Sunday, January 27, 2008

Muslim to Christian (Liban Ibrahim Hassan - Somali Martyr)

Liibaan Ibraahim Xasan (Liban Ibrahim Hassan) was shot dead in Muqdisho (Mogadishu), apparently because of his Christian activities in the Somali capital.

While growing up, Liibaan had listened to Christian radio broadcasts both in Somali and in English. In 1982, at the age of about 13, he read Sigmund Freud's Dreams, which disturbed him so much that he began to suffer from insomnia. Traditional solutions - visits to sheikhs, reading the Qur'an etc. - did not cure him. An expatriate Christian gave him a New Testament and suggested that he read the first letter of John. During the mid-1980s Liibaan struggled over deep theological and spiritual issues as he read the Bible in Italian and English. He also read Italian devotional books on the epistles of Paul. He prayed for God to show him the right path.

Liibaan became dissatisfied with Islam for a variety of reasons. He wondered why it was necessary always to pray to God in Arabic, a foreign language. He wondered why it was necessary to face Mecca when praying. Ethical issues also troubled him, particularly the fact that the Quran, he believed, sanctioned polygamy and abuse of women.

Finally, in 1985, Liibaan decided that only the Bible could be true and not the Qur'an. He decided that the first thing he must do as a follower of Jesus Christ was to practice humility. (Humility is not normally considered a desirable trait in Somali culture.) Liibaan's friends began to notice a change in him the following year, and he told them about his new faith. In 1990 he sent off for a Somali New Testament. "Please be aware that if you send me [this book] you will be sending me the greatest gift that can be given to a human," he wrote.

In 1992 Liibaan married a young lady from his neighborhood. He also desired baptism and traveled to Ethiopia in order to be baptized. In December 1992 Liibaan's wife decided to join her husband in following Jesus Christ and was baptized.

The civil war in Somalia provided Liibaan with many opportunities to witness. While working in the hospital, medical staff noticed that he had a totally different attitude from the other workers. He did not differentiate between patients based on their clan. He showed sympathy and concern for people; working as a nurse's aide in the operating room was not just a job for Liibaan.

He used to have religious discussions with a sheikh who had been badly wounded. Later, he donated blood for this man, and after the sheikh had recovered Liibaan told him to listen to the Somali Christian radio broadcasts. In due course the sheikh wrote to the radio station to request Christian Scriptures and a correspondence course.

This sheikh was just one of many whose lives were touched by Liibaan. He encouraged numbers of people to study the Scriptures and some of them embraced Christianity. The scattered Christians in Muqdisho met in his home and he pastored them. At the relief agency where he worked, all the workers went to him with their problems. Even the men who guarded the vehicles of the relief agency - battle-hardened veterans of the street fighting of the past four years of civil war - had perceptibly changed through their contact with Liibaan.

Such a bold Christian stance made him notorious in a country which is almost 100% Muslim. In 1993 Islamic radicals criticized his activities in newspaper articles.

On the morning of 21 March 1994, two gunmen were waiting for Liibaan on the sandy road near his office. At 7.30 a.m., as he was walking to work, they ambushed him and shot him at close range. He died a few minutes later.

It is not known who killed him, but it is most likely that the motives were religious. Many Muslims believe that it is their duty to kill an apostate themselves if the state fails to uphold the sharia and that God will reward them for it.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

well,i'm a muslim from morocco,i really liked your fiction story.well,we turn our face to makka because it is the ture place ,according to your bible.(king James Version)(Psalms)(Ps-84-6)(Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.).
i wish you could send me a good explination about the trinity from your bible .where jesus said that God is a traune God.or that he is a God .acctually i believe that God is one and God is not a man nor a son of man.and that there is no savior but the father who is the only true God .Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.( Hosea 13:4)

Anonymous said...

Yes, our God according to the the Bible is a Trinity God. Our God is the God of Abraham, Isacc, and Jacob, who create the heaven and earth and glorify HIS servent Jesus Christ became LORD and Christ. His name is Immanel. We belive one GOD, but whom have 3 personality.

Regards,
cprm.reformed

Anonymous said...

islam is the true faith and many christian minister are covering the truth. for those people who seek jesus as their god your seriously mistaken and mislead by the so called holybible. jesus was a miracle like mosse was not a god or son of god. It clearly states in the islamic Quran. It also states that the struggle that he faced during that period,.

Anonymous said...

I'm somalian christian and
I'm here to ask u all to pray forus im Somalia,the Lords light will spread all the way and those who still blind, we pray for you.
we know that they can't see, but we hope they will in the name of the Lord.

Anonymous said...

I am Somali Pure Muslin whose In Somalia, beleive it or not Islam the only religion which allah accepts, Somalis are 100% Muslim and they will be Muslims.

To tell you the truth we(Somalis) will kille every one who convertes to from The sweet Islam to any other So called religion because our prophet Mohamed P.B.H said Kill every one who changes him religion(Islam) Somalis are all Muslims and we will kill every one who tries to change his religion even our beloved ones.

for more information plzz send me your comments to this email= jalafboy@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

very sad to see blind muslims who worship a devil spirit but do not know it.
this (islam)religion is the visible characteristics of the demons in action.
those who are intelligent will understand, amen!
love you all!

Anonymous said...

Gentlemen
Respect each other and each others choice, let everyone be whatever they choice to be.

