How I Met God…From Islam to Jesus

By H.J. Trinity

In the corners of every culture lurk stories of tragedy and triumph. How I Met God from Islam to Jesus describes a captivating story of H. J. Trinitys tumultuous yet courageous journey from Iran to America, and from Islam to Christianity. H. J. Trinity was a Muslim woman born in the heart of the Middle East, who always felt insignificant, empty, and displaced by the strictness of Islam, her unloving family, and a morbid culture. Those negative forces ultimately left her with an aching void that plagued her entire life.

One night, due to a personal tragedy that left her emotionally paralyzed, she lost all hope and faith in God. But that same night, her void was filled when she personally met Jesus, who then introduced her to God for the first time. And from that moment on, she continued to water the seed of happiness that God had planted in her heart. Her personal conviction, led by Jesus, propelled her to succeed in staving off all fears deriving from family, religion, and culture. Her philosophy and core beliefs have always been to live for love, health, and wealth. After witnessing many miracles, meeting Jesus face to face, and most importantly, having a direct relationship with God, she was inspired to share those experiences with the rest of the world. How I Met God from Islam to Jesus also shares how she communicates with God directly without following any rituals of religion, culture, or family. You will learn how her new revelation served as her armor against an extremely racist culture, how she was finally able to find peace and harmony through pain and discord, and how she lives her life today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781490807546

H.J. Trinity

Born into a Shia Muslim family in Iran, H. J. Trinity was forced by family, religion, and culture to impugn all other beliefs. After many years of suffering, she lost all faith in God until the night Jesus introduced her to a God she knew existed but had never met.

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HOW I MET GOD…

FROM ISLAM TO JESUS

H.J. Trinity

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Copyright © 2013 H.J. Trinity.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-0755-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-0756-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-0754-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013916259

WestBow Press rev. date: 9/17/2013

CONTENTS

Introduction

Childhood Years 1964-1976

Teenage Years 1977-1983

Young Adult Years 1984-1994

Adult Years 1995-Present

Conclusion

And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,

and perfect, will of God.

(Romans 12:2)

INTRODUCTION

I was born in a middle-class Shia Muslim family in Tehran, Iran. My parents were not devout Muslims; however, there was a fundamental sense of Islam in the household. Through Islam’s teachings, I was forced to oppose and reject all other faiths and consider all non-Muslims infidels.

I had been seeking God all my life. I lived in the free world mentally, yet I was entrapped in the old world physically through culture, religion, and family. Then I had a spiritual awakening; I met Jesus, and a divine transformation ensued. Through His teachings, I learned that we are all children of God, and I was able to experience forces that shaped me into who I am today.

My hunger and desire to know Jesus began in my early teenage years, shortly after I left Iran for America. I longed for acceptance and purpose. I was seeking approval from those who did not approve of me. I was a female Muslim from the Middle East who felt empty, insignificant, and displaced by family, religion, and culture.

My self-esteem was restored when Jesus came into my life and put me in a heavenly place I never knew existed. I was born with a void in my heart that only Jesus helped fulfill. I needed to be saved but did not know how, until Jesus saved me.

Through pain, I achieved personal growth. My paralyzing fears disappeared when Jesus showed me the beauty of God. I was finally able to leave the old world and enter a new world physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It was my magnificent rebirth.

Historically, Islam and the Persian culture date back thousands of years. Islam was founded in 622 AD by Muhammad, who was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity.

Islam means submission to God’s will. A follower of Islam is called a Muslim. The holy book is the Quran, a text considered to be the verbatim word of God, delivered by Muhammad. The Islamic church is called a Mosque. Islam is also divided into two denominations of Shia and Sunni, the latter being the largest sect in the world.

The core beliefs of Islam are that there is only one God, and that Muhammad is the prophet and the last in a series of prophets beginning with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. In Islam it is blasphemous to confess Jesus is the Son of God; rather, He is the Christian prophet.

