“I Begged God That Islam Wasn't True!” - A German Converts to Islam | Marcel Krass
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When he spoke about Islam, I said, "Wow, this is very much exactly what I believe." But then there was this one problem. It was Islam, this aggressive and dangerous religion. This cannot be the truth. And then he gave me a book and when I started reading it, my God, my heart was like this. I said to myself, "Please God, please don't let this be the truth." Anything but not Islam. Please select something else, but not Islam. Why this has to be the truth? It was like a ten month war inside myself. And it was in this night, I said, Marcel, there's no way to escape that. And then I remember my first prayer. And this was the most beautiful experience in my whole life.
Assalamualaikum Brother Marcel Krass. Thank you for accepting our invitation. We are very happy to have you with us at Towards Eternity. I want to start with, who is Marcel Krass? Can you tell us briefly about your life? Waalaikumassalam warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. And first of all, thanks for the invitation. I'm happy to be here. I'm from Germany. I'm 48 years old. I was born and raised a Christian. I converted to Islam at the age of 18. I married soon afterwards. So now I have three boys. I studied electrical engineering and now for quite some time, since 2007, you can say, I'm active in preaching Islam in Germany. How was your life in regards to faith?
What were you believing in before Islam? I was raised as a Christian. And I used to go to church up until the age of eight, every Sunday. My father actually doesn't believe in anything at all. My mother was Catholic and she believed in that. It wasn't the case that they used to go to church that strictly in the later ages, I mean. So... And I believed in one God, and I believed in the stories of the prophets. These stories weren't just fairy tales for me. But I couldn't understand the concept of Trinity. There is one God and the Son of God and the Holy Ghost. So I never believed in that at all. I used to pray a lot. As we say in Islam, I used to make Dua.
I prayed to Him when I had problems, when I faced difficulties in school, in my private life. Even later on, when I was a teenager and I wanted to get a girlfriend, I used to pray to Him. Now it sounds strange, but... What was the thing that made you question your beliefs? Number one, it was the matter of the Trinity that I couldn't come up with. I thought, this is definitely wrong. First of all, because it was too complicated. There's one God and that's it. There's nothing more to it. And I was convinced about that from my early childhood. And in addition to that, there was not a clear concept of life after death. This is something I was interested in.
And I tried to get some answers from people. Because I said, what will happen after death? I was so curious about that. But in Christianity, there wasn't really a clear cut answer. You were a Christian and you believed that Jesus died for your sins and then everything will be okay. Uh-uh, fine. But what happens after death? Let's say I'm dying now and I'm put to my grave. Then what? Tell me about this. And I said to myself, a religion must have an answer to this question. It's impossible because this is the main question at all. What is the purpose of life? And where are we going? Why we are here? I didn't find a real answer from the Christian side.
So I said, okay, there's something missing. How did you first hear about Islam? Did you have any prejudices? I had a lot of prejudices about Islam. You had Muslim friends? I didn't have any, up until the age of 16 or 17, you can say. I had a friend from Pakistan in school. And he was actually the one who introduced me to Islam. The only thing I knew about Islam is that, number one, Muslims don't eat pork. This is like one of the main pillars of Islam. And number two, if you get in trouble with one of them, this one does have 40 cousins who will go after you. That's all I knew about Islam. And of course, I picked up some bits and pieces from the media, unfortunately.
And what you hear about Islam in the media is always the same story. You don't hear anything about Islam at all, Islam itself, but something about Islamic countries. And when you hear something about them, it's usually about war, about a terrorist attack or something like that. I thought that Islam is an aggressive religion. It's backwards, dangerous, maybe even. Yeah, that was my picture about Islam before I converted. How did your journey to Islam begin? What impressed you the most about Islam? I met this one Pakistani friend in school. He started talking to me about Islam. At the beginning he didn't mention Islam at all. He talked about one God, and you believe in one God.
And you are sure that it's only one God and not the Trinity or something else. Of course I told him, "Yes, I believe in that." And then he told me, "What do you think about Islam?" That was the question he asked. And I said, "Why Islam?" And when he started talking about Islam, I recognized very soon that this is exactly what I believed. He told me about one God, and he described to me this one God, that He is Almighty, all-powerful. When he spoke about Islam, I said, wow, this is very much exactly what I believe. But then there was this one problem. It was Islam, this aggressive and dangerous religion. This cannot be the truth. And even...
It's like, I said to myself, "Please God, please don't let this be the truth." "Anything, but not Islam. Please select something else, but not Islam. Why this has to be the truth?" Yeah, because I said, no. How can I follow this religion? I knew about the picture of Islam in the West, and I said to myself, if I go to my parents, my friends, If I tell anyone I'm a Muslim... Impossible. So that's why I was convinced of Islam easily, but I hesitated because of the bad image of Islam. Partially because of the media, and partially because of the behavior of the Muslims, I have to say. So did you also find answers to your questions about the afterlife? I asked my friend about life after death.
Because, as I said, religion must have a clear answer. And he said, "Yes, yes, we do have an answer for that." "I can give you a complete story about what happens, from the moment you go to the grave, up until Paradise and Hell." I said, "Oh my God, let me read it." And then he gave me a book which describes the journey of the Hereafter. And when I started reading it, my God, my heart was like this. I couldn't stop reading. I just read and read and whatever I read was beyond my imagination. Do you know these Hollywood stories, When there's an asteroid hitting the Earth or something like that? This has nothing to do with it.
