Stories of Muslim Reverts! - Post yours here!

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

:sl:
If you are a revert please add your story here, because it is very inspiring Alhamdullilah.

There are several stories on this site:
http://thetruereligion.org/modules/xfsection/

I'll post a few:

Lara


Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem
DISCOVERING ISLAM: A CANADIAN MUSLIMA'S STORY
April 25, 1996


As-Salamu Alaikum wa Rahmahtullahi wa Barakatu (May the peace, the mercy, and the blessings of Allah be upon you).


I am Canadian-born of Scandinavian and other ancestry, and I was raised in Canada. I have been a Muslima since February 1993 when I was 23. While growing up, I was never affiliated with any religion nor was I an atheist. When I was in my mid-teens I started to think somewhat about religion and at that time I did believe in the Oneness of God (Tawheed). Christianity never interested me.


My first contact with Muslims occurred when I was introduced to some Muslim international students in 1988. Through them I learned a bit about Islam, such as Ramadan fasting. But it was really not until 1992 that I became interested in Islam. In the summer of that year a Canadian newspaper published a series of articles attacking Islam by using examples of anti-Islamic behaviour of some Muslims in an attempt to vilify Islam itself. Non-Muslims tend to judge Islam on the basis of the behaviour (which is not necessarily Islamic) of Muslims. I was not yet a Muslima but the articles were so outrageous that I sent a letter to the editor in defence of Islam. Now I was curious about Islam. I re-read some articles I had picked up several months earlier from the MSA Islam Awareness Week display at my university. One was about 'Isa (Alaihe Salam) [Jesus] as a Prophet of Islam. Also, I asked a Muslim to get me some books about Islam; they were about the overall ideology of Islam and were written by two famous Muslim authors. Impressed, I thought, "This is Islam? It seems so right." Over the next few months in my free time while attending university I continued to learn about Islam from authentic Islamic books, for example The Life of Muhammad (Salallahu Alaihe wa Salam) by Dr. Muhammad Haykal. One certainly does not learn the truth about Islam from the mass media! Also, newcomers to Islam especially must be careful to avoid the writings of deviant groups which claim ties to Islam so as not to be misled. And just because the author has an Arabic name does not necessarily mean that he or she is a knowledgeable Muslim or even Muslim at all. Also, I learned about Islam from some kind, knowledgeable Muslims and Muslimas who did not pressure me. Meanwhile, I had begun to Islamize my behaviour which did not require huge change. I already avoided consuming alcohol and pig meat. Also, I always preferred to dress conservatively/modestly and not wear makeup, perfume, or jewellery outside my home. I started to eat only Islamically slaughtered meat. Also during this time I visited a masjid (mosque) in my city for the first time.


Until I discovered Islam, I knew almost nothing about it. I say discovered because the "Islam" that I had always heard about through the mass media is not true Islam. I had always assumed that Islam is just another man-made religion, not knowing that it is the Truth. I had also assumed that a person had to be raised as a Muslim to be one. I was not aware of the fact that all humans are born Muslim (in a state of Islam - submitted to the Creator). Like many "Westerners" I associated Islam with the "East" and did not know that Islam is universal in both time and place. However, I never had negative feelings about Islam, al-Hamdulillah. The more knowledge that I acquired about Islam, the more I felt that I too can actually be Muslim as I found that many of the beliefs that I already had were actually Islamic not merely "common sense."


So after familiarizing myself with what Islam is basically about and what are the duties and proper conduct of a Muslim person, as well as thinking and reflecting, I felt ready to accept Islam and live as a Muslima. One day while at home I said the Shahada (declaration of faith) and began to perform the five daily salawat (prayers), al-Hamdulillah. That was in February 1993, several days before the fasting month of Ramadan began. I did not want to miss the fasting this time! I found the fasting to be much easier than I had anticipated; before I fasted I had worried that I might faint. At first there was a bit of an adjustment period getting used to the new routine of performing salah and fasting, and I made some mistakes, but it was exciting and not difficult. I started to read the Qur'an (Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation) when I was given one soon after accepting Islam. Before that I had read only excerpts of it in other books. Also in the beginning, I found The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam by Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi to be a useful guide.


In January 1996 (during Ramadan) I started to wear the Islamic headscarf (hijab). I realized that I could not fully submit to Allah (SWT), which is what being Muslim is about, without wearing it. Islam must be accepted and practised in its entirety; it is not an "alter-to-suit-yourself" religion. Since becoming a Muslima I was aware that the headscarf is required of Muslim women and I had intended to wear it eventually. I should have worn it immediately upon accepting Islam but for many Muslimas (even some from Muslim families) it is not easy to take that step and put it on in a non-Muslim society. It is silly how so many persons get upset over a piece of fabric! Also, it is interesting to note that Christian nuns are never criticized for covering their heads. Never in my life did I have negative feelings toward muhajjabas (women who wear hijab) when I saw them. What made me hesitate to put it on was fearing receiving bad treatment from others, especially family. But we must fear Allah (SWT) only, not others. In the few months before I permanently put on hijab I started "practising" wearing it. I wore it when I travelled between my home and the local masjid on Fridays when I started attending the jum'a salah (Friday congregational prayer). (Of course, since becoming Muslim I always wore it during every salah). A couple of weeks prior, in du'a I began asking Allah (SWT) to make it easy for me to wear it.


The day I finally put it on permanently I had reached the point where I felt that I could no longer go out with a bare head, and I thought "tough bananas" if others do not like me wearing it since I alone am accountable for my actions and am required to perform my Islamic duties, and I could never please everyone anyway. Sometimes opposition to hijab is a control issue: some persons just plainly do not like those who are determined and independent especially if it is their child.


Upon wearing it I immediately felt protected and was finally able to go out and not be the target of stares/leers from men. At first I felt a bit self-conscious but after several weeks I felt completely used to wearing hijab. Sometimes other persons look puzzled/confused, I think because they are not used to seeing pale-faced, blue-eyed Muslimas! By the way, wearing hijab is da'wah in a way as it draws attention to Islam.


Since accepting Islam I continue to seek knowledge about the Deen (religion) which is a lifelong duty for all Muslims--male and female. Currently, I am learning Arabic and hope to be able to read the Qur'an in Arabic soon, insha'Allah. Reading, discussing Islam with other Muslims, and the Friday jum'a khutba are all educational. Striving to be as pious as one can be and fighting against one's own evil traits (jihad al-nafs) takes effort and is continuous and never ending for Muslims.


I find Islam ever-more fascinating, and I enjoy living as a Muslima.

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

:sl: Here's an interesting one:

Bismillah al Rahmaan al Raheem
With the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

All praises are due to God, alone with no partners, and may the peace and blessings of Almighty God be upon His final Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), his family and all his companions.

For as long as I can remember, I have believed in one God, and my relationship with God developed from wonder at and gratitude for everything around me that He had created.

I grew up in the seventies and eighties in rural Ireland. My family is Catholic and in my childhood the only religion I was exposed to was Catholicism. Despite this, there were things I was being taught which offended my instinctive sense of the oneness of God. For example, one night my Grandmother, after saying her prayers, took a plastic crucifix over to my bed and asked me to "kiss God". I was just a little kid, and didn't like to disobey by Grandmother, but I just couldn't do it, saying "it's just plastic. That's not God". Needless to say, my Grandmother was shocked and I was upset too to hurt her feelings, but I could not betray what I knew in my heart to be true.

In school, the religion lessons taught in the early years were things I could relate to; looking at what God had created, and hearing stories from the life of Jesus (peace be upon him). I found everything to do with religion enthralling, and especially loved to learn about angels. However, this changed when the time came for the class to prepare for Confirmation. This was the first time I became conscious of the concept of Trinity. Suddenly, the teacher was saying "Jesus is God". I was stunned, could not believe my ears! I looked at the girl sitting next to me to see how she was reacting, but she did not appear to find anything wrong! Then, I became frightened, and decided not to speak about my feelings on the matter. At that vulnerable age, I could not face the conflict between what people in authority were telling me and what my heart was telling me.

I was very successful at subduing my doubts about Catholicism, to the point that, as a teenager, I was able to overlook the contradictions which were so obvious to me as a child. All through my teens and early twenties, I was a regular Mass-goer, and found solace in the readings from the Gospel and the Old Testament. The Church was a source of peace and comfort. I liked to read about religion, and wanted to learn more about other religions, not because I felt dissatisified at that time with Catholicism, but wanted to see what truth there might be beyond it, the common truth shared by different faiths.

