Bless My Neighbor

Mahmoud is a young man from Upper Egypt whose family lives in a small village. When he was eight years old, he was sent to Cairo to work to help the family. On his first vist to Cairo, he met his uncle, for whom he was going to work. His uncle put him to work all day and as the day ended, he thought he would go home with his uncle to his family. Instead, his uncle locked him in a dark room above his suit factory. Mahmoud was afraid and sat in a corner with his legs pulled up against his chest and arms wrapped tightly around them. He sat up crying all night, and all he could see was some light coming through holes in the roof that illuminated the rats crawling around the rafters. He would finally sleep as the sun came up, then his uncle would open the door and let him out to work another twelve hours.

When Mahmoud returned home, he was so traumatized he fell asleep on his mat on the floor of his family’s home. He slept for a week with his mom unable to wake him except for putting small amounts of food in his mouth. At the end of the week his father took him to the imam who told the family he had evil spirits in him. He charged the family a larger amount of money and wrote some Koranic verses on special paper, placed it in water to dissolve and had him drink it. This was the start of a life of traveling and working to help support his family till he finally moved full time to Cairo at age 14 to work. He found no hope for his life and he sought help from Islam, but he was told he just needed to pray 5 times a day.

Hope came one day when someone shared the Good News with Mahmoud in the café that he was working in. A relationship was formed and at one point a New Testament was given to him. Conversations of Jesus took place often and he told his father about it. On a visit to see his family, the father took the New Testament and began reading it. Mahmoud continued working to help his sisters be able to get married and his younger brother to go to university. He uncles abused him so much he decided to move to another country to find a job and he has been blessed greatly in this move. Conversations continue, hope grows, he is now reading the bible and he is moving to where he can overcome the bondage of Islam and embrace the freedom that comes with Jesus. Pray for Mahmoud to reach the point in his life where he gives his live over to Jesus.  Pray for the masses, who are held in the grip of cultural traditions and the bondage of Islam, to find the hope and the freedom in Jesus Christ.