It was the destruction of the complete universe and the resurrection of all human beings, and they are gathered in front of their God, and then they are judged. And the description of Hell and the description of Paradise. And I said, "My God, my God." And then I knew, okay, this is not a joke. You have to take a serious decision. And I said to myself, "Marcel, you have to take care that you do not leave this world without having accepted Islam." So you understood that Islam is the right religion, Islam is the truth itself. You're already convinced in your heart. I was convinced in my heart. Yes. And when you saw the seriousness of this, dying without faith.
Yeah, that was the point where I took the decision to become Muslim. But still I hesitated. And still, because of the image of Islam, it made it so hard. But you were fearful about the consequences, right? I was more afraid about the consequences of not accepting Islam. This was... I said to myself, "Okay, whatever happens now, it will happen." But at the same time, I also believed if I take this step, and it is the truth, and I want to start worshiping this one God as He wants to be worshiped, He will not leave me alone. He will not let me down. That doesn't mean that there won't be any obstacle or difficulties in life. But He won't let me down. And I can tell you He didn't let me down.
How long did it take for you to just be introduced to Islam, and then to be convinced? The whole journey was about ten months, you can say. And what made you take that step of becoming Muslim? When I was driving the car at night, it was quite some trip. Half an hour I was in the car, it was dark outside, and I was thinking about anything and everything. And then my mind all of a sudden focused on Islam, and on the seriousness of this issue. And in this night, I still remember that there was a change in my heart. It's as if I was sitting next to myself speaking to me. Not that I heard voices, but it was the picture in my mind, you can say. I said, "What are you doing?
Aren't you taking this seriously?" And it was in this night I said, "Marcel, there's no way to escape that." It is the truth. It's not something you can play with. You can take a wrong decision regarding your job, or even your marriage, regarding many things in life. But here we are talking about eternity. And this is something I couldn't... I couldn't wrap my mind around eternity. That was really the night when I thought about it deeply. And immediately afterwards I went to my Pakistani friend and I said, "Look, that's it. I don't want to resist anymore." I gave up resistance. And then what happened? How did you take your Shahada? And how did you feel when you took it?
A couple of days later, we went together to the mosque for the Friday prayer. And then he spoke to the Imam and he said, "Look, there's someone who wants to take the Shahada." And then we did it after the Friday prayer in front of 200 people, maybe. It was a strange experience, but it was very beautiful. I took my Shahada and what I didn't expect that each and every person came to me and hugged me and said, "Welcome to Islam, brother." It was really a beautiful experience. As Towards Eternity, we need your support. We are a charity organization that aims to spread the message of Islam to the entire world in ten languages.
With your support, you can help people convert to Islam, give up harams, start praying, wear hijab, learn to read the Qur'an and so on. And get your share from all these good deeds, Inshallah. Donate to Towards Eternity and don't miss this golden opportunity. And how were your feelings when you were taking the Shahada? What did you feel in your heart? What was crossing your mind? At this moment, it was a kind of warmth in my heart. Really a warm feeling. This feeling of brotherhood. Especially because so many people came to me. This was the moment when I took my Shahada. And then I remember my first prayer. And this was the most beautiful experience in my whole life.
The first time when I prostrated in front of God. I prostrated and I swear to God, I didn't want to get up. I said, "I won't forget this moment at all in my whole life." This is the kind of happiness that you can buy in the streets for $50. This white powder that you sneeze in your nose. It's a chemical reaction. And once I took the Shahada and I entered Islam, this search for happiness was over. And this is the biggest difference between Marcel before Islam and after Islam. It doesn't mean that you don't face obstacles or difficulties in life, but it means you still feel something inside your heart.
You say, "Okay, I can handle it." There are some Christians that say, "I find spirituality and feel connection with God when I pray. I don't need any other new thing." What would you like to say to that person or those people? I wouldn't deny that you cannot find emotions in other religions, but there are two things. Number one, emotions you can get from anything. You sometimes see people watching a football game. You see they were the world championships. Just imagine Spanish people watching their team winning the championships. They have emotions, but this has nothing to do with God or with anything. So emotions in and of itself do not mean too much.
And number two, the main thing regarding religion is that it must be the truth, whatever it gives you as a feeling. Even if you are happier with another religion. I cannot judge that. But is it the truth or not? The truth doesn't follow your wishes. God gave us a mind to think about something. And you don't have an excuse if you believe something that contradicts your mind. Obviously that no one would accept, but still you say, "Okay, I believe it because I was born that way," or "because my parents believed that." We cannot expect God to accept this as an excuse. Many people describe their Shahada moments like, "A huge burden was taken from my shoulders.
A huge lift was taken from my heart." Was that same for you? Exactly like this. And now I'm telling this to others. When I see someone who hesitates, I'm always telling him, "Look, I know what you feel." Now, taking the Shahada looks like a mountain over your head. But I guarantee you, I guarantee you. Once you take the Shahada, you feel no mountain anymore. You feel like a burden is relieved from your shoulders. Maybe this is one of the reasons why people hesitate. You just see a mountain over your head, but it isn't. But you have to take this step. It's as if God is asking you, just do it. It might look difficult at the beginning, but you have to take the first step.
You have to come to me one step, and I will come ten steps towards you. But you have to take the first step. I'm not forcing you. It's your decision. But take it and then you will see what happens. When I took the Shahada, it was after ten months of resistance. There was an internal conflict. An internal struggle. Knowing that it's the truth, but sometimes trying to find excuses not to accept it. For ten months, it was like a ten month war inside myself. And all of a sudden the war was over. And it's like any other war. You're just happy it's over, but not in a way that you are defeated. You come out of this with a victory. And that's what I felt in my heart. It was the right decision.