This was before the internet became widespread, and information was difficult to come by. The only books I could find that mentioned Islam, seemed to paint a picture of a terrifying fanatical people who inexplicably attached themselves to a man (Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him) about whom I could find no-one to say a good word. However, this only made me more curious. Why did people choose to be Muslim? There had to be more to this religion than what I had so far seen. I got a chance to learn more when I went to work in London after finishing college.

Walking home from work one day, I noticed the local library was having a sale of some old books. I had a browse, and found one booklet called 'The Revelation'. In it were some verses of the Qur'an, and the story of how Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) went to the cave at Hira and received revelations from the angel Jibreel. It was a delightful surprise to me that the angel Gabriel who had visited Mary was also known in Islam. Now Islam became less alien-seeming and more accessible, but at that time, that was as far as I was ready to go in studying it.

I returned to Ireland a few months later, and spent the next few years concentrating on getting a career going. And it was at work that I met the man who was destined to become my husband. As we got to know each other, we soon realised we wanted to spend our lives together. I set myself the task of learning as much as I could about my husband's native country, Pakistan, and his language, culture and beliefs. When he spoke about Islam, his face would light up with love and reverence, which opened my heart to wanting to learn more about it.

He offered a Qur'an for me to read, but I was actually frightened to read it at first, because I thought 'what if I read something in here that I have to believe - I might have to change my whole life!' I was frightened of the truth, and what it would mean for my comfortable, complacent life. But soon, I realised it was foolish to be afraid of the truth, and when I did read the Qur'an, it was like coming home! I describe it as like hearing again a long lost and most beloved voice; it was a sense of recognition deep within, that this is from God.

I also read about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), his character, how he prayed, what he endured for the sake of Islam, and found a man of incomparable God-consciousness. The graciousness with which he prayed was so striking - I asked myself if his were the words of a false prophet. I could not believe that. And if he was truly a Prophet of God, then it was incumbent upon me to listen to him. He called to absolute purity of worship, with the message that your God is one God, therefore worship Him alone. Was this not the same message of Jesus and all the Prophets (peace be upon them)?

Among the Muslims I met during this time, some were more devout than others, but it was the women for whom Islam was the centre of their lives who showed me that 'the straight path' of Islam is the path of a true human being. It seemed to me their faces glowed with strength and peace, and I wanted some of that for myself! A good example of this is my mother-in-law. I spent quite a lot of time with her before and after I reverted, and she continues to provide me with a standard to live up to of generosity, kindness and devotion to prayer.

Although there were good people to support me, coming to the decision to revert to Islam was something I had to do alone, because I had to reach a point of certainty in my own heart. Turning back from the path I had been on, to walk the path of Islam, was a movement of my heart towards God. No-one else could do it for me. I reached the point where my mind was full of questions, and all the time my heart was yearning for the truth, praying, begging God for guidance and light.

If it was possible to be Christian and Muslim at the same time, I would probably have tried to do that! There were positive elements apparent in both, and I could see similarities between the two; both believing in one God, in the virgin birth of Jesus (peace be upon him), in the resurrection, judgement and heaven and hell. However, the differences between them were irreconcilable, and there were for me three issues in particular about which I had to choose either the Islamic or the Christian view, as I could not believe both. These were the questions of original sin, trinity, and the crucifixion of Jesus (peace be upon him).

I asked myself - is it justice that a newborn baby carries on her soul the sin of her earliest ancestor, Adam (peace be upon him)? Is it justice that we should be held to account for a sin we did not commit? Is it justice to send an innocent man to be tortured to death for the sake of the guilty? Why would God require a human sacrifice in order to be appeased? Is God a bloodthirsty tyrant that he will not forgive unless innocent blood is spilled? And if Jesus (peace be upon him) is God (aoudhubillah), does that mean that God sent Himself to be sacrificed to Himself as a ransom to... Himself? And when Jesus (peace be upon him) prayed, was he praying to himself? Again, if Jesus (peace be upon him) was perfect, then surely he lived the most commendable life possible, so why then do his followers neglect to follow his example i.e. he was circumcised, never ate pork, performed ablutions, adhered to the law of Moses (peace be upon him), but what Christians do any of this today?

On the other hand, there was the guilt factor. Wouldn't embracing Islam be a betrayal of Jesus (peace be upon him)? And of my dear family who sincerely love their religion? And my ancestors who suffered persecution because of their Catholic religion, and yet did not abandon it?

And one day, I was no longer left with unanswered questions. On that day, serenity covered my heart, and at last it arrived at a peaceful rest, believing that each soul is born in perfect purity; that no bearer of burdens shall bear the burden of another; and it is not justice that a Messenger of God, one of the best of all human beings, should be executed as a criminal; God is perfect, and God's mercy and justice is perfect; God can forgive whatever sin He wishes; God does not want blood, it is not blood that reaches God. When God wills to create, He has only to say to a thing 'Be', and it is! Exalted in the highest Glory is God from what is ascribed to Him of having a son! Jesus (peace be upon him) was a messenger of God, calling his people back to the right path, one in a long line of messengers, performing miracles by God's permission. And the people of old, who were completely ignorant of Islam, who is to say they might not have become the most devout Muslims if they had the opportunity to know about Islam?

None has the right to be worshiped but God alone, and all power and all praise belong to Him, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds, the sole Source of Guidance.

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

:sl: Our very own Br. _salam_'s story!

Well, seeing as how I am a revert to Islam I think I should jump in here, so here we go from the begining.

I was born and raised in a Catholic family, not an extremely religious family, but we did go to church every Sunday and on occasion it was more of a part of our lives than other times. My Mother had put me in Religious Education classes, or what you could call "Sunday School", starting at the time I was in grade school and going up through high school. I had gone through all the sacraments up to Confirmation but despite all of this I had never really been a religious person. I always believed in God, and had always believed in what I had been taught about the Bible for the most, but like I said religion was never really a big part of my life.

Around the time I was in high school was when I started to have my doubts about my religion. I can't say there was any one thing that caused me to start having doubts. I think it was that I was learning more about my religion and certain things within it just didn't seem to be right to me. Like the whole story in Genesis, and how when taken literally it completely goes against everything we know today, that just didn't fit with me. In my view I beleived that God was all knowing, so why would God have given us something so ridiculous. I remember being confused about how I viewed God and how the church had explained God to me, it just didn't seem to add up. So after a while I had kind of formed my own personal view of who God was and how God should/would act. However, this wasn't a huge deal for me because like I said earlier religion wasn't something that was on my mind a lot or a real part of my life.

Also around this time I went through some really rough times. I had become very depressed about life, and one of the main things that bothered me was that I couldn't figure out what the meaning of this life was. What was my purpose for being here, what was I suppose to do with my life in order to be happy. Religion didn't seem to answer these questions for me because at this time in my life I had adopted a somewhat Deist view of things. That is I believed that there was a God but that He just stayed out of our affairs and had left everything to run itself. And that religion was meaningless, after all there seemed to be no proof that religion had any truth to it anyway. All the proof, and evidence, and science of today seemed to show all the errors of religion and that the Bible just contained mere stories, and most of them appeared to not be true. After having held this view for a little while my extreme lack of faith in religion and God in general, eventually led to my disbelief in God. I had now, in my later years of high school at about age 18, considered myself an Atheist.

I was still having a lot of very hard times in my life, dealing with depression and still wondering what this life was all for. I thought certain things would give my life meanig and make me happy, and I would offten hope or fantasize about having these things, but even when I attained some of them, things didn't change and in the end I usually fealt worse about life anyway. My whole life at this point was just being with my group of friends that I had and partying and drinking, and that was about it. Now some might say that having friends around you is a good thing and I would agree, however, the group of friends I had were not "good" friends. These people were nice and everything but the truth is that they could have cared less if I was there with them or not, and those aren't good friends to have. I had become your typical American college kid who went and partied as hard as he could on the weekends, and sometimes during the week, and then spent the rest of the week waiting for the weekend to come around again. This was about all the meaning I saw for my life, with the exception of hoping to attain those things I fantasized would make my life better.

