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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Beja of Egypt

The Beja of Egypt, numbering approximately 1,265,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Cushitic pastoralist people of the mountains between the Red Sea and the Nile, documented in the region since roughly 4000 BCE, organized into patrilineal clans and renowned as camel traders along Red Sea routes from Egypt to Eritrea. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Beja is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Beja

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Egypt
People Cluster: Beja
Primary Language(s): Beja (bej)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 1,265,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG042689

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Pray for the Beja of Egypt

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Beja
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Bedawiyet Speakers

Media Resources in Beja:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Beja:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Beja bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Beja are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Beja:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Beja of Egypt

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
readPsalm 51:17

Pray that those who want to achieve salvation through their works will be unsettled in their pursuit and that, with a broken spirit and contrite heart, they will trust in Christ.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
readPsalm 127:3

Pray that God will bless this generation of children, that they will come to know Jesus early in life and follow Him always.

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
readHebrews 10:32-33

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember the day of their salvation and persevere in their faith despite hardships and suffering.

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!

Beja Across Countries (ROP3 - 101211) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BejaPG011980BejaSudan3,240,000Engaged yet UnreachedBejaSunni Islam
BejaPG042689BejaEgypt1,265,000Engaged yet UnreachedBejaSunni Islam
BejaPG033677BejaEritrea226,000Unengaged and UnreachedBejaSunni 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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