Finding Iman?

[MisterK]

Hello,

I'm not 100% sure this is the correct sub-forum for this, but it does seem the most fitting. Apologies if it isn't, and apologies on the length, I've included a brief synopsis for those less inclined to read the full thing.

TLR version:
Lacking faith in most of the Six Pillars of Iman, attracted to societal/cultural aspects of Islam, currently an agnostic atheist and sense of reason won't let me believe despite emotionally wanting to. How can one go about creating faith when head and heart are clashing?

Full version:
Recently I've read the Holy Quran in English, and have been reading a book entitled "The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam" by Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and another called "The Essentials of the Islamic Faith" by M. Fethullah Gülen.

As I read the Holy Quran, the further into I moved, I could feel a sort of emotional attraction to it, and found myself liking most of the cultural laws. This attraction to Islam and how it is designed for charity, family, community, health, and so on continues to grow as I read the book by Qatadawi (which tends to draw its conclusions from the Holy Quran and thw Haddiths). Gülen's book is more about the spiritual aspects of Islam, and it too has a certain appeal (some of it reads as things I previously believed, just with Islamic terminology).

So I have all of these reasons to become Muslim, but despite these attractions, I'm lacking in one very important thing; belief in the Six Pillars of Iman.

I'm an agnostic atheist, and as much as I would like to beleive, I find my head and heart will not synchronize on this.

Of the pillars, belief in Al-Qadar is the easiest to obtain, as everything does seem to be preordained in one way or another. By that I mean the events of now are determined reactions based on past events, all the way to the beginning of time. Things happen as they do because as a result of what came before. If things were to happen differently it would be because of different past events. If I could find faith in Allah, it would be a no-brainer that it is all as He willed.

The next easiest is belief in His books and Messenges as the Holy Quran does seem to have some scientific understandings beyond its time, and fixes some of the hard-to-believe aspects of the earlier books (such as Jesus being a prophet, and not both God and God's Son). I'm sure there are arguments against these things, but it isn't difficult to see how the Holy Quran could be divinely revealed, and Prophet Muhammad as one chosen by Allah to be a messenger given how many verses of Holy Quran can be seen as revealing scientific truths ahead of their time.

This leaves belief in the Last Day, angels, and of course, Allah Himself as the trouble spots (so to speak) for me. Of course, if I found faith in Allah, I feel the rest would fall into place. Despite wanting to believe (I recall I was happier, more at peace, before I became an atheist), I have all of these arguments in my head that won't allow for it.

So, once having faith in the concepts of God, angelic forces, the afterlife, and so on, the question is, once lost, how can one go about finding their faith again, even as every bit of their reasoning abilities says that such faith is illogical and wrong?

[Arfa]

Brother,

Firstly,I hope you are able to overcome your doubts regarding logic part just as you stated.What do you think when you look at the Universe around you?Can you not believe in the massive system of the universe is being controlled by a Higher Power from the changing of night into day,the moon cycle to the heart beat inside human existence.It can't be all a coincidence!This whole concept is beyond human perception sometimes because we as Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (P B U H) have absolute faith in principles of Quran and Sunnah.I hope brother your emotional liking to Islam grows stronger and you are able to build faith in shaa Allah.

[muslimah_B]

Hello,

I'm not 100% sure this is the correct sub-forum for this, but it does seem the most fitting. Apologies if it isn't, and apologies on the length, I've included a brief synopsis for those less inclined to read the full thing.

TLR version:
Lacking faith in most of the Six Pillars of Iman, attracted to societal/cultural aspects of Islam, currently an agnostic atheist and sense of reason won't let me believe despite emotionally wanting to. How can one go about creating faith when head and heart are clashing?

Full version:
Recently I've read the Holy Quran in English, and have been reading a book entitled "The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam" by Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and another called "The Essentials of the Islamic Faith" by M. Fethullah Gülen.

As I read the Holy Quran, the further into I moved, I could feel a sort of emotional attraction to it, and found myself liking most of the cultural laws. This attraction to Islam and how it is designed for charity, family, community, health, and so on continues to grow as I read the book by Qatadawi (which tends to draw its conclusions from the Holy Quran and thw Haddiths). Gülen's book is more about the spiritual aspects of Islam, and it too has a certain appeal (some of it reads as things I previously believed, just with Islamic terminology).

So I have all of these reasons to become Muslim, but despite these attractions, I'm lacking in one very important thing; belief in the Six Pillars of Iman.

I'm an agnostic atheist, and as much as I would like to beleive, I find my head and heart will not synchronize on this.

Of the pillars, belief in Al-Qadar is the easiest to obtain, as everything does seem to be preordained in one way or another. By that I mean the events of now are determined reactions based on past events, all the way to the beginning of time. Things happen as they do because as a result of what came before. If things were to happen differently it would be because of different past events. If I could find faith in Allah, it would be a no-brainer that it is all as He willed.

The next easiest is belief in His books and Messenges as the Holy Quran does seem to have some scientific understandings beyond its time, and fixes some of the hard-to-believe aspects of the earlier books (such as Jesus being a prophet, and not both God and God's Son). I'm sure there are arguments against these things, but it isn't difficult to see how the Holy Quran could be divinely revealed, and Prophet Muhammad as one chosen by Allah to be a messenger given how many verses of Holy Quran can be seen as revealing scientific truths ahead of their time.

This leaves belief in the Last Day, angels, and of course, Allah Himself as the trouble spots (so to speak) for me. Of course, if I found faith in Allah, I feel the rest would fall into place. Despite wanting to believe (I recall I was happier, more at peace, before I became an atheist), I have all of these arguments in my head that won't allow for it.

So, once having faith in the concepts of God, angelic forces, the afterlife, and so on, the question is, once lost, how can one go about finding their faith again, even as every bit of their reasoning abilities says that such faith is illogical and wrong?

Well you are right that once you have faith in Allah that everything does just fall into place

If you sincerely want to believe then you can talk to Allah, and ask Allah to guide you to the truth and make your journey easy.

All of us at some point have days of doubt and low faith, this is human nature but having even the smallest amount of faith helps to keep us going and get back up.

I too once had those arguments within myself, but i just reminded myself of who Allah is, what Allah wants from me and why i believe, i understand how hard it is to once have believed in something totally different and lived the complete opposite life of how a muslim should, but believe me once you have your faith it gets better, you feel better and will realise you made the right decision no matter how much you went through to get there, it all becomes worth it

Il post some youtube videos for you that talk about who Allah is in sha Allah (God willing) they may help you and strengthen your faith

https://youtu.be/uu3-Gs11CBg

https://youtu.be/eKyWkl2LLPU

https://youtu.be/I3IJve0vN9g

https://youtu.be/Hjy9HHq4qoA

https://youtu.be/m_N__ufAT_4

https://youtu.be/5pyZkY93B2A

https://youtu.be/Hg4N4tzIVoY

https://youtu.be/H4cuSlWDh-w


If they help and/or you would like more then im more than happy to post more

[greenhill]

Welcome to the forum.

