IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, MOST GRACIOUS, MOST MERCIFUL
PEACE AND BLESSINGS OF ALLAH BE UPON MUHAMMAD, HIS LAST PROPHET AND MESSENGER
Dear brothers and sisters, I recently came across an interesting book about revert stories of some previously non-Muslim people who found the light of Islam, each one for different reasons. I would like to post this book little by little, in fives on my blog so that readers may get lessons and benefit from it. The preface is the author's and the reference to that is given just below it.
PREFACE
I receive dozens of letters every week from allover the world written by different people of different nationalities, most of whom came across one of my books on Islam, Christianity, or comparative religion. Hundreds of those people, originally Christians, have told me that they have embraced Islam.
Each one of them has a story of his own. How did he inquire about Islam? What made him have doubts about Christianity? What made him step towards Islam? I thought that many readers would be interested in just knowing more about the experiences of such embracers.
I wrote back to every one of them asking for permission to publish the story of his or her embracement of Islam. Most of them gave me this permission, and many of them allowed me to mention the family name with the initials of the first and middle names, and some were reluctant about my mentioning their country.
I have omitted some stories if they are very similar to other stories. In most cases, I paraphrased and edited the whole thing for reasons of style and language correctness.
The outcome has been this book, a book about real experiences of real people struggling with man's main issue, i.e., the search for the truth, since the search for it is not easy among the wide jungle of falsehood. Nevertheless, millions of people have never stopped searching for the truth, and many lucky thousands often find it every day, enjoy it, and live under its blessing.
I would like to sincerely congratulate the new embracers of Islam on the right choice they have made. In fact, their choice of Islam is the only right choice.
Dr. Muhammad Ali Alkhuli
(1)
FROM THE CROSS
TO RESPONSIBILITY
My name is W.F. Hebb, 41 years. I noticed that Christianity could be summarized into a not very much convincing story, i. e., that God crucified his only son in order to save us and that if you believe in this crucifixion, you are saved. I could not see why God should kill His only son since killing is prohibited by God Himself. God orders us not to kill, but He Himself killed His own son. I could not either swallow the crucifixion of Jesus, assuming it happened, as a means to salvation because I could not figure out how crucifying an innocent person would lead to others' salvation.
I used to hear about Islam, and I was informed that Islam does negate Jesus' crucifixion and does not accept the theory of salvation through crucifixion. The Islamic principle that salvation is guaranteed only through faith and good deeds makes more sense to me.
(2)
THE FOUR GOSPELS
My name is C.F. Guthrie, 47 years. I am a professor of physics. I used to read The New Testament with its four gospels: the Gospel of .t'Jatthew, the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke, and the Gospel of John. Very frequently, I noticed that there are many contradictions inside each gospel and many other contradictions among the gospels themselves. I began to doubt the holiness of The New Testament and wonder whether it is really God's word.
It kept on persisting in my mind that if The New Testament had been God's pure word, we should have -had one gospel only and not four different and inter-contradictory ones. I looked deeper into the matter and came to know that The Holy Quran of Islam is in a better position to be God's pure word because we actually have one version of The Holy Quran, not four, as is the case with the Gospel.
I obtained an English translation of The Holy Quran and began to read it. I find it full of spirituality, good ethics, convincing arguments, lofty contents, and practical legislations in a unique manner. I have come to the conclusion that Islam is the true religion of God and that The Holy Quran is the true and pure word of God.
(3)
DEATH AND RESURRECTION
My name is G.W. Ferster, 35 years. I used to go to church every Sunday. On one of those Sundays, the pastor was talking about the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross, that he was buried for three days, and that he was raised alive from the dead, which is labeled as Jesus' resurrection.
I began to wonder about the whole matter right there and then. Jesus was dead. Then what? He was raised. Who raised him? Jesus could not raise himself simply because he was dead. Therefore, it follows that someone else did raise him. This raiser cannot be but God. So Jesus cannot be God because Jesus was dead. Jesus cannot be a raiser and a raised one at the same time. This proves that Jesus is not God, which contradicts what the church keeps on doing, i.e., addressing Jesus as God, as the Lord.
From that moment on, I suspected all the stories of Christianity and began to look for something more convincing. Fortunately, the search led me to Islam, where God is God and Messenger Muhammad is just God's messenger and servant. Thanks to God that He has guided me to Islam, the true religion of God.
(4)
A HELPLESS GOD!
I am K.Z. Dollard, 25 years. The church always emphasizes that Jesus, who is God's son or God the son, was crucified.
I could not understand why God sent his beloved son to the cross or why a son so innocent was to be crucified in the first place. Nor could I understand why God did not defend His only son. Nor could I understand why God, being the Almighty, could not save people without torturing His only innocent son.
After all, I could not see why and how Christians are proud of such a god slain on the cross so defencelessly and helplessly. The Christian God, i.e., Jesus (!), is the weakest among all gods, yet, to my surprise, they are so proud of his weakness and defencelessness!
I have told myself that the true God must be different from that of Christianity. He should be the All-powerful, the All-just, and the AlI-merciful. These qualities are met by God, i. e.,Allah, the god taught by Islam.
(5)
THE SAD FRIDAY
I am W.N. Berlyne, 44 years. The New Testament describes the hour of Jesus' death on the cross as a very sad hour with the sky weeping and the earth shaking. It was a horrible moment when Jesus died on the cross. This is what The New Testament says and what pastors preach. In fact, that day is called the Sad Friday. People were sad; so were the sky, mountains, and the whole universe.
In contrast, pastors often picture the crucifixion of Jesus as the moment of glory and joy because it was the golden unique moment of salvation. In fact, I could not compromise the two stories: one assumes that Jesus' crucifixion was the saddest moment ever and the other assumes that it was the most glorious and happiest moment ever.
If Jesus' crucifixion had been for salvation, why would it have been so sad? There is a clear contradiction between the moment of salvation with its glory and enjoyment and the moment of melancholy.
The whole church story cannot hold together. If the crucifixion story is so basic to Christianity, it should be very clear, which is not the case.
The Islamic way of dealing with such matters is devoid of mysteriousness or contradiction. I like the simplicity and clarity of Islam.
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