Brother Rachid

Brother Rachid (born 1971, Morocco) is a Moroccan Christian convert from Islam whose father is a well-known respected Imam. He is one of the most outspoken converts in the world, he hosts a weekly live call-in show on Al Hayat TV where he compares Islam and Christianity as well as debates Islamic scholars.

Rachid was born in Morocco to a conservative Muslim family and raised in Dokalla. His father was an Imam. He memorized one-sixth of the Quran by age 6. He studied economics and computer science at Hassan II University in Casablanca. In 1990, at the age of 19, he converted from Islam to Christianity after studying the differences between the two faiths with the original intent to defend Islam. When his parents found out about his conversion, they ejected him from their home and he went to live with a missionary but was eventually forced to flee Morocco. After determining that over 80 million Arabs did not truly understand the Classical Arabic dialect that the Quran was written in, he undertook the translation of the Quran into local Arabic dialects believing that if more Muslims understood the words of the Quran, they would leave the faith.

In 2005, he began hosting his own television program on Al hayat TV comparing the virtues of Christianity over Islam, including 55 taped episodes of Unveiling the Mask and 300 live episodes of Daring Questions, which allows Muslims to call in and ask questions about Christianity, and also features testimonies from former Muslims who have converted to Christianity. The channel is controversial in the Islamic world and is banned in several Muslim countries, and a bounty has been placed on many of its personalities and management. Rachid does not reveal his last name. His programs have been credited with assisting in the conversion of over 150,000 former Muslims to Christianity in Morocco.

Rachid asks that all Moroccans be allowed: 1. To change their religion; 2. To own the translated version of the Bible in Moroccan Arabic or Arabic language without the fear of being arrested; 3. To give Christian names to their children; 4. To teach their children Christianity in school instead of Islam; and 5. The right for free practice of Christianity.

In a video called “A Message to President Obama From a Former Muslim”, he asserts that the actions of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) do speak for the religion of Islam, despite assertions to the contrary, and asserts that terrorism begins in the schools and mosques:

Rachid believes that the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has created an unprecedented crisis of faith in the Islamic world: "Many Muslims are saying, 'If ISIS is Islam, I'm leaving.' Some are becoming atheists...There is a huge wave of atheism in the Arab world right now and many are turning to Jesus Christ. Islam was never faced with this crisis before." Rachid believes that a Christian "awakening" is happening in the Middle East with many Muslims becoming either Christians or atheists after they find out what Islam really is about and that Islam is unlike other religions because "Islam does not accept any law besides Allah's law".

His wife is also a Moroccan Christian and they have three children.