Sid: I have a man on the other line I’m speaking to him somewhere in Florida. This is not his real name but we’ll call him Dr. Mark Gabriel, and you’ll understand why in a moment. He formally was a professor of Islamic history. A doctorate degree in Islamic studies, he taught at the most prestigious Islamic university in the world. I’d like to go back to kind of the beginning Mark. Tell me about where you were born and your upbringing.
Mark: I was born in south of Egypt in a Muslim family and I have 6 brothers and 1 sister. I am the only one of my brothers who was chosen by his parents to offer him to the God of Islam, Allah, to be his servant. This is why my family start to help me memorize the book of the Quran at the age of 5, and I finished memorizing the entire book at the age of 12. From there they send me to the Al-Asr Islamic school and I start to continue studying and other Islamic school until I graduated and I entered into Al-Azhar Islamic University. Which means the most oldest university in the world in Cairo and Egypt.
Sid: Now when you first started seeing contradictions in the Quran, what did you do about that?
Mark: You know this contradiction actually started with me from the first year when I was entered into the university because I start to concentrate deeply studying of the Islamic history and the Islamic theology. I was confused really by what happened really, what was happening during the Islamic history, and also I become very confused because of the contradiction between what Mohammed he did during his life, and what the word of Quran tells me. So I find myself started to walk in a dark valley of confusion and contradiction you see between the Islamic theology and the Islamic history, and the life of the prophet of Islam himself.
Sid: For instance in your book you mention just a minor contradiction but it is a contradiction in what is supposed to be a book from god. You said in one place that Muslims were forbidden to take alcohol, and in other places they’re allowed to.
Mark: Yeah this is the most sad issue you see, and you cannot really find a right answer or a good answer from the Muslim scholars.
Sid: In one place it says to be nice to Christians, in another place it says to kill Christians.
Mark: Yes.
Sid: I mean, when you saw all of these contradictions and probably at that point you didn’t even know about the historical contradictions. When you saw all of these contradictions and you… did you take it to a professor and what did he say?
Mark: I was always questioning my professors there, and the contradiction really was take the place, and the word really neglected my right at that time because I have most of my neighbors they are Christians in Egypt. I wasn’t know how to deal with them according to Islamic law, and according to Islamic theology which I am busy studying here. So all the time I go to my professor and I’d ask him, and I told him “But how the Quran tells me that, and why the prophet Mohammed he did that?” So all the time my professor he just ask me to go to a specific book, this book explains about Muslims they are not allowed to ask questions about the basic of the Islamic teaching, and the basic of the Islamic beliefs, and what the prophet himself did in his life. It explains to me the Quran itself commands Muslims not to ask questions. For example, there’s a verse in the Quran I will read it in Arabic (reading from Quran in Arabic) “All who asks oh believers don’t ask about something because if you’re going to find the answer you will be disappointed.”
Sid: You know what’s amazing, I see the parallels between this and traditional Judaism. A Rabbi would not say that but he would say “Well I’m not holy enough, those that lived closer to the time when God spoke to Moses understood the scriptures better. So I can’t think for myself I can only tell you what the ancient rabbis said.” So it’s very very similar it is amazing to me, but you reached a point where you were really questioning your faith and you told the wrong people about it. You got fired from the university, then you were kidnapped by the Secret Police. What happened?
Mark: This is the most believing time was in my life in Egypt. I was never even dreamed that I would be treated in that way because all my life, even when I grow up, when I was a little boy and I finished the entire book at the age 12 my family did a great celebration in my area. Many hundreds of people they came to celebrate with my family because their little boy finished writing the book. I was finished all my education in a successful way. I became the 2nd student of my class who was contending with 6000 students at that time. So for me when I start questioning Islam and the way they really act to me, and later when the Egyptian Secret Police came and arrested from my home around 3:00 in the morning they kidnap me from my house. They put in me the prison for 2 weeks. The first week they left me in the first week for the first day without food, without water, without anything. The first day they came and they start interviewing me and find out what’s really going on in my life and why I keep questioning Islam, accusing Islam, insulting Allah, insulting the prophet of Islam, insulting the book of Islam, and all the time you see I answer these questions. “People I didn’t convert from Islam. Why do you accuse me that I convert from Islam?” They told me “Only” um um um what you call it, “for a person to question Islam and to do what you did the only way we can understand is that you are converted already from Islam.” I said to them “People how I can betray my religion, my people, my culture, my country easy like that? I am asking questions why can’t you help me to answer these questions? The professors at the university why they just can’t sit with me and just answer my questions and help me?” So they tortured me when they… you see… I’d just been for the first week the last 4 days in the first week under horrible persecution from them. When they find out that there is no evidence really can see I’m really converted from Islam because I was kidding saying to them “Why do you accuse me that I convert? You see Islam is my culture, my language, my family, my people, my history. Why, why, why you want to push me out of Islam? Why you can’t help me?” So however they stopped their persecution and…
Sid: Well from what I’ve read in your book what happened to you they not only whipped you, they whipped you until you were unconscious. Then they poured cold water on you so that you would wake up and then they’d continue whipping you, but you actually I don’t quite understand this, they put you in some water with rats that were supposed to eat you?
Mark: Yes cage full of water yes, with the rats yes. They said “…Okay this one is just using his knowledge and try to against Islam. We just going to destroy his brain.” So they put me in this cage full of water and they put hungry rats at that time for the whole night. It just was like a horrible dream for me, even when I left out of Egypt I could not really understand…
Sid: Did the rats hurt you badly?
Mark: No, no, no.
Sid: It sounds like Daniel in the lion’s den, or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace of fire they were supernaturally protected.
Mark: It was only my head comes out of the water and the rats they are just swimming over the water and…
Sid: Woo.
Mark: Running you see around my head and come and just touch me in my face, touching my ears, and touching in my head, and I my heart was really in heaven praying asking the Lord because at that time I really didn’t meet with Jesus Christ. That time I was crying before the God, the true God, the One Who created me, created the world. How can He leave me alone here? So…
Sid: What about the dogs that they sent after you, explain that?
Mark: Yes after that they take me and put me in a room with hungry dog. When they take me to the room they told it was a friend of yours he came he just want to see you. I thought that this man came one of my friends came to fetch me or to find what happening to me, but when they put me in the room and closed the door behind me and I find there is only dog standing inside the room. I say “Oh God just help me with what this people trying to do to me.” So I find the dog just came, and what you call it, just started to sneff me?
Sid: Smell you.
Mark: Smell me, so I sit in the middle of the room and I just start to pray and asking God to deliver me from that danger and… so I slept and slept and I wake up and I find the dog he’s just sitting next to me…
Sid: So you’re saying to me that this dog was starving. They put this vicious dog in a room with you to destroy you, I read this story in your book. Instead of destroying you he wakes you up by licking you and staying by your side.
Mark: My yes…
Sid: So how did… you must of wondered how you had that supernatural protection?
Mark: This was really strange for my faith inside me that there is a God behind, there is God there, but I don’t know Him but I want to meet with Him.
Sid: We’re out of time.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth