Tidligere folketingsmedlem Naser Khader

Former parliamentarian Naser Khader once received a death threat from Al-Qaeda for defending the Mohammed drawings, and was advised to go underground with his family. Then his political opponent Søren Krarup called and said: "Nasser, if you and your family need a place to be, we have a cave in Jutland." That moment of neighborly love from a man whose party stood for everything Khader politically opposed became a touchstone in his long journey from Islam to Christianity — a journey he is now completing by training to become a priest.

From inherited Islam to critical distance

Khader was born Muslim, inheriting the faith from his parents as is customary — there is no baptism in Islam. He attended Quran school in Syria before moving to Denmark at age 11, and could recite the Quran in Arabic without understanding it, much like reading a Latin psalm book. But in Danish high school in 1983, he was confronted with Nietzsche's "God is dead" and the claim that "Mohammed is insane." He was shocked but also became curious. The turning point came with Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989. Khader started researching and realized the satanic verses — three verses in the Quran where Muhammad allegedly recognized female goddesses to win over tribes, then withdrew the verses claiming satanic inspiration — were known in tradition long before Rushdie. The fatwa was political, not r