A convert from Islam in Somalia who was attacked in May and July was again assaulted on Oct. 5 after Muslim relatives suspected him of leading Christian prayer meetings, he said.
Mohammad Abdul was leading worship behind locked doors at his home in an undisclosed town in Lower Juba Region when four Muslim relatives arrived and waited outside for him to finish. When he went outside, he was surprised to see the relatives, who began questioning him without greeting him, Abdul said.
He said they asked him, “Why are you worshipping differently from the Muslim way? What is so unique about your worship? Why do you close yourself in the room when you are to praying?”
Abdul said he responded, “My praying is a secret between me and my Lord Isa [Jesus], and more so, why should I pray in public? This is just a way to please men, but in my time of worship I should please only God who is in the heavenly places.”
When they told him that he must join Muslims for Islamic worship, he said he replied that he had embraced the Christian faith and Christ was his Lord and Savior, adding, “Isa who saved me knows my heart, and I am happy in my heart, so leave me alone.”
One of the relatives jumped on him as another hit him with a blunt object, and a third relative slapped his face, he said. He suffered a fracture on his left hand, injured fingers of his right hand and cuts to his face.
“You are inviting terrible trouble to yourself and your family,” one of the relatives told him, to which Abdul said he replied, “You can beat me up more if you want, but I can tell you that Isa has saved me. Whether I die or not, I live to serve him.”
They left him bleeding as one uttered, to his surprise, “Since you love God, may He then lead you to the right path,” Abdul said.
His wife had cautioned him in July to lead any Bible studies, prayer or worship in one of the small structures set aside for visitors, and by August he was leading three cell groups in Bible study and prayers.
In early September one of the relatives had found him leading prayer and worship inside the room. The relative asked his wife, “I am perplexed, what has gone wrong with your husband who is conducting prayers while closing the door? This is a different way of praying, contrary to the way the Muslims pray.”
The relative then hurried away, Abdul said. Realizing their lives were in danger, she told Abdul about the relative as soon as he’d finished leading prayer.
The couple has three children, ages 9, 5 and 3.
Abdul had survived a May 5 knife attack by his Muslims relatives on the outskirts of Kismayo in southern Somalia’s Lower Juba Region, and his in-laws had taken his wife and five children away while he was receiving hospital treatment. Abdul put his faith in Christ in March.
Having recovered his family and relocated them to another area after the attack in May that left him with a deep cut on his head and a fractured hand, Abdul in the July 8 assault also suffered injuries that took away his ability to speak, his wife said. The relatives also broke his wife’s ankle and beat his children.
Abdul had found a rented house for his family after relatives destroyed his home in the May 5 assault.
Somalia’s constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and prohibits the propagation of any other religion, according to the U.S. State Department. It also requires that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law) principles, with no exceptions in application for non-Muslims.
The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to mainstream schools of Islamic jurisprudence. An Islamic extremist group in Somalia, Al Shabaab, is allied with Al Qaeda and adheres to the teaching.
Al Shabaab or Al Shabaab sympathizers also have killed several non-local people in northern Kenya since 2011, when Kenyan forces led an African coalition into Somalia against the rebels in response to terrorist attacks on tourists and others on Kenya’s coast.
Somalia is ranked 2nd on Christian support group Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
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