The Uyghurs of Saudi Arabia

The Uyghurs of Saudi Arabia, numbering approximately 9,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Turkic people native to Central and East Asia, with their historic homeland centered in the region they call East Turkestan and that is today the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwestern China. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Uighur is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Uyghur

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: Saudi Arabia
People Cluster: Uyghur
Primary Language(s): Uighur (uig)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 9,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011939
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Pray for the Uyghurs of Saudi Arabia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Uighur
Language Family: Turkic

100%
%
Uyghur Speakers

Media Resources in Uighur:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Uighur:

2 entries

Or check out the Uighur 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): 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 Uyghurs:
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 Uyghurs of Saudi Arabia

For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
readPsalm 97:9

Pray that those who don't yet know Him will recognize the Lord as the Most High and turn from spiritual darkness to worship Him above all else.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’
readRevelation 7:9-10

Pray that many people will receive the gospel and will be part of the great multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, clothed in white robes and palm branches, proclaiming salvation belongs to our God.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
readDeuteronomy 6:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and might, as they strive to live lives that honor and glorify Him.

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
read2 Corinthians 1:5

When any who might believe suffer for the sake of the gospel, ask God to deepen their understanding of His grace so that they may share it freely with those who have not received it.

Uyghur Across Countries (ROP3 - 110469) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

8 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
UyghursUyghursSaudi Arabia9,500Unengaged and UnreachedUighurSunni Islam
UyghursUyghursChina9,610,000Engaged yet UnreachedUighurSunni Islam
UyghursUyghursUzbekistan66,500Engaged yet UnreachedUighurSunni Islam
UyghursUyghursKazakhstan294,000Engaged yet UnreachedUighurSunni Islam
UyghursUyghursKyrgyzstan27,000Engaged yet UnreachedUighurSunni Islam
UyghursUyghursTurkiye47,500Engaged yet UnreachedUighurSunni Islam
UyghursUyghursUnited States10,000Engaged yet UnreachedUighurSunni Islam
UyghursUyghursCanada1,700Engaged yet UnreachedUighurSunni 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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