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Priest Who Converted to Islam Tells His Reason
Daily Trust ^ | Feb 3 2017 | Idris Tawfiq

Posted on 02/03/2017 9:58:51 PM PST by nickcarraway

Teaching about Islam taught me many things.

I enjoyed being a priest helping the people for some years. However, deep inside I was not happy and I felt that there was something not right. Fortunately, and it is God’s will, some events and coincidences in my life led me to Islam.

I used to think of Egypt as a country of Pyramids, camels, sand and palm trees. I actually took a charter flight to Hurghada.

Shocked to find it similar to some European beaches, I took the first bus to Cairo where I spent the most wonderful week in my life.

This was my first introduction to Muslims and Islam. I noticed how Egyptians are such gentle, sweet people, but also very strong.

Like all Britons, my knowledge about Muslims up to that time didn’t exceed what I heard from the TV about suicide bombers and fighters, which gave the impression that Islam is a religion of troubles. However, getting into Cairo I discovered how beautiful this religion is.

Very simple people selling goods on the street would abandon their trade and direct their face to Allah and pray the moment they heard the call to prayer from the mosque. They have a strong faith in the presence and will of Allah. They pray, fast, help the needy and dream to have a trip to Makkah with the hope of living in heaven in the hereafter.

On my return I resumed my old job of teaching religion. The only compulsory subject in British education is Religious Studies. I was teaching about Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and others. So everyday I had to read about these religions to be able to teach my lessons to the students, many of whom were Arab Muslim refugees. In other words, teaching about Islam taught me many things.

Unlike many troublesome teenagers, these students set a good example of what a Muslim could be. They were polite and kind. So a friendship developed between us and they asked if they could use my classroom for prayers during the fasting month of Ramadan.

Luckily, my room was the only one with a carpet. So I got accustomed to sitting at the back, watching them praying for a month. I sought to encourage them by fasting during Ramadan with them, even though I wasn’t yet a Muslim.

Once while reciting a translation of the holy Quran in class I reached the verse:

{And when they hear what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of what they have recognized of the truth.} (Quran 5:83)

To my surprise, I felt tears welling up in my eyes and I tried hard to hide it from the students.

The following day, I was taking the underground and noticed how terrified the people were. I was also afraid of the repetition of such acts in Britain. At the time, the Western people started fearing this religion they blamed for terrorism.

However, my previous experience with Muslims took me to a different direction. I started wondering ‘Why Islam? Why do we blame Islam as a religion for the action of terrorists who happened to be Muslims, when no-one accused Christianity of terrorism when some Christians have acted the same way?

One day I headed to the biggest Mosque in London, to hear more about this religion. Getting into London Central Mosque, there was Yusuf Islam, the former pop singer, sitting in a circle talking to some people about Islam. After a while, I found myself asking him” ‘What do you actually do to become a Muslim?’

He answered that a Muslim should believe in one God, pray five times a day and fast during Ramadan. I interrupted him saying that I believed all this and had even fasted during Ramadan. So he asked:

‘What are you waiting for? What is holding you back?’ I said: ‘No, I don’t intend to convert.’

At that moment the call to prayer was made and everyone got ready and stood in lines to pray.

I sat at the back, and I cried and cried. Then I said to myself: ‘Who am I trying to fool?’

After they ended their prayers, I headed to Yusuf Islam, asking him to teach me the words by which I announce my conversion.

After explaining its meanings to me in English, I recited after him in Arabic that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, I couldn’t hold back my tears.

‘Gardens of Islam’

I decided to write this book “Gardens of Delight: a Simple Introduction to Islam” to give non-Muslims an idea about the basic principles of Islam. I tried to tell people how beautiful Islam is and that Islam has the most extraordinary treasures, the most important being Muslims’ love for each other.

The Prophet says:

‘Even a smile to your brother is a charity.’

May Allah have mercy on brother Idris Tawfiq.

Idris Tawfiq was a British writer, public speaker and consultant. He became a Muslim around 15 years ago.For many years, he was head of religious education in different schools in the United Kingdom. Before embracing Islam, he was a Roman Catholic priest. He passed away in peace in the UK in February 2016 after a period of illness. May Allah (SWT) have mercy on him, and accept his good deeds.


