Nala’s Life is Now About Being ‘In Christ’
When Nala, a Somali female in her 20s, came to faith in Christ it was the end of life as she knew it. She is from war-torn Somalia where being Muslim is all that is allowed, although, from her perspective, religious zeal has caused nothing but destruction. Since converting to Christianity isn’t allowed in Somalia, she risks losing her country, her home and her family. For some it even cost their life. Now Nala is free to simply live ‘in Christ’ where none of those things matter anymore. However, her journey towards a hopeful and fruitful live, despite persecution, has only just started.
Nearly 100% of Somalis are Muslim. Nala is one of nine children, and her oldest brother is the custodian of the family’s religious values. He has no tolerance for any obvious disobedience to the Quran. He is equally strict when it comes to the roles of women and men. From his perspective, men are entitled to a vast array of privileges, but women have certain sacrifices to make in this life, and generally they have to accept in humility any suffering coming their way.
“My brother beat me up for no reason and was spiteful… Slowly but surely, he turned me into a person of no religion.”
For Nala following his directions made no sense. From her perspective, Islam failed to improve their lives at all. Her country has been destroyed by the wars started in the name of the prophet Muhammed. She felt surrounded by suffering.
“I was very unhappy,” she proclaims. At a young age, she became a fatalist. “In the Quran, it says even if you do good or bad things the results are already written. And I thought: why not live freely and do whatever I want and later just do the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) to get to Jannah (paradise)?”
Nala wanted nothing in life more than an education. But no woman in their home was allowed to study anything other than the Quran. Ever-adventurous, Nala started sneakily finding ways to make it happen. She saved every penny of her pocket money to pay for literacy classes she attended in secret.
But it didn’t remain a secret for long. “My brother found out and punished me severely”.
However, she persisted and even started looking for work. Whenever she found a job, she worked hard and saved all her money for school.
It was during this time that her life would change forever.
“I would usually go to my room to use the internet. I browsed different social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube. One day I heard a testimony about Jesus from Somali converts living abroad. I thought, ‘These people are very far from Allah!’ I was even more amazed that they did not fast and pray as we did.”
Intrigued, she delved deeper. “I started to look for more videos and found others who shared the Word of God. They even shared their phone numbers and links to videos to watch. I connected with them through Facebook and asked them to tell me about Christ. One girl, Hani*, shared with me some things from God’s Word.”
It Was a Dangerous Endeavour
“Every time I communicated with Hani, I felt guilty and scared.” So, she deleted her account and all her messages, only to be back the next day. Hani encouraged Nala to download and read the Bible. “I thought the Bible was a story book, and I didn’t understand it. But I started reading in Genesis and just kept going. So many of my questions were answered. For the first time ever, I felt peace in my heart.”
Nala met other secret believers and eventually was baptized. She stayed with her new friends for a while, worked and studied the Bible. Her family had no idea!
Or so she thought. Little did she know that her extended family had been growing suspicious, even to the point of suspecting her of becoming a prostitute.
“One night at 10:00 PM there was phone call from home, but I was sleeping, so I didn’t pick up. The next day, I had class so only answered their calls afterwards. My father had tried to reach me many times and told me that my mother was dying.”
Nala’s mother had struggled with her health for a long time and Nala had no reason to doubt this news.
She rushed home, only to learn that it was all a ruse. “I did not suspect that my father would lie. But when I got home, the men in my family were waiting for
me. They beat me and took my mobile phone and they locked me up in a room.
They said, ‘We have heard that you are corrupted’ but they have never once used the word ‘Christian’”.
In Search of a ‘Cure’
That was the start of intensive efforts to get Nala to come back to Islam.
“They took me to a place where they tried to cure apostates and psychopaths. They tried different rituals to fix what was ‘wrong’ with me. They beat and locked me up. Sometimes they put a lightbulb against my head and repeated words from the Quran over and over. Four nights in a row, some imams rolled up pieces of paper and used them as trumpets to shout words from the Quran into my ears. They even tried some concoctions on me.”
After six days things became a little easier. Nala only went for religious instructions during the day and spent nights at home. But she was still watched very closely.
“My family constantly pressured me to unlock my phone so that they could identify my friends. But I refused. I knew they would harm my friends if they knew their names.”
“Seeing how hard things were for me, my sister advised me to pretend to be a Muslim but pray to Jesus in my heart. And that is what I did. I would get up early for prayer but use the time to speak to Jesus.”
“It worked. My family believed that I was getting ‘better’. They decided to make it easier for me. But I was still so unhappy. My sister had compassion on me again. She gave me my phone so that I could contact my friends and let them know what had happened. They were able to find me a safe place to flee to.”
But before Nala could make her escape her family made one radical move out of the blue. They gave her as wife to a sheikh who already had two wives!
“They told me I had no choice in this matter and that this was good for me – the man would guide me well. One day before the wedding, when my sister dropped me off at the mosque for my usual religious tutoring, I ran away. At first, I hid with friends. After one week I fled the country with the help of my Christian friends. I arrived here with only the clothes on my back. I cried constantly. I was exhausted. I had constant headaches. It was all because of stress.”
Nala’s faith was also shaken.
“I asked God, ‘Why do you hate me? Have you forgotten me?’ But then God reminded me that it was He who helped me to escape.”
New Life
“Jesus had changed me. I realized that I didn’t choose Him, but He chose me. I didn’t go out looking for Him, but he found me. Previously I didn’t have happiness, but now I have joy. They called me weak, and that is true. I know that until I came to know Jesus, I knew nothing at all.”
Nala lost all she knew as home, family and community. But each loss brought her closer to God, and closer to the family of God. In coming to Christ, she has become a member of the family of Christ where there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, nor male and female, where we are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:26-28).
However, Nala’s journey towards hopeful and fruitful living despite persecution has only just started and she has a long way yet to go. It is a journey that needs careful navigation. She needs discipleship, and support in different parts of her life from people she can trust – people like you.
Please Pray
Thank the Lord for saving Nala and for continuing to build His church among Somali people. Pray for the Lord’s comfort to Nala as she comes to terms with all she has been through in recent weeks and months. Be praying for the Lord’s wisdom to those offering Nala spiritual support and discipleship. Pray that the Lord through His Spirit would help her to become firmly rooted into Christ. Lastly, pray for the Lord’s protection over all who have come to faith in Him. Pray that despite efforts to purge society of Christians, the Lord would keep His children safe.
