Samaa Habib > Quotes

“Look at her!” one bystander shouted. “She’s a ninja!” “She’s Superwoman,” another exclaimed. Swinging into a high kick, I followed up with a combination of karate chops and punches. My foot made contact with an attacker’s nose, and his hands grabbed his face as blood spurted. Another got my fist in his ear, making him howl with pain. My audience was cheering and applauding. “Keep going, Superwoman! Take them apart!” “Amazing! Never saw anything like it!” The third of the attackers, the one who pinched Iman, tried to duck away from a strike by the side of my fist. As he stooped, I whirled. My heel caught him right on the point of the chin and sent him sprawling. Just that quickly, it was over.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“When a Muslim becomes a Christian, he or she is radical in their faith. The cost to serve Jesus is high, but there is so much joy and freedom in choosing Him that even if it costs you your life, the reward far outweighs the sacrifice. My sisters and I would wake at 4:00 a.m. to run to the prayer meeting, praying in heavenly language the whole way for our safety. Nothing would stop us—not rain, snow or war. We went because we loved to be free in the presence of God while at home we had to hide our faith. Our mother knew where we were going, but our father and brothers had no idea. They woke up early to go to work and assumed we were still asleep in our beds.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“They shouted at us to come with them. I knew what they were going to do; we had heard enough stories of the brutal rapes and murders. Clutching each other’s hands, Munira and I tried to make a run for it, but it was too late. We were both grabbed by the men and dragged toward the waiting car, its engine still running. Again I cried out to God, and as I did, the Holy Spirit fell on me. I was praying in heavenly language as I hit and punched, using karate kicks and tae kwon do moves. In a few minutes I got free and thought Munira was, too. I started running, but as I looked back, I saw my friend, paralyzed by fear and unable to fight or run, being bundled into the car. “Munira,” I shouted, running back. I couldn’t leave her. With a supernatural strength that was not mine, I grabbed Munira and tried to pull her from their clutches. It was a real fight, but eventually we were both free, although bruised and bleeding. We ran as fast as we could out of the area. Later I realized that even though the men had guns, they hadn’t shot at us. I knew that this was God. He had again protected us.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“battles between factions increased and became more violent, things we had taken for granted became scarce. Gas and electricity were even more frequently turned off. At first we foraged for firewood from trees and shrubs. Then, desperate, we burned dry cow dung. Fuel was soon gone as everyone in the great city struggled to stay warm. We began to break up and burn the wood furniture in our house—a treasured blanket chest that was a family heirloom, our chairs and beds. Piece by piece the frigid hand of war shattered all that was comfortable and ordinary in our lives.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“Papa, Jesus is the only prophet I know who made the blind see, healed the sick, made the deaf hear and the paralyzed walk. He can’t only be a prophet; He must be more. Jesus not only raised the dead; He was also raised from the dead Himself. His tomb is empty. He is alive. Muhammad’s bones are still buried in Mecca, and he is dead. Jesus is my Superhero!” I said to my father. Father sat back in his chair and smiled at me. “Yes, Jesus was one of the greatest prophets, even in Islam. We know in the end times He will come from heaven as a judge to judge the world,” he replied. When Papa told me Jesus would come again to judge the world, he unknowingly inspired me to learn more about Him.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“In our culture it is important to show respect to the dead and to comfort the survivors. This commitment was even more important since the one who died was Jabir, meaning “Comforter,” my father’s uncle. Jabir had comforted and taken care of my papa, who was only five years old, as well as his youngest brother and his mom, when his father had been killed fighting as a warrior in World War II. So Papa was adamant that he should go to the funeral, despite my mother’s fears for his safety.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“My heart was full. I couldn’t wait to come back to church to worship the living God, the God of love. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 NKJV”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“When someone says to you, ‘Who is this Jesus you speak of? Who is He?’ will you be brave enough, even if you think you might be persecuted, to say, like Peter did: ‘He is the Christ, the Son of the living God’?” Setting the idea of persecution against the promises we had heard, I pondered the notion that hell cannot triumph over us and cherished again the remembrance of Christ’s victory over death.