NORTH AFRICA: ‘GOD, IF YOU EXIST, WHO ARE YOU?’

When Yasmina’s* parents died within a few years of each other, her friends encouraged her to pursue her Islamic faith more seriously to find relief from her grief and pain. But after a while her questions remained, and it was in Jesus that she found a new, but dangerous hope.

“Who are You?”

Feeling alone and grieving the loss of her parents, Yasmina called out to God: “If You exist, who are You? Are You really the One described in the Quran, or is there another God?”

God listened to Yasmina. As she continued her search for God, she realised that the stories of Moses and Jesus kept coming back to her – stories she was familiar with, as Moses and Jesus are considered prophets in Islam, but in a whole new light. “I decided to set aside the Islamic religion and seek to learn about the life of Jesus,” she says. “It was His story that truly touched me.”

Yasmina was able to get hold of a Gospel, and read it with carefully. Eventually, she felt she understood who God is, for the first time. She made the courageous choice to embrace the love and hope of Jesus – courageous, because in the north African country where she lives, converting from Islam to Christianity can lead to severe persecution.

“I was sad, overwhelmed by fear and insecurity. Life had no meaning or value for me,” she remembers. “But God helped me overcome all of that. He gave meaning to my life. I tasted true joy and true peace when I entrusted my life to the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Fury from her family

The decision brought new life – but it also brought new trials. Yasmina had to face the anger of her family members, who quickly turned against her following her conversion.

“My brothers were angry and upset with me, especially when I started attending church,” she says. “For them, it was as if I had dishonoured the family, and they thought my future was ruined.” Her sister was in the same position, as she also chose to trust Jesus.

As an unmarried woman in her North African culture, Yasmina was vulnerable. She would be expected to follow the wishes of her father – or, since her father had died, her brothers and other male relatives. By choosing to follow Jesus, she was also limiting her chances of getting married – which is what her brothers meant by her future being ‘ruined’. A Muslim man would not marry a woman who’d converted from Islam.

In Yasmina’s society, ‘honour’ and ‘shame’ are crucial concepts. Since her family believed she had shamed them, she was in danger of reprisal. “Our cousins and neighbours tried to pressure my brothers to punish us, my younger sister and me,” she remembers. Women and girls in North Africa and other Muslim-majority cultures can face violence, house arrest or even so-called ‘honour killings’ if they choose to leave Islam for another faith.

Thankfully, Yasmina was not physically harmed – but has faced total rejection from people meant to love and protect her. This adversity has encouraged her to study the Bible even more, and she has undertaken biblical training. “The courses I took allowed me to deepen my knowledge of God, the Christian faith and the church,” she says. “I also found answers to questions that had been troubling me.”

Yasmina’s husband arrested

Yasmina married Saleh*, who had also left Islam to follow Jesus. They help and encourage one another, but have also discovered how challenging it is to live as believers in their home country: Saleh was at church with dozens of other Christians when the police stormed the building and closed it down. He was given a six-month suspended prison term, charged with ‘conducting non-Muslim worship without prior authorisation from the national commission of religions’.

The couple have decided to leave the country, for their safety and to have a chance to heal from the persecution and oppression they have faced. Yasmina and Saleh hope that one day they will be able to return. Their ongoing story underscores the urgent need for freedom of belief in North Africa and how the decision to accept Jesus in a Muslim society creates multiple layers of vulnerability for unmarried and even married young women.