Stories of Muslim Reverts! - Post yours here!

[Ansariyah]

^
Oh MashaAllah that was so beautiful, really amazing. Jzk brotha for posting this, touched my heart n humbles me.

[aadil77]

he should be coming to my uni inshAllah

[gohar98]

Nice effort. Keep it up.

Islam is spreading pretty fast. Masha Allah.

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

The BBC's Catrin Nye reports on the growing number of white people in the UK who are converting to Islam.

Converting to Islam - the white Britons becoming Muslims





http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12075931

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEn-M...?v=yEn-MXXMByk

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[Amira_Zelda]

Salam 3leykom everyone ! Well.. as i promised, I would like to share my story as well ! Warning ! It is a very loooong story ! hehe ...

Ok, so I was born in Laredo,Texas USA ( a border city right next to mexico! ^^ ) and i am a proud Mexican-American :) I grew up in a Catholic household but later on when i was about 5 or 6 years old, my parents and my sister (except for my brother is an atheist) converted to Evangelical Christianity (Protestantism for a lack of a better word hehe) but the church I grew up in was non-denominational , meaning it was not affiliated with Baptist , Methodist or Pentecostal churches... ( i still dont know where are these different sects/ denominations come from ! ^^ )
I remember being thrilled with the new transition to a different church ! I thought to myself.. "hey this church is way better ! People sing and dance joyfully for the Lord!" lol.. In contrast with the Catholic church my parents used to attend, there was no type of worship of that sort nor was there Sunday School for children or for teenagers.. so even though i was little, i began to see the difference right away.
So anyways.. as I grew older and was baptized at the age of 12, I was well-defined in my faith and my relationship with God kept growing and growing :)
But... problems began to emerge within the church i was attending.. me and my family noticed how rigid the teachings were about certain issues that affected our spiritual lives..
Our Pastor began to go a little overboard when he talked about going to the movie theater. He said that he deeply discouraged anyone (especially a youth) to go to the movies due to evil spirits that might be there... ( o_O ) And then he mentioned how this principal also applied to shopping malls.. and bowling allies ( x_X ! )
I noticed how many Christians can become a little or if not very paranoid with the issue of demons, satan, and other things pertaining to evil spirits. Its like they are every where and they blame the devil for everything ! lol Whereas, they should realize how important is to emphasize that God is with them ! And also, if something bad happens, they shouldnt always attribute it to the devil, but rather take responsibility for themselves.. and even.. to consider it to be a test from God and that He has everything in control ! not satan..
But this and among other things drove our family to a Assemblies of God Pentecostal church ( or churches, because i attend 2 for the youth services)
This type of church is very specific and a minority not to mention the one that is considered to be the "weird one" among all the other Christian churches out there.. [ please look up assemblies of God in Wikipedia i cant post links yet ]
The best known doctrine that they preach is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the practice of speaking in tongues.. which by the way, i have experienced and till this day it is somewhat controversial in my life, but deep down inside i know that this was just another way that God was telling me.. "listen, i love you and i am with you!"
Now let me explain my relationship with God... and the Trinity which since i was like about 8 or 9 years started to have questions about .. and the thoughts and experience that i had before planted the seeds for my conversion to Islam
So, yes i grew up learning that there is ONLY 1 God with 3 different personalities..ok.. but during the moments of Worship, where the congregation began to sing to God ( or to Jesus ? -_- ) In my spirit, i felt it break down.. i felt it moved and shaken whenever i would pronounce the word/name of God ! Even saying Jewish words liked Adonai ! Elohim !( which to me meant and still means Lord! despite what other people say about plural m thing.. >_< ! ) Jehova Jireh ! Jehova Rafa! Jehova Shalom! i was subconsciously declaring my devotion/ love/submission to God ( la ilaha ila Allah ) and also practicing a type of dihkr :D ! Because i would repeat the dfferent names of God over and over as Adoration to him. which is why the Hebrew language (Biblical) had and still has an affect to me to this day.
Also,
The non-denominational church was all in Spanish and the Pentecostal one bilingual.. so all my biblical knowledge and religious studies were in Spanish which lead me to associate this language with God and religion so it is naturally for me and i prefer to pray and worship God in Spanish ( and now of course in Arabic ^^ hehe ) But where i am going with this is, that i began to listen to music in Spanish and Hebrew which the term for it is "canciones mesianicas" messianic songs.. which was very much played in my church. But i can not help noticing that my worship in these songs were veered only to God! such as in Roni Roni Bats Zion, hine ma tov and Shalom Aleichem..
"For the Lord your God in the midst of you
Mighty is His name
Rejoicing over you
With songs of gladness
Sing joyfully
He will save us"
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" is my favorite one of hinei ma tov..
And this is why i can never be against Jews! For we indeed worship the same God amin ! And it is good to know that Jews and Christians are considered to be People of the Book ^^ in the Holy Qo'ran ..
You might ask .. So why this so much talk about music? Because it plays a big role in my life and it was a factor that really did question my relationship with the Trinity.
During services at church.. (especially Youth services) Music became almost if not the most important way for us to worship God. Which is common among many Christians..
This is good.. it is nice to worship God in many different forms.. and i still do only because i see it a part of my culture that i simply can not abandon despite being a Muslim.. the only difference now, is that i put limits and i am aware that the best form of worship to God is through obedience! This is a factor that even the Youth Pastor at my church pointed out.. that worship does not mean to always clap our hands and sing to God, but rather to offer our sincere obedience and submission to God.. He would use the word "surrender" but it means the same thing to me ! :) But still, many people still failed to see this and i even i failed to realize that.. and ultimately my relationship with Jesus depended only on emotions and feelings created through an environment that consisted of a mass of young people, musical instruments and neon lights.. ( the altar or "stage" at our church was very very distracting -_- ) I began to feel empty inside... and I was even more conflicted with my relationship with God the father, the son and the holy spirit... until i decided to analyze my situation and start to think things through.. So i noticed a pattern within myself... I noticed that whenever i prayed, id prayed to God.. and feel his presence.. whenever i would worship.. i would worship like this: "Señor digno eres tu de mi alabanza.. y nadie más.. Eres el omnipotente, el omnisciente y grande es tu Misericordia ! " My Lord (God) You alone are worthy of my worship and no one else.. You are the Omniscient and the All-Knowing .. All-Merciful !" :) So, I realized all by myself that it was easier for me to separate God from everything else.. and i perceived the "holy spirit" to just be simply the presence of God. However, this was me thinking as an individual and way before i knew anything about Islam. I was kinda practicing what is known as Oneness Pentecostalism [ once again, please check out oneness Pentecostalism in wikipedia]
So in conclusion, I decided to research about Islam and what it meant to be a Muslim.. I believe God lead me to this path.. because i feel and i know i have peace in my heart.. God has not abandoned me... I still feel his presence El7amdulilah!! Though I did receive help from my online Muslim friends on msn.. lol i was in no way forced to be a muslim.. it was a decision i made between me and God ! And.. no, my parents do not know this, I DO NOT plan to tell them any time soon, it is much too complicated to explain why here.. ill make another thread asking for all of your advice and help.. But bascially it has to do with my Mexican/Hispanic culture and my parents especially my Dad is very strict with religious matters.. it would be something taboo for them to ever hear that i have converted.. they dont understand islam.. but little by little inshallah.. they will :)

Salam !

[aadil77]

Masha'Allah great story, congrats on being muslim

from what I know theres quite a few hispanic muslims?

[Perseveranze]

Salam 3leykom everyone ! Well.. as i promised, I would like to share my story as well ! Warning ! It is a very loooong story ! hehe ...

Ok, so I was born in Laredo,Texas USA ( a border city right next to mexico! ^^ ) and i am a proud Mexican-American :) I grew up in a Catholic household but later on when i was about 5 or 6 years old, my parents and my sister (except for my brother is an atheist) converted to Evangelical Christianity (Protestantism for a lack of a better word hehe) but the church I grew up in was non-denominational , meaning it was not affiliated with Baptist , Methodist or Pentecostal churches... ( i still dont know where are these different sects/ denominations come from ! ^^ )
I remember being thrilled with the new transition to a different church ! I thought to myself.. "hey this church is way better ! People sing and dance joyfully for the Lord!" lol.. In contrast with the Catholic church my parents used to attend, there was no type of worship of that sort nor was there Sunday School for children or for teenagers.. so even though i was little, i began to see the difference right away.
So anyways.. as I grew older and was baptized at the age of 12, I was well-defined in my faith and my relationship with God kept growing and growing :)
But... problems began to emerge within the church i was attending.. me and my family noticed how rigid the teachings were about certain issues that affected our spiritual lives..
Our Pastor began to go a little overboard when he talked about going to the movie theater. He said that he deeply discouraged anyone (especially a youth) to go to the movies due to evil spirits that might be there... ( o_O ) And then he mentioned how this principal also applied to shopping malls.. and bowling allies ( x_X ! )
I noticed how many Christians can become a little or if not very paranoid with the issue of demons, satan, and other things pertaining to evil spirits. Its like they are every where and they blame the devil for everything ! lol Whereas, they should realize how important is to emphasize that God is with them ! And also, if something bad happens, they shouldnt always attribute it to the devil, but rather take responsibility for themselves.. and even.. to consider it to be a test from God and that He has everything in control ! not satan..
But this and among other things drove our family to a Assemblies of God Pentecostal church ( or churches, because i attend 2 for the youth services)
This type of church is very specific and a minority not to mention the one that is considered to be the "weird one" among all the other Christian churches out there.. [ please look up assemblies of God in Wikipedia i cant post links yet ]
The best known doctrine that they preach is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the practice of speaking in tongues.. which by the way, i have experienced and till this day it is somewhat controversial in my life, but deep down inside i know that this was just another way that God was telling me.. "listen, i love you and i am with you!"
Now let me explain my relationship with God... and the Trinity which since i was like about 8 or 9 years started to have questions about .. and the thoughts and experience that i had before planted the seeds for my conversion to Islam
So, yes i grew up learning that there is ONLY 1 God with 3 different personalities..ok.. but during the moments of Worship, where the congregation began to sing to God ( or to Jesus ? -_- ) In my spirit, i felt it break down.. i felt it moved and shaken whenever i would pronounce the word/name of God ! Even saying Jewish words liked Adonai ! Elohim !( which to me meant and still means Lord! despite what other people say about plural m thing.. >_< ! ) Jehova Jireh ! Jehova Rafa! Jehova Shalom! i was subconsciously declaring my devotion/ love/submission to God ( la ilaha ila Allah ) and also practicing a type of dihkr :D ! Because i would repeat the dfferent names of God over and over as Adoration to him. which is why the Hebrew language (Biblical) had and still has an affect to me to this day.
Also,
The non-denominational church was all in Spanish and the Pentecostal one bilingual.. so all my biblical knowledge and religious studies were in Spanish which lead me to associate this language with God and religion so it is naturally for me and i prefer to pray and worship God in Spanish ( and now of course in Arabic ^^ hehe ) But where i am going with this is, that i began to listen to music in Spanish and Hebrew which the term for it is "canciones mesianicas" messianic songs.. which was very much played in my church. But i can not help noticing that my worship in these songs were veered only to God! such as in Roni Roni Bats Zion, hine ma tov and Shalom Aleichem..
"For the Lord your God in the midst of you
Mighty is His name
Rejoicing over you
With songs of gladness
Sing joyfully
He will save us"
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" is my favorite one of hinei ma tov..
And this is why i can never be against Jews! For we indeed worship the same God amin ! And it is good to know that Jews and Christians are considered to be People of the Book ^^ in the Holy Qo'ran ..
You might ask .. So why this so much talk about music? Because it plays a big role in my life and it was a factor that really did question my relationship with the Trinity.
During services at church.. (especially Youth services) Music became almost if not the most important way for us to worship God. Which is common among many Christians..
This is good.. it is nice to worship God in many different forms.. and i still do only because i see it a part of my culture that i simply can not abandon despite being a Muslim.. the only difference now, is that i put limits and i am aware that the best form of worship to God is through obedience! This is a factor that even the Youth Pastor at my church pointed out.. that worship does not mean to always clap our hands and sing to God, but rather to offer our sincere obedience and submission to God.. He would use the word "surrender" but it means the same thing to me ! :) But still, many people still failed to see this and i even i failed to realize that.. and ultimately my relationship with Jesus depended only on emotions and feelings created through an environment that consisted of a mass of young people, musical instruments and neon lights.. ( the altar or "stage" at our church was very very distracting -_- ) I began to feel empty inside... and I was even more conflicted with my relationship with God the father, the son and the holy spirit... until i decided to analyze my situation and start to think things through.. So i noticed a pattern within myself... I noticed that whenever i prayed, id prayed to God.. and feel his presence.. whenever i would worship.. i would worship like this: "Señor digno eres tu de mi alabanza.. y nadie más.. Eres el omnipotente, el omnisciente y grande es tu Misericordia ! " My Lord (God) You alone are worthy of my worship and no one else.. You are the Omniscient and the All-Knowing .. All-Merciful !" :) So, I realized all by myself that it was easier for me to separate God from everything else.. and i perceived the "holy spirit" to just be simply the presence of God. However, this was me thinking as an individual and way before i knew anything about Islam. I was kinda practicing what is known as Oneness Pentecostalism [ once again, please check out oneness Pentecostalism in wikipedia]
So in conclusion, I decided to research about Islam and what it meant to be a Muslim.. I believe God lead me to this path.. because i feel and i know i have peace in my heart.. God has not abandoned me... I still feel his presence El7amdulilah!! Though I did receive help from my online Muslim friends on msn.. lol i was in no way forced to be a muslim.. it was a decision i made between me and God ! And.. no, my parents do not know this, I DO NOT plan to tell them any time soon, it is much too complicated to explain why here.. ill make another thread asking for all of your advice and help.. But bascially it has to do with my Mexican/Hispanic culture and my parents especially my Dad is very strict with religious matters.. it would be something taboo for them to ever hear that i have converted.. they dont understand islam.. but little by little inshallah.. they will :)

Salam !

Asalaamu Alaikum,

Thank you for posting your story Sister, was a very interesting read. Be happy to know you follow Jesus(pbuh) more now then you ever did before :)

[Danah]

MashaAllah sister Amira_Zelda, very inspirational story!
Congratulation and welcome back to Islam. I pray that Allah will ease your affairs with your family and that everything will be fine with you. You just reminded me of an online friend I know from US who reverted to Islam 2 years ago when she was 15 and had the same issue with her family but they are more understanding now and they are getting better with her. May Allah keep all of us steadfast on the right path.

[Amira_Zelda]

Thank you all for making me feel welcomed :) !!!!!!
i also found that video to be very helpful ^^ i really liked it thanks Perseveranze it made alot of sense to me

wa salam!

[Endymion]

Brother Naidamar asked me to share this story over here.So here i go :)

Here is the revert story of my very good friend Ayesha,it made me cry so much.I hope this will help you :)

My Revert story... my journey to islam

My name is Aysha, and I am from North Hungary. I heard about Islam when I was in secondary school in the history lessons, because Hungary was under occupation by Turkey for 150 years.

After that I went to university to study molecular biology, where I met many Muslim foreign students.



I was always curious why Muslims are so proud that they are Muslims.



I was Catholic, a good one, but I always had doubts and I didn't agree with some parts of my religion: for example, how can God have a son and the concept of the Trinity was also not believable for me.



Then I started to talk with my friends, and one time, when we were having dinner and the Adhan started, one of my friends asked me to stop it, but I said no. I was very much impressed by it and something surely touched my heart.



Then I don't know why at that summer I downloaded a Quran program. I was listening to it in Arabic and was reading it in English. Then I was thinking a lot about Islam and I was reading many books about it.



But then, after two months of thinking I finally chose Islam. I declared Shahadah in front of two of my friends. I said: La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad rasul Allah (I bear witness there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah)

I chose Islam against my culture and my family, especially my mom.



After that, Ramadan started and I decided that I will start my new life in Islam with Ramadan. Alhamdulilah (thank God), I made it successfully.



I started to offer prayer on the 4th of August. It was very hard for me at the beginning because people around me were not that practicing Muslims, so I couldn't ask anyone.



I learnt how to pray by myself from the Internet, because no one showed me how to pray or how to make wudu (ablution), or what invocation to say before it or how to do ghusl (ritual cleansing of the body) or what are the etiquettes and the rulings of Islam.



Once I had a friend and he made me really down. He told me you will never understand Islam, because you were not born as a Muslim. When I told him I want to start fasting Ramadan, he said it is not just about being hungry. At that time I was so new to Islam, I had converted just a month before he said that.

At that time I got so scared, what if I will never learn how to pray in Arabic? What if I don't do it the correct way? And I didn't have hijab (head scarf) or a rug to pray on, and I didn't get any help. So I had lots of fears.







But when I started to pray, I was thinking God must be smiling on me now. Because I used to write down the text of the ritual prayer on a paper and its instructions,and I kept my papers in my right hand and read loudly and then bow down and read again and so on. I'm sure I was looking so funny. But afterwards I succeeded to memorize it in the Arabic language so then there was no problem.



Then I came to Facebook and got many new friends and many sisters. From online sisters I got so much love and courage. Then a Muslim man proposed to me and he got me my first hijab and prayer rug and an Islamic book. And I got my first Arabic Quran from Jordan by post because we cannot buy it here. Now it is more than a year that I wear hijab.I went through a very bad period with my mom. She would say to me that I will be a terrorist and I will leave her as I left my religion and I will leave my country too. She would put all pork things in the fridge and I would refuse to eat it so it turns into a big argument.



She couldn't stand seeing me praying or seeing me in hijab. So I pray upstairs in my room. She would never look at me when I'm in hijab and she would say: "I gave birth to a Christian child not to a veiled Muslim."



So we had serious problems, but I was never harsh or rude with her. But alhamdulilah (thank God) she calmed down now and she seems accepting that I converted. I'm really thankful to Allah for that. Now I go out in hijab, and she doesn't say anything.



I was not talking with my father for all my life and he didn't want to see me. But now, because of Islam, I opened towards him so now he visits us regularly.



Yes, my life is a big test but I thank God for it and I have patience and hope. On the Day of Judgment I will be very thankful for them. So I'm trying to be better and better and learn more and more to understand my religion.



I believe everything is predestined, so whatever Allah has decreed that will happen to me I cannot change, but I can choose to live my life nicely.



I try helping others now in Debrecen. I organized a project to collect second hand clothes for refugee camp people. There are a lot of Muslims there who don't have a home because of wars. So we collected clothes and we went there and I made them Pakistani bread, for children and for females, they were so happy and it was so nice to see them.

I used to raise my voice if somebody says anything that bothers me. But now I am showing example everywhere I go.



I'm trying to guide also those who want to convert or just converted. I met with two Hungarian sisters, the other day, and they have just converted to Islam. So I gave them books, and my prayer rug and a copy of the Quran, so alhamdulilah we prayed together and they were really happy.



I always try to leave the image that we Muslims are nice, friendly and we have a good heart.



I converted one and a half years ago. Now I am learning Arabic, to be able to read the Quran. I read Quran in Hungarian, I offer prayers five times a day, I try to follow the Quran and the Sunnah, and I read many books to understand better.



This is my story.



Peace be unto you.

A Hungarian Muslim

[Amira_Zelda]

WOOOW Mashallah !! Thanks for sharing with us that story, you know in many ways I can relate with her. Her first steps in Islam were similar to mine

Alhamdulilah !! I feel sooo happy reading that.. thanks !

[Endymion]

WOOOW Mashallah !! Thanks for sharing with us that story, you know in many ways I can relate with her. Her first steps in Islam were similar to mine

Alhamdulilah !! I feel sooo happy reading that.. thanks !

Im happy you like the story sis Amira :statisfie May Allah swt bless you and guide you and make this life easy for you.Amen.
Keep me in your doaa :)

[جوري]

Masha'Allah sister Ayesha what a beautiful inspirational story.. may Allah swt assure your steps and accompany you on your journey.. amazing how one is like when they come to Islam anew sob7an Allah.. pls. keep me in your du3a..

:w:

[Abu_Isa]

Asalamu alykum,

this is not my story, itz a story of a brother and a good friend of mine... i was sort of aware of the whole tranisition. At a young age he was sort of part of our "crew". i mean, even though we werent a gang or anything we used to cause mischief together. He knew we were muslims and initially he was interested but we werent really practising at that moment in time so a lot of us would not answer the question. When we started to grow up, go to college and such, some of the muslims started to practise (including myself, Alhamdulillah). Since we fiercly got into our deen, him and our other christian friends started practise their religion more. We used to get into a lot of debates to the point that they would get frustrated and leave, we even used to go to their homes and plant islamic literature in his home, which he later admitted that he did have a flick through. one day, he invited us to the church, which we accepted and he introduced us to the priest and challenged us to question him. We jumped on the trinity, at which point we got kicked out the church, loooool, that was a funny day. Our friend then disappeared for a while due to us being a "bad influence" on him. when he came back to us he told us he was no longer a christian but neither was he a muslim. Alhamdulillah, we thought since atleast Allah got him to give up the christian belief. Few weeks of dawah went by and then one day he came running to a house of one of our close friends where a lot of the practising muslim members of the previous crew were hanging out. he banged on the door, we opened it, he sat down and told us this story "I had a dream where I was in this dark room and there was a creature in there with me. he was holding the quran and he told me to take it... to accept the truth". Praise and Glory be to the One who guides us to the path of the righteous, our friend became our brother that day.

