Who was Jesus to me before? He did a lot of miracles ... He was a person who had a virgin birth, who raised people from the dead, but at the end of the day, couldn't do anything to help me out.

Muslims, I always tell people, are human beings! We want to have life, we want to be happy, we want families, we want security, we want peace. What makes Muslims different is that they live with this blueprint for life, overlaid over every aspect of their lives, that is called Islam. It gives you rules to follow in order to attain something. If I need faith in Islam, I have got to somehow drum up faith in myself. If I want to have peace, I've got to somehow drum up peace. 

Condemned by my own faith

My family immigrated from Saudi Arabia to the United States. I spent many years pursuing friends with the message of the Quran. I was so sure that I was a holy guy and that my good works I was doing were sufficient; that God looked on me favorably. Instead, I got this overwhelming sense and feeling that not only was God's presence far from me, but His face was turned from me. It was like I was scrubbing the outside of a glass, furiously, but the inside of the glass was full of junk, dirt and filth. And so I tried to be a better Muslim. I tried to figure out some way that I could change my heart. And I just couldn't do it. I couldn't break my selfishness, I couldn't break my pride. And I eventually got to the point where I realized that I was damned.

Condemned by the Christian faith

I became desperate to find a way to the Lord. My wife, who knew Christ, invited me to attend a local church with her. Hearing the Bible preached week after week was interesting. Some things they preached that were similar enough to Islam, I thought, "Wow! these Christians are so close!" Other things, I thought "Wow, they're so way off base! No wonder they're all going to hell."

But one Sunday, the pastor was preaching on the cross. And so for me, this was huge. I thought: This is the core of what was wrong with Christianity. They believe that God could become a man. And this voice popped up and said, "Wouldn't it be nice if the Gospel was true? Wouldn't it be nice!" But I believed this was a Christian fairytale. I already knew all the reasons why the Gospel wasn’t trustworthy as it's presented in the Bible.

But a part of me, at that moment thought, "I wish, I WISH! that the Gospel was true!" How can I ever believe that my God, whose honor is above reproach, would allow himself to be mocked, to be spit on, to be beaten, brutally tortured, and then stripped and nailed to a cross, in full view of the public? God forgive me for even thinking, for considering, this blasphemy! The God that I knew from the Quran would never do that. He would never have suffered on the cross like that. He never would have endured everything leading up to the cross.

The turning point

“So if this is really the truth, and this is what I have to understand and believe in order to be saved, then I need You to show up and tell me, or do something, or give me a sign! Anything!” 

He instantly gave me a vision. All I could see in front of me was this rocky hill, and I saw this man being crucified. I knew the moment he looked at me, that I was wrong about Him, that He was more than a prophet, more than just a man, a messenger from God. I knew that I was looking into the eyes of a King, the King of Kings — that I was looking in the eyes of God.

There's all of my sin that I couldn't get to, all the junk in my life that I couldn't change or fix, all of my brokenness, all of my rebellion, all of my disobedience, all of my secret sins that only God and I knew about, and it was being poured out on Jesus. And He said, "That was why I did that, because that was the only way for you and I to have a relationship. And it was worth it to Me to pay that price."

I gave my life to Christ that day in church. And over time, I grew in my faith and began sharing Christ with family and friends. I know that I used to know so many things about religion, and that I was the guy that you came to to ask questions, and I was really prideful about that. But God has humbled me and reduced me to two pieces of information that I know as fact, and that's all really I have now: is that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and that He was crucified for our sins.