Full transcript of ““I Begged God That Islam Wasn't True!” - A German Converts to Islam | Marcel Krass”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 when he spoke about Islam I said wow this is very much exactly what I believe but then there was this one problem it was Islam this aggressive and dangerous religion this cannot be the truth and then he gave me a book and when I started reading it my God my heart was like this I said to myself please God please don't let this be the truth anything but not Islam please select something else but not Islam why this has to be the truth it was like a 10mon war inside myself and it was in this night I said Marcel there is no way to escape
0:45 that and then I remember my first prayer and this was the most beautiful experience in my whole [Music] lifeam brother Marcel CR thank you for accepting our invitation we are very happy to have you with us at towards eternity I want to start with who is Marcel CR can you tell us briefly about your life and first of all thanks for the invitation I'm happy to be here I'm from Germany I'm 48 years old I was born and raised a Christian I converted to Islam at the age of 18 I married soon afterwards so now I have three boys I studied electrical engineering and now for quite some time since 2007 you can say say I'm am uh active in preaching
1:32 Islam in Germany how was your life in regards to Faith what were you believing in before Islam I was raised as a Christian and I used to go to church up until the age of 8 every Sunday my father actually doesn't believe in anything at all my mother was Catholic and she believed in that it wasn't the case that they that they used to go to church that strictly in the later ages I mean so and I believe in one God and I believed in uh the stories of the prophets these stories weren't just fairy tales for me but I couldn't understand the concept of Trinity there is one God and the son of the God and the Holy Ghost so I I never believed in that at all I used to pray a lot as we say in Islam I used to make Dua that
2:18 means I pray to him when I had problems when I fac difficulties in in school in my private life um even later on when when I was a teenager and I wanted to get a girlfriend I used to pray to him now it sounds strange but uh yeah what was the thing that made you question your beliefs number one it was uh the matter of the Trinity that I couldn't come up with I thought this is definitely wrong first of all because it was too complicated there's one God and that's it there's nothing more to it and I was convinced about that from from my early childhood and in addition to that there was not a clear concept of life after death this is something I was interested in but uh and and I tried to get some some answers from people because I said what will happen after
3:03 death I was so curious about that but in Christianity there wasn't really a clearcut answer you're a Christian and you believe that Jesus died for your sins and then everything will be okay um fine but what happens after death let's say I'm I'm dying now and I'm put To My Grave then what tell me about this and I said to myself a religion must have an answer to this question it's impossible because this is the the main question at all what is the purpose of life and where are we going why we are here I didn't find a real answer from the Christian side so I said okay there's something there's something missing how did you first hear about Islam did you have any prejudices uh oh I had a lot of prejudices about Islam you had Muslim
3:48 friends I didn't have any up until the age of 16 or 17 you can say I had a friend from Pakistan in school and he was actually the one who introduced me to Islam the only thing I knew about Islam is that number one Muslims don't eat pork this is like like one of the main pillars of Islam and number two if you get in trouble with one of them this one does have 40 cousins who will go after you that's all un new about Islam and of course and I picked up uh some bits and pieces from the media unfortunately what you hear about Islam and the media is always the same story you don't hear anything about Islam at all Islam Excel but something about Islamic countries and when you hear something about them is usually about
4:34 war about a terrorist attack or something like that I thought that Islam is um is an aggressive religion it's backwards dangerous maybe even yeah that was my my picture about Islam before I converted how did your journey to Islam begin what impressed you the most about Islam I met this one Pakistani friend in school he started talking to me about Islam at the beginning he didn't mention Islam at all talked about one God and you believe in one God and you are sure that it's only one God and not the Trinity or something else and of course I told him yes I believe in that and then he told me what do you think about Islam that was the question he asked I said H why Islam and when he started talking about Islam I recognized very soon that this is exactly what I
5:20 believed he told me about one God and he described to me this one God that he is Almighty all powerful when he spoke about Islam I said wow this is very much exactly what I believe but then there was this one problem it was Islam this aggressive and dangerous religion this cannot be the truth and even it's like I said to myself please God please don't let this be the truth anything but not Islam please select something else but not Islam why this has to be the truth yeah because I said no how can I follow this religion I knew about the picture of Islam in the west and I said to myself if I go to my parents my friends if I if I tell anyone I'm Muslim
