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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Riyah Bedouin of Libya

The Riyah Bedouin of Libya, numbering approximately 38,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a people of Libya. They are an Indigenous people in the Bedouin, Saharan people cluster of the Arab Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Arabic, Libyan and their primary religion is Sunni Islam.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Libya
People Cluster: Bedouin, Saharan
Primary Language(s): Arabic, Libyan (ayl)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 38,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG042769
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Pray for the Riyah Bedouin of Libya

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: Arabic, Libyan
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Arabic, Libyan Speakers

Media Resources in Arabic, Libyan:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Arabic, Libyan:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Arabic, Libyan 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 Active 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 Riyah Bedouin:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Riyah Bedouin 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 Riyah Bedouin:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Riyah Bedouin are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Riyah Bedouin:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Riyah Bedouin of Libya

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that any who may be enemies of God will grasp the depth of God's love demonstrated through Christ's death for the ungodly, and be reconciled to Him.

Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the LORD; exult before him!
readPsalm 68:4

Pray that many will come to faith in Christ and share the gospel with others so that His salvation will be known among all nations.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
readPsalm 119:105

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will meditate daily on the Word of God so that, through it, they might have wisdom for the big and small decisions they face every day.

There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.
readMark 7:15

Pray for Christians to take any opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with lost people here, praying they will be wise like Jesus as they share the truth about what can defile people and what can make them clean.

Bedouin, Riyah Across Countries (ROP3 - 108385) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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