Former Muslim Shares His Literal Damascus Road Experience

Teresa Neumann : Jul 29, 2014
Julie Payne – Baptist Press, The Alabama Baptist

"I am a humble servant who happened to be born in the city of Damascus, where Paul had his conversion. ...Paul converted to Christianity on the Road to Damascus; I converted on the Road from Damascus—two very different stories, two very different men—the same salvation and the same Lord and Savior."

(Birmingham, AL)—Karim Shamsi-Basha, born and raised in Damascus, Syria, was almost aborted by his mother, who was reportedly "dragged by her hair" from an abortion appointment by a friend of hers. Still, Karim recalls an idyllic childhood in Syria in which his "open-minded" Muslim father "showered [him] with love." (Photo by Neisha Fuson/via Baptist Press)

Shamsi-Basha and his family eventually made their way to America. He graduated from the University of Tennessee and by the early 1990's he was working as a photojournalist for the Birmingham Post-Herald newspaper. On April 8, 1992, he was sent to cover a church fire. What happened on that day changed his life forever.

Shamsi-Basha experienced a brain aneurysm while on assignment and was subsequently hospitalized for three weeks, during which time, and for months afterwards, he reportedly couldn't walk or talk.

Eventually, Karim made a full recovery—a recovery precipitated by an almost prophetic word by his neurologist who explained to him in no uncertain terms that few people ever recover from a brain aneurysm. "You have to find out why you survived," the doctor told him.

According to a report in The Alabama Baptist, that's exactly what the young man did. He began by reading the Book of John and found himself mesmerized by Jesus's claim in John 14:6 that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no man could come to His Father "but by Me."

Karim's journey to Christ was a long one, punctuated by loss and pain and agonizing vacillation, due primarily to the fact that he loved his family so much he couldn't bear the thought of separation it would bring.

When his father died, for example, Shamsi-Basha said, "I fell apart. I became both Muslim and Christian. I was very mad at God for a couple of years, but something inside kept tugging me back to Christianity."

It wasn't until 2008, following a conversation with a Christian, that he finally gave himself over to Christ fully. "All I did was obey," he said. "Salvation is mentioned over 150 times in the Bible; it's mentioned once in the Quran. Islam and most other religions on this earth say 'do and don't.' Christianity says, 'done.'"

To read more about Karm Shamsi-Basha in detail and find out about his book, "Paul and Me: A Journey to and From the Damascus Road, From Islam to Christ," click here.