My relationship with the Virgin was renewed

While he was serving as the pastor of the parish of Qaryatayn, near Palmyra, Syria, Father Mourad was abducted by the Islamic State group on May 21, 2015. He was a hostage for more than 140 days before being released on October 10, 2015.

Threatened with decapitation on several occasions if he did not convert to Islam, whipped and subjected to a mock execution, Father Mourad’s detention conditions resemble a Way of the Cross.

"The first week was the hardest," he says. On the eighth day, an individual dressed in black entered his cell. Father Mourad believed his last hour had come and asked him the reasons for his abduction. "Take it as a spiritual retreat," replied his jailer.

"From then on, my prayer, my days became meaningful," confides the Syrian priest. "I felt that the Lord was speaking through this masked Muslim. Thanks to prayer, I was able to regain my peace. It was May, the month of Mary. My cellmate and I began to recite the Rosary, which I did not pray much before. My whole relationship with the Virgin has been renewed."

aleteia.org/2015/12/06/father-mourad-defeating-isis-within-a-cell-of-prayer/