[sur]

Robber converted to islam by a Pakistani-American ... "they shook hands over the oath" reporter says...
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YsVkRqoxo8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TiR0MNhDNc&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmoCjjSNAus&NR=1

-

-
-
-
& now the robber returns the favour & says he is a devout muslim & has got the job as well...
-

[aadil77]

^Subhan'Allah

[sur]

Australian converted in a Thai prison...
This is just part-1/4... Look for other 3 parts.

[Perseveranze]

Australian converted in a Thai prison...
This is just part-1/4... Look for other 3 parts.

Subhanallah, very inspirational, thanks for posting.

[sur]

[sur]

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam

[Human_Being]

I think it was like conduct or sumfing that made me revert to islam cuz i didnt like bein around non-muslims any more i didnt like their morals and behaviour but when i met muslims ad sawd h
ow they behaved and kindness and patience and no drink and drugs and quiet modest ppl i was like i want to be like that so i loojked into it and i didnt beleeve in lots of islam stuff but i had help and i did beleev eventually but it was hard like cuz id never beleeved in god before i was atheist since i was a baby or sunfing

[tw009]

wow just look how Allah guides people SubanAllah

[Flame of Hope]

wow just look how Allah guides people SubanAllah

Alhamdulillahir Rabbil al ameen! The most beautiful gift that Allah can give us.....guidance to the religion of Islam!

Radaytu billahi rabban, was bil islami deenan wa bi Muhammaddin nabiyan.

La ilaha il Allah, Muhammaddar Rasul Allah!

I shall post the story of my reversion to Islam in this thread soon, inshallah.

[tw009]

^OHH I thought you were born into Islam MashAllah, do post it, I'd love to read your story

[Flame of Hope]

^OHH I thought you were born into Islam MashAllah, do post it, I'd love to read your story

:D Well, it's true what you say. I was born into Islam....I was born Muslim. We all are. :)

But my parents taught me there was no such thing as God. So I grew up in an atheist family. I was a member of a family that prided itself in its intellectual capabilities, who looked down upon all superstitious beliefs and that included scorn of all religions that worshiped any god. I even used to debate with my friends in school regarding the non-existence of God. lol. :D

[Human_Being]

I even used to debate with my friends in school regarding the non-existence of God. lol. :D

Haha lol same here sis its weird now init like thinkin back 2 that

[tw009]

SubhanAllah, only Allah can open the hearts and guide people to the straight path.

I want to know how your parents felt about your reversion to Islam. eagerly waiting for your story!

[Human_Being]

SubhanAllah, only Allah can open the hearts and guide people to the straight path.

I want to know how your parents felt about your reversion to Islam. eagerly waiting for your story!

lol mine or Flame? Cuz I kina of want to know how Flame's parents reacted too like

[Woodrow]

Although I often fail to comment on the individual reverting stories posted here. I find all of them to be very inspirational and they do show me the power of Allaah(swt) to lead us home.

[Flame of Hope]

Haha lol same here sis its weird now init like thinkin back 2 that

Yes, it does feel a bit weird thinking back. :D

Why don't you post your story Human_Being? How did you argue with your school friends about God? And what was your parent's reaction? I'm keen to know.

I've been postponing the writing of my story for a while...... it's called procrastination. :embarrass

But I have to keep my word and post it like I had said I would. Wouldn't want to incur Allah's displeasure. :scared:

So I'll do my best to post my story in today.

[Flame of Hope]

Assalamu alaykum! It hasn't been easy trying to compose my story. It's a rather long one. :hmm: So I have divided it into two parts. Part 1 has to do with how belief in God entered my heart and Part 2 will be about how I accepted Islam.

Here's Part 1:

“There’s no such thing as God!”

That’s what I believed most of my childhood thanks to the teachings of my parents. They said, “We believe in science. Not God. Where is God? Why doesn’t He show Himself? If He exists why is there so much suffering in this world?” It was and still is a hot topic for discussion with them.

I greatly admired and adored my parents. As a kid, I used to think they were such great thinkers and philosophers. It never occurred to me that they could be wrong. Of course they were right! Till the age of nine I had the opportunity to observe the rituals, customs and ways of life of people of belonging to different religions, but more in particular, the Hindus. I thought my mom was so clever when she pointed out that the Hindus fashioned idols out of their own hands and then worshipped them as gods. “Doesn’t this show you that it is man who has created God?” she would say.

In India, superstitions are in plenty. There’s also much indulgence in astrology, palmistry, numerology and fortune-telling. There are numerous god-men or saints. My parents would have none of this nonsense. They did not believe in any of it. Talk about ghosts and they would laugh the matter off. There were no such things as ghosts. No such thing as spirits. No such thing as God. So I grew up thinking it wasn’t rational to believe in things that were not proven by science to be true.

So my family members had great pride in their intellectual powers of thought and reason. There’s some proof of their intellectual capabilities in their achievements. My mom is a champion chess player and beaten many men in the game. She also won in many badminton tournaments. My grandmother was a respected headmistress of a school. My grandfather was the first lawyer in our town. And my great grandfather used to be a judge who would settle disputes in the community.

Now what was I compared to them? I just looked up to them and followed their teachings. I remember arguing with my friends in school about the existence of God. I would demand them to produce their proof it they were right. Of course, none of them could prove it and some of the kids even acknowledged that I could be right in what I said. But still, they were afraid to give up their belief in God.

Later on, I would reflect upon the sad state of affairs of my friends who believed in a god that didn’t exist. I felt sorry for them. But as I thought more and more about God, I couldn’t help thinking about death as well. Finally I thought to myself, “There was nothing going to happen after we died. And these people had invented God to make themselves feel better. It was comforting to think they would go to heaven after death.”

So I thought I knew at the age of eleven the reason why people believed in God. It was because they wanted to go to heaven, the poor things. ;D

Till the age of thirteen, I continued engaging in arguments and debates regarding the non-existence of God with my classmates. Once I even said I could jump from the building to prove He didn’t exist! Sooooo confident was I! :shade:

But now I had reached the age of puberty. And by this time, my powers of observation and reasoning had greatly developed at an accelerated pace.

I was quick to learn that I had many limitations as a girl. I was extremely aware of my weaknesses. I had no desire to compete with men once I acquired this awareness. So I differed from my mom and sister immensely in this respect. As an adolescent, I preferred to wear clothes that fully covered me. The way I conducted myself differed greatly from the way of my sister who had no problem wearing shorts and mini skirts.

As soon as I entered my teens, I had become aware of something called responsibility and the problem of choice. I tossed this issue in my mind, wondering what it meant. I began to ask questions. Why do we have to make choices? Why is there a right way and a wrong way?

More importantly, I asked myself the question, “Why is it that I refuse to take the wrong way?”

As I thought about it, the answer came to me quite easily. I refused to take the wrong way because I could see the end result of it. Subhanallah! Of all the gifts that God has given me, I appreciate most this awesome gift of foresight. I was given the ability to see the end of things and in this way, I was kept safe from many dangers. I always used to think about the consequences of all my actions.

But the best part about all this was that it resulted in an awareness of something else. It was knowledge in my heart somewhere that told me that one day I would have to give an account for all my actions. This was how I became aware of that thing called accountability. In my mind’s eye, through my foresight, I was able to see ahead and know that I would one day be standing before God for every single thing that I said and did! It’s really strange but I had no doubt at all regarding this Day of Accountability.

This was how belief in God took root in my heart. It was a very strong and powerful feeling and it came with a thorough conviction. If making choices and responsibility for one’s actions was real then accountability also had to be real. Accountability to who? Obviously, accountability to the One who gave me the problem of choice! To the One who made me responsible for my actions, to the One who created me! The Unseen God!

.......to be continued.

[Human_Being]

Pleeez continue sis u left us on a cliffhanger lol

Ok, ok, I'll try to write mines but IDK if I can I'll try to grammer and spell-check so its like a proper professional storey lolololol:

Once upon a time I grew up not liking people. My perents made fun at other people who believed in God. They did so without educating themselves about religions. But they did believe in mysticism an believed in people who talked to the dead as mediums and they believed in psychics and astrology. Lol children aren't stupid. They notice inconsistency in their parents beliefs! So I didn't take my parents very seriously lol! Which meant I didn't believe in anything so I would be consistent. I was like There is no God and There are no spirits and Psychics use tricks.

Two answer Flame's question I didn't argue with school friends because they weren't interested but I did argue with people online that there was no God or anything else. Like that we can't see or touch or measure. But after a while I just got fed up arguing because it always turned into insults like and never ever reached a resolution like and I just stopped arguing. I hated people but I hated believers even more because I thought they couldn't hold up a discussion.

When I met some muslims though in real life and not on the internet they were very nice and kind and made me feel welcome and like I didn't want to hate them. They answered my questions and did not insult me like the muslims and christians on the internet did. After I met them I stopped hating people and I looked at islam books and websites and decided I wanted to be a muslim. I think Allah has guided me because I can't have been guides if Allah did not exist and non-muslims say that's not proof but its good enough for me lol.

Tht is my story thank you for reading.

[Flame of Hope]

When I met some muslims though in real life and not on the internet they were very nice and kind and made me feel welcome and like I didn't want to hate them. They answered my questions and did not insult me like the muslims and christians on the internet did. After I met them I stopped hating people and I looked at islam books and websites and decided I wanted to be a muslim. I think Allah has guided me because I can't have been guides if Allah did not exist and non-muslims say that's not proof but its good enough for me lol.

Alhamdulillah! Jazakallah khair for taking the time to write your story. It was very interesting to read how you changed your mind after meeting some nice Muslims and then began reading literature on Islam to learn that you liked and agreed with what you found. :)

[Flame of Hope]

And to continue with the "cliffhanger" mentioned by sister Human_Being. :D

This was how belief in God took root in my heart. It was a very strong and powerful feeling and it came with a thorough conviction. If making choices and responsibility for one’s actions was real then accountability also had to be real. Accountability to who? Obviously, accountability to the One who gave me the problem of choice! To the One who made me responsible for my actions, to the One who created me! The Unseen God!

There were of course lots of other questions in my mind. I wondered what was the purpose of life and why all human beings had to die. By this time it was clear to me that my parents were wrong about a lot of things. My opinion about them began to change when I realized they didn’t have answers to all questions. I quickly discovered that I would have to find out the answers on my own.

The learning process that led me to Islam was gradual. I had close friends who were Muslims. It was from them that I first learned about Islam. And far from opposing their belief in one God, I readily accepted it to be true. That was really weird now that I think about it. No arguing, no debating, no discussing, no opposing. I just accepted it.

Soon my parents found out that I believed in God. Their reaction was: “Get out of this house! There is no place in here for anyone who believes in God!”

Yes, they were furious. They couldn’t understand how I suddenly had begun to believe in the existence of God. I knew how they felt about it, so I kept my belief to myself. Belief in God was enough for me at the time. I didn’t feel the necessity to become a Muslim even though I had learned some very good things about Islam from my Muslim friends. The first pages of a book I read called “Let us Be Muslims” completely turned me off. I didn’t fancy the idea of becoming a servant of God. “Isn’t what I want important?” I had thought to myself indignantly. “How could I give up my freedom and become a servant, doing only things that God wanted me to do?”

So I lost interest in Islam and entertained the weird idea that it didn’t matter what religion you ascribed to as long as you were good. One had just to follow one’s conscience. What was the need for a religion?

With such a mind set I continued my studies and eventually got a job in a college. I was paid good money and I worked for only about a year before I decided to quit. I wasn’t happy leading a single life. My parents did not believe in the institution of marriage and so I knew that they were not going to find an eligible groom for me. I would have to find one myself or else die an old maid.

Now the big question that arose in my mind was, what kind of man should I choose? Surely he had to be a man who believed in one God like I did. I also thought to myself that he ought to be a man who feared God as well because only such a man would remain faithful to me. So I figured I wouldn’t mind marrying a Muslim, a Christian or a Baha’i.

I remember going up to the terrace one night looking at the starry sky and saying to myself. “He’s out there somewhere. God knows where he is and what he is doing right now.”

The man in question was out there alright. He lived thousands of miles away, on the other side of the globe, in America. And he was a Christian and a very devout, die-hard Christian.

.............to be continued

You can read the rest of the story here: Flame's Story of Reversion to Islam.

[Perseveranze]

And to continue with the "cliffhanger" mentioned by sister Human_Being. :D

This was how belief in God took root in my heart. It was a very strong and powerful feeling and it came with a thorough conviction. If making choices and responsibility for one’s actions was real then accountability also had to be real. Accountability to who? Obviously, accountability to the One who gave me the problem of choice! To the One who made me responsible for my actions, to the One who created me! The Unseen God!

There were of course lots of other questions in my mind. I wondered what was the purpose of life and why all human beings had to die. By this time it was clear to me that my parents were wrong about a lot of things. My opinion about them began to change when I realized they didn’t have answers to all questions. I quickly discovered that I would have to find out the answers on my own.

The learning process that led me to Islam was gradual. I had close friends who were Muslims. It was from them that I first learned about Islam. And far from opposing their belief in one God, I readily accepted it to be true. That was really weird now that I think about it. No arguing, no debating, no discussing, no opposing. I just accepted it.

Soon my parents found out that I believed in God. Their reaction was: “Get out of this house! There is no place in here for anyone who believes in God!”

Yes, they were furious. They couldn’t understand how I suddenly had begun to believe in the existence of God. I knew how they felt about it, so I kept my belief to myself. Belief in God was enough for me at the time. I didn’t feel the necessity to become a Muslim even though I had learned some very good things about Islam from my Muslim friends. The first pages of a book I read called “Let us Be Muslims” completely turned me off. I didn’t fancy the idea of becoming a servant of God. “Isn’t what I want important?” I had thought to myself indignantly. “How could I give up my freedom and become a servant, doing only things that God wanted me to do?”

So I lost interest in Islam and entertained the weird idea that it didn’t matter what religion you ascribed to as long as you were good. One had just to follow one’s conscience. What was the need for a religion?

With such a mind set I continued my studies and eventually got a job in a college. I was paid good money and I worked for only about a year before I decided to quit. I wasn’t happy leading a single life. My parents did not believe in the institution of marriage and so I knew that they were not going to find an eligible groom for me. I would have to find one myself or else die an old maid.

Now the big question that arose in my mind was, what kind of man should I choose? Surely he had to be a man who believed in one God like I did. I also thought to myself that he ought to be a man who feared God as well because only such a man would remain faithful to me. So I figured I wouldn’t mind marrying a Muslim, a Christian or a Baha’i.

I remember going up to the terrace one night looking at the starry sky and saying to myself. “He’s out there somewhere. God knows where he is and what he is doing right now.”

The man in question was out there alright. He lived thousands of miles away, on the other side of the globe, in America. And he was a Christian and a very devout, die-hard Christian.

.............to be continued

!

Asalaamu Alaikum,

Very interesting, looking forward to reading more.

[Flame of Hope]

Alhamdulillah! I've finally finished writing half of part 2. Here it is:

Part 2: The Light of Islam!

How we met and got married was nothing short of a miracle. It deserves a separate story-telling session of its own which will no doubt amaze any listener. I won’t get into all the details. I suppose it’s enough to mention I spent some time talking to my would-be husband and I saw honesty and a real fear of God in his eyes. This was what I had been looking for and soon I found myself saying yes to his proposal of marriage.

I had to wait a year and half before I got my visa to go to the US. During the wait, I sometimes went through periods of frustration and sadness that came over me due to the separation from my husband. I used to keep a copy of the Bible and go through recommended passages to comfort my heart. But I was not satisfied with just the Bible. I also went to an Islamic center to get a free copy of the Qur’an. The funny thing is that at the Islamic center there was a little shop that sold head scarves. I was very attracted to them not because I was thinking I would look pretty wearing them but because I understood their purpose: they provided safety to the woman. And I had always liked the idea of covering up. So I bought a printed black head scarf and brought it home and tried putting it on. Needless to say, my family members were annoyed and disgusted to see me parading around in the house, wearing the scarf around my head. I put it away so as not to arouse their displeasure and cause friction within the household. I didn’t insist on wearing it again.

Waiting for my visa turned out to be a good thing for me. I got the opportunity to read the Bible and the Qur’an quite regularly. I found many similarities between both the books. Both spoke about one God and contained within their pages great jewels of wisdom that I found utter delight in.

So when I went to America to join my husband, I had in my suitcase both the Bible and the Qur’an. However, during the first few months of my stay in America, I wasn’t too keen to read the Qur’an for I had to show my loyalty and support to my deeply religious Christian husband. He was a member of a Judeo-Christian denomination called the Worldwide Church of God. He read the Bible so much and so frequently that the pages were frayed and worn out. He took his Bible with him everywhere! He used to observe the Sabbath and attended the Seventh Day Adventist Church. I went to church with him several times. I met many nice people at church. I even made some very good friends. I was particularly attached to an elderly couple. I was pretty happy with the way things were going....... until I went to California to visit my in-laws.

That visit to California was the turning point in my life. There I got an opportunity to see Christianity from real close quarters. Until then I really didn’t know much about Christianity. All I knew was they worshipped one God and that they believed Jesus was the son of God. This knowledge did not produce any disturbance in my heart. I personally didn’t believe Jesus was son of God. If Christians believed it, so what? That’s how my attitude was. I had the similar attitude towards the Hindus. I personally detested the worship of idols and never believed in them. But if the Hindus wanted to worship them, so what? At least they believed in the existence of God and they believed in the principle of karma. I kept peace with all religions in this way. But all that changed when I went to California.

So what happened there you ask? Well, it was when I was travelling in the metro train, on my way to Los Angeles, that some men entered the train and passed slips of paper to the passengers. I looked at the piece of paper in my hand and read it with utter disbelief. This was what it said:

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
The answer to this question is, absolutely nothing!
The only requirement is to believe what God has said in His word, and He says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”.
Only believe? Yes, that’s all! Believe means to trust completely in what God has said concerning salvation.
What do we have to believe?
That Christ died for our sins, and that He was buried, and
that He rose again the third day.
Christ died to give us eternal life. If you desire to have eternal life make the following prayer:
Heavenly Father, I know that I am a sinner and that I have a need to be forgiven. I now receive Christ Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
Thank You for having forgiven my sins. In Jesus name. Amen.
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, (Jesus) to them gave He (God) power (authority) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.


….................to be continued.

(I'm continuing this story in another thread....)

[tw009]

woaah I am totally enjoying this Flame. Keep it coming : )

[Innocent Soul]

….................to be continued.

:bump1: Sis Flame where are you? Please continue it fast. :mmokay:

[Little_Lion]

:popcorn:

Keep posting, Flame! I'm working on my own story but I'm going to wait until yours is done so that I do not interrupt. Oh wait, I'm interrupting. . . .

[Flame of Hope]

Keep posting, Flame! I'm working on my own story but I'm going to wait until yours is done so that I do not interrupt. Oh wait, I'm interrupting. . . .

LOL. Sorry guys for the delay. I was HOPING that you didn't notice the lapse when I didn't post the rest of the story yesterday. It's such a long story of mine that I have been thinking of ways to shorten it. But since you are eating popcorn while reading and it does seem you don't mind the length, I guess it's alright to make it long and include as many details as I can.

I will inshallah post the other half today. I'm working on highlighting important points of my story and to point out Allah's way of guiding me. Allah knew precisely what tonic it was that I needed to shake me out of my happy state of ignorance. lol.

But do, sister Little_Lion post your story. It won't be interrupting. I think folks would love to read your story until I get mine done. :)

[Flame of Hope]

So that others might continue to post their stories in this thread, I've decided to post my story elsewhere.

I don't wish to hold others up.

Here's the link to my story...(I have edited the story quite a bit to add in more details): Flame's Story of Reversion

[missy]

:sl:
This thread is AWESOME!! MashaAllah!!

I wish I could read each and every story in it…read a few of them and they're simply amazing!!

I remember reading a post in this very thread…that said that those born in Muslim families take Islam for granted….i quite agree :(
It's really saddening…we need to actualize what we believe in and realize how much Allah SWT has blessed us…May He forgive us. Ameen.

And as for the reverts…I love y'all for the sake of Allah SWT!!....May He bless each one of you Abundantly and keep y'all steadfast in Deen.
Reading each conversion story almost brought tears to my eyes....

Allah The Most Merciful says in the Holy Quran:
"This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favor upon you, and have Chosen for you Islam as your Religion."[Surah al-Ma'idah 5:3] :wub:

May Allah SWT Guide us all to the Truth and to Success in this Life and the Hereafter! Ameen!!
:wa:

[Riana17]

SALAM to all, this story is not mine, others may have read it already. Ive seen countless revert stories but this one is one of my top 3:


I am ethnically a Russian Jew. My quest began when I was 19 years old. I was
recovering from my stint with Scientology (yes I was brainwashed into it).

My belief in God was uncertain. My goals in life were to be a rock star. I
was living in my Pasadena apartment and working as a secretary. Funny, I
know.

