We stopped reading and looked at each other. Was that really someone else at the door? “Assalamu’alaikum!” Someone else from the village wanted to see what we were doing. I wondered whether my friend *Rahmat would pack away the ‘Taurats’ and ‘Injils’—Old Testament portions and Gospels. He had been worried that others might disapprove of anything that was not the Al Qur’an. However, to my surprise, he waved the visitors in to sit on the floor beside our growing group.
I briefly checked to see how our kids were coping with another late evening out in the village, but they were already dozing, blissfully unaware of the mosquitoes floating idly by in the now sticky evening heat. The dim light from the solitary electric bulb and scattered flashlights was hardly sufficient to read the story of Noah that we had been studying together. As Rahmat gave each of our visitors a copy of Genesis, I started mentally preparing a summary of how God had shut the ark’s door and saved Noah and his family from the flood of His judgement.
I shouldn’t have been concerned. Rahmat was ahead of me and started explaining exactly who “Prophet Noah” was — including his genealogy, something seemingly fascinating to the culture here rather than our Westernized timelines. I learned again as Rahmat talked, not just from the style of his summary, but also from his passion for the authority of God’s word. He had told me how different it was to read the truth from the weekly moral diet of human opinion he had heard at the mosque.
This was the second time reading through the Holy Books for Rahmat. Initially, we had read together in private for fear of what others might think. However, having heard how the Author of our faith had related with Adam & Eve by physically walking with them in the garden and then had brought His word into human history as Jesus, the promised Savior, Rahmat also wanted his whole family to read these truths. I was under strict instructions to teach them in the same way as I had taught him.
It’s easy to imagine that one day Rahmat himself will also read the Bible with and teach others. Yet first, we pray that others will share in his spiritual growth and be prepared to face the potential personal cost within their community of being known to publicly embrace Jesus.
Would you join us in praying for the discipleship relationship between Daniel and Rahmat? In addition, pray that Rahmat’s budding faith will continue to bear fruit amid potential personal persecution.