By Sari Palomäki, VOM Finland
Arif grew up in a radical Muslim family and ended up in prison for his actions. In solitary confinement, he saw a strange revelation that led him to reflect on his own faith and life.
Arif’s Muslim family was deeply devoted to their faith. His grandfather translated the Koran from Arabic to Indonesian and was one of the founders of the radical Muslim Brotherhood. His father became an imam who, along with his comrades, went to fight communism. Arif followed in his father’s footsteps and also became an imam and a fighter.
He joined a student movement that violently opposed the government, military rule, and communism. To finance their activities, they sold drugs and the money from this was used to make bombs. Arif was one of the drug dealers. After the police caught him, he was sent to prison.
A strange encounter
In prison, Arif was placed in solitary confinement. For a month he languished in a tiny cell, not seeing much sunlight or anything else. To ensure that prisoners did not hang themselves, they were only allowed to clothe themselves in their underwear.
After two weeks in the cell, he woke at 2am; a man entered the cell and said to him, “Follow Me and you will find freedom.” Arif sat down against the wall and squinted. Suddenly, there was no one in the cell, but the door was open. To his surprise, he stepped out and saw the guard outside, fast asleep. Arif woke him up, and the man was horrified, thinking he had forgotten to lock the door. Together they lit cigarettes, and Arif wondered who had come into his cell and left the door open. After a month, he was transferred to a large prison, where Arif took his place as imam in the prison mosque.
“My God Does Not Die on the Cross”
One day, Arif was sitting in front of the mosque with some of his friends. Suddenly, the same man who had appeared to Arif in solitary confinement came to him and said again, “Follow Me and you will find freedom.” Then the man disappeared. Arif asked his friends who the man was. His friends wondered who Arif was talking about. They had not seen anyone.
Arif was really confused and feared that he was going mad. He went to the prison library and looked for all the books on mental health. He was frightened, confused and did not know what to do. The following week, a friend took Arif to see one of the members of the Bali Nine, Andrew Chan, who was facing the death penalty for drug trafficking. Andrew had met Jesus in prison and had become a Christian leader in the prison church. Arif told him about the man he had met. Andrew then told Arif that he had met Jesus.
Arif became furious and shouted that Andrew was talking rubbish. He also insisted that Islam was the only true religion and that nothing could compare to it. “Christians believe that Jesus is God, but he couldn’t even save himself, he died on the cross. My God doesn’t die on the cross,” Arif snarled. Andrew looked at him silently and said, “Say what you will, but you have met Jesus.”
Arif returned to the mosque indignantly. He began to read everything about Jesus; written in the Koran and was driven to deep reflection. He struggled with the matter for months and finally ended up leaving his position as imam of the mosque.
Blasphemy charge
In his search for the truth, he returned again and again to talk to Andrew and finally became convinced that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Andrew taught him to pray, and Arif received his first Bible. His disciples at the mosque wondered why he had stopped being an imam. One day, one of the Muslim prisoners followed Arif and saw him go to visit Andrew. He saw Andrew lay his hands on Arif and pray for him.
When Arif returned to his cell, eleven men were waiting for him, angry. They beat him, badly; only the intervention of Arif’s good friend saved him from death. The prison authorities were called and they interrogated Arif about his conversion to Christianity. Arif was then charged with blasphemy. He was supposed to be released the following month, but instead, he was tried, and his prison sentence was extended by a year. Arif says it was the best time of his life.
During that year, he studied the Bible intensively with Andrew. He says his mentor, the former drug trafficker, converted to Christianity while in prison and had baptised 200 men in prison.
A Call to Serve Jesus Christ
After his release from prison, Arif’s family tried to kill him. He wondered if he should preach the gospel to Muslims because it was so dangerous. Would it be better to just let them die in their sins?
Then Arif had a wonderful dream in which Jesus took him over mountains and valleys that were full of people. “All these are for you,” Jesus said. God led Arif to an island called Sulawesi, where he began to share the gospel with the Muslim community. At first, they resisted and even called the police. But gradually their trust grew. He began to teach the villagers one by one, and after three months, 70 people had given their lives to the Lord. The work continued and soon there were 700 converts. Arif has been doing this work for ten years and says that he has baptised around a thousand new Christians each year.
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