The following is a testimony by Shania Christian, a friend of mine on Facebook. She offers it freely to anyone who will share it with others. I have not altered her words or changed her grammar because it is so powerful to read. You will be blessed by her words which shout the victory of Jesus.
I was born in Somalia, an Islamic country, to Muslim parents. I did get Quran lessons as a child and I always believed that Islam was the one true religion; I used to pray 5 times a day and fast Ramadan but I never had relationship with Allah. He was far away from me and I did not know if I was going to go to heaven or hell. I had heard that the prophet said most women go to hell and that thought frightened me. I used to always ask my mother as a teenager what women get when they go to heaven as I had heard men get 72 virgins and she responded with “women don’t get anything. As long as I’m in heaven, I don’t mind.” I thought it wasn’t fair that men got something and women didn’t so it made me question Islam from a very young age. Though, you couldn’t question too much because people would say you’re not a true Muslim so you just had to accept the little to no answer you got.
I came to Europe as a teenage and started to dress more religiously with the hijab but I always felt empty in my heart. I was still scared about death and the torture in the grave because I did not have any insurance of salvation in Islam. My only plan was to save money so I could go to Hajj to wash away my sin so then maybe that way Allah will forgive me and I could possibly go to heaven.
When I heard about 9/11, I thought they weren’t good Muslims and followers of the Quran since I only thought that Islam was peaceful. At 2005, a friend of mine accidently sent me a video of the beheading of an American man in Iraq. I didn’t know what it was but I watched it and what I saw was horrific and so shocking. I had never seen anything like that in my whole life and I didn’t understand why they were doing it. I noticed that the man who was beheading the innocent man had a Quran in one hand which he was reciting and a huge knife in the other. On their forehead, they had some cloth that had “there is no God but Allah and Muhammed is his messenger” on it.
That night, I couldn’t stop crying and being sick. I couldn’t sleep. I was shaking. My mind was full of questions. I thought “how could these people who are followers of Allah do this disgusting and terrifying action in Allah’s name?” Before I tried to desperately go to sleep, for the first time, I spoke to Allah directly instead of praying in Arabic like how I usually pray. I asked “how can I follow you? Are you okay with people doing this in your name? Is this right, the beheading of a human?” After that, I finally went to sleep and dreamt.
I didn’t used to dream as frequently as I do now. If I did, I didn’t remember the dream when I woke up but that night, I had a dream. I was standing in front of my house and I saw a light quickly fly past me. I looked up at the sky and saw a shining man that was made out of clouds come from Heaven. He shouted, with a loud voice, to come to him. Everybody suddenly froze and started to bow down to him and started worshipping him. We were all saying “you’re my God, you’re my God”. Nobody was driving a car, nobody was walking, and nobody was running. Everybody was worshipping and bowing down to the shining man from Heaven. In the morning, when I woke up, I thought it was Allah. I didn’t know who it was. Though, I still felt happiness in my heart.
The second night, I asked Allah “was that you in my dream or prophet Muhammed? I want to follow you”. Then, I had another dream. This time my mother brought the Quran with her and put it on my knees and told me to read it. Every time I tried to read it, I just kept saying “Jesus said I’m the way, the life, the truth. No man comes to the Father except through me”. She became very angry and frustrated and she just said “go and bring me some food”. Everything I tried to serve her just turned into cross shapes. She went and got some of my family angrily since she found out that I’m not a Muslim. When they came, they had sticks and wanted to hit me or kill me. Before the door opened, strangely, the shining man returned to my rescue and grabbed me and we flew through walls. We arrived at a beautiful place that looked like a painting. It was full of flowers and peace and harmony. He told me “you are safe with me here”. He pointed to a place that looked burn and was full of darkness and said that they’re over there and that they can’t get here. I woke up filled with happiness and joy and my dream confirmed to me that it wasn’t Allah or Muhammed and instead Jesus Christ.
