Page 6 - MY GREAT LOVE FOR JESUS LED ME TO TROUTH

My Experience in the United States of America

In 1977, I arrived in the United States to begin my university studies. First, I had to go to a school to
learn English, and there I met many people of different beliefs from various parts of the world. At an
English language school in Seattle, Washington, I had a roommate by the name of Fouad from Saudi
Arabia who was doing his master's degree. One day he asked me if it was all right for him to pray in
the room. I told him that I did not have a problem with that at all. I was surprised, since it was the
first time I saw a Muslim perform his prayers. Before engaging in prayer, he performed ablution. He
washed his hands, rinsed out his mouth, cleaned his nose, washed his face and forearms, wiped his
head and ears and washed his feet[1] in the small sink in our room. It was the first time I had seen
someone wash his feet in a sink which was meant for washing the hands. Then I observed the
movements of his prayers. He stood up, bowed, resumed the standing position and prostrated. At
that point I remembered how we used to pray in the church by only kneeling down, but what Fouad
did was different. A short while later, he left the institute, and for several months I did not see another
Muslim pray.
During recess at the English institute, foreign students from various countries used to meet and discuss
a variety of topics. I clearly remember that on one occasion, as we were discussing the origin of
religions and prayers, I told them, "You pray the way you do because that is the way your ancestors
used to pray." I went on to tell them that their ancestors used to worship the sun, the moon and the
stars, and since then that tradition has been transmitted through all the generations up to the present.
I had even started to have doubts about the origin of belief in God. However, due to my deep Christian
roots, I did not become an atheist.[2]
One day I went to visit a mosque and I observed many people praying the same way that I had seen
Fouad pray previously. After the prayer they all remained seated on the floor to listen to a sermon.
Since the rest of the people were sitting, I joined them and listened to all that the imam, the man
who leads the prayer in the mosque, had to say. His name was Jamil Abdur-Razzaq from Iraq, and he
was talking about backbiting in English. I remember that his voice was high-pitched and emotional.
As he spoke, he looked around the audience as if somebody had spoken ill of someone else, but he
did not point out anyone specifically. I think his objective was to instill a feeling of guilt in those
involved in backbiting.
That same day someone sent me an envelope with some booklets comparing Islam and Christianity.
It took me a long time to read them, as I was then busy starting as a freshman at Oklahoma State
University. It was through the comparative booklets that I learned that Islam and the message of
Jesus were both revelations from God.Jesus said that the message he was conveying was not his but