5 Ways to Pray for our Somali brethren in Christ

Somalia is rampant with violence, tribalism and Islamic terrorism. Family is considered everything in that country so anyone who gives their life to Christ is seen as betraying the family and is intimidated, harassed, and ultimately killed. Furthermore, said converts to Christianity are viewed as targets of Al-Shabbab, the Islamic Terrorist group found in Somalia. Being a Christian convert from Islam can put you in danger in EVERY sphere. You could get killed on the spot. For this reason, our brethren in Christ keep their faith (and conversions, if they happened and are converts as a result) a secret. Yet despite all of the intense persecution mentioned above, people are coming to Christ.

Here are 5 ways to pray for our Somali brethren in Christ:

1. Pray that Christ will continue to build His church amidst the hostilities.

2. Pray that turmoil in the Horn of Africa will cause the  Somali people there to turn to God. Pray that they will have a deep hunger and thirst for God as a result of this.

3. Pray that our Somali brethren in Christ will be bold enough to share the gospel, given that they make up at least hundreds of people, thus a small number in the country.

4. Pray that there will be mature and godly examples among the Somali brethren in Christ. In addition, pray that there will be unity among the different fellowships of brethren in Christ.

5. Pray that God will promote the government officials to promote freedom in the land.

God is still at work. Nothing can stop what God wants to get done. Everything said about Somalia in this post proves that. Pray that God will continue to do His work in that country and the people there will testify to the goodness and grace of the gospel to the non-Christians in Somalia even at great cost to their lives.

Somalia Bans Christmas Celebrations

While we Christians over here in the West are celebrating Christmas, we need remember that our brethren in Christ in other countries are not faring as well.

12/15/15 Somalia (BBC) - Somalia's government has banned the celebration of Christmas, warning that such Christian festivities could threaten the nation's Muslim faith.

"Those celebrations are not in any way related to Islam," an official at the religious affairs ministry said.

Security agencies have been directed to stay alert to stop any gatherings.

Foreigners are free to mark the Christian holiday in their own homes, but hotels and other public places have been prohibited from marking the day(Click here to keep reading).

Christian Mother Kidnapped and Sexually Abused by al-Shabaab in Somalia

 

8/30/2013 Somalia (Christian Today) - Suspected al-Shabaab militants in Somalia have kidnapped and sexually abused a young Christian mother and sent threatening messages to her husband because of their faith.

Shamsa Enow Hussein (28), who has two daughters, aged 5 and 3, was abducted outside her home in Bulo Marer by three masked men on 5 August.
Her husband, Mohamed Isse Osman (31), told Morning Star News that he heard his wife and children screaming as he approached the house.

His captured wife was able to send him a text message that night; it said: "Please leave immediately because of what we believe. They have abused me sexually saying I am an infidel."
Mohamed heeded her call, taking their two children to another town. He has received threatening text messages from Shamsa’s kidnappers, one of which said: "Your wife has told us all about your Christian involvement and soon we shall come for you too."

Al-Shabaab reportedly has a base in Bulo Marer. The Islamist militant group is fighting against the Somali government; it did control much of the south of the country but lost control of several areas following military intervention by neighbouring Kenya and other African Union troops. Al-Shabaab’s battle against Somali Christians, however, shows no sign of weakening. They monitor those suspected of having converted from Islam and kill them(Source).

Christian Mother Separated From Children and Killed in Somalia

This can't be good at all.

         

4/29/2013 Somalia (BosNewsLife) - Christians in Somalia feared more violence Monday, April 29, after Islamic militants reportedly killed the widow of a Christian who was slain for his faith in December, leaving the couple’s five children orphaned.

Fighters of the Islamic al-Shabab group shot 42-year-old Fartun Omar to death on April 13 in Buulodbarde, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the central Somalian city of Beledweyne, local Radio Shebelle reported. The militants had been searching for her for several months, as they knew that she was a secret Christian, the network said.

Due to the threat of persecution, Omar on April 10 decided to leave Beledweyne by bus with another neighbor to seek refuge with relatives, Christian news agency Morning Star News reported.
On reaching Buulobarde, which is controlled by al-Shabab, militants at a roadblock allegedly ordered passengers to disembark and questioned them one by one, locals said.
"Unfortunately, she was not cleared by the al-Shabab,” explained a neighbor who accompanied her. “I only heard one of them saying, ‘This is the woman whose husband was killed last year. Do not let her in.’"

CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND
The other passengers were allowed to board again, and the bus left, with Omar’s neighbor suddenly responsible for caring for her children. The oldest is a 15-year-old girl.
“On April 13, I received news from Beledweyne that a woman in Buulobarde had been killed by the Al-Shabab,” the neighbor said. “Soon I found out that it was Fartun Omar.”

Locals said Omar was found dead on the outskirts of Buulobarde with bullet wounds to her right side. “The children are in safe hands, and I am trying to look for some of the relatives of Omar,” the neighbor was quoted as saying. “The only problem that I am experiencing at the moment is that the small children are crying for their mother.”

It comes amid concerns about the whereabouts of another Christian convert who was captured and reportedly tortured by Islamic militants in Somalia remained missing amid fears he may have died.
Four fighters of al-Shabab abducted Hassan Gulled, 25, on March 23, after monitoring him for several weeks, local Christians said. He was thought to be held at an al-Shabab base in Bulo Marer, Somalia(Source).

Christian Convert Captured and Tortured in Somalia

I pray for my Somalian brother in Christ and I pray for his persecutors as well.               

