Left Behind

On a recent Sunday afternoon, my doorstep became a veritable pulpit. A gentleman had arrived, unannounced, inviting me to worship at a local Baptist church. I listened intently as he sought to enlighten me. He spoke at length. He gestured with zeal. He handed me a detailed pamphlet. And he asked me if I was sure I’d be going to heaven one day.

I was born to Muslim and Palestinian parents, who enriched my life with exposure to both Islam and Christianity. Their religious tolerance emanated from lived experiences of unity in the Holy Land. (My name even means “sign of God’s existence” in Arabic.) To this day, I remain spiritual — and intensely interested in how people come to faith.

Religious conversion forms the basis of Five Wives, a fictionalized account of a true story, by Joan Thomas. The women — Marjorie Saint, Elisabeth Elliot, Olive Fleming, Marilou McCully, and Barbara Youderian — were bereaved when their husbands perished...