I was now into my second semester of college (or what was the second semester of just last school year) and had chosen to take a world relgions class, not because of an interest in religion (cause I didn't have one) but because I thought it would be an easy class. It was about half way through the semester that we started learning about Islam, which I didn't know much of anything about. I mean I knew/had heard, from an old friend I had in high school who was Muslim, some basic things like the 5 pillars and that Muslims believed in Jesus (pbuh), but that was about the extent of my knowledge. Then one day in class, shortly after having started talking about Islam, our teacher had us watch this brief video about Islam. Little did I know, this video was about to change my life, dramatically, forever!

I was sitting there in class somewhat paying attention to the video and somewhat thinking about other things when they recited the begining of surah 96, the very first surah to be revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

"Proclaim! in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created, created man, out of alaaq: Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful, He Who taught (the use of) the pen, taught man that which he knew not."

I can't remember what word was used to describe alaaq, but it didn't matter because right after the verse was read, a Sheik (unfortunately I don't remember his name) explained that what the word was refering to was a zygote, and how could a human living 1400 years ago know about such things. This verse immediately grabed my utmost attention, and has not ceased in holding me within it's grasp since then. I was completely dumb founded saying to myself, "How could this be? Science is actually coinciding with, and proving religion?" After class I immediately went home and started doing my own research about Islam online and I was absolutely amazed at what I found. Not only did I find proof supporting this religion, it's view of who God is was exactly the same view that I had come to on my own some time before. It was like I had believed the same things that are taught within Islam all along, with the exception of my brief touch with Atheism.

After doing quite an extensive amount of my own research about Islam I was sure that I wanted to become a Muslim. It happened a short while afterwards when I finally got up the courage to go to one of the local masjids where I was asked by one of the brother's if I wanted to take shahada, and I agreed. Around this time, either shortly before or after I took shahada, I remembered an event that took place a couple of months before when I was in the car driving. I remember I was driving to a friends apartment, most likely for a party or something of the sort, and I was in a very depressed mood at the time. I remember wondering what the purpose of my life was, and I remember being in tears crying out desperately (despite me being an Atheist at the time) "What is the purpose of me being here, why? Oh God, if there is a God, please help me, please give me some sort of answer, please give me a sign!" When I remembered this event I was trully astonished. I was astonished at how after sincerely asking for some sort of help I had recently been guided to Islam. I was astonished at how, what seemed to me to be the first time in my life, my prayers had been answered. I was astonished at how I had asked for some sort of sign and now here it was before my very eyes. And I was astonished at how Allah had bestowed His mercy on me and answered my prayers and guided me to Islam even after all that I had done in my life. My realization of this event really made true certain verses in the Qur'an such as verse 13:11

"For each (such person) there are (angels) in succession, before and behind him: They guard him by command of Allah. Allah does not change a people's lot (or condition) unless they (first) change what is in their hearts. But when Allah willeth a people's punishment, there can be no turning it back, nor will they find, besides Him, any to protect."

Just as a popular hadith says, I had to take that first step towards Allah but once I took that step Allah came running towards me. Whenever I think back on all that has taken place, all I can think to say is;

Alhamdulilah, Alhamdulilah, Alhamdulilah!

[kadafi]

:sl:

Masha'Allah. Revert stories are always interesting. I always enjoy readin' them.

Jazaka'Allah Khairun bro

Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.

When you create an account, you can participate in the discussions and share your thoughts. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and make new friends.
Sign Up

[Khattab]

One of the greatest stories has to be Napoleon form the Outlawz, coming back from all that happened to him to accept Islam.

[zAk]

Would someone please post some stories they really liked?

:sl:
I really liked this story of a boy who converted at the age of 10 !!!!!
just read on :

By Waa’il Abdul Salaam



My story of becoming a Muslim at the age of ten years old might be unusual, but it was very real for me. I want to share my story in case other kids might be going through the same problems I went through. I was born into my birth family, with a mother who was Roman Catholic and a father who was Baptist. When I was born I had one sister who was a year and a half older than myself. When I was six weeks old, my birthfather took me from my crib and ran off with another woman. He left my birthmother alone with my sister. He hid me and was involved in drugs. I remember the first few years of being very hungry and alone. I remember how I was very angry and had a bad temper.



During those first few years, my birthmother’s friends got her a job as a bartender, so she could support herself and my sister. After awhile one of my birthfather’s friends went to her and told her where I was because he was afraid something bad was going to happen. My birthmother came right away and found my birthfather and his friends doing drugs. She saw me running around being neglected, so she picked me up and left with me. I didn’t really know her. I guess maybe I thought I was being kidnapped or something, so I threw temper tantrums every chance I got and became even more angry.



Eventually my birthmother finally got me to smile, learn how to hug, and even say I love you, all things I didn’t know how to do when she found me. My birthmother then had two of us kids to support and herself, so she wound up spending more time working at the bar, which meant we had to stay with different babysitters. One day my birthfather came to the house where we lived and took me back where he was living with another lady. By the end of that year, he tried to put me in school which did not work. I did everything I knew that was bad just to get into trouble.



The school called and said I couldn’t come back because of my behavior, so he took me back and dumped me at my birthmother’s doorstep. She was happy I was back and took me to my sister’s school. I thought I was getting left again, so I threw a fit, hit my teachers and other kids, and the school called my birthmother and said I couldn’t go to school there either. I was mad at everyone. I did the worst things I could think of to do every chance I got. This time my birthmother got on a plane with me and we flew to her mother’s house, (my grandma’s) far across the country, in another state. She was nice and loving to me, but she was very strict about my throwing fits. She didn’t yell at me or anything, but whenever I destroyed something or had a tantrum, she would take hold of my hand and walk me outside to a pile of small wooden blocks, on the side of the house. She would tell me to move all the little wood blocks from one side of the driveway to the other, and when I was done to come and let her know. Then she would go back inside and leave me there to do it by myself. At first I was so mad at her, but by the time I finished moving the little blocks, I wasn’t mad any more. It was kind of like a game.



By the end of the eight months I lived with my grandmother, I stopped throwing tantrums, and I used to sit on her lap and listen while she read bible stories and poems to me until I fell asleep. I learned all my school lessons, knew how to ride a horse, and I absolutely knew how to move blocks around. At the end of that time, it was time for me to go back home, and I was doing so well that I got to ride on a plane all by myself (with an escort of course). I felt very grown up and very happy. She told me that I was going to be just fine, and that whenever I got angry or sad or lonely, I should think about God. She said I should always remember how He took care of all the people in the Bible and if I would ask him she knew he would take care of me too. She told me whenever I got upset of angry that I should never hurt someone. Instead I should just pray to God until I wasn’t angry anymore.



After I got back home, my mother was happy because I wasn’t hurting people. I wasn’t throwing tantrums. I was eating well and not afraid to sleep. I was happy almost all of the time. Then, again my birthfather came one day. He saw how good I had turned out and just like before, he took me away again. He knew my birthmother had to work to take care of us kids but he would never give her even one penny to help. He even divorced her without telling her. She worked all the time, babysitters took care of my sister and a new brother that had born while I was away, and I was gone again. The new lady my birthfather was living with was so cruel. I lost a lot of weight and I am not sure how things happened, but it was during that time that I supposedly split my head open on monkey bars at the school, and supposedly was hit by a jeep in front of their home. I don’t remember those things too clearly, but I do remember his girlfriend picking up a two by four and hitting me with it in the front yard. I also remember my birthfather slamming my head into the kitchen table because I didn’t write fast enough. He and his lady friend would threaten me by convincing me that the devil would come out of my bedroom floor and take me to burn in hell if I got out of bed while they were having drug parties.



This went on until I was in fourth grade. My birthfather used to show me a big baggie filled with drugs he was then getting from a doctor and telling me how good they made him feel. His house was filled with dirty magazines and MTV movies and it all seemed normal because that was all I ever knew back then. I didn’t know there was any other way to live. I had long forgotten how my grandmother had taught me to pray and I couldn’t remember the wonderful days I spent with her, or riding the horses, or being hugged and read to, about God. All the bad stuff at that age seemed to push the good stuff away. When it was time to start fourth grade I became uncontrollable at school, figuring I would get sent back to my birthmother or grandmothers. I didn’t stop until I got what I wanted and it worked. I was taken back and left with my birthmother. By then, she was working around sixty hours a week, would come home tired, be yelling and screaming, expecting us to take care of ourselves, and not to give her anymore trouble. I wanted attention from her, so I went back to being a brat and being mean to my sister, and by then my new little brother who I resented even more.