Just, I asked myself, Why didn't I take it for so long? Why? How was your family's reaction? Your friend's reaction? Oh. Don't ask. First of all, I have to say I made a big mistake with regards to my family. I told you, ten months I was, like, convinced in my heart, but I just didn't dare to take the first step. During these ten months, I have not talked to my parents about Islam even once. Not one second. They didn't know that I'm reading books about this or having discussions with my friend. Nothing. Then I converted to Islam, and at the beginning, I didn't want to tell my parents. Because I knew this would be a big story, especially because they didn't know anything about it.
But you see, the problem was when I converted, it was in the beginning of 1995, January 1995. I think the first Friday that year. And if you check your calendar, Ramadan in 1995 started end of January, I think January 26. This means, you can say, three weeks later. And of course I wanted to fast, but I'm still living at home. How can I explain to my mother that for 30 days I'm not having lunch with you, -Not drinking any water. -Yes. So I knew within the next three weeks I have to talk to my parents. Otherwise I would have hesitated at least another six months. So there was no time to prepare them. And there was no time, there was no way to escape.
So four days before Ramadan, I prayed in my room and I went downstairs. It was around 8:00 in the evening. My parents, sitting in the living room watching TV. I was standing in front of the door. I said, "Ya Allah, oh God, make it easy." So I opened the door and I said to my parents, "Mom, dad, I have news for you." And you know, there's a look that said, "What's... What news?" Then I just told them straight away, "I've become Muslim." And then I remember my father's reaction. The first sentence he said was, "Muslims, they are all terrorists." It was the first reaction and this was 1995, even before 9/11. 1995. "Muslims, they are all terrorists." That was the first sentence.
My mother, she became hysterical. I mean, as if she really lost her mind at that evening because she was too afraid. She was too afraid. My uncle, her brother, years later, he told me my mother called him that night. She wanted to talk to her brother. And he told me it was late evening, maybe 10 or 11:00. So he picked up the phone and he just heard my mother's voice. "They have taken our Marcel." "They have taken our Marcel." That was the first thing. This was the only thing he heard, my mother's voice. "They have taken our Marcel. They have taken our Marcel." He said, "Who took? What happened?" I'm sure she didn't know what she said that evening.
But as I said, it was a big mistake on my behalf that I have never talked to them about Islam at all during the whole ten months. What about in the positive sense? Did any German person came to you and said, "I didn't know that Islam is this way," or "My thoughts are now changed."? Did you have such conversations? Of course. They asked the usual questions. A lot of them, in school. You can marry now, ah... You converted because you can marry four women? "I understand now, you can have four wives." This was number one. Number two, they ask about jihad all the time. Holy war.
Some people ask, "Are you going to kill all unbelievers?" "Are you going to cut our tongues or something like that?" You see these images? The Muslim is only a guy with a sword in his hand. Yeah, but these were the type of questions. And when you looked at his life and you learned about him, what impressed you the most about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)? What I admired most about the Prophet Muhammad (saw) is his mercy. When I read about all these stories, how they treated him, then they fought a war against him, several battles. And then he comes back to Mecca and he enters Mecca victoriously. And I compared this with all these other examples from history.
When someone was treated in that way, and he comes back and turns out to be victorious, how does he treat these people? And he just enters Mecca and people are gathering around him. He asked them, "What do you think I'm doing with you right now?" And they tell him, "Look, we know you. We expect only the best from you." And then he said, "It's okay. You can go. It's okay." Just like this. It's not easy for a human being. How many times in real life, if we are attacked on the street, verbally or even physically, we want to defend ourselves, it's a natural reaction. But to swallow and swallow and swallow just for the sake of the message, because he is the example of mankind.
He cannot let go of his ego. We can do that. I'm not this one example of Islam. I'm just an ordinary Muslim. But he is the representative and the messenger of this message. He has to think about each and every moment in life. And he could do that. He controlled his ego. Even when he fought a battle, it was not for his ego. It was not because "I want to retaliate," or something. But it was for the sake of this message. This is what I admired about him, this... His mercy. And which day would you want to witness, if you had the chance, in his life? It would be his last day. I remember one thing I read in the Sirah.
On his last day, when the companions were praying in the mosque, he was in his room because he was too weak to attend the prayer. And he lifted the curtain of his room, looking at the companions standing in prayer, and he smiled. And he smiled because he could leave this world peacefully now. This impossible mission that started 23 years earlier, he did it. He really did it. Just imagine about what God asked him to do. The first revelation. And he knows he has to go to his people at that time, and he has to go to each and everybody and convince them, "Look, I'm a messenger of God. There's an angel coming to me, And if you don't follow me, you might go to hellfire." It's such a strange story.
Imagine you have to tell this to your neighbor. He will think you are crazy. And that's what people thought about him. This is a crazy story. And if you look at this from a certain angle, it is a crazy story. And there were so many obstacles, so many days in his life, where he would think, "Where to go now?" I remember the day when he went to Taif and how the people treated him. And when you read the prayer that he made after he was treated in that way, you can see a person who was sitting there with a mission and all doors are shut. Just saying to God, "What now? Where can I go now? Can I go back to Mecca? I cannot go to Taif. I'm sitting here. Where to go now?
What to do?" And there was more than one moment in his life like this. We come to his last day, seeing his companions standing in prayer. The mission was over. The mission was over, and he smiled. Did anyone around you become Muslim after being inspired by you? Only my wife. I converted to Islam and she followed me a couple of months later. And then we married. That's why I got married at a very, very early age. Describe the feelings when you heard that she was ready to become a Muslim. How did you feel? I wished for that the whole time. She was the one person where I said, okay, if we want to have a family, I want to have a family with a Muslim woman, of course.
