My name is Safia . I was born and raised in a small country
in the middle east by the name of Kuwait. I was raised right in front of a mosque
where i would hear the call to prayer five times a day. Growing up in a muslim
home. it was very important to my family and
I that we worshiped the creator god allah followed the
teachings of the prophet muhammad and very devote our lives to following
the five pillars of islam as well from the age of six i started
going to hijab with scarf covering and when i went out in public i was not
allowed to go by myself. When i went out with my mother and my
aunts i had to wear this this is called the abaya this is traditional covering
in my country and my culture. At the age of eight my family and i
decided to take a pilgrimage journey to Saudi Arabia.
And we went to the city of mecca to fulfill hajj
After we finished hajj we were going up north to the city of medina.
On the way there suddenly a crowd started to gather.
And i was with my father and i was holding his hands. In the center of the
crowd was the arabic woman dressed like this but you could not see
her face her hands or her feet. And she was sitting on a wooden box tied
up. Next to her was an arabic man dressed in a traditional arabic attire.
He did a traditional islamic prayer on the floor and he got up from the floor.
And he pulled out a long golden sword from his side.
And he beheaded the woman when i saw this at the age of eight
I started shaking with fear and anxiety that overcame me
And the commotion in the crowd the men were chanting allahu akbar
allahu akbar allah akbar three times which is what is great and the woman was
screaming and crying and i pulled my father saying i said
father what is happening and my father said we're trying to raise
you in a devout muslim home. You listen to the teachings we're
instilling in your life live as a good muslim and die as a good muslim
If you don't do this this is what will happen to you one day
After that we went to medina to full fill the obligation at the mosque and we went
back home to Kuwait. My family enrolled my brother and i in
islamic school and that's where i learned more in-depth
Teaching from the quran and the hadith You know in my prayer times i would lift
up my hands and i would always look to the sky and
cry out to all love for help. One of the important sincere prayer of
my heart was allah please have my father stop beating my
mother allah please have my father stop beating
me that there was no help coming for me to answer my prayers. I also want to know
allah if i died was i going to paradise because i tried to be a good muslim.
I tried to do everything i can to be a good muslim
but there was no guarantee offered to me to go to paradise . I wanted to go be with
allah when i died
In 1990 my family and i went to the united states for a visit.
What i knew of America is what i saw on TV. You know America is known as a
Christian country to the islamic world. So when we came to America we were
having a good visit but we were woken up suddenly at night when we heard
the saddam hussein's forces came and invaded the small country of kuwait in
the middle east. There was a lot of destruction that
happened within a short time. My country was by the time we were
watching on fire the oil fields were burning people's
homes were destroyed , some several family members were killed
Our home was destroyed but we had to stay in America now we are
living in a foreign country with a foreign culture with a foreign religion.
I don't know anyone that looks like me that even eats the same
food i eat or dresses like me or speaks the same language
My life with allah and islam was very distant my relationship with my family
was conditional love but the only support in my life that i
really loved my grandmother died . In islam when someone passes away
there offered no assurance no guarantee to go to heaven.
And i knew this and i still prayed and cried out to allah with tears in my eyes
that he would have mercy over her soul One day when i went to my job after the
funeral this lady came to came up to me and she found out
that my grandmother died and she put her arms around me
and gave me a hug. Do you know this hug gave me peace
I have never experienced this peace before and then she asked me a question.
Would you like to go to church with me. Again I have been living in America for
eight and a half years as a muslim. I drove by many churches this was the
first time i got invited to a big christian church . When i walked into that
church as a visible muslim woman the people in the church saw me and they
came up to me and they looked me in the eye and they said
hi what is your name where are you from tell us about your family and they took
great interest in me and then they said we are so glad you're
here . Thank you for coming . That day from these people i felt a
spirit of love and acceptance and mercy that kind of spirit i've not
experienced in my mosque before. In fact there's a spirit of judgment in
the mosque for muslims it's a duty to go pray in the mosque.
And hope that allah will answer the prayers hope that they will be
acceptable in his eyes. But these people accepted me for
who i was. I feel loved by these people . That is the
first time i heard a message from the Bible from a pastor
is from the prophet Isaiah chapter 61 verse 1.
He said this is a prophecy of Jesus and he started reading that the spirit of
god is upon me he's anointed me to preach the gospel to
the poor he came to heal the broken heart and set
the captive free. In the book of Luke where Jesus walks
into the synagogue he opened a scroll from prophet Isaiah and read the
scripture and said this is fulfilled . This is the
first time i heard that Jesus came to this earth to heal
the broken heart and set the captive free.
In my religion i was that and and even more
i wanted to know a creator God i wanted to know a loving God and a merciful God
After that the lady bought me a Bible as a gift and
i started reading the Bible on my own i had to hide it from my parents . I had put
in my mattress but when i read the book of exodus how
god sent moses and to deliver and rescue the children
of Israel. He even did miracles and to bring them into the land
of promise. He provided them food and water in the
desert . I come from the desert there's no food and water there.
But god provided for them because he loves them.
He calls them his chosen people and the nation of Israel his heartbeat.
I started seeing that i hated the people that God loved
so much and i put God on my knees and i said God forgive me.
I hated your people i want to love your people.
After that i read the Bible even more and i started going to church and hiding
and a group of girls started explaining the Bible to me something started
happening to me. My heart started changing , the blinders
were falling off my eyes , i was loving all people , i was
experiencing joy and happiness again and Monday came the day that i was
going to get baptized . I realized the decision i was going to make was
very important and permanent decision but Jesus is the only God i found that
is loving caring merciful merciful and giving willing to give His
life so i can have a life to follow a creator God you know i was so
desperate to know a living God all my life that i
was willing to give up my islamic life to follow a new life in
following Jesus as my Lord. That day i rejected islam and then
became a follower of Jesus. And I'm so excited to see that i have
been a follower of Jesus now for years and my life has changed he came and set
me free he gave me a life of hope and a future
in him i am filled with joy and happiness and i
love to serve my God i want to go tell the nations that God
came over 2 000 years ago to give them a hope
and a future and to heal them and restore them into His kingdom . Amen