One night I was walking to the kitchen, and encountered a dark fellow. I
remembered asking him: "Can I keep this vodka in the fridge tonight?" We
shook hands and went to sleep. After that point, my life changed
drastically.

This dark fellow, a Muslim, was the first Muslim I had ever met. Extremely
curious, I conversed with him about his faith. What's this stuff I hear
about praying 5 times a day? And about Holy War? Who is this Mohammed guy?

Our talks were accompanied by our Christian roommate, Wade. Together, we
created "The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim dialogue sessions". In it, we
discovered many differences, and many commonalities.

My interest had then shifted from sex, drugs, and parties, to a massive
search for the truth. A search that I had to complete. A search for God. And
a search for how to follow him.

In my quest for the truth, I asked myself: "Ok let's start simple, how many
God's do I think are out there?" I figured only one; knowing that a divided
God is weaker than One God; figuring that if one God didn't agree with the
other, there might be arguments and feuds. One God was my choice.

Once I opened up my mind to the possibility of the existence of God, I
analyzed both atheist and theist beliefs. The thing that directed me to the
latter was the quote "Every design has a designer". With that in mind,
eventually I woke up with certainty that God exists. I can't explain why, I
just felt it somehow.

This newfound excitement was accompanied by a sense of responsibility to
follow the Creator. The world of religion was my next frontier.

Then I asked myself, "Where do I start?" There are literally thousands of
them. I need a way to narrow them down to a just a few. How do I accomplish
such a task? "Find the ones that are monotheistic" entered my mind. "Hey
that makes sense, since I believe in only One God."

Ok, then. This ruled out Buddhism and Hinduism, both being polytheistic
faiths. The major religions I encountered that fell under the title of
Monotheistic, where Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Well since I'm a Jew,
I started with Judaism. One God, some prophets, 10 commandments, Torah,
Jewish souls.uh, what: "Jewish souls?"

While doing research this idea was brought to my attention. The story goes,
"if a person is born Jewish, then they have a Jewish soul, and they must
follow Judaism." Hold on a sec.that's discrimination, isn't it? That's not
universal.

So God makes Jewish souls, and Christian souls, and Muslim souls, and Hindu
souls? I thought all men are created equal? So, because one is born into a
religion that means by the decree of God he must remain in it. even if the
person believes it to be false? Hmm.I don't agree with that.

Another thing really bothered me.there is no strict concept of hell in
Judaism.then why be good? Why not sin? If I don't have fear of strict
punishment, then why should I be moral?

Moving on, I discovered Christianity. Ok, one God, a father, a son, and a
holy ghost.one more time: one God, a father, a son, and a holy ghost. Uhhh,
please explain. How can all those things be one God? 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 right? So
how can you say you believe in only one God?

Explanation after explanation, equation after equation, comparison after
comparison, analogy after analogy, I couldn't grasp this concept. Ok let's
keep looking here.

Ok, next major doctrine: Jesus died for our sins and he did this because we
all are polluted with "Original Sin". So, Jesus Christ, the "son of God",
had to be murdered to save everyone from Hell and cure us of our sin "given"
to us by Adam.

Ok then, so are you saying that we are all born as sinners? And to sin is to
do something wrong right? Then you're telling me that a one-year old baby is
guilty of sin or doing something wrong? Ok that's strange, so based on the
actions of one man, all of mankind must suffer? What's the moral of that
story? Punish the whole group if one deviates? Why would God create such a
rule? That's just not in agreement with my logic.

So Jesus died because he "loves mankind". Hold on, it says in the Bible that
Jesus said "father, why have you forsaken me?" So, apparently, Jesus didn't
understand why he was being brutally murdered. But you just said he
"volunteered" to be sacrificed. Anyway, I couldn't accept this belief. Ok,
what's the next religion?

Islam. Islam means submission. The main beliefs are as follows: One God,
worship God five times a day, give 2.5% annual charity, fast during Ramadan
(to be closer to God and appreciate life.among other reasons) and finally
journey to Mecca for Hajj if you are able financially. Ok, nothing hard to
understand so far.

There's nothing that conflicts with my logic here. The Qur'an is a book with
all of these interesting miracles and timeless wisdom. Many scientific facts
only discovered recently where proclaimed 1400 years ago in this book.

Ok, Islam had passed my initial religious prerequisites. But I wanted to ask
some deep questions about it. Is this religion universal? Yes, anyone can
understand these basic beliefs.no analogy or equation are needed. Does it
agree with science? Yes, dozens of verses in the Qur'an agree with modern
science and technology.

As I sifted through the countless logical facts that I read through and
researched, one thing took my attention the most. "Islam". The name of this
religion. I noticed it is written many times in this Qur'an.

However, recalling my prior studies, I didn't remember once seeing the word
"Judaism" in the Old Testament or "Christianity" in the New Testament. This
was BIG. Why couldn't I find the very name of the religions in those two
books? Because, there is no name in these books! Thinking.I noticed that
"Judaism" could be broken down to "Juda- ism" and "Christianity" could be
respectively "Christ-ianity".

So who is Juda? Or Judah, rather. He was the tribe leader of the Hebrews
when God revealed his message to mankind. So this religion was named after.a
person. Ok let's look at who Christ is. He was the person who delivered the
message of God to the Jews. So this religion was named after.a person.

So in recollection, we can deduct that the names of these religions are
people's proper names attached to "ism" and "ianity". Regardless of that
fact, the very names of those religions are not mentioned in their
scriptures. I thought that was very odd.

If I went door to door selling a product, and I said "Would you like to buy
this _______"? Wouldn't the logical question be: "What is this _____
called?" I would make no money off of a product without a name.

Naming is the very basis which humans identify with objects, both physical
and non-physical. If religion is supposed to be practiced and spread to
every person on earth, shouldn't there be a NAME for it?

Moreover, shouldn't the name be given to us from God Almighty? YES, my point
exactly. The names "Christianity" and "Judaism" were not written in the Holy
Scriptures. Humans named them, not God. The notion that God would ordain a
religion for mankind to follow without a name is impossible for my mind to
accept.

At that point, both Christianity and Judaism lost their credibility as pure,
logical, and complete religions, at least from my perspective.

Islam is the ONLY of these religions to include the NAME of the religion in
its scriptures. This is so huge for me.

I realized I would follow Islam at that point. I then became a Muslim. I
knew the truth. I was out of the darkness. I came into the light.



From Judaism to Islam By Michael David Shapiro

[Riana17]

Guess what just happened (again)?

Another Catholic priest entered into Islam. I am so happy because this one actually came in by learning from our books, tapes, CDs and the combined efforts of brothers and sisters that we work with in Florida.



Bismillah Rahman Raheem
Salam alaykum to all:

Guess what just happened (again)?

Another Catholic priest entered into Islam. I am so happy because this one actually came in by learning from our books, tapes, CDs and the combined efforts of brothers and sisters that we work with in Florida.

What is really strange is that a brother there in Florida asked me to ship some CDs to him and that he was trying to get a grant and he would pay me later (?) I wondered about that - but I figured, what the heck. I'm not doing this for the money and if even one person comes to Islam from our efforts, then it is all worth it. You know? So we sent him hundres of CDs and materials. He never wrote back. So, I figured, "Oh well."

But now this letter comes in and I want to just sit and cry, remembering how the first priest came to Islam along with me and my wife and father - over 12 years ago. . .

Here is the letter to me (last name is delete and email address removed for privacy):


Dear Yusuf:

My name is Father Daniel, living in Miami, Fl, and studying Special Education at the local university (Florida International University). I always see this Muslim group of students in one of the halls of the Student Center, offering books, Cd's, and time there to whom it may be interested.

One day, as many, I saw them, and only by curiosity I stopped by, and ask for something to read about the whole thing of Islam. I used to be catholic. In fact, more than simply that. I was a catholic priest. I've been a priest for five years in my country (Argentina). But my personal faith slowly decreased after finding out many contradictions in faith and practice within the catholic church. Tired and disappointed, decided to quit and change my life.

Since my sister lives here, in USA, I decided to come, and study what I liked, and re-build my life. So far I was considering myself a simple agnostic.
Until that day... I started to read, and read and read. And a Light has been growing and growing in my heart, more and more. It has started about three months ago.

I don't want to rush, I want to learn more (not only curiosity), I want to get into little by little. I need time to process all this new "thing" that is coming through.... and I still don't know how to deal with it.

To be honest with you, I do believe that in Islam is the Truth... but I need and want time.

Yesterday, those students gave me a CD. It was you teaching about Islam, I think after that terrible 09/11. I was astonished. I enjoyed every single word. I listened the CD in my car all the way to my house. Today I listened it again.

I really appreciate your testimony, may be you can not imagine how much! Well, Allah knows it very well, I believe.

Question: Since I am a student (and no money for now), do you know how to get the Holy Qur'an, I mean, a good one... I would like to read it, but if I go to a book store, I feel lost... What can you recommend?

Thank you for reading this long e-mail.
Respectfully,

Father Daniel (last name deleted)

Masha Allah
nice story

Creation of terrorism and OSAMA BIN LADEN thing, makes more sense than expected

[Riana17]

:sl: I grew up in a christian home in Detroit, Mi. I always new alot about religion but to me christianity never made sense. when I reached teenage years I started becomming rebelious and in and out of the youth home as well as placment homes. My mom eventully imancipated me at 15 years old so I was on my own. I started drinking and doing drug because I didn't know where to turn. Then I started to gang bang and commited several different crimes until I was 18 and went to jail but was released on bond. at that point I ben in a bad relationship for 3 years and desided it's time to better my life so I enrolled into Detroit job corps and took up a C.N.A. trade AlhamdulAllah I passed the corse to become a nurse.I soon fell back into rebellion and got hooked up with the wrong peeps [commited some big time felonys]and got locked up again. I had to take a plee bargain to get a lesser sentance witch was 4 years probation under the hida program. I got off in 18 months with no felony or misdamenor rocord they black filed it. I was 19 by then and dicided no more I gonna be a better person to the best of my ability.So I moved in with my best friend and her brother. after I moved in her brother would wiat till his sister would go to work and would try to make me get with him and all his boys,witch I never did[Walahe].So one day I saw an opprotunity to get out of this situation so I left but had nowhere to go. I walked out the appartment and went nextdoor to a gas-station and asked these 2 brothers in a big white van for a ride.I had no idea there were muslim. I never got to where I was going insted I ended up at the drivers wifes house and she told me about Islam.As a kafir I was a sceptic and did not accept Islam right away but these people were so nice,they let me stay for dinner and gave me some clothes.The next day I left and went to stay with another friend of mine for a week. I knew when I left that I wanted to be muslim but I wanted to go to all my hangouts to tell everybody and get all the clubin I did out of my system.One night I was on my way to the club but Allah had different plans for me and led me right back to that sisters house, it was around 12am and I guess the brothers had just got back from Isha becouse they let me in, we sat up till fajr talking about Allah they made salat.After about a week of seeing how real muslims live I took Shahada.A week after I took Shahada I got married.I married into paligamy and absolutly love it. The two men that gave me a ride, the passenger became my wali and the driver was who gave me Shahada and became my husband. It's been 6 years and I'm still married to the same man and still muslim, InshAllah I will die muslim. I also have 4 beutiful children, 2 boys, 2 girls And 1 child that went back to Allah. So ending on that note I love Allah, I worship Allah and I will die for the cause of Allah and Muhammed[p.b.u.h.] is the last pro[het of Allah. Shukran Allah for allowing me to live long enough to become muslim,get married, and have muslim children. SubhanAllah!!! :w: Shaakira :muslimah: :love:

it touched my heart
guess you were lost but you have a good heart
alhamdollelah we will wish the same for and for all the muslims in the world.
lets all die real muslim inshallah

[Riana17]

:sl:
I remember reading a post in this very thread…that said that those born in Muslim families take Islam for granted….i quite agree :(
It's really saddening…we need to actualize what we believe in and realize how much Allah SWT has blessed us…May He forgive us. Ameen.

And as for the reverts…I love y'all for the sake of Allah SWT!!....May He bless each one of you Abundantly and keep y'all steadfast in Deen.
Reading each conversion story almost brought tears to my eyes....

Allah The Most Merciful says in the Holy Quran:
"This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favor upon you, and have Chosen for you Islam as your Religion."[Surah al-Ma'idah 5:3] :wub:

May Allah SWT Guide us all to the Truth and to Success in this Life and the Hereafter! Ameen!!
:wa:

yes
one man said in europe where there is no ISLAM there are many muslims
in arab where there are islam, i couldnt see muslims

[Muslim Woman]

salam

My Path to Islam


by GWaleed » Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:00 pm





http://islamawakened.com/My%20Path%20to%20Islam.htm


My Path to Islam
Let me give you the general picture: I am white, 'middle class', and rapidly passing a half-century in age.
I went through all the typical white-middle-class nonsense. I worked for the big corporation. I climbed up the ranks. I started as a computer operator, went through the promotions. Systems tech. Programmer. Systems programmer. Manager over a tech support department. And so on.
House in the fancy suburb, bought my wife a Volvo, all that kind of thing.
Eventually I went out freelance, independent computer work. Owned my own company.


Hit my 40's, got divorced, chased women, drank a lot, chased more women, did drugs, did more drugs.
Did the wrong drug. Found myself spending much more effort trying to do cocaine than trying to do the work Allah gave me the talent for.
Found myself eventually in jail, of course.
But Allah is merciful. He had His plan.
That jail, a state jail, was more than a county lock-up, but less than the stereotypical "Hollywood " prison. No riots, no tear gas, no beatings
(well... I did see two incidents, but let's not digress).
But the company in jail is not the most righteous, even for a junior criminal like me. I certainly don't recommend it as a vacation spot for anyone... for one thing the help is really rude. ;-)


Anyway, I had noticed that there was one group in there that DIDN'T seem to be out to prove themselves tougher, who weren't busy trying to run one scheme or another, who seemed to be *unshackled* by the dark environment we were in.


That group, you might guess, was the black Muslims. And even that, I later learned, was an assumption on my part. Some of the brothers were Black Muslims (Nation of Islam) I would later learn, but most were Muslims associated with Mosques that (generally) joined W. Dean Mohammad when he led the bulk of the old N.O.I. away from Louis Farrakhan and his bunch and back to orthodox Islam.
This was good, and one of the signs of Allah's planning. Because one day one of my black cellmates was in the same visiting area with his family when I was visited by my wife.


My wife is black. And word of this got back to the rest of the inmates in my area. Naturally some of the bigoted whites thereafter treated me with disdain; no loss as they were not the sort I associated with. But on the other side of the race line my own aloof attitude had (unknown to me) been interpreted as prejudice by some of my non-white cellmates.
Suddenly it was seen that that wasn't my stance.
Getting to the point, this all led to my being invited to an Islamic learning session. (Here in the U.S. prisons have to accommodate the faiths of the inmates, within limits)
A chance to get out of the block for a couple of hours? (And some curiousity.)
I went. They called adzan and then one of the brothers with a good voice recited al-Fatiha.



It was like nothing I can explain. The Southern Baptists talk about being 'born again'… Brothers, sisters: is that the right word!
I cried like a baby. There in the middle of a room full of felons. Tears streaming down my face.
Not one of them ever mentioned that to me. To the best of my knowledge it was never mentioned outside of that room (and stories like that spread faster than fire in there).
I had $110,000 in a retirement account when all of this started.
When I got out of jail I had $4,000 left in the bank, and a felony conviction.


I had lost $106,000 but I had gained Islam. I would pay twice that without blinking.
I do not need anyone else’s affirmation of my Islam, I have received that from the ONE who matters!


(By the way, for anyone who wants to verify, the legal facts I related above are a matter of public record in the State of Texas.)
Oh, that $4,000? Just as it was running out, I ran into an old boss (who knew my troubles) in Wal-mart. He hired me two days later.
Alhamdulallah once again!
This account is not for my own fame or agrandizement but for the sake of Allah. If any good comes out of this story all the credit is due Him; only the mistakes are my own.
G. Waleed Kavalec
------------------
"O my Lord! bestow wisdom on me,
and join me with the righteous;" ÙŽ
- - Quran, al-Shuara 26:83

http://www.islamicteachings.org/foru...slam-t683.html

[Riana17]

Sikh Enters Islam

A Muslim scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Farraj, continuously invited an Indian Sikh (who used to live in Saudi Arabia) to Islam. He (the Sikh) neither refused nor accepted the idea because of his family.

Then one day Allah opened his heart to Islam, he came to the sheikh in his mosque to embrace Islam. The sheikh was busy with his students and some Du'ah (Muslim missionaries who invite people to the worship of Allah).

Sheikh Muhammad did not know that the man wanted to enter Islam so he did not give him any attention and he left the mosque with his students.

The man, who wanted to enter Allah's religion, remained standing at the door of the mosque watching the sheikh and his students driving their cars and moving away. On that sight he could not prevent himself from crying and burst into tears. While he was standing weeping at the door of the mosque, a young man who lived in the same quarter passed by him.

He asked him about the reason of his crying and the Indian replied that he wanted to be a Muslim.

The young man (May Allah reward him the best) took him to his house. He made him perform ablution (wudoo) and say the two testimonies (None deserves to be worshipped but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger). The Indian left after he said the testimony and it was about the dusk prayer (Al-Maghrib). Then he went to his room and suffered from a severe stomachache.

The young man came to sheikh Muhammad and told him the whole story. The sheikh regreted what he had done though he was ignorant of the matter. He went to the Indian's room, but his colleagues told him that he had died last night and he was then in the morgue of the Central Hospital. The sheikh went with some Du'ah to the hospital to receive his corpse, but the hospital refused stating that the embassy had sent to his family in India and they would receive his corpse to be burnt there. The sheikh objected saying that the man became a Muslim and there were witnesses to that, but still the hospital refused.

Sheik Muhammad went to Sheikh Abd Al-Aziz Bin Baz (May Allah have mercy upon him) and told him the whole story. Sheikh Abd Al-Aziz said that the Indian should not be given to his family as he became their brother in Islam; they should pray on his corpse and bury him there. He should not be given to the unbelievers. Sheik Abd Al-Aziz sent a copy of the subject to the emirate and requested an order to give the corpse to sheikh Muhammad Farraj.

The emirate ordered the hospital to give the corpse to Sheikh Muhammad and he received it. Some Du'ah washed the man and put him in his coffin. The funeral prayer coincided with Al-Jumu'ah (the Friday congregational prayer). Sheikh Muhammad gave a wonderful oration on the one who embraced Islam then died without making one prostration to Allah. He stated in the first oration some similar examples from history, then he stated in the second one the story of the Indian man upon whom they would pray after Al-Jumu'ah. The Muslims prayed upon him, then they carried him upon their shoulders and they all went to the graveyard led by many Du'ah and scholars.

It was a moving scene, May Allah accept him and have mercy upon him.

salam
wonderful story
May Allah be pleased with you for sharing this,

[Riana17]

Salam to all
I want to thank you all for sharing, reading this will increase (inshallah) the Iman of New Converts like me.
Wonderful stories, I am trying to read them all inshallah.
I love real life stories since Im a kid.

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam

Hamza young american convert to islam crying when performing hajj

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam

13 yr old US boy embracing Islam :)

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

British kids converted to Islam




http://turntoislam.com/

[Riana17]

:sl:

famous footballer embraces Islam in Dubai

DUBAI (Al Arabiya)



Abel Xavier leaves football as he finds "comfort" in IslamWorld





Football star Abel Xavier embraced Islam on a trip to the UAE city of Dubai last week and said he will now quit football at the age of 38 to pursue a career in humanitarian work, press reports revealed.

Former Portuguese international, Abel, who will now go by the name of Faisal Xavier, said he regretted leaving the sport but said he was happy to enter a new phase in his life.

"While it's an emotional farewell, I hope to participate in something very special as I enter a new stage of my life," press reports quoted Xavier, who also once played for Liverpool and Everton, as saying.

"In times of trouble, I have found comfort in Islam. Gradually I learned of a religion that professes peace, equality, freedom and hope. These are extremely important," Xavier said.

The footballer said he would now work with the United Nations on various humanitarian projects.

Xavier was born in Mozambique and previously played for the Los Angeles Galaxy, following a career in Portugal, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, England, Turkey, Germany, and the USA.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/12/26/95386.html

Salam and thanks for sharing the story

It is so nice to have everything (worldly) and give up for SAKE OF ALLAH
Oh this kinds of converts are so transparent and undoubtful, Subhanallah for finding happiness

[Endymion]

US ex-Guantanamo guard convert, prays in Mecca.

Mecca, May 29 (Dispatches) – When US soldier Terry Brooks was sent to join military guards at the infamous Guantanamo prison that houses Muslim prisons, allegedly belonging to the Taliban and al-Qaeda outfits, he had not thought he would embrace the religion of those prisoners. After a few chats with a Moroccan inmate, he converted to Islam in 2003.



Brooks was seen by local reporters this week praying in the holy city of Medina in Arabia before heading for holy Mecca to perform his first Umrah pilgrimage, which he said had been his dream over the past years.

The local Arabic daily Okaz said it waited for Brooks to finish his prayers and talked to him about his conversion to Islam. He credited “prisoner number 590” named Ahmed ar-Rashedi of Morocco for his “landmark” decision. After converting, he was expelled from the US army.

