In Partnership with Arab World Media
a division of Pioneers International
Here is the latest update from the Arab World, as presented at our 2023 Impact Report
To listen to the latest update, click Hear More.
400 Million+
People across the world speak Arabic. Most of these reside in the Middle East and North Africa.
Trapped by her circumstances, rejected, and hopeless
A 25 year-old woman in Egypt told Samira she comes from a very poor family and her parents pulled her out of school when she was 10 years old to work in a shop to help support the family. Now an adult, she is functionally illiterate and unable to improve herself through reading. She would like to marry and several men have expressed interest, but when they found out she couldn’t read and write they turned elsewhere. Feeling trapped by her circumstances, rejected, and hopeless, she slipped into depression.
Samira talked with her about Jesus — how He loves and accepts her in spite of her poverty and literacy problems. In fact, He loves her so much that He died for her sin so she could have a relationship with God. When she heard that, her heart lifted in hope and she trusted Jesus to be her Saviour and Lord. Now she has been baptized and joined a Bible study group which not only provides fellowship and spiritual encouragement, it is helping her learn to read.
I had three dreams of Jesus
Last summer, a man contacted Samira by phone and told her that he was a police officer, 53 years old, the father of a large family, and a faithful Muslim who had done the pilgrimage to Mecca several times. He then said that he had had three dreams.
• In the first, he saw a man smiling at him (he identified him as Jesus).
• In the second, Jesus gave him a book and told him that it had the answers to his questions.
• In the third dream, he was lost and Jesus appeared to him and told him “Follow my steps to find your way.”
He didn’t know any Christians, so searched the internet to find the meaning of his dreams. When he saw Samira’s phone number on the Maarifa website, he called to ask if she could help him understand the meaning of his dreams. Samira explained that his dreams meant that Jesus was calling him to follow Him. She explained the gospel to him, answered his questions, and encouraged him to read the Bible. They had several more conversations and he decided to become a Christian. He was baptized in the last week of August.