Captive in Islam

Captive in Islam

Copyright © 2022 by Arline Westmeier

Published in the United States of America

ISBN Paperback: 979-8-89091-032-5

ISBN Hardback: 979-8-89091-033-2

ISBN eBook: 979-8-89091-034-9

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

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Interior design by Daniel Lopez

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Marriage Proposal

Chapter 2 Learning to be Muslim

Chapter 3 The Balancing Scale

Chapter 4 Becoming a Wife and Mother

Chapter 5 The Movie Star

Chapter 6 Life in New York City

Chapter 7 An Unwise Plan

Chapter 8 Finding Isa al-Masih

Chapter 9 The Christianity Box

Chapter 10 Shahid

Chapter 11 The Stroke

Chapter 12 God’s Calling

Chapter 13 Winning the Family for Jesus

Chapter 14 The Children

Chapter 15 Urmi the Missionary

Chapter 16 On to Bangladesh

Chapter 17 Full Time Ministry

Chapter 18 Abba’s Homegoing

Appendix A New Life Christian Center

The Pact of Umar

Appendix B A Resume of Excerpts from The Pact of Omar (Umar)

All proceeds from this book will go to

NLCC (aka Center to The Unreached).

https://www.ctunreached.com/

Introduction

In 2003 when New Life Christian Center (NLCC), now known as the Center to the Unreached (CTU), began their emphasis on reaching the Unreached People Groups in Queens, NY, most of whom were Muslim, no one was sure how to go about doing it. David Westmeier, the pastor of NLCC, was born to missionaries Karl and Arline Westmeier, serving with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) in Colombia and later in Puerto Rico, but there were very few Muslims in these countries.

When services ended in the mosque, located one half-block from their Queens church, the Muslims filled the street in front of the church or sat on the steps leading up to the church door. When the church service ended, the Christians walked around them without even trying to talk to them. Christians and Muslims simply did not interact.

While he was studying at Nyack College, David had worked in a motel where his boss was Muslim. He gave his boss a Bible, and his boss gave him a Qur’an. He tried to share his faith with his boss, but it did not go very well. His boss did not seem to understand what he was trying to share.

During that time, David learned that according to the Qur’an, when anyone dies, he or she automatically goes to hell and Allah will decide how long they need to stay and suffer to balance out the wrongs they committed in their lifetime. No one could be sure how long that would be until after they had died.

David was very concerned about the Muslim people standing outside their church. He wanted to gather a group of Christians to come with him to talk to the Muslims, but no one would go with him. They would talk to Latin people who looked like themselves and who spoke their Spanish language, but not to the Muslims.

Eventually, he decided to go by himself. He got some tracts about the way of salvation and crossed the street to give them to a group of Muslim men. But the encounter ended with the Muslim men telling him that the Bible is corrupted, and that God could not have had a son.

David’s sister Ruthie was teaching English as a Second Language in Tibet for 2 years. When she returned, she joined NLCC and took part in their weekly street evangelism, their prayer walks, and their times of fasting (several times, a few of them fasted for 40 days). They were doing a spiritual battle with the darkness around them that held the people captive so that they could not understand that Jesus had opened the direct way to God.

One day as David and Ruthie were out on street evangelism, they could not find the place for which they were looking. So, Ruthie said, David did his ‘usual thing’ when out on street evangelism. He simply walked up to the apartment building beside us and looked for any apartment with a name that sounded Muslim and rang the doorbell. Neither of them could have imagined how completely God-arranged this whole little evening visit was.

A very dressed-up woman came to the door, and Ruthie introduced themselves. Hi. My name is Ruthie, and this is my brother David. What is your name?

My name is Urmi.¹

"We have a book for you. Have you ever read the Injil (Gospel)?"

Very hesitantly, the woman took the book.

Read it, Ruthie said kindly. I’ll come back next week and see what you think about it.

The woman told Ruthie about the store she and her husband owned. That was where she spent most of her time. Ruthie could visit her there and then they could talk. In the following weeks, David and Ruthie continued to visit Urmi, and a friendship developed. No one could imagine what God had in store for that friendship and the many lives that would be changed.

