Al Basrah, (also called Basorah) is the capital of Basra Province in Iraq with an estimated population of about 3,800,000. Basra is a significant port, although most of the deep water maritime traffic is handled at the the port of Umm Qasr nearer to the Arabian (Persian) Gulf. The city is located near the historic location of Sumer which was one of the world’s first civilizations. It is not far from the ruins of Ur of the Chaldeans where Abraham was born. The city began in AD 636 as an encampment for a Muslim army stationed in the area. It is Iraq’s second largest and most populous city after Baghdad.
In the 1970s, the region along the Shatt al-Arab waterway near Basrah had between 17 to 18 million date palms, an estimated one-fifth of the world’s palm trees. However by 2002, war, salt infiltration, and pests had wiped out more than 14 million of the palms, (9 million in Iraq and 5 million in Iran). Many of the remaining trees are in poor condition.
The Fumes of Oil
Basrah is awash in petrol. It is estimated that at least 90% of the city is build on oil fields. The gas and petrol fumes are part of the daily life of Basrah’s residents. The fumes and city’s brackish water have contributed to very large numbers of childhood cancers and other illnesses. Local sewage systems and garbage pickup have long been overwhelmed by the growth of the population so many people live in very unpleasant circumstances among heaps of garbage, stinking sewage and petroleum fumes.
While the city is very involved in the petroleum industry many of its inhabitants actually do not profit directly from oil. Relatively few are employed in the oil industry. Hundreds of thousands live in the villages surrounding the oil fields while knowing that they are not qualified or else they do not have enough money to bribe someone to get a job (bribes sometimes amount to 2,000 – 5,000 dollars US).
The Tribes
Flag of Iraq
Map of Iraq
In Basrah 99.9% of the population are ethnically Arabs from dozens of tribes. About 20% of the population are Sunni Muslim but the vast majority are Shiites. There is a very small number of believers in the Messiah and gnostic Mandaeans.
Prayer Starters for Basrah:
- Pray that God would raise up officials and community leaders who seek the well being of their people more than their own prosperity and self indulgence.
- Pray especially for leaders to have inspiration, wisdom and courage to take the urgent steps necessary to solve the many health, garbage collection and sewage problems. The people of the city are suffering greatly.
- Pray for breakthroughs in the area of education and jobs. Some schools a very overcrowded and lack basic facilities like toilets.
- Many people live in fatalism and can see no future. Pray that many of Basrah’s Muslims would encounter the Messiah, the giver of hope, through television, radio and personal witness.
Video: Facing Extinction: Ancient Christian Community of Iraq (3:40)
Facing Extinction: Christians of Iraq from Robert Marcarelli on Vimeo.
This is one of the most moving tales I have witnessed in a long time. And, I have already witnessed several such moving tales in the short time I have known about this call to prayer for Christians and your website.
I have been posting EVERY day on my facebook re “Loving Muslims Through Prayer” as posted on www-30-days.net. I appreciate all I have learned and all I have been inspired to pray for. I have been moved.
Today, after viewing this video, I am sad. Just sad. What are the consequences of war? I think we might be surprised… I have asked EVERY CHRISTIAN on my FB to PLEASE VIEW this 3M Video: Facing Extinction: Ancient Christian Community of Iraq.
I must tell you, I have yet to get one reply to my FB (and most of my FB friends are Christians) telling me that they are joining me in this 30 days of prayer. And, today is Day 11. I wonder what it will take to wake us up to the need to PRAY….? I don’t know. In America, we are too fat & happy…and distracted with trivial nonsense. I am waiting to see, if after 30 days of posts, I do not get at least ONE fellow Christian to “like” or “comment” on these posts…to tell me, yes, they are praying, too. If not, I will be very, very, very sad.
But, as a Christian, as humble an offering as it might be, I know that I can pray. God hears. He answers prayer. So, I am praying. I will continue to pray. God BLESS the work you are doing. It is necessary. It is difficult. It is good. God will bless it.
Yea! On Day 12, I had someone on my FB (a fellow Christian) show interest in the Day 12 Post! (I repost each day to my FB in hopes of reaching other Christians who will pray.) And, only one day after posting my lament! I’m not sure if God is saying, “It’s ok….they will hear me….keep posting…..” or not. But, it was encouraging, nonetheless. Again, I am sad that it is so seemingly hard to motivate Christians to pick up this burden. To pray, seems to be one of the least things we can do. And, yet, it matters so much…. But, maybe God calls us for different reasons and seasons….. So, I won’t despair…. God is faithful!