By the end of the first month of that school year, I was the worst I had ever been. My birthmother couldn’t cope with me one minute longer. My birthfather had already made me go to doctors and they put me on five different kinds of medicine from Ritalin to even worse drugs, to try to control me and even that didn’t work. In fact, that stuff made me worse and none of it worked. I beat up other kids, started fights, accused them of doing things they didn’t do, stole things, lied, refused to obey the teachers, or do any work. School to me was a place I was going to play and do whatever I wanted to do. I knew they couldn’t do anything about it. I thought I was really something and all I thought about was me. They sent me to the hall, to the office, home, even put a box around me in class to keep me from bothering other kids, and I still didn’t give up.



Don’t get me wrong here, I am NOT saying all this to sound cool. I was an idiot to say the least. I know that now. I want other kids to know it doesn’t have to be that way, regardless of their family problems. So, if I don’t say how bad it had gotten they won’t be able to understand. I was only ten years old. I am thirteen, almost fourteen now, and I think back when I was ten and I cannot believe I was even the same person or that the kid I am telling you about above was for real. He was for real and he was me! Most people wouldn’t believe that a ten-year-old kid could be as bad and do as bad of things as I did, but this is true. It all finally came to the end for me, when I called another kids home, pretending to be another kid and saying the boy was missing. You can image how much trouble I was in then! That only got me put on more drugs from the doctor. All those drugs made me see things and hear things that weren’t there and made me angry enough to be dangerous. I don’t believe anyone should put their kids on those drugs even if the school insists. Adults just have no idea what those drugs do to kids or what they make kids think about. I am proof to tell you that kids are not going to admit to parents or doctors or anyone, when they have horrid thoughts, because of the drugs. Anyway, when the drugs weren’t helping and I was getting into even more trouble, it was at that point they threatened to put me out of the family forever. All of a sudden, my birthmother didn’t want to put up with it anymore and my birthfather didn’t want me either. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me.



When I least expected it, there was someone who offered to take me into their home and try to help me. They didn’t have children living at home, so there would be no one for me to hurt and they would homeschool me, until my behavior got in check. Neither of them drank and they didn’t use drugs. They were not going to give me any drugs and promised I didn’t have to go to a bunch of doctors unless I was physically sick. It was my last chance. I said okay and I was put on a plane and sent to their home. They picked me up from the airport. It was Jumaana and her husband Waseem. All of a sudden I felt different. Here was a new couple. I thought I would get away with more stuff. The family back at my home already knew my routines, so they caught me right away everytime I did something wrong, but these two wouldn’t know how I operated. At first, I tried to be loud and a real brat. I did a good job for a few days, reminding them both that they said I didn’t have to take all those drugs. They looked like they didn’t know what to do with me exactly but they re-assured me that their promise was good.



They had a room all ready for me when I arrived. The walls were pale blues, my favorite color. It had a blue carpet and blue drapes and even a blue bedspread. There was a desk, just for me to use, and even a small fish tank with a light that stayed on all night and fish that swam in and out of the rocks. It was incredible. I had never had anything like that for myself. I used to sleep on the floors on a blanket or on a couch in the living room before. As the days passed, the drugs were draining out of my body. It made me tired and drowsy most of the first few weeks and I slept a lot. I was ten years old and weighed forty-eight pounds because the drugs make you too sick to eat. By the end of the first month, I gained several pounds and felt better than I had in a long time. I did NOT want to get put back on that stuff ever again. The second month, my homeschool box was delivered to the house and Jumaana began to teach me every day, when Waseem was at work.



I could see how different it was in Jumaana’s and Waseem’s house. Not just because it was in Denver, but it was lots of things. At certain times, Jumaana would leave the room to go to her room. I would pretend to keep working, but I couldn’t help but notice that she would put on a long scarf over her head and a small rug on the floor and I wasn’t sure what she was doing back then, but she would be praying. I watched her do that every day and finally one day, I asked about it. I think that was when I stopped being so bad and started wondering about other things. See the house there was different, quieter, more peaceful, something I wasn’t sure about, because for ten years I had only known people who were either drugged up or drunk, or just plain mean. This was like a different planet, I think you could say. I didn’t exactly know what to think about it, but I did start liking being there. I tried not to get too attached because I figured one day I would get sent away again, it always happened and I didn’t want to think about it. That’s why I would have a couple good days and then I would go back to my old ways, just in case I guess.



Every day I asked more and more questions. Jumaana or Waseem would do their best to answer them. I wanted to learn to pray too, so one day I asked if I could pray with her. She said I could and even opened her closet and gave me new blue velvety prayer rug. I followed everything she did and I listened to every word, but I still couldn’t seem to be still, always wiggling and moving around, but after a couple weeks I could be still, and I felt so peaceful inside. I never remember feeling that way before. One evening, after I had gotten settled into bed for the night, Jumaana came into my room and ask if I was doing okay. I told her yes and she said she thought I had become more quiet lately and wondered if there was anything I needed. Waseem and her always talked nice to each other, and I never heard them fight or anything like the people back in my old home did. I couldn’t believe they talked so nice to each other and they were talking to me that way now too. I couldn’t quite figure things out. I thought maybe it would be okay if I told her I wanted to be a Muslim too. I really did want to be and I didn’t know how to do it. So, I just came out and said it. “I want to be a Muslim”.

She smiled and asked if I knew what being a Muslim was. I told her I didn’t but I wanted to be one. She tucked me in, gave me a hug, left the room and came back with some children’s books on Islam. That night I read them until I fell asleep. The next day I finished the books and I couldn’t get enough to read. I read about saying Shahada and so I told her right away that I needed to say it, so that I could be a Muslim. They reminded me that I was only ten years old and so maybe I would need to study more first. I told them that I had already read all the books and I had to say the Shahada that very day. I know I was young, but it didn’t seem that way to me at the time, because all I knew was that I had to become a Muslim. It was right for me and I knew it, right from the beginning. Later that night, on December 29, 2000, I officially said the Shahada to Jumaana and Waseem, and I became a Muslim.



Jumaana continued to teach me at home and I passed the fourth grade and the fifth grade all in one year. I also was given privileges to read whatever books I wanted from the shelves of books Waseem and Jumaana had. They had books on all the religions, but I read every one they had on Islam. I asked lots of questions about the difference in religions because I didn’t know why everyone in the world wasn’t following Islam. I went to the little town library where we lived and got to know the librarian there. She ordered me lots more books on Islam and would ask me questions about it too. She said I knew a lot for my age and was surprised about how much I knew about Islam. Then after I read everything they had, I would go to the big public downtown library and find all kinds of books on Islam. I knew I could never be any other except a Muslim.



My birthparents did not want me to come back to live with them ever. They only remembered me the way I was when they sent me away. I really didn’t want to go back to live the way I had before or live with them with the drinking, drugs, fighting, and chaos either. They had not sent any money to take care of me the whole first year I lived with Jumaana and Waseem. Waseem was ready to retire but he kept on working just to take care of me, and Jumaana had given up her writing to teach me at home. They had done these things because they cared about what happened to me. I really didn’t want to ever leave them. So, after I lived with them for a year, the courts granted me a legal adoption. It would be the only way they could have the right to make decisions about my schooling and other legal issues that they couldn’t do, because they were not considered my parents. Because my birthparents hadn’t had contact with me and never sent any support for the whole year, the court could make me go into a home or foster care, if they wanted to. I was so afraid that if my birthparents all of a sudden wanted to take me back because I was so much better, that they would do the same things to me they had before and I also knew they would never let me stay a Muslim.



I prayed so hard every day, five times a day and more, asking Allah to help me. Adoption in this country is the only way to assure legal rights and I wanted Waseem and Jumaana to adopt me more than anything. I was so happy when the courts felt it was the best thing for me too. The papers were filed and my birthparents were notified that adoption requests were filed. They didn’t even bother to contact the courts to contest it, in fact they quickly signed the papers to give me up. Actually I was happy about that. Then on the day of the adoption, the judge even told me I could change my name. I chose Waa’il because it meant ‘one who returns for shelter’ and I felt like I went to Jumaana’s and Waseem’s for shelter. Also I felt like I had returned to ‘Islam’ so that was a shelter for me inside. It was the best thing in my whole life that ever happened to me. Because of the delays in removing the parental rights of my birthparents, the date for my adoption was changed, making it fall on the first day of Ramadhan in 2001. It was like Allah was blessing me over and over again.



