ATU’s final year just got a new Muslim brother. For Derrick, a final year student at Accra Technical University, years of questions about his faith found answers in one campus conversation with brothers from iERA Ghana.
Questions That Wouldn’t Go Away
Derrick grew up in a Christian home. He respected the Bible and attended church, but some things never sat right with him. “I kept reading verses that didn’t match,” he said. “Different versions saying different things. I asked pastors, but the answers felt like ‘just believe’.”
As he studied engineering at Accra Technical University, his analytical mind kept asking: If this is God’s word, why the contradictions? Why were books removed or edited over time? The doubts didn’t make him angry they made him search.
That search led him to the iERA Ghana da’wah stall on campus. Islamic Education & Research Academy is known for using reason, history, and scripture in their conversations about Islam.
The brothers didn’t tell Derrick to abandon his faith. They invited him to examine it. They showed him examples of textual variants in different Bible manuscripts, verses added later that aren’t in the earliest copies, and how councils decided which books stayed in the canon.
“It wasn’t about attacking,” Derrick explained. “They proved to me, with history and the manuscripts themselves, that the Bible we have today has been edited and changed. That shocked me, but the evidence was there.”
Seeing that shook his confidence in the idea of an unchanged scripture. But it also opened a door.
New Questions, Clear Answers
With his main doubt addressed, Derrick started asking about Islam: If the Bible is not preserved, what about the Qur’an? Who is Allah? Why Prophet Muhammad? What’s the purpose of life?
The iERA brothers answered each question patiently. They showed him how the Qur’an has been memorized word-for-word by millions since it was revealed, with one standard text worldwide. They explained Tawheed the pure concept of One God with no partners, no sons, no Trinity. They showed how Islam answers the purpose question clearly. we’re created to worship Allah alone and do good.
One by one, Derrick’s doubts cleared. “It made sense,” he said. “One God. A preserved book. A final messenger. A purpose I could actually live by.
After weeks of reading and discussion, Derrick was ready. Surrounded by the iERA brothers and Muslim students from ATU, he pronounced the Shahada.
“Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulullah”
“I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”
The brothers embraced him, made du’a for his steadfastness, and gave him a Qur’an, prayer mat, and a booklet on “How to Pray.”
“I feel like I finally found the truth I was looking for,” Derrick said. “No more confusion. Just clarity and peace.”
A Final Year, A New Beginning
Now in his last semester at Accra Technical University, Derrick is learning how to pray, studying the basics of Islam.
Allah says: “And whoever Allah wills to guide,He opens his breast to Islam” [Qur’an 6:125]. Derrick’s story shows that when a sincere heart seeks truth, Allah provides the means.
May Allah keep Derrick firm, increase him in knowledge, and make him a means of guidance for others. May He bless iERA Ghana for their sincere dawah work. Ameen.