1 All Muslim names have been changed for security purposes.

Chapter 1

The Marriage Proposal

Let’s get them married, the little four-year-old girls giggled as they hugged their dolls. Mine will be the bride, because yours is a man doll, said little Urmi.

Yes, agreed her friend, and we’ll make a big wedding party for them, with lots of food to eat, she whispered.

Let’s do it for real! I’ll ask my Amma (mother) to cook a real party dinner, and we’ll invite all our friends. The little girls’ wedding plan for their dolls was exciting. Soon they had talked Urmi’s Amma into cooking real food for the dolls’ wedding feast and to invite many friends.

Urmi’s Abba (Father) was working far away from home as an accountant with the Bangladeshi Army. He began working with the army in 1967 before Bangladesh had its independence. When India became independent from Britain, Pakistan also became its own country, but it was made up of West and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). In 1968, Abba moved to West Pakistan, and Amma followed a few years later. In 1971, Bangladesh won its independence, but Amma and Abba stayed in Pakistan until 1973. While they were in Pakistan the family grew. Amma and Abba returned with three children.

When they returned to Bangladesh, Abba continued to work in the Army. He would get reassigned every 4 years. At first Amma would pack up all the children and move with Abba, but after having 5 children she did not feel these changes were good for them. They decided to buy a house in the city where the children could get a good education and settle down. Abba would continue to go where he was assigned and then come home to visit every 4 to 6 months.

Most of the time, Amma was at home alone with the children and felt lonesome. The little girls’ wedding plans for their dolls gave her some unexpected excitement.

From little Urmi’s point of view, her Amma was always looking and thinking about finding a better man, one who was romantic, loved parties, and liked having a good time. Her father on the other hand, was pensive, conscientious, and detail-oriented.

Urmi missed her Abba and wished he could be there for the dolls’ party. She slipped, quiet as a mouse, into her place in the corner under the top bunk of their bed. There she could sit and think and study. No one disturbed her there.

For little Urmi, it seemed Amma was always angry and discontented, constantly looking for someone who would make a better husband than her father: someone educated, romantic, and who would have a high paying and more respectable job.

Urmi was 8 years old and going to school when one of Abba’s good friends came to visit them from far out in the country, where there was little food and no good schools. His son, Omar, had begged and insisted for so long to come to their town to go to school that his Abba finally consented to ask Urmi’s Amma if he could stay with her family to study.

Omar said over and over that he would kill himself if he couldn’t stay. To show that he really meant it and would actually kill himself, several times he ran to the village pond to throw himself into the water. The villagers ran after him shouting that he shouldn’t do it. They pulled him back from the water and brought him back to where his Abba was still negotiating with Urmi’s Amma.

Although Omar was only 11 years old, he studied hard and soon was at the top of his class. He decided he would find a way to never, ever break off his studies again. He talked to Urmi’s mother about his plans to finish his studies and make a lot of money. He would kill himself before he would give up his studies. He had to find some way to keep from being sent back into the country.

Soon Omar and Amma began making plans. Amma saw in Omar a brilliant, promising youth who would become a wealthy, prominent man: the perfect husband for her daughter. So, their plans grew, and they were not playing with dolls!

Why are you doing this, Amma, thought Urmi when she heard them talk. I’m only 8 years old, and I want to go to school and learn things. Omar is a boy and I don’t like him, and he’s only 11 years old. I don’t want to get married to him.

Urmi could think these things, but in her Muslim culture in Bangladesh, she could never say them to her Amma. Being a child, she could never protest her Amma’s plans. A child was not allowed to have any different opinion or even to look at her Amma when she spoke. Any child who did not stand with downcast eyes or who dared to protest when spoken to by a parent was severely punished.

Why is she doing this to me? thought the confused little girl as she crept back to her corner. I don’t understand. She knows I don’t want to get married. Why does she do this to me?

The plans being made for her were just like those they had made for the wedding of her dolls. Her Amma was even planning a big feast just like the one she had made for the dolls. What happened to me? When did I become a doll?

I have talked to Omar’s family, Amma said, finishing the topic. They will be coming to visit us next week and arrange for the wedding. You must be very kind and pleasant with them. Omar will be an educated, romantic husband for you with an excellent job. It is all arranged.

Omar’s