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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

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

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
readEphesians 6:12

Pray for those ensnared by the darkness of this world, that they will recognize the spiritual forces at work and turn to the light of Christ.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
readJohn 3:16

Pray that the lost will seek God and learn that they have a heavenly Father who loves them and wants them to live eternally with Him.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
readEphesians 6:10-11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will grow strong in His power, putting on the full armor of God, which will enable them to stand against the devil’s lies.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
readJohn 1:12

Pray that believers will have the opportunity to clearly share the good news with the lost here, so that all people can be invited to trust in Jesus and become children of God.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▼LanguageReligion
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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