August 9, 2024 • 38 mins
On a pilgrimage to Mecca with her parents, 4-year-old "Amina" witnessed the beheading of a woman. This traumatic event left her growing up in fear of Allah and the world around her.
In this episode of the Limitless Spirit Podcast, host Helen Todd interviews Amina (not her real name)—a devout Muslim from Kuwait who found Christ after moving to the United States. Throughout her life, Amina felt that the impersonal god she was taught about “didn’t match” the God who created the world. After relocating to the United States, Amina sought personal freedom and ultimately found it in Christ. In this episode, you’ll hear about Amina’s strict Muslim upbringing, her family’s challenging transition to life in America, and a co-worker’s timely invitation to church during Amina’s time of need.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Limitless Spirit, a weekly podcast with
host Helen Todd, where sheinterviews guests about pursuing
spiritual growth, discoveringlife's purpose through serving
others and developing a deeperfaith in Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to the Limitless Spirit podcast, where
we talk about pressing issues,personal stories and, of course,
the pursuit of a greaterpurpose in life through Christ.
Today, I want to share with youan interview with a woman whose
real name will be concealed forher personal protection.
Her story, however, is a breathof fresh air amidst everything
(00:40):
that is happening around theworld today.
A Muslim immigrant to theUnited States, she was
traumatized by a terriblechildhood experience.
Yet when she moved with herfamily to the United States to
avoid political crisis in hercountry, she found American
culture at first offensive, yetits spirit of freedom was
(01:04):
alluring to her.
Her life took a radical turn.
After several years of livingin America, someone invited her
to church.
Hello, amina, welcome to theLimitless Spirit podcast.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Helen, I know that we can't useyour real name for safety
(01:26):
purposes, but I think Amina is abeautiful name.
It matches you well.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Thank you again for having me.
This is very timely.
I believe that you wereallowing me to share my story.
So I was born and raised in asmall Middle Eastern country,
very devout Muslim country, andthe community I lived in is 98%
Muslim population at that timeand I think it still is, and I
lived right in front of a mosquewhere I would hear the call to
(01:53):
prayer five times a day.
My family came from a Sunnibackground, which is there are
two sects in Islam the Sunni andShia, and Sunni is the majority
Muslims in the world.
So my family is very strict,strict Sunni background, praying
five times a day, fasting inRamadan, going to pilgrimage,
adhering to the traditionalcovering.
As a woman, all of that isstill very important to my
(02:16):
family there and I live with myparents growing up and my
younger brother and we were avery strong Muslim family
growing up.
I have several aunts, uncles,cousins also as well, and you
know, in the community where Ilived there were no people of
any other religion that I knewof, even though there were
(02:36):
people in the country, like fromEgypt or Lebanon or Syria or, I
guess, palestinian background.
You know Syria or I guessPalestinian background.
You know people that probablypracticed Christian faith.
But I just want to say inIslamic culture, the culture I
came from, it was not veryaccepted to share the message of
Jesus with Muslims.
(02:56):
So not a lot of evangelizing,even to this day, is happening
in the community where I comefrom.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, because it's illegal, correct?
So I mean technically, that'sabsolutely not allowed.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yes, it is not accepted, definitely not
accepted.
And they will get in bigtrouble if they do share.
But sometimes they have toshare in hiding, you know.
So I started wearing theheadscarf covering called a
hijab from the age of three andI started wearing the full
covering, where you, I'm sureyou have seen Muslim women in
the Middle East, where they wereall black but you only see the
eyes, and that is where Istarted wearing from the age of
(03:32):
10.
When I went out in public, Ialways was accompanied by my
father or my uncle or my brotheror a male in the family, and
definitely with my mother.
I never went out by myself.
It was just not accepted.
So you know, I mean, we hadeverything.
My father worked for thegovernment, my mother was an
Islamic school teacher.
We were not poor.
We came from a good family,well taken care of, and I had
(03:57):
everything.
But I noticed from the young ageI would open the window in my
room and I would look at thecreation of God.
I would just see the blue skyand the clouds and the palm
trees and the camels and thedesert that's where the
background is and the birds, andI would often wonder.
It's amazing how beautiful Godmade this creation.
(04:17):
But the God that I followedAllah is not a personable God to
Muslims followed.
Allah is not a personable Godto Muslims.
For me, god was always distant,far away.
Judge, made rules andregulations for me to follow.
I honored God.
I honored Allah in my prayertimes and adhering to the
teachings of the ProphetMuhammad and everything.
(04:38):
But still, the more I prayed,the more I was seeking God with
my heart.
God was so distant and far away.
The more I was seeking God withmy heart, god was so distant
and far away.
But I often wondered how isthis creation God created match
his nature For me, even from ayoung age, I realized it did not
match.
You know, because God now Iknow the God is God of love, god
(04:59):
of acceptance, god of mercy,compassion, kindness, fruits of
the spirit.
You know, but that's the God Ithought I was worshiping, but it
wasn't, and that's what I waslooking for.
So I was really looking for Godfrom a very young age and I did
not know how to find him.
So what was your?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
life going to be like ?
How did you imagine your futureat that time?
What was the best possibleoutcome for you?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know, in Islamic culture girls are because it's
an honor-shame culture.
Girls usually stay home a lot.
They cook and clean, take careof the family.
They're expected to learn howto take care of the family.
They can get an education butthey cannot get jobs and
basically we raised up to bemarried off one day to maybe a
nice man that will take care ofthem.
In my culture there's men thathave several wives, so it's
(05:47):
accepted to live with severalwives.
So that's what I thought mylife would be.
I would just be raised up to bemarried off one day, maybe to
my cousin.
It's common to be marrying thefirst cousin.
Arranged marriages are commonand that's what I thought my
life would be.
It would be people coming andlooking at me to be married off
to their sons one day.
(06:07):
I didn't know how elsedifferent it could be.
I knew that even if I got aneducation I would not go
anywhere past that and were youokay with that?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Or maybe were you deep inside longing for more.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I think, honestly, every Muslim woman is longing
for freedom in her heart.
She really wants more than that, more than like to go and look
at the world and experiencedifferent cultures.
You know, just see what else isout there.
Every Muslim woman wants that,but unfortunately it's
restricted according to thereligion and the culture which
the religion is the culture.
(06:42):
So in a way, if you can imagine, they expect this way of life.
They don't expect any different, unless someone gives it to
them, you know.
Then they go out and their eyesare open to see what else is
out there.
But this is normal, this is anormal way of life.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And what did you know about Christ at that time?
Did you just know that he wasone of the prophets?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
So, yes, I just shared with you two different
ways Acknowledge many OldTestament prophets like Adam,
moses, abraham, ishmael, isaac,jacob, jonah, david, jesus.
You know all these are OldTestament prophets, but they
highly regard prophets.
But there's no prophet greaterthan any prophet.
Even Muhammad is not greaterthan any prophet, but they
(07:29):
highly regard these prophets.
Prophet is a messenger from Godthat brought a message from God
to the people.
Okay, so that's how they see it.
So, yeah, to me Jesus was justa prophet.
Definitely.
He came as a miracle into thisworld from the womb of Mary and
by the spirit of God.
He had the power to heal thesick and raise the dead.
He did great miracles and alsowhat I knew of him is that he
(07:51):
did not get crucified on thecross, that he was taken up into
heaven and he is returning onJudgment Day as a Muslim.
That's what I knew Then.
The other answer I want to giveyou is I learned English in a
Catholic convent.
So when I went to the Catholicconvent, it was not every day,
but it was like twice, two timesin a week, and I remember
(08:11):
walking into the convent and Iwould see the crucifix of Jesus
and I would see a picture ofMary carrying a baby, and I
would see saints and differentpictures of Jesus.
It was not the crucifix picture, necessarily, but he had
different pictures.
To be honest with you, I wasvery confused by the Catholic
Christian faith because, by theway, to Muslims, catholic and
(08:33):
Christian is the same thing.
It's not.
They don't know the difference,how they worship.
So to me, I was very confusedwith what I saw.
I thought that Christians areworshiping a human being and if
it's in the form of an idol madeas a sculpture, then it's idol
worship, and Muslims do notaccept idol worship.
They don't worship an idol.