6:08 impossible so that's why I was convinced of Islam easily but I hesitated because of the bad image of Islam partially because of the media and partially because of the behavior of the Muslims I have to say did you also find answers to your questions about the afterlife I asked my friend about um about life after death because as I said a religion must have a clear answer and he said yes yes we do have we do have an answer for that I can give you a complete story about what happens from the moment you go to through the grave up until paradise and hell I said my God let me read it and then he gave me a book which uh describes uh the Journey of the Hereafter and when I started reading it
6:53 my God my heart was like this I couldn't stop reading I just and readed and whatever I read was beyond my imagination do you know these Hollywood stories when then there's an asteroid hitting the Earth or something like that this has nothing to do with it it was the destruction of the complete universe and the resurrection of all human beings and they are gathered in front of their God and then they are judged and the description of hell and the description of paradise and I said my God my God and then I knew okay this is not a joke you have to take a serious decision and I said to myself marel you have to take care that you do not leave this world without having accepted Islam so you immediately understood that Islam is the right religion Islam is the truth itself
7:38 you already convinced in your heart I was convinced in my heart yes and when you saw the seriousness of this without you know dying without faith yeah that was the point where I took the decision to become Muslim but still I hesitated and still because of the image of Islam it made it so hard but you were fearful about the consequences right I was more afraid about the consequences of not accepting Islam this was I said to myself okay whatever happens now it will happen but at the same time I also believed if I take this step and it is the truth and I want to start worshiping this one God as he wants to be worshiped he will not leave me alone he will not let me down that doesn't mean that there won't be any obstacle or difficulties in
8:23 life but he won't let me down and I can tell you he didn't let me down so so how long did it take for you to just be introduced to Islam and then to be convinced the whole journey was about 10 months you can say and what made you take that step of becoming Muslim when I was driving the car at night it was quite some triou I mean half an hour I was in the car it was dark outside and I was thinking about anything and everything and then my mind all of a sudden focused on Islam and on the seriousness of this issue and in this night I has to remember that there was a change in my heart it's uh as if I was sitting next to myself speaking to me not that I heard voices but it was the the picture in my mind you can say I said what are you doing aren't you
9:09 taking this seriously and it was in this night I said Marcel there is no way to escape that it is the truth that's not something you can play with you can take a wrong decision regarding your job even your marriage regarding many things in life but here we are talking about eternity and this is something I couldn't I couldn't rep my mind around eternity that was really the night when I thought about it deeply and uh immediately afterwards I went to my Pakistani friend and I said look that's it I don't want to resist anymore I gave up resistance and then what happened how did you take your shahada and how did you feel when you take it a couple of days later we went together to the mosque for the Friday prayer and then he spoke to the Imam and he said look
9:55 there's someone who wants to take the shahada and then we did it after the Friday prayer in front of 200 people maybe that was a strange experience but it was very beautiful I took my Shahara and what I didn't expect that each and every person came to me and hacked me and said welcome to Islam brother it was really a beautiful experience as towards eternity we need your support we are a charity organization that aims to spread the message of Islam to the entire world in 10 languages with your support you can help people convert to Islam give up harams start praying wear hijab learn to read the Quran and so on and get your share from all these Good Deeds insh donate to towards eternity and don't miss this golden opportunity and how was how are your feelings when you were taking the shahada what did you feel in
10:40 your heart what was crossing your mind oh at this moment it was a kind of warmth in my heart really a warmth feeling this feeling of Brotherhood especially because so many people came to me this was the morning when I took my Shahara and then I remember my first prayer and this was the most beautiful experience in my whole life the first time when I prostrated in front of God and then I prostrated and I swear to God I didn't want to get up so I won't forget this moment at all in my whole life this is the kind of happiness that you can buy in the treat in the streets for $50 this white powder that you sneeze in your nose it's a chemical reaction and once I took the Shahar and
11:28 I entered Islam this search for happiness was over and this is the biggest difference between Mel before Islam and after Islam it doesn't mean that you don't face obstacles or difficulties in life but it means you still feel something inside your heart you said okay I can handle it when there are some Christians that say I find spirituality and feel connection with God when I pray I don't need any other new thing what would you like to say to that person or those people I wouldn't deny that you cannot find emotion in other religions but there are two things and number one emotions you can get from anything you sometimes see people watching a football game you see they were their World Championships just imagine Spanish people watching their team winning the Championships they have emotions but
