Greetings Mistrique and welcome to the forum
format_quote Originally Posted by
Mistrique
Firstly what would you say is the one single biggest and strongest piece of evidence in on favor of Islam?
Many things, not just one.
Here though, I'll mention the Qur'an.
The Qur'an is the last and final scripture of God, revealed over 1400 years ago to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) via the angel Gabriel (peace be upon him). It's message is for the entire world, until the world ends. Thus it is fully preserved with no word in it coming from any human. It is 100% the word of God, unlike the other scriptures that we have with us today, that have been changed by humans, thus it supersedes the previous scriptures.
It has no versions or editions. Millions of people from all over the world have it memorised, and they all recite word for word the same thing. It contains practical guidance on how to live our life, how to worship God, stories of previous prophets from which to learn lessons, warnings, rules, comfort, solace, and in it God corrects any misconceptions people may have about Him or His prophets. It tells us what has always been expected from humans since the beginning of time; what God told His prophets to teach people since the very beginning. That message never changed. The essence of Islam is what always was, and has always been, the true and natural religion; the way of all the Prophets, the original and only message.
The message, was:
to submit wholeheartedly to the will of God and to worship Him and Him alone, without any associates in, or parts to, His Divinity, and to obey the prophet. All the prophets and messengers taught that people should be under no misperception that they can commit themselves to God as their Lord, and then combine this with accepting others as their Lord, or associating others in His Divinity, by deeming certain humans to be incarnations of Him, to be His sons, or any other way. They taught that we should strive hard to translate our belief in the One True God into practice, by obeying God and the messengers He sent to convey the message.
The Qur'an has been translated into nearly every language. These are regarded as translations of the Qur'an, but not as the Qur'an itself, which is in Arabic, and has rhythm and poetic beauty. Any preconceived notion that you might have of a book should be put aside. This book is completely unique, and unlike any other book in the history of the planet, or that ever will be. It is unique in every way; its content, arrangement, style, authorship, preservation, and memorisability, amongst other things.
An increase in knowledge and education, and scientific discoveries, provide further evidence that Islam is the truth. It is the religion for the thinking person. Science is gradually confirming the statements made in the Qur'an 1400 years ago, on a variety of subjects, such as embryology, hydrology, geology, etc, that it would have been impossible for anyone to know then. Some of those are mentioned here:
http://www.islamicboard.com/discover...ml#post1459723
Another thing to note, is that Islam is not named after a specific person (like Christianity, Buddhism), nor after a certain race or place (like Judaism, Hinduism), but is named by God Himself, and the meaning loosely translates as 'submission to God', which is what every Prophet and their righteous followers did, from amongst all times, all races and all peoples. That in itself is one fraction of the evidence that it was the way of all the Prophets from the beginning.
format_quote Originally Posted by
Mistrique
Secondly have you ever had any doubts about your faith? if so what were they and how did you overcome them (assuming you did overcome them of course)
I have never doubted Islam, but faith itself can have highs and lows, sometimes you feel super motivated and sometimes not as much.
format_quote Originally Posted by
Mistrique
Finally do you believe that a person like me with western values would ever fit into Islam?
As sister Aprender said, Islam is for everyone. There may be some things you have to give up, such as pork, alcohol, non-halal meat, and certain other things, as it's about submitting to your Creator and loving and obeying Him.
Talking of God, this is what we believe about Him:
There is only One God. He alone should be worshipped. He is our Creator, Sustainer, Cherisher, and Lord.
He does not beget, nor is He begotten. He has no sons, daughters, siblings, parents, cousins, or relatives of any sort.
He is eternal and does not die.
He does not depend on anyone/anything, yet we all depend on Him. He is free of all want and need.
There is nothing like Him. He is all Hearing, all Seeing, all Knowing, all Powerful, the Creator of the Universe.
He did not and does not, dwell in human or animal bodies, nor are there any incarnations of Him. He is not mixed up in His creation in any way.
He is not composed of persons, nor a trinity. There are no secondary, lesser, greater, equal, or multiple gods, no intermediaries, and no denying of God's existence either.
There are no sharers or associates or parts whatsoever in His exclusive Divinity. Simply, He is One, in every sense.
The proper name of God in Arabic is Allah. It has no grammatical derivations, so cannot be turned into gods, goddesses etc.
I'll leave it here for now, to save it getting protractedly long, but please don't hesitate to ask for any clarification or further questions.
Peace.