So I don't know, from aChristian perspective, what
(08:56):
Jesus was to them, but they wereworshiping a human being and
for me, what Jesus was was justa prophet.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
And so, since they consider Jesus a prophet, do
they ever teach any of histeachings?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yes, in the Quran there is several surahs about.
In fact, there's a lot writtenabout Jesus, about Isa.
Isa alayhi salam is the wordIsa is the word for Jesus and
written a lot in the Quran about.
Of course, I share with you themiracle birth that he did.
He had the power to heal thesick, raise the dead.
There's some miracles recordedin the Quran that's not even in
(09:31):
the Bible actually.
So that is there.
But you know, many of thestories in the Bible are not in
the Quran.
It's just basically that he isthe one coming back on Judgment
Day.
But he's going to come back andpromote Islam and correct the
Christians and if they don'taccept them, they're going to be
killed and the Jews areautomatically going to be killed
.
By the way, muslims do not knowthat Jesus is from a Jewish
(09:54):
heritage.
That's not in the Quran.
So I was taught very stronglyto hate the Jewish people and I
didn't even know that Jesus'heritage was Jewish.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well, that is interesting.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Yes, I know it's powerful right, but there's many
things missing.
There are many holes in theQuran about what the Bible says.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Now I remember in your testimony that you had this
very traumatic experience as achild, making a pilgrimage with
your parents to Mecca andwitnessing the beheading of
several women.
Tell me a little bit about thatand what impact it made on you.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Well, it was actually one woman and if you look,
throughout history there hasbeen beheadings in Saudi Arabia
multiple times, several times,and it is always almost done
publicly to put fear in thepeople of not to do certain
things.
So my family and I went and didHajj pilgrimage, and then we
(10:57):
were going to the city of Medina, and in those days the roads
were not very good as they arenow.
And so we were walking toMedina doing our pilgrimage
journey, and suddenly a crowdstarted to gather.
I was holding my father's handand my father and I got pushed
to the front of this crowd andnow, see, the circle has been
formed and there must be two orthree hundred people in the
(11:20):
circle, a round circle, and men,women and children.
And in the center of the circlewas the Arabic woman.
She was dressed completely inall black.
Nothing you could see, not herhands, face, feet, nothing.
She was sitting on a box andshe was like like this, you know
, in the front, like this, witha head in the front, and this
man next to her did atraditional Islamic prayer on
(11:41):
the floor and he got up from thefloor and he pulled out a very
long golden sword and he justsuddenly beheaded.
The woman just just came down,the sword came down and I
remember seeing bloodsplattering everywhere on the
desert it's a desert out in,outside the city, and I was
shaking, my legs were shaking,my heart was pounding like it's
(12:02):
coming out of me or something,and the commotion in the crowd
that the men are chanting allahwa Allah Akbar, allah Akbar,
which is God is great, god isgreat.
And the women are screaming andcrying.
And at that day, at that moment, I pulled my father's hand.
I said father, father, what ishappening?
And my father said if you don'tlisten to the teachings we're
teaching you, you live as a goodMuslim and die as a good Muslim
(12:24):
.
If I don't do this, this couldhappen to me one day.
And that day I was overcomewith fear, complete fear of God
and fear of my father and fearof my, the religion I was raised
in.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
That day, changed for me.
So that was kind of the turningpoint, when you felt like maybe
this is not what you want inyour life.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Well, it was scary.
I mean, honestly, there'sbeheadings that happen a lot
over there.
Stonings and beheadings arevery common.
You don't hear about it in themedia but it's very protected.
But seeing it with your eyesit's very different.
In real life, I'm telling youhonestly, there's one thing to
watch in a movie and there'sanother thing to watch in a
movie and there's another thingto watch in person and it shakes
(13:08):
you up.
And I guess it just brought meawareness of what I am in and
that I should take it seriouslyand that I should fear God and
fear my future.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
So, in his divine providence, God arranged for
your family to come to theUnited States and your life
suddenly changed, and youmentioned that at first you were
traumatized by the Americanculture because it seemed
promiscuous to you and, let'sface it, in some ways it's
(13:36):
definitely not what we want tosee.
But you said that eventuallythis life in America started
seeming appealing and evenblessed.
So what changed your opinion ofthe American culture?
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Well, you know, as soon as I came to America, I one
word came to my mind, and it'sfreedom.
And there's freedom in thiscountry, freedom to worship how
you like, freedom to drive a caras a woman I would not have
been able to drive a car inthose days in my country Now the
rules have changed a little butfreedom to drive a car, freedom
to go out and buy whatever youwant by yourself, freedom to
(14:18):
just enjoy life, you know, andexperience new things, that just
was not available for me when Iwhere I was raised.
And this is available to notjust women, but all people, all
backgrounds, and people areaccepted.
That's one thing I noticed ispeople from all different
backgrounds are accepted in thiscountry.
So that's one first thing Iexperienced.
(14:39):
But of course, the West, anypart of the West, not just
United States, even Europe, isconsidered in the eyes of Islam.
I'll just be honest with you.
I don't want to offend anybody,but I'm speaking truth.
It is offensive.
And the way they dress, thefood they eat, the mannerism,
sex before marriage, pornography, drinking, you know, all these
(15:00):
killings, gangs, all rapes, allthese things that sometimes the
media promotes as a good thing,it's not accepted in the Islamic
culture.
That is why they keep the womanso protected and away from all
this, so that you would not look.
It would not be shame thefamily, you know.
So when I came here, my familyalso tried to keep me away from
(15:20):
a lot of things, thinking maybeI would become those people, and
so it's very strict.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
I was still very strict for me even after I came
here, and so at one point youfelt like you wanted to run away
or experience the freedom, andyou decided not to.
So I want to talk about that,because I've heard this from
other friends who went throughsomewhat of a similar experience
(15:47):
.
And it's so hard because for aMuslim person, especially a
Muslim woman, acceptingChristianity means like cutting
yourself off from the peoplethat you love and your family.
And so tell me, how did you gothrough this?
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Well, it is an honor-shame culture.
So children usually stay withthe parents until they get
married.
The son, when they get marriedin the Islamic family, stays in
the home with the parents andhis bride joins the family and
takes care of the family.
But the daughter leaves thefamily and goes to the husband's
side of the family.
But it's only done aftermarriage.
(16:28):
Until then the parents stayhome.
Until then an honor and respectis brought to the family and
you have to abide by the rulesand regulations.
That's the only way to do it.
So when I'm living in acompletely different culture,
trying to adhere to my culture,it is very hard and you cannot
(16:50):
restrict a person.
They want to get out and go seewhat else is out there and it's
almost like my heart was soexcited to go and experience but
my parents were restricting mefrom going and experiencing and
it was a clash.
And this is very common, I'mtelling you.
This happens in almost everyIslamic home.
Children want to go out andexperience, especially if
(17:10):
they're getting educated here.
They make friends, theyunderstand and hear about
different new things happening.
So I did leave home once and itreally hurt my family.
They made it known that howmuch I hurt them.
So I had to go back home.
But I was miserable inside, inmy heart.
I was miserable because even ifsomeone would have shared with
(17:32):
me about Christianity at thattime, I would have been like
tell me more.
I'm open to hear, to listen,because in my faith I don't have
this joy that you guys have inthis country, in your lives, in
your family, I see that Americanpeople are happy.
They had smiles on their faces,they would joke around and have
a joyful experience with theirfamilies.
(17:53):
That's not what I had.
Maybe on the outside it wouldlook like I was happy, maybe
because I was with them orsmiling, but in my heart I was
so broken and rejected and aloneand I feel like God had mercy
on me in that time and reallytook a hold of my heart and gave
(18:13):
me freedom and I just thank Godfor that.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Well, let's talk about how this happened.
There was finally someone whoreached out to you, and I love
that part of your story, solet's talk about this, okay.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Well, Helen, you know , I lived in this country for
eight and a half years in the US, In a city where there's
obvious Christians.
It's like if you're driving ona road, there's at least a
church every one-fourth mile.
Okay, so Christianity isobvious religion.
In the city where I lived, myfamily and I found one mosque.
So we started attending thatmosque.
(18:47):
I was going to the Islamicschool, I was learning the Quran
and everything.
