When I shared my testimony with Pastor David, the elderly minister who became my first Christian mentor, he wept openly and declared it was the most powerful demonstration of God’s protection he had ever witnessed.

On April 15th, 2018, exactly 18 days after my scheduled execution, I was baptized in the clear waters of a mountain stream.

As Pastor David lowered me beneath the surface, I felt the weight of 42 years of Islamic religious performance washing away from my soul.

When I emerged from the water, gasping and laughing and crying all at once, I knew I had been born again, just as Jesus had told Nicodemus.

The old Ahmad Hassan, the Imam who had lived for human approval and religious achievement, was dead.

The new Ahmmed Hassan, saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, had begun his eternal life.

The Christian community that welcomed me, became the family I had lost through my conversion.

These believers, many of whom had suffered persecution themselves, understood the unique challenges facing a former Islamic religious leader.

They provided not just physical shelter and food, but the spiritual nourishment I had craved during those lonely months of secret faith.

For the first time since my conversion, I could pray openly to Jesus, study the Bible without fear, and fellowship with others who shared my love for Christ.

My hunger for biblical knowledge amazed everyone around me.

Having spent decades studying Islamic theology, I approached Christian doctrine with the same scholarly rigor I had once applied to the Quran and Hadith.

The difference was that now I was studying truth that set my heart free rather than rules that bound me in religious performance.

I devoured commentaries, memorized entire books of the New Testament, and began developing a systematic understanding of Christian theology that would serve me well in my future ministry.

Within 6 months of my baptism, God began opening doors for me to share my testimony publicly.

The first invitation came from a small church in the capital city where I nervously told my story to about 50 people.

The response was overwhelming.

Men and women wept as I described God’s miraculous intervention at my execution.

Several people approached me afterward, saying they had never truly understood the reality of God’s power until hearing my account of divine rescue.

Word of the former imam’s testimony spread rapidly through Christian networks across the region.

Churches began inviting me to speak at evangelistic events specifically designed to reach Muslim audiences.

My background in Islamic scholarship proved invaluable in these settings.

I could address the theological questions and cultural concerns that prevented many Muslims from seriously considering Christianity.

I knew their objections because I had once held them myself.

The ministry that developed around my testimony became more extensive than I had ever imagined.

I began working with international mission organizations to develop culturally sensitive evangelistic materials for Muslim majority countries.

My experience as both an Islamic scholar and a Christian convert gave me unique insights into effective approaches for Muslim evangelism.

We created literature, audio recordings, and video testimonies that could be distributed safely in restricted nations.

One of the most meaningful aspects of my new ministry became my work with underground Christian networks that supported secret believers in Islamic countries.

Through encrypted communication channels, I provided biblical teaching and pastoral counseling to former Muslims who were living the same double life I had experienced.

These men and women face the same impossible choices between family loyalty and faithfulness to Christ.

Being able to encourage them from my own experience of God’s faithfulness brought deep purpose to my suffering.

The personal costs of my decision to follow Jesus remain substantial.

Since my escape in March 2018, I have had no contact with my wife or children.

Through intermediary sources, I learned that they were relocated to another city to escape the shame of being associated with an apostate.

My wife was encouraged to remarry as Islamic law considers a Christian convert to be dead to his Muslim family.

The pain of this separation never fully leaves me.

But I have learned to trust Jesus with the family I surrendered to follow him.

Death threats and security concerns require me to relocate frequently, never staying in one place for more than a few months.

International human rights organizations have documented my case and provided assistance with legal protection.

But the reality is that former Islamic religious leaders who convert to Christianity face ongoing danger regardless of where they live.

Several times assassination attempts have been thwarted only through what I recognize as continued divine protection.

Despite these challenges, the joy of knowing Jesus personally far exceeds any sacrifice I have made.

The peace that filled my heart during those terrible three days in captivity has never left me.

Where I once worked desperately to earn Allah’s approval through religious performance, I now rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Where I once feared divine judgment, I now experience unconditional love from my heavenly father.

What are you willing to risk for eternal truth? This is the question I pose to every audience when I share my testimony.

For Muslims who hear my story, I want them to understand that Jesus calls people from every religious background to himself.

The Christ who revealed himself to me in my study that night in March 2017 is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He is calling hearts throughout the Islamic world, drawing people to himself through dreams, visions, and encounters with his word.

For Christians who hear my testimony, I want them to understand the reality of spiritual warfare and the power of prayer.

During my months as a secret believer, Christians around the world were praying for Muslim converts they had never met.

Those prayers sustained me through the darkest periods of doubt and fear.

Your prayers for the unreached Muslim world are more powerful than you realize.

My story is ultimately about the transforming power of God’s love.

I was a man who had dedicated his entire life to earning divine favor through religious works only to discover that God’s favor cannot be earned but only received as a gift.

The Jesus who saved me from physical death at that execution ground had already saved me from spiritual death through his sacrifice on the cross.

I lost my position as a respected religious leader.

But I gained the privilege of being called a son of God.

I lost my family and my country but I gained citizenship in the kingdom of heaven.

I lost my reputation and my security but I gained eternal life and perfect peace.

If helping even one person understand the love of Christ makes these sacrifices worthwhile, then I count myself blessed beyond measure to have been chosen for this calling.

Every morning when I wake up, I thank Jesus for the day he rescued me from that execution ground.

But even more, I thank him for the night he rescued my soul from spiritual death and gave me the gift of eternal life through faith in his soul.

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