So, of course, I wished for her to accept Islam. And I prayed a lot. I didn't expect her to become Muslim. But after all, as I said, it's a serious issue. It just depends on if you are ready to take it seriously. We are talking about eternity. I sometimes gave people this example. What makes more sense to worry about, a future of 80 years or a future of 80 billion years? And this makes people think, yeah, we have maybe 80 years or 90 years. 50 years, we don't know. But it's very limited. After that, eternity starts. It's the most serious thing in life. I realized that and she as well. And how did she come and tell you this? Can you tell us? We visited my friend, my Pakistani friend.
At that time, he was a student. All of a sudden I saw her. You notice when someone has an important announcement to make. She was a bit nervous standing there, not sitting down. I was sitting there, my friend sitting there, and she was standing at the door, and just said, "Okay, what's happening next?" And then she smiled and she said, "Today I came here to inform you that I want to become a Muslim." My friend and I, looking at each other. I said, "Wow." That was the moment when she took the Shahada. There, just in front of us two. And this was really one of the most happiest moments in life. What was the major challenge that you faced after becoming Muslim?
The major challenge I faced after becoming a Muslim was actually, it was getting used to a completely different culture. I was in the mosque where I attended the prayer. This mosque was located in a city of 280,000. I think there were three or four other German converts. I really felt like an alien at that time. Yeah, that was sometimes difficult. How did you try to overcome that feeling and how could you manage to? There was something that made it easier. There was one thing I really liked about the Islamic culture, and that was the welcome of all these brothers. Then I came to the mosque and brothers heard that I'm Muslim. Everybody tried to help.
"And if you have a question, just sit with me. And if you want to sleep at my home, I mean, you're most welcome." I mean, it's abnormal for a German. You wouldn't say something like that. They were very generous people. It was a welcome culture that made things easier. Many people think that when they become Muslim, they will turn into an Arab. They will change their name, change their culture entirely. Did you also have these concerns? And how did you overcome these things? Actually, I was also under the impression that when you become Muslim, you also become Arab. You wouldn't say that, but it's the feeling you have. You think you have to change your clothes, you have to change your name.
And that's even what many people say. Up until this day, it's the most frequent question that I'm asked. "What's your Islamic name?" And then I say, "It's Marcel." "No, no, no, but the Islamic name." "It's Marcel." "No, didn't you change your name?" It's such a strange thing. And in addition to that, it gives people a false image about Islam. Because actually Islam, when it spread, it accepted different cultures, except the parts that are not allowed in our religion. For example, it spread and there was a culture where it was normal to drink wine. Of course, drinking wine is not accepted, but apart from that, the way they eat, the way they dress.
Within the limits of Islam, it's accepted and welcomed in Islam. Otherwise, Islam wouldn't spread in that way. Just imagine you try to spread an Arabic desert culture to the whole world. And I feel this is, especially in the West, sometimes an obstacle. If you give people this impression that you get this religion, but you have to change your culture. No, they don't have to. I was thinking about my father. My father is now 74 years old. He would never accept the Arab culture, but he might accept the belief in one God and worshiping only Him. And that's enough, we don't want to make Arabs out of the people, or Turkish or whatever. We hope that they become Muslims.
Have you ever experienced an extraordinary event where you felt that you had a special connection with Allah? One of the really extraordinary moments was when I made my first Umrah, end of 1997. The Umrah is, you can say, when you visit the Kaaba. -In Mecca. -Yeah, Mecca. You go to Mecca and you enter the House of Allah. Sometimes you have these moments in life. We believe that God is watching over our complete life. But sometimes you have these moments where you have the feeling He's taking your hand and guiding you to a very special experience in your life. And that was the moment when I first went to Mecca. I will never forget it. Did you cry when you saw the Kaaba, or how did you feel?
The first trip to Mecca, it was something I cannot describe. I cried the whole time. There was just... Sometimes I tried to stop crying. I wanted to pray, or do something, or... But I couldn't help myself. The whole time. When I was in Mecca during my first trip, I made Umrah five times, just coming and going. I couldn't get enough of this. Just, I took the taxi and I did it all on my own. It was my first trip to Mecca. I just had a small book with me. I mean, just checking what to do. But I just enjoyed the moment there. I will never forget. And especially how I ended up in Mecca. This whole journey was so beautiful. When I remember it now...
You see, there are moments in life where you feel you are just flying. And then, I understood something. I understood why the five daily prayers are prescribed in Islam. We sometimes think, why does God need our prayer? No, He doesn't need your prayer. But if you don't pray, you will starve your soul to death. Your soul is here. And just like your body, your soul needs food to survive. But it doesn't need water or orange juice or meat or whatever. It needs something else. It needs this connection to God. And five daily prayers, this is the food for your soul. If you don't do it, it will starve to death. And this is what I felt in these moments, especially when I was in Mecca.
It's like as if you feel the presence of angels. And this is what I felt in Mecca. And how did it feel like stepping on the same land as the Prophet Muhammad (saw)? Well... It's sometimes as if you can see the Prophet Muhammad (saw) all around you. You see these small hills, Safa and Marwa, that we step on when we're in Mecca. You remember the moment when the Prophet Muhammad (saw) was there introducing Islam to the people and how they reacted to him. It's like you are living the history of Islam. What is the biggest change Islam has made in your life? How do you see the difference between the Marcel before Islam and after Islam? It's very simple.
It's the calmness and sweetness in the heart when you know why you are here. This is the biggest change at all. Lastly, if you had the chance to speak to all the non-Muslims in the world, what would you like to say to them if you had a few moments? Something to say to all non-Muslims in the world? I would like to quote one verse from the Qur'an. "Do you think We created you just for amusement and play? And you wouldn't be brought back to us?" If you just look inside yourself, I think you will know that there is one God. And He would never create this universe just like that. There must be something behind it. Go and search for the reason. What is behind this universe?
