“What happened to you?” This was usually
the first reaction I encountered when my former classmates, friends and
co-pastors saw me after having embraced Islam. I suppose I couldn’t blame them,
I was a highly unlikely the person to change religions. Formerly, I was a
professor, pastor, church planter and missionary. If anyone was a radical
fundamentalist it was I.
I had just
graduated with my Master’s Degree of Divinity from an elite seminary five
months before. It was after that time I met a lady who had worked in
Being prayed
up, meaning-asking Jesus for protection against demon spirits seeing that what
we had been taught about Islam is that it is Demonic and Satanic religion.
Having taught Evangelism I was quite shocked at their approach, it wa s direct
and straightforward. No intimidation, no harassment, no psychological
manipulation, no subliminal influence! None of this, “let’s have a Qur’aanic
study in your house”, like a counter part of the Bible study. I couldn’t
believe it! They gave me some books and told me if I had some questions they
were available to answer them in the office. That night I read all of the books
they gave. It was the first time I had ever read a book about Islam written by
a Muslim, we had studied and read books about Islam only written by Christians.
The next day I spent three hours at the office asking questions. This went on
everyday for a week, by which time I had read twelve books and knew why Muslims
are the hardest people in the world to convert to Christianity. Why? Because
there is nothing to offer them!! (In Islam) There is a relationship with Allah,
forgiveness of sins, salvation and promise of Eternal Life.
Naturally, my
first question centered on the deity of Allah. Who is this Allah that the
Muslims worship? We had been taught as Christians that this is another god, a
false god. When in fact He is the Omniscient-All Knowing, Omnipotent-All
Powerful, and Omnipresent-All Present God. The One and Only without co-partners
or co-equal. It is interesting to note that there were bishops during the first
three hundred years of the Church that were teaching as the Muslim beli eves
that Jesus (pbuh) was a prophet and teacher!! It was only after the conversion
of Emperor Constantine that he was the one to call and introduce the doctrine
of the Trinity. He a convert to Christianity who knew nothing of this religion
introduced a paganistic concept that goes back to Babylonian times. Because the
space does not permit me to go into detail about the subject insha’Allah,
another time. Only I must point out that the word TRINITY is not found in the Bible
in any of its many translation nor is it found in the original Greek or Hebrew
languages!
My other
important question centered on Muhammad (pbuh). Who is this Muhammad? I found
out that Muslims do not pray to him like the Christians pray to Jesus. He is
not an intermediary and in fact it is forbidden to pray to him. We ask blessing
upon him at the end of our prayer but likewise we ask blessings on Abraham. He
is a Prophet and a Messenger, the final and last Prophet. In fact, until now,
one thousand four hundred and eighteen years (1,418) later there has been no
prophet after him. His message is for All Mankind as opposed to the message of
Jesus or Moses (peace be upon them both) which was sent to the Jews. “Hear O
Israel” But the message is the same message of Allah. “The Lord Your God is One
God and you shall have no other gods before Me.”(Mark
Because prayer
was a very important part of my Christian life I was both interested and
curious to know what the Muslims were praying. As Christians we were as
ignorant on this aspect of Muslim belief as on the other aspects. We thought
and were taught, that the Muslims were bowing down to the Ka’bah (in
At the end of
that week after having spent eight (8) years of formal theological studies I
knew cognitively (head knowledge) that Islam was true. But I did not embrace
Islam at that time because I did not believe it in my heart. I continued to
pray, to read the Bible, to attend lectures at the Islamic Center. I was in
earnest asking and seeking God’s direction. It is not easy to change your
religion. I did not want to loose my salvation if there was salvation to loose.
I continued to be shocked and amazed at what I was learning because it was not
what I was taught that Islam believed. In my Master’s level, the professor I
had was respected as an authority on Islam yet his teaching and that of
Christianity in general is full of Misunderstanding. He and many Christians
like him are sincere but they are sincerely wrong.
Two months
later after having once again prayed seeking God’s direction, I felt something drop
into my being! I sat up, and it was the first time I was to use the name of
Allah, and I said, “Allah, I believe you are the One and Only True God.” There
was peace that descended upon me and from that day four years ago until now I
have never regretted embracing Islam. This decision did not come without trial.
I was fired from my job as I was teaching in two Bible Colleges at that time,
ostracized by my former classmates, professors and co-pastors, disowned by my
husband’s family, misunderstood by my adult children and made a suspicion by my
own government. Without the faith that enables man to stand up to Satanic
forces I would not ha ve been able to withstand all of this. I am ever so
grateful to Allah that I am a Muslim and may I live and die a Muslim.
“Truly, my
prayer, my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are all for God the
Cherisher of the Worlds. No partner has He, this I am commanded. And I am the
first of those who bow to Allah in Islam.” (Holy Qur’aan6 :162-163)
Sister Khadijah Watson
Sister
Khadijah Watson is presently working as a teacher for women in one of the
Da'wah (Invitation to Islam) Centers in