What compels a man raised in the heart of Christian missionary work — whose parents dedicated 50 years to Baptist missions in the Philippines, whose father served in the US Army during World War II — to embrace Islam? For David Gulan, the answer was not emotion, social pressure, or circumstance. It was evidence. Growing up surrounded by scripture, David had noticed from an early age a troubling gap between what he called “the Jesus of Faith” — the theological construct handed down through centuries of tradition — and what the historical record actually pointed to. That quiet intellectual dissonance became the engine of a life-altering investigation. Speaking before a live audience on The Deen Show in Texas, David shared how a single visit to the Abu Bakr mosque in Houston in the spring of 1996 set him on a three-month journey that ended not in doubt, but in the certainty of the Shahada.
An Investigation Built on Scripture: How the Bible Led David to the Prophet ﷺ
- David was invited to meet a scholar at the Abu Bakr mosque in Houston, where he posed one pivotal question: Is Prophet Muhammad ﷺ foretold as a prophet in the Bible?
- Unconvinced but intellectually rigorous, he returned home and systematically cross-referenced Old Testament criteria for prophethood — then applied every criterion to the life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The result surprised him: the Prophet fit every measure.
- He read two full translations of the Quran over two weeks and felt a powerful internal pull toward Islam — one he resisted at first.
- He then spent three months deliberately searching for one convincing reason not to become Muslim, and found none.
- In March 1996, after this self-imposed, evidence-driven examination, David took his Shahada — not under any social or cultural pressure, but driven by the force of truth alone.
“When I investigated Islam, I felt that based on what I knew, I was compelled to become Muslim — not by the sword — simply compelled because it was the correct religion, the right belief.”
— David Gulan, former Baptist missionary and author of The Last Christian
David’s book The Last Christian deepens this inquiry by drawing a sharp distinction between the Jesus of historical record and the Jesus of theological tradition — arguing that the two are not the same figure. He found that indications of the historical Jesus consistently fail to conform with the doctrines built around the “Jesus of Faith.” He also examined the writings of Paul, who claimed that everything he preached came directly from Jesus. Yet Paul made specific, time-bound predictions in First Corinthians 7 and First Thessalonians 4 — telling his audiences that Jesus’s return was so imminent that marriage, buying, and mourning were barely worth bothering about — prophecies that went unfulfilled over 1,900 years ago. Deuteronomy 18 establishes the scriptural test: a prophet who speaks in God’s name and whose words do not come to pass is a false prophet. This same Old Testament standard that David had studied all his life helped him understand why the chain of prophethood continues beyond Jesus, culminating in Muhammad ﷺ — described in the Gospel of John as a comforter who would not speak of himself but would convey what was revealed to him, a description that cannot logically apply to God Himself.
Islam: The Universal Call That Every Prophet Carried
- David identifies Islam’s core teaching — make God central to your life and prove it by caring for your fellow human beings — as the same essential message running through the Gospels, the Torah, and every prophetic tradition.
- The word “Islam” simply means submission to God; the same submission that Judaism, Christianity, and all divine faiths call their adherents toward at their purest.
- People frequently respond positively to Islamic values when described without using the word “Islam” — the resistance is to an unfamiliar label, not to the universal truth behind it.
- David’s advice to Muslims on changing perceptions: be “distinct in a good way” — let God-consciousness, compassion, and excellence of character speak louder than any argument.
- On Muslim citizenship: David noted that any Muslim who can sincerely affirm the preamble of the US Constitution — justice, domestic tranquility, general welfare, liberty — is a good American, and the vast majority of Muslims can and do.
One of the most powerful moments of David’s interview came when he was shown footage of protesters outside a mosque screaming “go home” at Muslim worshippers. His response, delivered without bitterness, was disarming: “If I go back home, I go to Houston — because Houston is my home. I was born here in Texas.” His point was deeper than geography. Submission to God, he said, is a universal message that belongs wherever a person stands. Far from being a foreign import, Islam carries the oldest call in human spiritual history — the call to worship the Creator alone and to serve His creation with sincerity. David’s own experience after embracing Islam showed him that this message, when lived authentically, needs no defence beyond the lives of those who embody it.
“Islam, if it is practised the way it is supposed to be, means peace — and the best form of life. If a person makes God the centre of their life and by doing so takes care of their fellow human being, they make the world a better place. That is what Islam is all about.”
— David Gulan
The journey of David Gulan — from the mission fields of the Philippines, through decades of Biblical study, into a mosque in Houston and ultimately into Islam — carries a lesson that transcends biography. Islam does not ask anyone to abandon their intellect, their heritage, or their love of truth. On the contrary, it is precisely the honest, fearless pursuit of truth that Islam calls every seeker toward. The Shahada — Ash-hadu an la ilaha ill-Allah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasul-Allah — is not a conclusion to inquiry but a declaration that the inquiry has been taken seriously and the evidence has been followed to its source. For anyone today who feels the spiritual disquiet David once felt, who senses a gap between inherited belief and historical reality, who is searching for a faith grounded in reason, accountability, and a direct relationship with the Creator — the door of Islam remains open, the message unchanged, and the path illuminated by the guidance of Allah and His final Messenger ﷺ.
