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Sudan to become official “Muslim state” in ominous move for Christians

Country/Region: Sudan, Middle East and North Africa

Sudan’s president has confirmed plans to adopt an entirely Islamic constitution and strengthen sharia law, raising the threat level for Christians and other non-Muslims in the country.

Omar_Hassan_Ahmad_al-Bashir_4X3.jpg
President of Sudan,
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said last Wednesday (12 October) that the Republic of Sudan will become a “Muslim state”.

He said:

Ninety eight per cent of the people are Muslims and the new constitution will reflect this. The official religion will be Islam and Islamic law the main source [of the constitution].

His statement reinforces a previous announcement, made last December, that Sudan would adopt an Islamic constitution if the South seceded, which it did on 9 July. On that occasion, President Bashir said:

If south Sudan secedes, we will change the constitution and at that time there will be no time to speak of diversity of culture and ethnicity... Sharia and Islam will be the main source for the constitution, Islam the official religion and Arabic the official language.

Sudan’s current constitution theoretically grants freedom of religion, recognising that the state is “multi-religious”, though in practice non-Muslims face severe discrimination and persecution.

Christians under threat

President Bashir’s latest announcement raises the threat level for the more than one million largely Christian southerners, who still live in Sudan, as well as for non-Muslim and non-Arab northerners.  

It comes amid reports of increasing threats and pressure on churches in Sudan, as well as targeted assaults on Christians, pastors and churches in the border region of South Kordofan, which has been under attack by the Sudanese military.

Since the secession of South Sudan, some Christian pastors in Sudan have been warned not to conduct church services, on pain of death, while some churches are closing their schools and considering emigration to the South.

Southerners still living in Sudan are now treated legally as foreigners; they have been given until the spring to leave or obtain the right to stay, which is a complicated process. They have lost government jobs and now need work and residency permits.

The future for non-Muslims and non-Arabs in Sudan is looking increasingly untenable, threatening the very existence of the Church there.

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christian, persecution, charity, church, persecuted, sookhdeo, Islam

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  • In another chilling sign of Egypt’s move towards becoming an Islamic state, it was announced in March that a religious police force had been established to uphold Muslim morals. The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice shares its name with the notorious religious police of Saudi Arabia. For some months previously, vigilante Salafist gangs had been operating as self-appointed enforcers of morals, raiding shops and harassing staff and customers. The Christian community is concerned that it may now be subjected to the demands of sharia law. Pray that this will not happen and that the Islamisation of Egyptian society will be checked and then reversed. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed 15 hours ago

  • Christian girls in Egypt are extremely vulnerable to being kidnapped by Salafists who forcibly convert them to Islam and marry them to Muslim men against their will; over 500 have been victims of this heartless campaign since the revolution of January 2011. The Association of Victims of Abduction and Enforced Disappearance (AVAED), an Egyptian Christian organisation, says that the authorities collude with the Salafists. Give thanks for the safe return of Agape Essam Girgis (13), who was abducted from el-Ameriya on 23 December 2012. Sadly, most cases do not have a happy ending. Pray that the Lord will comfort those families whose daughters are still missing and intervene mightily to deliver the Christian girls from the hands of their captors. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Tue, Jun 2013 00:00

  • Pray for our brothers and sisters in North Africa living in the shadow of militant Islamism. Following the French intervention against Islamist groups who had taken over large parts of Mali, militants attacked a gas facility in Algeria in January and killed 37 people. An Algerian employee who managed to escape said, “We were told that because we were Muslim we would not be killed, and it was only the Christians they were after.” The Islamists associate Christianity with the West, so Christian targets and individuals as well as Western ones are especially vulnerable to attack. Ask that the Lord will protect Christians in the region against violence and the oppressive grip of sharia law. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Mon, Jun 2013 00:00

  • “I had just cooked my last meal, and there was no food in the house, nor money, nor any other way of obtaining grain. Thank the Lord for this aid, which has saved me and my children.” Bâh Kamaté, a Christian widow with six children in Mali, was “completely overwhelmed” when her pastor told her that she was going to receive corn and rice funded by Barnabas. Thousands of Christians fled the north of the country after the Islamist takeover in 2012, and their plight was worsened by food shortages resulting from drought. But praise God that Barnabas has helped to supply food for more than 5,100 Christians, as well as meeting other needs. Pray for His continuing provision for His people as Mali continues to face an uncertain future. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Sun, Jun 2013 00:00

  • Those who become Christians in Laos risk losing everything. A couple from Chumpoy in the Sanamsai district of Attappeu province were thrown out of their village on 23 January for converting to Christianity. Pray for Sakien and his wife Dong, who came to Christ after hearing the testimony of their son and daughter-in-law, Sanien and Pitsamai; they had become Christians after Pitsamai was healed after prayer. Sakien and Dong are currently sheltering in a partially constructed church building in another village; pray that they will either be able to return to their home or find adequate housing elsewhere, and that the Lord will sustain them in their new faith throughout this trial. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Sat, Jun 2013 00:00

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