News / Thoughts

Tajikistan: Urgent prayer request

Open Doors is an international organisation with bases in many countries around the world. That means we get regular prayer requests and updates from Christians and the church all over the world. Some we can’t share because the situations involved are too sensitive, but many we can. We just heard about a lad in Tajikistan who we would love you to be praying for – we’ll call him Hakim, and we think he’s in his early teens. This is what’s been going on with him recently…

Hakim is facing some pretty tough times because of he’s become a Christian. He decided to share about his faith in Jesus with his mum, and now all his relatives know he’s a Christian.

However, his older brother wasn’t happy about his change of faith and has been on at him to convert back to Islam. He’s been violent and aggressive, and has beaten up Hakim, but Hakim still refused to give up his new faith. The last straw came when this brother threatened Hakim again, trying to burn him with a hot iron. Hakim ran away.

Hakim is now living with a relative who took him in, and a local Open Doors worker is helping him. Hakim didn’t want to go to a local Christian family as he didn’t want to cause trouble for them. He’s only asked: “Please pray for me that I will try to stand all these difficulties for the sake of Isa Massih, with His strength”.

What to pray

Please pray for this young brave Christian!
Pray for his faith to grow, for his safety and for his relatives to accept his new faith, and for their salvation too. Ask God to comfort Hakim and give him new friends and family that can help him grow as a Christian and show him God’s love and concern for him.

What’s it like for Christians is Tajikistan?

Tajikistan is ranked at number 22 on the 2018 Open Doors World Watch List. In Tajikistan no religious activities beyond state-run and state-controlled institutions are allowed. The central government has created restrictive laws, including a ‘youth law’ that prevents those under 18 from taking part in religious activities. Local governments and police raid religious meetings, detain believers and confiscate religious literature. Christians from Muslim backgrounds face the most pressure, as they are also persecuted by their families and friends, sometimes being locked up, beaten and expelled from their communities. They often keep their faith secret.