Abu Bakarr Marrah is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone, currently serving as a lawyer at Michael & Michael Law Firm and a Legal Officer for the Institute of Legal Research and Advocacy for Justice. A certified legal arbitrator through the Institute of African Women in Law, he holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Diplomacy and International Relations and is pursuing his Ph.D. at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. Alongside his legal career, he serves as a Minister of the Gospel at House of Grace International Ministries in Sierra Leone.

Personal Journey & Faith

Abu Bakarr's faith journey began at age 13 through an unexpected encounter. Growing up in a household where food was often scarce, he noticed a nearby church hosting a feast following a period of fasting. Intrigued by the meal, he slipped inside, heard the sermon, and gave his life to Christ that very day. That moment sparked a lifelong devotion to Jesus, whom he credits for his life and transformation.

His path has been marked by profound spiritual and physical trials. For years, he battled intense anxiety, tormenting voices, physical illness, and spiritual warfare. Despite a family warning that no man in his lineage advanced far educationally without succumbing to spiritual opposition—and facing a crushing season in 2024 involving the loss of two brothers, an exam setback, and severe health issues—he stood firm on the promise of Isaiah 53:5. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, he overcame these afflictions, turning moments of weakness into spiritual strength.

Today, Abu Bakarr balances his legal practice and academic pursuits with his greatest passion: teaching the Word of God and sharing the Gospel.

Links:

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Praise God for you, Abu Bakr Mourad.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

I'm in West Africa, Sierra Leone.

I believe you're the first person from Sierra Leone that we've had on the podcast, so congratulations on being the first.

Oh, well, that's a bonus, you know, of my honor being here.

Yeah, it's an honor as well for us.

Yeah, so tell me, how did you come to meet Jesus?

It's about 10 or 12 years ago.

I grew up in the place where, you know, we don't have much to eat.

I mean, to have food around was very difficult, so I was taking a stroll around the area, and I saw a church, and this church was having a feast.

You know, there was so much to eat, so much food, and I was like, you know what, let me just sneak my way in, and perhaps I could be part of those who partake of the food.

So I snuck in, and, you know, I was served.

I ate, and thereafter, they began to preach about Jesus' salvation, and I was, you know, convicted by the Holy Spirit and gave my life to Jesus, and since then, I became a passionate, you know, lover of the Lord Jesus.

That's an amazing story.

So were you scolded for getting in there eating, or were they welcoming of you?

Well, I was not scolded, but then you could tell that from the looks of all the members of the church, you were like, who are you?

Where are you coming from?

Are you invited?

I was a kid, so I didn't care.

All I needed was the food.

So at this age, is it something that is prominent that people in your community are hungry, just the way you were?

Yeah, it is.

I mean, it is.

Our country is one of the poorest countries in the world, and even in this age, people are actually, you know, going through hunger.

So it's just those who are able to actually have food, perhaps like three times a day, are not that too many.

But the majority of the population, they are constrained, you know.

Hunger is part of the daily difficulties of this country.

How old are you today, Abubakar?

Yeah, I am 28.

So take me through what happened over the next 15 years.

So after that, I gave my life to Jesus, and then, so I think it was a fasting week for that church, so every day they were having a feast.

So I used the opportunity to join them, so I could eat every day.

After a week, I realized that if I didn't live right for Jesus, and I died in that condition, I would go to hell.

So because of that fear, I began to willingly live for Jesus.

And a year after, my stepdad drove me out of his house, and I tried to go back, but I could not be accepted anymore.

So I had now to stay in the church.

I was around age 14 to 15, so I stayed in that church.

The pastor took care of me.

I was the cleaner of the church.

I was the one that would arrange all the chairs, and then later on, I joined the intercessory department of the church, where I learned a lot as to how I could pray.

And then after a while in that church, I took my exam, which qualified me to now enter senior high school, and I had to leave the church, and then I went to my aunt, which was about, I would say like 30 miles away or 35 miles away from where I was living in the church, because of the schooling.

