by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - A Somali-born Christian convert in northeastern Kenya is recovering after four ethnic Somali Muslims attempted to murder him for leaving Islam to follow Christ, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. The population of Kenya is 80% Christian but converts from Islam remain vulnerable to attacks from radicalized Muslims.
The Christian, who cannot be named for security reasons, was ambushed on December 3rd on a road near Wajir town by four Somalis who were known to him from when he was a practicing Muslim, MSN reports. Married, and a father to three children, the Christian has dual Somali-Kenyan citizenship.
The Christian became a believer four years ago, but had kept it a secret by continuing to go to his local mosque until COVID-19 restrictions were implemented. In the meantime, he began to lead a small prayer group for 13 other believers, and news of this apparently leaked out to his former Muslim community.
Two weeks prior to the attack, the Christian received a text message threatening: “We are getting reports that you are now a Christian,” it read. “You have been missing our Friday prayer meeting. If this is true, then you are risking your life.”
On the day of the attack, the Somalis surrounded the Christian and began to harass him about his absence from the Mosque.
“Immediately one began to slap me while another held me with the intention of strangling me, and I fell down,” he told MSN. “They started beating me with hard objects around my knee. I then shouted for help and screamed with a lot of pain. Thank God that at that moment a vehicle approached with bright lights, and the attackers fled away, leaving me bleeding in a pool of blood.” The pastor was taken to the hospital for treatment and has now moved his family into hiding.