A woman from Afghanistan was given a Bible by her boss, and this led to her, her husband and her entire family converting from Islam to Christianity.
Khada, whose name has been changed for security reasons, remains in Afghanistan, where life has become even more difficult since the Taliban’s takeover of power in 2021, and she is a member of a secret church.
She told Christian organisation Open Doors how she had been raised as a Muslim and married a Muslim man, and assumed she would raise a Muslim family. However, Khada worked in an office before the Taliban regime prevented women from working after they overthrew the government in 2021 and, after forming a strong personal relationship with her boss, her boss made the extremely dangerous decision to give her a Bible, despite it being illegal to convert from Islam to Christianity even before the Taliban takeover.
This changed everything for Khada; she took the Bible home and showed her husband, and they both read the entire book over the next six months and decided to become Christians and get baptised. Furthermore, they then decided to risk telling Khada’s family and her husband’s sister about the gospel and, after working through them one by one, they all became Christians.
Khada and her husband still had to be very careful about who found out about their faith. One day, Khada feared the worst when her husband did not return from an underground Bible study group or respond to any attempts to contact him.
She told Open Doors: ‘His phone was turned off and it didn’t ring. I thought at first that maybe his phone wasn’t working. I also called someone from my family and there was still no news from him. I felt fear and all kinds of thoughts.’
Tragically, Khada received the news that her husband’s body had been discovered two days later, and that he had been killed for his faith. The news left her unconscious, and when she awoke, his body was being prepared for burial.
Khada’s boss was one of the main people to support her during her grief, and despite enduring such raw personal experience of what following Jesus can cost Christians in countries like Afghanistan, Khada continues to follow Jesus, spending time in prayer with Him every day and participating in an underground Bible study group.
She said: ‘In the past, all my stories and conversations were with my husband. Now, all of them are with Jesus, and I tell Him stories every night and every day. I believe that He is listening and hears all my conversations. … In the difficult Taliban regime, we face challenges, but with strong faith, we persevere.’