Brother Marcel Krass, thank you so much for your sincere answers. May Allah preserve you and protect you until your last breath upon Islam. All of us. All of us. I have to thank you for this nice interview, and I hope to see you one time again in the future. Inshallah. -Assalamualaikum. -Waalaikumassalam.
Assalamualaikum Brother Marcel Krass. Thank you for accepting our invitation. We are very happy to have you with us at Towards Eternity. I want to start with, who is Marcel Krass? Can you tell us briefly about your life? Waalaikumassalam warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. And first of all, thanks for the invitation. I'm happy to be here. I'm from Germany. I'm 48 years old. I was born and raised a Christian. I converted to Islam at the age of 18. I married soon afterwards. So now I have three boys. I studied electrical engineering and now for quite some time, since 2007, you can say, I'm active in preaching Islam in Germany. How was your life in regards to faith?
What were you believing in before Islam? I was raised as a Christian. And I used to go to church up until the age of eight, every Sunday. My father actually doesn't believe in anything at all. My mother was Catholic and she believed in that. It wasn't the case that they used to go to church that strictly in the later ages, I mean. So... And I believed in one God, and I believed in the stories of the prophets. These stories weren't just fairy tales for me. But I couldn't understand the concept of Trinity. There is one God and the Son of God and the Holy Ghost. So I never believed in that at all. I used to pray a lot. As we say in Islam, I used to make Dua.
I prayed to Him when I had problems, when I faced difficulties in school, in my private life. Even later on, when I was a teenager and I wanted to get a girlfriend, I used to pray to Him. Now it sounds strange, but... What was the thing that made you question your beliefs? Number one, it was the matter of the Trinity that I couldn't come up with. I thought, this is definitely wrong. First of all, because it was too complicated. There's one God and that's it. There's nothing more to it. And I was convinced about that from my early childhood. And in addition to that, there was not a clear concept of life after death. This is something I was interested in.
And I tried to get some answers from people. Because I said, what will happen after death? I was so curious about that. But in Christianity, there wasn't really a clear cut answer. You were a Christian and you believed that Jesus died for your sins and then everything will be okay. Uh-uh, fine. But what happens after death? Let's say I'm dying now and I'm put to my grave. Then what? Tell me about this. And I said to myself, a religion must have an answer to this question. It's impossible because this is the main question at all. What is the purpose of life? And where are we going? Why we are here? I didn't find a real answer from the Christian side.
So I said, okay, there's something missing. How did you first hear about Islam? Did you have any prejudices? I had a lot of prejudices about Islam. You had Muslim friends? I didn't have any, up until the age of 16 or 17, you can say. I had a friend from Pakistan in school. And he was actually the one who introduced me to Islam. The only thing I knew about Islam is that, number one, Muslims don't eat pork. This is like one of the main pillars of Islam. And number two, if you get in trouble with one of them, this one does have 40 cousins who will go after you. That's all I knew about Islam. And of course, I picked up some bits and pieces from the media, unfortunately.
And what you hear about Islam in the media is always the same story. You don't hear anything about Islam at all, Islam itself, but something about Islamic countries. And when you hear something about them, it's usually about war, about a terrorist attack or something like that. I thought that Islam is an aggressive religion. It's backwards, dangerous, maybe even. Yeah, that was my picture about Islam before I converted. How did your journey to Islam begin? What impressed you the most about Islam? I met this one Pakistani friend in school. He started talking to me about Islam. At the beginning he didn't mention Islam at all. He talked about one God, and you believe in one God.
And you are sure that it's only one God and not the Trinity or something else. Of course I told him, "Yes, I believe in that." And then he told me, "What do you think about Islam?" That was the question he asked. And I said, "Why Islam?" And when he started talking about Islam, I recognized very soon that this is exactly what I believed. He told me about one God, and he described to me this one God, that He is Almighty, all-powerful. When he spoke about Islam, I said, wow, this is very much exactly what I believe. But then there was this one problem. It was Islam, this aggressive and dangerous religion. This cannot be the truth. And even...
It's like, I said to myself, "Please God, please don't let this be the truth." "Anything, but not Islam. Please select something else, but not Islam. Why this has to be the truth?" Yeah, because I said, no. How can I follow this religion? I knew about the picture of Islam in the West, and I said to myself, if I go to my parents, my friends, If I tell anyone I'm a Muslim... Impossible. So that's why I was convinced of Islam easily, but I hesitated because of the bad image of Islam. Partially because of the media, and partially because of the behavior of the Muslims, I have to say. So did you also find answers to your questions about the afterlife? I asked my friend about life after death.
Because, as I said, religion must have a clear answer. And he said, "Yes, yes, we do have an answer for that." "I can give you a complete story about what happens, from the moment you go to the grave, up until Paradise and Hell." I said, "Oh my God, let me read it." And then he gave me a book which describes the journey of the Hereafter. And when I started reading it, my God, my heart was like this. I couldn't stop reading. I just read and read and whatever I read was beyond my imagination. Do you know these Hollywood stories, When there's an asteroid hitting the Earth or something like that? This has nothing to do with it.
It was the destruction of the complete universe and the resurrection of all human beings, and they are gathered in front of their God, and then they are judged. And the description of Hell and the description of Paradise. And I said, "My God, my God." And then I knew, okay, this is not a joke. You have to take a serious decision. And I said to myself, "Marcel, you have to take care that you do not leave this world without having accepted Islam." So you understood that Islam is the right religion, Islam is the truth itself. You're already convinced in your heart. I was convinced in my heart. Yes. And when you saw the seriousness of this, dying without faith.
