Two testimonies
Saudi girl
I am a Saudi girl aged 25 and I live in Saudi Arabia. I was raised in a typical Muslim family that practised all the duties of religion. I began to pray at the age of 13, but then I stopped praying.
My father used to beat me to make me pray, because the Messenger said in the Hadith: ‘The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said, Order your children to pray when they are seven years old, and beat them if they do not do so when they are ten years old’.
But Mohammed’s manner of harsh punishment to force one to pray did not have any positive result. I cared not for my prayerless life, as I was considered an infidel and I was bound for hell. Days and months and years passed without prayer.
I wanted with all my heart to pray so that I could please the god of Islam. But there were reasons that hindered me. First, there was the inadequacy of ritual ablution and also the number of prostrations.
Was my prayer complete? Did I forget a prostration? And many other similar matters. And so began the song ‘The torment of the grave’, as did thoughts about what happens after death. I was sure that I would become crazy because of this superstition.
There wasn’t any guarantee of eternal life. I began to pray the obligatory prayer and follow the Sunna; and I performed the night vigil prayer as a final attempt. I did this for a time, until I quit as usual.
I became very depressed, and I was sure that I would not be saved from the torment of the grave. I spoke with God a lot and asked him to help me.
Love replaces fear
In 2009 I bought a computer and one day I searched on YouTube for an interview with Doctor Wifaa’ Sultan. At that time I didn’t know much about Doctor Sultan, and I didn’t know she was a former Muslim.
I searched and found an interview of her with Brother Rashi, of the show Su’aal Jaree (A bold question). How beautiful it was that in this show Brother Rashid announced that he would introduce a series on ‘The torment of the grave’!
I became very disillusioned with Islam and its Messenger, and I discovered that I had been tricked, but I didn’t have the courage to say that out loud! [This is the case for many Muslims.] Finally I decided to watch the series The torment of the grave, and it was a big shock. The series broke my barrier of fear, and I confirmed that Islam was not the religion of Allah.
Without hesitation, I submitted my life to the Lord Jesus, because he is the God of love and peace. The true God looked upon my weakness and answered my prayer and guided me to his path. And I knew his voice. I knew that he was calling me and I responded to his call.
I thank the Lord that he redeemed me. I have a message from my heart to the Muslim people. I plead with them to ask about Christianity from Christians. Don’t read about it from Islamic sites because they don’t ever tell you the truth. God bless you.
Hannah
I was brought up in a Muslim family and was very committed to the Islamic forms of worship. I didn’t know anything about Christ except that he was a prophet like the Koran says. Then I started observing the Christian celebrations of New Year and Christmas.
I started wondering, ‘Who is this Christ, that they go to such lengths to celebrate his birth?’ I started looking on the internet and that led me to the web site of a Christian satellite station. Eventually I started watching satellite TV.
I started calling them day by day, learning more and more about Jesus. I wanted to know if Jesus was God and how he could be God. I had so many questions and I started seeing that truly he had come to the earth for humans.
As I learned, my love for Jesus grew and grew. I eventually asked for a Bible and started doing a discipleship course. As I studied I understood that I am a sinner and that the only way to cleanse sin is through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. I needed to surrender my life to him.
I called the brother in charge at the follow-up office and told him, and this day I can never, ever forget. There were tears and there was joy. But shortly after this great joy, my husband began to notice the change in me. He then saw the Bible I had and started doubting me.
He lost control and started hitting me. Everything in our home was turned on its head. I kept contacting the brothers on the satellite channel and getting counsel and guidance from them about what I should do.
One night around 11.00pm I was watching Christian satellite TV and my husband came in. He realised it was a Christian channel and started hitting me without mercy. He called my family and told them I had become an infidel and heretic. I had two choices — to renounce my faith or run away.
In the middle of the night, I ran away. I had no one I could turn to except the brothers I knew from the satellite channel and they helped me. They put me in touch with a pastor, who helped me during the biggest problem in my life.
I lost my family and loved ones but God gave me a new family of believers in Christ.
Testimonies used by permission of Open Doors