So, in these last three and a half years, my life is so incredibly different. Sometimes it is hard to think back what it used to be like before becoming a Muslim. Having had such a stubborn and defiant attitude those first ten years of my life still affects me sometimes, but I am really so different than I was back then. People don’t think I am only thirteen and a half when they meet me. Most of them think I am a lot older. I think it is probably because I had such a tough life from the time I was born until I came to live with my new parents. They encourage me to keep at least some kind of contact with my birthfamily, but it’s okay now because I know they cannot come and take me away or tell me I can’t be a Muslim. I know that I am safe and I believe Allah allowed all of this and made it all happen, which makes the bad parts I remember bearable now, because I found Islam and maybe I would never have found Allah if all that stuff hadn’t happened. Well, at least I think that way now.



My sister even came and spent a week during her school break this last December/January. I hadn’t seen her in over three years. She is fifteen now and flew here on her own to stay with us for the week. She was shocked at the change in me. I had grown to five foot ten inches in height from being half her size when I left, which made me tower over her by almost a foot. I also outweighed her by fifty pounds, after having last been seen a scrawny skeleton of a kid. When I left I was wearing a ‘rug rats’ hat and ‘harry potter’ clothes from television and cartoon shows. When she saw me this time, I was wearing a Kufi or one of my other kinds of Islamic caps and a Kurris. When I left I had been a loud, troublemaking, obnoxious brat, who had failed three out of five grades and who couldn’t even write a complete sentence. This time she saw me polite, quieter, having passed all my grades, skipping a whole grade which put me in the same grade as she was. She would see me stop whatever I was doing, to go to Prayer five times every day. She really hated me when I left home at age ten, and was expecting me to be the same. She told me after a couple days of being with us, that she could hardly believe I was the same person and she really liked me as her brother now. She found out I was a Muslim. Because I had changed so much, she asked a ton of questions about Islam, took back a bunch of Islamic books I gave her, and told everyone back there that they just wouldn’t believe how different I was. Now, every once in a while, my birthmother will let my brother and sister call, and she even talks to me a few minutes. I send books for them to read about Islam and I hope someday they will all become Muslims too. I know they would be so much happier if they did.



My life seems a hundred years away from the way it used to be. I have become a Muslim now going on four years, been blessed with new Muslim parents, had my adoption finalized on the very first day of my very first Ramadhan, learned my prayers in Arabic, read my new parent’s entire library of books on Islam, exhausted the public libraries of their Islamic books, been given a new name and a new life. I don’t know what else I could ask for. I am studying very hard to finish my high school in another two years. I will be sixteen, but I feel like I am a lot older. I know now that I didn’t need drugs to make me behave. I didn’t need anger to get me through all those years of chaos. I didn’t need to be so hurtful to others, just to get attention. I didn’t need to cause such chaos for others. What I needed all along was Islam. I needed Allah. The way I see it is, that instead of these schools and parents putting their kids on Ritalin and other junk, they should put their time and money in studying Islam and teaching their children about Allah. When nothing else worked, and believe me a lot of people tried to get me straightened out, Allah did it. Allah can do anything. He can do everything. When he does something for you, it is the way it is supposed to be.



I am Waa’il Abdul Salaam and this is my story.

[leena.noor]

Asalaamu Aleykum Brothers and Sisters. Since my conversion, I have had so many people ask me to write down my account, so I think that right now is the time. As with many reverts, something happened in my old life that led me to where I am now. When I was in high school, in history class we were all assigned a religion to study, and the religion that my group picked was Islam. I found it very interesting and I really got involved in the project, but after it was over, I forgot most of it. From time to time I remember hearing about Islam from my mom (she loves Cat Stevens, and I remember her telling me about his conversion.) I was brought up in a family that is very open minded and never attached judgment to any of these things. I was baptized into the Catholic Church when I was eight years old because my parents thought that religion would help give some form of stability to my family. My parents were Christians one day a week at best, and never really impressed religion beyond what we learned in church upon us. My senior year in high school I started my search for religion. I became a devoted Christian going to a different church every Sunday, and going to Bible study. I went to Nicaragua the previous summer on a mission trip, but while there found a verse in 1Timothy that had me angry with God for days. Going to Nicaragua made me more convinced that Christianity is used as a coping tool because with out it, the people would not have the hope to survive. I attended more than 15 different denominational churches in my search for God.
I study religion because I am able to see the part that it plays in the lives of individuals, but I never felt fulfilled. The more I learned, the more questions were being raised for me, and the more and more unsatisfied I felt. I ignored these feelings and came to a Catholic College, and became active in the Campus ministry. It was at college that I met Muslim sisters that began to teach me about Islam. Looking back, I was so ignorant, and they were so patient, teaching me over and over. My friend went back and looked at our first conversation and laughs at some stupid things I said. I remember not being able to say the whole greeting, and then how happy I was when I realized that I could say it correctly. My Muslim sisters I met gave me websites and people to talk to about Islam, and through these people I learned more and more.
I never intended to convert. I still was misinformed about the roles of Women in Islam. Because of what I read and because of the media, I did see them as silent and subservient. I had my eyes open when I met some wonderful Muslim sisters. When I saw a Sister pray I knew that I wanted to convert. It was so beautiful and fluid, and I could feel the closeness with God. I kept telling people I didn't want to convert but when the fact that I believed Shahadah was pointed out to me; I couldn't stop thinking about religion. All day in my classes, before I slept, all my time awake I studied Islam and kept questioning why I was here on this earth. I came to the realization that it was to worship Allah. I took Shahadah in my heart long before I took it with witnesses. When I was put on the phone with someone that pointed out that I believed in Islam, it was then I cried. I cried because I realized that my life was about to change, and I couldn't ignore it. I was scared to go to the masjid to say Shahadah so I put it off. When I did go, I was so nervous. It was a fun experience for me to go to the masjid though. Someone even took my flip-flops to make wudu. In the following months, I have faced a lot of difficulties and obstacles in my faith. I hope to InshaAllah learn more about Islam everyday, and have my eyes opened more and more everyday. Thank you to all of the wonderful brothers and sisters that have helped me on my journey...and my I grow closer everyday to the relationship that Allah wants me to have with HIM.
Part two:

Sometimes I think that living in IN ruined me. It makes me care what other people through of me, too much, and it didn’t expose me to as many cultures and religions as I would like to have been exposed to. My grandfather is a Catholic priest and more than anything else in my life, I fear his finding out that I converted. I was at one time completely encompassed by fear about what my parents would think. Even before I converted I was so incredibly afraid of what other people would and will think about my conversion. I spend hours explaining Islam to people and dispelling their unguided incorrect information, but never tell them that, I am in fact a Muslim. I don’t look like a stereotypical Muslim. I am white, with light brown hair and blue eyes, and I look like a good little American Christian girl. I don’t wear hijab; once again for my fear of people paying me undo interest. I remember going to the masjid and I have to walk about half a mile from the train station, and being terrified because I put hijab on and was afraid that someone was going to do something to me while I was walking to the masjid. Nothing happened though, and I am starting to realize that all of my fears from living around close-minded people aren’t necessary here. People in this area are used to seeing women in hijab. People in Indiana would think that I’m a nun. I am very picky with the people I tell that I’m Muslim. It took a month and a half and there are still a couple people in my office that don’t know I’m Muslim. When it came to finding a Muslim for a speaking engagement though, guess who they looked to J me…..hahaha that was rather interesting.
Anyways though this was supposed to be about my telling my parents! I went home about three weeks ago, and I knew that I had to tell them. It was eating me up inside. I didn’t eat for three days before I went home, and I was just so incredibly nervous. I was having panic attacks and alternating between sleeping all the time and not sleeping at all, and it was all I could think about when I was awake, and when I was asleep I was dreaming of the worst-case scenario. It really wasn’t a good situation. People kept telling me, either, don’t tell them, or trust God.
After I returned home, I was making a grilled cheese sandwich and my mother said something, I can’t remember what having to do with religion and looking into ‘Muslim’. I first couldn’t believe that she already knew I was looking into Islam and secondly couldn’t believe how uninformed about Islam she was. I told her not to tell my dad, so of course she leans over and yells out the window ‘hey John, I have something to tell you’. He comes over and is like ‘what’? My mom says in all her glory ‘your daughter is studying Muslim’ ….I about died, but I replied ‘Islam mom, its Islam.’ “Oh…she’s studying Islam then’. My father’s response was… “Where did you want to me to plant this?” I almost died with relief.
When I went to pray my mom wanted to see my hijab and all of my Islamic paraphernalia that I had cleverly hidden in a backpack. I showed her and she was moderately interested. See, my parents have always taught my brother and I to be the most open minded, kind, charitable people that we are able to be, to ignore the chains of modern society and be our own person. Because of this, my mother now has a Wiccan son and a Muslim daughter. I think she is quite happy.
While at home, my mother was making mac and cheese with ham in it and I explained that I didn’t eat ham and explained why. She the proceeded to make me my own little batch with no ham in it. When I left, I left her a book to read and that she did read and apparently took to heart. See, I am convinced that my mother would be a wonderful Muslim. After reading my book, she says out of solidarity with me, she stopped eating pork or anything containing pork products. The one thing is that she forgot to tell me this lol. I found out through my moms friend. I was completely shocked. My mother loved ham and all that stuff, and I cried because I realized that moment how much my mother loved me and would always support me, unless I became a Republican. That would seriously be the only way to get disowned in my family. Anyways, inshaAllah I can show my mother the way, and she can become a Muslim. I know that it’s in her heart, and I can show her the path. Salaam Aleykum brothers and sisters. Thank you for your support
Please e-mail me with any comments because it will take a year to find any on here...thanks

