Originally published in AllIsrael News
Going on pilgrimage to Mecca is a duty most Muslims aspire to, but John Ghanim was unprepared for what happened to him during the Hajj.
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Ghanim, who has since changed his Muslim name to John after the beloved disciple of Jesus, was excited about going to Mecca, but found waves of confusion engulfed him as he circled the kaaba. He said he lost his faith in Allah entirely.
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Ghanim grew up in an extremist Muslim environment in Yemen, and had been roped into helping the Houthis distribute their message: “God is the greatest! Death to America, death to Israel! Curse on the Jews, victory to Islam!“ The young men of his village had been putting up signs and posters with the radical rallying cry, and the message seeped deep into his soul. He hated America, Israel, and all Jewish people. But all that would soon change.
Ghanim was sincere in his quest to find God: “I wanted to know the One who created me, who designed me. I took these questions to the leaders, the Imams, asking about how to be sure we’d get to heaven and was told that even they weren’t sure. They said nobody could be sure if they were going to heaven, so we have to do good deeds and work hard all our lives to earn salvation.”
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He was eager to see if his pilgrimage to Mecca would provide the answers he was looking for. However, while making his way around the black cube of the kaaba, new questions arose: “Are we really worshiping God? Or this black stone?” He was appalled to find himself concluding they were not worshiping God at all. This led to a dark period of agnosticism and rejection by his family and community. He wasn’t sure what to believe anymore but was certain about one thing: Islam was not for him.
Later, Ghanim was in Greece when he encountered a Syrian man with a cross tattoo on his hand. He asked about the tattoo, and his new friend told him about Jesus, the Savior of the world. Ghanim had come across the version of Jesus in the Quran, but when offered the opportunity to come to a Bible study to learn more, Ghanim leapt at the chance.
His first encounter with Christians was bewildering: “What are they doing?” he marveled, as he watched the worship. “I felt there was secret power in that place. The atmosphere was different. I started to feel jealous—why are they so confident to worship in this way? My curiosity levels were raised higher and higher.” He started to attend church meetings more regularly and learned about God’s love, and how Jesus died for the sins of the world.
“I was listening and I had never heard anything like it before, although I still didn’t have faith at that time.” Ghanim was given a New Testament in Arabic, and was amazed to find that God spoke to people in the pages of the Gospels. “I started to read Matthew and came across the story of how Jesus was baptized and a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’. The God of Heaven speaks!”
“It came like water into my spirit. I can’t explain the joy I had. This is what I’ve been looking for! This is the God I didn’t know! This is the God I want to follow! As I continued to read it answered all my questions about prayer and fasting, I was so excited to go back to the church the following Sunday.”
Ghanim was ready to accept Jesus, and prayed with the pastor at the end of the service. “When I opened my eyes, everything seemed so beautiful all of a sudden, all the people around me, everything! There was great joy and peace inside.” Soon afterwards, Ghanim was baptised.
Since that moment, Ghanim has been courageously open about his new faith in Jesus, at great cost. His life is in constant danger as an apostate, but he is not afraid.
“God gave me boldness in my faith. I wanted to share my faith with everyone – on social media.”
He shared his story on different platforms, and his videos have been watched millions of times. “I knew I would experience persecution but I didn’t care. One of my videos went viral, gaining over 16 million views, and my family saw it. The Imams saw it. Everyone saw it. It was very painful for my family.”
If it wasn’t bad enough that he left Islam to follow Jesus, Ghanim was about to take the situation from bad to worse. He decided to read the whole Bible from beginning to end and soon came across God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12. He started to see God’s love for Israel, and it challenged him deeply.
“I started to feel guilty. We have cursed the descendants of Abraham over and over as the Yemeni people. I read about the 400 years of slavery in Egypt and about the Exodus. I saw that God was with them – even when they rebelled, He was still with them.”
Ghanim’s new love for Israel has led to him taking a bold stand with the Jewish people. “I do believe that according to the Bible, God is the same yesterday, today and forever. His promises are all still there for the nation of Israel. It’s an ancient nation, but God is still with them.”
Today, Ghanim is determined to replace all the cursing of Israel with blessing. “I feel deeply sorry for all the years I hated Israel, I am sorry for the Yemeni people that they have hatred for the people of Israel, and I know that to heal the land of Yemen we need to turn these curses into blessings”.
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