Thanks again for your work…. I continue to learn, grow, and pray.
The promises God gives us in his word about prayer are quite remarkable. So I am sure it is a spiritual battle.
Don’t be sad that your FB friends don’t seem to engage. Let us bless them together to be able to join you (us all) in prayer for the Muslim world.
Bless them to believe it when God says he will, “heal the land”, “open the gates,” “bless us … hear us … teach us … talk to us … answer us” …
pray is good, only thing to work
god is good, only thing to work
acts come after pray jesus believe, veery good
god hears, very good
Thanks to the faithful brothers and sisters who compile these prayer requests for the 30-days.net and those saints who pray large for Kingdom issues, and particularly for those who have a heart and a burden for the Muslim world and are sacrificial with their time to intercede in this way for a people in great darkness.
I grieve with “Praying Christian” whose comments are sadly true.
When I came to faith in Christ in 2005, though living all 53 years of my life in the USA, the Lord blessed me with a burden for the Muslim world, having prayed for some north African countries before it ever occured to me to pray for my own country, which desperately needs prayer as well.
My youngest son was graced of the Lord to be in Lebanon in 2006 with a small church group who were poor materially but O, SO RICH in Christ Jesus. He shared that they prayed faithfully for God to remove the material possessions, the distractions, of those in the US that we might see and seek the Lord and His Kingdom.
One of my great blessings after coming to faith was to be asked to host a man from Jordan who worked with Global Hope Network and principally in his country they were ministering and serving the needs of hundreds of thousands of immigrants fleeing into Jordan from Iraq, some Christians, some Muslms. So my awareness of this issue has been on my heart and mind for 5 years now.
Pray on, my brothers and sisters in the Lord!
[Edited for brevity, Admin]
Per Ann S: He shared that they prayed faithfully for God to remove the material possessions, the distractions, of those in the US that we might see and seek the Lord and His Kingdom.
YES! I think this is partly what is happening in the US, now. So many are having to let go of luxuries and dare I say, decadence (?), that can only be distraction in the end….
My own family just went through 9 months of joblessness (completely unexpected) and then a 50% pay cut when work returned. BUT, God has been SO faithful and loving! We are SO much better off, emotionally and spiritually!
Remember this, it is true: Only GOD can turn what is intended for evil into so much good. And, it never ceases to amaze me. Meanwhile, not only does having LESS keep us less “distracted” and less stressed (ironically), but it humbles us as we watch God carry us, and keeps us close to Him, which is where we SHOULD have been in the first place!
So, as for the above statement, Ann S, tell your son to KEEP PRAYING THAT PRAYER! Even in our new economy, we are an incredibly wealthy (and thus, distracted) nation…..
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chron 7:14.
Finally starting to hear chatter from some of my posts. But, it is mostly divisive and negative. Not prayerful. Not kind. Not loving. Not understanding of the need to learn, to grow, to pray.
Secular Americans argue that Christians are intolerant of Muslims. (Some Christians Americans – who follow Jesus, the Christ – argue this, too!) We have our own issues going on in America over a Mosque/Community Center to be built in NYC, near the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Just another excuse to hate one another.
Christians (some of them – too many of them) argue that Muslims are evil and should not be tolerated. Some equate all Muslims as merely extremists/terrorists, who hate Christians. They blame 9/11 on Muslims rather than on the true evil of that day, the terrorists. The two are not the same, imho.
It is so very sad to me. Both sides, just sad.
When will we learn to follow the teachings, the example, of Jesus Christ, the Messiah? Just Jesus, the Prince of Peace, who came for all? When will we learn the message he gave to us? When will we realize we learn more from loving each other than from hating? When? I do not know.
I know I cannot change this, but I can pray. Jesus Christ prayed, “Father, Forgive them, they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) It was his dying prayer for all of mankind. Truly, none of us know what we are doing that is so evil in the eyes of our heavenly Father.
But, God in Heaven heard the prayer of Jesus Christ, the atonement for all sins. God in Heaven hears our prayers today. God, the Father, can change this. And, hopefully he will guide us to all truth through Jesus Christ, our Lord & Savior, the Messiah that has come for once and all time to free us from OURSELVES! Praise be to God!