TOPICS: Local News; Miscellaneous; Religion
KEYWORDS: apostasy; apostate; catholicpriest; catholics; choudary; conversion; convert; idristawfiq; london; londoncentralmosque; uk
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To: Steelfish

Oh but FRiend, I am attending to the words of Christ. For he referred to the wine as blood in Mark 14:24,and in the next verse says:

“Verily I say unto you, I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Mark 14:25

And the emphasis on repentance, and baptism in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, found several times in the book of Acts, as well as referred to in many places in the epistles, shows how one is one with Christ.


61 posted on 02/04/2017 2:14:17 PM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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To: Zuriel

The Books in the Bible did not fall from the skies and robotically assemble themselves into the various chapters and verses. Among the thousands of manuscripts, texts, and written evidence, the Holy Spirit bestowed upon the Catholic Church to sort out and put together what is the true Word of God, while casting aside hundreds of other questionable or contradictory writings. This process took nearly three hundred years beginning with early Church fathers and successors to St. Peter.

That authority of the Holy Spirit to locate, cite, and interpret the true Word of Christ did not suddenly disappear with the advent of the Lutheran heresies. This is why the Church has among its adherents, thousands of scholars and theologians who have become converts from every other faith and religion under the sun.


62 posted on 02/04/2017 3:23:59 PM PST by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

Well sir, whoever compiled the books saw fit to include the passage from Mark, and this one as well, from Luke 22:31,32...

“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”

The Lord just made it clear right there, that even after the disciples ate the bread, and drank of the cup (verses 19 and 20), they were not yet converted. The conversions would happen after the Lord ascended, for the Holy Ghost would not come until the Lord physically departed. (John 16:7)


63 posted on 02/04/2017 7:33:24 PM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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To: Zuriel

By your lights Paul, the early Church fathers, saints, martyrs, theologians, scholars, all got it wrong in believing the literal terms of Eucharistic consecration.

A sign of the reality of Presence of Christ in the Eucharist may be seen in what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, in which he not only repeated the words and actions of the Last Supper but notes the punishment upon those who unworthily receive the Holy Eucharist:

11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 11:24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 11:25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 11:27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 11:28 Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 11:29 For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.


64 posted on 02/04/2017 8:21:07 PM PST by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

The references I pointed to, in Mark and Luke, are not be ignored so that other teachings can take preeminence. There is harmony in the scriptural teachings. That is why Paul’s teachings to the Corinthians is further proof of the ‘Lord’s supper’ being done “in remembrance of” Christ. These people have already been baptized into Christ. The Lord’s supper is a solemn event done in remembrance of him. The chapter starts with his rebuke of the members chowing down at the church house, and shortly thereafter partaking of the Lord’s supper in a nonchalant manner. Paul ends the rebuke by referring again to eating of meals to satisfy hunger, and that it should be done in their own homes, completely apart from church service.


65 posted on 02/04/2017 9:17:33 PM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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To: grumpygresh
The doctrine of “once saved always saved” has to be reconsidered or at least discussed.

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Matthew, Catholic chapter twenty four, Protestant verses eleven to thirteen ,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James

66 posted on 02/04/2017 9:27:32 PM PST by af_vet_1981 (The bus came by and I got on, That's when it all began.)
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To: Zuriel

If it’s simply a reference to “remembrance,” Christ would not have doubled down on his teaching when the Jews who took His word literally began to leave him. You may like to pay some close attention to the earlier posts.

It would seem from your line of reasoning that not only was Christ misunderstood, but so was Paul, Paul’s teachings, and the early Church fathers. And, those leading Protestant theologians and scholars who after years of scholarship and had converted to the Catholic Church, were all wrong.


67 posted on 02/04/2017 9:37:43 PM PST by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

Also remember that Paul begins the epistle by addressing them as “the church of God, which at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints....(1Cor. 1:2)

Those intros are commonly ignored by many that claim Christian conversion is taught exclusively in the epistles, completely sidestepping the commands of Peter that were initially taught in Acts 2:38.