12:14 there is nothing to do with God or with anything so emotions do not mean in and of self uh do do not mean too much and number two the main thing regarding religion is that it must be the truth whatever it gives you as a Feeling even if you are happier with another religion I cannot judge that but uh is it the truth or not you can um the truth doesn't follow your wishes God gave us a mind to think about something and you don't have an excuse if you believe something that contradicts your mind obviously that no one would accept but still you say okay I believe it because I was um I was born that way or because my parents belied that we cannot expect
13:00 God to accept this as an as an excuse many people describe their shahada moments like a huge burden was taken from my shoulders a huge lift was taken from my heart was that same for you exactly like this and now I'm telling this to others when I see someone who hesitates I'm always telling him look I know what you feel now taking the shahada looks like a mountain over your heart but I guarantee you I guarantee you once you take the Shahar you feel no mountain anymore you feel like a burden is relief from your shoulders maybe this is one of the the reasons why people hesitate you just see a mountain over your head but it isn't but you have to take this step
13:47 it's as if God is asking you just do it it might look difficult at the beginning but you have to take the first step you have to come to me one step and I will come 10 steps towards you but you have to take the first step I'm not forcing you it's your decision but take it and then you will see what happens when I took the Shahara it was after 10 10 months of resistance there was an internal conflict an internal struggle knowing that it's the truth but sometimes trying to find excuses not to accept it for 10 month it was like a 10-month war inside myself and all of a sudden the war was over and it's like any other War you're just happy it's over but here not in the in the way that you are defeated you come out of this with a victory and that's what I felt in
14:33 my heart it was the right decision just I asked myself why didn't take it so long why how was your family's reaction your friends reaction oh don't ask I have to don't ask first of all I have to say I'm I made a I made a big mistake with regards to my family I told you 10 month I was I was like convinced in my heart but I just didn't dare to take the first step during these 10 month I have not talked to my parents about Islam in once not one second they didn't know that I'm reading books about this or having discussions with my friend nothing then I converted to Islam and at the beginning I didn't want to tell my parents because I knew this was be a big
15:19 story especially because they didn't know anything about it but you see the problem was when I converted it was in the beginning of 1995 January 1995 I think the first fr day that year and if you check your calendar Ramadan in 1995 started end of January I think January 26 this means you can say 3 weeks later and of course I I wanted to fast but I'm still living at home how can I explain to my mother that I'm that for 30 days I'm I'm I'm not having lunch with you and drinking any water yes so so I knew within the next 3 weeks I have to talk to my parents otherwise I would have hesitated at least another 6 month so there was no time to prepare them and there was no time there was no way to escape so 4 days before Ramadan I prayed
16:04 in my room and I went downstairs it was around 8:00 in the evening my parents sitting in the living room watching TV I was standing in front of the door I said yeah Allah how God make it easy so I opened the door and uh I said to my parents Mom Dad I have news for you and you know there a look at you I said what's what news then I just told them straight away um I have become Muslim and then I remember my father's reaction the first sentence he said was Muslims they are all terrorists it was the first reaction and this was 1995 even before 911 1995 Muslims they're all terrorists that
16:50 was the first sentence my mother she became hysterical I mean as if she really lost her mind at that evening because she was too Afra she was too AF Fred my uncle her brother years later he told me my mother called him that that night just she wanted to talk to her brother and he told me it was late evening maybe 10 or 11:00 so he picked up the phone and he just heard my mother's voice they have taken our Mel they have taken our M that was the first that was the only thing he heard my mother's voice they have taken our they have taken over myself I said who who who took what what happened I'm sure she didn't know what she said that evening
17:36 but as I said it was a big mistake on on my behalf that I have never talked to them about Islam at all during the whole 10 months in the positive sense did any German person came to you and said I didn't know that that Islam is this way or my my thoughts are now changed did you have such conversations of course they ask the US the usual questions a lot of them school you can marry now ah you converted because you can marry Four Women I understand now you can have four wives this was number one number two they ask about Jihad all the time uh holy war some people ask I mean are you going to kill now all unbelievers um are you going to cut our tongues or something like that you see these images a Muslim is only a guy with a s in his hand yeah but these were the type of
