AP

Hussein’s Testimony

We sat quietly, huddled around the old Panasonic radio, the night air slowly cooling. “Hussein, you’re lucky why don’t you try and find a channel for us?” “Okay, I’ll try,” I grabbed the knob, excited to be asked. It turned slowly in my hand as we listened for the familiar tones of Af Soomali, unsure if any shortwave programs would be running so late in the evening.

“Jesus loves you, if you repent of your sins and follow him tonight your sins will be forgiven, and you will go to heaven to be with Him when you die.”

Filled with shock, we listened until the end of the program before quickly shutting off the radio and sneaking inside to our beds. I fell asleep disturbed, thinking about wether this could be true, that the prophet Isa could be the way to God.

Growing up

I was born in Cows-weyne during the early 1990’s around the time that the Somali Government led by Siad Bare collapsed. Cows-weyne was a small rural town, around 10 hours north of the capital Mogadishu. My parents by this time already had six daughters, and were extremely excited for me, their first son. The day I was born, the whole village celebrated by slaughtering a sheep. Sadly, when I was four years old, war broke out between the local clans, and the village burnt to the ground, so we fled to Ceel-Dheer.

I grew up in Ceel-Dheer, going to prayer and madrasa (Islamic school) at 5 am, then school, mid-day and afternoon prayers at the mosque and evenings spent as a family, playing in our little backyard, or chatting on the dhambal (handwoven mat) that my mother had crafted for us.

Somalia as a nation is 99% Islamic, so growing up in a small village I did not experience other cultures and beliefs except for the radio broadcast I heard when I was young. My parents were strong Muslims and raised us to follow the five pillars of Islam – profession of faith in Allah and belief in the prophet Mohamed, prayer five times daily, practice of charity, fasting and pilgrimage to Mecca (for those financially able.) Madrassa (Islamic school) was my least favourite part of the day as our teachers were extremely harsh and would beat us until we memorised long sections of the Qur’an in Arabic (a language I barely understood). Despite this, I never questioned whether Islam was the truth as it was all I knew.

In 2003, when I was around 12 years old, war broke out again between the clans, and my life was threatened since I was close to adulthood. Fearing for my safety my mother sent me to Mogadishu to live with my older sisters. In the city I had new opportunities and was able to study for two years in a local mosque learning from a Sheik (Islamic teacher) before I completed high school. Sadly, the whole time I lived in Mogadishu, the city was unstable due to violence as different militias created an unsafe environment fuelled by young men who joined one side or the other of the conflict. So, for my own safety, my parents sent me away to Mombassa, Kenya to my extended family.

Kenya to South Africa

After arriving by bus in Mombassa, I stayed with my family for four months, and I did not know what would happen next. I was hopeful that I would find work but when nothing became available my cousin’s family very generously offered to support me so that I could travel to South Africa to seek a better life. They paid people smugglers to transport me and when the time came to leave, I boarded a small boat with around one hundred Somalis and one Ethiopian. We sailed for six days on very rough water, only eating bread until we arrived in Mozambique. We then walked to the closest village and the police came in the night and stole some money. We then had to wait for three days for the bus to arrive and take us to the local refugee camp. Once we arrived the smugglers’ truck took us to the border of Zimbabwe where the police found us again and made everyone who had money left to pay $10USD to enter South Africa.

Early days in South Africa

I arrived in South Africa at the end of 2010 and moved to Cape Town where I knew a lot of Somalis lived in a suburb called Bellville. In those early days I spent all my time working in different Spazza shops (small local grocery shops) across Cape Town. As a young Somali of 20 years, I had to take what I could get and ended up working in many dangerous and impoverished suburbs and townships affected by gang violence.

I lived in the back of these shops, usually with two or three other young men, and would work the entire day and then go and sleep. Many times, gangsters would come and hold us at knife or gunpoint while robbing the stores, but God sustained my life throughout all the violence. The only time I had for myself was on Fridays when I would go to Bellville to take part in the Jummah prayer (Friday prayers at the Mosque) and sometimes cut my hair. It was also my day to catch up with friends and family before heading back to the shops to start my week again.

Nolosha Cusub (New Life)

In 2014 I moved to Pretoria so I could work in a new shop. Somalis are very nomadic, and I am no exception. I was based in Pretoria central and found it was much safer than other areas I had worked. Then in 2015, a video released on Facebook in Somali sent shockwaves throughout the entire nation. About fourteen Somalis had come forward claiming to be Christians. I was in disbelief and could not understand why Somalis were willing to leave Islam.

When I had heard about Christianity on the radio as a child it had affected me, but I was young. Now as a man, seeing Christianity in my community face to face it had a much more profound affect. So, I searched on Facebook and found a website called Nolosha Cusub (New Life) all about Christian theology. It included the Bible in Somali so I decided to read it. In my mind I justified myself by saying it was all “for fun” so that Allah would not be angry with me for reading the Bible.

I first started by reading the Old Testament and I was so surprised that there was much more detail about the prophets I had grown up with (In Islam, the biblical prophets are represented in a false way). Without my being aware of it, the Lord was slowly convicting and changing my heart through His word.

I then came to bigger theological topics such as the Trinity and the Deity of Christ and found my eyes were becoming opened to the truth. Through reading passages such as John 1:14, John 10:30 and Luke 1:35 God allowed me to realise that all my life I had been indoctrinated against Christianity, being told lies like “Christians believe in three Gods”, and it made me start to question the validity of the Qur’an.

I kept reading, thinking, and questioning for an extended period, and even reached out to some Somali believers through Facebook that I had found to ask questions. I wanted to know wether I could really believe and follow Christianity. I emailed Nolosha Cusub and by God’s grace they replied and encouraged me with their answers.

I cannot remember the exact hour I decided to follow Christ, but I know that it was not anything I did but rather God in His mercy who regenerated my heart, and I just knew that Christianity was the truth, and I now followed Jesus.

At this time, I was very scared that my family and community would find out I was a believer, so I did not share with anyone I knew personally. I just continued to privately read the scripture and pray when I had time.

Back to Cape Town

At the beginning of 2016, the owner of the shop I was working in decided to sell so I moved back to Cape Town and took another job. I had been praying at the time that the Lord would connect me to other believers so I could have fellowship and find a church as I did not know how to find one on my own. Thankfully, God connected me to Christian workers who had been coming to Bellville with an organisation to share the gospel.

I used to meet them every Tuesday on my day off and we would read the Bible and pray together, they discipled me in the faith and baptised me, but I was still living as a secret believer in my community. I did not feel brave enough to share, and was worried about the consequences not just for me but for my whole family. I knew that I was going to lose everything when they found out.

In 2019, I was finally able to join a small local church who really encouraged my walk with the Lord, and I finally decided to share my faith to my family and friends. It was exceedingly difficult for them to understand as they never expected me to leave Islam. At first, they thought I was being forced to convert and then when they realised, I was not, they thought I was even being paid to be Christian so they offered to support me financially as long as I came back to the religion. I was so grateful in this time for the support of my church family who cared for me.

In 2020 I was offered the opportunity to study the Gap year program through the Bible Institute of South Africa. I was so grateful for the opportunity to study God’s word deeply and grow in my faith as well as meeting other young believers from around the world.

Finally, the Lord blessed me with a family of my own. I met my wife Sarah after she moved from Australia to South Africa to serve with the same organisation as my friends who discipled me and we married in December of 2022. Nine months later, God blessed us with our son Rooble who just turned one year in August 2024. The Lord has also brought us all back into a relationship with my family whom I now get to speak to on a regular basis. Please pray for my family that God will set them free from the lies of Islam and save them.

– Hussein Mohamed