GREETINGS, dear friend!
The pages that follow contain my personal thoughts and most powerful memories, my very heart poured out on ink and paper. By reading this book, you will enter into the circle of my family and friends, take part in the bliss of my Islamic youth, and struggle with me through the culture clash of being an American born Muslim. By looking over my shoulder, you will be privy to the offensiveness of Christianity to Muslim eyes, begin struggling with the historical facts of the gospel, and feel the ground that shook beneath me as I slowly learned the hidden truths about Islam. By reading my personal journal entries, you will see how our Father finally called me to Jesus through visions and dreams, and the ensuing metamorphosis of my very self, induced by the Holy Spirit.
By reading this testimony, you will travel with me through life and know me intimately, becoming a dear friend indeed.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK
But this book is more than just my testimony. It is designed with three purposes in mind:
1. To tear down walls by giving non-Muslim readers an insider’s perspective into a Muslim’s heart and mind. The mystical beauty of Islam that enchants billions cannot be grasped by merely sharing facts. But it is my prayer that by entering my world, you will come to understand your Muslim neighbor, so you can love him as yourself. The first two sections of the book are especially designed for this purpose, and if they seem pro-Islamic, they are serving their purpose of conveying a past love for my former faith.
2. To equip you with facts and knowledge, showing the strength of the case for the gospel in contrast with the case for Islam. History powerfully testifies to the foundational pillars of the gospel: Jesus’ death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, and His claim to be God. By doing so, history challenged my Islamic theology, which was grounded in the foundational pillars of Islam: the divine origin of the Quran and the prophethood of Muhammad. As I studied Islam more carefully, what I learned shook my world: there is no good reason to believe that either Muhammad or the Quran teaches the truth about God. Although this book is far too short to share all the facts and arguments I learned over the years, parts three through eight provide the contours of what I came to grasp and how they led me away from Islam toward Jesus.
3. To portray the immense inner struggle of Muslims grappling with the gospel, including sacrifices and doubts. As you will see in parts nine and ten, it is in the midst of this struggle that God is known to reach people directly through visions and dreams.
HOW TO READ THIS BOOK
Prologue. Be sure to read this before starting!
Glossary. There are many Islamic terms that you will come to know as you read through the book. I have defined them for you upon their first instance in the text, and you will find all these terms defined once again in the glossary.
Expert Contributions. These are truly the hidden treasure of this book. After each section, there is a link to an expert contribution. Ranging from prolific evangelists to a distinguished Quran scholar, learned men who are compassionate toward Muslims and passionate for the gospel have graciously added their voices to this work, lending their academic credibility and experienced insights. In fact, three of these scholars played personal roles in my journey to Jesus. I recommend that you read each contribution immediately after its related section. Here is the list of contributors:
• Abdu Murray, a lawyer, apologist, and former Shia Muslim
• Mark Mittelberg, a bestselling author, and world-renowned evangelist
• Dr. Daniel B. Wallace, a foremost professor of New Testament studies
• Dr. Michael Licona, an associate professor of theology and historian
• J. Ed Komoszewski, a professor of biblical and theological studies
• Robert M. Bowman Jr., a researcher and an author
• Dr. David Wood, philosopher and director of Acts 17 Apologetics
• Dr. Keith Small, a Quranic manuscript scholar and consultant to Oxford University
• Dr. Gary Habermas, chair of the department of philosophy and theology at Liberty University and historian
• Josh McDowell, an internationally recognized evangelist and apologist
A Note on Narrative Biography. Since we have entered the digital age, it is unfortunately and increasingly true that people exact inappropriately stringent standards on narrative biographies. By its very nature, a narrative biography must take certain liberties with the story it shares. Please do not expect cameralike accuracy! That is not the intent of this book, and to meet such standards, it would have to be a twenty-two-year-long video, most of which would bore even my mother to tears.
The words I have in quotations are rough approximations. A few of the conversations actually represent multiple meetings condensed into one. In some instances, stories are displaced in the timeline to fit the topical categorization. In other instances, people who were present in the conversation were left out of the narrative for the sake of clarity. All these devices are normal for narrative biographies; they are in fact normal for human mnemonics. Please read this book, and the narrative biographies it references, accordingly.
I pray the Lord’s blessing be upon you, not just as you read through this book but also as you implement what you learn and pursue Him and His people. May God, our Lord and Savior, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, work through you for His glory by spreading His joyous truth, which is salvation and eternal life for all who believe and follow Jesus. May He impact the world through you, my dear friend, reaching those who are lost and desperately need Him, even my family and friends. May He do this by continually reforming us into His image, one of grace and truth, and by a miraculous outpouring of His Holy Spirit. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.