4/17/2013 Somalia (Christian Today) - Muslim militants still controlling part of the Lower Shebelle Region of Somalia have jailed and tortured a Christian for converting from Islam, sources said.
According to a story by Morning Star News, Al Shabaab rebels seized Hassan Gulled, 25, on March 23 in Bulo Marer near Qoryoley District, they said. Gulled, who had fled to Kenya in 2007 in search of safety and a better life, had left Kenya on February 27 to visit family in Somalia, sources said.
Gulled is one of dozens of Somali refugees in Kenya facing dangers from Al Shabaab extremists as they return to Somalia following the establishment of a new government in Mogadishu and the weakening of Al Shabaab, which once held large portions of territory.

Morning Star News said as Gulled was only visiting family in Somalia, his wife remained in an undisclosed city in Kenya. Al Shabaab extremists in Kenya who knew of his Christian activities there apparently contacted members of the militant group in Somalia, who monitored his movement for three weeks before seizing him, sources said.

"Four masked, armed militia from Al Shabaab took Gulled into a Land Cruiser and then drove away as family watched him helplessly," Morning Star News reported one source said.
Another source said it was confirmed that Gulled has been jailed in Bulo Marer.

"The Al Shabaab have been torturing him to see whether he would deny his Christian faith," the source said. "Since last week, no information has surfaced concerning Gulled. There is a possibility that he could have been killed."

A militant Islamist group with ties to Al Qaeda, Morning Star News said Al Shabaab has a base in Bulo Marer, about 50 miles from Mogadishu.

Last week, however, Somali government troops backed by African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces had reportedly taken control of nearby Qoryoley. Morning Star News said Al Shabaab has vowed to rid Somalia of Christians, who meet secretly due to persecution. Besides Al Shabaab, the government and many in Somali society also view leaving Islam as deserving of death.

Gulled became a Christian in Kenya in 2010. He married there in 2011 and has no children.
"Gulled's wife is very distressed and worried that she might not see her husband again," Morning Star News reported a source said. Many Somali members of Christian fellowships in Kenya have returned to Somalia after formation of a Somali government on August 20, 2012, which replaced the Transitional Federal Government, said the source, who requested anonymity.

"Several Christian agencies are helping them settle," Morning Star News reported he said. "But we are worried that some of our members are being monitored closely by Islamic extremists."

Al Shabaab has lost control of several areas of Somalia since Kenyan military forces helped to dislodge them in the past year, but they are suspected in the shooting death of a Christian pharmacist on the outskirts of Kismayo in February(Source).

Christians in Somalia Gunned Down by Suspected Al-Shabaab Militant

12/20/2012 Somalia (MorningStarNews) – Gunmen in central Somalia on Saturday, Dec. 8, killed an underground Christians who had been receiving death threats for leaving Islam, area sources said.
Two unidentified masked men shot Mursal Isse Siad, 55, outside his home in Beledweyne, 206 miles (332 kilometers) north of Mogadishu, for leaving Islam, Muslim and Christian sources told Morning Star News. The assailants fled immediately after the murder.

Siad’s oldest daughter (name withheld), 15, said her father was killed “because he failed to attend the mosque for prayers and used to pray at home. He used to share with us about Jesus.” She said that he had received messages on his mobile phone stating, “We know what you are doing, and you must stop, otherwise you risk your life.”

Siad’s 42-year-old wife (name withheld), three daughters and two sons have fled the area, fearing for their lives. A Christian source in Mogadishu confirmed the killing, and a Muslim resident of the Beledweyne area also said Siad was killed for leaving Islam.

“Siad deserved to die because he was not committed to the Islamic religion,” the resident said. Siad and his wife, who converted to Christianity in 2000 according to a source who used to worship with them, had moved to Beledweyne from Doolow eight months ago, after Somalia’s transitional federal government and African Union Mission in Somalia troops captured Beledweyne from Al Shabaab rebels. Siad had taken a job with a local Non-Governmental Organization.

“Since we arrived from Doolow, my parents have not been attending the worship at the mosque, but they have been allowing us to worship at the nearby mosque,” his daughter said. As the gunmen were masked, she was unable to say whether the assailants were local(Source).

Al-Shabaab Continues to Spread its Persecution of Christians

All this persecution that my brethren are facing during this Christmas season make me very thankful that I can celebrate Christmas without wondering if I will be able to see the December 25th. I pray that God will give my brethren in Christ that strength to their persecution and celebrate Christmas despite their persecution.

12/22/2012 Somalia (WorldMag) - Mursal Isse Siad became one of the latest victims of Islamist violence in Somalia when two masked men shot and killed the 55-year-old on Dec. 8. The assailants fled after gunning him down in Beledweyne, his hometown 200 miles north of Mogadishu, the capital.

Siad received death threats on his cell phone for leaving Islam, local sources told Morning Star News: “He failed to attend the mosque for prayers and used to pray at home. He used to share with us about Jesus,” explained his 15-year-old daughter. A Muslim resident in Beledweyne said he “deserved to die” because he was no longer committed to Islam.

A UN-backed government in Somalia—supported by an 18,000-strong African Union force—has made important gains in recent months against al Shabaab, the terrorist movement fighting for control in Somalia. Al Shabaab has lost key cities, including the port city of Kismayo, which fell to AU forces in October, but it still controls large parts of central Somalia. There the militants have banned radio stations from playing music and outlawed bell ringing to signal the end of classes “because they sound like church bells.”

Siad and his wife, who converted to Christianity in 2000, moved to Beledweyne in central Somalia after the government and AU forces captured the town from al Shabaab last year. Siad had taken a job with a local nongovernmental organization but was known to have left Islam. His death is a reminder that targeted violence against Christians in Somalia hasn’t diminished, and al Shabaab, even on the losing end of war, has promised to rid the country of Christians, who are mostly converts from Islam.

