April 2026
From Darkness To Light
I grew up in a strict Muslim family, but the neighbourhood I lived in was mixed, with some residents practicing Christianity and others practicing Islam.
I then went to a middle school called Al-Fidaa Secondary School, which was in a predominantly Christian neighbourhood. My classmates were half Christian and half Muslim. There were religious education classes; during Christian religious education, the teacher would send the Muslim students to gym class, and vice versa.
However, I would ask the Christian religious education teacher if I could attend religious education classes with my Christian classmates instead of gym class. He didn’t always allow it, but I did attend some of them. This was where I started to compare and reflect, and many questions arose for me that I couldn’t find answers to.
These questions began to increase, and when I tried to inquire about some of them, the response was firm “You should not ask.”
In 2005, I travelled to Egypt and visited Mount Dronka, where Jesus and the Virgin Mary are believed to have stayed when Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt escaping the Herod’s order to kill the infants. It is a high-altitude area. I also visited the Monastery of Al-Muharraq, where Jesus is believed to have stayed in Egypt. Far from my family and my community I was able to pose some questions, freely. I met many priests and bishops who were very friendly and kind to me, and my desire to know Jesus Christ began to grow and deepen.
One of the priests gave me an icon of Christ and wrote prayers on the back of the image for the Lord to protect me. This image was always with me in my wallet. I learned how God sacrificed his Son to save us from sins. I learned to love my enemies, not just my friends. I learned that true religion is the religion of forgiveness. I learned that the Lord will not put us in hell for any trivial reason, but that the door of repentance and forgiveness is always open to us. I learned that the stronger your faith, the more is your forgiveness and love to others.
How beautiful it is to feel yourself coming out of darkness into light, from ignorance to knowledge, from fear to comfort and security.
I saw how Jesus Christ emphasized unlimited forgiveness in his teachings, calling for forgiveness of others’ mistakes “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22), and linking God’s forgiveness of man to his ability to forgive others. His teachings also included loving your enemies and praying for those who wrong you, considering forgiveness an extension of God’s unconditional love and not merely forgetting the pain.
Deeply touched, I made the prayer of salvation confessing my sins, asking for Jesus’ forgiveness and accepting Him as my Lord and Saviour. My tears rolled and I felt a great sense of peace embracing me.
When I read Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John 10:14-27 about his relationship with believers: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me”, and he added, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”, I was absolutely certain that I had chosen the right path.
Water baptism symbolizes the death and burial of my old self in Christ, and the resurrection with Him to a new life. It represents a complete purification of my sins, my second birth to eternal life.
Through baptism I declare Jesus is my Saviour, I am His disciple and I belong to Him, now and forever.
14 I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.
John 10:14-18