From Darkness To Light I was born and raised in a conservative Muslim family. Ever since I was ten years old I’ve been reading the Quran on a daily basis and performing my Islamic duties such as fasting and prayer. Then when I was twelve, I started going to the Friday prayer at the mosque next door every week. As years passed by, my knowledge in Islam increased. I was extremely religious but I had no true relationship with the God I was worshi…

Mightier than death I was born into a conservative Muslim family in Iraq. Whilst in The Middle school, I was always disturbed when I heard my teacher explaining how Islam spread by wars and battles lead by Mohamed or his successors. Even in the Muslim prayers there is no appeal for God to change their manners and behavior but rather their surrounding circumstances. So whilst my teacher was talking about the Islamic heroism of their war…

The Story of M A Gabriel The former professor of Islamic history at Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt Disillusioned at Al-Azhar Fifteen years ago I was the imam of a mosque in the city of Giza, Egypt, which is where the famous Egyptian pyramids are located. (Imam of a mosque is a position similar to pastor of a Christian church.) I preached the message of the week on Fridays from 12 to 1 in the afternoon, as well as performed other duties. On…

A Doctor Meets the Great Physician My head ached and felt heavy on my shoulders as I struggled to wake up and to focus. I wondered how I had ever gotten home alive from the drunken revelry of the night before. During the day, I worked on my residency at Universite Saint Joseph, one of the finest medical colleges in Beirut, Lebanon. Each night I drank and caroused with women. Born in the Republic of Lebanon, I attended church-affiliated schoo…