Nice summary.. so 3 things .. Allah, the angels and the last day..

Let's start with the last day... even without it being put in the text, our sciences have found that eventually there will be an end to earth (however far away it seems) so there will be a last day unless we find anothet suitable planet to live on..

His angels.. that is a bit harder and I am not inspired at this hour to give you anything to chew on this...but on Allah, He has left it to the mind and reason to 'see' His existence... without 'Showing' Himself, still billion over people believe.. again, not satisfying answer.. but you already see some truths in the message, it must be linked to Him. It can't be in existence without the Creator..

Wishing you a great stay.

[MisterK]

Brother,

Firstly,I hope you are able to overcome your doubts regarding logic part just as you stated.What do you think when you look at the Universe around you?Can you not believe in the massive system of the universe is being controlled by a Higher Power from the changing of night into day,the moon cycle to the heart beat inside human existence.It can't be all a coincidence!This whole concept is beyond human perception sometimes because we as Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (P B U H) have absolute faith in principles of Quran and Sunnah.I hope brother your emotional liking to Islam grows stronger and you are able to build faith in shaa Allah.

Arfa, thank you for your well wishes.

To answer your question, I can believe a singular Creator created everything, setting it in all into motion, and have done so in the past. However, as I dove more into science and scepticism, I lost my faith and now find it more likely that everything just is without any sort of guiding intelligence behind it. I know the odds seem unlikely on the surface, that something as complex as humanity and the society it created could happen by chances, but given how many billions of stars there are in the universe, how many planets around those stars, and how many moons around those planets, it seems not just probable, but likely, that life, even complex and advanced life, would occur under the right natural conditions.

I can't say for sure there isn't a guiding will behind it all, but as I learned more, I just became less and less likely to me.

[MisterK]

Well you are right that once you have faith in Allah that everything does just fall into place

If you sincerely want to believe then you can talk to Allah, and ask Allah to guide you to the truth and make your journey easy.

All of us at some point have days of doubt and low faith, this is human nature but having even the smallest amount of faith helps to keep us going and get back up.

I too once had those arguments within myself, but i just reminded myself of who Allah is, what Allah wants from me and why i believe, i understand how hard it is to once have believed in something totally different and lived the complete opposite life of how a muslim should, but believe me once you have your faith it gets better, you feel better and will realise you made the right decision no matter how much you went through to get there, it all becomes worth it

Il post some youtube videos for you that talk about who Allah is in sha Allah (God willing) they may help you and strengthen your faith

If they help and/or you would like more then im more than happy to post more

muslimah_B, I appreciate the video links. I'll watch them asap and let you know if they help me out. And while I know there have been atheists and sceptics and such that did eventually make their way to Islam, it is comforting to actually communicate with someone who had their doubts and such, and still found their way.

I do feel as though I sincerely want to believe. As for talking to Allah, would this require me to learn certain prayers or positions to do so? I'm not opposed to this if so, but as of right now, the only way I would know how to go about such a thing is basically just talking (sometimes out loud, sometimes mentally) to Allah (before it would be the concept of God I believed in before, which was everywhere and part of all things, speaking to the Universe, basically).

[MisterK]

Welcome to the forum.

Nice summary.. so 3 things .. Allah, the angels and the last day..

Let's start with the last day... even without it being put in the text, our sciences have found that eventually there will be an end to earth (however far away it seems) so there will be a last day unless we find anothet suitable planet to live on..

His angels.. that is a bit harder and I am not inspired at this hour to give you anything to chew on this...but on Allah, He has left it to the mind and reason to 'see' His existence... without 'Showing' Himself, still billion over people believe.. again, not satisfying answer.. but you already see some truths in the message, it must be linked to Him. It can't be in existence without the Creator..

Wishing you a great stay.

Greenhill, thank you for the kind words.

Regarding the Last Day, I guess I should have better specified. I meant in the sense of a day of judgement, followed by life after death, and not simply and end of things. I fully understand and accept that at some point in time, the Earth will be no more. Even if life survives until that time, and nothing from space destroys us, the sun going supernova will take care of it.

Regarding your statement of Allah, I can easily see everything your saying, and I feel as though I could accept it all, if I could find my faith. My problem is I can see counter-arguments to what you've said, and so head/heart battle on. Thus far in life, typically, when my head and heart battle, my head usually wins out (for better or worse), even when I don't emotionally want it to.

That said, I plan to stick around here though, browse other threads and sub-forums, so maybe things I read on various discussions will help and reconcile the two.

[greenhill]

The head rules the heart. Then the body will follow..

[Arfa]

I can sense brother maybe you are close to building your faith in Islam, which is why you are eager to stay here. I understand that as human beings we have our highs and lows, specially in our tough days when we long to believe in something, we need a stength, some spiritual power to support us and guide us through the tough ordeals of life, yet if our faith is low we just can't seem to believe in anything for that matter and worst even ourselves. So, Try reading Quran online with translation and you will get a fresh amount of wisdom from the Holy Book.If you do get inspired again after reading Quran, then you can talk to Allah about your thoughts and doubts,maybe your mind will be filled with positive beliefs about life and world. Do keep posting about your progress.

[muslimah_B]

muslimah_B, I appreciate the video links. I'll watch them asap and let you know if they help me out. And while I know there have been atheists and sceptics and such that did eventually make their way to Islam, it is comforting to actually communicate with someone who had their doubts and such, and still found their way.

I do feel as though I sincerely want to believe. As for talking to Allah, would this require me to learn certain prayers or positions to do so? I'm not opposed to this if so, but as of right now, the only way I would know how to go about such a thing is basically just talking (sometimes out loud, sometimes mentally) to Allah (before it would be the concept of God I believed in before, which was everywhere and part of all things, speaking to the Universe, basically).

Yes please do let me know if the videos helped you out in someway and if there are any other topics you would like.

No you wouldnt have to learn anything as of yet, as technically you arent muslim so the rules of prayer wont apply to you
But if you would like to, you could do wudu (the purifaction process before prayer) and then go into a position called "sujood" which is when your head is on the floor and you are the closest spiritually to Allah and everything is heard directly in the heavens and it is the best form of submission. (This is one of the best positions to make dua speak to Allah about our problems, Ask Allah for guidance, so maybe this could help you as it is also showing humbility towards Allah and recognition that Allah IS the creator of everything.

