Mona Walter spent her childhood and most of her teen years in the country of war-torn Somalia, which is located in the 10/40 window. She was a "cultural" Muslim and never read the Koran for herself. Then in her teen years, she immigrated to Sweden as a war refugee. At first, she was excited to be able to leave a warzone. But it was in Sweden that she had the opportunity to read the Koran for herself for the first time. She said she discovered that Islam is, "about hating and killing those who disagree with Islam. It's about conquering."
Walter was 19 when she came to Sweden."I discovered Islam first in Sweden. In Somalia, you're just a Muslim, without knowing the Koran. But then you come to Sweden, and you go to the mosque, and there is the Koran, so you have to cover yourself and you have to be a good Muslim," she said.
Since living the Muslim life in Somalia was a cultural thing, Walter said, "I didn't know what I was a part of. I didn't know who Mohammed was. I didn't know who Allah was. So, when I found out, I was upset. I was sad and I was disappointed."
In Sweden, Walter said she discovered that the god of Islam is one that hates and that Islam is not a religion of peace. She said she also discovered that, "Mohammed, he was immoral. He was a bloodthirsty man. He was terrible man, and Muslims can read that in his biography -- what he did to Jews, how he raped women, how he killed people. I mean, he killed everyone who didn't agree with him."
Her disillusionment over Islam brought her to the place of being an atheist for a time. Then a family member suggested that she read the Christian Bible. That was when she discovered that Jesus said to, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).
Walter said that the concept of, "love your enemy" was "very strange" to her because, "in Islam, it is 'kill your enemy.' 'Kill your enemy and anyone who refuses Islam.' But Jesus Christ was all about love and peace and forgiveness and tolerance, and for some reason, I needed that."
She found a pastor near where she was staying at the time and had a discussion with him about this and other items that she found in the Bible that were contrary to the Islamic faith. Through those discussions, she became a believer in Christ.
Sweden is supposed to be a country in which freedom of religion is respected and protected. But when Walter began to speak out against the evils of Islam with a heart to help other Muslim women to understand that they can have a better life, some Muslims began to threaten her life. The threats became so bad that she had to move and even change her identity.
She said that the threats became, "part of everyday life" and included threats of sexual assault and of her murder. Walter says it got so intense that someone, "posted my residence address online, urging people to assassinate me. I wrote out the contents and showed the police, but they did not do anything."
She is now in continuous contact with a protective service agency and the police.
