A Search for the Truth Leads Muslim Man to Christ
SLAVE TO ALLAH
Mark was five when he first acknowledged his status as a Muslim. His mother had taken him to see a movie. When he came home his father (a Muslim leader, physician, Islamic author, businessman, high ranking military officer, and member of the Muslim Brotherhood) tied him to the bed, quoted from the Quran, and then beat him because he dishonored Allah.
“My dad was my world, and I wanted nothing more than his approval and love. I also wanted him to be favored by Allah and enjoy heaven ever after.”
Mark felt his cleansing was justified and learned that day his place in the world and how he was expected to live. After that day of darkness, Mark began his transformation and redemption, “Islam became for me the only truth, the only way.” His mother grew up Muslim, but she was not as devout as Mark’s dad.
After being punished for taking her son to a movie, Mark’s mom (at his dad’s insistence) had to remove all family ties, friends, and habits that did not reflect Islamic teachings.
At the age of five, Mark began attending an English school in Cairo. The kids were a mix of Christians, secularists, and nominal Muslims. Mark’s dad chose to take the risk and send him to the school so he could master English.
For the first two years, Mark isolated himself and spoke to no one. Muslims were supposed to distance themselves from outside influences that pulled them away from their faith. It was at this school he learned critical thinking skills. One day a teacher wrote on the board, “God is love.” Mark did not understand what those words meant.
He served Allah who required hard work and a life of righteousness to attain heaven. His knowledge about Islam was great and as a teenager he even served as an Imam (spiritual teacher) in the mosques.
As a teenager, Mark recalls a conversation his dad had with a stranger on a train. The stranger asked why he was Muslim and accused the Islam faith of being a fake religion that exists for a punishment for apostacy. His father was unable to defend his faith against the stranger’s accusations. Mark was confused. Why did his father not defend their faith? Since Mark wanted to become a doctor just like his father, his goal would be to take his practice to Europe and bring Islam to the Europeans.
BREAKING FREE FROM ISLAM
At 25, more seeds of doubt began to spring up and Mark began to question the Islam faith (1992). “I had a secret, and it was the deepest, darkest secret imaginable. I could hardly bear to face it myself, let alone risk revealing it to another. I was questioning Islam, my faith, my Prophet.”
Mark realized Mohammed was not a prophet. There was no evidence. In his quest for answers Mark examined every aspect of Islam and realized the following:
• The Islamic calendar didn’t begin with the creation of the earth. It began with the creation of the Islamic state.
• Muslims were to pray five times a day so Mohamed could keep tabs on what his people were doing.
• Muslims were to fast during Ramadan so Mohammed could show he was not imitating the Jews but rather honoring Islam’s first military victory.
His research revealed that Islam was more of a political movement than a religion. Mohammed masked his political moves under the cover of religion. “It seemed clear Mohammed lied and the people around him believed the lie,” shares Mark. His failure to find evidence affected him in many ways: he lost weight, struggled with sleeplessness and his physical appearance became disheveled.
He finally resolved to talk to his dad in 1992. He presented his concerns about the Muslim faith, longing for his dad to prove him wrong. Instead, his dad met his questions with anger. His mother was also appalled at Mark’s discoveries about Islam.
His quest for truth alienated him from his family. Mark turned to his friends for support and embraced a life of drinking and partying. Although he looked like he was having the time of his life, deep down he was empty. For ten years, he went into a downward spiral into nothingness. He hated himself, his family and Islam. His belief in Allah was compromised, but he knew there was something else.
10 YEAR JOURNEY TO JESUS
In 1995, A few years later, Mark was nearing the end of his medical school career. He was at a pool party when he met Dina, the woman who would one day become his wife. She was from a Muslim family too, although nowhere near as devout as his own. When Dina’s father died in 1998, she too began to question her Islam faith. Her family’s wealth was seized due to sharia (Muslim law which guides business dealings, inheritance matters, marriage and divorce).
Shortly after her father died, her uncles came and collected his vehicle and money from his estate. She began exploring websites that featured examples of positive thinking and success stories. She discovered one website called Beliefnet. Mark and Dina found the hope filled messages encouraging despite being unaware of the Christian slant.
Once Mark discovered scripture passages embedded in the stories, he became angry. He wanted nothing to do with Christianity. Yet, he still wanted to find the meaning of life. A year after they married in 2000, their son, Alex, was born. This life change renewed Mark’s quest for truth in his own life. He studied Christianity from an Islamic perspective. He was fascinated by Jesus’ message which was so loving, so human, and so understanding. Yet, Mark still had one foot in Islam. He believed in Allah as an insurance policy.
After Alex’s birth, Mark called his dad and asked him to do the circumcision. He loved his dad despite being called names, belittled and humiliated by him because of his doubt in the Islam faith. His dad agreed to do the circumcision, but nothing else changed in their relationship.
In July of 2002, Mark met his dad for dinner. The conversation drove a bigger distance between them. His dad considered Mark a mistake and did the only thing he could do under the Islamic system to redeem himself – he tried to erase Mark. On March 29, 2003, Mark’s dad tried to kill him with a bomb. Thankfully, Mark tripped when he came into the room in which the bomb was set…that literally saved his life.
He thought to himself, “What kind of belief system requires a man to kill his own son to secure his place in heaven.” As he lay on the ambulance stretcher, he remembered the words written on the chalkboard in his third-grade classroom, “God is love.” Mark knew little of this God of love, but he also knew Islam and Allah had failed him. Both faiths presented a path to heaven, but he finally knew which faith was a lie. “I resolved from that moment I would follow the God of the Bible." He was no longer a slave to Allah.
In 2015, Mark reached out to his dad for the purpose of reconciliation. As a Christian he did not want to harbor anger, bitterness and unforgiveness. His dad is still a devout Muslim, but they speak from time to time.
MARK’S INFO
Mark understands Islam and its goal of global domination. He grew up in a family intimately involved in the Muslim Brotherhood. He understands their strategy and agenda for America. Before his conversion to Christianity, Mark served as a doctor (OBGYN) at the military hospital in Cairo. He has led teams of Muslims to Mecca nine times. Mark has an expert knowledge of Islam with the Muslim Brotherhood and the military.
After coming to America in 2005, Mark formed the Global Faith Institute (GFI) as a way to protect his American freedoms after discovering the extent of Islamic infiltration in the country. GFI exists to advocate for the victims of political Islam through education. They do this through social media, seminars, conferences, printed materials, and partnering with resource experts.
