Growing up in predominantly Muslim Bangladesh, Fedu’s life was permeated by Islam. His father was an imam, and his grandfather told him stories of pilgrimages to Mecca. Fedu studied at an Islamic school, and, like his father and three brothers, became a Muslim scholar and imam, eventually teaching at a mosque in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.
While working at the mosque one day in 1996, Fedu met a student named Azad from a nearby college. The two struck up a conversation and quickly became friends. However, when Fedu learned two years later that Azad had become a Christian, he began to worry about him. He knew Muslims at his mosque would find out about Azad’s conversion, and he also knew the local Muslim authorities were some of the worst persecutors of Christians in Bangladesh. Instead of standing up for his friend, Fedu stopped talking to him altogether.
Then, 15 years later, Fedu received a call from Azad, who had felt God nudging him to reconnect with his old friend. As the two caught up on each other’s lives, Azad mentioned how Jesus had changed his life. And when they finally met in person, Azad gave Fedu a Bible and some Christian literature to read. They spoke two more times before again losing touch with one another.
Fedu at first dismissed the gift his friend had given him, but eventually he started reading it, comparing its teachings with those of the Quran. The more he studied the two books, the more he began to doubt Islam, which had been his religious foundation since childhood.
Fedu knew the Quran taught that God would send His Word. But in the Bible, he read in John 1:1 that God had sent His Word in the person of Jesus. Then he read Jesus’ words in John 14:6 — “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
He could no longer defend the Quran against the Bible, and he wanted to know the Jesus he had read about in its pages. When he placed his faith in Christ in 2011, he wished he could share the news with his friend Azad.
GROWING PRESSURE
After becoming a follower of Christ, Fedu continued teaching at his mosque. It supplemented the income he made from a pharmacy he owned, and he also wanted to share the truth he had learned with his captive audience at the mosque who needed to hear the gospel.
The more Fedu studied God’s Word, the more it was reflected in his teachings at the mosque. When it came to God’s prophets, he taught that Jesus was above all and that He alone is holy. Members of the mosque became increasingly aware of his Christian views, and one day in 2017 someone found Christian literature at his home. The president of the mosque quickly addressed the issue.
“When they noticed I love Jesus and not Muhammad, they said my job is done,” Fedu recalled.
Fedu had been praying for guidance on how and when to leave the mosque, so he viewed their decision as an answer to prayer.