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“When I had the revelation of Jesus, He spoke to me about having a new identity in Him, and that He was going to give me a new name. I was being made new, and I understood the words from 2 Corinthians 5:17—“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (NIV). Names are very significant in Middle-Eastern culture. I believe they represent nature and are prophetic. What you are called, you are destined to become. In Genesis 17:5 God changed Abram’s name (meaning “Exalted Father”) to Abraham, meaning “Father of many”—this was his inheritance. The Lord also changed his wife’s name from Sarai to Sarah (verse 15). Sarai means “Argumentative,” but then God changed the last two letters to ah, a symbol of His breath. The ah of Jehovah makes Sarai new. Her identity is changed: Sarah means “Princess.” She is the daughter of the King. Jesus also renewed the names of His disciples, especially the three closest to Him, including Simon to Peter the Rock.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“that persecution is going to come. We need to be ready for it. Jesus was persecuted in His life. He suffered, and so will we. Are you ready to be persecuted for Him? Are you ready to die for Him?”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“embraced my religion and through choice wore a veil covering my long brown hair from about the age of seven. I didn’t question my beliefs and the way I was brought up. There was no reason to. I continued reciting the memorized prayers, hoping that one day Allah would answer my prayers. But it was a monologue, not a dialogue. There was no relationship. It was beyond my wildest dreams to think I could have a relationship with God.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“As there had been no school during the war we had a home-school system set up. Teachers who lived nearby would try to help us, and my mother also taught us. When the war was over, schools opened again, and I was able to get my high school diploma. My passion was to learn languages, and I applied for a place at the university to study languages and computers. I couldn’t wait to be able to talk to people from different cultures.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34–35 NIV I witnessed the full meaning of that command that morning. I wanted what they had. I knew something was missing in my life. I was not joyful. I was not satisfied.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“he talked about Jesus Christ as “the God of love,” I was even more startled. In Islam, there are 99 names of Allah, but none of them are Love. All my life I had been taught that Allah was distant and a strict judge. If I sinned, he would punish me. I was in constant fear of him because I knew I was a sinner and that sin separated me from a relationship with him. I had done everything I could to please him with my prayers, my fasting, my good deeds and all the rest, but I had no peace. No matter how much I did, or how hard I tried, I knew in my own heart I could not possibly be enough. I was too often unable to measure up. Alim spoke of a God who was not distant and disapproving—a God who wanted a personal relationship with us. Then he said that God knew my name!”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“the Bible teacher asked me about my plans for the future, and I told him about my dreams for further education. He listened to me intently, and then to my surprise said he wanted to make a way for me to continue my studies. He offered to pay all my tuition fees. I was amazed, and tears came to my eyes. It was such a generous gift, revealing God’s faithfulness to me once more. My sisters and I came home from the retreat on a spiritual high.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“A couple days later my doorbell rang, and I opened it to find the mother of the thief. She had gotten my address from the police. She began to weep bitterly, begging me to have mercy on her son and tell the police to release him from jail. Just as I had experienced how God’s mercy triumphs over judgment, I extended mercy to her and her son—with the condition that they come to church with me for a month. They agreed, and I was able to share the Gospel with them, praying that God’s love would turn hearts of stone to hearts of flesh.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“The joy of the Lord is my strength, and my light and my salvation,”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“After I had been at my university for a year, the foreign lecturers were suddenly kicked out over our spring holiday. We returned to classes to find only the local teachers were left. We were never told the reason the lecturers went, but I could no longer study there because all my language teachers had gone. But when God shuts a window, He opens a door! My dream now was to go to the College for International Relations. The College for International Relations was the top university in our country, and I thought it was completely out of my reach. I still had the financial backing of the Bible teacher, but I had yet to pass the entry exam. I made an appointment to see the president of the university and boldly told him I wanted to study international relations. I asked if it would be possible to take the exam. I had ambitions to work as a diplomat, a peacemaker.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“revelation of a God who regarded me as valuable impacted my soul. Out of six billion humans on the planet, God knew me and chose me and called me by name! Alim then quoted Luke 12:7: “The very hairs on your head are all numbered.” What? This Christian God really must value me if He knows how many hairs there are on my head. I don’t even know how many there are, I thought. Could He really value me that much?”