Yeah, that was the point where I took the decision to become Muslim. But still I hesitated. And still, because of the image of Islam, it made it so hard. But you were fearful about the consequences, right? I was more afraid about the consequences of not accepting Islam. This was... I said to myself, "Okay, whatever happens now, it will happen." But at the same time, I also believed if I take this step, and it is the truth, and I want to start worshiping this one God as He wants to be worshiped, He will not leave me alone. He will not let me down. That doesn't mean that there won't be any obstacle or difficulties in life. But He won't let me down. And I can tell you He didn't let me down.
How long did it take for you to just be introduced to Islam, and then to be convinced? The whole journey was about ten months, you can say. And what made you take that step of becoming Muslim? When I was driving the car at night, it was quite some trip. Half an hour I was in the car, it was dark outside, and I was thinking about anything and everything. And then my mind all of a sudden focused on Islam, and on the seriousness of this issue. And in this night, I still remember that there was a change in my heart. It's as if I was sitting next to myself speaking to me. Not that I heard voices, but it was the picture in my mind, you can say. I said, "What are you doing?
Aren't you taking this seriously?" And it was in this night I said, "Marcel, there's no way to escape that." It is the truth. It's not something you can play with. You can take a wrong decision regarding your job, or even your marriage, regarding many things in life. But here we are talking about eternity. And this is something I couldn't... I couldn't wrap my mind around eternity. That was really the night when I thought about it deeply. And immediately afterwards I went to my Pakistani friend and I said, "Look, that's it. I don't want to resist anymore." I gave up resistance. And then what happened? How did you take your Shahada? And how did you feel when you took it?
A couple of days later, we went together to the mosque for the Friday prayer. And then he spoke to the Imam and he said, "Look, there's someone who wants to take the Shahada." And then we did it after the Friday prayer in front of 200 people, maybe. It was a strange experience, but it was very beautiful. I took my Shahada and what I didn't expect that each and every person came to me and hugged me and said, "Welcome to Islam, brother." It was really a beautiful experience. As Towards Eternity, we need your support. We are a charity organization that aims to spread the message of Islam to the entire world in ten languages.
With your support, you can help people convert to Islam, give up harams, start praying, wear hijab, learn to read the Qur'an and so on. And get your share from all these good deeds, Inshallah. Donate to Towards Eternity and don't miss this golden opportunity. And how were your feelings when you were taking the Shahada? What did you feel in your heart? What was crossing your mind? At this moment, it was a kind of warmth in my heart. Really a warm feeling. This feeling of brotherhood. Especially because so many people came to me. This was the moment when I took my Shahada. And then I remember my first prayer. And this was the most beautiful experience in my whole life.
The first time when I prostrated in front of God. I prostrated and I swear to God, I didn't want to get up. I said, "I won't forget this moment at all in my whole life." This is the kind of happiness that you can buy in the streets for $50. This white powder that you sneeze in your nose. It's a chemical reaction. And once I took the Shahada and I entered Islam, this search for happiness was over. And this is the biggest difference between Marcel before Islam and after Islam. It doesn't mean that you don't face obstacles or difficulties in life, but it means you still feel something inside your heart.
You say, "Okay, I can handle it." There are some Christians that say, "I find spirituality and feel connection with God when I pray. I don't need any other new thing." What would you like to say to that person or those people? I wouldn't deny that you cannot find emotions in other religions, but there are two things. Number one, emotions you can get from anything. You sometimes see people watching a football game. You see they were the world championships. Just imagine Spanish people watching their team winning the championships. They have emotions, but this has nothing to do with God or with anything. So emotions in and of itself do not mean too much.
And number two, the main thing regarding religion is that it must be the truth, whatever it gives you as a feeling. Even if you are happier with another religion. I cannot judge that. But is it the truth or not? The truth doesn't follow your wishes. God gave us a mind to think about something. And you don't have an excuse if you believe something that contradicts your mind. Obviously that no one would accept, but still you say, "Okay, I believe it because I was born that way," or "because my parents believed that." We cannot expect God to accept this as an excuse. Many people describe their Shahada moments like, "A huge burden was taken from my shoulders.
A huge lift was taken from my heart." Was that same for you? Exactly like this. And now I'm telling this to others. When I see someone who hesitates, I'm always telling him, "Look, I know what you feel." Now, taking the Shahada looks like a mountain over your head. But I guarantee you, I guarantee you. Once you take the Shahada, you feel no mountain anymore. You feel like a burden is relieved from your shoulders. Maybe this is one of the reasons why people hesitate. You just see a mountain over your head, but it isn't. But you have to take this step. It's as if God is asking you, just do it. It might look difficult at the beginning, but you have to take the first step.
You have to come to me one step, and I will come ten steps towards you. But you have to take the first step. I'm not forcing you. It's your decision. But take it and then you will see what happens. When I took the Shahada, it was after ten months of resistance. There was an internal conflict. An internal struggle. Knowing that it's the truth, but sometimes trying to find excuses not to accept it. For ten months, it was like a ten month war inside myself. And all of a sudden the war was over. And it's like any other war. You're just happy it's over, but not in a way that you are defeated. You come out of this with a victory. And that's what I felt in my heart. It was the right decision.
Just, I asked myself, Why didn't I take it for so long? Why? How was your family's reaction? Your friend's reaction? Oh. Don't ask. First of all, I have to say I made a big mistake with regards to my family. I told you, ten months I was, like, convinced in my heart, but I just didn't dare to take the first step. During these ten months, I have not talked to my parents about Islam even once. Not one second. They didn't know that I'm reading books about this or having discussions with my friend. Nothing. Then I converted to Islam, and at the beginning, I didn't want to tell my parents. Because I knew this would be a big story, especially because they didn't know anything about it.