68 posted on 02/04/2017 9:44:34 PM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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To: Zuriel

So you think “your” interpretation overrides all of these below?

THE DIDACHE

The Didache or “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles” is a manuscript that was used by 2nd century bishops and priests for the instruction of catechumens. Many early Christian writers have referenced it making this document relatively easy to date.

“Let no one eat and drink of your Eucharist but those baptized in the name of the Lord; to this, too the saying of the Lord is applicable: ‘Do not give to dogs what is sacred’”.
-Ch. 9:5
“On the Lord’s own day, assemble in common to break bread and offer thanks; but first confess your sins, so that your sacrifice may be pure. “In every place and time offer me a pure sacrifice; for I am a mighty King, says the Lord; and my name spreads terror among the nations.”
-Ch 14

ST. IGNATIUS SUCCEEDING ST. EVODIUS, WHO WAS THE IMMEDIATE SUCCESSOR OF ST. PETER

He heard St. John preach when he was a boy and knew St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. Seven of his letters written to various Christian communities have been preserved. Eventually, he received the martyr’s crown as he was thrown to wild beasts in the arena.
“I have no taste for the food that perishes nor for the pleasures of this life. I want the Bread of God which is the Flesh of Christ, who was the seed of David; and for drink I desire His Blood which is love that cannot be destroyed.” (Letter to the Ephesians. 80-110 A.D.)

ST. CLEMENT WAS THE THIRD SUCCESSOR OF PETER AS BISHOP OF ROME

“He commanded us to celebrate sacrifices and services, and that it should not be thoughtlessly or disorderly, but at fixed times and hours.” (St. Clement, bishop of Rome, 80 A.D., to the Corinthians.)

ST. JUSTIN MARTYR WAS BORN A PAGAN BUT CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY AFTER STUDYING PHILOSOPHY.

He was a prolific writer and many Church scholars consider him the greatest defender of the faith from the 2nd century. He was beheaded with six of his companions some time between 163 and 167 A.D.

“This food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God’s Word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus.” (A.D. 148-155.)

And yes, we cannot leave out St. Irenaeus

ST. IRENAEUS

St. Irenaeus is best known for refuting the Gnostic heresies. Yet he never could have imagined the Protestant heresies that would follow centuries later. But here’s what he wrote:

“[Christ] has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own Blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own Body, from which he gives increase to our bodies.”
Source: St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 180 A.D.:


69 posted on 02/04/2017 9:50:37 PM PST by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

In John 6:63, the Lord points out that this is a spiritual partaking, “for the flesh profiteth nothing”.

What is dwelling in every cell of the Son’s flesh and blood? The Father. Christ made that as plain as possible, especially in John chapter 14. He further explains that that is how they will overcome the world; by the power of God’s own Spirit.


70 posted on 02/04/2017 10:00:47 PM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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To: Zuriel

So your personal interpretation contradicts all of those whom I mentioned? And the authority of the Holy Spirit that guided the Church to assemble the true written Word of Christ suddenly vanished with Luther! and the 30,000 different and contradictory sects he spawned?


71 posted on 02/04/2017 10:04:57 PM PST by Steelfish
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To: grumpygresh

He may come to his senses, but he cannot leave Islam. It is not permitted.


72 posted on 02/04/2017 11:37:13 PM PST by The_Media_never_lie ( Agenda driven news is fake news.)
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To: Steelfish

If you regard Peter as the first ‘pope’, why do you speak little or nothing of his actions and words, concerning obedience to God?

False teachings in the post Pentecost (Acts 2) era had already begun in his days, as well as during the ministries of Paul, John, Jude, and even James, who closes his epistle out with the instruction about “if any of you err from the truth”.

Paul and Barnabas encountered, on their FIRST missionary journey, one that would “not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord”.

On his last missionary tour, Paul warned that some of the followers in his midst would lead souls into perverse teachings.

