Cedric Kanana and Benjamin Fischer. Dying in Islam, Rising in Christ. Nampa ID: Pembroke Street P, 2018. Print.

Dying in Islam, Rising in Christ tells the first-person, true story of a man who converted from Islam. We learn that Cedric’s father founded the mosque in the Rwandan town where they lived. Cedric was raised Muslim, but during the ethnic wars of the nineties in Rwanda, his father divorced his mother because she came from a different tribe. Since Cedric and two sisters were not pure Hutu, he kicked out the whole family.

His divorced mother barely survived. Cedric (Sawdiq was his Muslim name) began to live the life of a street criminal and formed a small gang. One requirement to join was to be Muslim.

Cedric until age eight had received a good education and was able to pass exams to attend a boarding school at age twelve. There he simply formed a new gang. Though the school had a Catholic affiliation, he had no intent to convert. He still wanted to please his father. He even debated Christians about their faith.

The climax of his story involves him dying and meeting three evil spirits who were sent to take him to hell. He learns that Jesus is the only one who can keep him from hell. Conversion to Christianity is not treated lightly by the Muslim community in most countries, and he is almost killed several times for his apostasy afterwards.

In Dying in Islam, Rising in Christ we learn a lot about his culture. The religion is a “folk Islam.” As long as someone confesses that Allah is the chief god and Mohammed is his prophet, that person can believe other things. So both his mother and stepmother performed traditional African witchcraft. This was not seen as contradictory because they had confessed Mohammed as prophet.

We learn how he was able to survive and even provide for his mother by selling drugs. We learn about the simple but harsh Muslim view of divorce. We also learn that the Qur’an is not exactly monotheistic—it mentions three daughters that Allah fathered. (That is the way it was interpreted where he lived.)

Unlike the West, Rwandans understand that there is a spiritual realm. When Cedric is mortally sick, the Western-trained doctor says there is no diagnosis or cure. It is “a thing of Africa.” When he dies, he knows his crimes will send him to hell until Jesus rescues him.

I once had a friend who used to ride with motorcycle gangs. He was in a bike crash that paralyzed him from the waist down. He said that while he was being operated on, he felt a hand grab his ankle to bring him to hell. Like Cedric, he was not scared. He knew he was going to hell, and he knew he deserved it. In his case, the doctors revived him and eventually he became a Christian, too.

Testimonies like this as well as testimonies of heaven, can help us redirect our thinking two ways: What is really important? What is really true?

Disclosure of Material: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookCrash book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive, review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR Title 16, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”