Of mounting concern to Somalia’s neighbors is that as the Islamic insurgency movement gets squeezed in Somalia, it is finding new life in nearby countries, particularly Kenya. From Somalia across Africa, alarm is spreading about the rise of Islamic extremists, some with ties to Pakistan-based al-Qaeda. U.S. Defense Department officials plan to seek new authorization from Congress in the new year to go after such groups after one al-Qaeda offshoot took over territory in Mali last year and is fighting its government. The U.S. administration has called the Mali situation a “powder keg,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

“The conditions today are vastly different than they were previously,” Gen. Carter Ham, the head of U.S. Africa command, told the Journal. “There are now non-al Qaeda-associated groups that present significant threats to the United States.” He said a debate over new authorization is a “worthy discussion.”
In East Africa, cross-border attacks from Somalia against Kenyan churches are on the rise, with all the markings of al Shabaab violence. Somalis have taken refuge from their country’s violence not only in sprawling camps near the border but for years in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city. Not all are destitute: New luxury condominiums and other real estate boons are the result of bounty offloaded by Somali pirates, locals say.

But Kenya is also experiencing a dramatic rise in terrorist violence, particularly in Eastleigh, a clogged suburb east of Nairobi’s central business district also known as “Little Mogadishu.” Kenya’s Christians make up 85 percent of the country’s population, but entering Eastleigh is like arriving at an Islamic, even Arab, enclave. Women dress in full-length black head coverings, and calls to prayer blare from megaphones mounted over shopping malls.

With the changes have come rising violence directed at Kenyans, and particularly Christians in Eastleigh. Last November a grenade attack killed seven residents, and authorities say they traced it to al Shabaab. In December militants killed 14 people in three separate attacks in Eastleigh, the worst killing at least 10 people when a bomb exploded on a minibus full of passengers. And on Dec. 16 another grenade explosion injured one resident(Keep Reading).

Christian Convert Beheaded in Somalia

Muhammad said that a person who leaves Islam should be killed:

Sahih al-Bukhari 6922—Allah’s Messenger said, “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”

Hence one should be unsurprised when on of our brothers in Christ Jesus is killed for leaving Islam as seen in this article:
02/9/2012 Africa (CDN) — Islamic extremists from the rebel al Shabaab militia in Somalia beheaded a Christian on the outskirts of Mogadishu last month, sources said. The militants fighting the transitional government in Mogadishu murdered Zakaria Hussein Omar, 26, on Jan. 2 in Cee-carfiid village, about 15 kilometers (nine miles) outside of the Somali capital, they said. Omar had worked for a Christian humanitarian organization that al Shabaab banned last year. His body was left lying for 20 hours before nomads found it and carried it into Mogadishu, a close friend said.

"We have been communicating with Omar, and he was sharing with me his life as a Christian," the friend said. "Last year he mentioned to me that his life was in danger when the NGO [Non-Governmental Organization] he worked for was banned by the al Shabaab."

The friend said he identified the body.
"One of the persons who saw him said, ‘This is the young man who stayed in Ethiopia, and people have been saying that he left Islam and joined Christianity.’"

Omar converted to Christianity seven years ago while in Ethiopia, where he lived with relatives. He returned to Somalia in 2008 and completed his university education in 2009 with a degree in accounting.
Omar had married in the latter part of 2010. He is survived by his wife, his parents (originally from central Somalia), a brother and four sisters.

Last September, the militants beheaded another young Christian near Mogadishu. The militants, who have vowed to rid Somalia of Christianity, killed Guled Jama Muktar on Sept. 25 in his home near Deynile, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Mogadishu (See www.compassdirect.org, "Islamic Extremists in Somalia Behead 17-year-old Christian," Oct. 19, 2011).

Earlier that month, a kidnapped Christian convert from Islam was found decapitated on the outskirts of Hudur City in Bakool region, in southwestern Somalia. Juma Nuradin Kamil was forced into a car by three suspected Islamic extremists from the al Shabaab terrorist group on Aug. 21, 2011 and murdered on Sept. 2, area sources said (See www.compassdirect.org, "Somali Convert to Christianity Kidnapped, Beheaded," Sept. 12, 2011).

With estimates of al Shabaab’s size ranging from 3,000 to 7,000, the insurgents seek to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law), but the transitional government in Mogadishu fighting to retain control of the country treats Christians little better than the al Shabaab extremists do. While proclaiming himself a moderate, President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

Al Shabaab was among several splinter groups that emerged after Ethiopian forces removed the Islamic Courts Union, a group of sharia courts, from power in Somalia in 2006. It has been designated a terrorist organization by several western governments(Source).

Somali Convert From Islam Whipped In Public

I'm pretty surprised that these people whipped her as opposed to killing her from embracing the Risen Savior. I pray that she is healed of injuries and continues to grow closer to Christ Jesus. I also pray for the souls that did this to her. I pray that they embrace Jesus Christ as well.

01/10/2012 Somalia (CDN)-A Somali convert from Islam was paraded before a cheering crowd last month and publicly flogged as a punishment for embracing a “foreign religion,” sources said. Sofia Osman, a 28-year-old Christian from Janale city in Somali’as Lower Shabelle region, had been taken into custody by Islamic extremist al Shabaab militants in November; the public whipping was meant to mark her release. She received 40 lashes on Dec. 22 while jeered by spectators.

“Osman was whipped 40 lashes at 3 p.m., but she didn’t tell what other humiliations she had suffered while in the hands of the militants,” an eyewitness, told Compass, adding that whipping left her bleeding. “I saw her faint. I thought she had died, but soon she regained consciousness and her family took her away.”

The whipping was administered in front of hundreds of spectators after Osman was released from her month-long custody in al Shabaab camps. Nursing her injuries at her family’s home, in the days after the punishment she would not talk to anyone and looked dazed, a source close in touch with the family said. She has since been relocated.