But you see, the problem was when I converted, it was in the beginning of 1995, January 1995. I think the first Friday that year. And if you check your calendar, Ramadan in 1995 started end of January, I think January 26. This means, you can say, three weeks later. And of course I wanted to fast, but I'm still living at home. How can I explain to my mother that for 30 days I'm not having lunch with you, -Not drinking any water. -Yes. So I knew within the next three weeks I have to talk to my parents. Otherwise I would have hesitated at least another six months. So there was no time to prepare them. And there was no time, there was no way to escape.
So four days before Ramadan, I prayed in my room and I went downstairs. It was around 8:00 in the evening. My parents, sitting in the living room watching TV. I was standing in front of the door. I said, "Ya Allah, oh God, make it easy." So I opened the door and I said to my parents, "Mom, dad, I have news for you." And you know, there's a look that said, "What's... What news?" Then I just told them straight away, "I've become Muslim." And then I remember my father's reaction. The first sentence he said was, "Muslims, they are all terrorists." It was the first reaction and this was 1995, even before 9/11. 1995. "Muslims, they are all terrorists." That was the first sentence.
My mother, she became hysterical. I mean, as if she really lost her mind at that evening because she was too afraid. She was too afraid. My uncle, her brother, years later, he told me my mother called him that night. She wanted to talk to her brother. And he told me it was late evening, maybe 10 or 11:00. So he picked up the phone and he just heard my mother's voice. "They have taken our Marcel." "They have taken our Marcel." That was the first thing. This was the only thing he heard, my mother's voice. "They have taken our Marcel. They have taken our Marcel." He said, "Who took? What happened?" I'm sure she didn't know what she said that evening.
But as I said, it was a big mistake on my behalf that I have never talked to them about Islam at all during the whole ten months. What about in the positive sense? Did any German person came to you and said, "I didn't know that Islam is this way," or "My thoughts are now changed."? Did you have such conversations? Of course. They asked the usual questions. A lot of them, in school. You can marry now, ah... You converted because you can marry four women? "I understand now, you can have four wives." This was number one. Number two, they ask about jihad all the time. Holy war.
Some people ask, "Are you going to kill all unbelievers?" "Are you going to cut our tongues or something like that?" You see these images? The Muslim is only a guy with a sword in his hand. Yeah, but these were the type of questions. And when you looked at his life and you learned about him, what impressed you the most about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)? What I admired most about the Prophet Muhammad (saw) is his mercy. When I read about all these stories, how they treated him, then they fought a war against him, several battles. And then he comes back to Mecca and he enters Mecca victoriously. And I compared this with all these other examples from history.
When someone was treated in that way, and he comes back and turns out to be victorious, how does he treat these people? And he just enters Mecca and people are gathering around him. He asked them, "What do you think I'm doing with you right now?" And they tell him, "Look, we know you. We expect only the best from you." And then he said, "It's okay. You can go. It's okay." Just like this. It's not easy for a human being. How many times in real life, if we are attacked on the street, verbally or even physically, we want to defend ourselves, it's a natural reaction. But to swallow and swallow and swallow just for the sake of the message, because he is the example of mankind.
He cannot let go of his ego. We can do that. I'm not this one example of Islam. I'm just an ordinary Muslim. But he is the representative and the messenger of this message. He has to think about each and every moment in life. And he could do that. He controlled his ego. Even when he fought a battle, it was not for his ego. It was not because "I want to retaliate," or something. But it was for the sake of this message. This is what I admired about him, this... His mercy. And which day would you want to witness, if you had the chance, in his life? It would be his last day. I remember one thing I read in the Sirah.
On his last day, when the companions were praying in the mosque, he was in his room because he was too weak to attend the prayer. And he lifted the curtain of his room, looking at the companions standing in prayer, and he smiled. And he smiled because he could leave this world peacefully now. This impossible mission that started 23 years earlier, he did it. He really did it. Just imagine about what God asked him to do. The first revelation. And he knows he has to go to his people at that time, and he has to go to each and everybody and convince them, "Look, I'm a messenger of God. There's an angel coming to me, And if you don't follow me, you might go to hellfire." It's such a strange story.
Imagine you have to tell this to your neighbor. He will think you are crazy. And that's what people thought about him. This is a crazy story. And if you look at this from a certain angle, it is a crazy story. And there were so many obstacles, so many days in his life, where he would think, "Where to go now?" I remember the day when he went to Taif and how the people treated him. And when you read the prayer that he made after he was treated in that way, you can see a person who was sitting there with a mission and all doors are shut. Just saying to God, "What now? Where can I go now? Can I go back to Mecca? I cannot go to Taif. I'm sitting here. Where to go now?
What to do?" And there was more than one moment in his life like this. We come to his last day, seeing his companions standing in prayer. The mission was over. The mission was over, and he smiled. Did anyone around you become Muslim after being inspired by you? Only my wife. I converted to Islam and she followed me a couple of months later. And then we married. That's why I got married at a very, very early age. Describe the feelings when you heard that she was ready to become a Muslim. How did you feel? I wished for that the whole time. She was the one person where I said, okay, if we want to have a family, I want to have a family with a Muslim woman, of course.
So, of course, I wished for her to accept Islam. And I prayed a lot. I didn't expect her to become Muslim. But after all, as I said, it's a serious issue. It just depends on if you are ready to take it seriously. We are talking about eternity. I sometimes gave people this example. What makes more sense to worry about, a future of 80 years or a future of 80 billion years? And this makes people think, yeah, we have maybe 80 years or 90 years. 50 years, we don't know. But it's very limited. After that, eternity starts. It's the most serious thing in life. I realized that and she as well. And how did she come and tell you this? Can you tell us? We visited my friend, my Pakistani friend.
