Did you know that more people from Somalia live outside of Somalia instead of within Somalia? The reason is due to Islam. Islam has made Somalia one of the worst countries in the world.
Often cited as the world's best example
of a “failed state,” Somalia has for several decades suffered from
lawlessness and deprivation. Much of the country is extremely dangerous
for anyone, and so it's no surprise that members of its tiny Christian
minority lead lives of constant fear.
There are also thousands
of Somali Christians outside Somalia. Despite having escaped their
troubled homeland, they still often face isolation and danger, largely
due to members of the Somali expat community who revile them for
abandoning Islam.
Few countries other than North Korea are more
inhospitable toward Christianity than Somalia, an East African nation
of about 16 million, almost all of whom are Muslim.
The U.S. Department of State reports that only 1,000 Christians live in Somalia. However, some sources — such as the Somali Bible Society — give a drastically higher number.
Ali
(real name withheld for safety reasons), a Somali Christian in Uganda,
agrees with the U.S. Department of State estimate. He adds, though, that
there are “more than 5,000 Somali Christians outside of Somalia.” Ali
says the number is growing slowly “because it's not easy to preach the
gospel to Somalis.”
Interestingly, though, at least one Christian organization has Somalia ranked far above the world average in terms of its evangelical annual growth rate.
It's so difficult to be a Somali Christian that many might wonder why they would choose to convert.
Naomi (a pseudonym), a Somali Christian who helps produce Somali Christian TV,
says that a significant portion of Somali Christian converts became so
after growing disillusioned by the widespread killing of Muslims by
other Muslims in Somalia.
Ali says that evangelizing through social media has also led a considerable number of Somalis to convert to Christianity.
It's quite a decision to make: If discovered, everyone you know will likely disown you — or worse.
Ali says that, throughout most of Somalia, any Somali Christian who publicly “announces themselves will be killed.”
Just having a piece of ostensibly Christian literature could be enough to warrant lethal violence.
Though
some of the attacks on Somali Christians are the work of the Somali
terrorist group al-Shabab, such violence is by no means relegated to the
terrorist fringe. Rather, it reflects the mainstream Somali viewpoint,
which predominates among those in power as well as among the
impoverished masses comprising much of the bereft countryside.
“Outwardly,
all Somali Muslims must support attacks on Somali Christians because
otherwise they may not be seen as Muslim,” says Naomi. “Some, inwardly,
may disagree but, due to the nature of the Somali community, they must
appear to the others as though they condemn Somali Christians.”
If
a Somali Muslim shows any sign of sympathy to the Somali Christians,
then “somebody would suspect that they are an infidel … and they
themselves could be in danger of being persecuted or killed,” says
Naomi.
Even Somalis who were raised Christian risk being killed for their faith.
Ali relates that he still communicates with Somali Christians in the ravaged capital city of Mogadishu.
The Somali capital has a tiny community of
elderly Catholics who grew up in an era when there was heavy Italian
influence in Somalia, which became an independent country in 1960. Some
of these longtime Christians have died of old age, while others have
been murdered.
Though the danger for Somali Christians is less extreme outside Somalia, that doesn't necessarily mean it's safe.
Somali pastors have been attacked in Ethiopia and murdered
in Kenya, where many Somali Christians must live with the ongoing
prospect of an attack from Somali Muslims. Even if they succeed in
avoiding violence for years, they might go out for water one evening,
and then the attack finally comes. Or they might fall victim to a home invasion, among other violations.
Somalis
who are seen outside churches in foreign countries have faced severe
consequences. (This type of persecution is not an issue within Somalia,
which no longer has any intact church buildings.)
Naomi relates
that, even in Europe, Somali Christians have faced physical assault
after Somali Muslims spotted them walking out of a church.
“Somalis
have a culture of policing one another’s religion and it is the
community’s responsibility to enact the punishment if somebody leaves
Islam or they even suspect this,” says Naomi. Such punishment includes
“harassment, persecution, excommunication and sometimes physical
violence,” she relates.
“Many have had their whole family
desert them and this also leads to Somali believers being very
isolated,” says Naomi, adding, “For their own safety, [Somali
Christians] must move away from the Somali expat communities.”
Be
it inside or outside Somalia, “Known Somali Christians are not allowed
to socialize with Somali Muslims,” says Aweis A. Ali, who adds that,
“Many Somali Christians develop mental health issues because of the
persecution and isolation.”
Aweis, who has a Ph.D. from Africa
Nazarene University in Nairobi, converted to Christianity in 1986,
while living in Mogadishu. He is now a pastor and author of books on Somalia and Christianity.
“Many
Somali Christians have been killed, kidnapped, assaulted, or put
through forced reconversion” in such countries as Ethiopia, Kenya, and
Djibouti, says Aweis. In Europe and North America, the acts perpetrated
against Somali Christians are typically less severe but can still
involve “threats, discrimination, beatings and occasional poisoning,” he
says.
Aweis, who often visits the U.S., says that “most Somali
Muslims in the U.S. can tolerate [his] Christian faith,” but that this
first acceptance changes to “intense hostility” when they find out that
he has preached to Somali Muslims. “To them, this is an unforgivable sin
that deserves the death penalty under Sharia law,” he says.
Despite
facing threats against his life and ongoing abuse on social media,
Aweis remains undeterred. He says Somalis will continue to become
Christian because of “dreams and visions” and the “loving and caring
believers who witness to them.”
There are many Somalis, though,
who have little use for such 'dreams and visions.' Aweis believes that
over 90% of Somali Muslims approve of attacks on Somali Christians. He
knows all about anti-Christian violence, having served as the co-pastor
of a house church in Mogadishu that, due to a series of attacks between
1994 and 1996, saw 12 of its 14 members murdered.
Even if they
worship exclusively within their own homes, Somali Christians must face
the grim truth that most of their people despise them.
And Ali,
the Somali Christian in Uganda, says that, whether they are inside the
homeland or half a world away, “It's always dangerous for Somali
Christians to stay around Somali Muslims.”