Here is how to do wudu -
In your head or heart make intention that you are purifying yourself to speak to Allah.
- say Bis-me-laah (if your sink is in a room with a toilet say it in your head only)
1. Wash your right hand up to your wrist 3 times
2. Wash your left hand up to your wrist 3 times
3. Cup water into your right hand and rinse your mouth 3 times
4. Cup water into your right hand and sniff gently water into your nose 3 times
5. Cup water into your right hand and wash your face 3 times from ear to ear and forhead to chin, if you have a beard also include this.
6. Using your left hand wash your right arm from the hand up to and including the elbow 3 times
7. Using your right hand wash your left arm from the hand up to and including the elbow 3 times
8.using both hands wipe over the top of your head down to the nape of your neck and also behind your ears
9.using left hand wash your right foot up to and including the ankle 3 times make sure to go inbetween the toes
10.using right hand wash your left foot up to and including the ankles 3 times make sure in between toes

Thats how we do wudu, ofcourse this isnt necessary for you, but after doing this you may feel different

Now for the prayer position of sujood
Your knees go onto the floor first, then your hands, then your nose, then your head, keep elbows off the floor (would be great if you was facing the kaba
Now your in the perfect position to speak to Allah and ritually clean, from here you can speak to Allah and ask him anything,for guidance, for understanding etc etc



^^^ should look like this.

As i said before you DONT have to do any of this BUT i can say myself from experience before i became a muslim doing all these things really helps, you begin to feel the connection inside, i cant really explain it, but you will understand if you try it and really put your heart into it and sincerely want to be guided.

The one turning point that set my heart and i just knew i had to become muslim, was when someone said to me, "if you was to die in the state your in right now without testifying faith youll die as a disbeliever not as a muslim" those words made my heart tremble with fear, as i was like you i still had so many questions, objections, doubts, but i knew i believed and i didn't want to die without faith, so that day later on i spoke with someone else and the devil came back to me and i was literally 50/50 so scared to declare faith with all these doubts that became even more heavy on me, i ended up crying as i was so confused and torn inside, when i spoke to that person they told me shaytan (the devil) would do anything to stop me becoming a muslim and all these doubts are from him, when i heard that i realised she was right, i ended up taking my shahada (testimony of faith) that very day
And any revert here will tell you that once you take your shahada you feel like a brand new person, you feel as though every single doubt, worry every bad thing in life that has happend to you is gone, the weight on your shoulders dissappears, it was like the best feeling in the world your so happy you cant stop crying

All those doubts that i had they never came back, with the logical doubts about angels & miricles, you wont fully understand untill you believe in Allah, you have to be able to get over the fact that there are things out there that we will never be able to see, touch, smell, or hear this is the argument alot of Atheists have, that if none of their senses can establish it being there then it isnt, right ?

But once you believe, you believe in Allah, youv never seen Him, nor heard Him directly, nor smelt or touched Him, but you still believe He exists and is the creator, because your heart knows this is true, this is what faith is, once that basis is there the angels, prophets, miricles all fall into place, because Allah is telling you they exist, that these things happend and when you have faith you believe everything Allah says and in your heart you know this to be true, you will know that Allah wants the best for you and everything that Allah says in the Quran to be truth, no matter how hard it is for our brains to comprehend, logically how can we comprehend Allah though, How can we comprehend God that created everything this entire universe from the biggest of planets, solar systems other galaxies black holes, the sun, the moon, the stars, earth from the biggest of mamals to the smallest of microbes, everything has its purpose, its movement, everything works so perfectly, we can never beging to imagine the power needed to do this as Allah is above anything that we can comprehend,
To even look at our bodies, bones, muscle, tendons, limbs, veins, arteries, organs, skin, mouth, nose, eyes, ears all so complex but yet so perfect.
Look at the water cycle, from land to sea, it evaporates back into the sky, condensates into clouds then it rains onto the earth, and the process repeats.. how simple yet perfect is this process
Look at nature, animals these are all signs of Allahs power, Allahs beautiful creations, everything in this world is a sign of Allahs power that we will never be able to understand but are in awe of

[MisterK]

Yes please do let me know if the videos helped you out in someway and if there are any other topics you would like.

No you wouldnt have to learn anything as of yet, as technically you arent muslim so the rules of prayer wont apply to you
But if you would like to, you could do wudu (the purifaction process before prayer) and then go into a position called "sujood" which is when your head is on the floor and you are the closest spiritually to Allah and everything is heard directly in the heavens and it is the best form of submission. (This is one of the best positions to make dua speak to Allah about our problems, Ask Allah for guidance, so maybe this could help you as it is also showing humbility towards Allah and recognition that Allah IS the creator of everything.

Here is how to do wudu -
In your head or heart make intention that you are purifying yourself to speak to Allah.
- say Bis-me-laah (if your sink is in a room with a toilet say it in your head only)
1. Wash your right hand up to your wrist 3 times
2. Wash your left hand up to your wrist 3 times
3. Cup water into your right hand and rinse your mouth 3 times
4. Cup water into your right hand and sniff gently water into your nose 3 times
5. Cup water into your right hand and wash your face 3 times from ear to ear and forhead to chin, if you have a beard also include this.
6. Using your left hand wash your right arm from the hand up to and including the elbow 3 times
7. Using your right hand wash your left arm from the hand up to and including the elbow 3 times
8.using both hands wipe over the top of your head down to the nape of your neck and also behind your ears
9.using left hand wash your right foot up to and including the ankle 3 times make sure to go inbetween the toes
10.using right hand wash your left foot up to and including the ankles 3 times make sure in between toes

Thats how we do wudu, ofcourse this isnt necessary for you, but after doing this you may feel different

Now for the prayer position of sujood
Your knees go onto the floor first, then your hands, then your nose, then your head, keep elbows off the floor (would be great if you was facing the kaba
Now your in the perfect position to speak to Allah and ritually clean, from here you can speak to Allah and ask him anything,for guidance, for understanding etc etc



^^^ should look like this.

As i said before you DONT have to do any of this BUT i can say myself from experience before i became a muslim doing all these things really helps, you begin to feel the connection inside, i cant really explain it, but you will understand if you try it and really put your heart into it and sincerely want to be guided.

I watched most of the videos so far, haven't had the time for the longer ones yet. The ones I have watched do a good job with explaining the nature of Allah. Thank you again.

Regarding Wudu, I went ahead and performed it. I figured if I was going to try and pray, I may as well do it right. I can say by the end of it, my mind was much more silent and focused than usual. The act of the ritual seemed to be great for centering, and definitely helps maintain focus in prayer. I then went to pray, utilizing sujood. It did have a feeling of... something I'm not quite sure of, more than any past praying has done. Afterwords, rising, I sat on my knees for a few moments in silence. The whole thing felt very solemn, centering, and peaceful.