Brooks told the paper he was sent to Guantanamo long before 2003 and later started to mingle with some prisoners there.
“I still remember that great moment….the time was around 12:49 am in December 2003 when I embraced Islam…at that night, I took this landmark decision after numerous chat sessions with ar-Rashedi,” he said.

“It was a memorable moment in my life…….many prisoners sat around me when I converted and decided to call me Mustafa as their new friend…later I added the name Abdullah so I am now called Mustafa Abdullah.”

Brooks said he had been delighted when the US army decided to send him to Guantanamo as it was an adventure for him since had not seen a prison before.

“When I arrived there, it was a big shock for me… even before I entered the prison buildings, I could see that it was horrible and could suit only cactus and poisonous reptiles….I then asked myself ‘are those people behind the bars really so dangerous that they are worth these costly security measures.”

Brooks said he started to be interested in Islam after his talks to ar-Rashedi and other prisoners about Islam, Palestine, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

“I used to sit just outside their cells at night listening to them…by time, a sort of mutual respect developed between us …I had never believed in God before I went to Guantanamo.…now that I embraced Islam, I can feel the sweetness of religion…Islam is a pure religion and the ultimate right.”

Brooks said he had first concealed his decision to convert to Islam from other US guards at Guantanamo, adding that when the officer learned about it, he and the other soldiers began to treat him cruelly and accused him of betraying the US. Around two years before the end of his contract, he was fired from the US army.

“I am now working on a book about my experience to embrace Islam.…I have just quit my job in the US to devote my time to helping the prisoners in Guantanamo..…what is happening in that prison is really inhuman and violates the minimum principles of human rights,” he said.

[DippedinJannah]

I made my Shahada on Friday, June 17th, 2011.

It was a cyber-shahada :-)

I wrote up the story and thought others might enjoy reading it:

americanmuslimforum.org/uploads/My%20Shahada%20by%20DippedInJannah.pdf

I still have so much to learn. This forum is a blessing.

[Who Am I?]

^ This post reminded me to post my own story here. I will post a link of it here.

http://www.islamicboard.com/new-musl...-my-story.html

June 8, 2011 was the day I took my shahada.

[Just_A_Girl13]

Salaam everybody,

I've been meaning to post my story here for a while. It's not terribly exciting or moving and I'm not a great writer, but if you're interested, here it is.

My mother is agnostic and my father is a Christian. Neither one of my parents ever tried to "force" their religion onto me, nor did we ever discuss it much. We went to church as a family when I was a very small child, but we moved frequently and my parents had trouble finding a new church every time we moved. I was very involved in the church (singing in the choir, doing mission work, etc.) for several years. I never really knew about any other religions, and I liked Christianity but I always felt like a fraud when I was around my friends from the church. I felt like I didn't really belong there.

Then, two things happened. Firstly, I began writing a novel. Shortly after beginning, I added a Muslim character for cultural diversity. I began researching Islam to learn more about how to portray her character accurately. Secondly, I befriended a young Muslim man, the first Muslim I had ever really gotten to know. I was fascinated by him-- he was intelligent and faithful and kind. I began researching Islam more thoroughly so that I could better respect his culture. I was immediately drawn to Islam. I don't know why exactly, but something about the concept just "clicked" for me. I liked everything about it. I began reading the Qur'an and I was enraptured by its beauty. I felt like I had finally found a place where I could belong. I said my shahadah soon afterwards and while occasionally I have days that are more difficult than others, I do not regret it. Jazak Allah Khair to all of you brothers and sisters for helping to guide me to the light of Islam. Alhamdulillah! :muslimah:

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

Mexico's indigenous minority converting to Islam





http://<a href="http://www.youtube.c...re=related</a>

[Starrynight]

Today I woke up at 2 am. I felt restless because tomorrow I will tell my parents I am going to revert to Islam. Reading these stories helped me to feel calmer and like I'm not alone. Others have been here. Thanks to everyone who has put up their story :)

[Danah]

^ may Allah make things easier for you and guide you always to the right path. Please let us know how things will go.

[Stealth Nerd]

Good luck, Starrynight.

[Futuwwa]

Reading stories of other Muslim reverts makes me feel elated, but on the other hand, they make my own seem utterly mundane by comparison :hmm:

[Starrynight]

Thanks for the support! It went well. My dad is excited for me. My mom is a little more reserved but overall I think it will be okay :)

[Futuwwa]

Alhamdulillah :)

[Ramadhan]

hanks for the support! It went well. My dad is excited for me. My mom is a little more reserved but overall I think it will be okay

Alhamdulillah! You have loving parents, please keep making du'a also for them.

[Who Am I?]

Thanks for the support! It went well. My dad is excited for me. My mom is a little more reserved but overall I think it will be okay :)

Good for you. Alhamdulillah!

Since you seem to have a way with words, do you want to tell mine too? ;D

[Starrynight]

Good for you. Alhamdulillah!

Since you seem to have a way with words, do you want to tell mine too? ;D

haha. Well, I don't know how your relationship is with your parents, but I was really nervous too. If you think they will just be upset, but accept you in the end and not do anything crazy I would advise telling them as soon as you are ready. That way you don't have to stress anymore, you know? I know I'm new to everything too, but I will always offer support if you need!

[Who Am I?]

haha. Well, I don't know how your relationship is with your parents, but I was really nervous too. If you think they will just be upset, but accept you in the end and not do anything crazy I would advise telling them as soon as you are ready. That way you don't have to stress anymore, you know? I know I'm new to everything too, but I will always offer support if you need!

Thanks, sister.

Well we are pretty close, for now. It might not turn out that way once I tell them. :hmm:

I want to learn more about Islam first though, and become a better person. I want to show them through my words and deeds that I am becoming a better man, and inshallah they will be more open and receptive. That may take a while. Allah will show me when the time is right.

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam

Thanks for the support! It went well. My dad is excited for me. My mom is a little more reserved but overall I think it will be okay :)

Alhamdulillah.

Welcome to Islam sis :)

[Starrynight]

I said my Shahada today, 6/25/2011 at 12am. :D I am so happy!

[One Chance]

I said my Shahada today, 6/25/2011 at 12am. :D I am so happy!

Salams
Mashallah sister, Alhamdullilah good on you inshallah your whole life is full of positive things like this inshallah :D

[Just_A_Girl13]

I said my Shahada today, 6/25/2011 at 12am. I am so happy!

Assalam aliakum sister,

Masha Allah! Welcome home :)

Peace and blessings be with you

[Futuwwa]

Yes, welcome home :statisfie

That's what I felt after doing my shahada. Like coming home. Even though I was nervous before, thinking things like "What if I'm still wrong, despite absolutely everything?"

[Who Am I?]

I had those doubts too, Futuwwa. It is natural. But I still think I made the right choice.

Welcome, sister Starrynight. So how does it feel to be a Muslim now?

[Danah]

I said my Shahada today, 6/25/2011 at 12am. :D I am so happy!

MasahAllah!! Welcome back and Congratulation dear sis. May Allah bless you and keep you and all of us always in the right path.

[hhugs_north]

May Allah bless you for your conviction Sister.

[tw009]

:sl:

I said my Shahada today, 6/25/2011 at 12am. :D I am so happy!

:D
I just saw this, Alhumdulliah, may Allah make things easier for you. : )

[Woodrow]

Masha Allaah, I also just saw this. Welcome home Sister and add me to your Duas.

[Riana17]

I said my Shahada today, 6/25/2011 at 12am. I am so happy!

Salam Sister, Mabrook Insha Allah :)
Yes it is the best feeling on earth, May Allah strengthen your Imaan .. Ameen

[Starrynight]

Thank you all for the kind words :) The first week had some interesting experiences, lol.

[Zafran]

salaam

welcome to Islam

peace

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

Young Lady Converted to Islam - Daughter of christian Minister




http://<a href="http://www.youtube.c...re=related</a>

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:





South Africa's Wayne Parnell converts to Islam

Johannesburg: South African fast bowler Wayne Parnell has converted to Islam after a period of personal study and reflection and will celebrate his 22nd birthday on Friday as a Muslim.



Parnell confirmed in a statement on Thursday that he converted to Islamic faith in January this year and is considering a name change to Waleed, which means 'Newborn Son'.



"While I have not yet decided on an Islamic name I have considered the name Waleed which means Newborn Son, but for now my name remains Wayne Dillon Parnell.



I will continue to respect the team's endorsement of alcoholic beverages. I am playing cricket in Sussex and this is my immediate focus," said Port Elizabeth-born Parnell.



"As I am approaching my first period of fasting, I ask that this special time is treated with respect. I am a young man, a professional cricketer by trade, and while I can appreciate and am grateful for the public interest in my personal life, my faith choice is a matter which I would like to keep private," said the promising Warriors left-arm seam bowler.




Proteas team manager Mohamed Moosajee, himself a Muslim, said Parnell's Muslim teammates Hashim Amla and Imran Tahir had not influenced his decision to convert from Christianity.
"Wayne already decided a few months ago to follow Islam," Moosajee said of the cricketer, who excelled during the ICC World Cup on the subcontinent.



"The decision to convert was his own decision, but I know nothing of the name change," added Moosajee.



Fellow players, preferring to remain anonymous, said they believed Parnell was very serious about his choice of religion and that he had not touched a drop of alcohol, forbidden to Muslims, since the recent Indian Premier League series.



Supporting Moosajee's denial of influence by Amla, the players said he had never attempted to convert them to his religion, although they had all been very impressed by the discipline and strict adherence that Amla showed to his religion, by refusing to participate in celebrations with them that involved liquor, staying steadfast in his daily prayers even while on tour, and refusing to wear the kit sponsored by South African beer brand Castle Lager.


In his first two years after making his debut for the Proteas in 2009, Parnell developed a hard-living reputation.



In October 2009, he was kicked out of the provincial side Warriors following an incident in a night club in the city of Port Elizabeth in the early hours of the morning.



He came to limelight when he captained the South African Under-19 team in the U-19 World Cup in 2008. He was the youngest player to get a central contract in 2009 at the age of 20 years.
He is the second Christian to have converted to Islam after Pakistan's Yousuf Youhana (now Mohammad Yousuf) in 2006.

http://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/news/...verts-to-islam

[Strzelecki]

Source: http://myresourceislam.blogspot.com/...ert-story.html
More Stories: http://myresourceislam.blogspot.com/...t-stories.html

Gen's Revert Story

Asalam alaikum.

I am Gen and I am only still new to Islam alhamdulilah! But I am proud that I have said my shahada and become a muslim. I grew up as a normal western girl. Parties, concerts, school, honestly, just the usual. I wasn't religious but I knew I had muslim family, but they lived on the other side of the country.

My auntie was a converted muslim. She married soon after I was born and to the other side of the country. I had only met her and my cousins a few times but I was aware of them and their religion. My Mum had a problem with it all, she thought that no one could see anything good in Islam especially as a woman and that she only converted for her husband. She didn't hate my aunt but she did think she had made a bad choice. She still doesn't know about my conversion. The only people that do are my aunt and her family.

A couple of years ago my aunt's husband found a job closer to where we live and because the pay was much better than what he was getting in his old job they decided they would move. I saw this as a good opportunity to see more of her and get to know my family better so every now and the when I had a free day I'd get public transport to see her and her family. We soon grew very close and by being close to them I started to learn more about the religion and see that it wasn't what my mum thought it was and my aunt did not just convert because her husband is muslim. Slowly I started to see what my aunt saw in islam. I enjoyed conversations with her family about religion and not being religious myself I appreciated what they had to offer. I'm not sure of the moment I began to want to know more about Islam but it soon came. I started meeting friends my aunt was making in the area.

My association with muslims and good examples just brought me closer to islam.
I said the shahada with my aunt early this year. Now its my first ramadan, I'm enjoying all the time I can with my aunt, uncle and cousins.

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

"Nightmares stopped after reading Quran" German CONVERT TO ISLAM






if anyone could understand what was his name before and if the convert bro takes a new name , pl. let me know. Jazak Allah

[Kitsune92]

Some of these stories are just amazing! They sort of make me wish I was a revert so that I could have an interesting story too. :)

[mburaksayici]

Mashallah

[Sumaiya54]

Asalaamu Aleikum,

This is my story. To understand it, my parents are Jewish and Catholic.

I was an 11 year old living in the USA, and being mature for my age I loved to research on religion, culture, middle east, ect. My best friend wore hijab and was a practicing Muslim.

Growing up I had heard a lot of negative comments about Islam but my parents always taught me to respect all other ethnic groups and cultures, as we were white and the social "norm". I didn't understand when my parents told me I could be Jewish and Catholic, because I knew they were separate religions. My father told me that I could believe in different parts of each of the religions, but I wanted to have a religion. I needed to believe in something, I needed to find God. Then, I read a book called "The Faith Club" shared it with my best friend. We decided to start our own Faith Club. I found myself excited for each of our meetings, and we discussed many religions, including Islam (she is my Muslim friend), Christianity, Judaism, and just God.

Then one day I was having life troubles, and I looked into the mirror and prayed for God. The same day I got an email from my Muslim friend, asking if I would look at Islam, consider converting, ect. I think that she thought that because I was asking many questions. I hadn't really thought about converting because I was fine with my lifestyle and wrote her back saying that I was fascinated with Islam but didn't want to convert. Keep in mind this was the same day! Alhamduillah for sending me this sign!

In part of my quest of researching religion, culture, ect, I asked my friend for a copy of The Glorious Quran that I could read along with the Bible. When she gave it to me I picked it up and started reading. I didn't even start reading the Bible (yet) and just kept reading. By the time I was finished I hadn't read much but thought it was very beautiful, and knew it was the word of Allah SWT.

Through all of my misconceptions about Islam I quenched my thirst for knowledge of Islam and learned about the religion Immensely. I fell in love with every aspect and while questioning a few, knew it was the religion for me. I became so much closer with my best friend Ilsa, Insha'Allah we will stay that way forever. I loved the way how her family was so close to eachother unlike my "western" family but respected eachother, unlike my mom and I. Her family soon knew that I was considering convering and they were so welcoming I felt like I was one of them.

Now, after 2 years, I am 13 and reverting in one week. I know it was not a whole conversion story but I felt that I had to share it!

Salaam :-)

[Ğħαrєєвαħ]

^ Wa Alaaykum As'Salaaam wa Rahmatullaah wa Barahkaatuh..

I am impressed!

You were 11 year old, subhaan'Allaah..very beautiful indeed! Allaah SWT guides who he wills and those who are sincere.

JazaakiAllaah khaayr for sharing your story sis.

may Allaah keep you steadfast upon his beautiful deen, Aameen.

[aadil77]

:sl:



Can't remember if I've posted this before, but Subhan'Allah what a story, Allah guides whom He wills

[tigerkhan]

I am impressed!

me too.

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:


Aminah Assilmi (R): My Family Wanted to Kill Me, Now They're Muslim!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moaVC...&feature=share

[aadil77]

Proper northern brother, I love his Liverpudlian accent - see if you can understand what he's saying :shade:

[Cabdullahi]

Revert story by Brother Ahmed

Assalamu Aleykum brothers and sisters,

I'm a 22 year old guy living in London, it was last week...just last week! when i went out to play football with some friends in a tournament. It was after salatul asr that i took to the pitch to play and i was overwhelmed by nerves, and had to perform. Just as i passed the ball to my muslim friend i was expecting a reverse ball but unfortunately my foot got stuck and my ankle twisted awkwardly, partially tearing my ligaments, and then reverted back to its natural position.

Make dua for me....that Allah gives me full recovery.

That's my revert story.

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:




A convert to Islam






...One day in jail when I was bored like every other day, I picked up a Quran and started reading it. One sentence hit me… ‘Is there any one more misguided than the person who makes his desires his God?’” says Hussain. He converted to Islam after a few months.

http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/2012/02/28/a-convert-to-islam/

[Saudi girl]

mashallah,,god bless you all:statisfie

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

245 Chinese convert to Islam in Saudi Arabia - April 2012


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHW9FdpiORk

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOvyG...eature=related

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:


Brit geography teacher Paul Martin became Muslim

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:


An American Billionaire Converts To Islam

[sis muslimah]

[Riana17]

Little Secret Steps Toward Islam


My name is Julianne (Noora) Scasny. I was born in the United States
to a mother who is Syrian (Arab) Christian and a father who is white
European descent. Both are Catholic. When I was 15 years old I
wanted to be a nun in the Roman Catholic church. So I was close in
relationship to God — or so I thought — and never really had this so-
called personal relationship with Jesus (peace be upon him).
Anyway, in my world history class we were studying Middle Eastern
history, which I was very interested in, and we stumbled on the
subject of Islam. There was a student from Egypt and he was
correcting the teacher on the misconceptions about Islam. I just
remember saying to myself, "Wow! he is correcting the teacher.
Usually the teacher corrects the student!" After that day in class I
asked him what was the difference between Catholicism and Islam. He
said, "Not that much." I was not satisfied with this answer, so I
studied Islam on the computer at school. He introduced me to his
family and one day I asked his mother if I could have a copy of the
Qur'an in English.

Al-hamdu lillah (all praise to God), she gave me an English
translation by Yusuf Ali, and I couldn't put it down. To me, when I
read the Bible, it seemed like there was always some meaning behind
what was being read because the words had been changed, but the
Qur'an spoke to my heart and I knew it was from Allah. So I became a
Muslim in my heart, al-hamdu lillah.

When my parents found out I was interested in Islam, they tried to
forbid me from befriending Muslims. My mom called the lady who gave
me the translation of the Qur'an and told her, "Stop talking to my
daughter about Islam, you are confusing her." I remember my first
`Eid Al-Fitr (Feast of Breaking the Fast), I told my dad I had to
work as an excuse to go to `Eid Prayer. Well, he ended up finding
out that I went to the masjid. There was not one located near my
home and I couldn't drive, so I got a ride from my Muslim Pakistani
friends. That was the first time I saw the Muslims all together
performing the same ritual. Anyway, my dad brought me to my friend's
house and told her mom that he didn't want her to give or lend me
any more literature about Islam. She was very respectful and
said, "I won't, but when she is in my home she is free to read
whatever she wants."

Afterwards my mom made me go talk to the priest of the Catholic
church to talk about Islam and the dream I had. My dad started to
search my room every so often and took my copy of the Qur'an, prayer
clothing, literature, and threw them out. I used to cry so much
because of this. I even had to hide my Qur'an in the air-
conditioning vent! My dad took the lock off my door, so I had to
pray in secret when my parents were sleeping. It was so hard. My dad
used to tell me, "As long as you are living under my roof you will
obey my rules and you will go to church and be Catholic." I didn't
know what to do. I asked my friend's parents what to do and they
told me listen to my parents. Well, I did and for the next four
years my life was a total disaster.

Four years later at the age of 20, I called the lady who had given
me the Qur'an to ask about the new masjid that was being built. She
told me, "Come and see for your self." Well, ironically this masjid
was in a building that was used originally as a teenage nightclub!
And my own sister previously was arrested for being drunk. Subhan
Allah (glory be to Allah)! So I went to the dinner at the masjid and
that feeling all came back to me.

The power of the Adhan brought me to tears. I told myself, "I don't
care what my parents say. I don't care what anyone says! I want this
feeling. I want to be a practicing devout Muslim! I am sick of
trying to do things my way! I submit to the will of Allah Almighty."
Al-hamdu lillah, that Ramadan I made Shahadah in the back of the
masjid in front of a group of women because the imam was afraid of
what my parents would do if I made Shahadah out loud in front of
everyone. I started wearing hijab that Ramadan.

My parents to this day will not stop telling me "Take that thing off
your head! Can't you dress younger or wear shorts?" I just tell
them "Look at the pictures your people paint of Mary. What does she
look like in those pictures? She looks like a Muslim woman!" My own
grandparents told me to go to hell! My mom used to cook pork and lie
and say it was beef! I would ask my dad "Please don't take the dog
downstairs where I pray" — I was living in the basement of my
parents' house — and he would say "This is my house" and he would do
it anyway. Then I desperately argued with him "You don't bring the
dog to church, do you?"

My mom would force me to get a job while I was in college, even in
places where they serve alcohol. I used to beg the people at the
masjid for money, crying my eyes out for help to Allah. Al-hamdu
lilah, Allah is so Merciful, He gave me a husband and I got married
at age 21. And now a little over a year later at the age of 22 I'm
pregnant with my first baby. Of course my family keeps bothering me
about Islam, but I'm so grateful to Allah. I try to give my parents
da`wah all the time and pray for them, but Allah guides whom He
wills.

I just sit here sometimes and look at the Muslims and think how you
people don't really know what it is like to have parents who don't
believe in your religion. I just look at some Muslims and become
sick because I wish my parents were with me, but then again Muslims
are my family now.

Muslims should be united as one in the constant worship of Allah, in
sha' Allah (Allah willing) through prayer, dhikr, reading Qur'an,
good manners, and not fighting among themselves. May Allah
strengthen the faith and piety and fear of Allah and good manners of
every single Muslim.

Mashallah I love this story, made me cry, i really love this :cry::cry::cry: thanks for sharing

[جوري]

That is lovely to read and right before fajr al7mdullilah it did my heart good as I was in a foul mood!

