I was asked to tell my story how I became a Muslim at the age of 15. Actually from my point of view it is quite a simple story, but let me try to be a bit specific.

I was born into a Christian Protestant family. My father liked to attend the Pentecostal Church while my mother considered herself more ‘official Church Protestant’. I attended ‘Sunday School’ lessons and also the official religion classes in school. Consequently I was a fairly ‘well educated’ Christian youth I suppose. (more than the average these days anyway).

However, in early days, when I started thinking I started to question the official Christian teachings. One teacher would tell us: “In the beginning of time God created the world and he was the Lord. 2000 years ago he had a son, Jesus, and now Jesus is our Lord.” I raised my hand and asked: “What happened to the old man, is he retired now?” (Of course I did not receive any answer besides being told not to ask silly questions).

Once when we were in a boy scout camp we met a Catholic boy scout group, led by a ‘Father.’ He told us that he would like to take the opportunity of having Catholics and Protestants together to explain to the Protestant boys the special beliefs of Catholics. He explained: “Let us assume that when you finish school you would like to get a job in a large company. It will be difficult for you to approach the Managing Director. May be however you have an uncle who is working in the same firm. Therefore you will approach your uncle to help you to get into the same company.” He explained that as we know that the saints are already in heaven therefore we ask the saints to intercede on our behalf with God to help us and enter heaven also. My thoughts were that God created the whole world but now is too busy, like a human Managing Director, to listen to our prayers directly.

A main teaching of Christianity is that we are all born sinful and then God sacrificed his only son to take away our sins. I once asked a priest about this. I asked him: “Could God not for instance just not have given us the inherited sin, or just forgiven us, so that he would not need to sacrifice his only son?” The answer of the priest was interesting, he said: “You know, when I was studying to become a priest I had many sleepless nights about this very same question.”

Consequently I suppose you can say that I was just a stubborn child. I never really was a Christian. As soon as I started thinking on my own I thought that it is not possible that a God who has created the whole Universe has limitations like a human or acts without logic. I therefore looked around in the library about books of other religions.

I read small booklets about Buddhism and Hinduism. Well, I was not impressed particularly. I then contacted the Central Swiss Library and obtained a German translation of the Holy Quran. Well, already the first Sura was so impressive. “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise and thanks are Allah’s, the Lord of all the worlds. The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The Master on the Day of Judgement. You alone do we worship and You Alone we ask for help. Guide us to the Straight Path, The Path of those on whom You have bestowed your Mercy, not of those who earned your displeasure, nor of those who have gone astray.”

And as the second chapter is a bit large, but the chapter on the end of the Holy Quran are shorter, most people turn first to the end and read the short Suras at the end of the book. When I read Surat Al Ikhlas: “Say ‘He is Allah, the One. Allah – the Self Sufficient. He begets not, nor was He begoten. And there is none comparable to Him.'”   I felt that “I am home. This is it.”

When thinking about Islam and the Holy Quran I also thought: The Jews tell us: “God spoke to us from beginning of time, but then 3000 years ago He stopped this communication.” The Christians tell us: “God spoke to us from the beginning of time and 2000 years ago He stopped communication with us.” Why should that be? If God has communicated with us since the beginning of time surely He will continue communication with us. The Holy Quran is the only religious book which is available to mankind in its original form and purity. It is therefore logical that this can be the final law from God. Before the advent of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be on him) it was technically not possible to preserve a book, now it was. Logical.

Consequently I can say that I became a Muslim by reading these two small Suras of the Holy Quran. Well, as all humans are born ‘pure’, actually ‘Muslim,’ I think it is very correct in my case to call me a ‘revert to Islam.’

The second part about my becoming a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community can be read here: