Their Mom Was Killed for Her Faith

05 February 2024

“We are a team that is playing with the shortage of a very key player,” Khaled told a VOM worker. “We are really tired.”

Khaled rejected his Muslim faith on Sept. 11, 2001. What kind of religion, he wondered that day, celebrates the killing of 3,000 people? Later he began to read the Bible and listen to a Christian radio broadcast, which ultimately led him to faith in Christ.

Khaled’s wife, Samira, also became a Christian after seeing the dramatic change in the way Khaled treated her and her parents. But following Christ in Yemen is dangerous. After pictures of Samira’s baptism were posted on social media, the family began to receive threats from angry Muslims.

Then, on June 9, 2014, as Samira prepared breakfast, her stovetop erupted in flames, setting her clothing on fire. Someone had filled her jar of cooking oil with gasoline. Samira suffered severe burns and later died in the hospital, leaving behind Khaled and their four children. Just before she died, she whispered to Khaled that she had forgiven all those who persecuted them. Khaled and his family still mourn her loss.

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