These Christian Girls from Pakistan Were Forced Into Marriage by Muslims
There are roughly 1,000 young girls from Christian families in Pakistan each year who are kidnapped from their homes and forced into marriages with Muslims.
International Christian Concern, a ministry that draws attention to the worldwide persecuted church, released a report on May 13 giving examples of the trend.
“These girls are often found months later, after they’ve been forced to convert to Islam and marry older Muslim men,” the organization said.
“When a girl’s parents attempt to claim their daughter in court, they are often unable to provide a birth certificate to prove that she is underage. As a result, the judge often grants the man custody of the girl, denying the parents any chance of seeing their daughter again.”
One such girl was Adan Sabir.
She rejected a marriage proposal in July 2025 from a man named Usman Ali, who then kidnapped her at gunpoint.
Ali offered a forged marriage certificate when her parents challenged the abduction in court.
In September 2025, the Lahore High Court ordered Sabir to be returned home — and as of earlier this year, she is engaged to a Christian man.
But when Ali learned about the engagement, he fired gunshots at the family’s home, forcing them to move from place to place every few days.
In the same way, Maria Shahbaz was kidnapped, forced to convert, and made to marry a Muslim in July 2025.
But a judge ruled against her parents when they tried to get her back.
Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court declared in March 2026 that her conversion was valid, and that the marriage fell under the jurisdiction of Islamic law.
She was 13 years old at the time of her abduction, according to her father.
Farah Shaheen, who was 12 when she was abducted from her Christian family, was forced to marry a 45-year-old Muslim.
She was found in December 2020 with bruises on her body.
Shaheen testified in court that she willfully married to her husband — likely out of fear.
Her parents got custody of her in February 2021 after eight months of fighting in the courts.
Human Younus was abducted in October 2019 at 14 years old and coerced into marrying her Islamic captor.
The Sindh High Court ultimately decided that Younus had a valid marriage under Sharia law since she already had her first menstrual cycle.
Laiba Masih, who was only 10, was taken by a 40-year-old Muslim who practiced polygamy and had three wives.
Masih was later given to a different man named Shoukat Shah.
Shah declined to return the girl when her parents approached him.
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