Of course.
I was attending college, myfather and I was making American
friends and what I was tryingto say is, even under the
control of my family, I wasstill a little bit experiencing
some freedom and enjoying it,but any kind of freedom to my
family is a threat.
So they tried to restrict meeven more.
(19:10):
They arranged my marriage to aman in Kuwait area and then.
So I was like shocked by that,because I'm here in this country
and I never thought that wouldhappen, you know.
So I tried to speak to myfather and I said, Father, I
don't want to marry this person.
I know this is my culture.
Maybe one day I will marrysomebody that you like in
(19:32):
America, but I don't want to besent back anywhere or sent
anywhere in the Middle East andbut my father's decision was
made.
This is, in fact, as a womandon't have the right to speak
back to the father when theymake certain arrangements.
So my father was even shockedthat I was even speaking against
this and it started causing alot of stress in my home Every
(19:53):
day.
I was rejecting this proposal.
So the person that was visitingme at that time was my
grandmother.
My grandmother was a veryspecial person in my life.
There's one person in my familyI really loved and enjoyed and
respected and she was like mybest friend, was my grandmother,
and she ministered to me inways that no one else really did
.
When I had questions about myreligion, I would ask her and
(20:17):
she would help me.
So I told my grandmother that Idon't want to marry this man
and my grandmother went to speakto my father for me and stood
up for me.
Well, that caused even morestress and there was a lot of
arguing, fighting with the words.
Stress just elevated in my homeand my grandmother started
getting sick suddenly and shestarted.
(20:38):
It's like she suddenly got sickand she was like grabbing her
heart.
So they called 911 emergencyand she went to the hospital in
the ICU and found out that shehad a massive heart attack.
And it was devastating to seemy grandmother.
One moment she was okay.
The next moment she was barelybreathing, barely holding on,
(21:00):
and in two days she passed okay.
The next moment she was barelybreathing, barely holding on,
and in two days she passed away.
And I was devastated.
You know, I felt in a way Iblamed myself, that maybe if I
would have accepted this mygrandmother would still be alive
, and it really hurt me.
I lost my best friend, mybiggest support in my life.
I was struggling and so myfather stopped talking to me
about this proposal because wewere all mourning the loss of my
(21:23):
grandmother and she was gone.
In Islamic customs, even Islamicreligion, there's no guarantee
offered to any Muslims to go toheaven.
So Muslims know that when theydie, either God will have mercy
on them and allow them intoheaven or they go to hell, and
there's specifically a surah inthe Quran that says that women,
(21:43):
majority of the women will go tohell, and that is a fear factor
in a lot of women's hearts andminds.
So I feared about mygrandmother's future and I
missed her and she was buriedand she was gone and I was.
It's like I became depressedperson.
So I went to my job after thefuneral, a few days of the
funeral service, and I tried tofunction at my work and I
(22:05):
couldn't.
I just started to cry.
All I could do was cry, cry,just could not even function.
And so this lady at my work hername was Paula came up to me
and asked me if I was okay, andI said no, Paula, my grandmother
was okay one moment, and nowshe's gone.
She died, and I miss her somuch and I don't know how to do
this life.
(22:26):
And God, my relationship withGod at that point was so far
away.
I was praying and fasting anddoing everything, but God was
non-existent in my life.
And so at that time I shared myheart with Paula, and Paula
just took her arms and just heldme, she just gave me a hug.
And you know what this hug gaveme peace.
(22:46):
Peace just started flowing fromtop to my feet.
I cannot explain this peace toyou.
I've not had peace like thisbefore.
And then, after that, she saidwould you like to come to my
church with me?
And that was the first time Igot invited to a Christian
church after living in a cityfor eight and a half years as a
visible Muslim woman.
(23:07):
I met many people here.
I worked with people, I went toschool with people, but no one
ever invited me to their church,until this day, and so I walked
into the church with Paula forthe first time, until this day,
and so I walked into the churchwith Paula for the first time.
This was a big church which hadabout as big as 30,000 people
attend this church.
So I walked into this church asI covered because I want to.
(23:29):
I always cover when you go tothe place of worship and she
took me to the very front.
Imagine all those peoplestaring at me.
I'm the only Muslim girl inthere, walking all the way to
the front of the church andbasically I just sat right below
the pulpit of the pastor.
And when I sat down, the servicehad not started yet and the
(23:50):
people came up to me and theyshook my hand and they looked me
in the eye and they said hi,what is your name?
Where are you from?
Tell us about your family.
They were so nice to me, theytook great interest in me, in my
life, who I was.
I felt genuinely accepted bythese people and I never met
them before.
In fact, to be honest with you,Helen, I felt like these people
(24:12):
accepted me more than people inmy mosque.
They were more accepting,loving, gracious than people in
my mosque.
After that I sat down and Istarted hearing the message.
Well, they had a big worshiptime, but there's no worship in
a mosque, so I don't know whatthey were doing.
So I was like thinking, oh,this is good music, you know.
And then, after that, pastorcame to the pulpit and he said
(24:33):
everyone open your books to thebook of Isaiah, the prophet,
chapter 61, verse 1.
So he started reading from thebook of Isaiah and he started
reading that the spirit he saidthis is a prophecy of Jesus.
And he started reading that thespirit of sovereign Lord is
upon me because he has anointedme to preach the gospel to the
poor.
He sent me to heal the brokenheart and to proclaim liberty to
(24:54):
the captive and freedom ofsight to those who are bound to
proclaim the year of the Lord'sfavor.
And then he said everyone openyour books to the book of Luke,
chapter 4, verse 16 to 24.
And he read the scripture abouthow Jesus walks into the
synagogue.
He was given the scroll fromprophet Isaiah.
He opens the scroll and hereads the scripture and sits
down and said today, in yourhearing, this is fulfilled.
(25:17):
And that is the first time Iheard a message about Jesus that
he came to heal the brokenheart and set the captive free.
And it's like those words werefor me.
I just grabbed a hold of thosewords, Isaiah, in my heart, and
I just was thinking about thosewords.
I don't even know if Iunderstood the message that the
(25:37):
pastor gave on it, but thosewords is what I needed to hear
at that moment in my life.
And Jesus shared those words.
So I fulfilled those prophecies.
So after the sermon finished,everyone was very nice, friendly
, invited me back, and one thingI forgot to tell you is when I
got to the church, the peoplegreeted me and then they said we
(25:58):
are so glad you're here today,Thank you for coming.
That is like wow, it wasaccepting of me, you know.
So I felt really wonderful thatday.
That was a great day.
And then we went to a Christianbookstore and Paula bought me a
Bible and she explained to methe books of the Bible in Isaiah
scripture.
And then I took the Bible homeand I hid it in my mattress,
(26:21):
because in my home a Bible isnot accepted.
It's a Muslim, devout Muslimfamily.
But when I went to sleep atnight first day, second day,
third day I could not sleep.
I wanted to read this book.
What more was in this book?
So I started reading the Bibleon my own.
I don't know where to start, soI just started from the first
book, which is Genesis, whichwas actually good for me because
the stories are familiar.
(26:41):
They are in the Quran as well.
I started reading Genesis,Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, all
the books of the Bible.
And you know, what I startedseeing was how God of the Bible
was a personable God to thepeople.
He spoke to the prophets.
He did great miracles for thepeople.
He heard the people's crieswhen they prayed to him, the
(27:02):
children of Israel.
They were held captive byPharaoh in Egypt and God sent
Prophet Moses to rescue them anddid great miracles to bring
them into the Promised Land.
Even when they were complaining, even when they sinned against
God, God still had mercy on themand had compassion.
This kind of God I don't know.
It's not in Islam.
This is the kind of God I waswondering if this is the God you
(27:25):
know.
And then I remember in the bookof Psalms I like Psalms because
David he genuinely cries to Godfrom his heart and us for help.
And he cried out to God manytimes when he got in situations
and his God came and helped him.
And I said where is my God?
I called to God many times whenhe got in situations and his
God came and helped him and Isaid where is my God?
I called my God many times, myGod did not help me.
And then, after that, I startedreading the New Testament.
(27:46):
I started going to the churchand hiding from my parents
because I had many questions,and I started reading the
Gospels from the book of Luke.