“Please pray for her quick recovery,” the source said.

Janale, one Somalia’s major cities, is about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Mogadishu. Osman became a Christian four years ago and was a member of the underground church in the war-torn Horn of Africa country largely controlled by the al Qaeda-linked militants from al Shabaab(Source).

Somali Christian Women Pay High Price to Follow Christ

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ said that there would be lots of conflict when someone decided to swear their whole allegiance to Him:

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have cme to set a man against his father, an a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.  Matt. 9:34-36

We see those words being fulfilled as seen in this article. By the way, I thank the Lord Jesus for the willingness of these women to cling to the faith:

11/11/2011 Somalia (National Review) – Last year, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an avowed atheist from Somalia, challenged Christians to redouble their efforts to evangelize Muslims. But for Somali women I recently met in Kenya, quietly clinging to their faith may be the only way they can respond to Ali’s challenge.

The women, who had fled to Nairobi from war in Somalia, are Christians who have paid the price for their faith not because they were bold in proclaiming it, but because they were unable to hide it. Before our translator showed up, I found myself waiting with some of them in silence, wondering if I should break the language/culture/gender barrier by showing them photos of my wife and baby.

I was glad I didn’t. There was Amina, a 28-year-old refugee from Mogadishu whose husband divorced her after kicking her and their four-year-old son out of the house when she converted to Christianity; he’s now threatening to take the boy away from her. There was Shukri, whose husband was killed by Islamic extremists from the al Shabaab rebels fighting the transitional government in Somalia; her late husband’s mother took her twin girls, born 2006, to keep them from being raised Christian.

There was Kamila, who lost her truck-driver husband to an accident and who still bears the knife scars on her mouth and chin from her fellow Somali women; the brother of her late husband had sent them to attack her as part of his attempt to snatch her then five-month-old baby from her. According to custom, the brother should attain all of her late husband’s property, including her son, in order to keep him from being raised a Christian. A court ruled that the baby should stay with Kamila until he is weaned, and she took that opportunity to escape with him to another area near Nairobi; he is now five.

There was Sahra, who wears a full-body burqa in her Somali neighborhood in Nairobi to keep from being recognized and abused. Her husband was killed in fighting in Mogadishu in 2006. Her relatives have cut her off because of her Christian faith, and she said she can feel the same shunning from her fellow expatriates. “When they see you are low-income and have left your religion, they see you as sick in the head,” said the mother of two young daughters who survives by working odd jobs(Source).

Somali Muslims Cut, Beat Christian Unconscious In Kenya

11/04/2011 Somalia (CDN)-A Somali Christian in Kenya is nursing injuries after young Muslim men from his country beat him with iron rods and wooden clubs last week, leaving him unconscious at a church entryway. Hassan, a 25-year-old refugee from Somalia whose surname is withheld for security reasons, had hardly been raised as a Muslim, having received Christ at age 7. But the Somali neighbors in Kenya who attacked him left him for dead on Oct. 27, bleeding and naked, on the assumption that as a Somali he was born into Islam and was therefore an apostate deserving of death, the young man told Compass.

He and his mother, a convert from Islam who fled war in Somalia 10 years ago after the death of her husband, are part of an underground house church. In a town in Kenya undisclosed for security reasons, Hassan was returning home from running errands at 8:30 p.m. when the six young Muslim men stopped him. They hit him with a metal bar on his forehead and face, he said, and he lost two teeth on the spot. Others hit him on the back.

Some stomped on his stomach while he was on the ground as others hit him on his legs, he said through bandages on his nose and above his mouth. His hands were bandaged where they wounded him with a knife.
The attackers stripped him of his clothes as he bled and dragged him away, dumping him at the entrance of an area Presbyterian Church of East Africa. Some passersby found him and called his mother, whose name is withheld for security reasons.

“When I reached the scene of the attack, my son was lying in a pool of blood,” she told Compass. “I wailed and did not know what happened to me. I only gained consciousness after sometime, when so many people, including the police, had arrived at the scene. The attackers had covered my son all over with dirt.”
He was rushed to a hospital, where he received a blood transfusion. When Compass met with him and his mother on Oct. 31, he still had several bandages on his face, his head cloaked in a wrap of grey fabric.

“Since the time my son was attacked, we have been spending sleepless nights due to the pain that he has been going through,” his mother said. “He risks losing a third tooth, which is adding more pain for him. He also complains of abdominal pains; possibly he might have hurt some of his internal organs. But we are helpless; we have no money for specialized medication for him."

Police have arrested two of the assailants. The other four Muslims are still on the run, and Hassan and his mother said they fear justice will not be done due to area hatred for converts from Islam.
“I know the community does not like us because of our Christian faith, but we have done nothing bad,” Hassan said.

His mother, who has six sons younger than Hassan and two daughters, noted that the area police commissioner is a Muslim in a Muslim-majority area. The arrest of two assailants is a hopeful sign that at the same time creates fear that area Muslims will make retaliatory strikes, she said. “We need to relocate,” she said. “The other sons are traumatized, especially now that two of the attackers are in police custody.”

Neighborhood Muslims gradually surmised that the widow was a convert to Christianity; when Muslim women passed by her home every Friday inviting her to go to the mosque with them, she would always tell them she wasn’t feeling well, she said.

“What happened to my son is the climax of the threats that I have been receiving from my Muslim neighbors,” she said. “They have now discovered that we are Christians. They have heard my small children sing Christian songs. In fact, there are rumors going round that I am the pastor of the group, but my strength is from God and my seven sons.”