Then I realized I hadn't been facing the Kaaba, found the direction, moved, went into sujood again, and basically apologized, as I had intended to face it while deciding to pray this way, but then it slipped my mind when I began. Same kneeling, silent aftermath.

The one turning point that set my heart and i just knew i had to become muslim, was when someone said to me, "if you was to die in the state your in right now without testifying faith youll die as a disbeliever not as a muslim" those words made my heart tremble with fear, as i was like you i still had so many questions, objections, doubts, but i knew i believed and i didn't want to die without faith, so that day later on i spoke with someone else and the devil came back to me and i was literally 50/50 so scared to declare faith with all these doubts that became even more heavy on me, i ended up crying as i was so confused and torn inside, when i spoke to that person they told me shaytan (the devil) would do anything to stop me becoming a muslim and all these doubts are from him, when i heard that i realised she was right, i ended up taking my shahada (testimony of faith) that very day
And any revert here will tell you that once you take your shahada you feel like a brand new person, you feel as though every single doubt, worry every bad thing in life that has happend to you is gone, the weight on your shoulders dissappears, it was like the best feeling in the world your so happy you cant stop crying

All those doubts that i had they never came back, with the logical doubts about angels & miricles, you wont fully understand untill you believe in Allah, you have to be able to get over the fact that there are things out there that we will never be able to see, touch, smell, or hear this is the argument alot of Atheists have, that if none of their senses can establish it being there then it isnt, right ?

I've always had a deep-seated fear of apocalyptic scenarios/judgement day type of things, I figure it is from having a Catholic upbringing. Guilt and feelings of doom are pretty common with that, it seems to be. That said, despite that fear, I now intellectually feel the ideas are far-fetched. And while there is always the notion of "If you don't believe and it is true, then you will be punished, but if I believe and it is wrong, I lose nothing" pops up time and again, I can't help but feel converting to any religion strictly out of fear of torment seems a dishonest reason to believe. If I believe, I want it to be born of genuine faith, and not outright fear.

I've also heard of stories of people who convert to a religion, and basically fake it until they make it. I also kind of find that a dishonest reason to convert. I can, clearly, understand the desire to become a member of a religious community, but as I said, I want to convert out of faith, not to hope I find my faith some day.

But once you believe, you believe in Allah, youv never seen Him, nor heard Him directly, nor smelt or touched Him, but you still believe He exists and is the creator, because your heart knows this is true, this is what faith is, once that basis is there the angels, prophets, miricles all fall into place, because Allah is telling you they exist, that these things happend and when you have faith you believe everything Allah says and in your heart you know this to be true, you will know that Allah wants the best for you and everything that Allah says in the Quran to be truth, no matter how hard it is for our brains to comprehend, logically how can we comprehend Allah though, How can we comprehend God that created everything this entire universe from the biggest of planets, solar systems other galaxies black holes, the sun, the moon, the stars, earth from the biggest of mamals to the smallest of microbes, everything has its purpose, its movement, everything works so perfectly, we can never beging to imagine the power needed to do this as Allah is above anything that we can comprehend,
To even look at our bodies, bones, muscle, tendons, limbs, veins, arteries, organs, skin, mouth, nose, eyes, ears all so complex but yet so perfect.
Look at the water cycle, from land to sea, it evaporates back into the sky, condensates into clouds then it rains onto the earth, and the process repeats.. how simple yet perfect is this process
Look at nature, animals these are all signs of Allahs power, Allahs beautiful creations, everything in this world is a sign of Allahs power that we will never be able to understand but are in awe of

I can understand this. I remember how I used to feel when I did have faith in a concept of God. I never had much faith, just fear, when I still considered myself Catholic, but eventually found a spiritual path that worked for me for a while. One day, all of my faith and spiritual views I had just disappeared in an instant after a particular moment. I went through a period of outright angry anti-theism for a while, before settling into a much more reasonable skeptical agnostic atheism. The rhetoric from the anti-theist crowd now tends to just get on my nerves more than anything else. Still, despite this transition, I can still recall that I was generally happier, more content, and felt a sense of purpose while being a believer. So getting back to a faith in God seems like it may be beneficial, and of the religions out there, having learned more about Islam, I feel like it would be the most fulfilling one. I know I've said some of this before in the thread, but this is all to get me back around to this next sentence. I hope I can find even a fraction of the faith in Allah that you've displayed here, as it sounds as though it brings with it a sense of peace and serenity.

[Umm Malik]

You told us that the most things you need to accept is the decree and the Angels and the last day
And those things are the unseen which Allah tells us about in surah albakarah
( 1 ) Alif, Lam, Meem.
( 2 ) This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah -
( 3 ) Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them,
( 4 ) And who believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain [in faith].
( 5 ) Those are upon [right] guidance from their Lord, and it is those who are the successful.

And let's imagine if you have friend who ever been honest with you and never told you a lie .. if he tell you about something that you don't know like new invention for example ... will you belive him or no ??
And if somone in 1570 tell the People about speaking with another person from another place in the world with by making a vedio call and see them as he with .. will they belive ??
They won't ... but it happen and by the time we will see a things that we haven't think of before
The same for us ... on the coran we have a lot of proofs which make us sure that this the word of Allah .. and we have also in the lows of Islam and the commandment of God in the coran and sunnah which make our life beautiful and easy all this things led you to know that all this things are from the right one who knows what we need
And if you will be Muslim you won't need to ask about this proof because every thing in your life will proof to you that's my lord is exist and you will see him in everything since you belive him
The best thing will help you is to seek refuge with Allah from the whisper of shaytan(devil) and ask God for guidance and to let the things that you know that as a human being we can't understand all of it
You know for example that there is a microbes and you take a antibiotic when seek even you can't see it ... but because you see what the doctors know and how they make people good by them knowledge you trust them and you take as they told and if they say it have a problems or they invent another things better for you .. you will flow them advices , not because you see those microbes by your eyes ... but because you trust the doctors and you know that they know better than you
Flow your heart and accept your lord's call
And be close to him
Do as sayyiduna Salman have did to know the truth
And Allah says in his book (( And those who strive for Us - We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.)) 29:69
May Allah guide you
Life is short intrest in your Islam as you can don't let shaytan take you astray
And ask yourself why I want to live a religious life ? Your heart and your spirit want and your mind want another thing . But you know that not always our mind is correct and prefect

May Allah guide you

[muslimah_B]

I watched most of the videos so far, haven't had the time for the longer ones yet. The ones I have watched do a good job with explaining the nature of Allah. Thank you again.