I started reading the story ofJesus and then something was
happening to me.
When I started reading thestory of Jesus, and then
something was happening to mewhen I was reading the New
Testament and it was beingexplained to me, I started
understanding who Jesus was,that he had to come from God
(28:08):
into this world through amiracle, Because he came as a
miracle.
He had the power of God to healthe sick and raise the dead.
Not only that, he had a heartof compassion and mercy for all
people.
The more people were rejected,the more he went and accepted
them and had mercy and love forthem.
You know, like the woman with ablood issue, she was desperate
(28:30):
to be healed and he healed her,the woman that should have been
stoned.
He saved her life.
Knowing her sin, I felt like Icould put myself in those women
lives.
That's who I was, the rejectedwoman.
And then, finally, I read thathe had to come from God because
we were without hope, livingwithout hope, without
forgiveness and mercy.
(28:50):
And he came to give us thatforgiveness and mercy and gave
his life so we can haveeverlasting life.
He died for us on the cross.
I'm telling you, Helen, I just.
The more I was reading the Bible, my eyes were like scales kept
falling out, several scales.
My heart was being overwhelmed,Like it was taking it in and
(29:13):
being filled with the word ofGod.
I started seeing miracles.
By the way, as a Muslim, Iprayed five times a day and more
.
My prayers never got answered,but when I would pray to God of
the Bible, I called him God ofthe Bible.
Guess what?
My prayers started gettinganswered.
My little prayers were gettinganswered.
I started seeing miracleshappening in my life and I got
into impossible situations.
I just called to God of theBible and he came and helped me
(29:35):
many times.
And so then, after that, afterabout two and a half years, I
was reading the Bible and thispastor asked me the next step is
to get baptized.
Am I ready to get baptized andaccept Jesus?
And I said, Pastor, I wouldlike to get baptized.
Can we go to the Jordan Riverin Israel?
I didn't know if this is whatChristians do or not.
(29:56):
I don't know, you know.
Know if this is what Christiansdo or not.
I don't know, you know.
He said no, we have a tub inthe church.
In the tub, I don't knowanything.
Okay, so I'm just going byanyway.
So this this day came where I'mstanding in the tub, in front of
the 30,000 member church and I,he said, you know when you're
when I'm standing in the water.
He said that if you acceptJesus, when I put you, put you
(30:20):
back in the water.
This is a symbol of your oldlife passing.
When you come out of the water,you are a new creation in
Christ.
God has forgiven and forgottenyour sins in the lake of
forgetfulness.
He said, if you accept Jesus,his spirit will come and live
inside of you.
And I said what a privilege tohave the creator, the living God
spirit, living inside of us.
Muslims do not have thisprivilege.
(30:42):
And then he said if you acceptJesus, he will come and answer
your prayer according to hiswill.
And I said, Pastor, I alreadysee this miracle happening in my
life.
And then he said if you acceptJesus, 1 Peter 2 says you are a
royal priesthood, a holy nationand people of his own possession
.
Oh my goodness.
And I said, wow, royalty in theeyes of God.
(31:04):
From where I come from, it issuch an honor to know this God.
And that day I got baptized andI came out of the water and this
piece, the same piece thatPaula hugged me and I got, came
over me again.
And that day I accepted Jesus.
I knew it, I knew this is thetruth and this is the God came
(31:27):
and rescued me, saved me andgave me this new life to follow
him, the true, living God, youknow, and all I can say is it
was like a miraculous experiencefor me.
That day I could not notbelieve this message.
There was nothing in me thatwas not believing 100%.
I believed everything, and it'sall because of the Spirit of
God and the Word of God.
It did it for me in themiracles.
(31:48):
So after that, I don't know.
I'm just telling you my lifehas been blessed even more and
more and more and more.
I see an evidence of a livingGod in my life and I love it.
I thank God.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Now you have a marriage arranged by God, not by
your parents.
So I have to ask you and youtravel the world and tell people
about Jesus and my goodness,your testimony alone is so
compelling.
I can see how it can touch somany lives and is touching so
(32:22):
many lives.
I have to ask the last questionso what about your parents?
How did they react to the newsthat you are now a Christian?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Yeah, so I realized after I became a follower of
Jesus that, yep, that I have totell my parents.
I tried to hide it from themfor a few months, but you know,
it was getting impossible for meto live with them.
Being in a Muslim home with aChristian heart, you know, to
follow God.
And so this day came.
I went home and they werehaving dinner and I told them
(32:56):
the Bible says to be bold, right, so I basically told them to
put their food down.
They were having dinner and Isaid get on your knees and
repent and ask Jesus Christ asyour Lord and Savior, and if you
don't do this now, you're goingto hell.
I said that you know, I reallydid receive boldness, and I want
to say that was not taken wellwith my parents.
(33:18):
They were very angry.
My father just threw whateverhe had in his hand and just
walked very fast towards me andsaid what have you done?
You have disgraced the familyname.
You are an infidel, you're nolonger our daughter and you
should be killed.
You have just put down ourwhole family and what we have
instilled in your life and youneed to convert to Islam like
(33:39):
that.
And my mother also.
She was crying and screamingand all, and then he left.
So my mother said that if Idon't leave the home now, my
father would kill me.
So I left the home, I went tothe church and they allowed me
to stay with a girl at thechurch.
And you know, the Bible sayswhen your father and mother
(33:59):
forsake you, the Lord willreceive you.
And I just want to say Godreally just took care of me
every way.
It was hard hard to not bewithout my parents.
I lived with them most of mylife, you know, but God was my
everything.
I relied on him, I trusted him.
I saw the miracles he did.
He brought the people in mylife.
He took care of me.
It was hard, but he took careof me.
(34:20):
And for two and a half years Ididn't see my parents.
I would call them, I would gosee them.
They would not answer and Imissed them a lot.
But God was everything to me atthat time and I prayed for them
a lot.
I have good news to tell you,though my relationship with my
parents has now been restored,and it's taken many years, a lot
(34:41):
of praying, but I decided thatI'm going to love my parents and
honor them because I'm supposedto as their daughter.
They're all I have as myparents and I'm going to love
and honor them, no matter howmuch rejection I face.
This day came where my husbandand I did share the gospel with
them.
They didn't accept, but I'mstill praying for them and I'm
believing God.
He's going to save them one day, and it's in his hands now.
(35:04):
So, but I choose to have arelationship with them.
You know, until whenever we areback to being with God again,
until that day.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
I thank you so much for sharing your story, amina,
and you know it makes me veryhopeful for the people that, as
a missionary, I may not be ableto reach personally, you know,
for one reason or another, but Ido believe that people who seek
God with all of their heart, nomatter where they live, no
(35:36):
matter what God they worship atthe moment, if they truly are
seeking God, he makes a way forthem to find himself, whether
it's through other people ordivine revelation.
I've met people from theIslamic world who just saw Jesus
in a vision and gave theirhearts to him, but he makes a
way.
Jesus in a vision and gavetheir hearts to him, but he
(35:58):
makes a way.
And so it's an incrediblyhopeful story and I hope that it
will encourage others andperhaps it will reach people who
are in the same position thatyou were in once, and it will
give them the idea that there isa God who loves them, who knows
them and who has somethingwonderful in store for them.
So thank you for being bold andsharing your story, and I know
(36:23):
you're getting ready to leave onanother mission overseas, so I
wish you all the best.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Amina's story is remarkable andsimple at the same time.
The world is inflamed by theclash of civilizations,
religions and political andeconomic interests, but the
(36:46):
simple and timeless truth of thegospel captures hearts of
people and transforms lives.
Your and my part in this issimple Share the news.
If your life has been changedby Christ, you are equipped to
help someone else to do the same.
This is what World MissionsAlliance is all about to equip
(37:09):
every Christian to be anambassador for Christ and to
ensure that every person in thisworld gets to hear the gospel
message.
I invite you to check ourwebsite, rfwmaorg, and discover
opportunities for you to travelthe world and serve in the Great
Commission through short-termmissions.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Again, the website is rfwmaorg.
Until next time, I'm Helen Tarn, Transformed by Christ.
You are equipped to help othersexperience this transformation.
