The Shahara of Saudi Arabia

The Shahara of Saudi Arabia, numbering approximately 47,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic group inhabiting the coastal towns and the mountains and wilderness areas upland from Salalah in the Dhofar Governorate in southwestern Oman. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Shehri is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Saudi Arabia
People Cluster: Arab, Arabian
Primary Language(s): Shehri (shv)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 47,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources
People Group ID: PG042800
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Shahara of Saudi Arabia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Shehri
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

76%
%
Shehri Speakers

Media Resources in Shehri:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Shehri:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Shehri bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources (GSEC: 0), there are no evangelical Christians or churches among this people group and there is no access to evangelical print, audio, visual or human resources

Next steps for the Shahara:
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 Shahara of Saudi Arabia

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRom 6:23

Pray that those who haven't heard yet will hear and believe that the wages of their sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
readIsaiah 43:19

Pray that the lost will see the new thing God can do in their lives and trust in His plan and purpose for them.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
readHebrews 10:24

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will love and encourage one another, spurring each other on to live lives that honor God.

Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
readPsalm 134:1

Pray that God will raise up believers among them who are in awe of Him and that, in service to Him, they will share the gospel with others so that they too may bless the Lord!

Jibbali Across Countries (ROP3 - 108895) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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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