[tw009]

My name is Cassie, I am 23 years old. I graduated as a qualified nurse this year and was given my first position as a home nurse.

My patient was an English gentleman in his early 80s who suffered from Alzheimer’s. In the first meeting, the patient was given his record and from it I could see that he was a convert to the religion of Islam, therefore he was a Muslim.

I knew from this that I would need to take into account some modes of treatment that may go against his faith, and therefore try to adapt my care to meet his needs. I brought in some ‘halal’ meat to cook for him and ensured that there was no pork or alcohol in the premises as I did some research which showed that these were forbidden in Islam.

My patient was in a very advanced stage of his condition so a lot of my colleagues could not understand why I was going through so much effort for him. But I understood that a person who commits to a faith deserves that commitment to be respected, even if they are not in a position to understand.

Anyway after a few weeks with my patient I began to notice some patterns of movement.

At first I thought it was some copied motions he’s seen someone doing, but I saw him repeat the movement at particular time; morning, afternoon, evening.

The movements were to raise his hands, bow and then put his head to the ground. I could not understand it. He was also repeating sentences in another language, I couldn’t figure out what language it was as his speech was slurred but I know the same verses were repeated daily.

Also there was something strange, he didn’t allow me to feed him with my left hand (I am left-handed).

Somehow I knew this linked to his religion but didn’t know how.

One of my colleagues told me about paltalk as a place for debates and discussions and as I did not know any Muslims except for my patient I thought it would be good to speak to someone live and ask questions. I went on the Islam section and entered the room ‘True Message’.

Here I asked questions regarding the repeated movements and was told that these were the actions of prayer. I did not really believe it until someone posted a link of the Islamic prayer on youtube.

I was shocked.

A man who has lost all memory of his children, of his occupation, and could barely eat and drink was able to remember not only actions of prayer but verses that were in another language.

This was nothing short of incredible and I knew that this man was devout in his faith, which made me want to learn more in order to care for him the best I could.

I came into the paltalk room as often as I could and was given a link to read the translation of the Quran and listen to it.

The chapter of the ‘Bee’ gave me chills and I repeated it several times a day.

I saved a recording of the Quran on my iPod and gave it to my patient to listen to, he was smiling and crying, and in reading the translation I could see why.

I applied what I gained from paltalk to care for my patient but gradually found myself coming to the room to find answers for myself.

I never really took the time to look at my life; I never knew my father, my mother died when I was 3, me and my brother were raised by our grandparents who died 4 years ago, so now its just the two of us.

But despite all this loss, I always thought I was happy, content.

It was only after spending time with my patient that felt like I was missing something. I was missing that sense of peace and tranquility my patient, even through suffering felt.

I wanted that sense of belonging and a part of something that he felt, even with no one around him.

I was given a list of mosques in my area by a lady on paltalk and went down to visit one. I watched the prayer and could not hold back my tears.

I felt drawn to the mosque every day and the imam and his wife would give me books and tapes and welcome any questions I had.

Every question I asked at the mosque and on paltalk was answered with such clarity and depth that could do nothing but accept them.

I have never practiced a faith but always believed that there was a God; I just did not know how to worship Him.

One evening I came on paltalk and one of the speakers on the mic addressed me. He asked me if I have any questions, I said no. He asked if I was happy with the answers I was given, I said yes.

He asked then what was stopping me accepting Islam, I could not answer.

I went to the mosque to watch the dawn prayer. The imam asked me the same question, I could not answer.

I then went to tend to my patient, I was feeding him and as I looked in his eyes I just realized, he was brought to me for a reason and the only thing stopping me from accepting was fear.... not fear in the sense of something bad, but fear of accepting something good, and thinking that I was not worthy like this man.

That afternoon I went to the mosque and asked the imam if I could say my declaration of faith, the Shahadah.: lā ilāha illà al-Lāh, Muhammadun rasūlu Al-Lāh. There is no god except Allah, Muhammad is Allah’s messenger.

He helped me through it and guided me through what I would need to do next.

I cannot explain the feeling I felt when I said it.

It was like someone woke me up from sleep and sees everything more clearly.

The feeling was overwhelming joy, clarity and most of all.... peace.

The first person I told was not my brother but my patient.

I went to him, and before I even opened my mouth he cried and smiled at me.

I broke down in front of him, I owed him so much.

I came home logged on to paltalk and repeated the shahadah for the room.

They all helped me so much and even though I had never seen a single one of them, they felt closer to me than my own brother.

I did eventually call my brother to tell him and although he wasn’t happy, he supported me and said he would be there, I couldn’t ask for any more.

After my first week as a Muslim my patient passed away in his sleep while I was caring for him. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon.

He died a peaceful death and I was the only person with him.

He was like the father I never had and he was my doorway to Islam.

From the day of my Shahadah to this very day and for every day for as long as I live, I will pray that Allah shows mercy on him and grant him every good deed I perform in the tenfold.

I loved him for the sake of Allah and I pray each night to become an atoms weight of the Muslim he was.

Islam is a religion with an open door; it is there for those who want to enter it.... Verily Allah is the Most Merciful, Most Kind.

* Note * Our sister Cassie passed away October 2010 Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon, after she gave da’wa to her brother, who had accepted Islam Alhamdulillah.

[Source: a da’wa organization in the UK]
http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com/islam/islam/3116.html

[جوري]

* Note * Our sister Cassie passed away October 2010 Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon, after she gave da’wa to her brother, who had accepted Islam Alhamdulillah.

sob7an Allah imsad -what happened - does anyone know? she was so young or how old is this story?

[~Zaria~]

MashaAllah sis tw009.

That brought tears to my eyes, as a start to my day.

Verily Allah is the Most Merciful, Most Kind.

^Not much more can be said after this....

SubhanAllah!!

[Riana17]

Subhanallah, Sister Cassie's story is so emotional.
I wonder how she died :(
May Allah accept her conversion and bless her in Jannah forever.

[~Zaria~]

Assalamu-alaikum,

ALLAHU-AKBAR!!

2 Points from this story:

1. As muslims, we are NOT doing enough in dawah.

2. Dont EVER judge another human being - by his appearance, his way of life and current belief system.

ONLY Allah (subhanawataála) knows the destiny of each and every one of us.

The greatest sinner can become the greatest Walli of Allah.
And the most pious person can die in the most shameful state, and without his imaan.
May Allah protect us all. Ameen.



:wa:

[~Zaria~]

Assalamu-alaikum,

If the above video does not open, this is an alternative link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzdsiVaeD7o

Insha Allah this will work for you sister Muslim Woman : )

[Yuki Nomose]

I'm am Yuki 25 years, i known my husband in university, 2 years during university life together. Great feeling and during our partnership i discovered Islam slowly and gradually. My husband after my degree ( he taken degree in marketing a year before,mine political science ) asked me if i want marry him, i accepted but i was non-muslim again. In this way i requested time to think and i accepted to do great step same month after in house of him friend. He is gone to talk with my father after and we waited again and we decided to do wedding withouth positive answer of my father. After i left my house and when i was accepted by my family i began to live in husband house until now

offcourse i not broke relation with my family, it's all ok now :nervous:

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

Saudi Gazette report



Young French Rapper Diam’s has converted to Islam, explaining to the French Press,


“Medicine was not able to heal my soul,


so I turned toward religion.”



Diam’s has received a great deal of media attention as she has adopted a black covering and hijab since converting to Islam following marriage to a Muslim man.



Diam’s (real name: Mélanie Georgiades, born July 25, 1980 in Cyprus) is a French-language rap artist of French and Greek Cypriot origin. Her family moved to Essonne (near Paris) in 1984.In 1998, when she was just 18, Diam’s signed a development deal with BMG Music Publishing France. With the publisher’s help, Diam’s worked on her craft and signed with Universal Records in 1999.




She appeared in a song on DJ Mehdi’s 2002 album “(The Story Of) Espion”. The 2003’s Brut de Femme was her breakthrough, reaching gold and spawning the top 10 single DJ. Since then she has won a number of awards and boasts of a large fan following. Her fans – waiting for her new album set to release in November – have reacted with surprise over her conversion.


Paris Match has featured a four-page report devoted to her story, in which she says all profits from her new album will be donated to humanitarian organizations and that she now never leaves home without her hair covered.

http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index...=2009101951948

[Tarek_]

My name is Cassie, I am 23 years old. I graduated as a qualified nurse this year and was given my first position as a home nurse.

Allah yerhamha :( i'm so touched

[glo]

‘From MTV to Mecca’ is the truly inspiring story of Kristiane Backer, who at the height of her career as one of Europe’s leading pop culture icons, converted to Islam.

In the early 1990s, Kristiane Backer became one of the very first presenters on MTV Europe. For years she lived and breathed the international music scene, quickly gaining a cult following amongst viewers and becoming a darling of the European press. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Mick Jagger, Bono, Bob Geldof, Jim Kerr, Take That and Cat Stevens, Kristiane was catapulted to the forefront of popular culture.

Through a fateful meeting with the famous cricketer Imran Khan, Kristiane travelled to Pakistan, where she encountered a completely different world to the one she knew: the religion and culture of Islam. She was drawn to this way of life which was dominated by a love of God and began to read the Quran and to study books about the Faith. The more she immersed herself in the world of Islam, the more she found herself dissatisfied with her own life. With the support of friends she met through Imran Khan, Kristiane began to learn the true values of the religion and, in 1995, decided to become a Muslim.

You can read her interview here

[truthseeker63]

‎85 year old New Muslim

In this episode of "The Deen Show" Br. James, an 85 year old convert, shares his is story of how he embraced Islam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1wCh...eature=related

God can guide a person at any age right ?

[truthseeker63]

I like this story.

[truthseeker63]

What does everyone think ?

[Endymion]

I can't say anything about the story as i am unable to watch youtube links but i saw the title before login and felt so happy that i was about to write "Muslim" in my password box instead of my original password :p


Great news indeed,Allah SWT guides whom he wills,Allahu Akbar :thumbs_up

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

29 Jan 2013 08:04

Police Community Support Officer Jayne Kemp, 28, decided to find out about the faith while helping a Muslim woman suffering domestic abuse




http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....-after-1250294

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

Far-right Dutch Politician Finds Islam AMSTERDAM – A leading member in far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders’ party has reverted to Islam after an extensive study about the Islamic religion and Muslims.“ I can understand people are skeptic, especially that it is unexpected for many of them,” Arnoud Van Doorn told Al-Jazeera English satellite channel.“This is a very big decision, which I have not taken lightly.”The news about Doorn’s reversion first came to the surface last month when he tweeted “new beginning”. He later posted a tweet in Arab pronouncing the Shahadah (proclamation of faith).The politician later announced that he reverted to Islam, giving no more information about the reasons behind the decision.“In my own close circle people have known that I have been actively researching the Qur’an, Hadith, Sunnah and other writings for almost a year now,” he said.“In addition, I have had numerous conversations with Muslims about the religion.”Driven by his party’s anti-Islam discourse, Doorn decided to dig in for the truth about the religion himself.“I have heard so many negative stories about Islam, but I am not a person who follows opinions of others without doing my own research,” he said.“Therefore, I have actually started to deepen my knowledge of the Islam out of curiosity.“ My colleague Aboe Khoulani from the City Council in The Hague has brought me further into contact with the as-Soennah mosque, which has guided me even further.”A member of the Dutch parliament and The Hague city council, Doorn’s name has long been associated with Wilders’ anti-Islam, far-right PVV party. A member of the Dutch parliament and The Hague city council, Doorn’s name has long been associated with anti-Islam rhetoric by Wilders’ PVV party.Wilders himself is known for his rants against Islam, Muslims and the Noble Qur’an.New Beginning Doorn’s decision to embrace Islam has won mixed reactions in the Netherlands.“According to some people I am a traitor, but according to most others I have actually made a very good decision,” he told Aljazeera.“ The reactions are generally positive and I also received quite some support via twitter.“It feels good that people who do not know me personally have understanding of my situation and support me in my choice.”For the Dutch politician, finding Islam was finally guiding him to the true path in his life.“I have made mistakes in life as many others. From these mistakes I have learned a lot,” Doorn said.“And by my conversion to Islam I have the feeling that I finally found my path.“ I realize that this is a new start and that I still have much to learn as well.”Departing from his earlier life as a PVV member, Doorn expects much resistance in his political life.“The expectation is that I will continue to face much resistance, also from certain government institutions,” he said.“I have all faith in Allah to support me and to guide me through these moments.”--Source: http://www.onislam.net/english/news/...-to-islam.html

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

A German lady converts to Islam

Thursday 02-04-2009




Shortly after I was born in 1934 it became a "fashion" in Germany to quit membership of the Church—Catholic or Protestant—and become "gottglaubig" which means believing in God but actually signifies rather the contrary.

In fact when I was about seven years old, an elder girl told me that there was no God at all and as she seemed to me quite an authentic person and I had just learned that also Santa Claus is only an invention for children, turned all my interest towards this world. Yet the world at that time was far from being easily understandable for young people.


There were bombs day after day, there was father who could come only now and then for just one day and mother who knitted gloves and socks for "our poor soldiers," there was a big house in the neighbourhood which was turned into a hospital for the wounded.




When that was over, there were strange people who took away our house and American war-films started coming in which melted my heart. I was unable to judge who was right and who was wrong and everything looked cruel and senseless to me—there were a thousand whys to which nobody could give a satisfactory answer.


I started to be on the outlook for God yet hard though I tried I could neither find Him in Catholicism nor Protestantism nor with Jehova's Witnesses.


The road nearer to God in these religions was barred for me through the fact that all of them had doctrines in which to believe I found impossible, and injunctions to follow which strictly seemed to me impracticable. And how could I accept a faith in which I knew from the very outset that I would be tortured by self accusation for my own imperfection?

It is still a miracle for me that of all girls, I was the one to meet a young European who had already embraced Islam seven years before. The very first time we met I happened to enquire about his religion and when I learned that it was Islam I asked him to tell me more about it.


I was a great sceptic at that time due to the disappointments I had had with other religions, yet when he explained to me the meaning of the word 'Muslim', i.e., one who out of free will surrenders himself to God's Commandments, something started waking up within me.



Then he went on to explain to me that all men, animals, plants and everything else in this universe is already Muslim compulsorily because they would destroy themselves if they would not follow God's laws in matters such as eating, drinking, procreation and so on.

Man alone, so he said, is in a position to accept Islam also spiritually, apart from the material sphere where he practically does not have a free choice but has to follow his inborn urges as animals and plants.

It was the wonderful logic, the pure commonsense in all Islamic teachings which attracted me so much, in the first few fundamental doctrines about which I learned as much as in the books I read in the following years small though the stock of unbiased Islamic literature in German language is. Apart from the help of the young Muslim he now is my husband—who never got tired of explaining things to me and answering all my questions.



Muhammad Asad's book "The Road to Mecca” made me understand the deep meaning behind all Islamic injunctions and thus helped me most while I was on my way to become a Muslimah.




Fatima Heeren
From: Yes I Converted to Islam and here why
By: Muhammad Haneef Shahid

http://www.islamweb.net/womane/ninde...dart&id=149687

[Abu Loren]

Why Me Lord?


Alhamdulilah il Rabbil Alamin Ar Rahaman ir Rahim
As’alaamu Alaikkum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

I was born into a Roman Catholic family in India where Ispent the first ten years of my life. My earliest childhood memories ofreligion and god is when my grandmother used to wake us up during the crack ofdawn for us to go to church. We would bathe ourselves with buckets of waterfrom the well and at that time of the morning the water was freezing cold. Iremember sitting on the floor sleepy eyed and angry. I used to just follow thechurch service without any understanding nor feeling. I felt I was numb. I usedto look at the figure hanging on a cross and subconsciously I would ask myselfis this God? Other times I was told to kiss the various statues of the ‘virginMary’ and the saints of Christendom. All I remember is the coldness on the lipswhen it touched the cold stone statues.

At the age of ten I and my mother went to live in London,England with my father. It was a difficult time as the cultural and languagebarrier was very significant. However, being relatively young I was able toadjust pretty quickly to English life. As far I can remember I attended thelocal church regularly on a Sunday. Then at the age of fifteen or sixteen Idecided that church, religion and god is not needed in my life. I only attendedchurch for weddings, funerals and special occasions like Easter, Christmas etc.

It was a time when I was without God in every sense ofthe word. Now I began to think of myself as a local and did what the localsdid. Drinking, fornicating and god knows what else. At a certain stage in mylife I decided that atheism sounded pretty good. Although I’ve never openlytold anybody, I decided to myself that I am an atheist. There is no God, whywould anybody need a God in their life. You are born, you enjoy life then youdie and turn to dust. Very simple logic. Looking back though I don’t think Iwas a good human being. I was a hater, I used to hate anything and everything. Itaffected my relationships and I ended up alone. It was as if it was me againstthe world. Sometimes I told my friends that if I had a choice I would get allhumanity together and machine gun them to death. All of them (except me ofcourse).

Just after I hit the age of forty I somehow developed aneed to find out more about God and if He even exists. I went back to churchand attended regularly, even on a daily basis when I was unemployed. It wascomforting to be in the company of elderly ladies and feel kind of self worth.It’s probably the thought that when I reach their age I want to praise andhonour God just like them.

Then I decided to research on the internet, there was anocean of information there and one was spoilt for choice. I joined a fewChristian social networking sites and pretty quickly were banned for all of thefor asking difficult questions and putting forward a different point of view.Eastern religions made me sick as I could never bring myself to worship norbelieve in one thousand and one gods. Why make it so complicated?

At the back of my mind I somehow knew about Judaim andIslam being a monotheistic and an Abrahamiac faith. Judaism was a no-no as they’verejected Jesus and I read or heard somewhere that one has to be born into thereligion, they do not accept outsiders. Good I thought to myself. So the finalchoice would be Islam. I heard rumours that they had ‘borrowed’ parts of theirdoctrine from the Bible. So it would be easy for me to learn it as I knew moreor less the Bible and what it stood for.

So I joined an Islamic social networking site and got onwith most of the Muslims there. However, everybody was always pushing me totake the Shahada and I didn’t even know what that was. Hang on a minute I don’teven have a Muslim neighbor so just go easy on me.

The first time I read an English translation of the HolyQur’an I said to myself “yep, this is definitely borrowed from the Bible, I meanyou’ve stolen our prophets from the Bible like Moses, David, Solomon, evenJesus for crying out loud.

Then I don’t know what happened. I honestly can’tdescribe what took hold of me. As I re-read and re-read the Holy Qur’an sometruths were just glaring at me in black and white. The first thing that Inoticed was the description of the birth of Jesus and how it was completelydifferent from the narration of the Bible. The Qur’anic version made sense tome. A young Jewish woman who brought a new born baby into her household wouldhave been stoned to death. The reason she was not I understood was that Jesusspoke to the people from the cradle. This was an obvious miracle if there everwas one. This was the reason that the people and the family of Mary acceptedthe baby Jesus.

Then over time, I can only describe it as that I’ve beenguided by the Almighty Allah Subhana Wa Ta’ala to the Straight Path. Why me? Alowly, insignificant and despicable human being. Why me Lord?

Alhamdulilah il Rabbil Alamin!

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:


Son of distributor of anti-Islam film Fitna accepts Islam

The son of Arnoud van Doorn, the famous Dutch policy maker and distributor of an anti-Islam filmFitna that caused unrest in 2008, surprised the audiences at the three-day Dubai International Peace Convention by 
embracing Islam.
Arnoud’s son, Iskander Amien De Vrie, was one of the 37 people who converted to Islam during the convention.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-artic...=nationgeneral

[azzedinefaizan]

Assalaam Alaikum

My story probably isn't as interesting as the ones above but I will try to tell it as best I can if anyone would like to hear it. I was raised as a Buddhist but I didn't really understand all the technical details as a child. In high school I became rebellious and leaned more towards agnosticism. However, it left me feeling empty. In my early years of college I became clinically depressed and suicidal. I searched the depths of the humanities - philosophies, religions, arts and sciences. This included existentialism, logic, utilitarian ethics, relativity, physicalism, non-dualism, Neoplatoism, (Shakti) Hinduism, Jainism, Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, Unitarian Universalism, Zoroastrianism, and much more. Even though I eventually recovered from my suicidal tendencies after a stay at the psychiatric hospital, I still didn't find what I was looking for. Priding myself of being open-minded, I studied Islam more closely aside from what I learned in class as I always found myself siding with it. My Muslim friend from school also spurred my interest and fondness of the noble religion. However, I did not take the final leap because I wasn't sure if I was ready for the commitment and was wary of hierarchy.

I struggled to deal with all the injustices in the world - racism, materialism, hubris, selfishness, hypocrisy, etc. I kept wondering, "Is there an answer to all of this?" Finally, as I saw a photo of extreme poverty contrasted with extreme privilege, I thought of the five pillars of Islam - the Shahada, Salat, Zakat, Sawm, and the Hajj. They all represent everything I've been looking for - humility, charity, sacrifice, respect, and meaning. Subhanallah My Muslim friend then invited me to go to the masjid and I recited the Shahada with the Imam and Ummah. Thus, I reverted to Islam and fitra. (At first my family wasn't too supportive but they are now.) Of course, I can go on and on about the beauty of the deen from the noble, perfect Quran to the prescriptions in the Hadith. For now I'll just say a void has finally been filled and I feel like I have a place in the world with the strength to go on. Allahu Akbar

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:


Allahu Akbar! Just gave shahada to world famous cricketer William Perkins here in Trinidad! Check out the pictures & welcome him to our Ummah!