Christ called his followers tomake disciples across the world.
World Missions Alliance givesyou an opportunity to do this
through short-term missions inover 32 countries across the
(38:09):
globe.
If you want to help those whoare hurting and hopeless and
discover your greater purpose inserving who are hurting and
hopeless, and discover yourgreater purpose in serving,
check out our website, rfwmaorg,and find out how to get
involved.
Welcome to Limitless Spirit, a weekly podcast with
host Helen Todd, where sheinterviews guests about pursuing
spiritual growth, discoveringlife's purpose through serving
others and developing a deeperfaith in Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to the Limitless Spirit podcast, where
we talk about pressing issues,personal stories and, of course,
the pursuit of a greaterpurpose in life through Christ.
Today, I want to share with youan interview with a woman whose
real name will be concealed forher personal protection.
Her story, however, is a breathof fresh air amidst everything
(00:40):
that is happening around theworld today.
A Muslim immigrant to theUnited States, she was
traumatized by a terriblechildhood experience.
Yet when she moved with herfamily to the United States to
avoid political crisis in hercountry, she found American
culture at first offensive, yetits spirit of freedom was
(01:04):
alluring to her.
Her life took a radical turn.
After several years of livingin America, someone invited her
to church.
Hello, amina, welcome to theLimitless Spirit podcast.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Helen, I know that we can't useyour real name for safety
(01:26):
purposes, but I think Amina is abeautiful name.
It matches you well.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Thank you again for having me.
This is very timely.
I believe that you wereallowing me to share my story.
So I was born and raised in asmall Middle Eastern country,
very devout Muslim country, andthe community I lived in is 98%
Muslim population at that timeand I think it still is, and I
lived right in front of a mosquewhere I would hear the call to
(01:53):
prayer five times a day.
My family came from a Sunnibackground, which is there are
two sects in Islam the Sunni andShia, and Sunni is the majority
Muslims in the world.
So my family is very strict,strict Sunni background, praying
five times a day, fasting inRamadan, going to pilgrimage,
adhering to the traditionalcovering.
As a woman, all of that isstill very important to my
(02:16):
family there and I live with myparents growing up and my
younger brother and we were avery strong Muslim family
growing up.
I have several aunts, uncles,cousins also as well, and you
know, in the community where Ilived there were no people of
any other religion that I knewof, even though there were
(02:36):
people in the country, like fromEgypt or Lebanon or Syria or, I
guess, palestinian background.
You know Syria or I guessPalestinian background.
You know people that probablypracticed Christian faith.
But I just want to say inIslamic culture, the culture I
came from, it was not veryaccepted to share the message of
Jesus with Muslims.
(02:56):
So not a lot of evangelizing,even to this day, is happening
in the community where I comefrom.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, because it's illegal, correct?
So I mean technically, that'sabsolutely not allowed.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yes, it is not accepted, definitely not
accepted.
And they will get in bigtrouble if they do share.
But sometimes they have toshare in hiding, you know.
So I started wearing theheadscarf covering called a
hijab from the age of three andI started wearing the full
covering, where you, I'm sureyou have seen Muslim women in
the Middle East, where they wereall black but you only see the
eyes, and that is where Istarted wearing from the age of
(03:32):
10.
When I went out in public, Ialways was accompanied by my
father or my uncle or my brotheror a male in the family, and
definitely with my mother.
I never went out by myself.
It was just not accepted.
So you know, I mean, we hadeverything.
My father worked for thegovernment, my mother was an
Islamic school teacher.
We were not poor.
We came from a good family,well taken care of, and I had
(03:57):
everything.
But I noticed from the young ageI would open the window in my
room and I would look at thecreation of God.
I would just see the blue skyand the clouds and the palm
trees and the camels and thedesert that's where the
background is and the birds, andI would often wonder.
It's amazing how beautiful Godmade this creation.
(04:17):
But the God that I followedAllah is not a personable God to
Muslims followed.
Allah is not a personable Godto Muslims.
For me, god was always distant,far away.
Judge, made rules andregulations for me to follow.
I honored God.
I honored Allah in my prayertimes and adhering to the
teachings of the ProphetMuhammad and everything.
(04:38):
But still, the more I prayed,the more I was seeking God with
my heart.
God was so distant and far away.
The more I was seeking God withmy heart, god was so distant
and far away.
But I often wondered how isthis creation God created match
his nature For me, even from ayoung age, I realized it did not
match.
You know, because God now Iknow the God is God of love, god
(04:59):
of acceptance, god of mercy,compassion, kindness, fruits of
the spirit.
You know, but that's the God Ithought I was worshiping, but it
wasn't, and that's what I waslooking for.
So I was really looking for Godfrom a very young age and I did
not know how to find him.
So what was your?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
life going to be like ?
How did you imagine your futureat that time?
What was the best possibleoutcome for you?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know, in Islamic culture girls are because it's
an honor-shame culture.
Girls usually stay home a lot.
They cook and clean, take careof the family.
They're expected to learn howto take care of the family.
They can get an education butthey cannot get jobs and
basically we raised up to bemarried off one day to maybe a
nice man that will take care ofthem.
In my culture there's men thathave several wives, so it's
(05:47):
accepted to live with severalwives.
So that's what I thought mylife would be.
I would just be raised up to bemarried off one day, maybe to
my cousin.
It's common to be marrying thefirst cousin.
Arranged marriages are commonand that's what I thought my
life would be.
It would be people coming andlooking at me to be married off
to their sons one day.
(06:07):
I didn't know how elsedifferent it could be.
I knew that even if I got aneducation I would not go
anywhere past that and were youokay with that?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Or maybe were you deep inside longing for more.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I think, honestly, every Muslim woman is longing
for freedom in her heart.
She really wants more than that, more than like to go and look
at the world and experiencedifferent cultures.
You know, just see what else isout there.
Every Muslim woman wants that,but unfortunately it's
restricted according to thereligion and the culture which
the religion is the culture.
(06:42):
So in a way, if you can imagine, they expect this way of life.
They don't expect any different, unless someone gives it to
them, you know.
Then they go out and their eyesare open to see what else is
out there.
But this is normal, this is anormal way of life.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And what did you know about Christ at that time?
Did you just know that he wasone of the prophets?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
So, yes, I just shared with you two different
ways Acknowledge many OldTestament prophets like Adam,
moses, abraham, ishmael, isaac,jacob, jonah, david, jesus.
You know all these are OldTestament prophets, but they
highly regard prophets.
But there's no prophet greaterthan any prophet.
Even Muhammad is not greaterthan any prophet, but they
(07:29):
highly regard these prophets.
Prophet is a messenger from Godthat brought a message from God
to the people.
Okay, so that's how they see it.
So, yeah, to me Jesus was justa prophet.
Definitely.
He came as a miracle into thisworld from the womb of Mary and
by the spirit of God.
He had the power to heal thesick and raise the dead.
He did great miracles and alsowhat I knew of him is that he
(07:51):
did not get crucified on thecross, that he was taken up into
heaven and he is returning onJudgment Day as a Muslim.
That's what I knew Then.
The other answer I want to giveyou is I learned English in a
Catholic convent.
So when I went to the Catholicconvent, it was not every day,
but it was like twice, two timesin a week, and I remember
(08:11):
walking into the convent and Iwould see the crucifix of Jesus
and I would see a picture ofMary carrying a baby, and I
would see saints and differentpictures of Jesus.
It was not the crucifix picture, necessarily, but he had
different pictures.
To be honest with you, I wasvery confused by the Catholic
Christian faith because, by theway, to Muslims, catholic and
(08:33):
Christian is the same thing.
It's not.
They don't know the difference,how they worship.
So to me, I was very confusedwith what I saw.
I thought that Christians areworshiping a human being and if
it's in the form of an idol madeas a sculpture, then it's idol
worship, and Muslims do notaccept idol worship.
They don't worship an idol.
So I don't know, from aChristian perspective, what
(08:56):
Jesus was to them, but they wereworshiping a human being and
for me, what Jesus was was justa prophet.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
And so, since they consider Jesus a prophet, do
they ever teach any of histeachings?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yes, in the Quran there is several surahs about.
In fact, there's a lot writtenabout Jesus, about Isa.
