Everyone from Saquiyyan’s tribe are Muslims, and not just nominal adherents. Their devotion is strict both in lifestyle and in how they seek to spread Islam. For such a person to change from being Muslim is impossible—except for an act of God.
Saquiyyan was devout himself, but when he debated beliefs with his Christian friend, Justin, Saquiyyan was troubled by inconsistencies he saw between his faith and the Qur’an. He wanted to know more about the Bible. When Saquiyyan’s mother found a receipt for a New Testament in his backpack, she could tolerate his interest in Christianity no more. She locked him in his room for two days, passing a plate of food to him through the window once a day.
Despite his family’s harsh deterrence, Saquiyyan was pulled more and more toward the living words of the Bible. At age 15, Saquiyyan managed to slip away from his family to attend a Christian seminar. By this time, the only thing that kept him from receiving the Lord was fear over how his family would respond, but by the close of the seminar, Saquiyyan bowed his head to become a child of God.
His plan was to keep his faith secret until he finished high school and could leave home, but an uncle became suspicious when Saquiyyan no longer followed Islamic practices. The uncle bound Saquiyyan’s hands and had him jailed for three days under the charge of being a delinquent. Saquiyyan refused to recant, and in the end, his uncle tore up his birth certificate and high school diploma. With that, his family cast him out.
With a missionary’s help, Saquiyyan moved to Senegal to study engineering and to seek God’s will. He has continued to grow in his faith, but his family has continually rejected him, refusing to care for him when he became seriously ill and later preventing him from receiving a college scholarship.
But the Lord has been with Saquiyyan. In 2006, God directed him to Cameroon, where Saquiyyan met missionaries Steve and Beth Gault and became a charter member of their church plant. When Steve saw that Saquiyyan was a serious student of the Bible, he hired him to run a Christian bookstore and to offer spiritual counsel to customers who sought it.
Saquiyyan has become a valued partner in the church planting work of the Gaults and their missionary coworkers, Dan and Karis Seely. As Saquiyyan helps his missionary friends with cultural insights, they have helped him grow deeper in his faith and theological understanding. He is now ready to follow the burden of his heart, to reach his own people for Christ. Please pray for Saquiyyan as he gets a solid Bible school education to be able to minister effectively among Muslim people.
Editor’s Note: Saquiyyan’s real name has not been used in this article to protect his identity. In Arabic, “Saquiyyan” refers to one who is very happy and contented in the will of Allah. The French equivalent of this name, "bienheureux," has been specifically used to refer to Christians.