The five main pillars of Islam and the principles Muslims must follow are daily prayer, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, confession of faith and testimony of Muhammad as the prophet, participating in charity, and an obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.

As far as the Persian culture and its history, Iran is the eighteenth largest country in the world and home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations. It is formerly known as Persia and is located in the Middle East, with the Persian Gulf in the south and the Caspian Sea in the north. The capital city is Tehran and the political, cultural, educational, commercial, and industrial center of the nation; it is also the most populous. Iran is also bordered by Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Turkey.

The predominant religion of Iran is Islam, and the official language is Persian. The majority of the population speaks Persian, as well as other dialects. Iran is a diverse country that is cemented by the Persian language and culture. Iran also consists of people of other religions and ethnic backgrounds: Armenian, Assyrian, Jewish, Kurdish, and Turkish.

Iran is a mixture of ancient pre-Islamic and Islamic culture. The official state religion is dominated by the Shia sect. Religion has always been a major source of power that has governed the way women have been able to live their lives. There is a common theme of subordination that comes from the fact that religion has placed strict rules on the actions of women in Iran.

Iran is famously known for its history, culture, poetry, literature, rugs, petroleum, caviar, and cats. Persians were some of the first people in history to weave carpets, and they produce more rugs than any other country. The Caspian Sea Coast is one of the largest lakes in the world and home to the sturgeon that provide the world’s best caviar.

Persian cats originated from the ancient Persia. The breed is characterized by its long hair, shortened muzzle, and round face. The first documented ancestors of Persian cats were imported in 1620 to Italy from Khorasan, a city northeast of Iran, also known for its rugs and saffron worldwide.

Persian literature is one of the oldest and best-known literatures in the world, spanning over 2,500 years. It also inspired Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and many others. It has been dubbed often as the most worthy language to serve as a conduit for poetry.

Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire circa 600 BC. Persians are the descendants of the Aryan (Indo-European) nation. Cyrus the Great has been a personal hero to many people, including Thomas Jefferson.

In 1935, the reigning king of Iran, Reza Shah, wanted to represent the modernity of the state and asked the international community to address the country known originally by the Western world as Persia to its internally used name Iran, meaning "land of the Aryans." Both Persia and Iran are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, Iran is the name officially used in political contexts.

In 1936, another important area of modernization for Iran was the Women’s Awakening Movement. This movement banned women from wearing cloaks, veils, and head scarves in public. Reza Shah believed it to be incompatible with his modernizing ambitions. This policy enabled women to enter society, contribute to the progress of the nation, change their appearance, and consequently create new paths for Iran to enter the free world.

The policy was welcomed by the upper-class women who saw it as a first step to equal rights. They believed the cloak would stop their chances of advancement in society and further contribute to the perpetual backward civilization. The nation finally began to feel their life was similar to that of Western countries. The general thrust of the reforms was to promote equality between men and women in society, and the position of women improved thereafter.

In 1941, Mohammad R. Pahlavi (a.k.a. the Shah of Iran) took the imperial oath and thus became the king soon after his father, Reza Shah, was forced to abdicate the throne. The Shah’s system in the nation was much imitated by the Western world. He was a secular Shia Muslim who had an affinity for the Western civilization, especially America. As a young crown prince, he studied abroad and attended military school. He also attended a boarding school in Switzerland during his early childhood.

In 1953, the Shah was able to overthrow his very popular Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh with the help of US President Dwight Eisenhower. A series of significant reform programs ensued: women were granted suffrage, appointed as judges and ministers in the cabinet, and elected to the parliament and the upper house.

The Shah digressed from being a constitutional monarch to an authoritarian one. The formation of his military government relied heavily on United States support to hold on to power. He favored American and British oil interests, and his rule became increasingly autocratic. He was able to rapidly modernize the Iranian infrastructure and military with the American support.

