Muslim parents in southern Somalia were overjoyed to see their missing 20-year-old son of a drug addict return home this month without substance abuse.
However, when they discovered that his transformation was born from placing faith in Christ, they drove him from Hararoba’s home near Ahmadou in the Juba region on May 19th.
The young man came to Christ on April 20th after the underground Somali pastor shared the gospel with him.
“On May 17th, he decided to go home and the family was very excited and happy to see his son dressed and cared for him again,” says the convert-loving pastor, unknown for security reasons. “My parents looked at him for two days and began questioning him on May 19th. They asked him to explain how he left the drugs when they wondered about the changes he was seeing in his life.”
The convert told his parents how the pastor had led him to Christ, he said.
“I told them what had happened to me and that I had asked Issa (Jesus) to come in my life. Since then, after accepting him as my Lord and Savior, a transformation has begun in my life,” the convert told Morningstar News. “Then they asked me to pray for the Islamic way.”
Noting that he had not prayed in the Muslim way, his father told him, “When you were praying before receiving Issa, you became worse.
Now living on the streets again, he said his family became enemies.
“I didn’t expect such a terrible experience after receiving Issa,” he said. “My mother, who was once very nice and friendly to me, secretly dedicated her money to buy a cigarette, opposed me and refused breakfast at home.
The underground pastor said he was trying to connect him with a Christian cell group.
“It may seem very difficult, but we trust God to open the door at this difficult moment,” he said. “We need to pray that God may provide him with safety, food and accommodation.”
When he first met the converts on April 20, the pastor said the young man became addicted “to all sorts of drugs” and was totally hopeless.
“I began to share God’s love with him to send Issa to find and save the lost people,” he said. “He confessed that it was the first time he felt as a godly man. The young man longed for Issa more and decided to hear more. He soon realized that the good news about Issa was for everyone.”
After spending the day explaining to him the way of salvation from Christ, the young man placed his faith in him as Lord and Savior, he said.
“I stayed with him for five days. To my surprise, he transformed and left me on drugs,” the pastor said. “He promised to return to his parents who hadn’t seen him in months.”
According to the US State Department, Somali’s constitution establishes Islam as a national religion and prohibits the spread of other religions. It is also required that the law comply with the principles of Sharia (Islamic law) without exception to the application of non-Muslims.
The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law, according to the mainstream schools of Islamic law. Al-Shabaab, a Somali Islamic extremist group, is allied with al-Qaeda and is accommodating education.
Al-Shabaab or Al-Shabaab sympathizers have killed non-local people in northern Kenya since 2011, when Kenyan forces led African coalitions to rebels against rebels in response to terrorist attacks on tourists and others on Kenya’s coast.
Somalia ranks second on the 2025 watch list of Christian support groups Opendoas in 50 countries where becoming a Christian is the most difficult.
