When Emir Caner became a Christian he was excited and wanted to tell his family. This excerpt of his testimony (contained within Emir's now deleted sermon “The God who draws near” September 20, 2009. (27:56)) reveals quite a bit about the females in the family. According to Emir this was in November 1982 (Emir would have been 12) and so it gives us a picture of family life around that time. I believe this has not been transcribed anywhere before.
“And that was the message I needed to hear preached. I came forward and placed my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Man I was excited. I went home; I went to tell my mother (a).
Emir's Mother
My mother was raised Swedish Lutheran (b). Born and raised there (c) and she emigrated here (d). Before she emigrated she married dad (e) and she converted to Islam (f) and did the Shahada the creed – there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet. We come on over here to build mosques (g). In fact my father was one of the architects of a mosque there in Columbus, Ohio (h). And as we were there my mother turned from that type of traditional Muslim into a hippie (i). Literally and Karen Carpenter was her god in many respects. And mom when I came home and shared with her wasn’t excited. Now she wasn’t disappointed, she was motherish but it didn’t make much of a difference in her life. After all she wasn’t saved. She thought I’d gone from one team to another, I’d just changed uniforms with the same god (j). I didn’t switch anything though, I went from worshipping the dead god to worshipping the one true living God. She didn’t get it.
Emir's Grandmother
I went to tell Mormor (k). Swedish is our first language. Mormor was in many ways the centrepiece of our home (l). Mormor wasn’t a universalist, she was a pluralist (m). A pluralist looks to religion like a melting pot of a stew. You take a little sprig of this and a little dab of this and that’s what grandma would do. Take a little bit of Islam and Hinduism and Christianity and Buddhism and anything else you could find. Put it together in that pot, blend it together, and say that’s truth. I’ll never forget witnessing to grandma. I said “Grandma don’t you believe Jesus Christ died on the cross in your place for your sin?” Mormor’s answer “Oh yes I absolutely believe that and when I’m reincarnated I’ll understand more.” That was Mormor (n).”
In Summary
(a) He calls home where his mother lived (his father and mother were divorced)
(b) His mother was Lutheran
(c) His mother was born and raised in the same place (From the context it would seem it was Sweden as he uses the adjective “Swedish”
(d) She emigrated to “here” which means the United States
(e) She married “dad” [Acar Caner] before moving to the US.
(f) She was a convert to Islam and this was was she emigrated.
(g) Mosque building is the reason given for the family emigrating.
(h) Acar is described as one of the architects of the mosques in Columbus, Ohio.
(i) His mother becomes a hippie in the US.
(j) She thought that the god of Islam and the God of the Bible were the same god.
(k) Mormor is Swedish for maternal grandmother. Farmor is Swedish for paternal Grandmother.
(l) He calls his grandmother “the centrepiece of our home.” Note the influence he suggests she had in the home.
(m) His grandmother is described as a pluralist.
(n) His grandmother blended her religion.
A comparison with Unveiling Islam
It is interesting how little mention is made by Ergun and Emir of this family life in the book Unveiling Islam. Their parents married but the marriage was culturally doomed from the start which led to divorce in America. The book states on p. 17 "Even through the divorce, our parents had maintained our rearing in the mosque." This is the only mention of religion after the divorce and there is no mention of their grandmother despite her significant influence in the home. Their mother and grandmother disappear from view until their conversions are relayed in one sentence (p. 20).
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