She and Hassan speculated that the Somali Muslim neighbors attacked him because “the oldest son is the strength of the mother.” Her faith, she said, remains strong. “Even though he has been beaten, I trust God to protect us,” she said. “I will not return to Islam; I will stand with Christ.”

For his part, Hassan said that even when they were beating him, he was praying.
“In spite of what happened, I don’t feel I’m losing my Christian faith,” he said. “I still need to fight for the Christian faith, in spite of what I’m feeling now(Source).”

Islamic Extremists In Somalia Behead 17-Year-Old Christian

10/19/2011 Somalia  (CDN)-Militants from the Islamic extremist al Shabaab beheaded a 17-year-old Somali Christian near Mogadishu last month, a journalist in the Somali capital told Compass.
The militants, who have vowed to rid Somalia of Christianity, killed Guled Jama Muktar on Sept. 25 in his home near Deynile, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Mogadishu. The Islamic extremist group had been monitoring his family since the Christians arrived in Somalia from Kenya in 2008, said the source in Mogadishu, who requested anonymity.

The Islamic militants, who are fighting the transitional government for control of the country, knew from their observations of the family that they were Christians, the source said.

“I personally know this family as Christians who used to have secret Bible meetings in their house,” he said.
Based on talks with the boy’s parents and their neighbors, the source said al Shabaab members arrived at Muktar’s home at 6 a.m., when his parents, whose names are withheld for security reasons, were already at work at their retail space at the Hamarweyne market on the outskirts of Mogadishu.
The extremists found Muktar as he was preparing to go to school, he said.

“The neighbors heard screaming coming from the house, and then it immediately stopped,” the source said. “After awhile, they saw a white car leaving the homestead.”

The neighbors informed the parents, who hurriedly returned home from their market stall. They buried their son’s body quickly, fearing the militants would kill them as well, returned to their market space and then fled to an unknown destination, the source said.

“When the incident happened, the parents called to tell me that their son had been killed and that they feared for their lives,” the source said. “Since then, I have not heard from them.”

On the outskirts of Hudur City in Bakool region in southwestern Somalia, a kidnapped Christian convert from Islam was found decapitated on Sept. 2. Juma Nuradin Kamil was forced into a car by three suspected Islamic extremists from the al Shabaab terrorist group on Aug. 21, area sources said. After members of his community thoroughly combed the area looking for him, at 2 p.m. on Sept. 2 one of them found Kamil’s body dumped on a street.

Muslim extremists from al Shabaab, which has ties to al Qaeda, control the area some 400 kilometers (249 miles) from Mogadishu. A Christian who saw Kamil’s body said it bore the marks of an al Shabaab killing, according to a leader in Somalia’s underground church who lives in another city.

“It is usual for the al Shabaab to decapitate those they suspect to have embraced the Christian faith, or sympathizers of western ideals,” the leader said.

With estimates of al Shabaab’s size ranging from 3,000 to 7,000, the insurgents seek to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law), but the government in Mogadishu fighting to retain control of the country treats Christians little better than the al Shabaab extremists do. While proclaiming himself a moderate, President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

Al Shabaab was among several splinter groups that emerged after Ethiopian forces removed the Islamic Courts Union, a group of sharia courts, from power in Somalia in 2006. Al Shabaab has been designated a terrorist organization by several western governments(Source).

Somali Islamists Hunt Down Christians

09/16/2011 Somalia (OneNewsNow)-Violent persecution against Christians continues in Somalia, and one Christian watchdog group thinks Islamic extremists are to blame. The latest incident took place in Hudur City, where Jonathan Racho of International Christian Concern (ICC) reports that "Islamic radicals kidnapped a Christian brother and then beheaded him. His decapitated body was discovered."

"Members of the Islamic radical group al-Shabaab have made their intentions very clear that they want to get rid of Christians in Somalia," Racho notes. Juma Nuradin Kamil is the latest martyr for Christ in the country over which al-Shabaab holds much control.

"They have been hunting down Christians in the country," the ICC spokesman laments. "And wherever they find Christians, they martyr them. So, it's very, very difficult for Christians to freely worship the Lord in Somalia."

Racho is calling for Christians throughout the world to pray that the Christians in Somalia will remain strong in their faith and emerge victoriously from this situation(Source).

And I will be praying. I will be praying that my Somali brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus make up the majority in Somalia someday.

Somali Convert to Christianity Kidnapped, Beheaded

Muhammad ordered his followers to execute apostates.

Sahih al-Bukhari 6922—Allah’s Messenger [said], “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”

Sunan Abu Dawud 4337—The Apostle said: Kill those who change their religion.

Sunan Ibn Majah 2535—It was narrated from Ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever changes his religion, execute him.”

Al-Muwatta of Imam Malik 36.18.15—The Messenger of Allah said, “If someone changes his religion—then strike off his head!”

Sahih al-Bukhari 6878—Narrated Abdullah: Allah’s Messenger said, “The blood of a Muslim who confesses that La ilaha illallah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah) and that I am the Messenger of Allah, cannot be shed except in three cases: (1) Life for life; (2) a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse, and (3) the one who turns renegade from Islam (apostate) and leaves the group of Muslims.

Therefore it should surprise none of us that Muslims would kill anyone who leaves Islam to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as their God and Savior, as the article below shows us.

09/12/2011 Somalia (CDN)-A kidnapped Christian convert from Islam was found decapitated on Sept. 2 on the outskirts of Hudur City in Bakool region, in southwestern Somalia. Juma Nuradin Kamil was forced into a car by three suspected Islamic extremists from the al Shabaab terrorist group on Aug. 21, area sources said. After members of his community thoroughly combed the area looking for him, at 2 p.m. on Sept. 2 one of them found Kamil’s body dumped on a street.