Omar Suleiman

https://www.facebook.com/imamomarsul...ation=timeline

[IbrahimMuhammad]

May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be with you

السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh

I come here in Saudi Arabia for work, to save money and to experience of being an OFW from the Philippines. All are new to me like work in abroad, take airplane, going to an Arab country mostly here in Islamic Country of Saudi Arabia. Before I go here I have already idea and must leaner about the country which I will go for work, their food, language, culture and the people there. Before I revert to Islam, I was a Roman Catholic devotee but mostly I was go to a specific church and pray in home before and after asleep, always thanking God that giving me a 1 day more of living. I have a not good past life but now I’m trying, doing everything to be good in the eye of people and mostly to God. I revert to Islam last August 2013 around 10-8 days of Laylatul-Qadr (10 days before end of Ramadan). Before I revert to Islam I think more times because changing/reverting religion is not easy or just a joke. Its faith to God you’re dealing with. My colleagues introduce and give me more idea about Islam; I take shahadah in a Dawah Center (Islamic Center Foundation: Musrefah District) which mostly people there are Asian like Pakistani, Indian, Sri Lankan, and Pinoy. They welcome me happy. After take shahadah in Dawah Center, I take a shahadah again in Mosque with the help of my good friend, a Saudi guy. After Isha prayer, he asks me to go with him in from of Sheik to take shahadah. I was amaze how they welcome me in Islam, maybe around 100+ hugging me, saying/chanting “Allahu Akbar, Mambrook” or congratulation, welcome to Islam, in Islam we are brothers; one ummah.. I can’t explain how happy I am after I revert to Islam. They give me resources like books for new Muslim, audio files of Quran. I call my mother after 3 weeks since I revert to Islam, I talked to her, I told and explain why and how and what I’ve experience, she told me that whenever I’m happy with, she is also happy and understand and accept my decision unlike some other mothers that they will angry, curse you or forgot you. And I told her, also to my sibling and relative that I will explain more when I take vacation in my home country, InshAllah to guide and make Dawah for them. I have no regrets and I’ve thankful where I’m now which help me to be a better man. Knowing what unlawful and lawful things. Alhamdulillah, I’m very thankful and InshAllah I will try and more have times to no more and learn and apply about Islam and help other about Islam. May Allah help, guide me always to the straight path.

[greenhill]

"Islam is a religion with an open door; it is there for those who want to enter it.... Verily Allah is the Most Merciful, Most Kind." - posted by tw009, but the author is Cassie (post #607)

Lovely, lovely quote. I love it. I do, I do.

Jazakallah khair! :amin::awesome:

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

"My story starts in 2013 when I tried Hijab for the first time.


In the summer of 2014, I went outside with the Hijab on. I felt safe and respected, but also, some people were looking at me very strange.
I didn't mind it so much, but I got a taste of how a Hijabi feels when she is called terrorist and so on. On that day, I met two Arab guys. We became good friends, they told me about Islam.


It was the Month of Ramadan so I went to the Masjid with them. I wanted to find out more about the month of Ramandan, meaning of it, fasting and how it is done. When I was there I never felt that I am with people I've never met or seen before.

Everyone was so kind with me and answered every single questions I had asked. I became very interested in Islam, I read the Quran and other books about Islam and the Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W).


In my family I am the only Muslim.


Alhamdulilah, this Friday I took my Shahada.


I feel very happy because I decided to do this.


I like Hijab because it's my Choice, my Right,
I choose what I want others to see.

Hijab make me feel more safe."
-Kristina (Jana) 17 -Romania


Please Share your hijab experience with us using the following link:
http://worldhijabday.com/submit-story/
‪#‎WorldHijabDay‬ Feb. 1st
Connect with us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WorldHijabDay

Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/worldhijabday

Be part of youtube community: https://www.youtube.com/user/WorldHijabDay

[greenhill]

Another quote I love in the above post-

"I like hijab because it's my Choice, my Right, I choose what I want others to see".

What ownership of 'cause'!(can't think of a better word, somebody help me...)

I salute you!



:peace:

[aflawedbeing]

MAshaAllah to sister Kristina! :)
Beautiful story indeed.

May Allah swt protect and guide us all. Ameen.

[Abdullahh]

I was a White supremacist for years but I never hated or even disliked Islam, I always found Islam and Muslims to be interesting and studied Iran, and many Arab nations. I've also had Muslim friends since I was a little kid, and I had to keep that a secret from my White supremacist friends. I called myself both a National Socialist and a White Nationalist. I was raised by Christian parents who never took me to church or taught me anything about God, Jesus or anything else Christian. I think the only thing that made me a Christian or even anywhere near one was the fact that I wore a cross sometimes. As I grew older with no sense of direction I found Stormfront and other hate sites that claim to be for "European preservation" or something similar. I liked how they claimed to promote the interests of White people and it sounded positive to me. I thought "The black have it, the Jews have it, the Asians too, so why can't we have our own forums and groups?" Well, they weren't about what I was about.

Sure, I viewed groups like blacks and Asians, and Jews to be inferior but after years of being around these idiots and listening to them spew their hatred for people and wishing that places like the Middle East and Africa be wiped off the map by Atomic bombs I got a little bit uncomfortable to say the least. So, I began researching Islam and trying to get away from both Christianity, and Atheism. At this point I wasn't sure who I was anymore, but after learning more and more about Islam and what's it all about something inside of me - a gut feeling I suppose, told me that "this is your destiny". I was a moderator on two White supremacist forums, and involved in real life organizations. I cut ties from both of them and shocked my friends. They called me a "traitor to my race" and that just sealed the deal even more so. How on Earth am I a "race traitor" for being a Muslim? Wow, the stupidity of some people amazes me.

I still hold some beliefs that some may consider to be "far-right" but I view all races to be equal and I don't discriminate anymore. Mashallah.

[pbuhmedicine]

Masa Allah , Revert Stories are great for the Man or Woman who gets reverts and also for the Human beeing. When one people reverts into Islam then his all sins forgiven by Allah. It is the great reward from Allah at the starting of Islam.

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:



Make Me a Muslim young British women are converting to Islam -

BBC full movie Documentary 2013




Published on Mar 24, 2013

Make Me a Muslim BBC full movie Documentary 2013 episode 2


Growing numbers of young British women are converting to Islam.


Shanna Bukhari, a 26-year-old Muslim from Manchester, sets out to find out why girls are giving up partying, drinking and wearing whatever they want for a religion some people associate with the oppression of women.

This warm documentary follows the highs and lows of five girls as they embrace their new faith. From adapting to a religion that


allows a man to marry up to four wives to the acceptance of friends and family, it isn't always easy.

STUDENT Alana Blockley had wanted to spend a summer boozing while working as a club rep.



My family are all travellers and we live on a caravan site.

I was baptised as a Christian but church and religion were never a big part of my life.

The 21-year-old, from Bridgeton, Glasgow, swapped her favourite foods and boozy nights out with pals for a new religion in 2010

I started to research Islam because I wanted to know more about his life.
I decided I wanted to convert. I was worried about telling my parents and burst into tears. Mum thought I was pregnant and my dad thought I'd crashed my car.


I miss eating Parma ham but I don't miss alcohol.


I celebrate Eid now, but I compromised with my parents and we all had a halal Christmas dinner.I hope I'm going to heaven now



and I like the rules of Islam. :: CALL TO REAL SALVATION ::


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIJsStKLE7A#t=441

[Abz2000]

I Was Forced to Accept Islam

The Truth is Made Clear

http://www.onislam.net/english/readi...pos=0&at_tot=3

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:



She found Islām at 81

Source: www.islam21c.com



--Ismael Abdela


I long cherish the day I met this woman as a redefining moment in my life. It was a cold morning in North London with nothing to look forward to besides the Friday sermon. It very quickly turned into a series of divinely orchestrated happenings that nobody could so perfectly organise besides the Lord of that day! Okay, slightly dramatic, but keep reading…



Having only recently returned from abroad, I found myself in North London staying over at my Gran’s house, which has never lost its thrill since childhood. Gran’s sleepovers were awesome – the only snag growing up was that we all knew a ‘Gran sleepover’ meant we would relentlessly be woken up for Fajr! But, given the amount of sweets she would stuff our mouths with, it seemed like a profitable trade off. I remember vividly the morning of the 11th of March.



My Gran, ever full of life, and I playfully raced each other to wake the house up for Fajr. I woke up and carefully made my way downstairs in the dark to turn on the hot water and spare us a torturous cold ablution. I hear her whispering from the top of the stairs, “Son, the hot water still isn’t working.” The boiler man had not come yet, much to our frustration. We brave the cold water, pray Fajr and jump back in our warm cozy beds, rescued from the biting cold. I was in the habit of leaving the house after Fajr at the time, but that morning was lethally glacial. My senses convinced me to stay put. I stealthily snuck up next to my Gran in her much warmer bed, nestling against her like a spoilt child. A few deep inhales and I was sleeping beauty.


It was 11.10am, oh my God, I was late! I hurriedly left the house with my whitest dressing and newly bought Muslim hat, and briskly made my way to the bus stop. I got on the painfully crowded 29 bus. Fortunate enough to fight my way to a seat, I open my Qur’ān and begin reading Sūrah Kahf. A couple of stops further I notice an old fragile woman get on the humid bus with enough shopping bags to agitate passengers as they shamelessly barge her side to side.



My heart warmed to her. I called her over from the other side to take my seat, and that is where it all started. She returned my gesture with overwhelming gratitude. She left an impression on me whilst struggling to mount herself on the seat.
“Poor woman,” I thought to myself.
“Thank you very, very much,” she finally panted with laboured breath. Mounting the chair exhausted her.


“That’s very kind of you to get up for me,” she added in a soft, just about audible, Italian accent.
“My pleasure, you are like a mother to me, your right is far greater than my gesture,” I politely replied, directly translating an expression from Arabic in my head. It quickly occurred to me how terribly awkward it sounds in English. We just do not speak like that over here. Yet, it seemed to resonate deeply with her. She stared at me while her affectionate smile grew wider and wider, complimenting the reddening blushes on her face. I was humbled. I mean, apart from how adorable this old woman was, I was moved by how refreshingly human she was.

“What’s that you’re reading in your hand?” she asked me.



“Is it the Qur’ān?” she said with a smile, beating me to the answer.
“Yes!” I jumped, impressed, increasingly marvelling at this woman. My sympathy for her quickly grew into admiration. A welcome distraction as I close my Qur’ān leaving my index finger as a bookmark; she had stolen my attention. She had something about her; I couldn’t put my finger on it just yet.


“I have always wanted to read the Qur’ān,” she said. The passenger next to her calmly got up for his stop. I rushed to fill the now empty seat and learn more about her.
“This book is from God to raise our conscience and guide us towards happiness and prosperity,” I said excitedly in a trained, slightly awkward, evangelical tone!
“Yes I have come across many Muslims in my life, they are very nice and courteous to me,” she said.



“That’s very kind of you to say,” I replied.
A barrage of questions flooded into my mind, but she seemed to tell her own story much better, to my attentive ear, so I preferred to listen for now.
“Did you see the news today,” she said in shock holding her wrinkled hands to her mouth…
“What happened in Japan, the earthquakes and tsunami?! It’s just terrible. God is fed up with us,” she remarked.
“We have made a mess of everything,” she added.

I had assumed she was Roman Catholic given her Italian background, which she later confirmed. She drew me into a lengthy social commentary of the moral degradation she has had to painfully witness unfolding around her over the years. Our conversation was educational. I felt like I was talking to an older friend, she met my inquisitive questions with deep insight.
“I am 81 years old,” she confessed with a nervous smile. My jaw dropped. This woman was older than my Gran. I had never met somebody so old, yet so alive.
“How do you spend your time?” I rashly ask her.



“I spend a lot of time in the bookshop downstairs,” she replied, which explained a lot. She was well read.
“The catholic church has lost it,” she abruptly added harking the conversation back to religion.
“Only the Muslims have really held on to their teachings and values,” she claimed.
Butterflies wrestled in my stomach. I was overwhelmed. Could it be that Allāh will save this beautiful woman, merely hours before her appointment? ‘Dawah’, I roused myself!
She continued to sing Islām’s praises to me. She was particularly impressed with the Muslim tenacity to their religious teachings, despite living in an unforgiving culture of ‘anti-God’.
She stared at me until we made awkward eye contact.
“I am so happy that I met you,” she said affectionately touching her chest. Her eyes slowly welled up behind her thick glasses.
Strange I thought, but I could see sincerity glowing on this woman’s face. The whole bus was fixed on our story as it slowly climaxed.
My stop was fast approaching; I quickly turned the topic of conversation to what really mattered – Allāh (subḥānahu wa taʿālā). I regurgitated anything I could recall from Aqīdah classes 101.



“Islām is a beautiful religion,” I preached, “it hasn’t left anything out for the guidance of man, the most important of them is His (God’s) service and worship and to get to know Him…

“He created us and was too compassionate to leave us without a messenger to guide us to the straight path – Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
Everything between the Heavens and Earth celebrate His praises. He has no partners.”
I struggled to think; I tried my best to keep going. I noticed her leaning more and more towards me. Her shoulders now pressed against mine as she struggled to hear.
Her eyes squinted as she gently pushed her glasses back into position. She was concentrating; I continued.
“In this world, the believer is travelling to her Lord until she reaches Him, those who do not know the path to their Lord, nor do they strive to know it, are truly in loss.”
“I am so happy,” she exclaimed in her very soft tone, with highly emotional break ups in her voice.


By this time I was praying in my heart that Allāh guides this woman, she seemed deeply sincere.
The water in her eyes slowly amassed while I described Allāh to her, until one stream managed to escape and run down her cheek. She interrupted me as she reached for my hand.


“You know… I was in a coma when I was 79,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “Subḥanallāh…” I whispered under my breath as I came closer, exploring deeper and deeper the story told by her face. It was now my eyes that were squinting. The more I navigated around the ridges of her beautiful wrinkles the more I was fascinated by this woman; her face, etched with beauty, told an encyclopaedia of life I wanted to know more of.
“Yes…” she continued, “I am lucky to be alive the doctors tell me, I am so happy that I’ve met you, God has saved me for a moment like this.
“I read that five thousand people in the UK became Muslim last year?” she said semi-inquiring. She was intrigued.
“Oh how I’d love to read the Qur’ān, can you get one for me please…I’ll give you the money?!” she insisted reaching for her bag.
“No, no, of course not, I will not accept your money, it’s honestly my pleasure,” I courteously offered. She smiled in gratitude.
“Let me give you my address,” she said as she wrote it down.


“Here, please send it to this address.”
“Sure,” I replied, “I will drop it off personally.”
“Oh, but do get me a large print,” she requested.
“My eyesight isn’t what it used to be you see.”


She put the pen back in her bag and smiled to herself. I sat there rattling my brain about this woman in awkward silence. I mean she is worryingly old, what happens if she dies before I get to her with the Qur’ān? What if she dies before saying the testimony of faith?! She interrupts my trail of thought with an inquiry.
“So where is the nearest mosque, I know there’s a very big one in Regents Park?”


I’m still not sure what her exact intent was by that question but this was my chance and I would never forgive myself if I didn’t take it. I suspected she wants to take her shahadah, but thinks the conversion is as complicated as a baptism, carried out a certain way, in a certain place. It was my chance; I went for it…



“No Ma’am,” I replied. “You can meet God as a Muslim by saying something on your tongue; a testimony that He is one, and that’s all.”
Her face lit up as she ushered me to keep going…
“Repeat after me!” I instructed.
“Ash-hadu….”, “Ash-hadu”….. all the way to the end.



Slowly we completed the testimony of faith in Arabic and began to pronounce it in English. She struggled heavily and we giggled several times in between, but she showed determination to pronounce every letter. Given that she was from a Catholic background, pertinent to add to the testimony was that ‘Jesus is the prophet of God and that God is above having any offspring’.



Oh no! She didn’t repeat after me, she paused and withdrew her closeness. She looked down as I watched her smile slowly fade away and her wrinkles take position. My shoulders dropped, I was heartbroken. ‘Lā ilāha illa allāh’ I sighed under my breath woefully. I really wanted her to say it, oh how it anti-climaxed.


I watched her as she took deep breaths, a pause; slowly she seemed to come back to life. She struggled to speak as she looked in my direction again.
“What…what a… beautiful thing to say,” she stammers as her voice emotionally breaks up again. Her heavenly smile now restored! She gathered her strength.
“Yes, yes…” she said clenching her small fists as she energetically shuffles herself in her seat.



“Yes,” she insisted. “ Jesus is the Prophet of God, of course he is. You know I have felt like that my whole life and didn’t know… and… I’m just happy, so happy,” she celebrated. She began wiping her eyes now. I couldn’t help but fight back my own tears as my hairs stood on end.
“Please write that down for me,” she requested. I was puzzled.
“That testimony, that testimony we just said, it’s so beautiful,” she added. I happily obliged taking my pen out of my chest pocket.
“And also please, I have a son, he’s not Muslim, please can you speak to him. He’s 45 years old,” she pleaded. I was speechless and so much in awe of what was unfolding before me that I could only nod.


“Of course,” I eventually clarified, secretly hoping Allāh disciplines me to honour that promise.
She smiled unforgettably. “My name is Philomena,” she said clutching my hand.


I grinned back at her trying to match the warm gesture.
“And my name is Ismael.”
“That’s a lovely name,’ she politely complimented, releasing my hand. I smiled at her in warm admiration. I kissed her forehead gently, promising her that I would stay in touch.


My stop came. I pressed the bell, heaved my heavy bag onto my back, offered a polite smile and briskly walked to pray the Friday prayer. I met my friends and shared with them the delightful story of Philomena – now the Italian Muslimah, Allāh had touched. We have been visiting her ever since that day years ago, and although it was a challenge, we did manage to find a Qur’ān translation that was big enough for her to read!


With all the negative propaganda Islām is targeted with in our times, we sometimes overlook the simple, overwhelming appeal that it has with every human being who is connected to their natural disposition—regardless of age, ethnicity or culture.



The sad thing is, that there are potentially millions of Philomenas who we all pass everyday without realising that they are eagerly searching for their Lord. Allāh will hold us to account based on the opportunities and abilities that He gave us to call people to Him. Any Muslim would agree that their īmān is the most precious gift they have been granted; how would we face Him not having shared this gift with others?



My meeting Philomena was a riveting reminder of the prophetic instruction to never overlook a small deed, even if it be offering a smile[1] – or in this case, a seat.


http://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thou...e11f-248378469

[Abz2000]

220 Filipinos convert to Islam after iftar

Workers embraced Islam in Saudi

By*StaffPublished*Sunday, June 28, 2015

About 220 Filipinos converted to Islam on the same day in Saudi Arabia after having Iftar (Ramadan evening meal) with Muslims.
The 220 workers at a local company decided to embrace Islam after they were invited to the religion by the Islamic Guidance Office near the Western town of Makkah.
"They had iftar with us for a few days... we then decided to invite them to Islam and they all agreed to embrace the religion," the Office's director Sheikh Salim Al Maabadi said, quoted by Sabq daily.

http://www.emirates247.com/news/220-...06-28-1.595118

[rebekka0002]

this is my story

i was born into a catholic family and was very strong in my faith. i had not questioned my faith much until i was 14. whenever i asked questions the answers were always something like ' it is something a human cannot understand'. so i i left with these answers and tried to accept it but it just didn't sit right with me. i soon met some muslims and started talking to them a lot. for a long time i did not know they were muslim but i always knew there was something very special in the things they said and the ways they thought. at the time of meeting them i was struggling with eating disorders, depression and a very low level of self respect. i was doing anything to get a bit of love but that did not last and i was feeling more and more lost. when i found out my friends were muslim i was slightly surprised. i started to research islam to see what it was all about. i found a lot of comfort when i started reading and found that angel Gabriel was part of islam. suddenly the religion didn't seem as foreign. after that i didn't look into islam much more.

then one day my friends were helping me sought out some problems and they started teaching me what islam was saying about what i was going through. they said that they wish i was muslim, at the time i laughed about it and joked to some people at school about me being a muslim. converting had never even crossed my mind and i thought there was no way i ever would. after this i slowly started to look into islam more and more. soon i became almost obsessed. i would come home everyday and jump on my laptop and start researching and reading the quran. i started to think about islam all the time and got to the point where i was overthinking everything. i started to have anxiety and ended up at the doctors. while i was in the doctors we were trying to figure out what was wrong with me i got so overwhelmed and burst into tears. everyone was quite shocked and my mom was sent out of the room. after i settled down i told the doctor that i wanted to convert to islam but i was so scared of what everyone would think. i thought my mom would hate me. the doctors were very understanding and they settled me down and told me if i needed anything i could come to them. i went back out to my mom and she was obviously distressed and got even more worried when i wouldn't tell her what was wrong. that night my mom sent my dad to talk to me and find out what was wrong. when i said i wanted to be a muslim i burst into tears. my dad didn't say anything for a while and then asked what makes you think like that? i explained to him all my doubts about christianity and that i thought islam was so so beautiful. he was quite understanding and kept telling me to not overthink everything because i can't figure earthing out on my own and some things you won't find out until you die. for the rest of the week i tried to focus on my school work and friends and i was feeling a lot better. i started slowly researching again but not in the compulsive way i was before. i was finding a lot more peace and started to accept islam more into my life. i stopped eating pork and i began to stop saying a lot of the prayers at church on sundays because they contradicted what i believed.

i continued to talk to my muslim friends and started to become a much better, happier person. i stopped making a lot of the bad choices i was before and was finding so much joy in learning about islam. i started to try and pray reading off my laptop but i struggled a bit. i was on and off a lot with the praying as i didn't totally understand and didn't have anyone to teach me. for moths i continued researching islam and learning more and i accepted islam as the truth but i didn't say shahada for a long time. i was scared that i wouldn't be a good enough muslim but many people in the islamic board encouraged me to. i was thinking about converting for a long time but i wanted to make sure i was 100% sure.

the weeks coming up to my conversion were some of the happiest days of my life. i had a great group of friends and they were bringing out the best in me. every day coming home from school i would have a sore stomach from laughing too much. i was so happy and realised how truly lucky i was. when i thuoght of happiness all that came into my head was Allah.i realised i would have nothing with out him and on wednesday the 28 october 2015 (today) i finally made the commitment. i have not yet told my parents of my conversion and i probably won't for a long time. i know i am going to struggle but inshallah i will only get closer to God and continue down the path of truth. thank you to everyone who helped me get this far. i have changed so much in a short period of time with islam by my side. i am so lucky that i have been directed down this path and i will be forever grateful. :)

[yasin ibn Ahmad]

MashaAllah.I am very happy for you.May Allah keep you and all Muslims in the right path.

