A Palestinian Shariah court in the West Bank city of Nablus has decided to invalidate a marriage after the wife converted to Ahmadiyya branch of Islam.

On 20th June 2016, The Palestinian Sharia court made the final decision to dissolve the marriage of woman named “Sahar Abdul Jalil” to her husband “R.O” after evidence of her conversion to Islam Ahmadiyya was presented to the court. The court declared the conversion to be “apostasy”.

National President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Palestine, Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Odeh condemned the Shariah Court’s decision. He said:

“The decision by the Nablus court to declare the woman an apostate (a person who leaves religion and is at times considered worthy to be killed) is completely wrong, unacceptable and incompatible with Islam”

Sheikh Sharif went on to say:

“President Mahmoud Abbas has to immediately intervene and stop this absurdity which calls for murder due to religious differences.”

He also said:

“The court’s decision is not based on any law and in fact contrary to the law because it induces murder and killing of Palestinian people, the Ahmadiyya Muslims believe in God, his angels and the five pillars of Islam and all the Islamic religious rituals, even today we are fasting like the rest of the Muslims, because it’s the holy month of Ramadan.”

Ahmadiyya is a minority sect of Islam which is considered heretic by mainstream Muslims. A small Ahmadiyya community has existed in the region since 1928, But the community’s renewed popularity in the Palestinian territories has raised many questions about the status of Ahmadis within Palestine.