Nora was born into a Muslim family in Pakistan, where her father had retired from the army. When her brother fell seriously ill, she began praying to Jesus for his healing. Shortly after, a stranger arrived at their door, offering to donate the blood her brother needed. Seeing this as a miracle, Nora’s faith in Jesus grew stronger, leading her to pray even more. Eventually, she converted to Christianity and married a Christian man.
In Pakistan, religious affiliation is recorded on identity documents, including passports, which are issued by NADRA, the national government authority for identification. However, NADRA does not permit Muslims to change their religious status to any other faith. The consequence was that her marriage could not be registered—Pakistani law forbids Muslim women from marrying Christian men. Consequently, her two children were also left undocumented.
Nora chose not to register her children as Muslims, nor to change her husband’s religious status to Islam, knowing that doing so would put their faith in serious danger. For a person officially registered as a Muslim but openly practicing Christianity—attending church, reading the Bible, singing Christian hymns—, will be labeled as an apostate. In Pakistan, many Muslims would view it as their religious duty to kill apostates and those that threaten their religion. This fear compelled Nora to move far away from those who knew her past and to avoid using any identity papers that showed her religion as Muslim.