[kadafi]

:sl:

Subhan'Allah sis leena.noor, that has to be one of the most inspiring revert story that I've read so far. All Praise is due to Allah. Welcome to Islam sis. Insha'Allah, with Allah's guidance, I pray to Allah SWT that your mother also embraces this wonder way of life.

Jazaka'Allah Khairun for sharin' sis and once again, welcome!!

By the way, Ansar :), that's her story!

:w:

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

A Jewish Man's Story of Finding Islam

Odyssey to Islam
By Dr. Moustafa Mould

After a spiritual journey of almost 40 years, a Boston Jewish linguist finds Islam in Africa.

An odyssey is a long, wandering journey. The word comes from Odysseus (in Latin, Ulysses) a hero of the Homeric epic poem, The Odyssey. His journey home took ten years and was fraught with many mishaps, detours, dangers and adventures. In retrospect, my road to Islam – my journey home- seems like an odyssey. As I look back over my life, from my early childhood up until I finally made shahadah, a journey of almost 40 years, it seems that there were many signs, many turning points, many incidents, some significant, some trivial, that were all preparing me for and pointing the way to Islam.

I grew up in Boston. It was very much a Catholic city, mostly Irish and Italian, with small but significant communities of blacks, Jews, Chinese, Greeks, Armenians and Christians Arabs, and in those days especially, each group had its own neighborhood. There were lots of Greek and Syrian restaurants, and I grew up loving Greek salad, shish kebob, lahm mishwi, kibbi, grape leaves, humus, anything with lamb, etc.

My family were mostly working-class, conservative Jews. My grandparents had fled the anti-Semitism and pogroms of czarist Russia around 1903. They and their families had found work in the sweatshops of the garment district, a few were in craft skills, and they were quite active in their labor unions. I was to become the first in my family to get a university degree. Our home was not strictly kosher, but we would never dream of eating pork. All the holidays and fasts were observed, and for years I went to the synagogue every Saturday and holiday with my father and uncle.

The synagogue we belonged to was conservative, close to orthodox but modernist: it was very traditional, but women were not totally segregated. I began " Madrasah" Hebrew school) at age six. It was 1948, which saw the birth of the state of Israel, and Zionist propaganda filled the atmosphere, as did conversations and sermons about the Nazis and concentration camps, and there were many recent immigrant refugee survivors.

At that time there was still a lot of anti-Semitism in the U.S., especially in the South and the Midwest, but also in Boston. The Greeks, Syrians and Italians were fine, but the Boston Irish were a big problem, dating back to my parents’ generation in WWI and the 1920s. During my childhood I was often chased , spat on, insulted and beaten. They even held me down and pulled my pants down - in addition to the humiliation they wanted to see what a circumcision looked like.

My Hebrew teachers were two Israeli brothers, who were orthodox, and veterans of the 1948 war. From them I learned modern Hebrew and absorbed a lot of Zionist ideology along with the religious teachings. I became more religious and an avid Zionist. I believed that Jews needed their own country in case of another Hitler - those Irish kids were doing nothing to allay my fears and I did not feel "at home" in America. I decided I would go and spend my life on a kibbutz ( communal farm).

My father was a musician and a cantor (prayer leader). He had a beautiful tenor voice, preferred the more traditional, rather oriental, melodies, and chanted the prayers with lots of huzn (sorrow) ( when I learned that word recently I began to wonder if it might be related to Hebrew hazan = ‘cantor’). In our synagogue, the Torah reader used a very oriental sounding tajwid which I loved listening to.
Believe it or not, I recently heard a friend reciting from the Qur’an and it sounded almost identical.

One thing that stands out clearly in my memory, even now during salah, is that in the Jewish prayers there are regular references to prostration (sujud). In fact, it is a custom in the more orthodox synagogues that during Yom Kippur , the holiest fast day and the equivalent of ‘Ashurah’ , the cantor, on behalf of the congregation, actually makes sujud, while still chanting. This is no mean feat, and my father, with his powerful voice, did it extremely well. I remember thinking then that it would be really nice if we all actually did prostrate, instead of just bowing as a symbolic sujud.

Around the age of eight or nine, I chanced to discover a radio station that broadcast programs of the local ethnic communities. I began to listen to the Yiddish, Greek and Armenian ones, and especially to the Arabic Hour. I fell in love with the music and the sound of the language. Using the Hebrew I knew, I tried to understand the news and figure out the sound correspondences; I noticed the differences between hamzah and ‘ayn, kh and h, k and q, distinctions which modern Hebrew has lost. This greatly improved my Hebrew spelling and I won prizes in Hebrew class. I also remember helping my friends cheat during spelling tests by repeating the words under my breath in an "Arabic " accent.

By High School, I had discovered the Boston Public Library and its record section: besides classical, I discovered ethnic folk music from all over the world, but I especially gravitated to the Middle Eastern: Arabic, Turkish, Persian, then Indian-Pakistani. I learned to identify various regional styles, instruments and rhythms. I most loved the ‘oud, and I taught myself to play the dumbeg and accompany the recordings. Once, a group of Yemeni Jews came to Boston from Israel to perform folk songs and dances. I was fascinated by their appearance, costumes and music. They even pronounced Hebrew like me during a spelling test.

I mention all these little things because there is an undeniable cultural component to Islam: the language, the melodies of adhan and Qur’an, social interactions and other features, which are really quite exotic and strange to the average Westerner, including westernized Jews, but which, by the time I encountered them years later in a different context, were already very familiar and pleasant to me, even to the point of nostalgia, and which helped make Islam easier for me to accept and follow. More on that later.

My best friend in high school was also a strong influence on me. He read a lot of philosophy, poetry and religious literature. I didn’t care much for the first two, but I did read some of the religious writings, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist – and the Qur’an. I noticed that its stories were quite similar to the Bible stories, but I felt it was anti-Jewish. I was quite impressed, though, by its depiction of Jesus as a prophet, not just a rabbi. I accepted that, and that became my answer to my Catholic classmates when they would ask me what I believed about Jesus. They seemed not too displeased by that.

I also attended an advanced "Madrasah", studying Jewish history, Hebrew, Torah, and added Aramaic and Talmud ( Jewish fiqh); the languages, though were still my chief interest. Also around that time, age fifteen, I lost my faith, my belief in God. Earlier, I’d concluded that if God commands us to do certain things, how can I not do them; so I tried to be more orthodox. Then, one day I found myself saying, if God says to do all this I must; but what if there is no God? Do I believe in God? I really don’t know, maybe not, I guess not. And if God doesn’t exist, I don’t need to be doing all this stuff. And I stopped.

