Day 25: The Salar People

Who are the Salar?
In the 11 th century, persecution drove a tribe of people known as the Salar to leave their homeland, now modern-day Uzbekistan, and travel east. Not knowing where they were headed, the devout Muslims strapped a copy of the Koran to a camel's head and asked Allah to guide them. After months of dangerous travel through the mountains of Central Asia, one of the leaders had a vivid dream about a beautiful waterfall. When the travellers encountered the same waterfall the very next day, the camel dropped down to drink and turned into a white stone. The travellers made their home there, and some of their descendants can still be found in that same location along the banks of the Yellow River. 

Today the Salar can be found in Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang Provinces. The above story gives testimony to the rich folklore of their culture. The Salar live in two-story adobe houses surrounded by walled courtyards, and it is common for the entire extended family to live together in one house. For this reason, marriages are often viewed as a union between two families rather than a personal decision made by a man and a woman in love.

The Salar converted to Islam in 1750 and are said to be the most zealous Muslims in China. One source ( Operation China , p. 464) reports only 20 Salar Christians out of a people group of more than 113,000. The Salar have no access to the Word of God in their own language, and few Christians are targeting them for evangelism. The younger Salar people are finding themselves not as strictly devoted to Islam as their ancestors, but they have nothing else with which to replace their traditional beliefs.

Points of Prayer:
1. That God will encourage, protect, and sustain the 20 known Salar Christians. Pray that they will grow into a mighty, God-glorifying church.

2. For the Lord to soften the hearts of these strict Muslims so that they will consider Christ.

3. That God will raise up converted Muslims to share the gospel in a relevant and understandable way with the Salar.