Isa has embraced Islam with an open heart, leaving his family for the sake of Allah. When he found the light of Islam radiating his inner self, his Christian family disowned him and kicked him out of their home in Jordan. Since he was a kid, he had always probed the difference between Islam and Christianity, sometimes with irritating questions that his father didn't feel comfortable to answer. Whenever the question of religion came to his mind, his family took him to church to strengthen his faith in Christianity, a practice that only encouraged him to proceed with his quest of faith. “When I grew older, I worked at a butcher's shop. I was amazed to see my Muslim colleague saying the Basmalah “In the Name of Allah” before slaughtering a sheep or a cow,” he said. “Their response to the prayers and their stately rows facing the Qiblah in Makkah pushed me more to look for more information about Islam,” he added. Isa started to come to terms with his reality before touching his spirituality. He started to wonder about the tranquil moments Muslims spend during their prayers. But his fears of his family grew stronger. “Deep inside I pronounced Shahadah to embrace my new religion, Islam. But he hid it. “I masked it with more tattoos of the cross and verses of the Bible,” he said. “I told my story to a Muslim brother who took me to the court to officially convert to Islam where I pronounced the Shahadah (There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger) in 1996,” he said. Fearing the consequences, Isa hid his new faith for seven years until his wife found out the court papers regarding his conversion to Islam. “She told her family who came and took my wife and my children away the very next morning,” he said. Soon Isa was separated from his family. But hope grew as he continued to see his children and tell them about Islam. She finally accepted the word of Allah and embraced Islam at his hands. When their Christian families came to know about it, they disowned both. “My father disowned me and deprived me of my right to the inheritance,” he said. We decided to come to the Kingdom, the birthplace of Islam and live here the rest of our lives. Isa was left with some marks of Christianity, his tattoos. He hopes he would get rid of them some day. – Okaz __