Isa alayhi salam is the wordIsa is the word for Jesus and
written a lot in the Quran about.
Of course, I share with you themiracle birth that he did.
He had the power to heal thesick, raise the dead.
There's some miracles recordedin the Quran that's not even in
(09:31):
the Bible actually.
So that is there.
But you know, many of thestories in the Bible are not in
the Quran.
It's just basically that he isthe one coming back on Judgment
Day.
But he's going to come back andpromote Islam and correct the
Christians and if they don'taccept them, they're going to be
killed and the Jews areautomatically going to be killed
.
By the way, muslims do not knowthat Jesus is from a Jewish
(09:54):
heritage.
That's not in the Quran.
So I was taught very stronglyto hate the Jewish people and I
didn't even know that Jesus'heritage was Jewish.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well, that is interesting.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Yes, I know it's powerful right, but there's many
things missing.
There are many holes in theQuran about what the Bible says.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Now I remember in your testimony that you had this
very traumatic experience as achild, making a pilgrimage with
your parents to Mecca andwitnessing the beheading of
several women.
Tell me a little bit about thatand what impact it made on you.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Well, it was actually one woman and if you look,
throughout history there hasbeen beheadings in Saudi Arabia
multiple times, several times,and it is always almost done
publicly to put fear in thepeople of not to do certain
things.
So my family and I went and didHajj pilgrimage, and then we
(10:57):
were going to the city of Medina, and in those days the roads
were not very good as they arenow.
And so we were walking toMedina doing our pilgrimage
journey, and suddenly a crowdstarted to gather.
I was holding my father's handand my father and I got pushed
to the front of this crowd andnow, see, the circle has been
formed and there must be two orthree hundred people in the
(11:20):
circle, a round circle, and men,women and children.
And in the center of the circlewas the Arabic woman.
She was dressed completely inall black.
Nothing you could see, not herhands, face, feet, nothing.
She was sitting on a box andshe was like like this, you know
, in the front, like this, witha head in the front, and this
man next to her did atraditional Islamic prayer on
(11:41):
the floor and he got up from thefloor and he pulled out a very
long golden sword and he justsuddenly beheaded.
The woman just just came down,the sword came down and I
remember seeing bloodsplattering everywhere on the
desert it's a desert out in,outside the city, and I was
shaking, my legs were shaking,my heart was pounding like it's
(12:02):
coming out of me or something,and the commotion in the crowd
that the men are chanting allahwa Allah Akbar, allah Akbar,
which is God is great, god isgreat.
And the women are screaming andcrying.
And at that day, at that moment, I pulled my father's hand.
I said father, father, what ishappening?
And my father said if you don'tlisten to the teachings we're
teaching you, you live as a goodMuslim and die as a good Muslim
(12:24):
.
If I don't do this, this couldhappen to me one day.
And that day I was overcomewith fear, complete fear of God
and fear of my father and fearof my, the religion I was raised
in.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
That day, changed for me.
So that was kind of the turningpoint, when you felt like maybe
this is not what you want inyour life.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Well, it was scary.
I mean, honestly, there'sbeheadings that happen a lot
over there.
Stonings and beheadings arevery common.
You don't hear about it in themedia but it's very protected.
But seeing it with your eyesit's very different.
In real life, I'm telling youhonestly, there's one thing to
watch in a movie and there'sanother thing to watch in a
movie and there's another thingto watch in person and it shakes
(13:08):
you up.
And I guess it just brought meawareness of what I am in and
that I should take it seriouslyand that I should fear God and
fear my future.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
So, in his divine providence, God arranged for
your family to come to theUnited States and your life
suddenly changed, and youmentioned that at first you were
traumatized by the Americanculture because it seemed
promiscuous to you and, let'sface it, in some ways it's
(13:36):
definitely not what we want tosee.
But you said that eventuallythis life in America started
seeming appealing and evenblessed.
So what changed your opinion ofthe American culture?
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Well, you know, as soon as I came to America, I one
word came to my mind, and it'sfreedom.
And there's freedom in thiscountry, freedom to worship how
you like, freedom to drive a caras a woman I would not have
been able to drive a car inthose days in my country Now the
rules have changed a little butfreedom to drive a car, freedom
to go out and buy whatever youwant by yourself, freedom to
(14:18):
just enjoy life, you know, andexperience new things, that just
was not available for me when Iwhere I was raised.
And this is available to notjust women, but all people, all
backgrounds, and people areaccepted.
That's one thing I noticed ispeople from all different
backgrounds are accepted in thiscountry.
So that's one first thing Iexperienced.
(14:39):
But of course, the West, anypart of the West, not just
United States, even Europe, isconsidered in the eyes of Islam.
I'll just be honest with you.
I don't want to offend anybody,but I'm speaking truth.
It is offensive.
And the way they dress, thefood they eat, the mannerism,
sex before marriage, pornography, drinking, you know, all these
(15:00):
killings, gangs, all rapes, allthese things that sometimes the
media promotes as a good thing,it's not accepted in the Islamic
culture.
That is why they keep the womanso protected and away from all
this, so that you would not look.
It would not be shame thefamily, you know.
So when I came here, my familyalso tried to keep me away from
(15:20):
a lot of things, thinking maybeI would become those people, and
so it's very strict.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
I was still very strict for me even after I came
here, and so at one point youfelt like you wanted to run away
or experience the freedom, andyou decided not to.
So I want to talk about that,because I've heard this from
other friends who went throughsomewhat of a similar experience
(15:47):
.
And it's so hard because for aMuslim person, especially a
Muslim woman, acceptingChristianity means like cutting
yourself off from the peoplethat you love and your family.
And so tell me, how did you gothrough this?
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Well, it is an honor-shame culture.
So children usually stay withthe parents until they get
married.
The son, when they get marriedin the Islamic family, stays in
the home with the parents andhis bride joins the family and
takes care of the family.
But the daughter leaves thefamily and goes to the husband's
side of the family.
But it's only done aftermarriage.
(16:28):
Until then the parents stayhome.
Until then an honor and respectis brought to the family and
you have to abide by the rulesand regulations.
That's the only way to do it.
So when I'm living in acompletely different culture,
trying to adhere to my culture,it is very hard and you cannot
(16:50):
restrict a person.
They want to get out and go seewhat else is out there and it's
almost like my heart was soexcited to go and experience but
my parents were restricting mefrom going and experiencing and
it was a clash.
And this is very common, I'mtelling you.
This happens in almost everyIslamic home.
Children want to go out andexperience, especially if
(17:10):
they're getting educated here.
They make friends, theyunderstand and hear about
different new things happening.
So I did leave home once and itreally hurt my family.
They made it known that howmuch I hurt them.
So I had to go back home.
But I was miserable inside, inmy heart.
I was miserable because even ifsomeone would have shared with
(17:32):
me about Christianity at thattime, I would have been like
tell me more.
I'm open to hear, to listen,because in my faith I don't have
this joy that you guys have inthis country, in your lives, in
your family, I see that Americanpeople are happy.
They had smiles on their faces,they would joke around and have
a joyful experience with theirfamilies.
(17:53):
That's not what I had.
Maybe on the outside it wouldlook like I was happy, maybe
because I was with them orsmiling, but in my heart I was
so broken and rejected and aloneand I feel like God had mercy
on me in that time and reallytook a hold of my heart and gave
(18:13):
me freedom and I just thank Godfor that.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Well, let's talk about how this happened.
There was finally someone whoreached out to you, and I love
that part of your story, solet's talk about this, okay.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Well, Helen, you know , I lived in this country for
eight and a half years in the US, In a city where there's
obvious Christians.
It's like if you're driving ona road, there's at least a
church every one-fourth mile.
Okay, so Christianity isobvious religion.
In the city where I lived, myfamily and I found one mosque.
So we started attending thatmosque.
(18:47):
I was going to the Islamicschool, I was learning the Quran
and everything.
Of course.
I was attending college, myfather and I was making American
friends and what I was tryingto say is, even under the
control of my family, I wasstill a little bit experiencing
some freedom and enjoying it,but any kind of freedom to my
family is a threat.
So they tried to restrict meeven more.
(19:10):
They arranged my marriage to aman in Kuwait area and then.
