Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of
them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy
angels. Luke 9:26
Young believers in the Lord in Muslim cultures often struggle with the issue
of publicly declaring their new faith in Jesus. Shadiya is the youngest of five
children in a Muslim family. At the age of eighteen she came in contact with a
group of young people in the church of Pastor Jamil. During the summer of 2011,
the church was visited by a group of other young Christians. During that time
Shadiya decided to follow Jesus.
One day she forgot to hide her Bible and her younger brother found it. He
asked his father about this striking book with a large cross prominent on the
cover. Father was shocked. He soon found out that Shadiya brought the book into
their house.
Initially dumbfounded by the hostile attitude of her father, Shadiya stood
firm for what she believed. She admitted that she had become a Christian, that
she received the Bible from some friends and that she no longer is a Muslim. Her
father interpreted this as denying her identity. This, in his opinion, was a
betrayal of the entire family and the Muslim community. In other words, the
shame for the family was unbearable. So in her father’s eyes there was only one
option; force Shadiya to deny her faith in Christ. “If you refuse to deny your
new faith, you are no longer welcome in our home!” he yelled at her. Shadiya
still held on to faith in Jesus.
The situation deteriorated even more after her father went to the mosque and
shared the “apostasy” of his daughter with the local imam. They decided she had
to deny her Christian faith openly and confess the Islamic faith in public. If
she refused to do so, she would have to pay with her life. She would be stoned
by the Muslim community.
She asked her apostate brother-in-law, Amir, for advice. He suggested that
she do what they asked of her and remain a secret follower of Jesus. In her
heart she could remain a believer in Christ, although she would openly deny her
faith to save her life. Shadiya was not really convinced that this was the right
thing to do and was full of doubt. In the end she followed the advice of
Amir.
The prospect of becoming a martyr at the age of eighteen was now over but
Shadiya remained doubtful about her decision. She and Amir asked Pastor Jamil
what he thought about it.
“This could have been an opportunity for the whole family or the entire
village to see God working in the life of an eighteen-year-old girl,” he
replied. “It is a great challenge to deal with our fear; still we should rely on
Jesus, rather than basing our choices on fear.”
The situation for Shadiya now seems less tense but the risk of escalation
remains.
RESPONSE: Today I will not allow fear to control me…especially regarding
the public declaration of my faith.
PRAYER: Pray for Shadiya and the people surrounding her. Ask our
Father to further His kingdom through her and fellow-believers who are
cautiously trying to help her to grow in faith.
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