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Muslim Shiraz Fatharrahman began her journey towards Christianity shortly after she started college.
"My journey with Jesus started as early as May 24, 2004, five months after I joined Khartoum University. The first book I read about Jesus was anti-Christianity," she wrote in her diary on May 12, 2006. "I did not know what made me search for the gospel but I think God was looking for me as I was looking for Him."
She knew her pursuit would involve risks. "Reading the Bible in the house was a fearful idea," she wrote, but she added that "the important thing is that I found the Bible and started to read it. I read the Bible for a year and four months and every time my conviction grew more and more. I call this the journey of searching for the truth or the journey of light."
But eventually her fears came true. "When my family learned that I was reading the Bible, they beat me severely and threatened to kill me because they considered me as one who does not believe in God."
She searched for a safe place to live, and in March 2006 she found one. "I went to live with a Christian lady. Now, I am no longer going to university; security is a risk. The situation was difficult."
But when she didn't return to her family home after several days, her parents reported her missing. Two days after she made her diary entry, police arrested six men-at least three of them Christian-for kidnapping Shiraz. The charges were based solely on the fact that she was missing and that her parents had found the men's telephone numbers in her cell phone. Shiraz had approached at least one of those arrested, Episcopal Rev. Elia Komondan of All Saints Cathedral, in her search for asylum from her family. She had shown him the scars from the beatings she had received, but he was not able to help her.
When Shiraz discovered that people had been arrested over her disappearance, she turned herself in to police. The six men were then released, but there is concern for Shiraz as nothing has been heard from her since she was forced back into her family.
Pray that
- Shiraz will be strengthened by the Lord to keep the faith;
- She will be able to have some (secret) fellowship with other Christians;
- She will be protected from physical and/or psychological violence from relatives or extended family;
- She will not be forced into marriage to a Muslim man. This happens often in these cases to prevent the woman from being a Christian.
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