I grew up in a village near Suk al Khamis. Growing up I followed the example of my family; I liked to pray like them. My father, however, wanted more for me than this. He wanted to teach me the Quran so he took me to the Islamic school in the village. He wanted me to memorize all of the Quran because of the many competitions which were happening in the village. The boys who memorized three parts of the Quran would win a cash prize. I was quick in memorizing the Quran; I enjoyed it so much.

Many years later a cousin who was the same age got involved in the Muslim Brotherhood. He said, "I want you to be like me. I will bring you Islamic books." I started going to meetings of this group with him. Our group was increasing in number and we started to go toward the Christian people in our village. We knew that in the prophet's time they either had to pay taxes, embrace Islam, or they would be killed. We were convinced that Christian people live an illegal life, which is why they had to choose between these conditions.

There were a lot of texts which forbid us from greeting Christians, and that stated all their properties were legal for us to take. So we were going to the shops of Christians or their houses and trying to steal from them. We didn't call it stealing, but "holy war" (jihad). We were also stealing from our families as we believed they were "atheists" anyway. One day we burned a church in the village. We felt that no one obeyed God like us, so we were happy and sure that we would go to paradise.

In time I was sent by the group's leader to other countries. I received training in how to use weapons. But that got us into trouble and we were sent home and put in prison. After I was released from prison we heard news about a group of Christian missionaries who were arrested because they were trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. We were so angry about this that it motivated us to write a book in which we distorted the Holy Book. But one of us had to read the Bible to bring the information for our work. All of the members chose me.

As I read the Bible I wondered how I could prove that this book is false if I didn't have the original to compare with this false copy. I studied various Muslim scholars and decided to concentrate on the references in the Bible that pointed to the prophet Muhammad. I found 26 texts that supposedly prophecy about Muhammad. I started with the first text from Genesis 49:10. After my investigations I found that Christ is closer to the prophecy than Muhammad.

I found that no text in the Bible speaks about Muhammad. It was a big shock for me. I became so confused that I started to ask myself, "Is the Holy Book really distorted and is the Quran God's book or not?" It was impossible that the two books were right. One of had to be wrong and I asked God to show me which book was right.

I went to six churches for help and not one of them accepted me. Then I met Pastor Yusef who encouraged me a lot. He introduced me to Butros and Ahmed and I told them, "I want to know more about Jesus." They spent many months answering my questions. Finally I believed in Jesus and was baptized. I felt the same calling as Ahmed, that I was to stay in my country and tell others about the great news I'd discovered.

I love Jesus with all my heart. Even one day if they catch me I have inside me encouraging words from God which are: "In the past you suffered a lot when you were on the wrong way. Therefore don't fear of suffering especially now when you are on the right way."

(To find out what happened to Mustafa, read the rest of his story in the book Secret Believers by Brother Andrew and Al Janssen.)