For 18 years, Farah devoted her life to serving these women. God was redeeming the persecution she had experienced at the hands of her own family. Her suffering and experiences had purpose. She was there to help other single mothers who felt they had no way forward except prostitution by offering them the Gospel.
Women have no rights in Iran, and forced temporary marriages are common. This is why so many find themselves as single mothers caught in prostitution. Their hardline society takes away consent. Christianity restores it, but the women become vulnerable in a whole new way.
One woman’s situation continues to haunt Farah. All Iranian women carry special cards which detail their marriage history and children. They can’t get jobs without this card, but employers prey on single mothers. They know that when the choice is between providing food for their children and homelessness, mothers put their children first.
Farah eventually developed a close friendship with a young prostitute, Ava. Through selling herself, Ava earned approximately $800 a month – barely enough to survive. But when Ava became a Christian, she took a leap of faith and stopped engaging in prostitution.
Farah remembers her story, “She became a believer and found a new job for $400, which was barely paying the rent even for low income housing. So she went to her new job and the boss asked her, ‘How can you survive for $400 a month? Come and I will take you under my covering, you just need to have sex with me.’”
Farah continued, “She said, ‘I am not Muslim, I am a Christian and we don’t do that in Christianity.’ He said, ‘If you don’t have sex with me then, I will turn you into the authorities for evangelizing and that is the death penalty.’”
Seeing this situation unfold greatly impacted Farah. “I was really shaken by the fact that when women would stand up for Christ, their income would drastically drop. But also more than that, the threats they got and the persecution made them hide out and run. Their life became very difficult. My friend, the way she stood her ground, really impacted me by her testimony.”
She added, “It is always the same. Finding a job, and rejecting sex, is a constant.”
For nearly two decades, Farah continued in her ministry. But this year, it came to an end. Local Iranian officials finally had enough. They arrested her sister, and requested that Farah turn herself into a local police station. Instead, Farah fled Iran.
Farah never imagined that she would leave Iran. She loves her country, and the women she has left behind. Currently, she is seeking sanctuary in a neighboring country where she awaits news of her arrested sister. Life here is different, and somehow even more difficult.
“The reason we loved staying in Iran is because we saw such need for Christ,” she explained. “There was such a purity and community in the house churches that I haven’t found outside of Iran. It was so beautiful. Under the persecution, there was such a beautiful love for Christ I have seen nowhere else. Through that, there came a unity for all of us.”
She is still grieving for those she left behind. “My heart is really breaking for the women there, especially when they become Christian. They go through extreme persecution and experience such poverty. No one is helping them.”
Farah needs prayer as she waits for news of her family in Iran. But she does not want us to forget these other women. Society takes away their consent and ignores their humanity. But Christ restores and redeems. And this remains her constant prayer for Iran’s women.
For interviews, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org