Want to know the power of witness? Here’s a remarkable conversion story, by Al Fadi, from Christianity Today:
I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia as part of a devout Muslim family…
…I had nothing but contempt for Christianity. I believed that Muslims were superior to all others, that all non-Muslims were infidels, and that Jesus was a prophet sent by Allah, not the divine Son of God. As far as I was concerned, he had never been crucified, never died on a cross, and never been resurrected. I believed he had ascended into heaven, but only to be saved from his persecutors before coming back at the end of times to restore Islam as the true religion of Allah. All in all, I grew up harboring intense hatred for Christians, Jews, and all who refused Islam.
By age 12, I had memorized half of the Qur’an, and my goal was to memorize all of it—all 114 chapters, all 6,236 verses. At age 15, I was prepared to die on behalf of Allah, like so many young people who were journeying to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union alongside Osama bin Laden. (He was a hero to us at that time.)
He ended up going to the United States for college, and soon met a family through the International Friendship Program:
In November, this family invited me to their home for Thanksgiving dinner. Only then did I realize this was a Christian family, because they asked if they could pray before the meal. I admit that my heart sank at this moment. I had never realized that Christians are actually filled with love and not hate, as my Muslim upbringing had led me to believe.
This family had never shared the gospel with me, but they had shown me what the gospel looks like. And on that day, I walked out of their home with great doubts about my faith and its teachings. I vowed that I would do research on Christianity, hoping to learn more about how Jesus could make such a profound difference in someone’s life, offering the kind of peace and joy I had never seen before.
A few years later, after earning my master’s degree, I joined a local engineering firm. There I met another born-again Christian. I was impressed by his faith—his joy, his peace, and the light that seemed to shine forth from him.
This should be a challenge to all of us. Are we giving off that kind of light to inspire what Al Fadi refers to as “gospel hope”? Are we radiating “the kind of peace and joy” that might even change the direction of someone’s life?
