To all new muslims

[Tony]

Salamun Aleiykum. Alhamdulillah I finally did it, I went friday prayers at the mosque. For as long as I knew I was Muslim, I knew I had to go to mosque on a friday, now for a revert it is an area of anxiety for some, I learnt to pray from a book and have been very conscious about it being correct or not ( subhan Allah it was) and this has been a problem for me. Many times I have asked brothers to take me, and I sometimes felt that they thought nI was being weird or something. Let me explain to all those brothers that for a convert who does not know what to expect at a mosque, how it may be different from praying at home, how some of us think we will be watchedfor errors its scary. I also had to go to mosque where I was only white person amongst a congregation of Pakistanis, although I am no rascist, I was anxious of this also. Anyway new Muslims let me tell you, first of all I asked a colleague to go mosque with me last friday, we were to early to pray but he asked the Imam to let us in and this brother showed me round the mosque and how to wash properly, he is called Mamood and I ask all who read this to ask Allah to bless him and his familly in this life and the next. So today I washed, put nice clothes on, bit the bullet and prayed all the way to the mosque for Allah to make it easy. I had been told to get there for 13:30 ready to commence at 2pm (uk), this had also been a source of anxiety not knowing what to do or when to turn up, I walked in and sat down, immediatley an elderley Pakistani man, who outside may have been wary of me, grabbed my hand in both of his and shook it warmly, he looked directly into my eyes and smiled, "asalamu aleiykum", wow I was so touched it was awesome, all my anxieties disappeared. as prayers started I was ushered forward ( i sat at the back !) and literally squeezed between the other brothers there. I have to tell you the sense of brotherhood at that moment was palpable, brothers to each side, children and men praying together. I could not understand alot of what the Imam said, butn I noticed he did his best to summarize each section in English, subject was the angels at point of death, awesome. I followed the brothers next to meand realised it was the prayer I had done at home, :D, Alhamdulillah. After 15 mins some people left I stayed and understood this to be extra rakaats, so I id mine and made dua for my mum (Allah bless her and bring her to Islam), the Imam concluded and we left the mosque. 30 minutes start to finish. When I left and all afternoon I have had the strangest feeling of peace, not the happy smiley everything cool type peace, nor a deep and dark type peace, but a peace that was devoid of urgency but that In had made a further commitment to Allah and a seriousness, hard to explain but definatley powerful. So new or old converts who have never been to the mosque, please take it from me there is absolutley nothing to worry about, people there will help if you want them to, there is no difference between people there we are all equal, andits ok to copy the one next to you or even ask them to show you. New brothers go to the mosque its truly awesome, when the person called Adhan at 2pm, tears came to my eyes, this has not happened to me for a while and Alhamdulillah for it. I f you live in braford or west yorkshire region pm me and I will do everything to accompany you there insha'Allah. In short go to the mosque, it is for Allahs pleasure and I am counting the minutes to next friday already. La ilaha ilAllah, eshedu ana Mahamadur rasulAllah. Ameen

[Tony]

:bump1:

[BlissfullyJaded]

:sl:

Awesome mashaAllah! Glad to hear everything went well for you at the masjid and that you really enjoyed it! Yay. :D

[Zafran]

Suhan Allah good one

May Allah bless you

peace