Regarding Wudu, I went ahead and performed it. I figured if I was going to try and pray, I may as well do it right. I can say by the end of it, my mind was much more silent and focused than usual. The act of the ritual seemed to be great for centering, and definitely helps maintain focus in prayer. I then went to pray, utilizing sujood. It did have a feeling of... something I'm not quite sure of, more than any past praying has done. Afterwords, rising, I sat on my knees for a few moments in silence. The whole thing felt very solemn, centering, and peaceful.

Then I realized I hadn't been facing the Kaaba, found the direction, moved, went into sujood again, and basically apologized, as I had intended to face it while deciding to pray this way, but then it slipped my mind when I began. Same kneeling, silent aftermath.





I've always had a deep-seated fear of apocalyptic scenarios/judgement day type of things, I figure it is from having a Catholic upbringing. Guilt and feelings of doom are pretty common with that, it seems to be. That said, despite that fear, I now intellectually feel the ideas are far-fetched. And while there is always the notion of "If you don't believe and it is true, then you will be punished, but if I believe and it is wrong, I lose nothing" pops up time and again, I can't help but feel converting to any religion strictly out of fear of torment seems a dishonest reason to believe. If I believe, I want it to be born of genuine faith, and not outright fear.

I've also heard of stories of people who convert to a religion, and basically fake it until they make it. I also kind of find that a dishonest reason to convert. I can, clearly, understand the desire to become a member of a religious community, but as I said, I want to convert out of faith, not to hope I find my faith some day.




I can understand this. I remember how I used to feel when I did have faith in a concept of God. I never had much faith, just fear, when I still considered myself Catholic, but eventually found a spiritual path that worked for me for a while. One day, all of my faith and spiritual views I had just disappeared in an instant after a particular moment. I went through a period of outright angry anti-theism for a while, before settling into a much more reasonable skeptical agnostic atheism. The rhetoric from the anti-theist crowd now tends to just get on my nerves more than anything else. Still, despite this transition, I can still recall that I was generally happier, more content, and felt a sense of purpose while being a believer. So getting back to a faith in God seems like it may be beneficial, and of the religions out there, having learned more about Islam, I feel like it would be the most fulfilling one. I know I've said some of this before in the thread, but this is all to get me back around to this next sentence. I hope I can find even a fraction of the faith in Allah that you've displayed here, as it sounds as though it brings with it a sense of peace and serenity.

Its absolutely no problem, please do let me know if you would like any more videos with specific topics such as the othet areas your finding hard to accept ?

Yes that is exactly the feeling i was talking about after wudu & sujood though sujood is just one part of the entire prayer but it is very significant, and to me personally it has such a enormous calming effect on me, there have been many times when i would be so upset and when i just stayed in sujood and cryed letting it out, i began to feel better i didnt even have to say anything my heart just slowly began to feel at ease as though it had been hugged it honestly is such a beautiful experience when you are fully focused with no distractions

https://youtu.be/W9kTd7q1zjE

https://youtu.be/WKblG-Zoagk

Here are videos on how to do the FULL prayer if you would like to experience it and see how you feel

My mums side of the family were very strict catholics and i remember whenever i visited them i was forced to go church
I didn't really understand anything to be honest, mostly due to it being in spanish lol but i never really took to the idea of praying to a man, or another man telling me that i have to speak to him for God to hear me, or the whole idea of confession, i mean how can a man tell me that because i have "confessed" my sins im now forgiven, how does he know this lol that was just a few things that turned me away from catholicism & christianity,
i didnt feel connected to it, but i believed there was a "higher being" that created everything.
I will be honest at first i didnt take to Islam due to my objections which i can look back at and find absolutely silly lol, i was one of those ladies who prided on looking nice, and going out, so covering didnt appeal to me at all, neither did praying, or giving up smoking or drinking, it took nearly 2 years of someone to finally get me to read a pamphlet on women in Islam lol, but as i read it i became intrigued by it.
All the notions i had of Islam wasnt by muslims but by how others viewed it looking inside from the outside... at the time i was with someone muslim and not by my knowledge but i was actually doing these small things as a muslim does, such as eating with my right hand, washing after bathroom, eating halal, watching loads of Islamic stuff etc and slowly my heart started to soften to the idea of Islam and the whole idea of the day of judgement, jinns, angels, Allah, propehts, women covering etc .. it all started to make sense LOL
I went from someone who liked nice clothes & to look nice to someone who covered then to wearing Niqab (face veil), praying, fasting, doing Islamic classes etc Alhamdulilah (All praises are due to Allah)

In Islam the day of judgement is a very big deal and testifying faith is accepting this is true and believing in it... so think of it like this, in this life we are given free will to do anything we want, we can be good or evil.
so when we look at this world there is so much destruction, harm, oppression etc, so much evil in this world, now the day of judgement is the day where all these wrong will be put right by the supreme of All judges Allah himself, even the animals will be able to speak out against oppressors from people to other animals who may have acted unjust, they will be heard and Allah will judge accordingly.
Your own limbs will either speak for your defence or against you, even the Quran can testify to help save you (by learning and applying specific verses, they can save you from certain aspects of the grave & day of judgement) nobody will be able to lie and nobody will be treated unjustly at all, everyone will carry their own sins, except those who started a sin and people follow that sin
"Hadith*no: 203
Narrated / Authority Of:*Mundhir bin Jarir
that his father said: “The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: ‘Whoever introduces a good practice that is followed, he will receive its reward and a reward equivalent to that of those who follow it, without that detracting from their reward in the slightest. And whoever introduces a bad practice that is followed, he will receive its sin and a burden of sin equivalent to that of those who follow it, without that detracting from their burden in the slightest.’” (Sahih)

Fear is good, it keeps you away from sin, it works in your benefit, as muslims we should love & fear Allah so:- we love Allah so much that we do all these things to please Allah and make Allah happy & love us back, like how you love your mum so youll do things that make her happy as you love her, as you want her to be happy with you
Fearing Allah helps us stay away from sin, to fear the state we die in, if there was no fear then people would act out and do whatever they wanted with no fear of the consequences they bring. Like how you fear your mum scoulding you or punishing you, so you try your best to stay away from doing naughty things.
So honestly you need to love & fear Allah but also remember that Allah is so mercifull and His mercy outweighs his anger.

This life is basically a testing ground, to sift between the believers and dis-believers, who deserves jannah (heaven) & jahhanumm (hell)
To test those who say "i believe" whether they really mean it or if its just words.
So Allah puts us through tests, to break us to mould us into the better people we are meant to be, some people are destined a high place in heaven and in their current state they wont reach there yet, so we are pushed and tested to mould us to make us turn back to Allah, which in turn helps us be better and achieve that spot in heaven we are destined for.

