Syria (MNN) — For those who have converted to Christianity living in Muslim-majority nations, their new and sometimes secret faith carries legal consequences that aren’t always visible. Yet these consequences reach into the most personal areas of life. 

Meet a Syrian husband and wife whom we’ll call Hani and Mariam. Hani is a Christian, and Mariam is a former devout Muslim who put her faith in Jesus. They met each other years ago and eventually found a church that would marry them. 

But Hani and Mariam couldn’t register their marriage with the government. That’s because Syria’s system of personal status laws won’t allow a (legally) Muslim woman to marry a Christian man, among many other stipulations.

For this couple, the legislative barriers and threat of family persecution have led to decades of secrecy. 

“For 25 years now, she’s still living at her parents’. She comes to him every day just to spend time with him. She leaves the house as if she’s going to work, comes to him, and then leaves to go back home to her parents, for them not to know that she is in a marriage relationship,” says Nuna with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon. 

Together, Hani and Mariam have refused to take the easy way out, which would be for him to register as a convert to Islam to match her legal status. Their suffering is practically invisible to outside observers, but it is another form of religious persecution.

“It’s reality in all the Muslim countries, and we don’t think about it so much. We think about yes, they converted — Muslims that became Christians — and now they are in prison, they are beaten, they are persecuted. But we don’t know about how their social life is also affected,” says Nuna.

“This woman has been deprived of her relationship, deprived of having children — because they would be illegal in the country — deprived of a life just because she decided to be a believer and her husband decided, ‘I’m not gonna compromise my faith.’ I can’t imagine the tragedy they live under.”

This is just one of countless untold stories of legal barriers and inequality in Syria’s legal system related to marriage. Concerns about these personal status laws and calls for reform have persisted, but Syria’s transition government has not taken action in this area yet. 

Meanwhile, Hani and Mariam have tried multiple avenues to have their marriage recognized. 

“I was shocked that there was no solution. I really sat with them [Hani and Mariam], and I tried to ask all the questions,” says Nuna. 

Please ask God to open doors that seem impossible for this couple as they pursue relocating to another country. Pray for Mariam’s family to encounter Christ as she did. 

Although their situation is painful, don’t imagine that they have no joy. On the contrary, “[Hani and Mariam’s] relationship with Jesus is so true, and so deep, and so alive that they are willing to pay whatever cost just to be in that relationship,” says Nuna. 

Finally, if you know Christ, Nuna invites you to remember Hani and Mariam’s story, appreciate the freedoms you have today, and consider this question:

“Am I truly, truly in love with Jesus, so much so that I would pay anything if it will cost me anything, just to keep that relationship?”

 

Header image is a stock photo courtesy of Mikel Mirjane via Unsplash.