And the school that I was attending was a boys' school.

So this aunt I was with, I stayed with her for like a year, and then something came up.

When something came up, I did something.

I did not actually do my chores at home, and because of that, she was very much angry, but I did that because I needed to take my exam in school.

And if I had done my chores, like sweeping the whole compound, washing the dishes and all, I would have late for my exam, and I would have failed.

So when I came back after my exam, she was so angry, and then she drove me.

And then my other relatives, my cousins, and all, they took my books, my things, and they burnt all of them.

So I became homeless again for the second time.

And so I had to squat with one of my friends.

I stayed at his place for about five to six years where I was.

But then it was very hard for me because I was not working.

I had no one to support me.

I had no money.

And everywhere I was living with my friends, sometimes you could feel that you are unwelcome, and that my friend needed some space, some privacy.

But I was always there, you know, taking so much from his time and all.

Along the way, I was fortunate to enroll in a school where I was teaching.

So I was teaching in this school.

I was also teaching one young gentleman in my area.

He would give me at least maybe monthly, he would give me, I mean, he would give me like $20 or maybe $10 or $15, you know.

So I mean, that was a bit enough for me to carry out my daily expenses.

So after a while, I got admission to do my LLB degree in the University of Sierra Leone for Abbe College.

And even with this, I didn't have someone to have supported me.

So I called my father, who is, I mean, by the way, he's very rich, he's very wealthy, but he doesn't care about us.

He's just not in that status to, you know, support the student.

And he lives in Europe.

So I called him.

I had to beg him that I needed fees and all.

And then he promised to pay my fees.

So he paid for the first and second year.

And then for reasons known to him, he stopped paying my fees during the third and the fourth year.

So I had to, you know, going to praying and fasting, asking the Lord that I needed fees, and there was no way.

And then the Lord told me that, don't worry, I'm going to pay your fees, and I'm going to make you great among your colleagues.

I will never forget, I mean, those exact wordings coming from the Lord.

And then, miraculously, I applied for what we called the Sierra Leone Granting Aid Scholarship, where it's the government that will actually give you this scholarship.

But for you to earn the scholarship here in Sierra, it's not based on merit, it's based on political connection, who you know in the government, you know.

So I had someone who knew someone that knew someone in the government.

So I applied for the scholarship, and surprisingly, I got it.

And that was how my third and fourth years in university was being paid for, with no stress.

Okay, thereafter, again, after I graduated in 2023, with my honours degree in LLB, I was now supposed to enter the Sierra Leone Law School before I, you know, become a lawyer.

And I was supposed to pay about $1,500, and I had no one to support me, no money, no nothing.

Where would I even, you know, have such amount of money?

And then again, I said, God, here I am.

Your word says that when you're more than further forsaken me, that you will take care of me.

You are all I got, and we'll show things are possible.

All the resources are in you, and I am in you.

Please don't provide.

And the Lord said to me, I have taken you from zero step to this step.

I will finish.

I am a God that finishes my businesses.

Don't worry, I will pay your fees.

And then I sought sponsorship from different people.

I wrote a letter asking for assistance, and those people I thought, you know, could have helped me, none gave a dime.

And then the Holy Spirit said to me, that your aunt, she was living with a duo of you out of her house a few years ago.

Call her, tell her that you're about to enter law school, but you needed your school fees.

No way, Abu.

Come on.

Not the woman who drove you out.

So, and I was skeptical because already I had this bitter mindset towards this, my aunt, you know.

Yeah, they burned your books as well, right?

No, yeah.

I hated her for that, you know.

And I thought she could not, even if I called, she would not.

That was my own thought.

And then, but then I had to obey the Holy Spirit.

I called her, and then she said to me, you know what, I will call you back.

I'm busy right now, I'm working and all.

And then she didn't call after a week.

I think about two weeks, and then she called.