I started researching on the internet about this man called Jesus and if he’s the only way to Heaven. I came across some very helpful websites and the more I read about him, the more I became interested. I found the Bible on the internet and I was so amazed that what I told my mother in my dream was in the Bible and was this verse: John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. It was amazing how I had never read a Bible and that God made me say it in my dream and I found it in the Bible. Even the way that Jesus came back in my dream is how it is written in the Bible. The verse that touched my heart wasJohn 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. I never knew God would love me so much that he would pay for my sins through Jesus Christ, His Son. I didn’t know that I can’t go to heaven through my own good deed (like what Islam states) and there’s nothing I can do to save myself except to accept Jesus the gift of God like the scriptures say: Eph 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”
So I decided straight away to give my heart to Jesus as my Lord and Saviour but the real problem started now.
I told my husband that I decided to follow Jesus and at first he was a bit shocked. He argued with me for a bit because he couldn’t understand why I suddenly became a Christian but I told him it was over a period of time filled with dreams from God and confirmations. He said ‘I love you for who you are, not what you believe’ and I cried because I didn’t expect him to accept me but he did. Though, there was a condition: for my kids not to become Christians.
My younger sister decided to come over to stay with us and we were all very pleased. I hadn’t seen my sister in so long and we had long chats and catch up sessions… Then, she found my Bible. She asked me what it was and why I had it and I told her it was a Bible and I’m a Christian. She was so shocked and started shouting at me about not being her sister anymore and I begged her not to tell the rest of my family yet but she did. I got dozens of phone calls and meetings with my sisters, brothers and even my own mum. At first they tried to convert me back to being a Muslim. When that didn’t work, they told me they weren’t related to me anymore. They also threatened me and they even told my husband to take my kids and leave, but he defended me. He was on my side and told them to leave us alone. My husband was surprised at how quickly my own family turned against me. After that, we moved to a different country in Europe. The Islamic religion states that if someone leaves the religion, kill them or behead them. I was so upset. I had lost my whole family because of Jesus. But I wasn’t just going to give up and leave Christianity. Mar 8:36 “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
I started going to the church and also met people on the internet that were in the same situation as me. God gave me many friends that I would never replace.
My son who was 11 and my daughter who was 12 had been exploring Christianity at this point and becoming more and more interested in Jesus. We used to watch films and Christian channels about Jesus whilst my husband was at work and my kids had fallen in love. After a month or two, both of them gave their lives to Jesus and decided to follow him. This is where the trouble began.
One night, my son had forgotten that my husband was sitting in the same room as him and he asked if he could come to Church with me. My husband became very angry. He said: “you are a Muslim, and you’re going to stay Muslim. Therefore you’re not allowed to go to Church.” After that, my kids informed my husband that they we’re both Christians and in love with Jesus. Not only that, my daughter said, and I’ll never forget this, “I’m a Christian, dad, please don’t leave, we love you… But Jesus said whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven and I don’t want that dad…” That night, he was very upset and furious, shouting and crying saying he’d leave in the morning, feeling like he’s the only Muslim in the house and we were all crying, begging him not to leave.
He decided to sleep downstairs on the sofa and me and my kids slept in my room where we engaged in intense prayer for most of the night. We asked God for my husband to accept us all and to stay. The Holy Spirit really was there and we were all shaking and crying. When we woke up, my husband said “I don’t know what happened to me, but I’m not going to go. I’ll accept you as Christians, and your children can go to the church with you, starting this week” and our prayer had been answered! Praise the Lord! Me and my children got baptised in 2008.
My husband left Islam in 2009 and joined us at church. He was just believing in God but not having a proper relationship. He had grown more and more interested in Christianity… He wanted to know more about the Lord, so now, he comes with us every Sunday to Church and we are praying that he’ll accept Jesus into his heart soon and get baptised by God’s will! Please pray for him. Please pray for all of us for God to protect us against my family who want to kill us because we left the cult they call “ISLAM”. 1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you for reading my testimony. God bless you.
17/11/10 UPDATE: Dear Friends and especially those who prayed for my husband… This week has been absolutely wonderful!! Thanks to all your prayers, MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN SAVED! Praise God! Hallelujah! Glory to God! Thank you Jesus!! Thank you to everyone again. Please continue to pray for him to become stronger in Christ and to become a witness for all somali people and everybody all over the world! In Jesus’ Mighty name, Amennnn!
Larry Who 