As told to Shira Sorko-Ram
Hussein grew up in Afrin, Syria, a city of 900,000 Kurds, with another 360 Kurdish villages surrounding Afrin. The region is located near the ancient city of Aleppo.
You’ve probably seen pictures of the hellish destruction of Aleppo, which actually lays claim to being the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the world.
Hussein was raised in a very devout Muslim family that obeyed the strict rules of Sharia which his father had taught him along with his four brothers. For many years, he thought that the God of Islam is the one true God.
Their lives were simple. Hussein married, had children, and he and his brother Mohammed made their livelihood by leading a band of musicians and themselves playing the traditional drums for Kurdish weddings.
Mohammed's wife Jehan follows her husband in his newfound faith in Jesus.
The family rejoices as all three children receive Jesus and are baptized.
They also had a shoe-shine kiosk. Hussein’s oldest son went to school, and the small girls looked forward to when they, too, would start their education. To the Kurdish people, education is essential. But most importantly, they always had enough to eat, thanking Allah with all their hearts.
But, as the war in Syria crept towards this Kurdish region, a number of villages were overtaken by ISIS, which hates the Kurds. Turmoil and disorder interrupted their lives. No jobs, no money, no security.
As the country broke up into different fighting factions and the Syrian air force bombed whenever and wherever, they saw their country disintegrating with hundreds of thousands dying and injured. One day Hussein and his wife and children boarded a bus and fled toward the Turkish border. That was four years ago—when the border was still open. He and his family eventually made their way to Istanbul.
After arriving in this huge city of 14,000,000 people, he found himself and his family in a desperate situation. In Turkey he learned there wasn’t even any possibility of sending his children to school! (For four years now, his children are without school.) He found a job as a night watchman, and with that they eat.
In his misery he began to think the unthinkable. Why were Muslims always fighting each other? Could it possibly be that something is wrong with his religion? Could it mean that Islam is not the true religion?
He began watching the well-known Egyptian Christian, Father Zakaria Botros, who for years has had a regular television program from America where he skillfully and with great anointing, exposes Islam for what it is.
But as Hussein began to question his faith, he simply could not come to the conclusion that the religion he had followed all his life, the faith of his father and grandfathers and ancestors, could be wrong.
Then one day he watched on TV as ISIS executed the 21 Egyptian Christian Copts in Libya. Hussein became furious.
He began to shout at Allah saying, “Why did you allow these innocent people to be murdered? If you allowed this to happen, does this mean that you are a God of Murder? Are you the true God?”
At 43 years of age, Hussein was deeply confused and bewildered as he mulled over this terrible act of terror perpetrated by Muslims on those Egyptian Christians.
Three days later, in March 2015, while he was asleep, Jesus appeared to him in a dream and said, “Hussein! I am the True God that you have been searching for!” Hussein got out of bed and said to Jesus, “I believe in you as my Lord and my God.”
Hussein told his family of his encounter with Jesus. He encouraged his four children to follow Jesus and leave the religion of Islam. It took only one month, and all four of his children gave their lives to the God of the Bible.
In June 2015, Yusef (pen name) an Israeli Arab evangelist (with whom Maoz partners) travelled from Israel with a team to Istanbul for meetings to evangelize Muslims and mentor new Muslim Background Believers (MBBs). He baptized one of Hussein’s children, Assad (meaning lion). What an emotional event that was when Hussein boldly declared to him, “Son, just as I led you to become a follower of Jesus, my wish and will for you, is that in the future when you marry, you will do the same with your family.”
Amina, Hussein’s wife, has not yet received Jesus as Lord. Let’s pray for Amina to have a revelation of the true God and His only begotten Son, her true Savior Jesus!
REACHING OUT TO MOHAMMED
Shortly after his encounter with Jesus, Hussein began to share his faith with his older brother Mohammed, who was also a devout Muslim and had practiced Islam since childhood. Even Mohammed’s dream of making a pilgrimage (Haj) to Mecca while he still lived in Syria had finally been realized when he was able to take his two wives and children with him.
Now, as a helpless refugee in Istanbul, Mohammed, 55, also became skeptical of Islam as he watched the horrific bombings of ISIS in Istanbul. He began to listen and learn about the Christian faith from Hussein, and, as he compared it to Islam, he knew that Jesus was the True Way. Sadly, his Arab wife, Samira, from a very fanatical Islamic family, could not accept what was happening to her husband, and abandoned him and their children and went back to Syria to her parents.
His Kurdish wife, Jehan, is now taking care of the children, but, of course, they are very heavy-hearted to have lost their mother. Nevertheless, Jehan not only remained with Mohammed but she and the three children said they were ready to follow the true God and His Son Jesus.
Arriving from Israel, Yusef prepared to baptize all five of them. But first he shared the basics of the Gospel again just to make sure they understood completely what they were about to do. He pointedly asked Mohammed and his family, “Now, are you sure you want to leave Islam and follow Jesus regardless of the
consequences?” Mohammed said, “Yes, and all my family wants to follow Jesus, too.”
As they prayed together that day with their eyes closed, Mohammed cried out that he saw a great light and angels surrounding him, and when he opened his eyes, he was crying.
Through his tears he said, “I feel sorry for all the years of my life I wasted being a Muslim. I have Jesus now and I have great joy! I regret all the years I have lived my life with that name Mohammed! I have decided to change my name!” Then he looked at his family and said, “From now on, my name will be Saeed (for security reasons, this is not the real name he chose) because my hope is in Jesus.”
On July 10, 2016 Saeed, his wife and three children gave their testimony before the church of former Muslims, and then all five were baptized in water.
It is no accident that when 21 Christians were martyred, and their last words heard on the ISIS video were “Oh Lord Jesus!” the heavens were opened for Yeshua to appear to Muslims who are genuinely seeking the truth. Through the blood of Martyrs His growing church of MBBs (Muslim Background Believers) is expanding in the camps and hovels of displaced persons throughout Europe.
Jesus
Part of 13 family members who just received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Why Palestinians Prefer Working for Israelis
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