Blog

By Bassam Michael Madany

5 August 2017

On Thursday evening, the 27^th of July 2017, Brother Rachid interviewed a fellow-Moroccan who had embraced the Christian faith. It was telecast on Al-Hayat Satellite TV Station, and archived on YouTube.

It was riveting to listen to the calm and joyful testimony of a Moroccan convert, who had served on a special unit of the Royal Moroccan Guards, which was charged with the safety of the King of Morocco, his family, and the Royal Palace in Rabat.

Brother Ali to introduced himself with these words:

“I’m a Moroccan Christian; I was born of Muslim parents in Sale, a suburb of Rabat. I grew up in a moderate Muslim family, as most Moroccans were at the time. I attended the services at the local mosques, and took special courses in Islam and in Classical Arabic. In my early years, I began to memorize chapters of the Qur’an.

“It was in 1997, at the age of twenty, that I learned for the first time that there were Moroccan Christians! I met a Christian at the boarding school in Sale and we became friends. It was a shock to learn that he was born in a Moroccan Christian family. We exchanged views of each other’s faith. At first, I felt sorry for him for not knowing the truth. I attempted to convert him to Islam.

“Actually, I had known very little about Christianity; what I knew was from the Qur’an. I believed that the Holy Bible had been corrupted, and that the Messiah was not crucified, as the Christians claim. Our conversations continued; he would ask me to explain certain passages of the Qur’an. When I read commentaries on our Book, I noticed that Muslims are discouraged from asking deep questions about their faith. I was puzzled by the story about Allah’s announcement to the angles regarding his plan to create man. They protested immediately because man would stray from the Right Path. But how did the angles know the future? Wasn’t that the exclusive prerogative of Allah?

“My Christian friend gave me a copy of the Bible in Arabic. I began to read it; several historical accounts were like those related in the Qur’an. However, the Bible had more humane teachings, in comparison with the Qur’an. For example, the Bible exhorts believers to love their enemies, and to be kind and merciful to fellow human beings, regardless of their ethnic origin. While the Qur’an teaches the very opposite about all non-Muslims.

“I began to have problems with my faith in Islam; it wasn’t an easy struggle! After all, Islam isn’t merely a religious faith; it’s one identity, it impacts one’s entire life. I had been a Muslim for 25 years. Add to that, my doubts were happening while I was an active member of the Royal Guards involved in activities that quite often, took me away from Rabat.

“I continued my study of the Holy Bible and marked with a red pen passages that were contrary to the teachings of the Qur’an. By 1996, after two years of serious study, I concluded that the Qur’an couldn’t be of divine origin!

“The events of September 2001, jolted me immensely. How could Allah have allowed the horrific death of 3000 innocent people in New York City! Where was He? I didn’t become an atheist, but continued to believe in the existence God; now my quest became a strong desire to know the true God.

“Once while I was on duty with a unit of the Royal Guards inspecting the route that the king would be taking through the city, I noticed a large plastic bag by the side of the road. Stopping to inspect its contents, I discovered several Arabic books expounding the Christian faith! I couldn’t believe my eyes. How could that be, right here in Morocco?!

“My quest for the truth intensified. I began to pray, ‘O God, please reveal thyself to me.’ I yearned to know the true God! One day, after making this petition, I became convinced that the Messiah was Himself the Truth. From then on, that conviction intensified. Yet, I did not make public my conversion to the Christian faith.

“What triggered my confession was a very serious health problem. One day, a severe abdominal pain forced me to enter the military hospital. However, there was a delay in the diagnosis, ending with a rupture in my appendix. For 24 hours, my life was in the balance. I remained at the hospital for a week during which I pondered about my eternal destiny. It was then that I decided to declare my conversion. All my privileges as a member of the Royal Guards, my family, my reputation, all that meant nothing to me in comparison with the Truth that I had found.

“In September 2002, I professed my conversion to Christ. Immediately, I was transferred to a Moroccan Army barrack; with no official duty to perform. Once, I was whisked to the office of a scholarly religious authority for a meeting that might lead me back to Islam. He was a kindly person; and was puzzled by my decision to embrace the Christian faith. He remarked that some people do it for material gain; obviously, that wasn’t my case! Before too long, I was dismissed from the Moroccan Army.

“My goal in life is to share my faith with fellow-Moroccans. The authorities regard us converts as evil people; they do everything in their power to make life difficult for us. We do love our country, we are Moroccans; we should have the freedom to choose our faith, and to express it publicly.”

Comments

It’s refreshing to see and hear Muslims tell about their journey to the truth. Ali’s conversion included several factors that merit attention. A Moroccan Christian witnessed to him in an amicable way, and gave him the Bible. This allowed Ali to discover the stark difference between the Christian sacred text and the Qur’an.

Another factor was the illness Ali went through causing him to think seriously about his eternal destiny. It is well-known fact that Muslims don’t have assurance of making it to heaven, since the Qur’an teaches that depends on their good deeds outweighing the evil ones. Only martyrs are assured of instant entry into Paradise. In contrast, a believer in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is assured of eternal life, as John 3:16 teaches.

What is extremely significant in Ali’s testimony, was his quest for Truth, i.e., for the True God. When he lost his faith in Allah, he did not turn to atheism, as several Muslims have done. He continued to believe in the existence of a Divine Being that was other than the Allah of Islam. He prayed to him asking for guidance; he persisted in praying, until he received the inner conviction that Jesus the Messiah, was the Truth he was looking for.

Ali’s pilgrimage indicated that Truth, objective Truth, remains a basic functioning motif in the traditional Islamic worldview. Islam claims to be God’s final message to mankind; it charges the two previous theistic religions, Judaism and Christianity, with having corrupted their Scriptures, and thus are not guides for the Truth.

Thanks to his acquaintance with a Moroccan Christian, and his serious study of the Christian Scriptures, Ali discovered the real source of Truth, and experienced the love and compassion of his Heavenly Father.

Unfortunately, contemporary Western secular society largely denies the existence of objective truth. As a result, it has nothing to offer to those Muslims in search of the Truth. But thanks to the Internet, and to Brother Rachid’s weekly program, “Daring Question,” we learn about men and women, who like Brother Ali, have found peace and salvation in Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

I don’t presume that every reader may be familiar with the Arabic language, still, I recommend that you click on this link, and watch a section of the dialogue between Brothers Rachid and Ali.

http://v1.brotherrachid.com/en-us/VideoPlayer/VideoId/270/UseHtml5/True