So for most of us our true colours only come out when we are under pressure, when we are hungry when we go through traumatic situations,
how we handle & cope during these situations, do we turn to Allah or do we crumble, fall and blame Allah ? Or do we get up and turn back to Allah the one who created us to ask for help and patience & strength ?

An example would be diamonds, they are formed from emmense pressure & extremely high temperatures deep in the earth, then they form into these beautiful diamonds, so we can say that the emmense pressure and temperature is our tests/trials in order for us come out beautiful and better than before, in essence pushing us to be better and purify ourselves (of course only character wise )

Like honestly it may seem like a massive giant step, but it was the best decision iv ever made in my life, it made me the person who i am today, Islam gave me strength, it gave me meaning to life, peace inside when i call on Allah, its just a indescribeable feeling & experience when you become muslim, you begin to look at life different, all those things you once never thought were important and ignorable, they become meaningful to you. You have a different perspective on everything
That feeling you had when you done sujood, when you become muslim in sha Allah (God willing) that feeling will enhance sooooo much it will be priceless to you, it will mean everything to you when you need Allah and you do that sujood.

Dont allow the shaytan (devil) to build conflict in you, or make you doubt your beliefs, that is his job to cause mayhem & mischief & to stop you becoming a muslim, every doubt you had before you, will find them becoming more prominent, you will find yourself thinking more about these doubts than you usually did before, those logical thoughts will start eating away at you, and somehow you will begin to feel stupid that your believing in these things you will never be able to see, touch, hear or smell, once these things start happening, believe me that's shaytan doing everything he can to stop you declaring faith and becoming a muslim, you will then start to feel absolutely torn inside between these things, this is the point where you have to decide to believe in Allah or allow the shaytan to drag you down with him, in this instance say
" Ahhh-ooooo-dhhuuuu bee-la-he min-ash shaytan-ear raa-jeeem"
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed shaytan.

Please do keep us posted on how its going and if you need any help or any more videos or any questions

May Allah open up your heart and guide you to Islam... ameen

(Sorry its so much to read i honestly dont know how to talk less LOL)

[MisterK]

You told us that the most things you need to accept is the decree and the Angels and the last day
And those things are the unseen which Allah tells us about in surah albakarah
( 1 ) Alif, Lam, Meem.
( 2 ) This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah -
( 3 ) Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them,
( 4 ) And who believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain [in faith].
( 5 ) Those are upon [right] guidance from their Lord, and it is those who are the successful.

Yes, it is absolutely the Unseen that is my biggest problem. Though, as I continue to pray nightly, after performing wudu, I do feel a sort of connectedness and contentness. Of course, my skeptical mind says it is nothing more than what any form of meditation would do at most, and little more than the placebo effect at least. But, I'm working on it.

And let's imagine if you have friend who ever been honest with you and never told you a lie .. if he tell you about something that you don't know like new invention for example ... will you belive him or no ??

Truthfully, at best I'd take it as hearsay until I found out for myself. And the more fantastic the invention, the more skeptical I'd be.

And if somone in 1570 tell the People about speaking with another person from another place in the world with by making a vedio call and see them as he with .. will they belive ??
They won't ... but it happen and by the time we will see a things that we haven't think of before

True.

The same for us ... on the coran we have a lot of proofs which make us sure that this the word of Allah .. and we have also in the lows of Islam and the commandment of God in the coran and sunnah which make our life beautiful and easy all this things led you to know that all this things are from the right one who knows what we need
And if you will be Muslim you won't need to ask about this proof because every thing in your life will proof to you that's my lord is exist and you will see him in everything since you belive him
The best thing will help you is to seek refuge with Allah from the whisper of shaytan(devil) and ask God for guidance and to let the things that you know that as a human being we can't understand all of it

I am praying as though I accept Allah is true and real, even if my head doesn't fully accept yet. I figure if I'm going to pray and ask things and what not, pray from the heart, not the head.

You know for example that there is a microbes and you take a antibiotic when seek even you can't see it ... but because you see what the doctors know and how they make people good by them knowledge you trust them and you take as they told and if they say it have a problems or they invent another things better for you .. you will flow them advices , not because you see those microbes by your eyes ... but because you trust the doctors and you know that they know better than you

To be fair, on this one, while it is true I will take their advice as medical doctors and nurses and such will know more than me, I've also seen bacteria, worked with them, tested various antibiotics on them in lab, as well as other forms of microbial species. So on this, I know microbes exist, and know they can be treated (in most instances) in someway or another. And I can also read studies on new forms of treatment, new experiments and methodologies, and so on.

I do understand your point, though.

Flow your heart and accept your lord's call
And be close to him
Do as sayyiduna Salman have did to know the truth
And Allah says in his book (( And those who strive for Us - We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.)) 29:69
May Allah guide you
Life is short intrest in your Islam as you can don't let shaytan take you astray
And ask yourself why I want to live a religious life ? Your heart and your spirit want and your mind want another thing . But you know that not always our mind is correct and prefect

May Allah guide you

True, there have been times in my life where I probably should have listened to my heart more than my head. Missed opportunities, a lot of "what ifs?" and regret from not doing things my heart said do.

I do feel closer to deciding for certain than when I first posted here, but not quite there yet.

Thank you for your input, I very much appreciate it.

You told us that the most things you need to accept is the decree and the Angels and the last day
And those things are the unseen which Allah tells us about in surah albakarah
( 1 ) Alif, Lam, Meem.
( 2 ) This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah -
( 3 ) Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them,
( 4 ) And who believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain [in faith].
( 5 ) Those are upon [right] guidance from their Lord, and it is those who are the successful.

And let's imagine if you have friend who ever been honest with you and never told you a lie .. if he tell you about something that you don't know like new invention for example ... will you belive him or no ??
And if somone in 1570 tell the People about speaking with another person from another place in the world with by making a vedio call and see them as he with .. will they belive ??
They won't ... but it happen and by the time we will see a things that we haven't think of before
The same for us ... on the coran we have a lot of proofs which make us sure that this the word of Allah .. and we have also in the lows of Islam and the commandment of God in the coran and sunnah which make our life beautiful and easy all this things led you to know that all this things are from the right one who knows what we need
And if you will be Muslim you won't need to ask about this proof because every thing in your life will proof to you that's my lord is exist and you will see him in everything since you belive him
The best thing will help you is to seek refuge with Allah from the whisper of shaytan(devil) and ask God for guidance and to let the things that you know that as a human being we can't understand all of it
You know for example that there is a microbes and you take a antibiotic when seek even you can't see it ... but because you see what the doctors know and how they make people good by them knowledge you trust them and you take as they told and if they say it have a problems or they invent another things better for you .. you will flow them advices , not because you see those microbes by your eyes ... but because you trust the doctors and you know that they know better than you
Flow your heart and accept your lord's call
And be close to him
Do as sayyiduna Salman have did to know the truth
And Allah says in his book (( And those who strive for Us - We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.)) 29:69
May Allah guide you
Life is short intrest in your Islam as you can don't let shaytan take you astray
And ask yourself why I want to live a religious life ? Your heart and your spirit want and your mind want another thing . But you know that not always our mind is correct and prefect

May Allah guide you

[Umm Malik]

Yes, it is absolutely the Unseen that is my biggest problem. Though, as I continue to pray nightly, after performing wudu, I do feel a sort of connectedness and contentness. Of course, my skeptical mind says it is nothing more than what any form of meditation would do at most, and little more than the placebo effect at least. But, I'm working on it.



