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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
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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.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Shehri:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Shehri 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): 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

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
readGenesis 3:15

Pray that those without Christ will hear the words of Genesis 1-3 in their own language, and desire to know their Creator and His provision of salvation.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
readRomans 5:11

Pray for the gospel to advance and for more people to be brought into God's family through the reconciliation Jesus offers them.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
readHebrew 4:16

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will boldly draw near to God as they approach Him in prayer, receive His mercy, and find grace for help in their time of need.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.
readPsalm 15:1-2

Ask God to send believers who will go and, with integrity, walk blamelessly and do what is right, speaking truth about the Lord with those who need to learn about His redemption plan.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ShaharaPG042800ShaharaSaudi Arabia47,500Unengaged and UnreachedShehriSunni Islam
JibbaliPG011880JibbaliOman48,500Unengaged and UnreachedShehriSunni 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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