I am sending you back, Jesus said.

And I felt panic rise in my chest.

Back? No, please let me stay here with you.

I do not want to go back to that life, to that world, to that religion.

But Jesus shook his head.

You must go back because there are millions of Muslims just like you living in deception, heading for hell, believing they are saved when they are not.

You must tell them what you have seen.

You must warn them.

You must tell them about the seven reasons Muslims go to hell every hour.

Some will listen, most will not.

Many will hate you.

Your own family will reject you.

But you must obey me regardless of the cost.

This is your calling.

Now, before I could respond, before I could argue or beg to stay, I felt myself being pulled backward away from Jesus, away from that realm of light and truth.

I tried to hold on, tried to stay, but the pull was too strong because the last thing I saw was Jesus’s face.

and he was smiling at me with such love that it broke my heart to leave him.

Then everything went black again.

But this time the darkness did not terrify me because I knew I was his and nothing could change that.

I was being sent back for a purpose and I had to trust him.

Even though I had no idea how I would fulfill this impossible mission he had given me.

I woke up in a hospital bed at King Fahad Medical City in Riyad.

Machines were beeping around me.

Tubes were connected to my arms.

My throat hurt from the breathing tube they had inserted.

I could hear voices speaking in Arabic.

Medical staff discussing my condition.

Amazed that I had survived.

I had been dead for 18 minutes.

They said my heart had stopped completely.

They had shocked me multiple times trying to bring me back.

They had almost given up.

But suddenly my heart had started beating again on its own and I had begun breathing.

They called it a miracle and they were right.

But they had no idea what kind of miracle it really was.

Khaled was sitting in a chair next to my bed, his head in his hands, looking exhausted.

When he heard me move, he looked up and his face flooded with relief.

Leila, alhamdulillah, you are awake.

The doctor said you might not make it.

They said even if you survived, you might have brain damage from lack of oxygen.

But here you are, awake and alert.

Allah has shown us mercy.

His words spoken with such sincere gratitude made me want to cry because I knew what I had to tell him would destroy everything between us.

But I could not lie.

Not anymore.

Not after what I had seen.

Khaled, I said, my voice weak and scratchy.

Oh, I need to tell you something.

Something happened while I was dead.

I saw things.

I learned things.

Everything we believe is wrong.

He looked confused, then concerned.

What are you talking about? You’re just confused from the trauma.

You need to rest.

We can talk later.

But I shook my head.

No, I need to tell you now.

I met Jesus.

The real Jesus, not the Issa of the Quran.

He is God.

Khaled.

He is the son of God.

He died for our sins and rose from the dead.

Islam is false.

Muhammad was a false prophet.

We have been deceived our whole lives.

I have accepted Jesus as my savior and I am no longer a Muslim.

The look on Khaled’s face changed from concern to shock to horror in seconds.

What are you saying? Have you gone mad? The nurses need to check you.

You are not thinking clearly.

He stood up and reached for the call button.

thoughts.

But I grabbed his arm.

I am thinking clearly for the first time in my life.

Jesus showed me that millions of Muslims are going to hell every hour because they are following a false religion.

He showed me seven reasons why Muslims are lost.

I have to warn people, Khaled.

I have to tell them the truth before it is too late.

Khaled pulled his arm away from me like I had burned him.

Stop this insanity right now.

You are speaking kufur blasphemy.

If anyone hears you talking like this, they will think you have left Islam.

Do you know what the penalty is for apostasy? Do you know what will happen to you, to our children, to our family? I do know, I said quietly.

And I do not care.

I would rather lose everything in this world than lose my soul in eternity.

Jesus saved me, Khaled.

He gave me a second chance.

Why? I cannot waste it by going back to the lie I was living before.

Khaled stared at me like he was looking at a stranger.

And in a way, he was.

The woman he had married, the perfect Muslim wife, the daughter of an imam.

That woman had died 18 minutes ago.