So I was like shocked by that,because I'm here in this country
and I never thought that wouldhappen, you know.
So I tried to speak to myfather and I said, Father, I
don't want to marry this person.
I know this is my culture.
Maybe one day I will marrysomebody that you like in
(19:32):
America, but I don't want to besent back anywhere or sent
anywhere in the Middle East andbut my father's decision was
made.
This is, in fact, as a womandon't have the right to speak
back to the father when theymake certain arrangements.
So my father was even shockedthat I was even speaking against
this and it started causing alot of stress in my home Every
(19:53):
day.
I was rejecting this proposal.
So the person that was visitingme at that time was my
grandmother.
My grandmother was a veryspecial person in my life.
There's one person in my familyI really loved and enjoyed and
respected and she was like mybest friend, was my grandmother,
and she ministered to me inways that no one else really did
.
When I had questions about myreligion, I would ask her and
(20:17):
she would help me.
So I told my grandmother that Idon't want to marry this man
and my grandmother went to speakto my father for me and stood
up for me.
Well, that caused even morestress and there was a lot of
arguing, fighting with the words.
Stress just elevated in my homeand my grandmother started
getting sick suddenly and shestarted.
(20:38):
It's like she suddenly got sickand she was like grabbing her
heart.
So they called 911 emergencyand she went to the hospital in
the ICU and found out that shehad a massive heart attack.
And it was devastating to seemy grandmother.
One moment she was okay.
The next moment she was barelybreathing, barely holding on,
(21:00):
and in two days she passed okay.
The next moment she was barelybreathing, barely holding on,
and in two days she passed away.
And I was devastated.
You know, I felt in a way Iblamed myself, that maybe if I
would have accepted this mygrandmother would still be alive
, and it really hurt me.
I lost my best friend, mybiggest support in my life.
I was struggling and so myfather stopped talking to me
about this proposal because wewere all mourning the loss of my
(21:23):
grandmother and she was gone.
In Islamic customs, even Islamicreligion, there's no guarantee
offered to any Muslims to go toheaven.
So Muslims know that when theydie, either God will have mercy
on them and allow them intoheaven or they go to hell, and
there's specifically a surah inthe Quran that says that women,
(21:43):
majority of the women will go tohell, and that is a fear factor
in a lot of women's hearts andminds.
So I feared about mygrandmother's future and I
missed her and she was buriedand she was gone and I was.
It's like I became depressedperson.
So I went to my job after thefuneral, a few days of the
funeral service, and I tried tofunction at my work and I
(22:05):
couldn't.
I just started to cry.
All I could do was cry, cry,just could not even function.
And so this lady at my work hername was Paula came up to me
and asked me if I was okay, andI said no, Paula, my grandmother
was okay one moment, and nowshe's gone.
She died, and I miss her somuch and I don't know how to do
this life.
(22:26):
And God, my relationship withGod at that point was so far
away.
I was praying and fasting anddoing everything, but God was
non-existent in my life.
And so at that time I shared myheart with Paula, and Paula
just took her arms and just heldme, she just gave me a hug.
And you know what this hug gaveme peace.
(22:46):
Peace just started flowing fromtop to my feet.
I cannot explain this peace toyou.
I've not had peace like thisbefore.
And then, after that, she saidwould you like to come to my
church with me?
And that was the first time Igot invited to a Christian
church after living in a cityfor eight and a half years as a
visible Muslim woman.
(23:07):
I met many people here.
I worked with people, I went toschool with people, but no one
ever invited me to their church,until this day, and so I walked
into the church with Paula forthe first time, until this day,
and so I walked into the churchwith Paula for the first time.
This was a big church which hadabout as big as 30,000 people
attend this church.
So I walked into this church asI covered because I want to.
(23:29):
I always cover when you go tothe place of worship and she
took me to the very front.
Imagine all those peoplestaring at me.
I'm the only Muslim girl inthere, walking all the way to
the front of the church andbasically I just sat right below
the pulpit of the pastor.
And when I sat down, the servicehad not started yet and the
(23:50):
people came up to me and theyshook my hand and they looked me
in the eye and they said hi,what is your name?
Where are you from?
Tell us about your family.
They were so nice to me, theytook great interest in me, in my
life, who I was.
I felt genuinely accepted bythese people and I never met
them before.
In fact, to be honest with you,Helen, I felt like these people
(24:12):
accepted me more than people inmy mosque.
They were more accepting,loving, gracious than people in
my mosque.
After that I sat down and Istarted hearing the message.
Well, they had a big worshiptime, but there's no worship in
a mosque, so I don't know whatthey were doing.
So I was like thinking, oh,this is good music, you know.
And then, after that, pastorcame to the pulpit and he said
(24:33):
everyone open your books to thebook of Isaiah, the prophet,
chapter 61, verse 1.
So he started reading from thebook of Isaiah and he started
reading that the spirit he saidthis is a prophecy of Jesus.
And he started reading that thespirit of sovereign Lord is
upon me because he has anointedme to preach the gospel to the
poor.
He sent me to heal the brokenheart and to proclaim liberty to
(24:54):
the captive and freedom ofsight to those who are bound to
proclaim the year of the Lord'sfavor.
And then he said everyone openyour books to the book of Luke,
chapter 4, verse 16 to 24.
And he read the scripture abouthow Jesus walks into the
synagogue.
He was given the scroll fromprophet Isaiah.
He opens the scroll and hereads the scripture and sits
down and said today, in yourhearing, this is fulfilled.
(25:17):
And that is the first time Iheard a message about Jesus that
he came to heal the brokenheart and set the captive free.
And it's like those words werefor me.
I just grabbed a hold of thosewords, Isaiah, in my heart, and
I just was thinking about thosewords.
I don't even know if Iunderstood the message that the
(25:37):
pastor gave on it, but thosewords is what I needed to hear
at that moment in my life.
And Jesus shared those words.
So I fulfilled those prophecies.
So after the sermon finished,everyone was very nice, friendly
, invited me back, and one thingI forgot to tell you is when I
got to the church, the peoplegreeted me and then they said we
(25:58):
are so glad you're here today,Thank you for coming.
That is like wow, it wasaccepting of me, you know.
So I felt really wonderful thatday.
That was a great day.
And then we went to a Christianbookstore and Paula bought me a
Bible and she explained to methe books of the Bible in Isaiah
scripture.
And then I took the Bible homeand I hid it in my mattress,
(26:21):
because in my home a Bible isnot accepted.
It's a Muslim, devout Muslimfamily.
But when I went to sleep atnight first day, second day,
third day I could not sleep.
I wanted to read this book.
What more was in this book?
So I started reading the Bibleon my own.
I don't know where to start, soI just started from the first
book, which is Genesis, whichwas actually good for me because
the stories are familiar.
(26:41):
They are in the Quran as well.
I started reading Genesis,Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, all
the books of the Bible.
And you know, what I startedseeing was how God of the Bible
was a personable God to thepeople.
He spoke to the prophets.
He did great miracles for thepeople.
He heard the people's crieswhen they prayed to him, the
(27:02):
children of Israel.
They were held captive byPharaoh in Egypt and God sent
Prophet Moses to rescue them anddid great miracles to bring
them into the Promised Land.
Even when they were complaining, even when they sinned against
God, God still had mercy on themand had compassion.
This kind of God I don't know.
It's not in Islam.
This is the kind of God I waswondering if this is the God you
(27:25):
know.
And then I remember in the bookof Psalms I like Psalms because
David he genuinely cries to Godfrom his heart and us for help.
And he cried out to God manytimes when he got in situations
and his God came and helped him.
And I said where is my God?
I called to God many times whenhe got in situations and his
God came and helped him and Isaid where is my God?
I called my God many times, myGod did not help me.
And then, after that, I startedreading the New Testament.
(27:46):
I started going to the churchand hiding from my parents
because I had many questions,and I started reading the
Gospels from the book of Luke.
I started reading the story ofJesus and then something was
happening to me.
When I started reading thestory of Jesus, and then
something was happening to mewhen I was reading the New
Testament and it was beingexplained to me, I started
understanding who Jesus was,that he had to come from God
(28:08):
into this world through amiracle, Because he came as a
miracle.