And when she called, you know what, I cannot give you all the money, but I will give you 90% of it.

And I was like, wow, wow, like seriously?

But I still thought she was, you know, joking around and all.

And then she sent the money, about $1,200.

Wow.

And then later on, my pastor came in, and then he also gave me some money, and I was able to complete my fees, and I paid my fees.

And I was like, wow, wow, wow, wow.

I entered law school.

When I entered law school, I became so highly favoured by the then director of the school.

I was so favoured, to the point I was like the promising star pupil.

In terms of advocacy, I would top the class.

In terms of presentations, I would top the class and all.

And then all of a sudden, I began to feel ill.

There was one time, I had a dream, I was captured in my dream by a few people, and they injected me with a liquid.

When I woke up, I saw blood coming out of my arm.

I felt the pain of the needle, as if I was in the hospital.

And since then, I began to seek.

And there was someone in my class who also had a dream of me, and said, I had the dream of you.

We are in, this is your house.

And this person has never been to my house.

She described my house, and I was critically sick.

And then they were kind of, I was going to die.

But when I had the dream, I began to pray.

What the Holy Spirit told me was that you will not die.

Just keep saying that by the stripes of Jesus, I am healed.

I began to feel as if some sort of, you know, insect or bacteria were walking in my body.

At some point, my heart, you know, could literally cease, and then feed on its own.

And it was so crazy.

I would go to the hospital, do so many tests, and they would find nothing.

So I was on that.

But then throughout law school, so the moment I came out of law school, the illness stopped.

And my father had told me years ago, that if I had chosen to be a lawyer, I will never be.

And in fact, I will die before my time, because nobody in the family had taken that course.

And the family is full of demonic activities.

Nobody will go that far in life.

So that voice was in me every now and then, that I was going to die.

But whenever I had that voice, the Holy Spirit would say, you will not die.

I am with you.

Just declare that by his stripes, I am healed.

So I came out of law school, strong and healthy, and all those illnesses and all just disappeared.

And before the results came out for me to be a lawyer, I had two brothers I loved so much.

In that very year, 2024, in August, both of them died.

The one was diagnosed with heart issue, spleen issue, bladder issue.

He was 18.

And I had to pray.

I prayed, I prayed, I prayed, I prayed.

And he could not make it.

So I was mourning.

And then the following month, in September, they also released our results.

And I was hoping to be among the first five best students.

When I looked up the results, my name was not there.

So I was afraid that, oh, my moral in the school and all, I'm too famous in that school.

For me to be in the first five, it's a disgrace for me.

Not knowing it was worse than that.

I looked up the entire results.

I could not find my name or my number.

But when I looked up the reference list, my number was there, which means I failed the exam.

Oh, goodness.

I came back to God.

I fasted for 21 days.

God, where have I gone wrong?

I gave my life to you.

I am here, yet I'm living for you.

And I knew I could not have failed this exam.

But there was one module I had an issue with.

I could not see the other questions.

Literally, they were not there.

Only when I came out of the exam, I saw the questions.

Yes.

So I fasted.

I prayed.

And when I fasted, the Lord showed me just one thing in 21 days.

I was taking documents from my old house, where I grew up when I was five and four.

Taking documents, taking documents, taking documents, taking documents.

That's just a dream for 21 days.

And the last day, an angel appeared to me in my room, a very huge being, saying, don't be afraid.

I am here for you.

Nobody will take your destiny away.

And then I had a dream.

Now, we are in the diet of law school.

So results, you fast.

So when I retook the exam, the very day, my name was on top of the list.

And I came out excellent.

Congratulations.

All right.

Five years here from today, you're listening to this conversation.

You would have heard the excitement of the young man who is now, if you're listening to this when you're 33 years old, what's a message you'd like to leave for yourself?

It will be that long suffering or challenges, they are part of the Christian journey.

Abubakar Mara, a pleasure, a treasure.

Thank you for being on what is inspired by 12 Money Convos.