Thank you

Burhan Abdulle
Calgary, Alberta

Unknown said...

iam muslim from somali what i don't understand is how can anyone talks about somali and cristianty becouse we born muskim and we dei amuslim that is it you ppl make my very upset so respect couse that's what somalia is coing to be if not trus me it will be disaster

Unknown said...

i mean muslim sorry

abdulrazak said...

am muslim, the first day i open my eyes i was muslim, thanks god for making me muslim alhamdulilah...i pray for everyone who is Christian to become a muslim because that is the right way to follow. here's my little advice to all of u think twice before u convert to christian.....ismlam is the right way to follow.

Dr Ahmed said...

firstly there is no need of abusing islam as to being a demonic religion, worshipping spirits. as a muslim i believe that killing a muslim convert is not the way to go. we should be patient and enter those people to rehabilitation so they study thier religion properly because as we know if you learnt islam properly without listening to those extremists, you will never convert as it is a religion which proves its magnificent and glory and leads you to the path to heaven

Peter said...

Dear Dr Ahmed,

In surah al-Imran 3:50 Isa tells us that our duty to Allah is to obey him (Isa)! To show your highest respect to Allah, you must obey Isa. The only command of Isa that we find in the Qur’an is here in 3:50. The command is clear: “Obey me” (Isa).

If we are to obey the commands of Isa,
where can we find these commands?
They are found in the Injil.

How can you do your duty to Allah and obey unless you know what He has commanded you to do? You must find out what the Injil says so that you can know how to obey Isa. The same Injil that Muhammed, used is available today. When you find an Injil, be sure to check to see if it was translated from the original Greek language in which it was written in the 1st century.

Peter

Anonymous said...

This man liibaan is ROASTING in JAHANNAM [HELL] as we speak.

Anonymous said...

HI everybody
those somalis who claiming to be christians are doing it because of the hardships such economy problems or wanting to get better life like many Iranians afghans and so on but when you talk to them their hearts are shaking because they really know they sold their religion and there is no going back if they do because of their faithlessnes and resentment they will be attacked from the other side I really feel sorry for dem, ina laaha yahdii man yashaà walaahu laa yahdil qoomal faasiqiin

Anonymous said...

bismillah

I want to ask you "somali Christians" Why in the world would you choose Christianity over Islam, Yes once in awhile the media shows Muslims killing and looking like devils and they say we "Oppress our women"- if converting your body so that you wont be raped or commit adultery is being oppressed then my friends there are a lot off oppressed people in the world, and the media shows what the Muslim extremist are doing to people- of course i understand what is happening is bad, but the entire Christan community are like under cover devils, the u.s.a which is 79-90% christans are killing about 10 Muslim children in 2mins, 1,450,000 Iraqians were killed in the hands of Christan,
250,000 children were killed in Afghanistan because they were looking for "usama bin--ladin" so please think before you converts talk about Islam extremist


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Anonymous said...

INAA LILAAH WA INAA ILEYHI RAAJI'UUN

NOTHING TO REPLACE TO BE A MULIM A TRUE MUSLIM NEVER NEVER THINKS OF CHANGING HIS/HER RELIGION BECAUSE THERE IS ONLY ONE RELIGION IN THE WHOLE WORLD (ISLAAAAM) MAY ALLAH KILL US BEING MUSLIM AAMIN AAMIN ALLAH IS MERCIFUL WE MAY COME UP SINS BUT WE PRAY FOR ALLAH TO FOR GIVE US. EVERY THING/ONE ON EARTH IS FOR A REASON SO THINK 2 TWICE YOU WERE NOT CREATED FOR NOTHING CAUSE WHEN YOU MAKE EVEN A CAR YOU MAKE IT FOR A REASON, AIRPLANE FOR A REASON EVERYTHING IS FOR A REASON, SO "MEN" THINK AGAIN FOR WHAT? THE ANSWER IS VERY SIMPLE TO WORSHIP (ALLAH) ALAHU AKBAR

Anonymous said...

INAA LILAAH WA INAA ILEYHI RAAJI'UUN

NOTHING TO REPLACE TO BE A MULIM A TRUE MUSLIM NEVER NEVER THINKS OF CHANGING HIS/HER RELIGION BECAUSE THERE IS ONLY ONE RELIGION IN THE WHOLE WORLD (ISLAAAAM) MAY ALLAH KILL US BEING MUSLIM AAMIN AAMIN ALLAH IS MERCIFUL WE MAY COME UP SINS BUT WE PRAY FOR ALLAH TO FOR GIVE US. EVERY THING/ONE ON EARTH IS FOR A REASON SO THINK 2 TWICE YOU WERE NOT CREATED FOR NOTHING CAUSE WHEN YOU MAKE EVEN A CAR YOU MAKE IT FOR A REASON, AIRPLANE FOR A REASON EVERYTHING IS FOR A REASON, SO "MEN" THINK AGAIN FOR WHAT? THE ANSWER IS VERY SIMPLE TO WORSHIP (ALLAH) ALAHU AKBAR

Anonymous said...

Aslamau Calyukom All

In respect to the fictional story about Libaan that i have read , afew things worried me firstly the reasons he reverted from islam to become a kafeer he said islam abuse women and the quran is in Arabic, everyone knows that Qur'an mentioned the status of the women in Islam always second thing is the language i feel hate for Arabs shouldn't make you hate your religion, he should learned more about his deen than adopting different man made religion because everyone know the bible is been changed.

ALLAH knows best.

Unknown said...

Jesus is Lord. He reigns in majesty.One day every knee shall bow and every tongue,including that of the prophet Mohammed shall confess that He is Lord.Once l lay out this truth,l don't argue;l leave it to time.l love my Jesus because He is love and He teaches us to love even those that hate us.Never did He say that a Christian who converts to another religion should be killed unlike Mohamed,my Jesus loves people more than anything ;so much so that He died for all humanity.