My name is Ahmad, and I am a Shiite from Iraq. I left my country because of the war and embargo during Saddam Hussein’s regime. I could not go back because I would be killed by the regime. I lost all of my family members to war. My brothers were killed in the Iraq-Iran war, and my parents during the second Iraq war in 2003. I have lived in Jordan for the past 25 years.
یک روز در خیابان راه میرفتم تو قلبم آشوب زیادی بود . چرا همه این اتفاقات برای من افتاده بود؟ چرا باید رنج می کشیدم و خانواده ام را از دست می دادم؟ چرا مدارک مهاجرت من به تعویق افتاد؟ داشتم با خودم غر می زدم. وقتی از کنار کلیسا رد می شدم، چیزی جلوی من را گرفت و به من اصرار کرد که بروم داخل. من قبلاً هرگز در آن کلیسا نرفته بودم و ناراحت بودم. آیا آنها مرا بیرون می اندازند؟ اما من نتوانستم در برابر این اصرار مقاومت کنم، بنابراین بعد از ظهر همان روز وارد کلیسا شدم.
هیچ مجسمه یا عکسی در کلیسا وجود نداشت، فقط مردم نشسته بودند و به یک واعظ گوش می دادند. او به زبان انگلیسی موعظه می کرد و انگلیسی من خوب نیست، برای همین ساکت نشسته بودم و سعی کردم بفهمم. واعظ ظاهراً متوجه شد که من نمی فهمم، بنابراین شروع به گفتن نکات اصلی به زبان عربی کرد. خیلی از گفتار او خوشم آمد. بعد از دعا، در کمال تعجب، مستقیماً نزد من آمد و از من استقبال کرد. خیلی صمیمی بود سپس از من دعوت کرد تا با او و خانواده اش ناهار بخوریم. او اصرار کرد که من با او بروم، بنابراین من این کار را کردم. این در را برای یک دوستی طولانی مدتی باز کرد.
I started asking the pastor questions. He was so understanding and answered my questions with love. I challenged him, but he was so calm and sure of what he believed. We started studying the Qur’an and the Bible. He had knowledge of both of them. We discussed everything–whether the Bible was corrupted, who Isa is, the Trinity, Isa’s death on the cross, family issues, the inspiration of the Qur’an and the Bible, the validity of the Hadith, and so on. I started seeing things in a different way. After four years of friendship and studies with the pastor, I accepted that the Bible is the Word of God and not corrupted. I saw Jesus differently even as the Qur’an says, “among those brought near [to Allah]” (Al-Imran 3:45), but I could not accept that He is God in flesh.
به یاد دارم یک شب پس از بحث طولانی در مورد اینکه عیسی کیست، دوستم برای من دعا کرد و از خدا خواست تا حقیقت کامل او را به من نشان دهد. سپس او به من گفت که خداوند همیشه حقیقت خود را برای کسانی که در جستجو هستند آشکار خواهد کرد.
Early the next morning, I had a dream. In it, a Man in White was talking to me and asking me, “Why do you doubt who I am?”
I said, “Master who are You?”
او به من پاسخ داد: «من راه، حقیقت و زندگی هستم. به حرف دوست خود گوش کن او حقیقت را به شما می گوید.»
I woke up at 5 a.m. with an overwhelming urge to call my pastor friend. “I believe!” I blurted out when he answered the phone.
“What do you believe?” he asked, sleepy and confused.
“I am telling you, I believe!” I nearly shouted. He could not understand what I meant. I repeated the same answer four times before I realized I hadn’t told him about my dream. “I saw Jesus in my dream!” I finally said. “I believe He is my God and Savior!” My friend was so happy for me, then he prayed with me on the phone, thanking Jesus for leading me to the full truth and encouraging me to submit my life fully to Jesus. During that prayer together, for the first time I prayed in the name of Jesus.
I do not know what would have happened if I had not listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit that day and entered that church, or if I had declined the pastor’s invitation to eat with his family. Now I can see how God led me through those four years of study to learn so much, and then to seal the truth in my heart with the dream. My life is not easy at all, but I can shout with the Apostle Paul, “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Tim. 1:12).
