Faithfulness and Joy Amid OppressionSample

Healed from Hate

As one of Pakistan’s Christian minority, Anam experienced persecution and harassment throughout her life. And for much of her life, she had an understandable hatred for her persecutors. 

“I started to hate Muslims after my uncle’s death,” she said. 

Anam looked up to her Uncle Naimat, a schoolteacher who had always encouraged her in her studies. They shared a love of poetry, and Anam hoped to be just like him when she grew up. 

Naimat, the only Christian teacher working at his school, tried to stand up for his students’ best interests. When his Muslim colleagues sent students on personal errands, Naimat intervened and told the students to use their time wisely on their studies. After he was eventually promoted to the position of school principal because of his exemplary work, Naimat’s colleagues became deeply jealous. They hated him so much, in fact, that they hired a hit man to kill him, telling the killer that Naimat had blasphemed the Prophet Muhammad. 

On Jan. 6, 1992, the hired killer stabbed Naimat to death as he left his office. Anam, who was 11 at the time, blamed all Muslims for her uncle’s death. 

After graduating from school, Anam began looking for a job to help support her family. Pakistani Christians often struggle financially because of limited job and educational opportunities, and the only job Anam could find was at a travel agency owned by a Muslim man. Although she needed the job, she quit on her first day of work when the owner tried to molest her. Anam’s opinion of Muslims was confirmed. 

“I came to know many things about persecution and blasphemy, and how Pakistani Christians bear this cross,” she said. After months of unemployment, Anam was hired as an office manager for a group assisting persecuted Christians. The new job fulfilled her desire to do something to help persecuted believers in Pakistan. 

Through her work with persecuted Christians, Anam also experienced a surprising change of heart toward Muslims. As she began to understand that persecution is to be expected by those who follow Christ, she stopped hating her persecutors. She stopped blaming every Muslim for her uncle’s death, replacing that resentment with passion for her work and a desire to see Muslims come to know Christ. 

“I love my work,” she said, “although it’s sometimes like a little sparrow trying to extinguish a fire in the jungle with water in her beak. … I am like this sparrow.” 

Anam has served persecuted believers for more than 16 years now, and her boss refers to her as the “face, eyes and ears” of the office. 

“Working for the persecuted church is not my job; it’s my passion. I always remember this verse: ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters’ (Colossians 3:23).” 

Anam has endured difficult circumstances because of her Christian identity. But instead of remaining filled with hate, she is being transformed by Christ. Today she can truthfully say she loves Muslims. 

Dear Lord, thank You for Anam and others like her who have experienced Your healing from hate toward Muslims and others who are opposed to You. We pray, Father, that Christians in Pakistan will be filled with Your love toward their Muslim neighbors, many of whom oppress our brothers and sisters. We pray that their acts of love will open doors to share the gospel and that we will see a great turning to Christ in Pakistan. We pray, too, that You will work on our hearts, showing us any hatred and lack of forgiveness that resides there, and that You will replace that hatred with Your love. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Photo caption:  Christian women in Pakistan