Help, My Brother Got Converted To Islam At 16

At around 15, my brother started training jiujitsu almost everyday, in an academy owned by very practicing muslims in the UAE where they would do their prayers mid class on mats, no mix of boys and girls …

We come from a Catholic Lebanese family, though religion was never imposed on us, but we did do our communion.

At some point, he started getting more into religion and at first it was Christianity. He kept watching debates on Youtube between Christianity and Islam.

Yet I think the Internet is filled with islamic content more than it is with Christian content, and as he was looking for some “discipline” and “toughness” which is often what muslims attract people with, I think he saw Islam as the better option.

He started asking questions to his jiujitsu coaches, which were more than happy to help and keen on converting him.

They added him to Islamic whatsapp groups, gave him lessons, and even sent him a form to legally convert.

I was the first to get suspicious about it, and knew what was going on, though he kept trying to hide it. I can estimate that he “converted” at around 16. Since he adheres to Islamic law, prays 5 times a day, and even got a ‘miswak’ a type of wooden stick which mohammad used to brush his teeth with.

My parents found out about this at 17 and since it has become a huge problem in all our family, as he is not just looking into the modernized Islam, but takes the book as it is meant to be taken with all its terrible things.

Essentially Salafism as they taught him which is so far from how he was raised.

My parents have not been able to sleep at night for the past few months.

We have tried everything, endless talks and disputes, my parents made him talk to a therapist, they took his phone away for a while, but nothing worked.

He says he converted as he saw illogical things and contradictions in the Bible like the fact that Jesus is god but he is a human.

Yet whenever we tried to argue with logic, it never worked. Me and my father studied all the illogical things in the Quran.

We understand that this brainwashing cannot be undone shortly and it is a long process.

However, we do not know which approach to take anymore. Do we stop talking about it to him? Do we continue talking about it?

Please advise us if you have any ideas.