The kidnapping and subsequent manner of murder suggests that al Shabaab militants had been monitoring him, Christian leaders said. Muslim extremists from al Shabaab, a militant group with ties to al Qaeda, have vowed to rid Somalia of Christianity, and they control the area some 400 kilometers from Mogadishu. A Christian who saw Kamil’s body said it bore the marks of an al Shabaab killing, according to a leader in Somalia’s underground church who lives in another city.

“It is usual for the al Shabaab to decapitate those they suspect to have embraced the Christian faith, or sympathizers of western ideals,” the leader said. “Our brother accepted the Christian faith three years ago and was determined in his faith in God. We greatly miss him.”

An area resident said he was on his way to his house when he saw a crowd of stunned people gazing at the corpse.

“I could not immediately comprehend what might have gone wrong, only to learn that someone had been decapitated,” the resident said. “His head was put on his chest."

A Christian said the area community initially did not bury the body out of fear of al Shabaab extremists seeing them associated with a newly discovered convert to Christianity.

“The community feared burying him, and his body lay in the open for two days before unknown people buried him secretly,” he said.

Another Christian convert who lives in another city said Kamil had become a Christian three years ago.
“This is very sad news for the community,” he said. A source in Mogadishu with ties to Somalia’s underground church confirmed the murder of Kamil.

With estimates of al Shabaab’s size ranging from 3,000 to 7,000, the insurgents seek to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law), but the transitional government in Mogadishu fighting to retain control of the country treats Christians little better than the al Shabaab extremists do. While proclaiming himself a moderate, President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

Al Shabaab was among several splinter groups that emerged after Ethiopian forces removed the Islamic Courts Union, a group of sharia courts, from power in Somalia in 2006. Al Shabaab has been designated a terrorist organization by several western governments.

In the Lower Shabele region of Somalia earlier this year, two Muslim extremists murdered a member of a secret Christian community, sources said. An area source told Compass two al Shabaab militants shot 21-year-old Hassan Adawe Adan in Shalambod town after entering his house on April 18.

In Warbhigly village on the outskirts of Mogadishu, a mother of four was killed for her Christian faith on Jan. 7 by Islamic extremists from al Shabaab, a relative said. The relative, who requested anonymity, said Asha Mberwa, 36, was killed when the Islamic extremists cut her throat in front of villagers who came out of their homes as witnesses(Source).

If anyone wants to know more about apostasy and Islam, see this video made by my brother in Christ Jesus, David Wood:

Christian Genocide in Somalia

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, said that a day will arrive that when people persecute them, the persecutors will think they are obeying God:

A time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. John 16:2b

Islam seems like the fulfillment of those words, since it commands Muslims to persecute, attack and oppress our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus:

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor in the Last day, nor hold forbidden that which has been forbidden by Allah and his Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, from among the people of the book (Christians and Jews), till they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued. Sura 9:29

Therefore it should come as no surprise to us that Somali Muslims are trying to obliterate Our Somali brethren in Christ Jesus.

8/19/2011 Somalia (FrontPageMag) – The Islamist terrorist group al Shabab is intentionally starving Somali Christians in territory it controls. It’s just the latest incident in the terror group’s systematic efforts to eradicate all of Somalia’s Christians. According to the International Christian Concern (ICC), al Shabab’s intentional denial of humanitarian aid has resulted in the deliberate starvation of 18 Christians in the Somali cities of Afgoye, Baidawa, and Kismayo. As ICC spokesman Jonathan Racho said, “Any Somali that is suspected of being a Christian, or a friend of a Christian, does not receive any food aid.”

Unfortunately, the ongoing and purposeful elimination of the small Somali Christian community at the hands of al Shabab has gone largely unrecognized and unreported, eclipsed by the other horrors of rape, torture and murder perpetrated upon most of Somalia’s Muslim population by the Islamist terrorist group.

It goes without saying that al Shabab’s brutality has been well documented, most recently in a report issued by Human Rights Watch, which found the terror group continuing to carry out public beheadings and floggings; forced recruitment of children into its forces; and the denial of humanitarian assistance to the 2.2 million starving Somalis in al Shabab-controlled territory.

So, it shouldn’t surprise that al Shabab, which has openly professed its intention to rid Somalia of a Christian presence, is focusing its particular brand of barbarity on Somali Christians. After all, this is the same group that in August 2010 banned 3 Christian Aid Groups that it stated were “acting as missionaries under the guise of humanitarian work” while at the same time spreading what they termed as “corrupted ideologies in order to taint the pure creed of the Muslims in Somalia.”

Of course, it should be noted that the persecution of Christian Somalis pre-dates the rise of al Shabab. That assault arose from the outset of Somalia’s 1991 civil war and has gone unabated ever since. During that time it is estimated that over a thousand Somali Christian adults have been killed in this overwhelmingly Muslim country, with thousands of others forced to either flee Somalia or deny their faith to save their lives.

While Somalia’s Transnational Federal Government ostensibly grants religious freedom, it is either unable or unwilling to enforce those rights. As such, the enforcement of Islamic law is carried out from area to area and clan to clan, often with brutal consequences. The result has been to reduce the Christian population down to an estimated 1,000 and drive the remaining worshipers underground.

In a disturbing report gathered from Open Doors, a British-based Christian aid organization, Somali Christians gather secretly at pre-arranged meeting places to worship. According to the report, “These believers dare not meet for longer than three hours. Careful not to leave any tracks, they abandon the meeting place separately at intervals…

When caught with a Bible, Christians face certain death.”
One of these underground believers said, “We know that anyone suspected of being a Christian will be tortured or even killed. So we pray secretly. We have prayed in mosque prayer rooms but despite our precautions many of our friends have been killed. We now live in fear.” Another Christian said he converted from Islam and told his family who then kept him in a dark room for 13 days without food until his mother begged the father to let him go.

