From Terror to Testimony

In Istanbul, Turkey, a young Muslim girl named Isik Abla had endured years of physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. Devoted to pleasing Allah, at age 12 she vowed at a Quran training camp to someday perform jihad – eliminating enemies of the faith in exchange for acceptance into paradise.

As an adult, Isik earned an advanced business degree and had great success working in high-ranking executive positions for some of the largest corporations in Turkey. This also gave her opportunities to travel worldwide.

But despite this outward success, she was fighting an internal battle over her purpose in life. After years of depression, two abusive husbands, and frequent suicidal thoughts, in 1996 Isik tried to find a new lease on life in America.

Her escape to America was triggered by a terrifying near death experience at the hands of her violent Muslim husband. But she then spent years struggling to start her career all over again in a foreign country. And after failing in many areas of her personal life, she thought she’d reached a dead end.

“Why do You hate me?” she cried out to God on the day she had planned to end her life. “Why have You deserted me? I am knocking on Your door. Are You going to open it?”

But that afternoon, the Lord answered Isik’s prayer in a surprising way. Her Christian boss called her into his office and said God told him of her plans to kill herself.

“You are not forsaken or abandoned by God, Isik,” he assured her. “He loves you and wants to be the center of your life.”

With each word he spoke, Isik felt the presence of God. “I went on my face to the floor and started weeping intensely,” she recalls. “Then I cried out, ‘Yes, Jesus!’ – and that one single Yes brought me to Christ.”

After the moment she first encountered God’s love and surrendered to Jesus, her life remarkably changed for the better. Yet that didn’t mean things would always be easy.

Death Threats

From an abused, frustrated, suicidal Muslim, Isik Abla was transformed into a bold preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She now has her own program on Inspiration TV, where she shares Christ’s love to millions of people around the world each day.

Many of those who watch her broadcasts are Muslims. And while some of these viewers are seeking the truth about Jesus, others want to kill her for denouncing Islam. In 2011, one of the most prominent Muslim extremists in the Middle East sent her a terrifying death threat via Facebook message.

“I remember opening my messages and saw that this man had written to me,” Isik shares. In his profile picture, he was holding two rifles! With no introduction, he wrote, ‘It is my mission in life, until my last drop of blood, to find you and kill you.’”

When asked how she immediately felt, Isik answers with two simple words: scared and hurt. She herself had once been a radical Muslim, willing to kill infidels in order to please Allah. It was heartbreaking to receive a death threat from someone who stood in the very shoes she once wore.

“It hurt me, because I was once in the same place,” Isik says. “Just like I had been, the man was convinced killing Christians would please Allah. And this time I was the target.”

Initially shaken, Isik spent the next few weeks praying for God to intervene. But when she asked Him how she should respond, she was shocked by the Lord’s calm, gentle voice in reply: “Love him.”

Armed with new boldness and a completely different perspective, Isik wrote back in response to this man’s hateful message: “It is my mission in life, until the very last breath in my lungs, to love you with the love of Jesus.”

Surprisingly, the man wrote out a list of every wrong thing he had ever done and asked how God could possibly forgive him. With tears streaming down her face, Isik wrote back with her story of salvation. God’s grace in her heart had enabled her to truly love this man as a brother.

In just two words, the man replied, “I’m ready.” In that amazing moment, he gave his life to Christ. No one was more surprised than the man’s wife, who he often would abuse. But when he came home and told her that he loved her, she could see right away that his life was undergoing a radical transformation.

What a turnaround! Jesus’ love was making all things new for the dangerous man who had killed, raped, and beaten countless people throughout his lifetime. Now he’s a devoted follower of Christ and is being taught God’s Word through Isik’s broadcasts!

Reaching Muslims Every Day!

“Only Jesus has unconditional love and forgiveness. Allah does not,” Isik passionately shares with her viewers. “This is the simple message of the Gospel: Jesus offers everyone His unconditional love.”

When asked how often she interacts with Muslims, Isik simply exclaims, “Every day!” Her message of salvation and transformed lives is heard all over the world – to a potential audience of 500 million Muslims!

Visit Inspiration TV to see current airtimes for Isik’s powerful broadcasts.