Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Maybor Stanislas, the 30-year-old bishop of Burundi, never would have imagined that he would leave Christianity and convert to another religion. But as fate would have it, today he has not only embraced Islam but works as an Islamic preacher.

He as the bishop was the representative of the church in eight provinces of his country and supervised dozens of pastors. Stanislas was a obsessive Christian who hated Islam and believed that Christianity was the only true religion. But four years back he saw the light and reverted, and today as a preacher helped bring thousands to Islam.

Stanislas' conversion was a coincidence as his change of heart came after he attended a debate on Christianity and Islam, a debate that he was not planning to attend, according to the Arabic daily Al Hayat. This debate made him follow several other debates. Despite a staunch defense of Christianity as the only true religion to guarantee human happiness on earth and Jesus Christ was the only savior of humanity and the Envoy of Heaven, Stanislas began having his doubts.

"Instead of persuading me, I found myself convinced by the Qur’anic verses, texts from the Bible that deny the divinity of Christ and that he is the Son of God, and confirm that he is human," said Stanislas sharing the story of his conversion into Islam. "There were many debates between us and a group of Muslims. Me and my colleagues couldn't convince them with what we believed in, but I found myself believing the Qur'an and that Islam is the last of the heavenly religions," he stated.

"I discovered that what I was calling for was false and what I taught priests and teachers was not true. What we have learned from the Church are baseless slogans, which made me convert to Islam, and I changed my name from Mebor Stanislas to Maybor Abdullah," he added.

Abdullah felt great peace and happiness after conversion and despite being harassed by the church, Abdullah said that he held fast. He said: "The church started harassing me. They withdrew the financial privileges I received every month. I was expelled from the house where I lived in, and they tried to defame my reputation."

"It did not stop there, with the security services accusing me of being infected with evil spirits due to my conversion to Islam, which led me to move to other provinces, and in Muyinga province I became an adherent to Islam and learned science," he added.

He learned Islam in the provinces of Gitega, the second capital of Burundi, and Ruhrur Muyinga. He spent six months at the Zawiyeh school and, since then he joined the school and applied what he learned in practice.

He continued saying: "After learning a great deal of the science of Islam during this period I began to invite Christians in the eight provinces that were affiliated with the church, which I represented. And thank God I have helped convert in the past years thousands of those in the provinces."

He points out that when he was informed that he would be performing Haj at the expense of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques this year, he was almost overwhelmed by the intensity of joy and wondered: "Is it true, what I heard? Did God call me for Haj in this manner even though I cannot afford it? Many questions were in my mind, until I remembered the words of the truth, Blessed and Exalted be He: "And let people in Haj come to you, men, and to every flock come from every deep valley."

He said, “The current days in Makkah are the happiest days because he is in Holy Mosques. The benefit of the program is to meet Muslim brothers from other countries who are guests of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, which brings together Muslims and unites them.”