by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - A Christian mother of seven living at an internally displaced persons camp in Sudan was badly beaten by her Muslim husband after he heard about her new faith in Jesus, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
Already devastated and war-torn, Islamic-majority Sudan again descended into civil war in April last year, leaving more than 12,000 people dead and displacing an estimated 7.7 million others inside and outside the country. The current war was triggered by a power struggle between the Sudanese National Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which had together overthrown Sudan’s fledgling democratic government in 2021.
Hawa Ismail Abdalla, 44, was raised as a Muslim but put her faith in Christ while living with her family in a camp for Internally Displaced People in southwestern Sudan’s Nyala town, South Darfur state. She and her husband and seven children were later transferred to the Wedwiel Refugee Camp on South Sudan’s border with Sudan, MSN reports. Hawa’s pastor was also transferred to Wedwiel.
MSN has learned that on Dec. 27, Hawa’s husband confronted her about her faith in Christ. “My husband told me, ‘Why did you believe in Issa [Jesus]? You are an infidel,” Hawa recounted in a statement to MSN. Hawa’s husband began to assault her, causing her head injuries. Adding that she had forgiven her husband, she said: “I ask you to pray for me to recover from the injury.”
In a separate statement to MSN, Hawa’s pastor (whose name is withheld for security reasons), said: “The Christians who are fleeing the war in Sudan are facing persecution from Muslim refugees.” According to the pastor there are now 2,000 refugees and internally displaced people in Sudan who have converted to Christianity from Islam, and all face the threat of persecution.
Sudan ranks 8 on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted. “Those who convert to Christianity from Muslim backgrounds continue to face huge dangers,” the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization explains in a website statement. “Some will even refrain from telling their children about Jesus, for fear they may inadvertently disclose their parents’ faith to the local community.”a