You can well imagine how upset my father was. Many people, particularly Roman Catholics and fundamentalist Protestants who grow up in a harsh religious environment, full of the threat of Hellfire and ****ation, beaten by the nuns at school and made to feel guilty about things that are merely a part of fitrah ( nature) – like their bodies - are happy to get out of the religion, become very anti-religion, and feel freed as if from a prison. My feeling was not like that; I felt sad, more like I’d suffered a loss, but there was nothing I could do; I knew it would be comforting to believe, but I couldn’t. Throughout the 60’s and 70’s I occasionally got these gnawing feelings and yearnings.

As Jeffrey Lang said in his book about his conversion to Islam, there is an emptiness and a loneliness that an atheist feels, which people of faith cannot understand. The world is absurd, an accident. Science has, or will have, all the answers, but life has no real meaning or significance. Death is final. You can have influence and an impact on the world through your children; you can do well, be remembered in the history books for hundreds, even thousands of years; when the sun dies mankind may colonize other star systems, maybe even other galaxies.

But ultimately, even if it takes 15 Billion years, the universe itself will die, or collapse into a black hole or whatever, and the end is absolute nothingness, the only thing that is infinite is a void. Life, then, is meaningless and death frightening. Truth and morality can become relative, which may lead to moral confusion, hedonism, and worse. But instead of the contempt for religious people that many atheists claim to feel, I respected them, and often envied them the security, the certainty, the comfort they experienced.

I went overnight from almost orthodox to an atheist, though I still loved Jewish languages, culture, music, food, history. I was an "ethnic " Jew, and still a Zionist. Zionism was still largely a political philosophy, not so much a religious one. In fact, at that time there was still significant opposition to Zionism among many of the orthodox. The current religious, messianic type Zionism really didn’t develop until 1967 – 1973 when Israel seized Jerusalem. I also decided I wanted to be a historical linguist specializing in Semitic languages; but then the universities I chose didn’t accept me, and the one that did didn’t offer Arabic, or even linguistics.

At my university in the early 60’s, I came into contact with a wider variety of people. For the first time I knew a large numbers of Protestants, more blacks, and most of the few foreign students, a couple of were Muslim. I was no longer encountering anti-Semitism, and I was beginning to enjoy and appreciate the diversity of Americans and my exposure to the international students. By the end of my sophomore year I was eating bacon and pork chops; at the same time I helped organize and was the president of the campus chapter of the Student Zionist Organization. I was New England vice president in my senior year.

Many of us were politically left-wing, coming from working class families whose spectrum ranged from liberal democrat to communist. We were pro-labor and the American Civil Liberties Union, anti-McCarty, Nixon, the House Un-American Activities Committee. We revered Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hubert Humphrey and Adlai Stevenson. We were into labor Zionism and the kibbutzim. One thing I want to emphasize, because of the profound effect it had on me years later: at that time most Jews were still socialists or liberal democrats, many were still working class, not quite so successful as now. I clearly remember right-wing Herut party, their expansionist ideology and terrorist activities in the 40’s. We considered them fanatics and lunatics.

I took a seminar on the Middle East. At nineteen I thought I knew everything. My professor was Syrian, and I think a Muslim. I was going to teach him a few things. He was remarkably patient and tolerant with me, considering his obvious anti-Zionist, anti-Israel position. His criticisms of my papers were objective and mild, mainly that they were too one sided. I began to pay more attention to the other side, and I realized how much propaganda I’d absorbed and how much information had been ignored, if not hidden from us. I didn’t get a very good grade, but I learned a great deal. Professor Haddad made much of the rest of my life, secular and religious, possible.

At the same time, I was becoming more and more involved in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam war movements. I joined the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the NAACP, and participated in sit-ins at lunch counters. I helped found our campus chapter of the then mildly radical Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). I majored in government, taking several courses in constitutional law and international relations. I went to Washington, D.C. in August, 1963, in the March on Washington and was standing about 60 feet from Dr. King when he made that wonderful speech.

I’d lost my faith at 15; by 22 I’d lost Zionism. I still had my ethnic heritage, though I’d begun to feel uncomfortable with the clannishness of many Jews. I felt like a normal American fighting for American causes. I prepared to be a social studies teacher, but the job market was not good. After two years of substituting, and a temporary position at my old high school, I joined the Peace Corps, for the adventure and idealism improved my job prospects later – and to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam. I was selected to go to Uganda, East Africa.

I was extremely happy in that beautiful country, living where the Nile flows out of Lake Victoria, teaching students who wanted to learn in a society where teachers were respected. I was learning new languages and cultures. I developed a taste for African and Indian-Pakistani cuisine. Since there wasn’t much else to do in a small, up-country town, I began going to Indian movies. I particularly liked Mohammed Rafi, the famous playback singers, especially his qawalis; he reminded me of my father’s cantorial music. I also enjoyed the Islamic, Omani Arab ambience I found on the coast: Mombassa, Dar es-Salam, Zanzibar.

It was the first time not in a Hollywood (or Bombay) movie that I heard the adhan. Even in the movies its plaintive melodies always sent a thrill through my body. I was learning two African languages, Swahili and Luganda. Swahili was a very easy one for me; over half its vocabulary is from Arabic and practically the same as Hebrew. But Swahili is a Bantu language, and I was fascinated by the similarities and differences between Swahili and Luganda. I made up my mind: here was my (last?) chance to do what I’d always wanted – linguistics – but now with Bantu instead of Semitic languages. I applied to graduate school.

I returned home through the Middle East and Europe – first stop Israel. It was 1969. I was no longer a Zionist, but even so, I was surprised at how disappointed I was. I know that part of it was the culture shock of leaving a small, up-country African town, people and a job that I loved; still, I was surprised by the brusqueness and arrogance of the Israelis I met – much like the American stereotype of the French. From an archaeological and historical perspective it was a good experience, but I couldn’t get over how alienated I felt from the culture and from what were supposed to be my people.

I refused on principle to visit the West Bank – that was before they started building settlements – except for East Jerusalem; I couldn’t resist that. Standing at the wall of Solomon’s temple, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa gave me an intense feeling I could not describe at the time. I can describe it now: I was sensing a feeling of holiness; it’s no wonder the Islamic name is Al-Quds. But it upset me a great deal to see first-hand the discrimination and second-class status of the Palestinians, even the citizens. I had grown up in an American subculture where Jews had always been in the forefront of civil rights, labor and civil liberties struggles. To me, what I found in Israel wasn’t Jewish.

The next ten years, ’69 - ’79, I spent in Los Angeles. I had missed 1968, one of the most important and turbulent years in modern American history. Though not surprised, I was very disheartened upon my return to the U.S. Blacks were separating from Whites by choice; SDS had become a bunch of raving Maoists, free speech was degenerating into filthy speech. I couldn’t be political again, except for an occasional anti-war or anti-Nixon demonstration. I was both attracted to and repelled by the hedonism of 70s California. I was tempted to indulge and half-heartedly did so, but - thank God for my fitrah and my good Jewish upbringing – I didn’t go very far; I mostly grew my hair and beard long. I was too absorbed in my studies, getting my doctorate, teaching, getting married then divorced, and looking for a decent academic position.

Two things during that decade are relevant tom this story. Briefly, the Likud government in Israel, the building of settlements and the brutal treatment of the Palestinians, not to mention its alliance with South Africa, revolted and infuriated me, and turned me from a non-Zionist to a vocal anti-Zionist. Even worse to me was the knee-jerk support of the American Jewish community, which I’d though would oppose Likud at least quietly. Didn’t we all agree just a few years before that Begin and his ilk were lunatics?!

Many of the settlers interviewed on the TV news were obviously American Jews. How could they have grown up in this country with these American - and Jewish - values, live through the civil rights revolution, and go do what they were doing there? There was more Jewish opposition in Israel than there was in the U.S. I felt betrayed, ashamed, disgusted. There were, of course - and are - other Jews who felt as I did, mainly those on the left, but only a few spoke out. Notable were I.F. Stone, a radical journalist and one of my heroes, and Noam Chomski, whose political writings on the Vietnam war and Palestine were as revolutionary as his theory of linguistics.

In 1979, recently divorced, unable to land a tenure-track position, and missing Africa, I returned as an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Nairobi. My father has passed away just a couple of months before I was to leave. I became friends with several faculty members, particularly my department chairman and a history professor, both Muslims from Mombassa, and the Arabic professor, my Sudanese next-door neighbor. I often ate lunch in the faculty dining room with them, and out of respect for them (and embarrassment, because I knew they knew I was a Jew) I never ate pork when I was with them. Before long I stopped eating pork completely. We often discussed the Middle East, Islam and Judaism, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they could be anti-Israel without being anti-Jewish; they were surprised that I could be a Jew and anti-Israel.