18:24 questions and when you looked at his life and learned about him what impressed you the about Prophet Muhammad peace be what I admired most about the prophet Muhammad is his Mercy when I read about all these stories how they treated him then they uh they fought a war against him several battles and then he comes back to Mecca and he enters Mecca victoriously and I compared this with all these other examples from history when someone was treated in that way and he comes back and turns out to be victorious how does he treat these people and he just enters Mecca and people are gathering around him he asked them what do you think what I'm doing with you right now and they tell him look we know you we expect only the best from you and then he said that's okay
19:09 just you can go it's okay just like this it's not easy for a human being how many times in real life if we are attacked on the street verbally or even physically we want to defend ourself and it's a natural reaction but to swallow and swellow and swallow just for the sake of the message because he is the example of man mankind he cannot let go of his ego we can do that I'm not this one example of Islam I'm just an ordinary Muslim but he is the representative and the messenger of of this message he has to think about each and every moment in life and he could do that he controlled his ego even when he fought a battle it was not for his ego it was not because I want to retaliate or something but it was for the sake of this message that's what I admired about in
19:56 this his Mercy and which day would you want to witness if you had a chance in his life it would be his last day I remember one thing I read in the s that on his last day when the companions were praying in the mosque he was in his room because he was too weak to to attend the prayer and he lifted the curtain of his room looking at the companion standing in prayer and he smiled and he smiled because he could leave this world peacefully now this impossible mission that started 23 years AG earlier he did it he really did it just imagine about what God asked him to do the first revelation and he knows he has to go to his people at that time and he has to go to each and everybody and convince him look I'm a messenger of God
20:42 there's an angel coming to me and if you don't follow me you might go to Hell Fire such a strange story imagine you have to tell this to your neighbor he will think you are crazy and that's what people thought about him this is a crazy story and if you look at this from a certain angle it is a crazy a story and there were so many obstacles so many days in his in his life but you would think where to go now I remember the day when he went to T and how the people treated him and when you read when you read the prayer that he made after he was uh he was treated in that way you can see a person who was sitting there with a mission and all doors are shut just saying to God what now where can I go now I cannot go back to Mecca I cannot go to T I'm sitting here where to
21:29 go now what to do and there was more than one moment in his life like this we come to his last day seeing his companions standing in prayer the mission was over the mission was over and he smiled did anyone around you become Muslim after being inspired by you only my wife I converted to Islam and she followed me a couple of months later and then we married that's why I got married at a very very early age describe the feelings when you heard that she was ready to become Muslim how did you feel H I wished for that the whole time she was the one person where I said okay if we if we want to have a family I want to have a family with a Muslim woman of course so of course I I wished for her
22:16 to to accept Islam and I prayed a lot I I didn't expect her to become Muslim but after all as I said it's a serious issue it just depends on if you're ready to take it seriously ly we are talking about eternity just I sometimes gave people this example what makes more sense to worry about a future of 80 years or a future of 80 billion years and this makes people think yeah we have maybe 80 years 90 years 50 years we don't know but it's it's very limited after that eternity starts it's the most serious thing in life I realized that and she as well and how did she come tell you this can you tell us we visited my friend my Pakistani friend at that time he was a
23:03 student this was all of a sudden I I saw her you noticed when someone has an important announcement to make just uh sorry she was a bit nervous standing there not sitting down just I was sitting there my friend sitting there and she was standing at the door and you said okay what's happening next and then she smiled and she said uh today I came here to inform you that I want to become a Muslim just my friend and I looking at each other we said wow uh that was the moment when she took the shahada there just in front of us two and this was really one of the most happiest moments in life what was the major challenge that you faced after becoming Muslim the major challenge I faced after becoming
23:49 Muslim was actually it was getting used to a completely different culture I was in the mosque where I attended the prayer uh this mosque was was located in a city of 280,000 I think there were three or four other German convs I really felt like an alien at that time yeah that was sometimes difficult how were you try to overcome that feeling and how could you manage to there was something that made it easier there was one thing I really liked about the Islamic culture and that was the the welcome of all these brothers then I came to the mosque and brothers heard that I'm Muslim everybody tried to help and if you have a question and just uh sit with me and uh if you want to sleep at my home I mean you're most welcome that's I mean it's unnormal
