Who is Dr. Laurence B. Brown? In today's edition, we focus on a well-known convert to Islam, Dr. Laurence B. Brown. He is a graduate of Cornell University, Brown Medical School, and George Washington University Hospital residency program. Dr. Brown is an ophthalmic surgeon, specializing in cataract and refractive surgery. Dr. Brown has served as a respected ophthalmologist and an officer in the US Air Force for eight years. He is also an ordained interfaith minister with a doctorate in divinity and Ph.D in religion. Following a personal ordeal involving his daughter, Dr. Brown redirected his focus to religious study, which culminated in his acceptance of Islam in April of 1994. In addition to his medical career, Dr. Brown is a renowned scholar and author of a number of books of comparative religion and reality-based fiction. He also has written a number articles. His books include MisGod'ed and God'ed. The former exposes the shortcomings of the Judeo-Christian theology and the latter, which concludes the former, examines the Islamic claim of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the foretold Final Messenger, and the Qur'an as the completion of God's revelation to mankind. Dr. Brown is also the author of The First and Final Commandment, Bearing the Witness, and the 2007 mystery-detective novel ‘The Eighth Scroll'. In Dr. Brown's novel, The Eighth Scroll, a Catholic priest working on the Dead Sea Scrolls Project discovers a text that describes the final edict of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but hides it in fear of the heresy it contains. When prominent archeologist Frank Tones unearths a reference to the hidden scroll, he wonders if this scroll could be the long lost Gospel of James, or even of Jesus himself. But before he can act, those who know of the scroll's existence become mysteriously silent or dead, leaving only a father and his son to find the scroll and tell its secrets to the world. In the story, they must outwit the Mossad, the CIA, and the Vatican's secret weapon – the Italian Mafia – to bring the truth to light, no matter what it takes. Dr. Brown's works can be found on his website www.LevelTruth.com. Dr. Brown is now working and living, along with his wife and daughter, in Madina Munawwarah. He is the medical director of an eye center in Madina and spends his time travelling between Saudi Arabia, America, England and Jordan. We will begin our series today by publishing Part I of Dr. Brown's story. The Saudi Gazette has also contacted Dr. Brown in Madina and asked for his permission to publish his other articles and he has kindly approved. Before telling the story of how he became a Muslim, Dr. Brown writes about the nature of conversion stories in general and the common grounds between them. __
