Hicham Chehab
Hicham Chehab (also spelled Hesham Shehab) is a Lebanese-born individual who identifies as a Christian pastor and missionary, asserting that he apostatised from Islam. He claims that during the Lebanese Civil War, he was involved with an extremist Muslim group and participated in combat against Christians. According to his accounts, a transformative experience during his college years, particularly exposure to the Sermon on the Mount, led him to embrace Christianity. He states that he later earned a master's degree in the history of Islam and pursued doctoral studies in the same field. Chehab currently leads Salam Christian Fellowship, an organization he describes as dedicated to ministering to individuals from Muslim backgrounds.
The surname "Chehab" is a variant of "Shihab," associated with the Shihab dynasty (Arabic: الشهابيون, ALA-LC: al-Shihābiyūn), an Arab family that ruled Mount Lebanon as emirs from the early 18th to mid-19th century during Ottoman rule. Notably, some members of the Shihab dynasty, including Emir Bashir Shihab II, converted from Sunni Islam to Christianity, reflecting the complex religious dynamics of the region.