In 1969, the Shah of Iran, a modernizing monarch and a loyal American ally, sent a message for the historic first lunar landing. The Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages to NASA is a 1/200 scale ultra-microfiche silicon-etching disc, about the size of a fifty-cent coin. It was left on the moon by the astronauts and rests in an aluminum case on the moon’s Sea of Tranquility.

At the top of the disc is the inscription, Goodwill messages from around the world brought to the Moon by the astronauts of Apollo 11. Around the rim is the statement, From Planet Earth—July 1969. Inside, it contains statements from leaders of seventy-three countries around the world, and one of those leaders was the Shah of Iran.

His message was, On this occasion when Mr. Neil Armstrong and Colonel Edwin Aldrin set foot for the first time on the surface of the Moon from the Earth, we pray the Almighty God to guide mankind toward ever increasing success in the establishment of peace and the progress of culture, knowledge and human civilization. In October 1969, the Apollo 11 crew visited the Shah in Iran during their world tour.

The Shah defended his style of rule and with Iran’s great oil wealth, he became the preeminent leader of the Middle East and self-proclaimed guardian of the Persian Gulf. A series of economic, social, and political reforms with the stated intention transformed Iran into a global power and modernized the nation.

The Shah maintained close ties with the United States during most of his reign and pursued a westernizing and a modernizing economic policy, and a strongly pro-Western foreign policy. He also made a number of visits to America, where he was regarded as a friend.

The Shah had long been pro-American and introduced his nation to many facets of the American culture, all through media. His love and passion for America was widely known through his establishment of English-speaking schools, Christian churches, American restaurants and nightclubs, and eventually a television station solely dedicated to American programs. The station entertained us with American movies and variety shows. Christmas celebration was also openly observed and largely commercialized.

The Shah came to power during World War II. He was uncommonly a modernized and a Westernized king of a conservative Middle East country. However, his rule was also corrupt and repressive. There were arbitrary arrests and torture by his secret police to crush all forms of political opposition.

In 1979, the Shah was overthrown and the Persian monarchy was formally abolished. Iran was declared an Islamic Republic, led by the religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini. In 1980 the Shah was granted asylum in Egypt by his longtime friend, President Anwar Sadat, and he died of cancer at the age of sixty. After thirty-seven years of ruling Iran, the Shah died in exile and was buried in Cairo, Egypt.

Shortly after the revolution, the status of women quickly deteriorated. Many of the rights that women had gained under the Shah and his father were systematically abolished. Several laws based on gender discrimination were established, such as the introduction of mandatory veiling and a public dress code for females, and through legislation, the elimination of women from work.

After five decades of equality in Iran, women were forced to re-acclimate to the new laws almost overnight. It was a big adjustment to make in such a short time; therefore, balance was lost. The Women’s Awakening Movement of 1936 was obliterated, and veiling became obligatory and strictly enforced. The minister of education, who was the first woman to serve under the Shah’s cabinet, was executed in public for refusing to step back in history and wear the veil.

Also in 1979, American hostages were captured by the radical Islamic students at the US embassy in Tehran. In January 1981, after 444 days in captivity, the fifty-two American hostages were released on the same day President Ronald Reagan took his first inaugural oath into office.

I was fortunate and blessed to leave Iran before the Islamic Revolution. I witnessed the abhorrent treatment of women in Iran through the media and those who lived in Iran after the revolution.

In my opinion, there are too many restrictions put on Muslim women to prove they are worthy of God. Islam’s teachings instilled a fear of God in me, rather than His love. I believe that only through love can we see love. I was condemned for not following the rituals of Islam and the culture, but the Holy Spirit that lives in me gave me the courage to stave off all fears. Through Jesus, I also learned how easy it is to love God.

Before I met Jesus I was a servant of God, but after I met Jesus, I became a child of God. Islam was my given faith by birth, but Jesus is my true faith by choice.

God brought me to America to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

God opened my eyes to the cleansing truth of Jesus’ love.

Jesus helped me find God, who always lived within me.

God helped me find myself.

