I was brought up as a Muslim and we were told that Islam is the final and the
most authoritative religion out there and they were really really proud of
being a Muslim so from a young age I remember they were told to and we taught
to read the Koran we were told that we were supposed to rehearse rehearse it
and I was supposed to memorize the verses so from the young age they all
exposed a community and a society that was predominantly Islamic and we learned
about the laws that Sharia the rules the do's and the don'ts and it became
signature for us to just basically follow it so whenever we were dealing with
people who are non-muslim we were always told and the society was always had this
notion that we have to look down upon them because they are not exactly
perfect because they do not have what we have and of course as a good Muslim
we're supposed to basically tell them that it should convert from their belief
into Islam and coming to the Brotherhood of Islam. But again that was that was
what we were brought up with that it is a final authority
Allah was a very vengeful God that we all had to fear Allah and if we did not
obey Allah and I lost many rules then we were surely to be struck down either by
men or by God himself . And we always had the fear of after life that if we did not
obey Allah and a lost rules and the prophets rules then for sure we'll end
up in hell.. I remember my early teen years I was introduced to different
cultures because of traveling and we came across different religions
predominately Christians and also Jews and I started being curious because I
was always told that they're forbidden it's like the forbidden apple and
forbidden fruit of the tree that you're not supposed to touch and that's a major
sin but I was very very much encouraged in a way like the deep inside there was
a voice there was a notion that that told me that there is something that is
a special about these people that is contradictory to
believe that I was I had and I was taught to have these people were
curiously loving and it was really amazing because it's true Christian
somebody who truly believed in their faith they were practically blameless
and their God was blameless and the belief was blameless. That was
interesting to me. There was something about this Jesus that made me very
curious. He talked about love and he said if somebody does you're wrong
love now that is totally in contradiction to what I was told and to
the religion that I was brought up with am believed in with every fiber of my
being because what I was thought is if somebody is not of your nature of your
mind of your belief then they're infidels. But here comes Christ and says
you know but you have to love your enemies and that is a message that that
was just such an warmed message in my heart that I wanted to embrace it but I
had to fear because it was very difficult to go against what you had
believed in for many years and and and the roots and the culture that is so
deeply woven in your belief say it was extremely difficult for me to leave what
I had and grasp this new ideology. One night my mother had a dream and a
dream was about Christ now mind you let me take you back that's the marriage
that my parents had was not a good marriage the love and passion was not
there anymore. So there was a constant struggle between my mom and dad and that
was something that I remember we used to run away from. So years after my mom had
a dream and the dream was about Christ calling her to come to her. Now my mom
had never ever gone to church it was just amazing so without getting involved
into her in her dream my mom gave her heart to Christ and in a matter of a few
weeks we started seeing a fundamental change in my mom in her actions and the
way she would retaliate towards my father before that she would retaliate
with harshness it's unforgiveness but then after she started giving her heart
to Christ we started seeing a lot of sacrifice a lot of love it's as if she
had an in depth of her soul this this spring that kept on giving her
nourishing her in love and sacrifice. My father came to me said what is wrong
with your mam. Is she okay maybe she has some kind of psychological problem and
we were all shocked but we realized that the nature of my mom had been
transformed from somebody who was unforgiving and bitter to
somebody who's loving and and there was nothing but sacrificial love and she had
this first to read this this book called the Bible so after a while about six
months of the struggling with this whole thing and denying it for myself
they are basically bowed down and I said God I don't know you I don't know Jesus
at his teachings I don't know this Yahweh but me not this is the same at
all there's nothing that that these two beliefs share with each other. And I'm
confused and I don't know what to choose but God I cannot deny the changes that I
see in front of my own eyes in our own house with my mom and my dad. Although
I'm afraid I'm very afraid to grasp you Jesus but I want the same thing that my
mom has and if it's Jesus then I want it and from that moment on my life started
changing. It was that simple there was a lot of fear a fear of not being accepted
fear of going against the norm the standard but we actually see in your own
household changes things you just cannot deny with your own mom with your own
parents it's not somebody else from outside coming and trying to water that
brainwash you it's not somebody trying to evangelize you and force you to
accept their religion and they believe it's a genuine thing it's it's for real
in your own household there's no way to deny it that's something that I wanted
and that's something that changed my family and my life but what do I mean
really changed my house and I say change my my life although of I was a Muslim
and I knew better what the laws are but just like many many many other Muslims I
did not follow it I only applied it to me when he served my purpose and what do
I mean I I don't mean with any disrespect so any other Muslim but at
least for me I know that I used to do my clubbing as a young as a young man I
used to be involved in relationship have a girl friends I used to drink alcohol
and these are all things that that although Islam says is a no-no but
majority of the Muslims don't even follow that I know many many Muslims
from many many different cultures that had girlfriends and and drank together
and have been clubbing but at the same time and it was time to fast they were
all so fast so it seemed to be convenient thing for us to just go into
whenever we wanted to so I was not involved in any anything bad really
thank God I was never involved in any drugs or anything like that but I knew
that certain fundamental things in my life sort of changing such as the view
that I had about woman that they were not just an object anymore that I had to
wait and I had to save myself for the one that God had for me so I immediately
changed my lifestyle I stopped going clubbing I start having stopped hanging
up with my friends I decided to I decided to basically cleanse my life and
not to contradict contradict myself I just did not want to and live a certain
lifestyle and then whenever it was convenient for me to tap into my
religious clock and say now I'm a religious man I needed to be genuine
and I remember reading the Bible and Jesus talked about the Pharisees I said
these guys are religious people who are so pretentious they pretend to be
something else but there's something else in nature and I realized that
religion the religion altogether makes us be pretentious people it serves our
purpose but what Jesus was talking about was not being pretentious was what was
being genuine. So I changed my lifestyle my values change I I stuck those
relationships. I stopped even lying because we know that sometimes in
small white lights in column could could help even the small little things
I decided to to put aside and those those are the things that slowly but
surely started giving me a new identity a new meaning and new goal. It full filled me
When we talk about understanding different religions other than Islam it
becomes a very difficult choice for many Muslims so a message that I have for my
for my beloved Muslim friends and family and then those who are watching this
program is this that when we hear about different religions especially
Christianity all of a sudden the walls of doubts go up. We need to
differentiate and see or be afraid of the notion of Christianity because we
were told to be afraid what are we afraid because we truly don't understand
it I just would like to encourage them to pick up the Bible and I read it.
Be objective by reading it see if it's something that you truly understand and
if it's if it's not something that you don't believe in then that is fine at
least you have made an educated decision but for us to make a decision based on
what we were told or based on fear or based on the standards that was forced
upon us it allows us to not be free people
and it allows us to be in bondage of our own thoughts and ideology and when we
are in bondage and prisoners to our own thoughts then at that time we become
prisoners. So other cultures and other people and we'd never see ourselves as
free people when I found Christ I realized that all those doubts all those
fears all those angers that was a heart issue. Jesus looks at our heart and he
says I want your heart and in a heart that is dedicated to God we cannot be
any fear they cannot be any anger they cannot be any hatred because if Christ
accepted me just the way I was.Somebody who was a wretched man , Somebody who did
not like others and stuck to his own belief. If he accepted me with such an
open arm then how much more do I need to accept others it is not a matter of
policies it's not a matter of religious differences it's a matter of heart
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