The woman who had come back was someone completely different, someone he did not recognize and would not accept.

I need to get your father,” he said, backing toward the door.

“She shake Ibrahim will know what to do.

He will talk sense into you.

This is just confusion from your near-death experience.

You will remember who you are and return to Islam.

” He left the room quickly.

And I knew what was coming.

My father would come.

He would be angry, then disappointed, then pleading.

He would use every argument, every verse from the Quran, every hadith, given every emotional manipulation to try to bring me back to Islam.

My mother would cry, my siblings would be ashamed, my children would be confused and hurt.

The entire community would turn against me.

I might even face legal consequences since leaving Islam is punishable by death under Sharia law and Saudi Arabia follows Sharia.

But none of that mattered anymore because I had seen the truth.

I had seen Jesus.

I had seen millions of Muslims falling into hell every hour.

I had been given a mission to warn them and I would obey even if it cost me everything.

The door opened again and a nurse came in to check my vital signs.

She was a Filipino woman and I noticed a small cross necklace barely visible under her uniform.

In Saudi Arabia, non-Muslims are forbidden from displaying their religious symbols.

So she kept it hidden, but I saw it.

And something inside me leaped.

You are a Christian, I whispered.

She looked startled and afraid, glancing at the door to make sure no one had heard.

Please do not tell anyone.

I could lose my job or worse.

I shook my head.

I will not tell anyone.

But I need you to know something.

I was a Muslim my whole life until I died an hour ago.

Jesus appeared to me and showed me the truth.

I am a Christian now, too.

I am going to face terrible persecution when my family finds out.

Will you pray for me? The nurse’s eyes filled with tears.

Of course, I will pray for you.

What you are about to face, it will be harder than anything you can imagine.

But Jesus is with you.

He will never leave you or forsake you.

You are part of our family now.

The family of God.

She quickly prayed over me in English asking God to give me strength, courage, what and protection for what was coming.

Then she had to leave before someone became suspicious.

But her prayer had strengthened me.

I was not alone.

I had brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world.

Even here in Saudi Arabia where Christianity was banned.

I was part of something bigger than my biological family, bigger than my culture, bigger than Islam.

My father arrived 30 minutes later and the storm began.

For the next 6 months, I faced opposition, threats, manipulation, and persecution that would have destroyed me if not for the strength Jesus gave me.

My father declared me mentally ill and tried to have me committed to a psychiatric hospital.

When that failed, he tried to have me quietly divorced and hidden away to protect the family’s reputation.

Khaled divorced me immediately on taking full custody of our children and forbidding me from seeing them.

My mother wept and begged me to recant.

My siblings refused to speak to me.

The community spread rumors that I had been possessed by jin or driven mad by my near-death experience.

But through it all, I kept telling my story.

I found secret Christian communities in Riyad.

believers who met in homes and risked their lives to worship Jesus.

They embraced me, taught me, baptized me in secret.

I started recording videos of my testimony and uploading them to the internet where Muslims around the world could hear them.

Most responses were heightful, calling me a liar, a traitor, someone who deserved death.

But some Muslims watched and were moved.

Some began to question.

Some reached out privately to ask questions.

A few even came to faith in Christ after hearing my story.

But Jesus had told me that some would listen.

And he was right.

Every single person who came to faith made all the suffering worth it.

I am still in Saudi Arabia living quietly, careful not to draw too much attention.

I work with underground Christian ministries helping Muslim women who are questioning Islam.

I translate Christian materials into Arabic.

I continue to share my testimony whenever I can.

The cost has been enormous.

I lost my family, my children, my reputation, my comfortable life.

But I gained everything that matters.

I gained Jesus.

I gained eternal life.

I gained purpose and meaning.

I gained the joy of seeing Muslims set free from deception.

My name is Leila Hassan and I died and discovered that everything I believed was a lie.

But Jesus saved me anyway and sent me back to warn others before it is too late for them

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