Buried in the Sand and Left to Die

Mustafa was kidnapped by military officials, buried in the sand and left to die, but by God’s grace he survived

”Mustafa” was a radio repairman in Abeche, Chad. His father died when he was a young boy, but through the influence of his mother he grew up to be passionate in his Islamic faith, and was seen as an authority on Islam by his friends and neighbours. 

One day, Mustafa listened in secret to a radio station that preached the Gospel in Arabic. The message of Jesus intrigued him, and eventually he became a Christian. In 1997 he was baptised, but when the Islamic Council of Abeche heard about this, they summoned him and his fellow Christians. In front of the local Sultan, the Christians were flogged and asked to change their names, since they had now become “infidels”.

Life became very difficult for Mustafa. He could not walk openly in the street; nor could he go to the market to buy food. Mustafa’s shop in the market was seized by his uncle. The local church leaders tried to help him by talking to the Islamic leaders in Abeche, but their intervention just made the situation worse.

Since becoming a Christian, Mustafa’s life has also been threatened a number of times. In 2000 a Muslim preacher from Sudan who was visiting Abeche declared over loudspeakers that Mustafa should be killed because the Islamic committee there believed that he was influencing people in the town.

On another occasion, during a visit to the town of Faya, Mustafa was kidnapped by military officers, taken out of town and left buried up to his waist in sand. The officers drove back to the town, but miraculously God enabled Mustafa to free himself from the sand and walk back to town later that night.

Mustafa is grateful for God’s grace in his life and continues to serve the Lord as a pastor to other converts.