Salma Ali - Transit to Heaven: My testimony from Allah to Christ

Table of Contents

PREFACE

The purpose of this book is to reveal my Testimony from a child born and raised as a Muslim to a born again Christian, a child of God. To understand my journey, an outline of my life experience is crucial, therefore the book initially gives insight of my biography which explores my journey from childhood to a turning point into a believer in Christ. It ends with a focus to remain strong in Christ and obey His will.

This book is formed of 21 chapters beginning with my family background, education and career and phases of my life such as marriages and life as a single mother. Other chapters discuss big decisions such as moving from my native country to the United Kingdom as a complete stranger, a place where none of my relatives lived. From here begins my Testimony, exploring my life as a devoted Muslim and how I eventually converted to Christianity. The Testimony gives a detailed account of a series of revelations and wonders I witnessed through visits, visions and live miracles and wonders that Jesus Christ performed to reveal Himself to me. Such an example is His unique way of using lights, the sun, the moon, and the stars as signals when communicating with me, but there was also that particular star which was amazing. You will also discover how the pages from the Qur-an (Islams Holy Book) opened themselves in front of me to confirm verses that speak of such lights as signals of God.

As the book digs deeper into more revelations, I explain about hearing the audible voice of God from the sky as He spoke in my native language and as He mysteriously responded to my question about Jehovah, as the revelations become more explicit you will discover how I received my first Bible, the New King James Spirit Filled Bible and what is Gods will through me.

You will know how I practically tested those revelations before I surrendered and declared Jesus as God. Then my baptism comes in and the phases of tribulations I went through after renouncing my former faith. But how did I keep it all secret? Confession to my family did not go free, I had to face the canon to testify my case. The meeting with core members of my family, all dedicated Muslims, was like meeting the Judges in one against many. But was I also to blame for my mothers death because I became a Christian? I faced rejection but remained strong in Christ.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like thank all the people who have agreed for their names to be mentioned in this book:

Mr Rod Layne

Mrs Lucy Samuel

My sincere apologies to Peter, Rods friend and Miriam my friend for being unable to trace them as I write this book but I thank them both their contributions towards my journey no matter how small. I thank Miriam for being there during my Baptism and her support during my wedding and throughout my pregnancy.

I would like to thank Rod Layne, Lucy and Miriam for their moral support each in their own ways; Mr Rod Layne for his life and his obedience to God, the man the Lord had used to take me back to Himself. I thank him for his patience in dealing with me from the beginning of my journey to my new life as a believer in Christ. I also thank Lucy for her moral support during my tribulations and for keeping an eye on me in prayers when I had to testify my new faith to my family abroad.

May God bless them all. Amen.

CHAPTER 1

BACKGROUND

I was born and brought up in a small Island in the coast of East Africa called Zanzibar in 1962. After the union with the mainland Tanzania, Zanzibar became a province of Tanzania although ruled by its own government. My family is said to have originated from the Middle East possibly from Oman and the Yemen. I grew up in a small family of a mother and three siblings, two girls and a boy. I lost my father when I was six years old during my first year in school, therefore I remember very little about my father. His long time illness in kidney failure led my mother to be sent home by her in-laws to live with her parents according to their customs, which could have been the reason for my not remembering my father clearly as it all happened when I was very young. However, the occasional visits my mother always paid to my father before he passed away helped me to at least remember his complexion and a long white gown he used to wear. As I became mature I tried to find out more about him from my grand-mother, my auntie and my half-sister, his first born, who told me that my father was well educated and smart. He was fluent in both English and Arabic and could read and write very well. She said he was light skinned and handsome, so her description about his complexion matched what I would see when I was a child when my father stretched his hands to give me my favourite snacks he would buy from the road. My auntie told me that their parents and grand-parents were wealthy merchants from Arabia, who crossed over through Somalia in their journeys, where their father was born and continued their merchandising to Mombasa in Kenya where their father met and married their mother and finally ended their journey to this little Island in Zanzibar and decided to settle for the rest of their lives.

Although my mother was left to bring up the three children alone after the death of my father, she didnt receive much help from her in-laws, even contributions from our inheritance from our father that he had left from his own property, the hectares of land with clove plantations that he owned and which were sold for export. So my mother worked hard as a single mother to support us but thank God for her family around her, especially one of her four brothers, the landlord who supported her in many ways; and because of my mothers close relationship with her family we grew up very close to all our cousins and even though we were poor, we were happy and grew up with brotherly love for all our cousins from my mothers side.

I started school when I was 6 years old and finished Secondary School with high grades, which enabled me to get to one of the best High Schools in the country. I was one among the elite groups of high achievers in the School and my teachers and I had high expectations of completing my studies with high grades. However, my achievement at the High School did not come out as expected because of an early marriage at the age of 17, which was then followed by giving birth during the exam times, so I did not come up with the expected grades in my O Levels, just with one C and a few Ds.

I must admit I wasnt forced into the marriage neither was it arranged for me as this is not practiced in my family, it was rather my own desire to marry someone I had known and loved at 16 who had a common interest with me in education. So despite my mothers concern about the marriage, especially because of rumours about his family, I followed my heart and got married to a person I knew even though I was still at School. He was 25 and I was 17 when we married, in reality I was too young to think better, I wish I had given myself time and a chance to grow, even though the heart was calling there needed to be a balance of measure before I committed myself into a serious relationship. I wish there was someone out there or some kind of service that could give a vision to young people before they commit themselves into serious relationships like marriage at an early age, especially when it is most likely that the young girls would be the ones left out to bring up the children alone. Having said this, I never regretted my marriage at that time but the consequences that were involved in it and how much I suffered as a young child.

The exams started just a few days after I had given birth to my first baby so I couldnt sit for my exams, which made me so upset seeing my peers taking their exams but I was left at home recovering from child birth. I did not accept this in my heart so as soon as I felt better, around about 10 days later I went back to School to sit for my exams. Unfortunately I couldnt do better, it was uncomfortable for me to sit down for long hours as much as I tried, so as a result I didnt achieve well, I only came out with a grade C and a few Ds for the remaining exams that I managed to catch up with. That disappointed me, especially when I thought of my peers in my group knowing that they would achieve well. I was truly sad and disappointed but appreciated my child and my marriage; however I also knew that it wasnt over with me, education was my only way, so I contended with myself and strived to take up private studies to re-sit the exams and although it took me two years to achieve the grades, it did happen.