11 of the 19 hijackers that attacked the United States on Sept 11 were from Saudi Arabia. They were no doubt motivated by severe religious Islamic extremism. However, there are other expressions of religious motivations that had driven one Saudi Arabian man to another fate, or should I say faith.
A dark tanned Middle Eastern man is attending the same Kingdom Hall that I used to attend. He has apparently applied for refugee status in Canada in order to run away from religious persecution in his home land of Saudi Arabia. This man was a Moslem. For some reason, he has put faith in Jehovah’s Witnesses and wishes to study the Bible. In doing so, and according to Moslem religion, he has become an apostate and deserves the penalty of death.
This man comes from a very wealthy family in Saudi Arabia and it seems that his own father, a person with tremendous influence in the Kingdom, is the one behind his son’s persecution and imprisonment. According to Moslems, apostasy from Islam is worse than having your daughter raped. (Case in point was Salman Rushdie’s plight with the Iranian fatwa, if one cares to remember). A sentence of death by hanging was issued against this Saudi Arabian man and it was only a matter of time before it would have been carried. Some of his friends managed to let him escape in the nick of time.
What is amazing is that this man has abandoned a rich lifestyle in his home, incurred the wrath of his family and religion, slipped away from a certain noose, in order to pursue his newly found faith. From experience, it is very hard to convert a Moslem into a Christian and even harder into a JW. I know that it would have been more favorable if he had chosen to study Christianity with a different group, but I would not loose hope.
Few years ago, I had studied with a Moslem man from Egypt and he progressed all the way into baptism. He too, had to abandon Egypt, his family, his wife and children because of persecution. One day, I was out in service with this newly baptized Egyptian brother and we happened to knock on an Egyptian Christian home. When the householder found out that we were JWs, he said that he is already a Christian and there was no need for me to preach to him. He went on to say that I would better spend my time preaching to the Moslems. He then challenged me if I have preached and converted one Moslem man, knowing that it is a difficult proposition. I pointed to my partner and allowed him to answer.
After I had found out the truth about “The Truth”, I kept information to myself but continued to check on this Egyptian brother without divulging anything to him. One day, he surprised me with information he had found on the internet relating to flawed JW teachings and how he totally agreed with it. He had been quietly progressing all along out of JWs doctrines and into following Christ. Needless to say, I was overjoyed.
I can only hope and pray that this Saudi Arabian man progresses into Christian maturity the same way that the Egyptian brother did.
Jesus Christ’s words are so very true. “No one can come to the Father except through me” and “No can come to me unless the Father draws him”