Truthfully, at best I'd take it as hearsay until I found out for myself. And the more fantastic the invention, the more skeptical I'd be.



True.



I am praying as though I accept Allah is true and real, even if my head doesn't fully accept yet. I figure if I'm going to pray and ask things and what not, pray from the heart, not the head.



To be fair, on this one, while it is true I will take their advice as medical doctors and nurses and such will know more than me, I've also seen bacteria, worked with them, tested various antibiotics on them in lab, as well as other forms of microbial species. So on this, I know microbes exist, and know they can be treated (in most instances) in someway or another. And I can also read studies on new forms of treatment, new experiments and methodologies, and so on.

I do understand your point, though.



True, there have been times in my life where I probably should have listened to my heart more than my head. Missed opportunities, a lot of "what ifs?" and regret from not doing things my heart said do.

I do feel closer to deciding for certain than when I first posted here, but not quite there yet.

Thank you for your input, I very much appreciate it.

You are welcome brother ...may Allah guide us
And do know that all this effort that you are doing to know the truth .. it fruit will come for sure
Allah will guide just open your heart ( 69 ) And those who strive for Us - We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.

[abs]

I would give advice if I thought I was fit to do so.. However Yusha Evans (formerly Joshua evans) explains it perfectly in how he accepted Islam and his reasoning for it, I suggest it is worth watching brother! https://youtu.be/IYMKQKSV0bY

[MisterK]

Its absolutely no problem, please do let me know if you would like any more videos with specific topics such as the othet areas your finding hard to accept ?

Will do. I suppose another thing I've been wondering is must the Quran be taken entirely literally, as if 100% factual and true? This doesn't discount the divinity of it or the revelation of Muhammad, but there are some bits of it that also make it hard to believe if needed to be taken as literal (mostly things like the moon being its own light, the Earth being flat, that sort of thing, things which run counter to what is known).

Many Christians, for example, see much of the Bible as divinely inspired symboism, which (for them) reveals higher truths. Is this sort of view mirrored by any in Islam regarding the Quran?

Yes that is exactly the feeling i was talking about after wudu & sujood though sujood is just one part of the entire prayer but it is very significant, and to me personally it has such a enormous calming effect on me, there have been many times when i would be so upset and when i just stayed in sujood and cryed letting it out, i began to feel better i didnt even have to say anything my heart just slowly began to feel at ease as though it had been hugged it honestly is such a beautiful experience when you are fully focused with no distractions

Here are videos on how to do the FULL prayer if you would like to experience it and see how you feel

Thanks for the videos. I'll watch them as soon as I can. I should start learning them. Better to be prepared (just like I have the Shahada memorized {in Arabic and English} for if/when I'm ready to say it) for the potential future need of them.

My mums side of the family were very strict catholics and i remember whenever i visited them i was forced to go church
I didn't really understand anything to be honest, mostly due to it being in spanish lol but i never really took to the idea of praying to a man, or another man telling me that i have to speak to him for God to hear me, or the whole idea of confession, i mean how can a man tell me that because i have "confessed" my sins im now forgiven, how does he know this lol that was just a few things that turned me away from catholicism & christianity,
i didnt feel connected to it, but i believed there was a "higher being" that created everything.

Yeah, I've a lot of issues with Catholicism, a lot of them based around the politicking and power plays within it. I never once felt any real draw or connection to it, not in any good way, and definitely not like the pull I'm feeling towards Islam.

I will be honest at first i didnt take to Islam due to my objections which i can look back at and find absolutely silly lol, i was one of those ladies who prided on looking nice, and going out, so covering didnt appeal to me at all, neither did praying, or giving up smoking or drinking, it took nearly 2 years of someone to finally get me to read a pamphlet on women in Islam lol, but as i read it i became intrigued by it.
All the notions i had of Islam wasnt by muslims but by how others viewed it looking inside from the outside... at the time i was with someone muslim and not by my knowledge but i was actually doing these small things as a muslim does, such as eating with my right hand, washing after bathroom, eating halal, watching loads of Islamic stuff etc and slowly my heart started to soften to the idea of Islam and the whole idea of the day of judgement, jinns, angels, Allah, propehts, women covering etc .. it all started to make sense LOL
I went from someone who liked nice clothes & to look nice to someone who covered then to wearing Niqab (face veil), praying, fasting, doing Islamic classes etc Alhamdulilah (All praises are due to Allah)

For a good while I had a strong anti-theist kick, and had a pretty harsh view of Islam, but as with you, it was purely an outsider view. I've softened in many of my views as I've aged, but especially now, having read a translation of the Quran, it is pretty clear all the "GOTCHA!" verses that get thrown around to "prove" Islam as war-like, violent, sexist, etc, are typically use with no context associated, when, in fact, those verses have very specific context that doesn't mean what is being claimed.

Funny what even a cursory education on a subject can do.

In Islam the day of judgement is a very big deal and testifying faith is accepting this is true and believing in it... so think of it like this, in this life we are given free will to do anything we want, we can be good or evil.
so when we look at this world there is so much destruction, harm, oppression etc, so much evil in this world, now the day of judgement is the day where all these wrong will be put right by the supreme of All judges Allah himself, even the animals will be able to speak out against oppressors from people to other animals who may have acted unjust, they will be heard and Allah will judge accordingly.
Your own limbs will either speak for your defence or against you, even the Quran can testify to help save you (by learning and applying specific verses, they can save you from certain aspects of the grave & day of judgement) nobody will be able to lie and nobody will be treated unjustly at all, everyone will carry their own sins, except those who started a sin and people follow that sin
"Hadith*no: 203
Narrated / Authority Of:*Mundhir bin Jarir
that his father said: “The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: ‘Whoever introduces a good practice that is followed, he will receive its reward and a reward equivalent to that of those who follow it, without that detracting from their reward in the slightest. And whoever introduces a bad practice that is followed, he will receive its sin and a burden of sin equivalent to that of those who follow it, without that detracting from their burden in the slightest.’” (Sahih)

That's fair, and I like the Haddith you cited, as it persuades to do and promote good while equally disuading from doing and promoting the wrong. I still have to come to terms and find faith in Judgment Day, though.

