HELPING
A MUSLIM MOM

Topics: Christian Life; Compassion; Poor People; Widows; Witnessing

References: Deuteronomy 10:18; James 1:27

Sheikha was born about sixty years ago to a Bedouin family that roamed across vast areas of the Middle East. Today her tribe is forced to live in one place because their nomadic ways are unwelcome by landowners and considered a security threat by governments.

Sheikha’s life fell short of the noble designs her parents had for her. Where she lives is not part of any country. There is barely a government. Fierce fighting flares between Jews and Arabs only a few miles away. Also, the husband with whom she had six children abandoned her, leaving Sheikha to fend for herself and a severely disabled daughter.

Though uneducated, Sheikha is resourceful. She scraped together some cash, bought a couple of junkyard buses, and had them towed to her village of fifteen hundred people. Sheikha and her daughter live in one bus and planned to open a little convenience market in the shell of the other. With the help of HOPE, a Christian organization, she has done that.

HOPE loaned the money Sheikha needed to fill her shop with small items like soap, school supplies, and basic medicines. The store is a great service to the village, a great way for Sheikha to make a living, and a big witness to Muslims. “I prefer to be with Christians because they feel for the poor who need help,” Sheikha says. “The others didn’t look after me, not even my husband.”

—Kevin Miller, “Christians Help Muslim Widow,” PreachingToday.com