The face of courage, dignity, strength...Mosab Hasan Yousef, 30, now an evangelical christian and living in SoCal. His story is finally told -- powerful and compelling.
"Islam is collapsing. From the outside it looks like it is growing but inside it is collapsing. It is not working anymore. It is collapsing." Mosab Hasan Yousef, the son of the founder of Hamas -- the radical islam group created to destroy Israel told FOX News's Jonathan Hunt on a special program Escape From Hamashosted by Bill Hammer tonight. Today, Mosab is living in San Diego as an evangelical christian. Incredible.
Mosab converted to Christianity after reading a passage from the Bible..."love thy neighbor". The son of one of the most revered leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has renounced his religion and moved to America. Mosab, 30, told Fox News tonight that his decision to abandon his Muslim faith and denounce his father's organisation had exposed his family to persecution in his home town of Ramallah and endangered his own life. His story is compelling, heart wrenching and real. Despite the cost, Mosab told The Daily Telegraph recently that he is convinced that speaking out about the problems of Islam and the "evil" he witnessed back home would help to address the "messed-up situation" in the Middle East and one day bring about peace and enable him to return.
Mosab Hassan Yousef:
I'm not afraid of them, especially as I know that I'm doing the right thing, and I don't see them as my enemies. I do think about this a lot. But what are they going to do? Are they going to kill me? If they want to kill me, let them do it. I'm not going to stop anyone. It's going to be my freedom. My soul's going to be free of my body, not flesh any more.
Jonathan Hunt, Fox News:
Now known as Joseph by friends at the Barabbas Road church in San Diego, California, arrived in America 18 months ago but only recently made "the biggest decision of my life" to go public with his conversion to draw attention to how the Palestinian leadership is "misleading" and exploiting its people.
Mosab Hasan Yousef:
Palestinians look really ugly in front of everybody in the world and they are very, very good people ... they are misled, and their picture is very dark because of this leadership. They need some help, they need people to stop lying to them, and lying to the world.
Jonathan Hunt:
Mr Yousef was raised as a Muslim by his politically powerful family. His father, Hassan Yousef, a highly respected sheikh born in the West Bank town of al-Ghaniya near Ramallah, is a founding member of Hamas, whose military wing has instigated dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks against Israel since it was formed in 1987. Hamas now governs the Gaza strip after ousting the more moderate Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, whose administration now only controls the West Bank.
Mosab Hasan Yousef:
My family members are definitely suffering because of what I've done. They are not a regular family, they are a very famous family, and Muslims around the world praise my family, praise my father. So when I came with a step like this, it was impossible to think about, it was crazy. I knew from the beginning my family would face an impossible situation. It wasn't their choice but they have had to carry it with me. It's difficult for my mother, she's crying all day long. Every time I talk to her, she's crying.
His mother, Salsabin, told The Daily Telegraph they are in daily contact with Mosab but she declined to comment further on his new life. Mosab said that his father, who has spent more than a decade in Israeli jails for his involvement with Hamas, was in prison when he "got the worst news in his life" - that his son had become a Christian and left Ramallah.
Mosab Hasan Yousef:
But at the same time he sent me a message of love. Everybody is asking him to disown me. You understand if he disowns me he will give terrorists a chance to kill me. He loves me as a son and he believes that what I've done was something I believed in, but at the same time it's very difficult for him to understand and he won't be able to understand. Hamas, they are using civilians' lives, they are using children, they are using the suffering of people every day to achieve their goals. And this is what I hate.
Nevertheless he does not advocate the "collapse of Islam", but rather for people to acknowledge that after 1,400 years "it's not working any more".
He hopes that Muslims will begin to question their religion and "fix it" by rejecting the parts that call for "killing others, cutting hands, cutting legs, torturing people and asking for destruction of entire civilisations".
He said that after he converted to Christianity, he decided he had to escape and "live my life away from violence because I couldn't coexist with that situation as a Christian."
Mosab Hasan Yousef:
I didn't come to Christianity for money, I came to Christianity because this is the way we can live a better life. I love my people. They have the right to live like any other nation on Earth. But at the same time, I want to help them [get] on the right track.
