In this powerful episode filmed inside a mosque in Manchester, England, a former member of the English Defence League (EDL) shares his incredible journey from being an anti-Islam activist to accepting Islam and becoming a practicing Muslim. His story demonstrates that when sincere seekers go directly to Islamic sources rather than relying on secondhand misinformation, the truth becomes undeniable.
From the Church to the Pub to the EDL
Chris grew up as a practicing Christian but left the church at 17 after receiving no satisfactory answers about the Trinity from multiple priests. He always believed in one Creator, but the doctrine that Jesus was God contradicted what he read in the Bible. Disillusioned, he turned to the pub to numb his existential questions. Growing up in a neighborhood with conflict between the Pakistani and white communities, he developed negative associations with Islam, even thinking Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was Pakistani. A chance connection with someone who shared similar grievances at the pub led him into the EDL, where he spent two years marching against Muslims based on misconceptions about honor killings and FGM that have nothing to do with Islamic teachings.
“We’re lazy, we don’t read. If there was a headline, we just read the title and then we go from the title of what actually happened. We never read the full article.” — Chris, former EDL member
How a Taxi Driver and a Smile Changed Everything
After a serious car crash in 2014 left him bedridden, Chris began searching for answers again. He returned to the church for four months but still could not find logical answers. Then he stumbled upon Merciful Servant videos about Jesus in Islam and agreed with everything they said. When he told a taxi driver about these beliefs, the driver smiled and told him “this is Islam.” Chris’s response was hostility — “you’re that Islam, the terrorists” — but the taxi driver’s calm, kind smile baffled him. Four weeks of stubborn resistance later, he met a Muslim brother at work named Bashir who embodied everything he had been watching online. On November 6, 2015, Chris walked into a mosque and took his shahada.
“When the truth comes to you, the truth comes to you. You can’t do anything about it really. It’s not really a choice unless you lie to yourself for the rest of your life. Alhamdulillah.” — Chris, on accepting Islam
Advice for EDL Members and Islamophobes
- Read from Islamic sources — you would not hire a bricklayer to do plumbing, so do not learn about Islam from anti-Islam activists
- Many EDL members genuinely love their country and believe in God — if exposed to true Islamic teachings, many would likely accept Islam
- The EDL provided companionship that British society lacks, but that same sense of brotherhood exists in the Muslim community in a far more meaningful way
- Islam answered every question that Christianity could not — particularly about the Trinity and the pure monotheism that Jesus actually preached
- Chris’s message: “When I came to the right people and got the context, I was like wow — it blows your mind because all you think is that Islam is so oppressive, but when you see it, it’s mercy”