I pray this book finds you, and finds you well.

CHILDHOOD YEARS 1964-1976

I was born in Tehran, Iran, the third of six children, with three sisters and two brothers. My parents married when my mother was sixteen and my father twenty-three. According to my mother, their marriage was arranged, but my father insisted they were both in love and wanted to marry.

My father was an account executive of a large bank. He was born into a wealthy family in northern Iran and was the third of five children; he had two brothers and two sisters. His mother was a homemaker, and his father was a wealthy landowner. My grandfather inherited his wealth from his father but later gave it up to follow his passion for animals.

My grandfather had an affinity for horses. He bought a farm and was surrounded by animals and raised horses. He transferred most of his inheritance to his younger brother, who later expanded that fortune and became a well-regarded senator and a millionaire. My father and his siblings grew up watching their cousins enjoy their wealth.

My mother had aspirations of becoming a journalist but instead became a licensed beautician. She owned a salon at home and only accepted female clients. She was born into a middle-class family in Tehran and was the third of seven children; she had six brothers and no sisters. Her mother was a homemaker, and her father was the editor in chief of a famous newspaper who later became the vice president of the largest railroad company in Tehran.

My mother was a stern woman and very set in her ways. She did not compromise her convictions for any reason. The most important part of her life was fashion and social etiquette, which she worked very hard to instill in her children as well. She had a great sense of style and was a firm believer in proper social etiquette. She idolized Grace Kelly and Jacqueline Kennedy for their class and beauty. She even had a scrapbook of Grace Kelly’s 1956 royal wedding to Prince Rainier. In her circle, my mother loved receiving compliments for always being the best dressed and having the best-behaved children.

My father and his brothers were avid bird hunters. Sadly, during one of their many hunting trips, my fourteen-month-old brother died of meningitis at home. My parents were devastated. My father was saddened that he was not present during my brother’s illness and untimely death. The tragedy also took its toll on my mother. Too distraught to go on, she immediately shut down her short-lived salon business.

I spent most of my time at home with my mother. She was raising five small children and always barking orders at the housekeeper and us. My mother had full control over everyone in the household, including my father, and she was very strict, controlling, and unloving. We were always told of her reluctance to marry or have children, and we were blamed for ruining her dream of becoming a journalist.

As a child, I felt guiltier than my siblings because she had become deathly ill during her pregnancy with me and made sure to keep reminding me of that. She also blamed me because she was never able to lose the weight she gained while carrying me. It was surely unpleasant to hear all the time, especially as a child.

My father was more loving and openly affectionate. He provided the best way he could for his family, but it was never enough for my mother. She acted like royalty and expected to be treated as such without having to contribute in any way. Everything she asked of my father he provided, yet she continued to blame us for everything that happened—or did not happen—in her life. There was no doubt she resented her children; however, she refused to blame herself for any of her own actions. I always believed she wanted to marry a prince, much like her idol, Grace Kelly.

My father had to have a higher income in order to provide a certain lifestyle for my mother. He had an opportunity at another bank located in a city nearly three hours away from Tehran, but my mother refused to move out of the ritziest city in Iran. She loved the capital city for its posh lifestyle, fashion, and class, which was more prevalent in Tehran than in any other city in Iran. My father transferred to that location, while the rest of us remained in Tehran. He had friends and family there and stayed with them indefinitely.

According to the Persian calendar, Saturday through Thursday are the weekdays and Friday is the weekend. My father had only one day off, which he spent with us. My mother’s reluctance to move to another city and her lack of contribution to the household income made it harder for my father to be closer to us. He came home late on Thursday nights and left early Saturday mornings. He drove through mountainous roads, and at times, we did not see him for weeks due to roadblocks caused by snow and mudslides.

This style of living put distance between my father and the rest of the family, literally and emotionally. I did not have a close relationship with my mother because she kept a wall between us, and my father spent time with us mostly during summer vacations. We were always at home with my mother and continued to obey her every rule, but she was more focused on her social status than her private life. She was more concerned about what others thought of the way her children talked, walked, ate, sat, and dressed.