At that time, he was a student. All of a sudden I saw her. You notice when someone has an important announcement to make. She was a bit nervous standing there, not sitting down. I was sitting there, my friend sitting there, and she was standing at the door, and just said, "Okay, what's happening next?" And then she smiled and she said, "Today I came here to inform you that I want to become a Muslim." My friend and I, looking at each other. I said, "Wow." That was the moment when she took the Shahada. There, just in front of us two. And this was really one of the most happiest moments in life. What was the major challenge that you faced after becoming Muslim?
The major challenge I faced after becoming a Muslim was actually, it was getting used to a completely different culture. I was in the mosque where I attended the prayer. This mosque was located in a city of 280,000. I think there were three or four other German converts. I really felt like an alien at that time. Yeah, that was sometimes difficult. How did you try to overcome that feeling and how could you manage to? There was something that made it easier. There was one thing I really liked about the Islamic culture, and that was the welcome of all these brothers. Then I came to the mosque and brothers heard that I'm Muslim. Everybody tried to help.
"And if you have a question, just sit with me. And if you want to sleep at my home, I mean, you're most welcome." I mean, it's abnormal for a German. You wouldn't say something like that. They were very generous people. It was a welcome culture that made things easier. Many people think that when they become Muslim, they will turn into an Arab. They will change their name, change their culture entirely. Did you also have these concerns? And how did you overcome these things? Actually, I was also under the impression that when you become Muslim, you also become Arab. You wouldn't say that, but it's the feeling you have. You think you have to change your clothes, you have to change your name.
And that's even what many people say. Up until this day, it's the most frequent question that I'm asked. "What's your Islamic name?" And then I say, "It's Marcel." "No, no, no, but the Islamic name." "It's Marcel." "No, didn't you change your name?" It's such a strange thing. And in addition to that, it gives people a false image about Islam. Because actually Islam, when it spread, it accepted different cultures, except the parts that are not allowed in our religion. For example, it spread and there was a culture where it was normal to drink wine. Of course, drinking wine is not accepted, but apart from that, the way they eat, the way they dress.
Within the limits of Islam, it's accepted and welcomed in Islam. Otherwise, Islam wouldn't spread in that way. Just imagine you try to spread an Arabic desert culture to the whole world. And I feel this is, especially in the West, sometimes an obstacle. If you give people this impression that you get this religion, but you have to change your culture. No, they don't have to. I was thinking about my father. My father is now 74 years old. He would never accept the Arab culture, but he might accept the belief in one God and worshiping only Him. And that's enough, we don't want to make Arabs out of the people, or Turkish or whatever. We hope that they become Muslims.
Have you ever experienced an extraordinary event where you felt that you had a special connection with Allah? One of the really extraordinary moments was when I made my first Umrah, end of 1997. The Umrah is, you can say, when you visit the Kaaba. -In Mecca. -Yeah, Mecca. You go to Mecca and you enter the House of Allah. Sometimes you have these moments in life. We believe that God is watching over our complete life. But sometimes you have these moments where you have the feeling He's taking your hand and guiding you to a very special experience in your life. And that was the moment when I first went to Mecca. I will never forget it. Did you cry when you saw the Kaaba, or how did you feel?
The first trip to Mecca, it was something I cannot describe. I cried the whole time. There was just... Sometimes I tried to stop crying. I wanted to pray, or do something, or... But I couldn't help myself. The whole time. When I was in Mecca during my first trip, I made Umrah five times, just coming and going. I couldn't get enough of this. Just, I took the taxi and I did it all on my own. It was my first trip to Mecca. I just had a small book with me. I mean, just checking what to do. But I just enjoyed the moment there. I will never forget. And especially how I ended up in Mecca. This whole journey was so beautiful. When I remember it now...
You see, there are moments in life where you feel you are just flying. And then, I understood something. I understood why the five daily prayers are prescribed in Islam. We sometimes think, why does God need our prayer? No, He doesn't need your prayer. But if you don't pray, you will starve your soul to death. Your soul is here. And just like your body, your soul needs food to survive. But it doesn't need water or orange juice or meat or whatever. It needs something else. It needs this connection to God. And five daily prayers, this is the food for your soul. If you don't do it, it will starve to death. And this is what I felt in these moments, especially when I was in Mecca.
It's like as if you feel the presence of angels. And this is what I felt in Mecca. And how did it feel like stepping on the same land as the Prophet Muhammad (saw)? Well... It's sometimes as if you can see the Prophet Muhammad (saw) all around you. You see these small hills, Safa and Marwa, that we step on when we're in Mecca. You remember the moment when the Prophet Muhammad (saw) was there introducing Islam to the people and how they reacted to him. It's like you are living the history of Islam. What is the biggest change Islam has made in your life? How do you see the difference between the Marcel before Islam and after Islam? It's very simple.
It's the calmness and sweetness in the heart when you know why you are here. This is the biggest change at all. Lastly, if you had the chance to speak to all the non-Muslims in the world, what would you like to say to them if you had a few moments? Something to say to all non-Muslims in the world? I would like to quote one verse from the Qur'an. "Do you think We created you just for amusement and play? And you wouldn't be brought back to us?" If you just look inside yourself, I think you will know that there is one God. And He would never create this universe just like that. There must be something behind it. Go and search for the reason. What is behind this universe?
Brother Marcel Krass, thank you so much for your sincere answers. May Allah preserve you and protect you until your last breath upon Islam. All of us. All of us. I have to thank you for this nice interview, and I hope to see you one time again in the future. Inshallah. -Assalamualaikum. -Waalaikumassalam.