A former Muslim imam who converted to
Christianity believes that God guarded him from
death threats and torture at the hands of his family
members.
“The holy Quran converted me to Christianity,” said
Mario Joseph, a former imam who shared the story
of his conversion and subsequent persecution with
the HM Television program “Changing Tracks,”
broadcast by the EUK Mamie Foundation run by the
Home of the Mother religious community.
The English-language interview, first published in
April 2014, now has more than 371,000 views on
YouTube.
Mario Joseph grew up in India in a Muslim family.
His mother dedicated him to God when he was a
baby. She had rejected doctors’ advice to abort him
when she had an infected womb during pregnancy.
Enrolled at a young age in a Muslim Arabic college
in the southern Indian state of Kerala, he studied
philosophy and theology for 10 years. He became
an imam before he reached the age of 18.
After someone asked him about who Jesus was,
Mari Joseph began to investigate Christianity.
Studying the Quran, he noticed that the name of
Jesus was mentioned more often than the name of
Islam’s prophet Mohammed and that Mary, known
in Arabic as Mariam, was the only woman
mentioned by name in the Quran. In Islam, Mary is
recognized as a perpetual virgin who was
conceived without sin.
It struck him to consider why the Quran would “give
more preference to Jesus” and why it says “all
these things about Mariam.”
The Quran describes Jesus as the “Word of God”
and the “Spirit of God.” It says Jesus healed the
sick and brought the dead to life and went to heaven
alive. It does not depict the Prophet Mohammed
doing any of this, he explained.
In addition, Mario Joseph came to understand God
as a father, something also taught by Christianity.
“Whenever I think that the creator of the universe is
my dad, I have a kind of joy which I cannot
express,” he said in an interview.
With this motivation, he explained, “I decided to
accept Jesus.”
However, this conversion to Christianity triggered a
violent reaction from family members, he said,
recounting that his father found him at a Catholic
retreat center and beat him badly, to the point that
he lost consciousness. When he awoke, he found
himself naked in a small room at his family’s home.
His arms and legs were bound and hot chili had
been placed in his mouth and his wounds.
Mario Joseph said that his father was obeying the
law of the Quran, which punishes those who leave
Islam.
He said that he was deprived of food and water for
several days and that his brother forced him to
drink urine as a punishment.
The lack of food and water affected him severely,
he recalled, adding that after as many as 20 days,
his father entered his cell, choked him and
threatened him with a knife unless he renounced
Jesus.
“I knew my dad well that he would kill me,” Mario
Joseph said.
“When I knew that it was my last moment… I
thought, ‘Jesus died, but He came back. If I believe
in Jesus and die, I too may get my life’.”
He said at this point he felt energized, pulled his
father’s hand down, and cried out Jesus’ name.
His father then fell down and was cut severely by
his own knife, causing him to foam at the mouth,
Mario Joseph said. When family members took his
father to the hospital, they forgot to lock the room.
The young man then ran out and caught a taxi. The
driver was a Christian and helped get him food and
drink.
“That day, really I understood, my Jesus is alive
even now. When I called him for my need, he saved
me.”
Mario Joseph is now staying at a Catholic retreat
center in India, where he gives talks in various
languages.
He took the name “Mario,” a male version of Mary
in Italian. He also took the name Joseph for Mary’s
spouse.
“I ask (for) the intercession of Mary and I know she
is protecting me wherever I am,” he said.
In addition, the Catholic convert stressed the
importance of Church teaching, especially the
Eucharist.
Source: Linda Ikeji
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