Earlier this week, Safa Kabir, a Bangladeshi actress, told a radio station that didn’t believe in any sort of afterlife because she didn’t believe in things she couldn’t see.

The remarks caused a storm on social media, with footage of the interview going viral, and Kabir faced a torrent of criticism in the conservative Muslim country.

What she said was perfectly sensible… when you don’t live in Bangladesh.

The implication was that she didn’t believe in heaven or hell, which goes against Islamic teaching, which means she was blaspheming, which means her life is now in jeopardy.

No wonder she issued an apology, insisting on Facebook that she’s not an atheist and her comments were completely misinterpreted.

On Tuesday, the 24-year-old then posted an apology on Facebook, denying she is an atheist. “If I committed any mistake, I seek forgiveness from the most merciful. He is the most merciful and forgiving. He will definitely forgive me,” she wrote. “If my words hurt any one´s belief, I am sorry for this and I ask for forgiveness,” she added in a post that quickly accumulated over 60,000 comments.

According to one translation of her comments, she also deflected blame on people who “hacked” her Facebook page and attacked her in a “vulgar” manner, saying that Allah was watching. (See? She can’t be an atheist! She believes in Allah!)

It’s hard to blame her for walking back her words, though. Over the past several years, vocal atheists have been slaughtered by vigilantes, one after another. It’s safer for Kabir to ask for forgiveness than to continue saying things that make perfect sense.

(Featured image via YouTube)