One truly horrifying incident occurred in December 2010, when a 17-year-old girl who converted to Christianity was shot to death by relatives. The young girl had escaped her village after her parents had shackled her to a tree and tortured her for leaving Islam. Yet, while persecution has been the norm for Somali Christians, al Shabab has taken it to a whole new and brutally disturbing level.

In 2008, al Shabab members sliced the head off of Mansuur Mohammed, a 25 year-old convert to Christianity. According to witnesses, the insurgents took a video of the slaughter and circulated it in Somalia purportedly to instill fear among those contemplating conversion from Islam to Christianity.

In July 2009, al Shabab beheaded seven prisoners it accused of abandoning the Muslim faith; in August 2009 four Somali Christian women working for an NGO orphanage were beheaded after refusing to renounce their faith; and in July 2009 a 40-year-old Christian mother of 10 and her 23-year-old daughter, who was six months pregnant at the time, were both raped and held captive for five days before the terrorists left them for dead(Source).

Somalia: Muslim terrorists put chokehold on food to Christians

I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will provide my Somali brothers and sisters in Christ with food, even though Muslims are trying to deprive them of it.

8/19/2011 Somalia (World Net Daily) – Members of Somalia's jihadi group al-Shabaab are on a campaign to starve the country's Christians by preventing food from being delivered to them, according to ministry groups working in the chaotic region.

While reports from a number of analysts say Mogadishu's population is swelling daily with people coming to the city to escape the famine-ravaged countryside, Christian human rights groups offer additional details.
According to the Barnabas Fund, it is the al-Qaida-affiliated group al-Shabaab whose members are putting a chokehold on international food aid that is being dispatched to Somalia but is not reaching the people.
International Christian Concern analyst Jonathan Racho says no aid gets through without al-Shabaab's consent.

"There are different kinds of people in al-Shabaab. There are those who came from other countries, Islamic citizens who joined al-Shabaab. There are also those Somalis who are in al-Shabaab," Racho said.
"In general, the members of al-Shabaab who are from other countries don't let aid food get into the other territories where they are in control. But, al-Shabaab members who are from Somalia, they feel something for their own country and they want the aid to come in," Racho said.
"So there are divisions in al-Shabaab as to whether they should allow the food aid to come in," he said.

The National Counterterrorism Center says al-Shabaab is a "clan-based insurgent and terrorist group" that "has continued its violent insurgency in southern and central Somalia."
"The group has exerted temporary and, at times, sustained control over strategic locations in southern and central Somalia by recruiting, at times forcibly, regional sub-clans and their militias, using guerrilla asymmetrical warfare and terrorist tactics against the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia and its allies, African Union peacekeepers, and nongovernmental aid organizations," the center report said.
Al-Shabaab is reported to exercise strict control over large parts of the country. Racho said that in areas controlled by al-Shabaab, terror group members simply decide who gets food.
"Al-Shabaab is the government in those areas. So when the food is distributed, they have a lot of influence over who should get the food aid. That's how they discriminate against people that they suspect are members of the underground church in that country," Racho said.
Racho said the group uses control of certain areas of the country to deliberately prevent aid from reaching Christians.

"For aid to get to an area, the aid workers have to get permission from al-Shabaab. So once they get permission, there are people in al-Shabaab who allow the aid to come in. There are those who do not allow the aid to come in," Racho said.
Racho said the al-Shabaab militia groups that control certain areas ensure that the food goes only to Somali Muslims.

And he said the conditions for Christians are more severe than most of the world realizes.
"Thousands of people have died through starvation. We know that. We want to call on the international community to increase their help," Racho said.

Racho said 18 Christians recently have died as a result of al-Shabaab's tactics.
"That number, 18, may not seem like many, but because there are so few Christians in Somalia, 18 people makes a bigger percentage than in many other countries," Racho said(Source).

Somali Islamists Prevent Starved Christians From Receiving Food Aid

I can't believe that Muslims are trying to starve our brethren during Ramadan. However, they might using their holy month of fasting as an excuse to do something like this.


Washington, D.C. (August 15, 2011)– A famine in Somalia has resulted in the death of thousands of people and millions more in urgent need of food aid. Aid is reaching some affected areas but radical Islamists are controlling its distribution and preventing Christians from receiving help and causing many to starve to death.

Members of the radical Islamist group, Al-Shabaab, which is fighting to establish Sharia law across Somalia, are openly seeking to eliminate Christianity from the country. In the past few years, Al-Shabaab members have killed many Christians, including one Christian whose beheading was caught on film. [Warning: this video contains disturbing images http://www.persecution.org/awareness/videos/]

“So far we are aware of 18 Somali Christians who have died of starvation in the last three months in the cities of Afgoye, Baidawa, and Kismayo. There are reports from other Al-Shabaab-controlled areas that more Christians are starving as they are denied of food aid or the opportunity to move to government-controlled territories where they can get help,” said a Somali church leader who is based in a neighboring country.

Christians in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu have a better chance of receiving food aid since the city is under the control of the internationally recognized transitional government of Somalia, but Christians in southern Somalia remain the most vulnerable group.

Speaking to ICC from Somalia, a leader of an underground church said, “Any Somali that the Islamists suspect to be a Christian or even a friend of Christians does not receive any food aid. However, denying us food aid is not really the worst thing they could do to us. These Islamists have previously killed many of our church members and they could kill more and get away with it.”