Peter pounded home the Acts 2:38 conversion, even aluding to it many years later in his writings (1Peter 3:20,21). Where is his ‘Lords supper communion, or hell’, that you seem to adhere to?

None of the aforementioned, and neither the Son of God himself, ever used the phrase “God the Son”, in defining Jesus Christ. Do you?


73 posted on 02/05/2017 8:21:56 AM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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To: Zuriel

These kinds of scattered references to scripture make no sense. You apparently cannot answer the clear teachings of Christ as understood by his early followers. And of course, the thousands of theologians, scholars, historians, philosophers, writers, and essayists both Catholic, and non-Catholics who converted to Catholicism, after years of research, teaching, and deep contemplation, were all misled!!!!

And apparently you think the Holy Spirit that guided the Church to determine the True written Word of God for over 300 years that helped assemble the Books in the Bible suddenly vanished when Luther appeared on the scene! And abandoned the Church to allow anyone and everyone from Luther to Calvin to Joel Osteen, Billy Graham, and Rev. Jeremiah Wright the “authority” to crack open the pages of the Bible and give their own “authoritative” interpretation! Christ established one Church to preach and teach His one truth and for all times and even the gates of hell shall not prevail against the teachings of His Church.

Here’s a partial list
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_converts_to_Catholicism


74 posted on 02/05/2017 9:29:53 AM PST by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

Since you seem to know who is sanctified, then maybe you can tell me what percentage a ‘few’ is, as in the Lord’s declaration: “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that make it.” Matthew 7:14

Lists of people, most whom you have probably never met, do not make you a judge of men’s souls.

I gave you simples facts and questions concerning scriptural conversion. You chose to stand with the long held RCC traditional talking points, some of which contradict the words of the very scriptures you claim your church preserved.


75 posted on 02/05/2017 2:45:36 PM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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To: Zuriel

This quote is wholly irrelevant. We are talking about who gets to decide what is truly God’s Word and who get to interpret it. The Church selected the written Word and gets to interpret it. Every other contradictory interpretation is by false prophets and I am sure you know the scripture verses on that aspect.


76 posted on 02/05/2017 3:35:29 PM PST by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

We will have agree to disagree, for God’s Spirit moved men to prophesy, and write the words that were inspired. He would see to it that the words would be preserved. Even as Elijah thought that he was the only prophet left in Israel, God told him otherwise.

Even as king Josiah thought he was doing as God intended, he was without the complete instructions of the Law. It had been there in the temple all along, but hidden from view by carelessness of some sort. I would say that the Levites in charge of the temple were not faithfully following the Lord.

Church leadership is no different. They can say that they are representing God and his Word, yet be as wrong as Elijah, or the priestly order during Josiah’s reign.

Jesus Christ’s words in Matthew chapter 23, has a strange foreshadowing of what, IMO, is the RCC. The parallels are almost jaw dropping.


77 posted on 02/05/2017 8:21:46 PM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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To: Zuriel

Dr. David Anders, a Protestant theological and Biblical scholar set out to show why the central beliefs of Catholicism were in error at Wheaton College. This was the specific purpose of his research venture. He was born, raised and educated as an Evangelical.

After years of extensive study and research, he ended up converting to Catholicism. Here is what he wrote;

“Once I understood the Catholic position on salvation, the Church, and the saints, the Marian dogmas also seemed to fall into place. If the heart of the Christian faith is God’s union with our human nature, the Mother of that human nature has an incredibly important and unique role in all of history. This is why the Fathers of the Church always celebrated Mary as the second Eve. Her “yes” to God at the annunciation undid the “no” of Eve in the garden. If it is appropriate to venerate the saints and martyrs of the Church, how much more is it appropriate to give honor and veneration to her who made possible our redemption?”

You are free to visit his site to have some of your questions answered:
http://calvin2catholic.com


78 posted on 02/05/2017 8:50:28 PM PST by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish

Two wrongs don’t make a right. As a former Calvinist myself, I can see how shallow his roots were to begin with. Tumbling into more man made tradition is a common occurrence. Perhaps I shall contact him soon. Thanks.


79 posted on 02/05/2017 9:57:11 PM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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