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The Rashaida of Eritrea

The Rashaida of Eritrea, numbering approximately 30,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a nomadic Bedouin Arab ethnic group inhabiting the coastal plain of the Red Sea, stretching from the Sudanese city of Port Sudan to the Eritrean city of Massawa. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Hijazi Arabic is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: Rashaida

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Eritrea
People Cluster: Arab, Sudan
Primary Language(s): Hijazi Arabic (acw)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 30,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG042707
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Pray for the Rashaida of Eritrea

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Hijazi Arabic
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Arabic, Hijazi Speakers

Media Resources in Hijazi Arabic:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
The SaviorView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Hijazi Arabic:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Hijazi Arabic bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Rashaida:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Rashaida of Eritrea

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
readEphesians 6:12

Pray for those ensnared by the darkness of this world, that they will recognize the spiritual forces at work and turn to the light of Christ.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
readMatthew 13:8-9

Pray that they will have open hearts and minds to the Word of God, and that it will take root in their lives and bear fruit for His glory.

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
readLamentations 3:25

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust in the goodness of the Lord as they wait on Him to answer their cries for help.

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
readActs 17:32

Ask God to give those He sends to cross cultures wisdom and discernment as they engage in spiritual conversations with those who are curious about the gospel.

Rashaida Across Countries (ROP3 - 108307) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
RashaidaPG012130RashaidaSudan154,000Unengaged and UnreachedGulf ArabicSunni Islam
RashaidaPG042700RashaidaEgypt46,000Engaged yet UnreachedAlgerian ArabicSunni Islam
RashaidaPG042707RashaidaEritrea30,500Unengaged and UnreachedHijazi ArabicSunni Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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