The Lak people are Muslims living in Southwestern Russia. Their ancestors were part of Russia's rivals, the Ottoman Turks. Since the late 1700s, they have been under Russian control. They are defined by their language by the same name, Lak.
The traditional occupations of the Lak are agriculture and animal husbandry. From their homeland in western Russia (Dagestan) the Lak grow and harvest wheat, olives, grapes, maize and vegetables in the lands that surround their villages.
They prefer to have as little contact with the Russian government as possible. Because of historical and cultural differences, they are not on good terms with Russians. The Lak people and the Russians agree that it's best to keep outsiders away from their homeland. That means that potential ambassadors of Christ are immediately suspect.
The people are Sunni Muslims who believe that the supreme God, Allah, spoke through his prophet, Mohammed, and taught mankind how to live a righteous life through the Koran and the Hadith. To live a righteous life, you must utter the Shahada (a statement of faith), pray five times a day facing Mecca, fast from sunup to sundown during the month of Ramadan, give alms to the poor, and make a pilgrimage to Mecca if you have the means. Muslims are prohibited from drinking alcohol, eating pork, gambling, stealing, slandering and making idols. They gather for corporate prayer on Friday afternoons at a mosque, their place of worship.
The two main holidays for Sunni Muslims are Eid al Fitr, the breaking of the monthly fast and Eid al Adha, the celebration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to Allah.
Sunni religious practices are staid and simple. They believe that Allah has pre-determined our fates; they minimize free will.
In most of the Muslim world, people depend on the spirit world for their daily needs since they regard Allah as too distant. Allah may determine their eternal salvation, but the spirits determine how well we live in our daily lives. For that reason, they must appease the spirits. They often use charms and amulets to help them with spiritual forces.
Dagestan is extremely difficult for Christian workers to enter, and there is much resistance to the advance of the gospel in this area. Almost no one would dare to take them the life-saving gospel.
Starting in the 1990s, some of the urban Lak started coming to Jesus, and now there are a handful of Lak believers. The New Testament books of Mark and Luke were translated. After that, Bible work stalled because of a lack of team leadership. Outreach to the Lak must include furthering this translation project so they can have the Bible in their mother tongue.
There are very few believers among the Lak. Pray for the Lord to give them strength and courage to share the gospel with their Muslim neighbors.
Pray for the few Lak believers to shine as bright lights amid their families and clans.
Pray for encouragement and success for a Lak Bible translation team.
Ask the Lord to send loving workers to the Lak.
Pray that the Lord would raise up a growing church movement among the Lak of Dagestan.
Scripture Prayers for the Lak in Russia.
| Profile Source: Joshua Project |
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