QUOTE=muslimah_B;2916121]
Fear is good, it keeps you away from sin, it works in your benefit, as muslims we should love & fear Allah so:- we love Allah so much that we do all these things to please Allah and make Allah happy & love us back, like how you love your mum so youll do things that make her happy as you love her, as you want her to be happy with you
Fearing Allah helps us stay away from sin, to fear the state we die in, if there was no fear then people would act out and do whatever they wanted with no fear of the consequences they bring. Like how you fear your mum scoulding you or punishing you, so you try your best to stay away from doing naughty things.
So honestly you need to love & fear Allah but also remember that Allah is so mercifull and His mercy outweighs his anger. [/QUOTE]

I can understand that, but doing something entirely out of fear is, as I see, a terrible way to live. It is one thing to both love your mom and live in fear of doing wrong against her because of threat of punishment, but it is an entirely different thing to live in constant fear and only behave out of fear of abuse/punishment while harboring no love for the punisher.

It is the latter to which I refer in my previous comment, that worshipping and following any religion or tenet strictly from a place of fear seems wrong to me. And that sort of primal, gut-wrenching fear of doomsday prophecies and End Times/Day of Judgment (even if I don't currently have faith in such a thing happening) shouldn't be the sole reason to convert to anything, I feel.

This life is basically a testing ground, to sift between the believers and dis-believers, who deserves jannah (heaven) & jahhanumm (hell)
To test those who say "i believe" whether they really mean it or if its just words.
So Allah puts us through tests, to break us to mould us into the better people we are meant to be, some people are destined a high place in heaven and in their current state they wont reach there yet, so we are pushed and tested to mould us to make us turn back to Allah, which in turn helps us be better and achieve that spot in heaven we are destined for.

So for most of us our true colours only come out when we are under pressure, when we are hungry when we go through traumatic situations,
how we handle & cope during these situations, do we turn to Allah or do we crumble, fall and blame Allah ? Or do we get up and turn back to Allah the one who created us to ask for help and patience & strength ?

An example would be diamonds, they are formed from emmense pressure & extremely high temperatures deep in the earth, then they form into these beautiful diamonds, so we can say that the emmense pressure and temperature is our tests/trials in order for us come out beautiful and better than before, in essence pushing us to be better and purify ourselves (of course only character wise )

And I can understand this, and if I found my faith, accept it. But then, that's still part and parcel to my situation in general. Maybe all of this is a test from Allah, trying to guide me to Islam, but the skeptic in me says it's likely more a result of my longing for meaning and community and such. Nothing inherently says the two can't be related (Allah opening my mind to those missing things to lead me to Islam, for example), but my reason side, based what current knowledge and understanding of things says it's just me trying to fill a void with my life, not divine will of a Creator I haven't beleived in for years.

Like honestly it may seem like a massive giant step, but it was the best decision iv ever made in my life, it made me the person who i am today, Islam gave me strength, it gave me meaning to life, peace inside when i call on Allah, its just a indescribeable feeling & experience when you become muslim, you begin to look at life different, all those things you once never thought were important and ignorable, they become meaningful to you. You have a different perspective on everything
That feeling you had when you done sujood, when you become muslim in sha Allah (God willing) that feeling will enhance sooooo much it will be priceless to you, it will mean everything to you when you need Allah and you do that sujood.

Dont allow the shaytan (devil) to build conflict in you, or make you doubt your beliefs, that is his job to cause mayhem & mischief & to stop you becoming a muslim, every doubt you had before you, will find them becoming more prominent, you will find yourself thinking more about these doubts than you usually did before, those logical thoughts will start eating away at you, and somehow you will begin to feel stupid that your believing in these things you will never be able to see, touch, hear or smell, once these things start happening, believe me that's shaytan doing everything he can to stop you declaring faith and becoming a muslim, you will then start to feel absolutely torn inside between these things, this is the point where you have to decide to believe in Allah or allow the shaytan to drag you down with him, in this instance say
" Ahhh-ooooo-dhhuuuu bee-la-he min-ash shaytan-ear raa-jeeem"
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed shaytan.

And, of course, being aware of this difference in my emotional vs intellectual self is, in itself, disruptive to my general peace and contendedness and mental well-being. Which, as you put it, would be an apt description of Allah or Shaytan as you decribed it.

The thing is, given my current beliefs vs everything I'm striving for per this thread, if I stayed strong in my beliefs, I'd not be here at all, given my skeptical agnosticism. It's more about reforming my beliefs more than it is about retaining them at this point.

Recently there was a point where I just said it wasn't going to happen, I was done. And then that actually made me feel a bit depressed and down, so here I am, still seaeching, still striving.

Please do keep us posted on how its going and if you need any help or any more videos or any questions

May Allah open up your heart and guide you to Islam... ameen

(Sorry its so much to read i honestly dont know how to talk less LOL)

Thank you. And no worries about the length, I've enjoyed any and all feedback and discussion so far. And really, the more personal insights given, the more that may inform my own quest.

[Search]

(In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful)

@MisterK

Hey, welcome to IB! I don't know how I missed this!

I used to be an atheist before I became Muslim; I'd love to be able to guide you through this process. Where exactly are you now in terms of your progress on believing in the unseen? If you need anything, feel free to write here or even we can PM if you'd find that more comfortable.

Wishing you awesomeness, and best wishes of course,

[MisterK]

I would give advice if I thought I was fit to do so.. However Yusha Evans (formerly Joshua evans) explains it perfectly in how he accepted Islam and his reasoning for it, I suggest it is worth watching brother!

Thanks, I'll be sure check out the video.

[MisterK]

(In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful)

MisterK

Hey, welcome to IB! I don't know how I missed this!

I used to be an atheist before I became Muslim; I'd love to be able to guide you through this process. Where exactly are you now in terms of your progress on believing in the unseen? If you need anything, feel free to write here or even we can PM if you'd find that more comfortable.

Wishing you awesomeness, and best wishes of course,

Thanks for the kind welcome.

It's pretty much all of the unseen I'm still trying to come to terms with accepting, intellectually, at least. I feel a draw to Islam, and very much find myself appreciating and accepting the cultural rules/laws, especially with their focus on family, community, charity, and health.

I still, intellectually, can't reconcile the faith aspects of Islam with my skeptical, logic-oriented mind, filled with the many vast and varied arguments against such things.

So, being a former athiest, how did you find your faith, if you don't mind me asking?

If you skype, you can find my Skype ID on my profile.