[Abz2000]

uk apache "the original nuttah" 's story of how he reverted and the struggles he was faced with - inspiring the youth.

[Mahdy]

asalaam alaikum! i'm a new brother (very new...less than a week!) and i wanted to introduce myself and share my story of how i found Allah(swt), and Islam...the best moment of my life so far.

i was raised catholic. it worked fine for me as a kid, and there's a lot to like about catholicism. then i got older...and realized there was a lot more i didn't like. so i gravitated away from the church during my college years, and stopped practicing altogether not long after. much to my (very, very catholic) family's chagrin.
that was about, oh, 10 years ago now. ever since i've kind of been floating through life. plenty of good stuff--great friends, an awesome family, a successful career. but lately, within the last 18 months or so, i was feeling lost. exceptionally so. i attribute a big portion of that to the fact that i'm living somewhere i don't really like (and can't leave yet because i'm under contract), without many friends or any family close by. combine that with a very stressful job and a joke of a romantic life, and i got pretty seriously depressed. i won't go into the gory details but there was one day where it manifested itself in a horrifying way, and i never felt so scared in my whole life.
i went into therapy for a while, and that helped, but not a whole lot because i've never been very shy about it. my friends and family knew i was struggling. talking to a stranger wasn't very cathartic. i tried exercising, i tried taking up new hobbies, i tried all kinds of things...and it all had minimal, short-term effects.
last week i was having one of my worst days in a while. i was mad at my boss, i was angry about something else i can't even remember now, i was lonely, i was stressed out, and i was just really sad. to the point where i nearly hit another car in traffic because i got so mad (again, don't know why) i floored it up to about 65 in a 35 to pass him on the right. and i didn't even realize what i'd done until afterwards, and it scared the heck out of me.
that night, i came home and something--i can only presume now it was Allah(swt) himself--drove me to research Islam. and everything made sense. i went to one of the new Muslim help sites and talked to a brother on chat, and peppered him with all kinds of questions (poor guy), and everything. made. sense. all the while i was tabbing back to research about the Prophet (pbuh) and EVERYTHING. MADE. SENSE. a couple of hours later, the guy helping me asked if i was ready to take the shahadah. i was, and i did.
knowing me, i fully expected to wake up the next morning in a cold sweat, panicking about what i'd just done. instead, i woke up refreshed. all the things that were infuriating me 18 hours earlier...all the isolation, the loneliness, the general malaise...it was all gone.

and still i feel amazing. now i'm just trying to learn as much as i can, grow my faith and forge bonds with other muslims.

sooooo...that's me. :)

[ajr]

Masha Allah...Indeed Allah Guides whom He wills!!!

[Mahdy]

Masha Allah...Indeed Allah Guides whom He wills!!!

:statisfie Abdullilah, just glad i heard the call

[sister herb]

Here comes my story:

How I became a Muslim

The first time I heard about Islam in the school at the 1970´s. I was about 9 or 10 when my teacher in one class told that Islam is coming to Europe. At this time nobody didn´t talk about Islam or Muslim anything, not good or bad. But as he didn´t explain to us what this Islam really is we kids left to the idea its something unknown coming and propably we can´t do nothing to stop it. In children´s mind it was like some darkness what is coming.

Some years after that I found the old Quran from my parent´s bookcase. I was wondering why it was there as my home is quite atheistic; my family is Christian but when I was kids my parents never talked about religion. So I could say they were quite secular. My mother told that book belonged to my father´s mother who was interesting about other religions and read a lot about them. She was Christian and quite religious. Any ways, she died long before I was born.

I have always been interesting about history and other cultures so I was thinking "why not" and read that Quran. I was about 14 years old then but I didn´t feel that this book would to be anything special to me. In the matter of fact, it felt quite odd book.

During the years I read more and more about history. While reading about other cultures I also became aware about nowadays problems and became interesting about human right matters. I took part to the peace marches and several other kind of campaings. History books lead me also to think about happenings in the Middle East like wars and occupation. And of course, I loved to read more about its history too. I started from the beginning and learnt a lot about some ancient cultures. Then I found mentions about Islam again from some history book.

I remembered there were that old Quran again and decided to read it again. Also with my human right activities I had met some Muslims and many of them felt nice and kind people. They mentioned Islam to me and I wanted to know more about their believes. So I started the Quran again, over 10 years I had read it at the first time. Now I read also some other books about Islam and understood also the Quran much better.

I started to think the life and compared the Islamic values to my own atheist values. I hadn´t never thought these matters very much at all - like is here the God or not and if He is somewhere, then where He is. To me as the atheist world was already perfect without any nonsense about God. But something put me to read more and think more and looking for more books.

The biggest matter to me was to understand where the God is. I didn´t see that the God would to be part of this world at all. Then i turned my way of thinking to up side down and started to think that maybe the God isn´t part of this world but maybe this world is a part of the God. This sounded to me very interesting and new way to think.

As I am the person who collects knowledge and understanding, these new ideas about the God didn´t leave me alone. It would be the most easy and natural way to looking for answers from the chruch but I haven´t had any contacts with my family or friends to the church at all plus I had always felt that ideology of the Christianity isn´t for me. All this trinity stuff didn´t make any sense. Looking for information about Islam was a way too harder as in my city hadn´t many Muslims at that time. Only few and I didn´t know them at all.

But I had books. Unfortunately this was the time before the internet where I could find very easily a lot of information as well other Muslims and some forums (like this one). So I continued to looking for more books and thought all this only by myself alone.

Soon I felt this Islam thing is something I can´t just leave. Something in my mind started to tell me it is my things and it will change all my life when I will find out what it really is. Finally, after many years of reading and thinking I found myself to thinking that Islam is like a garden. I saw to there but there were also a high fences around of it. I saw there something so beautiful I never hadn´t seen and urgently wanted to go in but because of the fence I couldn´t. The secret of Islam was inside of those high fences. I found there was a gate but it was locked and I hadn´t a key. So I had to turn back and started to looking for the key. But I didn´t know what they key even is so looking for it was a mystery to me. I felt I wanted to become a Muslim but how I can? What would to be the matter what makes me a Muslim? How it would happens? What I have to do?

Then I got an idea: what Islam means? It means to submit to the will of the God. That was the key I was looking for - submission to the will of God. This idea opened the gate to me but...

But then I suddenly felt myself so insufficient, so unpure, so worthless. There was just only little step to take and I would be in, but I couldn´t take it. I felt like it wasn´t my decision if I can take the last step or not. I had to give this the last and the most important decision to the God.

So, by the other words, I submitted the will of the God.

A little moment I felt like I would be light as a feather and I had the feeling like someone would touch me and lift me over the doorstep inside of the garden. I was a Muslim.

A week later I traveled to the other city where was a nearest mosque and said shahada in front of witnesses. It was on the 15th of April 1995. I felt like it would to be my the new day of birth.

[Lanie Vinther]

Assalamu Alaikum. Thought I could share mine! Last year, at this time of the year (December), I was second guessing my own faith at the time (paganism) and was hearing all of the crazy things going on in the world. Seeing everything crazy happening with wars and hate increasing and love and connection decreasing, I wondered how long I had left to live my life as I now know it.
I never had anything against Muslims or Islam, but I knew people who did. I just didn't know anything about it. The tings the people I knew would say about Islam and Muslims really bothered me since hate speech is a BIG pet peeve of mine. So it was in the back of my head I was thinking, "do they really know what they are talking about?" and I started to wonder for myself what the Quran actually says, what Muslims really believe. Ever since 9/11/01 hate crimes an hate speech against people of the Islamic faith has increases. I mean even today Donald Trump is doing it SO publicly and no-one has stopped him yet. I say yet only because I think he will be stopped soon or at least that he will drop out of the presidential race. But that is beside the point of this post. Then, all this crazy ISIS stuff started happening and people started going off even more on ALL Muslims just because of this one group who only claims to be Muslims, but is NOT. And people started saying things like "all Muslims hate anyone who isn't Muslim" blah blah blah. And people would just verbally attack Muslims saying they are all terrorists. I was very mad about this even though I still did not know much about Islam, but was learning about the peaceful ways. In my heart I knew that they were peaceful people so I started reading even more for myself. I kept reading and researching. I even attended a masjid a couple times to talk with people. I did anything I could to learn more and after that I went online and found this place that sends people an entire box of FREE books on Islam about everything you could think of. I can't remember what it was called, but I received a normal sized Quran, a pocket sized one also, books on basic teachings, and books on very detailed things. It was so peaceful. So after a lot of thinking and praying, I had to do it. I am still keeping it secret mostly. Especially with all the hate doing around. Did you know there are actually people who protest at masjids lately? This is just crazy.

[Lanie Vinther]

And I reverted only a day ago.

[eesa the kiwi]

And I reverted only a day ago.

welcome to islam, may allah bless you in this world and the next
if theres anything we can do or if you have any questions pleasee let us know

[strivingobserver98]

God guides who He wills. Nate Leonard Richards is a professional fighter. He wrote in to Brotherhood In Islam: “I am the only Muslim in my town and I face persecution for my beliefs every day but I know Allah guides me. I am a professional fighter. I always praise Allah after my fights win or lose no matter what the crowd thinks. I love this page. All the content is great for me to read. I go on first thing every day.”

He took his Shahadah (testimony of faith) a year ago and since then, stopped getting tattoos. “I do not miss prayer.”

When asked what brought him to Islam he said, “I was seeing a lot of negative talk in the media for many years, I never make judgement without knowing for myself. I have many Muslim friends and I asked to borrow an English version of the Qur’an. He told me to keep it and I just knew in my heart it was the truth.”

He said he has never felt so strong in his spirit before. “I wish everybody could see the power and beauty of Islam and I will always do my best to spread the deen.”

He added: “I will strive my best to be the best Muslim I can be before it is my turn to face him. And if Allah sees fit to grant my mercy then I will go to Jannah with who I love.”

I thank our brother Nate for getting in touch. One verse came to mind when reflecting on his story:

"Allah will change their sins into good deeds" Quran {25:70}

"Allah does not look to your faces and your wealth but He looks to your heart and to your deeds." Abu Huraira, reported from Prophet Muhammed ﷺ, Sahih Muslim 2564.

May these quotes be a glad tiding for you.

Pray for him, make dua for him that Allah keeps him firm on the straight path.

Via Brotherhood in Islam FB page.

[M.I.A.]

So who's going to tell him to get his tats removed?

Although mashallah, never missing prayer gives him a +1 on most people.

[Smile :)]

My story isn't exactly exciting, but here goes!

Most of my life I haven't been religious. I never though about it. I come from a totally non-Muslim background. But my mum met a Muslim man and he introduced her to Islam. She reverted around the time she married my (Now) stepdad. After that my mum and stepdad introduced me to Islam. I was given lots of Islamic books and even enrolled in a class. I had lots of encouragement and eventually I said my Shahada in July 2014. So I'm now in a completely Muslim family.

I won't pretend that it's all been easy. When I became Muslim my whole life changed forever. A lot of it has been good and has helped me try and become a better person. I've been sticking to my prayers and Ramadan was good. But I've found a lot of it hard too. Especially wearing hijab and jilbab, not being able to have boys as friends, restrictions on going out and all that kind of stuff. But still trying to be a better Muslimah all the time!

[strivingobserver98]

TRUE STORY ABOUT A REVERT SISTER:

"Subhaan Allah. I got pregnant at 18. I was not yet officially Muslim but had been studying Islam. I had no money, not much of an education and a Muslim told me that I should abort the baby because it was still early in the pregnancy and its soul had not come in yet. I was confused but knew in my heart that I could not do it.

So one night I picked up the Quran and said a prayer before opening it saying " God please give me the answers I need to help me through this."

I opened the Quran to a page right on verse 151 in Surah Al A'naam (Chapter 6) where Allah says: "and do NOT KILL KILL your children for fear of poverty; for We provide sustenance for you and will provide sustenance for them also.."

Allahu Akbar!! I still get teary remembering that moment. It changed me forever and I thank Allah for my beautiful daughter, one of the biggest blessings in this life. Alhamdulillah"

Abortion is HARAAM in Islaam, a MURDER so do not fear anyone except Allah & always seek His Help surely He helps His slave in ways we cannot imagine

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

How does a middle-aged, white Scottish man living in the Scottish Highlands end up becoming a Muslim - especially when he hasn't properly met a Muslim in his life?

For me, it all started when I heard the call to prayer from a local mosque while on a beach holiday in Turkey. It woke something up inside me, and inspired me to begin a spiritual quest.

Back home in Inverness, I went to the local bookshop, bought a Qur'an and started to read. While reading, I always asked God to guide me on the journey I had set out on.

A lot of praying. A lot of time on my knees.

The Qur'an really shook me. It's quite a scary book to read because it tells you so much about yourself. Some things that I found out about myself I didn’t like. So I decided to make some changes.


http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/...-a6862936.html

[al-Andalusi]

I grew up in a very traditional Spanish/Mexican-American family. Most of my family members were very devout Catholics, as is to be expected among Spaniards and Mexicans, even those living in America. However, despite the strict Catholicism of my extended family, my more immediate family was much less stringent about religion (my mother is agnostic, and my father is a Lutheran convert), and allowed me the freedom to explore and determine my own religious beliefs.

For a while, during my teenage years, I was pretty apathetic about religion in general; sometimes going as far as to be disdainful of it entirely. I converted to Paganism at age 13, but was on and off about it. In late high school, I started studying Spanish history, and became exposed to the culture of Andalus, and was, in a sort of nationalistic pride, determined to live up "Spain's Glory Days"

Looking back on it, I was a really dumb kid, but good did come out of it. Once I was done with the Spanish Nationalist Pride, I actually got around to reading about, and studying Islam; reading the Qur'an, talking to Muslims, visiting masjids, and really learning about Islam for the sake of learning about Islam. I was very, very enamored by the beautiful thing that I had come to intimately learn about, and decided that I wanted to seriously follow this path. I formally declared the shahadah at my local masjid in September of 2014, and have never regretted a day since then.

[Bhabha]

I grew up in a very traditional Spanish/Mexican-American family. Most of my family members were very devout Catholics, as is to be expected among Spaniards and Mexicans, even those living in America. However, despite the strict Catholicism of my extended family, my more immediate family was much less stringent about religion (my mother is agnostic, and my father is a Lutheran convert), and allowed me the freedom to explore and determine my own religious beliefs.

For a while, during my teenage years, I was pretty apathetic about religion in general; sometimes going as far as to be disdainful of it entirely. I converted to Paganism at age 13, but was on and off about it. In late high school, I started studying Spanish history, and became exposed to the culture of Andalus, and was, in a sort of nationalistic pride, determined to live up "Spain's Glory Days"

Looking back on it, I was a really dumb kid, but good did come out of it. Once I was done with the Spanish Nationalist Pride, I actually got around to reading about, and studying Islam; reading the Qur'an, talking to Muslims, visiting masjids, and really learning about Islam for the sake of learning about Islam. I was very, very enamored by the beautiful thing that I had come to intimately learn about, and decided that I wanted to seriously follow this path. I formally declared the shahadah at my local masjid in September of 2014, and have never regretted a day since then.

I am also Spanish! The history of Andalusia is so interesting because it's really intrinsically tied to Islam. :P If you look at the work by Americo Castro he writes about how Spain came into being after 711 (when Muslims came into Spain). There's also Claudio Sanchez Albornoz (but he takes a really anti-Islamic approach on Spanish identity).

[strivingobserver98]

These 3 body guards from UK accepted Islam this evening after doing some thinking and comparison and having their misconceptions cleared out.

They loved the fact that Allah is the Most Merciful and that His mercy encompasses His anger.

May Allah reward them tremendously for acknowledging the truth.

- Rayan Fawzi Arab

[Umm Abed]

:sl:

All these stories about reverts are so inspiring and motivating!:ma:

May Allah bless them with goodness in this world and high status in Jannatul Firdaus ameen!:alhamd:

[AyserMuhammad]

The Islamic State is what made me come to Islam, that's all I have to say. I seen them on the news and that's what made me come to Islam.

[Bhabha]

Islam.

Say what?[emoji28]

[AyserMuhammad]

Say what?[emoji28]

I know what you're thinking sister. Just kidding, but seriously.

[Bhabha]

I know what you're thinking sister. Just kidding, but seriously.

Like it made you curious to see what Islam was about in the first place? [emoji39]

[sister herb]

I have heard that many people have came to Islam also after WTC attack. They have listened about Islam from the news and despite of negative stories, they wanted to find out what this thing is and are those bad stories true or not by themselves. Later they have found the true Islam.

Every negative comment in the news spread Islam wider and wider. Those islamophobics should remember it when they tell their lies. ;)

[noraina]

The more Islam is given the spotlight in Western media and attacked, those who criticize Islam seem to forget there are many intelligent people in this world who will then research such claims themselves and discover the beauty of Islam in the process :) The truth stands out from error. Oh the irony :D

[anatolian]

Well you know there is a saying that there is no bad "reclaim". Just like this there is no bad "Dawah". WTC attacks just made people see there is a religion called Islam. After this the ones whom Allah guided accepted Islam. Just make them see Islam. They will find the truth themselves.

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

Daughter of Italian Politician Reverts To Islam


Italian former parliamentarian has reverted to Islam and donned Islamic hijab, a decision which sparked uproar across Italy.
“The hijab is my way, the way that Allah has chosen for me,” Manuela Franco Barbato, now Aysha, wrote on her Facebook account, Il Giornale daily reported on May 26.


“I am proud of the purity of my soul. This is the divine law, who am I to object?” ❤️ ‪#‎ForAllah‬
Aysha is the daughter of a former MP for Italy of Values party Franco Barbato.The young woman decided to revert to Islam while studying in the Università L’orientale of Napoli.


http://aboutislam.net/muslim-issues/...reverts-islam/

[AndreasZ]

For a while I was suffering from a spiritual crisis. I had a strong belief in God and was raised as a devout Christian but gradually drifted away as I felt increasingly alienated and hollow with its teachings. I completely fell out of religion but I still wanted God in my life. I began to study many of the world religions seeking to find a solution to the empty void in my heart. I briefly tried Buddhism but just like Christianity I felt a painful emptiness in my heart and I was still depressed.

I got my first exposure to Islam when I first came to university which has a large Muslim community where I met many amazing and generous people that would play a role in me later embracing Islam. At first, I hated Islam and always thought of it as some backward religion because that was my impression of it based on what I read in the media. I also befriended a Muslim classmate who would become one of my best friends.

My curiosity led me to visit the campus Islamic Center and prayer room where I was able to engage in a lot of dialog. I quickly became amazed at the beauty of Islam and felt drawn to its message of pure monotheism and its strong emphasis on brotherhood, it felt so natural and beautiful. My hatred of Islam was gone but I was still reluctant to fully accept it; but that changed when I read the Quran for the first time. I began with so many questions and doubts but as I kept reading it seemed to have a clear answer for each one; I tried really hard to find a flaw or contradiction in it but to no avail. After I finished it I was certain then that Islam was the truth and my heart embraced it.

The next day the same friend and I went to a Mosque and I took my shahadah. After reciting the words I became overwhelmed with emotion and relief – as if I had finally found my way back home after being lost for a very long time. My friend helped me learn how to pray and transition into my new life and now we pray together as Brothers in Islam.