Incredible story, incredible courage, incredible strength, incredible life, incredible young man Mosab Hasan Yousef is.
"Islam is collapsing. From the outside it looks like it is growing but inside it is collapsing. It is not working anymore. It is collapsing." Mosab Hasan Yousef, the son of the founder of Hamas -- the radical islam group created to destroy Israel told FOX News's Jonathan Hunt on a special program Escape From Hamashosted by Bill Hammer tonight. Today, Mosab is living in San Diego as an evangelical christian. Incredible.Mosab converted to Christianity after reading a passage from the Bible..."love thy neighbor". The son of one of the most revered leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has renounced his religion and moved to America. Mosab, 30, told Fox News tonight that his decision to abandon his Muslim faith and denounce his father's organisation had exposed his family to persecution in his home town of Ramallah and endangered his own life. His story is compelling, heart wrenching and real. Despite the cost, Mosab told The Daily Telegraph recently that he is convinced that speaking out about the problems of Islam and the "evil" he witnessed back home would help to address the "messed-up situation" in the Middle East and one day bring about peace and enable him to return.
Mosab Hassan Yousef:
I'm not afraid of them, especially as I know that I'm doing the right thing, and I don't see them as my enemies. I do think about this a lot. But what are they going to do? Are they going to kill me? If they want to kill me, let them do it. I'm not going to stop anyone. It's going to be my freedom. My soul's going to be free of my body, not flesh any more.
Jonathan Hunt, Fox News:
Now known as Joseph by friends at the Barabbas Road church in San Diego, California, arrived in America 18 months ago but only recently made "the biggest decision of my life" to go public with his conversion to draw attention to how the Palestinian leadership is "misleading" and exploiting its people.
Mosab Hasan Yousef:
Palestinians look really ugly in front of everybody in the world and they are very, very good people ... they are misled, and their picture is very dark because of this leadership. They need some help, they need people to stop lying to them, and lying to the world.
Jonathan Hunt:
Mr Yousef was raised as a Muslim by his politically powerful family. His father, Hassan Yousef, a highly respected sheikh born in the West Bank town of al-Ghaniya near Ramallah, is a founding member of Hamas, whose military wing has instigated dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks against Israel since it was formed in 1987. Hamas now governs the Gaza strip after ousting the more moderate Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, whose administration now only controls the West Bank.
Mosab Hasan Yousef:
My family members are definitely suffering because of what I've done. They are not a regular family, they are a very famous family, and Muslims around the world praise my family, praise my father. So when I came with a step like this, it was impossible to think about, it was crazy. I knew from the beginning my family would face an impossible situation. It wasn't their choice but they have had to carry it with me. It's difficult for my mother, she's crying all day long. Every time I talk to her, she's crying.
His mother, Salsabin, told The Daily Telegraph they are in daily contact with Mosab but she declined to comment further on his new life. Mosab said that his father, who has spent more than a decade in Israeli jails for his involvement with Hamas, was in prison when he "got the worst news in his life" - that his son had become a Christian and left Ramallah.
Mosab Hasan Yousef:
But at the same time he sent me a message of love. Everybody is asking him to disown me. You understand if he disowns me he will give terrorists a chance to kill me. He loves me as a son and he believes that what I've done was something I believed in, but at the same time it's very difficult for him to understand and he won't be able to understand. Hamas, they are using civilians' lives, they are using children, they are using the suffering of people every day to achieve their goals. And this is what I hate.
Nevertheless he does not advocate the "collapse of Islam", but rather for people to acknowledge that after 1,400 years "it's not working any more".
He hopes that Muslims will begin to question their religion and "fix it" by rejecting the parts that call for "killing others, cutting hands, cutting legs, torturing people and asking for destruction of entire civilisations".
He said that after he converted to Christianity, he decided he had to escape and "live my life away from violence because I couldn't coexist with that situation as a Christian."
Mosab Hasan Yousef:
I didn't come to Christianity for money, I came to Christianity because this is the way we can live a better life. I love my people. They have the right to live like any other nation on Earth. But at the same time, I want to help them [get] on the right track.
Incredible story, incredible courage, incredible strength, incredible life, incredible young man Mosab Hasan Yousef is.
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