God had plans for me. I was born in a small town in Algeria and into a family of six Children. France occupied my native country. My Parents were unschooled and Muslims. So, I was a Muslim by birth. I was told that as an infant, I was so sick the doctor gave me two days to live but God had other plans for me. No, I did not die. At a very young age, my parents enrolled me in a religious school where I learned to memorize The Koran. As a fami…

The Light of Faith I was raised in a religious family where love and respect to one another was taught. My father would always repeat the saying: "Oh for God and parents to be pleased with me." "Ya Rida Allah Wa Rida Al'Waliden." My father told me once: "Your grandfather left me little worldly belongings but he was pleased with me." So the subject of please God and parents was a paramount importance to me. My life went on quietly until my teena…

The Road From Damascus Ziad was born and raised in Damascus, finishing his schooling in this historic capital of Syria. Most of his life, Ziad had been a practicing Muslim like everyone else in his devout family. He would often accompany his father, his three brothers, and some neighbors to the mosque for Friday noon prayers and frequently for prayer on other days. The rest of the five daily prayer times he would observe at home or at work. Not…

"Born to a Saudi family, in Saudi Arabia, and living very close to Mecca, I grew up with strict principals and traditions of Islam and the Arab culture. As a teenager I went to the mosque five times a day in obedience to my parents. One night, while I was asleep, I had this horrible dream of me being taken into hell. And what I saw there brought me real fear and these dreams kept coming to me almost every night. At this point I was really wonder…