24:34 for a German he wouldn't say something like that uh they were very generous people it was a welcome culture that made things easier many people think that when they become Muslim they will turn into an Arab they will change their name they change their culture entirely did you also have these concerns and how did you overcome these things actually I was I was also under the impression that when you become Muslim you also become Arab you wouldn't say that but uh it's the feeling you have you think you have to change your clothes uh you have to change your name and that's even what what many people say up until this day it's the most frequent question that I'm asked what's your Islamic name and then I say it's Marcel no no no but the Islamic name it's m no didn't you change your name it's such a strange thing and
25:21 in addition to that it gives people a False Image about Islam because actually Islam when it's spread it accept the different cultures except the parts that are not allowed in our religion for example it spread and there was a culture where it was normal to drink wine of course drinking wine is not accepted but apart from that uh the way they eat the way they dress within the limits of Islam it's accepted and welcome in Islam otherwise Islam wouldn't spread in that way just imagine you you try to spread an Arabic desert culture to the whole world and one I feel this is especially in the west sometimes an obstacle if you give people this impression that uh you get this religion but you have to change your culture no they don't have to I was
26:06 thinking about my father my father is now 74 years old he would never accept the Arab culture but he might accept the believe in one God and worshiping worshiping only him and that's enough we don't want to make Arabs out of the people or Turkish whatever we hope that they become Muslims have you ever experienced an extraordinary event where you felt that you had a special connection with Allah one of the really extraordinary moments was um when I made my first omra end of 1997 the OM is you can say when you visit the Kaa you yeah meca you go to meca and you enter the house of Allah sometimes you have these moments in life we believe that God is uh watching over our complete life but sometimes you have these moments where you have the feeling
26:53 he's taking your hand and guiding you to a very special experience in your life and that was the moment and when I first went to Mecca o I will never forget did you cry when you saw the cab or how did you feel the first trip to Mecca it was something I cannot describe I cried the whole time there was just sometimes I I tried to stop crying you want you want to pray or do something or but I couldn't help myself all time when I was in in in Mecca that during my first trip I made omra five times just coming and going I couldn't get enough of this just and I took the taxi and I did it I did it all on my own it was my first trip to Mecca I just had a small book with me I mean just checking what to do uh but I
27:39 just enjoyed the moment there I will never forget and especially how how I ended up in meca this whole journey was so beautiful when I remember it now you see there are moments in life where you feel you are just flying and then I understood something I understood why the five day daily prayers are prescribed in Islam we sometimes think why why does does God need our prayer no he doesn't need your prayer but if you don't pray you will starve your soul to death your soul is here and just like your body your soul needs food to survive but it doesn't need water or orange juice or meat or whatever it needs something else it needs this connection to God and five daily prayers
28:26 this is the food for your soul if you don't do it it will stop to death and this is what I felt in these moments especially when I was in Mecca it's like as if you feel the presence of angels and this is what I felt in Mecca and how did it feel like stepping on the same land that the prophet Muhammad Alat wasam it's sometimes it's sometimes as if you can see the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam all around you you see these small hills Safa and Mara that we we step on during uh when when we're at Mecca you remember the moment when the prophet Muhammad was there and introducing Islam to the people and how they reacted to him it's like you are living the history of Islam what is the biggest change Islam has made in your life how do you see the difference between the Marcel before
29:11 Islam and Marcel after Islam that's very simple it's a calmness and Sweetness in their heart when you know why you are here this is the biggest change at all lastly if you had a chance to speak to all the non-muslims in the world what would you like to say to them if you had a few moments something to say to all non-muslims in the world I would like to quote one verse from the Quran do you think we created you just for amusement and play and you wouldn't be brought back to us if you just look inside yourself I think you will you will know that there is one God and he would never create this universe just like that there must be something behind that go and search for the reason what is behind this universe brother Master thank you so much for
29:57 your sincere answer Allah preserve you and protect you until the last breath all of us all of us I have to thank you for this nice interview and uh I hope to see you one time again in future [Music]
