Years after listening to Christian radio in his native Morocco, Rashid Hmami can now worship in an official Christian church. Hmami was a teenager when he became a Christian. At that time, Christian radio was the only way for him to hear and respond to the gospel. He often listened to Arabic broadcasts by the Back to God Hour, the Christian Reformed Church’s media broadcast ministry.
Hmami’s father is an imam (leader) in a local mosque, and the family disowned Rashid when he became a Christian. But on Sept. 5, Hmami and his wife Aziza joined First Christian Reformed Church in Lansing, Ill., and their son Ryan was baptized. Aziza’s parents came from Morocco for the event.
Hmami says, “Christianity is my life. My heart is with God, my Christian community, and the Muslim community in Morocco.”
A Bible translation into the Moroccan dialect is nearing completion, and Hmami hopes to help produce audiotapes of the translation so that people in his native land can know the joy he has found.
