A Ugandan Islamic scholar has set her daughter on fire for accepting Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour.

Sheik Hussein Byaruhanga Husain set his daughter, Rehema Kyomuhendo, ablaze when both travelled to another part of the country where she listened to a Christian programme.

Morning Star News reported that in March, Kyomuhendo accompanied her father on a business trip from Mbarara District to Mbale District, about 492 kilometers away in the eastern part of Uganda.

They could not however return to Mbarara due to the restriction of movement occasioned by the outbreak of the dreaded COVID-19.

While in Mbale, she listened to a Christian programme on an FM radio station in her aunt’s house in Nawuyo village where they had lodged.

On May 4, at about 10pm, Kyomuhendo put a telephone call across to her father’s business partner who is a Roman Catholic.

“She (father’s business partner) explained to me about Christ and the way of salvation, and I got convicted and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour,” Kyomuhendo told Morning Star News by phone.

“As she was sharing Christ with me, I was so overjoyed, and my father heard my joy and woke up, came from his bedroom furiously and started beating me up with blows, slaps and kicks.”

She was hearing about Christ for the first time.

Kyomuhendo added that her father also shouted at his 45-year old sister, who was sleeping in a separate room, telling her that she (Kyomuhendo) had converted to Christianity and threatening to kill her.

She said her father broke a jerrican, lit its pieces with its remaining fuel and burn her while she shouted for help, which came from her aunty.

A source told Morning Star News, “She carried her outside of the room together with a Christian neighbour who arrived. The neighbour arranged for a taxi-van that took her to a hospital, and she got immediate treatment.”

The source said Kyomuhendo might stay in the hospital for more than one month because of the serious burns on her leg, stomach, rib area, near her neck and on part of her back.

“Please pray for Kyomuhendo for a quick recovery on her hospital bed,” the source told Morning Star News.

Muslims constitute more than 12 per cent of Uganda’s population. They are mostly in the eastern part of the country.