Price to Pay: Shocking True Story of Muslim Convert to Catholicism

Editor's note: While I have not yet completely finished my review copy of The Price to Pay: A Muslim Risks All to Follow Christ, I really couldn't wait any longer to share this book with our readers. Compelling from page one, it shares a true story of one brave man's incredible conversion to Catholicism. I thank Ignatius Press for sharing the book with me and for telling this story to the world. LMH

Shocking true story of Muslim convert to Catholicism and his escape to find religious freedom

Iraqi man reveals the immense suffering he endured to follow Christ

The Price to Pay

SAN FRANCISCO, October 18, 2012 – A gripping new autobiography of an Iraqi man, The Price to Pay: A Muslim Risks All to Follow Christ, has just be released from Ignatius Press. This is a true story that at times seems unbelievable in its brutality, as readers learn of the suffering and persecutions endured by the author from someone he thought would never desert him: his own family. His crime? Daring to leave Islam to convert to Catholicism.

During his military service, Muhammad, a young Muslim Iraqi from a leading Shiite family, discovers to his dismay that his roommate is a Christian. Muhammad tries to convert his roommate, but he is the one who is converted.

In Islam changing one’s religion is a crime, and Muhammad’s family does everything possible to make him renounce his new faith in Christ. After threats and blows come prison and horrendous torture. Muhammad, who has become Joseph by his baptism, experiences a long Calvary but does not give in. Finally, he is taken from prison by relatives who threaten to kill him if he does not resubmit to Islam. They shoot him and leave him for dead.

The Price to Pay is the true story of Joseph Fadelle’s conversion to Catholicism. He risks everything—family, friends, his inheritance and home, and even his life—in order to follow Christ. In a dramatic and personal narrative style, Fadelle reveals the horrible persecution endured by Christians living in a violent and hostile Muslim world.

Father Joseph Fessio, S.J., the Editor of Ignatius Press, says of The Price to Pay: A Muslim Risks All to Follow Christ, “This is a story that can’t be adequately summarized—a young Iraqi Muslim and his wife defy death to become Catholic. Here are the opening sentences: ‘Your Sickness is Christ, and there is no remedy. You can never be cured of it. My uncle Karim pulled out a revolver and pointed it at my chest. I held my breath. Behind him, four of my brothers looked at me defiantly. We were alone in a desert valley.’ This is far from fiction, but reads like it.”

Michael Coran, Canadian TV host and author of Why Catholics Are Right, says, “It’s tragic that there has never been a more appropriate time for a book such as this. Compelling, lyrical, captivating, and acutely necessary. Essential reading for every relativist out there, and for those who believe that Christians are not persecuted.”

The Price to Pay: A Muslim Risks All to Follow Christ is “an eloquent, riveting, and eye-opening account of one man’s struggle to follow Christ in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Joseph Fadelle’s intensely personal story contains powerful lessons about the growing threat to Christians from an increasingly aggressive Islam. His compelling narrative provides indispensable insight into the world behind a wall of coercion and oppression no less imprisoning than that erected by communists in the Cold War. The Price to Pay is at once captivating and illuminating” says William Kilpatrick, author of Christianity, Islam and Atheism.

Jay W. Richards, Ph.D., of the Discovery Institute, and co-author of Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before It's Too Late, says, “Joseph Fadelle’s autobiography is a spiritual meditation wrapped in a captivating thriller. For those of us who think of condescending tones and social rejection as religious persecution, Fadelle has given us a glimpse of what it truly means to abandon everything for the gospel. With its contrast between harsh religious bondage and ‘inebriating’ freedom in Christ, The Price to Pay will transform your view of the Christian life.”

Sheila Liaugminas, host of A Closer Look on Relevant Radio, says, “Headlines increasingly report of violence against Christians in villages and churches in the Middle East and around the world, and persecution of converts who refuse to recant even under threat of death. But seeing the face and hearing the voice of one steadfast convert humanizes the story and gives dignity to believers who are denied their humanity. Joseph Fadelle is that voice and his story is compelling. Christians have been asked throughout history and anew in our time ‘What price would you pay for your beliefs?’ Fadelle’s response is a stunning witness to the radical face and love of Christ.”

Joseph Fadelle (Muslim name: Mohammed al-Sayyid al-Moussaou) was born in Iraq in an affluent Shiite family. After he converted to Christianity he was imprisoned and tortured in Iraqi jails. He escaped to Jordan with his family, where his uncle and brothers tried to assassinate him because of his conversion. He now lives in France with his wife and four children, and has become a best-selling author.

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