In this episode of Anchor, Dr. Saje Akla talks about her conversion from the Islamic faith to Christianity and how it changed her life. Dr. Akla is a Christian broadcaster and founder of Issa Gabwa Ministries. She was born and raised in Turkey and grew up in a devout Muslim home. At age 12, she was brainwashed to believe that the best thing she could do for Allah was to become a suicide bomber. She converted to Christianity, became a broadcaster, and became a Christian.
00:01:00.400I was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, in a devout Muslim home.
00:01:05.420I grew up during civil war years in Turkey in a very hostile environment.
00:01:12.140I grew up basically in the mosque, memorizing most of the Koran through my great-grandmother, who was an authority in Islam.
00:01:22.820There was hostility, violence, and home life, and hostility on the outside of the home, in the mosque, on the streets.0.92
00:01:31.340I grew up seeing arms and legs flying in the air, people killing each other, so I developed a complex PTSD at an early age, living in fear for my life.
00:01:44.200I went to a Koran course at age 12.0.75
00:01:46.960I was looking for answers, trying to understand why all these things were happening.1.00
00:01:52.140And in that Koran course, I was programmed to hate Christians and Jews, infidels.1.00
00:02:00.740and I was brainwashed that the biggest heroic act I could do for Allah1.00
00:02:09.140And I was told so many other things that sound so far from what I believe right now.0.97
00:02:16.520However, I started believing what they said and they told us the absolute truth.
00:02:22.300Wait, so you believed, sorry, it's just an important point to touch.
00:02:26.160There was a point in your life where you actually aspired to be a suicide bomber?0.58
00:02:31.100You believed them that that would be a good thing?1.00
00:02:33.340Because, you know, I know people who are members of the Islamic faith,0.99
00:02:37.620and what they would say is that that teaching is an affront to Islam.
00:02:42.280That is a sin against Islam to teach people to do terrorism.
00:02:46.340But did you actually have that mentality and that viewpoint?0.98
00:02:50.900Yeah, it's one time in my life I hit that mentality.0.99
00:02:54.600I think we need to separate Islam as a personal faith, and then Islam as a dangerous ideology, but it becomes radical Islam.0.99
00:03:04.080So there are some Quranic verses that orders believers and followers to kill in the name of Allah.0.97
00:03:12.940And we called at that time, good Muslims that we call in the Western world, which don't believe in, just like you said, jihad, physical jihad.0.98
00:03:22.560But we call them backsliders who hated Allah instead of truly loving Allah to an extent to die for Him.0.99
00:03:31.340How did your life change when you became a Christian?0.96
00:08:57.900Well, yeah, that was very interesting when you said it earlier, and I don't think we fully unpacked it.
00:09:02.020Distinguish for me the ideology from the faith.
00:09:06.000Yes, Islam as a faith is when somebody is just obtaining their daily spiritual personal role
00:09:13.220with their own God, whoever that God is.
00:09:16.560and praying five times a day, giving their arms, so forth and so on.
00:09:21.460But when we are talking about an ideology of Islam,
00:09:24.860it is, for example, replacing our constitution with Sharia law0.83
00:09:29.140and believing that every house in the Western world, in the world,0.79
00:09:33.700should become a Muslim house, including our White House.0.91
00:09:36.940So then Islam becomes the ideology, replaces the law,1.00
00:09:40.920and doesn't respect other individuals in their personal faith,0.82
00:09:45.640Are those separate? That was such a terrific explanation. It really was because you walked through how the faith path leads to political goals, you know, that you believe are reflected in the Koran.
00:09:58.160I wonder if they're separable, you know. We don't really, I worry about political Islam as a governing philosophy a lot more than I might worry about my neighbor who practices in the Islamic faith.
00:10:14.360And I wonder if there's a way to stay on the right side of all that in your viewpoint.0.79
00:10:33.020Well, that's what I think she's saying, is that there are people who would say that not proselytizing in that extreme way is a violation.0.96
00:10:42.140So you're counting on people who are following the religion badly to justify the religion's presence.
00:10:48.020Oh, I believe that the people who are engaged in terrorism are the ones following the religion badly.0.61
00:10:53.020But, I mean, as she explained, it clearly says in the Koran that you must do these things.1.00
00:10:57.020Well, it says a lot of things in the Bible that we don't take quite as literally also about conquest and violence.
00:11:04.660Well, right, but we have—Christianity is a religion of peace, and we have the New Testament.
00:11:08.480We have salvation through Jesus Christ.
00:11:11.020I mean, the law, we aren't held to the law anymore.
00:12:58.440Because Pearson would say you fix the ignorance problem through another religious crusade.
00:13:02.660I don't know that that would be successful and might have the direct opposite effect of its intended purpose.
00:13:09.400How do you attack that ignorance that you so correctly described?
00:13:14.880When there's ignorance, there's confusion and there's division.
00:13:18.320And we are seeing it in our own country in America right now.
00:13:21.800So the best way to address this is bringing clarity.
00:13:25.020This is what I do. This is what you do.
00:13:26.700And bringing the taboo subjects or the sensitive subjects, that we bring it because if we are not bringing and hiding them and not talking about them, we are just doing a bigger damage to our society.
