growing. Especially in the big cities, religious strictness (islamic) can not be enforced.

 

[Jesse Dornfeld]

IMO and I hope I am not overstepping my bounds, but this is why you do not want to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever, and I'd add to that another Christian who does not hold a similar tradition as yourself.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Sunita Marshall married in 2009 fellow actor Hassan Ahmed. The couple decided to have two wedding ceremonies, one Muslim and one Catholic. They have two children, a boy and a girl, and until recently the question of Sunita’s religion was rarely debated in public. Under Sharia law, a Muslim man can marry a Christian woman (while a Christian man cannot marry a Muslim woman).

I wonder how that works. A Muslim marriage wouldn't be sacramental but it'd be valid, just like a pagan marriage. But in those cases the couple would just convalidate, so I wonder how that would work.

IMO and I hope I am not overstepping my bounds, but this is why you do not want to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever, and I'd add to that another Christian who does not hold a similar tradition as yourself.

Not overstepping, I think it's a good point. I mean, personally I think even fellow Christians can be unequally yoked if they're firmly entrenched in how they express their faith. My ex and I were such a couple, she was raised pentecostal and had no intention of being something else. I was raised evangelical but had been on a years-long trek to find what eventually turned out to be Catholicism. Since it became clear to her that I was sincere in this pursuit and it was no mere "phase" as she hoped, she left me.