Open Doors World Watch List 2025: The Top 50 – Rank No. 42 Comoros

What does persecution look like in Comoros?
Comoros' state religion is Islam, and it's illegal for a person to share about any faith other than Sunni Islam. Any foreigner suspected of proselytising can be deported, while local Christians who preach Christianity will be prosecuted. Christian worship (and any non-Islamic form of worship) cannot be carried out in public. Christians can only legally worship in three designated churches. Converts from Islam can face significant pressure, as can anyone who is found to have Christian materials in their possession. 

Who is most vulnerable to persecution?
Converts from Islam face the highest level of persecution, as leaving the Muslim faith is a crime. 

Meet 'Nura'
I found Christ from a young age, so I have known and understood Jesus Christ and never allowed for anything to take me away from Him – no matter the challenges. NURA, A CHRISTIAN FROM COMOROS

What has changed this year?
In late 2023, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom put Comoros on its ‘special watch list,’ demonstrating that the country's restrictions on religious minorities – including Christians – are internationally significant. The nation's presidential election in early 2024 was marred by violent protests; the victor is the same leader who has been in power since 2016, suggesting that little will change for Christians in Comoros. The country remains a very difficult place for followers of Jesus. 

What does Open Doors do to help Christians in Comoros?
Open Doors works through local partners to strengthen the persecuted church in East African islands through discipleship and economic empowerment projects.

​How can you pray for Comoros?

• Please pray for Christians who find Jesus out of Islam: life can be extremely difficult for them. Pray for these believers, especially those rejected by their families and communities.
• Pray that increasingly Christians will be able to worship openly, even though Islam is the state religion.
• Ask God to change hearts and laws so that people in the Comoros islands will be able to follow Jesus legally even if they were previously Muslim.

 
Persecution Type: Dictatorial Paranoia
Christians:  5,500 (0.6%)
Main Religion: Islam
Government: Federal Presidential Republic
Leader: President Azali Assoumani
 
Reference: Open Door’s World Watch List 2025: The Top 50. Open Doors International. USA: Authors.