What happens when a devoted Catholic — an altar boy who once stood at the threshold of ministry, a US Air Force veteran who taught Bible studies to children — reads the Holy Scripture with a completely open, questioning mind? For Abdul Malik (Melvin), the answer was unexpected and life-altering: the Bible itself guided him to Islam. His journey, documented in his book The Bible Led Me to Islam, is a compelling witness to what sincere, unbiased truth-seeking can reveal about faith, divine guidance, and the universal thread of monotheism running through every revealed scripture. In this episode of The Deen Show, host Eddie sits down with Melvin to trace the spiritual path of a man who did not abandon his faith — but followed it honestly, all the way to its deepest source.
Reading Scripture Honestly: What the Bible Never Actually Says About Jesus
Melvin was thoroughly embedded in Catholic Christianity from childhood — attending 6 AM Mass as a sole worshipper among the elderly, serving as an altar boy, and later teaching Bible studies to youth while stationed at Great Falls, Montana. He came close to accepting a role as a minister. During his years in the Air Force, he studied comparative religion with rare seriousness, examining Hinduism, Rosicrucianism, Confucianism, Baptist, Protestant, and Episcopalian traditions, always searching for the clearest understanding of truth. What he consistently found — and could not reconcile with Trinitarian doctrine — was that nowhere in the Bible does Jesus (peace be upon him) explicitly declare “I am God.” Every action Jesus described, he attributed to “the will of my Father.” He never asked anyone to worship him. When his disciples asked how to pray, he directed them to “Our Father, who is in heaven” — a prayer strikingly parallel in spirit to Surah Al-Fatihah. And when asked what one must do to inherit eternal life, his answer was plain: keep the Commandments — the very first of which commands, “Thou shalt have no other God but one God.” That commandment, Melvin realised, is the living heartbeat of Islam: pure, undiluted Tawhid, the oneness of the Creator.
- Jesus (peace be upon him) never declared “I am God” anywhere in the Bible — he consistently attributed his actions to the will of the Father who sent him.
- The first four Commandments are centred entirely on pure monotheism — worshipping one God alone — mirroring Islam’s foundational declaration of Tawhid.
- The Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father, who art in heaven…”) closely parallels Surah Al-Fatihah in structure, petition, and purpose.
- Jesus in Aramaic called upon “Allaha” — linguistically identical to the Arabic “Allah,” simply meaning “the God.”
- Melvin’s key insight: people research universities, careers, and life partners with rigorous care — yet many never consciously choose their religion. He calls inherited belief “the backpack of religion” that must be honestly examined, not blindly carried.
- Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) is not a “moon god” — He is the One who holds the heavens and the earth, unseen, without partner, the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious, the final Judge of all creation.
“The Bible gave me the fundamentals. Islam gave me the how-tos. Bringing those two together, I believe the Bible led me to Islam.” — Abdul Malik (Melvin), former Catholic Christian and author of The Bible Led Me to Islam
A Muslim Roommate, a Life in Worship, and the Moment Everything Clicked
The turning point arrived in 1985 when Melvin was assigned a bunk beside a young Bahraini Muslim named Fouzy, serving alongside him in the Air Force. Five things struck Melvin immediately: Fouzy was 26 years old, a disciplined athlete, and yet a virgin — living with a moral integrity virtually invisible in that environment. He was deeply religious, and it showed not in declarations but in every small, consistent action. One morning Melvin watched Fouzy perform wudu at the sink, washing his feet with deliberate care; that same afternoon he found him in full sujud on the floor of their shared room. When Melvin finally asked what he was doing, Fouzy said simply: “I am praying — to the one God.” That exchange opened a conversation that would reshape the rest of Melvin’s life. Fouzy demonstrated how Islam fulfils the Biblical command to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) — not merely through words of the tongue, but through an entire way of life in which waking, sleeping, entering a room, dressing, and every human interaction becomes an act of conscious worship. When a woman appeared improperly dressed on television, Fouzy turned his head away without hesitation — and in that single, instinctive act, Melvin saw the spirit of scripture made flesh. Islam, he came to understand, did not contradict the Bible; it completed it — providing the practical how-to for every imperative the scriptures laid down: honour your parents, treat your neighbour with justice, guard your gaze, call upon the One God without partner or intermediary. It was this realisation, confirmed by Fouzy’s living example, that led Melvin to make his Shahada — not in a grand ceremony, but quietly, at a stoplight in Denver, Colorado, whispering sincerely to his Creator.
“Oh Allah, I don’t know Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him — but if Fouzy knows him, then teach him to me.” — Abdul Malik (Melvin), recalling the moment he accepted Islam
For anyone standing at a similar crossroads today — drawn by an inner longing for truth, yet held back by family expectations, cultural pressure, or the weight of media distortion — Melvin’s counsel is as direct as his journey: set the backpack down, and go to the primary sources. Read the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran with fresh, unguarded eyes. Visit your nearest masjid and ask the questions you need to ask. Pray sincerely to the Creator — by whatever name you have known Him — and ask Him honestly to lead you toward what is true. Allah is not the name of a foreign God; He is the very God Jesus called upon in Aramaic — “Allaha” — the God of Adam, of Ibrahim, of Musa, of Isa, and of the final prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon them all). The message of Islam is not new; it is the oldest and most enduring truth, preserved in its final form in the Quran. The path to eternal life, as Jesus himself affirmed, begins with the first and greatest commandment: there is no god worthy of worship except the One. Submitting to that truth — with sincerity, with an open heart, and with the courage to follow guidance wherever it leads — is precisely what Islam means, and precisely what it offers.
