Amazing Huda and the Alhinn Family

by Kim Reed with Elias Saba, Stockholm, Sweden

Huda Saba was the oldest child in the Arab Palestinian Alhinn family. One of her younger brothers, Simon Alhinn, grew up, left the Middle East, and pursued a college degree in San Diego in 1979. There he was met by disciples in the San Diego church and he became a Christian. Upon graduation, his student visa expired, and he had no choice but to return to his home, the kingdom of Jordan. This was 1984 -- the days before the internet, when international phone calls were hugely expensive. Simon and the brothers in San Diego were unable to keep in touch with one another as consistently as they would have liked.

During the next six years, Simon was able to convert his sisters Rula, Fadia, and Laila, as well as his brother Maher. Maher’s friend, Fadi, also got baptized. They started meeting regularly as a church, meanwhile, a mission team from Boston was sent to Amman, Jordan. One of the members of the team, Paula, was Fadi’s cousin!! While talking, they realized they belonged to the same church! In one day, the church in Jordan doubled in size, and in this way the church in Amman was well on its way to being firmly established. In that first year the rest of the Alhinn family, including Huda, got baptized.

On March 29, 2020, the oldest Alhinn sibling went to her rest: Huda Saba was a devoted member of Stockholms Kristi Församling (church of Christ), and had been faithfully married for 45 years to her husband Jabra Saba.

Two years prior to this, Huda had received a terminal cancer diagnosis. As this terrible news sunk in, Huda and Jabra’s grown son, Elias, started to study the Bible with a few brothers in the congregation in Stockholm. At his baptism, Huda’s husband Jabra asked if he, too, could begin to study the Scriptures with someone from church. Despite worsening Alzheimer’s, Jabra had finally studied the Bible and opened his mind and heart to Christ. He got baptized a month later by Simon Alhinn who came from the Middle East to visit his sister Huda. A year after Huda’s passing, her husband Jabra also passed away. Her son Elias is currently (2023) working for Stockholms Kristi Församling.

During Huda’s two-year battle with cancer, she also helped bring back to the church, Lois, who was originally baptized in Jordan, and Lois’s husband, Munir.  

Kim Reed, the women’s minister in Stockholm, adds: “Huda had prayed that even if it meant getting cancer, she was willing for anything to happen, so that her son and her husband could become Christians. Amazing.”

Huda was a strong woman of God who had a great impact on everyone she met. She was positive, joyful, and purposeful, she was a generous giver: she gave warm hugs, she gave gifts, gave encouragement and love, she gave her time, she gave advice, she gave forgiveness. It was as if there was no limit to her giving.

Huda was compassionate; she sincerely cared about people and helped them.

Huda was a wise counselor who shared her personal experience with others, she never built walls, only bridges, even with strangers. She was honest, open, she was humble, a mother figure to so many women, including her siblings and friends. Her house was always open to guests, with delicious food and love and warmth.

She was always grateful and appreciative, a servant of God, full of faith, joy, and gratitude -- loved by everyone. She is sorely missed.