Today I’ve been a Muslim for a few weeks and have completely changed my life. I love praying five times a day while listening to the Adhan (prayer calling) and reading the Quran; and now I'm taking part in my first Ramadan. Alhamdulillah I no longer drink alcohol, eat only halal and I want to start learning some Arabic.

Inshallah we’ll all be successful and overcome our challenges.

[manofIslam]

I was Christened a Christian by my parents, but all through my life I never really felt spiritually fulfilled; Not long after I turned 53, I converted/reverted to Islam.

[sister herb]

I was Christened a Christian by my parents, but all through my life I never really felt spiritually fulfilled; Not long after I turned 53, I converted/reverted to Islam.

I believe that you are amongst of the happiest people of the world: after long searching you saw the light of Islam.

:statisfie

[manofIslam]

I believe that you are amongst of the happiest people of the world: after long searching you saw the light of Islam.

:statisfie

Jazaka Allah khair, Sister Herb! Yes, I am very happy and content, now that I am a Muslim! Alhamdulillah!

[AllahIsAl-Malik]

I am very, very happy to be a Muslim. I am filled with awe and fear at Allah. I feel awe and I am very thankful to Allah that Allah would see fit to guide me to this beautiful religion.

I am very honored to be among the best of peoples. May Allah bless and guide this ummah. I felt alone. I felt so very alone. And now I am part of a nation which is over a billion-strong.

Where I live, the people are very hostile towards Allah. They hate Allah. The only religious believers who they accept are the hypocrites.

People hate me and reject me because I believe in God. Because I believe in God and because I am not of the unbelievers.

When people insult me, when they hate me without reason- I derive comfort from knowing that I am not alone. In the terms of the highest reality, I have Allah who I can turn to. And since the people who hate God only seem to understand things in worldly terms- in worldy terms I belong to a nation of over a billion. Not just any nation but none other than the noble ummah described in this surah:

You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are believers, but most of them are defiantly disobedient. -Surah Ali 'Imran [3:110]
What an honor it is to be a part of this ummah. I must remember to be humble. I must remember not to become arrogant out of how much I love this ummah and how happy I am to be a part of it.

I did not become a Muslim, however, out of a desire for belonging. I suppose the desire to validate what I naturally know to be right and to live in accordance with fitrah- certainly that played a role. And certainly the human heart has an innate desire for God.

Islam matches what we know in our hearts to be true. The doctrines of Christianity, the doctrine of original sin, for example- very often they contradict what we naturally know to be right.

Islam is a religion of logic and of reason. Islam is built on logic. The media wants to portray Muslims as irrational- that is completely false. And that illusion could not be sustained once I had read the Quran.

When I took the shahadah, I was homeless. I find it hard to think about those days because the way that I lived- I find it so difficult to imagine how I lived that way. I remember sleeping on the sidewalk. I remember the desperation. I remember very much and it is a hard thing for me to think about.

What brings me joy to remember now and what brought me joy then was the Quran.

I was at a very low point. My life had been such that I actually believed it was a high point. At that time it was. The standards of what I thought life could be were very low.

I was a teenager at the time. I was sleeping in this homeless shelter and I remember sleeping next to my Quran. I remember seeing someone sleeping across from me. He mocked me because I wouldn't go to the strip club with him. He was homeless yet when he got money he went to the strip club. I remember he would get back and he would make fun of me. He would make fun of me because I would not do what he was doing. And then I remember when he would not leave his bed and was screaming that he wanted to kill himself. I hope he is doing better now.

I saw people breaking down like what I saw in that instance. People broke. But my hope was not in myself. Maybe I was not invincible and maybe I was vulnerable. But my hope was not in me. My hope was in my Quran that I would sleep next to. I remember crying warm tears of joy in the homeless shelter while I read my Quran. I was so happy. It was a high point in my life. It didn't matter that I was homeless. I was reading the Quran for the first time and the joy is with me today, thanks to Allah. Insha'Allah I will never forgive. It was like the sun came and brought light into the darkness.

I had vaguely known about Islam and I was fascinated with it and I was drawn to it. Honestly, what first led me to it were two things that I remember. I saw something about jannah and showing Muslims and their desire for jannah. I thought that was very inspiring. I think it showed a Western couple and showed their their love for this world... and then it showed a married Muslim couple and how they wish for jannah and to love each other eternally in jannah. That was inspiring. I think the other thing I saw was something that gave instructions on how to sleep. Back then I slept on my stomache. Now I learned better! I learned to sleep on my side, I tried it and it was very helpful.

Okay. Now I will talk about chess. My post is not moving in chronological order. I will explain. I saw the stuff I described in the paragraph above. I saw that on the internet. I knew almost nothing about Islam. And at this point I met a man in a homeless shelter. I had no Quran yet. I had never read it. He was very dignified and kind and he stood out. He was with a woman and he was protecting her in a noble and dignified way- protecting her while they were in a very dangerous shelter (this particular shelter was known for violence and was one which women were generally advised to stay away from).

Later I ran into that same man. We ended up talking and playing chess. Now this is where it gets difficult for me! Homelessness was difficult but losing at chess may have been harder. I can have difficulty accepting losing at chess.

I was considered very good at chess. Now I'm probably not so great but... growing up, I was in chess club, played in chess tournaments.... besides the instructors, I was considered to be the best player in my chess club. A lot of people don't want to play me at chess. A lot of people have hated playing me and would avoid playing me because I would beat them. When it comes to chess, I am used to winning. I am so used to winning that I have to make sure not to feel arrogant because I am so used to winning. When it comes to chess, I think I'm Muhammad Ali lol.

So this guy... he beat me again. And again. And again. He beat me over and over and I stood no chance. I simply was not on his level. This was heartbreaking for me lol. I am not used to losing.

After he beat me, he wrote down names of chess books for me to study. This man was a chess genius who happened to be homeless.

And after we talked chess... he mentioned Islam. He talked to me about Islam, taught me some things about Islam, told me where to get a Quran and what translation to get (Yusuf Ali).

So that was how I ended up with my Quran. I was reading it on my own. I was poor, homeless, desparate, half-delirious. But I was so happy looking back. The guy who was next to me in the shelter- he was a Muslim. We started reading the Quran together and he helped teach me about Islam. May Allah bless him.

At this time, I lacked understanding of Islam. But I am so happy that Allah was kind enough to send me people to teach me about Islam. Me and my friend who was teaching me about Islam in the shelter- we started going to the mosque together. This was the mosque where I would take my shahadah.

I am very happy to be a part of this ummah and above all I am happy to submit to Allah in Islam. I am happy that Allah has allowed me to learn about this religion.

I am very, very happy that Allah sent us a Quran. What if Allah had not sent us guidance? What if Allah had not sent us the Quran? I think about that all the time- how terrible that would be!

May Allah bless, guide and protect our noble and humble ummah. May Allah bless and guide all the Muslims. May Allah guide all the non-Muslims to Islam. May Allah prevent this world's oppressors from inflicting harm on the innocent. Ameen.

May Allah bless you, whoever you are reading this. May Allah guide you and fill your heart with imaan, filling your heart with even more imaan if you are a Muslim. May Allah guide you and lead you to the path of Islam if you are a non-Muslim. Ameen.

[IslamLife00]

Amazing, over 30 pages, I will read more later. although I am a revert myself, I also love reversion stories. there are tons on YT as well.

[Yosef_Taha]

Hello , I am 18 and recently converted to Islam. Converting is something i have been looking into for years but only now did i do it and its been the best decision ive ever made. Ive struggled with Alcohol and smoking for much of my teenage years due to me being abused as a child , it was a sort of coping mechanism but now i havent touched any alcohol for over 3 weeks which may not seem a lot but it is for me and i have felt so much better. I made the decision to convert after reading the Quran and then studying Islamic scriptures and honestly i felt touched and for the first time in my life things made sense and i can honestly say islam and Allah and everything really stood out to me and after years of debating it and studying i finally converted 2 weeks ago with the help of 2 really good mates of mine who are also Muslim. However i have been practising in secret due to fear of islamaphobia from my fanily as i am from the UK abd was raised in a christian family.

[Physicist]

I was brought up in an atheist environment, although should admit that my parents always was quitely believing their own ways.

In the age of 11-13 I had a brief irrational religious experience, starting from mysticism and finishing after living in local hare krishna ashram due to disappointment.

Afterwards I became a hardcore atheist considering any religion as a mass psychosis.
My research experience tought me to doubt any wishful thinking and to seek rational ground everywhere.
Being not successful in social life I was seeking success through achievements.

However, while aiming to create AI, I had to think reflectively, to research thinking itself, the life of the knowledge and desires, to learn the ways of society.
Trying to understand implications of quantum physics brought in more confusion.

I was amused to see purely logical confirmation of Big-Bang theory (in the beginning was Word) through the principle of minimal absolute complexity but no more.
Any doubts were accumulating in subconscious covered by the armor of atheistic rationalism.

I wanted to go deeper into introspective research and 12 years ago I resorted to psychodelics.
After series of experiments I had a tough experience, which was like an armor-piercing strike through that armor of rationalism. That's when I had insight about divine matters being on the edge of the crazyness and first time sincerely was praying to God to stop this.
It didn't make me religious instantly,
I only allowed myself to consider divine influence as a hypothesis, which was gradually gaining weight through the years to come.

When I went abroad first time 11 years ago, I was often meeting spiritual and religious people.
I was amused to discover that I could discuss spiritual matters with them if looking for correlations with my own thoughts, not merely rejecting as was trained by atheist society which ridiculed any spiritual words.

4 years ago, in Cambodia, while being deep into math research, I had an unpleasant experience with fellow expats.
I preferred way of Truth instead of playing their game. During conflict I was doing what is right and let happen what will happen. I actually felt support of God. But later there was a moment of total loneliness, when I was being hunted and no friends were willing to help.
Then came the thought: "There is Islam!"

At the moment, I was rather an agnostictheist. I wasn't considering religions seriously. I was thinking that prophets where some spiritual persons whose ideas were good enough to be widely spread, but religions I was considering as a social phenomenon.
And also, I used to believe propaganda that Islam is the worst of religions.
But I myself just experienced false accusation and also before was witnessing politically motivated work of propaganda.
I realized, that whatever I've heard about Islam is also may be only the propaganda.
I started to search in internet, registered in IslamicBoard.com.
Few monthes later I arrived to Malaysia.
I was learning muslim way of life, considering embracing Islam.
I had a half of Shahada. I admitted that there is no one worthy to worship other than Allah. I was liking prophet Muhammad way of life but didn't understand the role of Islam and Qur'an in the plans of Allah.
I would embrace Islam that time if I would see a place for me, if could immigrate into Malaysia or Indonesia.
It didn't happen yet and when I've got tired of immigration problems I went to Philippines where I spent next 2 years.
In Philippines I encountered one bright mormon missionary from New Zealand. I was introduced to Christianity such peculiar way. I liked discussions with this guy, I understood role of religions as a guidance for mankind.

I was planning to resettle to Argentina and in anticipation of receiving innocentive award money prematurely left Philippines.
I appeared in Thailand without money when my parents couldn't support me anymore no matter what.
I went to live in Buddhist monastery for foreigners in the nothern Thailand, where I spent 2 monthes with ideal conditions for meditation.
That was a good experience, there were things which I appreciated, there were things which I disliked, like luck of purpose and idolatry. When I had to prostrate, I was thinking about Allah.
2 more monthes I spent in local temple near Bangkok, trying to arrange award money transfer and UNHCR application.
That's when I got tired of it, was praying for a straight path.
When thai visa expired, it was the end of the 2018, I went to Malaysia.

This time, I was more willing to embrace Islam, I've learned a bit of all major religions and my personal choice was for Islam, but I was afraid to feel alienated as it was during previous visit and still had some doubts, like whether Islam is Allah's favorite religion or why so many problems in muslim countries.
As I still didn't receive award money, I kept travelling by hitchhiking same as was doing in Thailand:
I was simply walking on the highway's side and whoever willing to help a traveller was stopping.
On my way in Malaysia I've met few good muslims who helped me and resolved my doubts.
I was walking through a rural area when I was thinking, that I don't know if Allah want me to become muslim, but I decided to make my first step and try to practice.
So, upon seeing next Masjid, it was Asr time approaching, I asked people in the restorant nearby if there is someone english-speaking and if I can learn to perform Salah.
Owner invited me to eat, we talked, then imams arrived and we came all together to Masjid.
- Are you Muslim?
- Not yet.
- Do you want to become Muslim?
And that was it, the invitation. All doubts have gone already, there was only a hesitation. So, my answer was simply:
- Yes.

[IslamLife00]

I was raised in Catholic family. I never accepted it but I did what my parents wanted me to do, go to church, having Catholic (or Christian, because that's not too different) friends etc. The day I started to refuse all that (I was around 10-12 years old) was the day "hell" at home (and everywhere else, because most people I knew were Catholic and I went to Catholic schools most of my life) started. I had to endure my parents' wrath and manipulation to make me return, everyone else' indifference (well it was my decision, afterall), struggle in school (friends, bullies, study) and then workplace pressure - my mind and body were suffering so much, all I had was my heart, which felt alive and well, because I no longer lived in denial.
It was like that for many years, the impact on my overall health was tremendous, even my heart almost gave up twice. So I started to wonder about what happens when we die. I read books about different faiths, joined forums talking about faith and religion, and from there I learned some things and tried to practice them. But it wasn't enough of course, it was a bit here and there from this and that faith, religion - I wasn't getting anywhere and I felt emptier and emptier inside. Also the people I used to converse with and from whom I learned about these different faith,religions started acting weirder and weirder towards me, so I stopped talking to them and completely abandoned my search. I just lived my life as before, no religion whatsoever.
I always know God exists, I don't know why and how, I used to call Him : the Source (I never understood the concept of 3 in 1 body, so I just ignored it). A few years passed and in one day, Allah turned my attention to Islam - a religion I heard about but knew very little about. I was watching videos about economy crisis around the world, and among the videos recommended to me, is an Islamic perspective on the subject. It took me more than half length of the video (about 30 mins) to figure out what exactly I was watching. I then figured out that the speaker is a muslim, giving lecture about the world economy in a mosque, he is quoting from the Qur'an, Words of Allah. I was amazed that someone who seems deeply religious, is also very knowledgeable about world politics, history, finance, economy. I always thought those are mundane matters, worldly life, and are totally separate from religion, soul matters. I looked up his biography, his interviews, his videos - all indicate he is doing well in this dunya, at the same time being pious. How is this possible in this modern age, the 'dog eat dog' age? Also, the connection he made between world events and Qur'an - how can this one book tell so many things?
Every religion has a holy book, if the book is Qur'an, then the religion is Islam. So I started researching about Islam, I was totally surprised at how many online sources available about Islam. How did I miss this religion back in the days I was researching different faiths, religions out there? A few years of research, anything I could find, anyone I could talk to about Islam - I was then fully convinced and accepted it. I was worried about going to the mosque, but I wanted to say my shahada there, so I went anyway. The Imam was so gentle and helpful, and through him, I met local muslimahs. That day after shahada, I went home feeling like I was born anew, like I am a different person, like I was given a second (more like fifth chance) to live Alhamdulillah how many people can say that, I am grateful beyond words.
Someone told me, most reverts do not last 4 years. I wanted to assure him that I am not one of those reverts, but I decided to prove it with action instead of words. More than 4 years now and here I am, still a muslimah Alhamdulillah. I won't say it's easy, there were times I almost gave up. But each time I remember life before Islam, how grim it was, how lost I was, all the mistakes and sins I did in that life, all that other people had done to me in that life - why would I want to live that life again? Allah has changed me and my life through Islam. This is the life I want. May Allah keep my faith strong in Islam and make me live as a muslim until I return to Him.

[المدينه]

السلام عليكم
My story is a very long one but for simplicity's sake, I'll keep it short. Unless someone wants to know more, feel free to ask.

I was raised catholic in the US. I have always believed in our creator but never in religion. I searched for meaning and truth and guidance in many different teachings and practices, even into pagan teachings and zen buddism... every avenue that I thought would lead me right, may Allah forgive me, but no truth was there. It was a decade long search for guidance and truth.

A series of sad life events led me to Islam. I had read the quran about six times before I sat down one day and just spoke my shahada before allah and the angels. Just like that. No ceremony, nothing public, just my lord and I. There was no long debate in my mind or with others and I didn't really care what anyone thought. Peopke judge and condem others too quickly. The only judgement that matters comes from Allah.

It was the simple truth of Islam that had suddenly hit me. Yes, I had many dreams and what were for me signs or messages. I guess I didn't understand before. It took a lifetime of trialsand tribulations to finally see the truth.

Well, I still don't understand all that I would want to but I learn every single day. The hardest lesson I am learning right now is the absolute reliance and trust in Allah's plan. He's got something better for me than what I have been dealt, I know it. Oh... sabr... that's was very tough as well!

Wearing a hijab presents me with difficulties daily, from rude looks to actually not getting the job.. yes, being completely ostracized by my own blood... but that's a small lesson and I like my hijab. I realize this us an issue which so many women struggle with but sister, don't hide what you know in your heart is right for you. Just as no one should force you to wear hijab, no one should force you to not wear it.

I am doing all I can to learn and be a good human. I pray, cry, breathe and reflect deeply. I read quran, learn, cry some more and breathe again. I don't fast though, due to medical issues, but I do abstain from all the sin I possibly can. I suppose that's all we can really do.

I wish you good health and may Allah grant us ease in troubled times

Attachment 6993

[AmiraJess]

Salaam everyone! I am going to revert to Islam soon, In Sha Allah!

My past is so disgusting, yet I am now on my way to be a good Muslimah.

I was raised in a wealthy, atheist family. My mom trained me to be a model, and I loved it. I entered into the fashion industry during my teenage. Day by day, year after year, my fame grew and people admired my beauty. I accepted offers to do modelling in bikinis, lads mags and catwalks, just like any other models would do. I was popular enough to have many modelling agencies wooing after me. I had the opportunity to travel, and I partied a lot. I led a promiscuous lifestyle. I had no concern for my spirituality. I focused on my physical beauty and fitness. And, my parents were proud of my achievements.

But, I never had peace in my life. Sooner, all the photoshoots and modelling sessions began to wear me down. So, to satisfy my empty feelings, I accepted even more modelling offers, participated in yoga classes and posted more pictures of me in the Instagram. I craved to get more "likes" from my followers. And yes, I got more than 10,000 likes for each pictures. But, I knew that my smiles and poses were fake. Sooner, I realised that this is not how my life should be. I began to indulge into spirituality.

I read holy books of all the religions while continuing my modelling career. And I came across Holy Qur'an. During the same period, I was in a Middle-East country for modelling sessions.

One fine Thursday evening, after my final session, I went into my hotel room. I wept, thinking of how dirty and messed up my life was. Images of people chasing after me and treating me as a lifeless meat haunted me, though I had so much wealth to enjoy. I cried, cried and I cried, until I heard beautiful Adhan sounded from a mosque nearby. I have never heard such a beautiful song before. Somehow, I felt so calm in my heart, my tears stopped. I saw women wearing abaya and khimar, were much more happier than I was. Then, I took the Qur'an in English and randomly flipped to Surah Ad-Dhuha and found this verse: "And He found you lost and guided you"

I felt an uexplainable peace in my heart, and tears of joy flowed from my eyes. I believed Allah had bring me into such moment, and I realised Islam is the true religion. That night, I spent my time reading the Qur'an. I never knew what modesty is, till the moment I read about hayaa. As a woman, I needed to cover my awrah. I also learned about mahram, and what makes a relationship haram. I understood that all those whiles, I was living the exact opposite, Western lifestyle, which is sinful. But, I still never wanted to settle yet, because: 1. I had other modelling contracts to complete, and 2. I want to learn even more about Islam.

Before I left the country, I had bought some abayas, hijabs and niqabs, which were helpful to me later. I continued modelling for immodest clothings, but I did not accept other offers anymore. I broke up with my boyfriend peacefully, though he didn't like the fact that I am learning Islam. It seemed that he was lusting after my body and beauty throughout our haram relationship.

I learned about Islam through online courses, and I made up my mind to accept Islam. I learned how to perform wudu' and how to pray. I felt immense joy and peace in my heart. But, I feared if my parents would accept me if I would leave the modelling industry which made them proud, and convert to Islam. In the meantime, I used to go to a mosque nearby my house and wear the Islamic clothings, without the knowledge of my parents.

During one dinner, when my parents served me pork, I politely declined to eat it, which caused some uneasiness among my parents. I stopped drinking as well. I deleted my Instagram account. They were also asking why I was declining all the modelling offers.

Just a month ago, I calmly explained to my parents that I wanted to revert to Islam. That shocked my parents, it brought them into tears. I know they couldn't accept the fact that their famous model daughter will become a Muslimah one day. It was just two weeks ago, they started to talk to me again. We discussed on my decision, and they finally accepted it.

Now, I am no more in the modelling industry. All my popular friends left me, but I gained more spiritual friends who can guide me into Jannah. Though I am still fearing about my past, but I believe Allah will guide me to a better deen. In sha Allah, we will all become better Muslims. Alhamdulillah for His mighty mercy upon me.

[saeedalyousuf]

No matter what the problem on your mind, Allah is certainly the greatest helper.

Saeed H H Alyousuf