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Jonathan Racho, said, “We are extremely concerned about the famine in Somalia. Al-Shabaab has exacerbated the plight of the Somali Christians by denying them food aid. Al-Shabaab’s actions have affected both Muslims and Christians, but Somalia’s Christian minorities are suffering the most because of Al-Shabaab’s senseless killings and intentional starvation. The international community must realize the vulnerability of this minority and take decisive action to alleviate their suffering.” (Source)

Somalia: Christians Living in Fear as Country’s Crises Deepens

07/24/2011 Somalia (All Voices)-It has been widely reported in the media that as a result of the famine in East Africa, Somalia is facing 'not only a humanitarian crises' but also ‘a human rights crises and a children's crises.

This indication is contained in a report by the Prayer Communication team of Open Doors UK a United Kingdom based Christian humanitarian organization (http://www.opendoorsuk.org/) adding that Islamist insurgent, Al-Shabaab, the main armed group opposed to the government in Somalia, is reported to be systematically recruiting children under 15 as child soldiers.

It noted that the group is denying the children access to education, and carrying out indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas, resulting in the deaths of civilian adults and children.

...

According to it, Al-Shabaab currently controls the majority of southern Somalia and targets Christians, who are then routinely killed. Kidnapping and killings of NGO workers have also been reported.

“Open Doors raises awareness and prayer support for the handful of Christians in Somalia. We recently received testimonies from several secret believers in the country,” it stated.

In his testimony on Nishan, 27 who comes from a Muslim background and first heard the gospel in 1999 stated that when he told his family he had become a follower of Jesus, they kept him in a dark room for thirteen days without food.
He noted that it was only after his mother pleaded with his father was he released. He now goes to the mosque but prays to Jesus, one of sixteen secret believers who meet there.

Another underground believer, Ahmed, said: "We know that anyone who is suspected of being a Christian will be tortured or even killed, so we pray secretly. We have prayed in Muslim prayer rooms - sometimes at night and sometimes during the day. But despite our precautions many of our friends have been killed. We now live in fear." (Source)

I pray that my Somali brothers and sisters in Christ will be kept through this tough time and that the many crises going in Somalia will be put to an end.

Somali Trio Charged by US in Yacht Murder of Christian Missionaries

The Quran commands Muslims to kill subjugate all other non-Muslims:
 
Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allah, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. Sura 9:29

O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites! Be harsh with them. Their ultimate abode is hell, a hapless journey's end. Sura 9:73

Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. Sura 48:29

Unfortunately many Muslims around the world take these commands very, very seriously:
07/09/2011 Somalia (Herland Sun)-Three Somali men have been charged with kidnapping, hostage-taking and murder in the deaths of four US citizens during the hijacking of a yacht off the coast of Oman. The Justice Department said a superceding indictment adds to the charges already filed of piracy against a group of Somalis and one Yemeni in the February 22 attack on the S/V Quest.

The owners of the yacht, Jean and Scott Adam, were Christian missionaries based in California who were sailing around the world at the time of the hijacking. They were shot to death, along with their companions Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay from Seattle, Washington, several days after being taken hostage and as negotiations were taking place with US Navy officials.

Named in the indictment were Ahmed Muse Salad, 25, Abukar Osman Beyle, 20, and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar, 29. The indictment contends that they were part of a group armed with firearms and a rocket-propelled grenade which boarded the Quest on February 18 and took the four American citizens as hostages before killing them.

"Today's superceding indictment charges three men from Somalia with brutally murdering four American citizens held hostage for ransom," said US Attorney Neil MacBride.
...
With the additional charges, the defendants now potentially face a death sentence if convicted. (Source)

Persecution Helps Churches Grow

Christian Apologist, Tertullian said, "The blood of the matyrs is the seed of the gospel." These words seem to ring true in Somalia.

06/15/2011 Somalia (The Paris Post Intelligencer)-This is in response to the “Outside the Church Doors” commentary about Christian persecution that ran Monday. I am glad to see Mr. [Ernest] Williams bring to light what so many believers/followers in Jesus Christ are experiencing around the world. Thank you, sir.

The Lord has blessed me with being able to work with 115 different churches in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America and here in the States. Most of the churches overseas where we have been face enormous persecution each day — murder, torture, kidnapping, prison, etc. It is the life that they live.
What I have seen is that in areas where the church is suffering persecution, the good news of Christ is spreading like wildfire. In these areas, the church is flourishing, healthy and believers live out a poured-out existence in following the Son of God.

All that they are, and all that they have, is attributed to Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God moves in and around these people. They are truly filled with the Holy Spirit. I went to Somalia this past January with a fellow preacher to contact the underground church there. The first Christian that we came in contact with was highly offended when I asked her if she was in fact a “Christian.” She told us that in that part of the world, the term “Christian” is offensive. She went on to say, “There it identifies them with a person who only goes to church now and then and does not truly serve Christ … you know, like the Christians in America. We want to be called ‘believers’ because everything about our lives points to following Jesus Christ.” Wow!

They are nI must say that I was surprised, but it is something that I have seen and heard many times around the world. Every time I return home here to the States, I see so many churches — not all churches, but most — that are barely getting by, very weak in power and very unknowledgeable of the Word of God.

They are not reaching out to people in their community on a daily basis. The members say that they love God, but do not keep His commandments. The Bible says that people like this are liars, plain and simple. Many are only interested in feeling better about themselves and do not follow the God of the Bible.
The members say that they do follow God, but are not found studying God’s Word, living a sacrificial existence or fulfilling the Great Commission.

The Great Commission commands believers to go unto all of the world telling of the good news of Christ, teaching, baptizing and making disciples. Not until persecution reaches our shores, and not until America is broken of its comfort, will the church begin to truly flourish here. A missionary who I am good friends with in China said this to me recently; “All of the servants of God that I work with in China pray daily that America will be broken for God and that persecution will reach the American church.” (Source)