He had the power of God to healthe sick and raise the dead.
Not only that, he had a heartof compassion and mercy for all
people.
The more people were rejected,the more he went and accepted
them and had mercy and love forthem.
You know, like the woman with ablood issue, she was desperate
(28:30):
to be healed and he healed her,the woman that should have been
stoned.
He saved her life.
Knowing her sin, I felt like Icould put myself in those women
lives.
That's who I was, the rejectedwoman.
And then, finally, I read thathe had to come from God because
we were without hope, livingwithout hope, without
forgiveness and mercy.
(28:50):
And he came to give us thatforgiveness and mercy and gave
his life so we can haveeverlasting life.
He died for us on the cross.
I'm telling you, Helen, I just.
The more I was reading the Bible, my eyes were like scales kept
falling out, several scales.
My heart was being overwhelmed,Like it was taking it in and
(29:13):
being filled with the word ofGod.
I started seeing miracles.
By the way, as a Muslim, Iprayed five times a day and more
.
My prayers never got answered,but when I would pray to God of
the Bible, I called him God ofthe Bible.
Guess what?
My prayers started gettinganswered.
My little prayers were gettinganswered.
I started seeing miracleshappening in my life and I got
into impossible situations.
I just called to God of theBible and he came and helped me
(29:35):
many times.
And so then, after that, afterabout two and a half years, I
was reading the Bible and thispastor asked me the next step is
to get baptized.
Am I ready to get baptized andaccept Jesus?
And I said, Pastor, I wouldlike to get baptized.
Can we go to the Jordan Riverin Israel?
I didn't know if this is whatChristians do or not.
(29:56):
I don't know, you know.
Know if this is what Christiansdo or not.
I don't know, you know.
He said no, we have a tub inthe church.
In the tub, I don't knowanything.
Okay, so I'm just going byanyway.
So this this day came where I'mstanding in the tub, in front of
the 30,000 member church and I,he said, you know when you're
when I'm standing in the water.
He said that if you acceptJesus, when I put you, put you
(30:20):
back in the water.
This is a symbol of your oldlife passing.
When you come out of the water,you are a new creation in
Christ.
God has forgiven and forgottenyour sins in the lake of
forgetfulness.
He said, if you accept Jesus,his spirit will come and live
inside of you.
And I said what a privilege tohave the creator, the living God
spirit, living inside of us.
Muslims do not have thisprivilege.
(30:42):
And then he said if you acceptJesus, he will come and answer
your prayer according to hiswill.
And I said, Pastor, I alreadysee this miracle happening in my
life.
And then he said if you acceptJesus, 1 Peter 2 says you are a
royal priesthood, a holy nationand people of his own possession
.
Oh my goodness.
And I said, wow, royalty in theeyes of God.
(31:04):
From where I come from, it issuch an honor to know this God.
And that day I got baptized andI came out of the water and this
piece, the same piece thatPaula hugged me and I got, came
over me again.
And that day I accepted Jesus.
I knew it, I knew this is thetruth and this is the God came
(31:27):
and rescued me, saved me andgave me this new life to follow
him, the true, living God, youknow, and all I can say is it
was like a miraculous experiencefor me.
That day I could not notbelieve this message.
There was nothing in me thatwas not believing 100%.
I believed everything, and it'sall because of the Spirit of
God and the Word of God.
It did it for me in themiracles.
(31:48):
So after that, I don't know.
I'm just telling you my lifehas been blessed even more and
more and more and more.
I see an evidence of a livingGod in my life and I love it.
I thank God.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Now you have a marriage arranged by God, not by
your parents.
So I have to ask you and youtravel the world and tell people
about Jesus and my goodness,your testimony alone is so
compelling.
I can see how it can touch somany lives and is touching so
(32:22):
many lives.
I have to ask the last questionso what about your parents?
How did they react to the newsthat you are now a Christian?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Yeah, so I realized after I became a follower of
Jesus that, yep, that I have totell my parents.
I tried to hide it from themfor a few months, but you know,
it was getting impossible for meto live with them.
Being in a Muslim home with aChristian heart, you know, to
follow God.
And so this day came.
I went home and they werehaving dinner and I told them
(32:56):
the Bible says to be bold, right, so I basically told them to
put their food down.
They were having dinner and Isaid get on your knees and
repent and ask Jesus Christ asyour Lord and Savior, and if you
don't do this now, you're goingto hell.
I said that you know, I reallydid receive boldness, and I want
to say that was not taken wellwith my parents.
(33:18):
They were very angry.
My father just threw whateverhe had in his hand and just
walked very fast towards me andsaid what have you done?
You have disgraced the familyname.
You are an infidel, you're nolonger our daughter and you
should be killed.
You have just put down ourwhole family and what we have
instilled in your life and youneed to convert to Islam like
(33:39):
that.
And my mother also.
She was crying and screamingand all, and then he left.
So my mother said that if Idon't leave the home now, my
father would kill me.
So I left the home, I went tothe church and they allowed me
to stay with a girl at thechurch.
And you know, the Bible sayswhen your father and mother
(33:59):
forsake you, the Lord willreceive you.
And I just want to say Godreally just took care of me
every way.
It was hard hard to not bewithout my parents.
I lived with them most of mylife, you know, but God was my
everything.
I relied on him, I trusted him.
I saw the miracles he did.
He brought the people in mylife.
He took care of me.
It was hard, but he took careof me.
(34:20):
And for two and a half years Ididn't see my parents.
I would call them, I would gosee them.
They would not answer and Imissed them a lot.
But God was everything to me atthat time and I prayed for them
a lot.
I have good news to tell you,though my relationship with my
parents has now been restored,and it's taken many years, a lot
(34:41):
of praying, but I decided thatI'm going to love my parents and
honor them because I'm supposedto as their daughter.
They're all I have as myparents and I'm going to love
and honor them, no matter howmuch rejection I face.
This day came where my husbandand I did share the gospel with
them.
They didn't accept, but I'mstill praying for them and I'm
believing God.
He's going to save them one day, and it's in his hands now.
(35:04):
So, but I choose to have arelationship with them.
You know, until whenever we areback to being with God again,
until that day.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
I thank you so much for sharing your story, amina,
and you know it makes me veryhopeful for the people that, as
a missionary, I may not be ableto reach personally, you know,
for one reason or another, but Ido believe that people who seek
God with all of their heart, nomatter where they live, no
(35:36):
matter what God they worship atthe moment, if they truly are
seeking God, he makes a way forthem to find himself, whether
it's through other people ordivine revelation.
I've met people from theIslamic world who just saw Jesus
in a vision and gave theirhearts to him, but he makes a
way.
Jesus in a vision and gavetheir hearts to him, but he
(35:58):
makes a way.
And so it's an incrediblyhopeful story and I hope that it
will encourage others andperhaps it will reach people who
are in the same position thatyou were in once, and it will
give them the idea that there isa God who loves them, who knows
them and who has somethingwonderful in store for them.
So thank you for being bold andsharing your story, and I know
(36:23):
you're getting ready to leave onanother mission overseas, so I
wish you all the best.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Amina's story is remarkable andsimple at the same time.
The world is inflamed by theclash of civilizations,
religions and political andeconomic interests, but the
(36:46):
simple and timeless truth of thegospel captures hearts of
people and transforms lives.
Your and my part in this issimple Share the news.
If your life has been changedby Christ, you are equipped to
help someone else to do the same.
This is what World MissionsAlliance is all about to equip
(37:09):
every Christian to be anambassador for Christ and to
ensure that every person in thisworld gets to hear the gospel
message.
I invite you to check ourwebsite, rfwmaorg, and discover
opportunities for you to travelthe world and serve in the Great
Commission through short-termmissions.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Again, the website is rfwmaorg.
Until next time, I'm Helen Tarn, Transformed by Christ.
You are equipped to help othersexperience this transformation.
Christ called his followers tomake disciples across the world.
World Missions Alliance givesyou an opportunity to do this
through short-term missions inover 32 countries across the
(38:09):
globe.
If you want to help those whoare hurting and hopeless and
discover your greater purpose inserving who are hurting and
hopeless, and discover yourgreater purpose in serving,
check out our website, rfwmaorg,and find out how to get
involved.
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