00:13:39.880So what we are doing is talking, we are exposing it, but exposing is not good enough.
00:14:25.880Exactly. Absolutely. That would solve a lot of problems.
00:14:27.720Andy Ogles just posted that Muslims do not belong in America, point blank.1.00
00:14:33.120And I think that's absolutely accurate.1.00
00:14:34.600I think that violates a spirit of religious pluralism that has made America the envy of the world.0.97
00:14:40.080I think that it's not how you pray or where you pray. It's what you do.0.89
00:14:44.280And the actions that Dr. Abla has endured are tragic and consequential.
00:14:55.240But I don't know that we can say to people, by virtue solely of your faith, you're not allowed here.
00:15:01.500Well, it's the faith that drives the ideology.1.00
00:15:03.960I mean, Sharia law is a massive problem.0.95
00:15:06.440And I wanted to ask you, are you aware of the situation happening in Texas with Kent Paxson and how they found the Islamic tribunals?
00:15:14.280going on down there absolutely and it is happening it has been happening when i talk about
00:15:19.820islamization of america i'm talking about over 30 years ago i was part of this so it is not a
00:15:26.580new thing to me but america is just waking up to the fact that this is happening and we need to
00:15:32.220filter yes i totally agree we cannot label every muslim that they say i am a muslim is a threat is
00:15:39.580a terrorist attack threat to america but there is a big percentage of it here in the united states0.98
00:15:46.560that are a threat to our freedom as citizens of america so when you hear about well hold on we're
00:15:54.240gonna we're gonna hang on right there we're gonna take a quick break uh pearson sharp will be back
00:15:59.400with dr islik alba to go or abla to go over where we go from here how big is this threat how many
00:16:05.340people are involved in it and how do we make ourselves resilient we'll be right back1.00
00:16:09.060So you grew up inside Islam. What's the first thing you think about when you hear about these Sharia-based Islamic tribunals happening here on American soil, happening in Texas? How do you feel about that?0.95
00:16:25.200I feel very unsafe in a country that I fled for my freedom.
00:17:57.380I mean, God bless you for what you're doing and for the message you're putting out there
00:18:01.400and for having the courage to do these things.
00:18:04.820My fear is that, you know, a lot of Americans don't have experience with this.
00:18:10.940You know, a lot of the people that I talk to, they don't know anything about it.
00:18:15.080You know, Muslims are in the Middle East, and that's what they know about.
00:18:18.520You know, it's they haven't met any. They don't know. Maybe they've seen a mosque somewhere driving down the freeway, but they don't.
00:18:24.360This isn't a personal issue for a lot of them. I think the Muslims here in America concentrate in certain enclaves and then they spread out from there.
00:18:32.840And I think they've targeted Texas really hard. So I guess for a lot of the Americans, the normies out there, what is your message for them?0.99
00:18:40.960What should Americans know about Islam and the Muslims that are coming into our country?
00:30:31.180and what mainstream media is showing them.
00:30:34.300And then they are going to believe what they want to believe.
00:30:36.640And sometimes believing what you want to believe is just a comfort thing versus the confrontation.
00:30:44.060I want to make a correction. I said King George, I meant King Charles.
00:30:48.320But so you think for these people who are pulling these strings, you think all of that, these economic benefits is worth this cultural, this civilizational suicide?
00:30:59.280You think they view that as a benefit?
00:31:54.780There's a potential danger in America because of radical Islam.1.00
00:31:59.740And we are going to be, if we don't do anything about this,1.00
00:32:02.680Christians are going to be treated in America as second-class citizens, and it is coming.
00:32:11.720Why isn't the world outraged about this?
00:32:14.880I mean, it just, it seems like, I know you have the media jihad, but it seems like we could organize better,
00:32:25.080and that people who are aware of this should be making more noise, but we just aren't, and I don't understand that, and it seems like such a shame.
00:32:32.680that we're allowing this to happen to ourselves?0.65
00:32:37.040I do believe the problem in America is not even Islamic Ignatian.0.99
00:37:05.660We are very naive the way that we allow people in to our nation, and that is the reason.0.96
00:37:12.420it happen in europe it's happening in america right now and this is not a today's issue this0.92
00:37:18.060is the case of issue and governments allowing this to happen this has been an agenda it is not a new0.98
00:37:25.200thing do you think we we stand a chance at this point do you think that islam is going to continue1.00
00:37:31.900on this path because i don't see anybody taking a stand against this you know in the government1.00
00:37:35.880do you think we have a chance of pushing back on this and taking back our country our civilization
00:37:40.720I do believe it. I do believe America has a chance, and I do believe America has more people who love this nation than people that they hate this nation inside.
00:37:52.240I do believe there are people I meet every single day, people like me, that we don't take America for granted, and we will do anything to protect this nation.
00:38:01.780Because I found freedom in the United States of America, and I'm not willing to give up on this freedom easily.
00:43:45.280But when Christians are being murdered for their faith, especially converts from Islam,0.76
00:43:52.120I feel like the reality is simpler in that in many of these regions that Islam does not tolerate people leaving it or openly practicing Christianity.0.92