Not long ago, I wrote about Amina, who became a Christian convert, in the article: "All my classmates chose to write about Mohammed, but I chose to write about Jesus."
Today I arranged a video meeting with her husband Babor, because Amina said to me: "You absolutely have to hear Babor's story, because he was a very convinced Muslim, but today he loves Jesus!".
We greet each other and I say to Babor: "Last time I visited, I met you and Amina in church, but I didn't get to hear your story. Would you tell me about yourself and what you've experienced with Jesus?"
"I'll be happy to do that," says Babor and begins to talk.
A childhood of strict upbringing in Islam
"From our childhood, mom and my sister lived in one room in our house and Hamid and I lived with dad in another room. Early every morning, my brother and I took turns reading the adhan (call to prayer) and then prayed to Allah with our father. We always tried to observe all the 5 pillars of Islam. Our parents brought us up strictly in Islam and because of that, there was a negative attitude in our house towards other religions as we thought they were lying and deceitful."
"When did you come to believe in Jesus, Babor?" I ask.
"I came to faith in Jesus in 2018. Before that, I was a very devout practicing Muslim, and so were my parents, my brother and my sister. In our family, my sister Ariana was the first to believe in Jesus."
"Ariana was afraid to tell us that she had become a Christian and chose to keep it hidden for a few months. But during that time, she prayed for us and read the Bible in secret."
"Then one day our father found the hidden Bible and said: In this house we only have the Quran! So who does this Bible belong to? "It's my Bible, because I've become a Christian!" my brother said."
"After a few months, our brother Hamid discovered that she was reading the Bible. But he also wanted to read the Bible because a colleague at work had told him about Jesus!"
"They both started reading the Bible together secretly and prayed for our family's salvation."
"Then one day our father found the hidden Bible and asked with seriousness in his voice: Who does this book belong to? Because in this house we only have the Koran! It's my Bible because I've become a Christian!" my brother said. Then our father got very angry, talked to him and then threw him out of the house shouting: "Here in our house we only read the Quran and the Muslim prayer book!".
My reaction to my brother's conversion
"I was very shocked and angry that my brother had become a Christian. It was like an earthquake for me and I thought: "How on earth did he become a Christian without me knowing?".
"Did Hamid tell you how he became a Christian?" I ask Babor.
"Before my father kicked Hamid out of the house, he asked him: 'How and when did you make that decision? And who told you about the Christian form of Jesus?", and then Hamid told him that it was a work colleague who had told him about Jesus, which was true. Hamid didn't say anything about his sister Ariana, who wasn't home when Dad found the Bible! Then my father threw him out of the house and yelled at him not to return until he followed Islam again!"
"So what happened to Hamid?" I ask.
"My brother refused to come back to Islam and he remained faithful to Jesus," says Babor with a smile.
"Some time later, Ariana also told us that she had become a Christian, and the walls in our house were cracking!" laughs Babor.
"Mom was very angry with both Hamid and Ariana and said: "How could they do this to us?".
"One day my mom found out that a neighbor on our street had also become a Christian! It was too much for her, and my mother ended up going over to the woman and hitting her and shouting for the whole neighborhood to hear! But my father said to her: 'It's not enough that Hamid and Ariana are an embarrassment to us! Now you want to shame us by making scandals? ´".
"It was Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount that touched my father, so he prayed and accepted Jesus into his heart."
"Nobody knew it, but in the months after my dad kicked my Christian brother out of the house, God started working on him! He started reading the New Testament that Ariana had lying around, and God's word touched him."
"It was Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount that touched my father, so he prayed and accepted Jesus into his heart. Then he called his brother to tell him about Jesus. That's how many people in the family came to faith, and my mother also came to faith in Jesus."
Babor was the only Muslim left
"Hamid moved back in with us, and now everyone had suddenly become Christians. But I was still a devout Muslim!"
"I was simply angry with all of them! Because they had betrayed Allah, and I shouted a lot in the house and was also violent at times, hitting and throwing things!"
"It finally got too much for my father, so he asked me to leave the house and said: 'That's no way to behave in our house! ´.
"As I said, we had been brought up very strictly at home. If we disobeyed our parents, we were scolded or punished, often with a slap!"
"So for me, it wasn't surprising that he wanted to kick me out because of my behavior. But I told him: 'You talk about love, but you don't love me as I am,' and I left."
"It turned out that my words touched him, and a few hours later my father called me and said: 'Come home dear son, I love you and forgive you. God will help us so that there will be peace in our house! ´".
"The transformation in our father was very visible. Yes, the whole atmosphere in our house changed because Jesus had come into our home!"
"This was a revelation to me because my father never took back his words and was not a man who forgave easily! So I came back home and lived with my parents, and gradually I also became interested in the Christian faith because I saw how my mom and dad changed for the better, so he didn't hit us or our mom anymore! Something he often used to do in the past".
"I remember coming home from school and my mom would sometimes have bruises! The transformation in our father was very visible. Yes, the whole atmosphere in our house changed because Jesus had come into our home! The relationship between us got better and better, and I felt a love and peace in our home."
"I started researching the difference between the Bible and the Quran. The more I delved into the Bible and the Quran, the more obvious the difference became! I wanted to find the truth in Islam, but became more and more disillusioned, and that became the path to Jesus! Because in him is the truth!"
"I read the Bible every day, and also started going with my family to church meetings, and I realized that the truth is in Jesus.
"So about a year after my father wanted to kick me out of the house, I prayed with my family and accepted Jesus into my heart."
"Since then I have had peace in my heart and God has changed me a lot, and I am now serving Jesus in the Church's Work of Mercy. Every week I visit people who are socially vulnerable, disabled or sick and give them a bag of food if they need help."
The Bags of Hope project is supported by Danish European Mission improvers and donors, and the bags are distributed by local Christians.
"I am very grateful to God who has since given me my lovely Christian wife Amina and our three beautiful children."
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