jewelry. They celebrated her coming home and repeated the words of the Bible (“Our daughter was dead and now is alive and was lost and is now found”).
A request was submitted to the Clerical Council to endorse her return to Christianity, which was approved. A Christian lawyer volunteered to petition the court to give her back her Christian name and identity card. The court ruled in her favor. She now lives in France, where she serves in the Coptic Church with her husband and daughter.
C HAPTER F OUR
THE REAL FACE OF ISLAM
“On September 11, 2001, I saw the real face of Islam. I saw the happiness on the faces of our people because so many infidels were slaughtered so easily. . . I saw many people who started thanking Allah for this massacre.”
O N SEPTEMBER 11,” Khaled says, “I saw the real face of Islam.” On September 11, fifteen of the nineteen hijackers who attacked the United States were Saudi Arabian citizens. Additionally, Osama bin Laden—the chief suspect in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks that killed more than three thousand people—was also Saudi-born, though stripped of his citizenship in 1994 by the government. So what about Saudi Arabia enables some of its citizens to feel compelled to embark on suicide missions on the other side of the world? Khaled Waleed believes what he was taught in his mosque in Saudi Arabia is exactly the same teaching that bin Laden received and that is why so many young Muslims in Saudi Arabia support him. Khalid believes that September 11 demonstrated the real face of Islam as taught in the Kingdom. His testimony invites us into a clearer understanding of those teachings and the mindset of the September 11 masterminds. Khalid experienced firsthand the teachings of Islam. He does not believe a few terrorists are distorting the real meaning. He believes terrorists’ actions are consistent with Islam. That’s why he left. That’s why he warns us to stand up to Islam. That’s why he fears for the future of the West.
Khalid’s Testimony
When I was a child, I used to go to the mosque every day. I used to go there for praying, reciting the Qur’an, reading ahadith , and studying tafseer .
Our teacher and other Islamic scholars told us that as Muslims, we are the best people in the world. We were also told that Saudi Arabian Muslims are the only true Muslims in the world, and as such, the world must follow us (the Saudi Muslims). Without any question, we steadfastly believed our Islamic scholars and wondered why, despite such exhortations, the world by and large does not emulate us.
We were so proud of being the true Muslims.
Now, I take this to be a lie.
Readers, I would vouch that what I studied in my mosque is exactly what bin Laden studied. You could unmistakably say he is an ideal Muslim. Believe me, almost all our people (in Saudi Arabia) support him and love him very dearly.
We can’t blame bin Laden for this; instead, we should blame Islam, the religion of bin Laden. He is simply following his religion to the letter. He is, without doubt, a true Muslim.
My story of leaving Islam started when I was in grade five. I read in Surah al-kahf, ayat 86 (18:86) that when Zu-Alqarnain had reached the point of the setting of the sun, he found many people there suffering from the intense heat. This was because they were so close to the sun. The same thing happened to him during the rising of the sun.
I started thinking: The earth is not flat; it is almost like a ball, so how could he reach the edge of the earth? I asked my teacher this question. He was confused with my question. He didn’t give any answer. He told me just to believe what the Qur’an says.
This was the beginning of my suspicion about the truth in the Qur’an.
Then I had a huge surprise when I found that if I wanted to be a good Muslim I must keep away from non-Muslims. A greater surprise for me was when I discovered that loving any non-Muslims would make me a kafir
A request was submitted to the Clerical Council to endorse her return to Christianity, which was approved. A Christian lawyer volunteered to petition the court to give her back her Christian name and identity card. The court ruled in her favor. She now lives in France, where she serves in the Coptic Church with her husband and daughter.
C HAPTER F OUR
THE REAL FACE OF ISLAM
“On September 11, 2001, I saw the real face of Islam. I saw the happiness on the faces of our people because so many infidels were slaughtered so easily. . . I saw many people who started thanking Allah for this massacre.”
O N SEPTEMBER 11,” Khaled says, “I saw the real face of Islam.” On September 11, fifteen of the nineteen hijackers who attacked the United States were Saudi Arabian citizens. Additionally, Osama bin Laden—the chief suspect in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks that killed more than three thousand people—was also Saudi-born, though stripped of his citizenship in 1994 by the government. So what about Saudi Arabia enables some of its citizens to feel compelled to embark on suicide missions on the other side of the world? Khaled Waleed believes what he was taught in his mosque in Saudi Arabia is exactly the same teaching that bin Laden received and that is why so many young Muslims in Saudi Arabia support him. Khalid believes that September 11 demonstrated the real face of Islam as taught in the Kingdom. His testimony invites us into a clearer understanding of those teachings and the mindset of the September 11 masterminds. Khalid experienced firsthand the teachings of Islam. He does not believe a few terrorists are distorting the real meaning. He believes terrorists’ actions are consistent with Islam. That’s why he left. That’s why he warns us to stand up to Islam. That’s why he fears for the future of the West.
Khalid’s Testimony
When I was a child, I used to go to the mosque every day. I used to go there for praying, reciting the Qur’an, reading ahadith , and studying tafseer .
Our teacher and other Islamic scholars told us that as Muslims, we are the best people in the world. We were also told that Saudi Arabian Muslims are the only true Muslims in the world, and as such, the world must follow us (the Saudi Muslims). Without any question, we steadfastly believed our Islamic scholars and wondered why, despite such exhortations, the world by and large does not emulate us.
We were so proud of being the true Muslims.
Now, I take this to be a lie.
Readers, I would vouch that what I studied in my mosque is exactly what bin Laden studied. You could unmistakably say he is an ideal Muslim. Believe me, almost all our people (in Saudi Arabia) support him and love him very dearly.
We can’t blame bin Laden for this; instead, we should blame Islam, the religion of bin Laden. He is simply following his religion to the letter. He is, without doubt, a true Muslim.
My story of leaving Islam started when I was in grade five. I read in Surah al-kahf, ayat 86 (18:86) that when Zu-Alqarnain had reached the point of the setting of the sun, he found many people there suffering from the intense heat. This was because they were so close to the sun. The same thing happened to him during the rising of the sun.
I started thinking: The earth is not flat; it is almost like a ball, so how could he reach the edge of the earth? I asked my teacher this question. He was confused with my question. He didn’t give any answer. He told me just to believe what the Qur’an says.
This was the beginning of my suspicion about the truth in the Qur’an.
Then I had a huge surprise when I found that if I wanted to be a good Muslim I must keep away from non-Muslims. A greater surprise for me was when I discovered that loving any non-Muslims would make me a kafir
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