Marija Muslim

The history of the Marija Muslims is poorly documented. What is known is that they are a people originating in Pakistan, with no recorded presence in any other country, and that they preserve a strong communal identity. There is also a Marija group of Hindu tradition that bears the same name, and the two communities follow distinct religious paths.

Over time, Sunni Islamic faith became an inseparable part of the identity of the Marija Muslims. There is little written material about their detailed origins, and so the memory that the people themselves keep and pass down, from generation to generation, is the best guardian of their past.

Traditionally, the Marija are an agricultural people. They farm the land and raise animals in the rural villages where they live. Many men work in the fields or in nearby towns, while women care mainly for the home and family.

Families live close to one another, and the bond between neighbors and relatives sustains mutual help in times of celebration, illness, and mourning. The village mosque gathers the community throughout the week. In these villages, access to school, clean water, and health care is often limited, especially for girls.

The Marija of this group are Sunni Muslims. The local mosque and the imam hold a central place in religious and social life: it is there that the community gathers for prayer, for festivals, and to mark the important moments of life.

For them, faith and belonging go together. Being Marija and being Muslim are seen as the same thing, and religion is received from parents as an inheritance of the family and the people. For this reason, speaking of another faith is usually understood as turning away from one’s own people, and not merely as changing one’s opinion.

The New Testament is already available in Saraiki, the language most spoken by the Marija, and can be read or heard on Bible apps and platforms. There is also audio Bible teaching, versions of the film about the life of Jesus in this language, and a literacy primer. The complete Bible does not yet exist in the language, and the challenge is to get these resources to the villages, where not everyone reads easily.

For the Marija, changing faith is seen as breaking with the family and the people, and anyone who draws near to Jesus may face rejection and hostility, in a country where the risk for those who follow Christ is great. Added to this are the isolation of rural villages and the scarcity of materials adapted to their context, so that many may never have met anyone who spoke to them about Jesus.

Many families need clean water and health care in the villages where they live. The education of girls is a special need, since it opens doors of dignity and future for the whole community.

There is also a deep spiritual need: to hear the gospel in their own language, from someone they trust, and to see a community of disciples of Jesus arise that is also Marija, and that can grow with safety and joy.

There are real reasons for hope: the New Testament in Saraiki was recently completed, and today the language has audio, a film about Jesus, and mobile phone apps. These resources can reach homes that no missionary has reached, and the Word of God has power to find the hearts of the Marija, even in silence, through a simple touch on a phone.