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” To respond to this prophetic command our church put on crusades in the streets. We visited hospitals, boldly preaching about the God of the Bible. With all the prayer and worship at church we had been infused with the Holy Spirit to go to our city and villages and tell people about Jesus. We were sent out two by two for local outreach and would go on mission trips, as described in Luke 10:1, 4: The Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. . . . “Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“Part of me was shocked that he assaulted me while I spoke of Holy God! Hadn’t he heard anything I’d said? But as Ezekiel 12:2 says, “You are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people” (NIV). From the earliest moments of my Christian life I had experienced Jesus answering my prayers. I wholeheartedly believed Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (NIV). I cried out to the Lord inwardly. Help me! At that moment my attacker’s hand clamped over my mouth. But God filled me with supernatural strength like that possessed by David when he fought the giant Goliath: David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” 1 Samuel 17:45 NIV Just as David was able to defeat his giant with only his hands and five stones, I fought back with a might that was not mine.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“was surprised by the scene because of the strict Islamic prohibition against graven images.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“At home, our Qur’an was kept in the highest place on a shelf in my parents’ bedroom, covered with a cloth. When Papa took it down, he would first ceremoniously kiss the cover, then touch his right eye with the book, kiss it again, touch the Qur’an to his left eye and kiss and finally the forehead and kiss. So much honor was shown to the book. We owned three Qur’ans, each translated into a different language.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“When the three-week period was up, we sensed the prayer should not stop, so we continued to pray and fast for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I would pray for four to seven hours each day, crying out to God to have mercy on our nation. This rhythm of prayer and fasting ended up going on for several years, with members taking shifts all through the day and night. God heard our cries. After five years of war, our country was given religious freedom. Out of a population of approximately six million, an estimated 150,000 people, mostly civilians, had been killed. Some 1.5 million had been displaced internally, driven from their homes, and had escaped into neighboring countries as refugees.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“Papa whispered to Mama, “I do not know how to keep my daughters safe from such madness. There is no law in our country—only hunger, cold and vengeance.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“The civil war was supposed to be a war for freedom, but only one thing united the Sunni and Shia Muslims: hatred of Christians and Jews. One could be “born” a Christian and that was tolerated, but those Muslims who converted to Christ and turned from the Qur’an to the Bible were considered by radical Muslims to be traitors, worthy of a horrible death.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“When boys turn twelve, they go to the mosque. It is then that they become an adult and are expected to pray and fast and live a religious life, putting their childhood behind them. We girls were not allowed in the mosque and could only go to classes with the Mullah. Women and men were always separated. It was thought that a girl became sinful at nine years old, but a boy only became sinful at twelve.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“As the congregation worshiped Jesus, I looked around in wonder. This was not a religion. This was a relationship with the Creator! People from many different nations, young and old, were all unified by God’s love as they sang beautiful worship songs.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“With such a difficult beginning, perhaps I was treasured all the more. Here is the proof that I was loved: Of all the children in my family, my father only insisted on naming two of us—their first, son Daniyal, and me, the last daughter. He called me Mariam, which means “Love.” To my mother, I was always her “miracle child.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love

“As the crowd jeered and laughed, the leader of the attackers vowed meekly, “We will never touch girls again. Honest, we won’t.” Then the three men edged away from the smirking crowd. As my pulse rate returned to normal, I discovered I was as amazed as everyone else. Taking a deep breath, I thanked God for His help and miraculous assistance. Those who had seen the encounter continued to call out their approval and good wishes. “Well done, Superwoman!” “You should be a coach. You should be training all the young women and girls. Make the streets safe!” Eventually I would earn my black belt, become a coach and share the Gospel the same way that I was saved.”
― Samaa Habib, Face to Face with Jesus: A Former Muslim's Extraordinary Journey to Heaven and Encounter with the God of Love