She was a different woman in public than in private. In public, she was polite, intelligent, and classy. But in private, she was unloving, inattentive, insulting, angry, loud, and lazy. My siblings accepted her behavior, but I always questioned her actions and motives.

Culturally, I was not allowed to speak or ask questions because everything was kept silent. In the Persian culture, it is impolite and offensive to question one’s parents. My job was to obey her every word and dare not ask questions.

My mother was quick to judge and even quicker to get angry. As I witnessed her bipolar and antisocial personality, I began to mistrust well-behaved adults thereafter. I did sympathize and empathize with any well-behaved children, though. I thought it was part of the culture to be classy in public and classless in private.

I was the same in public as I was in private. Of course, there are certain behaviors we must perfect in public, but my mother’s personality disorder did not seem normal to follow. Since I could not discuss her behavior, I decided to ignore her negative qualities and focus more on what I thought were her good qualities: fashion and etiquette. I thought by doing so I could be close to her, but it was impossible. Her negative qualities outweighed the good; therefore, I suppressed them. Children are mostly an extended version of their parents, good or bad. Social and antisocial behaviors can be genetic. I believe if we do not replace the very thing we wish to eliminate with something good, it will never be completely gone.

My older sister was the apple of everyone’s eye. She was the first grandchild on my mother’s side and the first granddaughter on my father’s side. She was popular and much loved. My oldest uncle, who was a political celebrity, used his status and connections to hire a special calligrapher to write my sister’s birth certificate. She had a baby carriage custom made for her as well.

My brother was quiet and introverted. He was the only male, surrounded by my mother, four sisters, and a housekeeper. He was a self-taught, talented artist and a sculptor and was always busy drawing or building something. He once built a dollhouse with Popsicle sticks and a bicycle out of a coat hanger. We had many cousins his age, but they all lived long distances away in other states. He also played friendly soccer with schoolmates.

I was the middle child, and my playmates were my classmates in school. At home, I was always alone with my thoughts. I was a dreamer. My best friend was television. I never had any toys and did not need them, either. My toys were my thoughts that kept me entertained. I made up characters in my head, dressed them, traveled around the world with them, ate at restaurants with them, danced at nightclubs with them, and more. I learned how to do all of that by watching American movies.

I was addicted to American movies and American TV shows, regardless of whether or not they were dubbed. Persian programs did not have the same quality as American programs; therefore, I was mostly drawn to the American style. My favorite movies were made in the 1950s and 1960s, mostly because of the fashion. When I saw a movie with tasteful fashion, I relived it in my head before bedtime and replaced the female star with myself, especially if she was stylish. One of my favorite movies was Pillow Talk starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Doris Day was my favorite actress because of her sense of fashion, elegance, uniqueness, and sophistication. Her movies were the ones I enjoyed replaying the most in my head.

Almost everything I watched was American whether on TV or in movie theaters. I watched TV shows such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bewitched, Bonanza, Columbo, Days of Our Lives, Donny & Marie, Gunsmoke, H. R. Pufnstuf, Hawaii Five-O, I Dream of Jeannie, Kojak, McMillan & Wife, Mission Impossible, Perry Mason, The Rifleman, The Saint, Six Million Dollar Man, Wild Wild West, and many more.

In theaters, I saw movies such as Fiddler on the Roof, The Exorcist, The Godfather, Jaws, The Sound of Music, Star Wars, The Towering Inferno, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and many more. My only knowledge of America was through movies and television shows. My dream was to visit Hollywood and Disneyland.

My mind was the safest and the only place I could go wherever I wanted. Many nights I missed dinner while my family ate in the other room. I was busy dreaming. Plus, no one noticed my absence to even call me to dinner; therefore, it allowed me more time to use my imagination.

My two younger sisters were inseparable and always played together. They went to the same school and had the