Having more time on my hand than I’d enjoyed in a long time, I decided to catch up on my ever-growing reading list. I re-read the Bible: the Old Testament to clarify some confusion about chronology in ancient history, the New Testament because I never had and I though I ought to.

I re-read the Qur’an. I knew nothing then of the early Islamic history. Sirah or Hadith, but I appreciated it more this time. I got that reaction again, though; why does it have to be so critical of the Jews; but, my memory recently refreshed, I recalled that the Torah itself and the rest of the Old Testament were equally critical, if not more so, than the Qur’an.

But didn’t the Jews finally learn their lesson and truly become the People of the Book when they were expelled from Israel and Jerusalem the second time, and when the rabbis, synagogues and prayers replaced the priests, temple and sacrifices? What was it, then, about the Jews of Madinah; they were clearly reprehensible but they sounded so different from us European Jews, even from the Sephardi Jews of the time of the Caliphs; had they, like the Ethiopian and Chinese Jews, lacked the Talmud? I’m still curious about that. Anyway, that insight was later to prove to be a barrier removed.

Someone wise once said that if your faith is weak, just pretend to have faith, and that will strengthen it. Africans, whether Christian, Muslim or Pagan, are spiritual people. To be an atheist is incomprehensible and ridiculous to them. Knowing this, I never said I was an atheist when questioned - as I constantly was- About my religion. I would reply that of course I believed in God, one God, but not in any particular religion. I was almost true, or at least what I wanted to believe if I could. I cannot say that I had a sudden flash of inspiration, like Paul on the road to Damascus, or a near-death experience ( I did have two, but without religious effect). It seems to me that, just by saying it and pretending it, it gradually came back to me.

I’d become a deist, like another hero of mine, Thomas Jefferson. Maybe I would join the Unitarian Church, a popular group, especially in New England, which accepts Jesus as a prophet, and which includes many socially conscious, formerly Jewish and Trinitarian Christian, liberal intellectuals.

Another contributing factor was my joining at that time the Nairobi symphony orchestra/chorus. It was an amateur group but they were excellent. I’d gone with some friends to their Easter concert to hear them perform the Mozart Requiem – music for a funeral mass. That music, intensely religious, was gorgeous, sublime awe-inspiring and inspirational. It wasn’t only the beauty of the music, though it was a major part, but the message – glorifying God, speaking of death, resurrection, the final Judgment and eternal life – moved me to tears. The next day I went and signed up to sing in the chorus.

For the next three years I sang other masterpieces: masses, requiems, oratorios – Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Verdi. It is all Christian, and some of it of course makes reference to Jesus as divine, but those words had no effect on m e; I was just helping make beautiful music. But the parts that spoke of God did touch me deeply and helped me gradually regain my faith and belief in Him. Of course today I would not sing such things as " I know that my redeemer liveth," but consider the beauty and power of "The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, and he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah (=’Alhamdulillah’)."

Then I fell in love. She was Somali, intelligent, witty, charming, and a young widow with two handsome young sons. Her English was very limited then, and my Somali was non-existent, but we could communicate quite easily in Swahili. We discussed marriage, but there were a few practical problems.

I knew I could not stay much longer at the university of Nairobi; they were trying to africanize it as quickly a possible, and to them I was just another white foreigner. Before I got much older I needed a new job, probably a new career, maybe with the State Department or a non-profit agency. From her point of view the obstacle was simply I was a not a Muslim. I had mistakenly though that any Muslim could marry one of the People of the Book; she set me straight on that very quickly; men yes, women, no.

She was telling me about Islam, and I'd learned some things from my colleagues and others. I already believed in the One God,. The Creator of the universe and all that is in it; I already believed in the Islamic concepts of tawhid and shirk and avoiding belief or trust in anything like astrology or palmistry; I’d long believed that Jesus was one of the prophets. I believed that I believed that Muhammad (pbuh) was a prophet ands a messenger, and it had long ceased to be relevant to me that Muhammad (pbuh) was not a Jewish prophet.

I’d stopped eating pork; I didn’t gamble, I rarely drank anything besides a glass of wine with an occasional gourmet dinner. I was, since my Peace Corps days, already more comfortable with African and Islamic notions of modesty, child rearing, etc. than with the "sexual revolution", and the me-ism and disintegrating families of the ‘70s and ‘80s America. There didn’t seem to be much to prevent me from becoming a Muslim. I was so close, so what, in 1983, was the problem?

In fact there were two. First, there was the matter of my identity and my heritage. I imagine that it is not so traumatic for a Christian to change from one religion to another. If a German Catholic becomes a Lutheran, or even a Jew or Muslim, he remains a German. I certainly felt like an American first and a Jew second – I could never consider myself Russian. But in America, nation of immigrants, even the most acculturated attach some importance to their families' national or ethnic origins. Even though I had no desire to deal with Jews as Jews or as a community, I was reluctant to lose that identity.

The second obstacle was my family. Though not orthodox, most were strongly traditional, all pro-Israel, some were avid Zionists; many considered Arabs as enemies, and I expected they would also consider Muslims as enemies. I feared they would disown me as crazy, even traitorous. Worst of all, because I still loved them, they would be hurt. First things first: I left that problem up in the air, and when my contract expired I did not renew it, but returned to the States hoping to find another job, preferably back in East Africa.

It was terribly hard. I had no home, no income, not even an interview suit. I invested in a wool suit, three ties and a winter coat – it was my first winter in twenty years – got books on how to write a resume and a SF171, and stayed with a friend in Washington, trying all the government agencies, consulting firms and PVOs that had anything to do with Africa, until my many ran out. I had to return to Boston and stay with my sister, where I had food and shelter, but it was far from where the jobs might be. In addition, I was going through a severe case of culture shock. So there I was: broke in Reaganomic America, in the winter, in culture shock on top of a mid-life crisis, in love – and on anti-depressants.

I can joke now, but the pain and fear were unbearable then. For the first time in my adult life I began to pray. I prayed often and hard. I vowed that, if I could get back to Africa and marry my beloved, I would declare my submission to Allah and become a Muslim.

I got a really awful temporary job in a warehouse that at least paid for food, bus fares and dry cleaning, then a better, but embarrassing one as a receptionist in the counseling office at a local college. I could see that the four yuppie psychologists figured me for some 42-year-old loser, and I pretty much agreed with them. Out of embarrassment I didn’t tell anything about myself, but when the phone wasn’t ringing off the hook with students panicking over mid-terms, I was reading job notices and typing applications letters. I found that a government agency was hiring ESL teachers for Egypt - close enough - and I applied immediately.

A week later another agency I’d applied to six months earlier invited me to D.C. for interviews. As soon as I got to Washington I called about the ESL jobs to see if I could get an interview, "as long as I’m in Town." The jobs were already filled! Can I meet you anyway, in case something comes up later? OK, four o’clock? Great. She apologized – my resume had been misplaced – and would definitely keep me in mind. Thank you , delighted to meet you.

As I was leaving, she said hesitantly, "By the way, there is one position opening soon, but it’s in Somalia."

"Somalia!" I nearly shouted, " That’s wonderful!"

"Is it ?" she asked incredulously.

"Sure, I’d love to go there. I’m already familiar with the culture and the religion," I said aloud, but thinking to myself how it’s only an hour from Mogadishu to Nairobi, and how maybe I’d get to meet my future family in-laws.

I told her my references, all of whom she knew personally. She would call them, and as far as she was concerned if I wanted the job I could probably have it. I finished up my interviews at the other agency. They even showed me the cubicle in windowless office where I would probably be working, and I returned to Boston, elated. I might even have a choice, praise God. But what a choice it was: a one year renewable contract at a hot, dusty – but African – hardship post on the Indian Ocean, or a career civil service job with a pension plan in a windowless office in northern Virginia.

Two weeks later, she called to offer me the job of English program director in Mogadishu, would I take it, I had 48 hours to think it over. Everyone said it was a no-brainer; I should take the career job with pension in Washington, otherwise I’d be back t square one in a year or two. I argued that I was an Africanist, the experience would help me and I’d make good contacts. I accepted the job and starting getting my shots. A couple of weeks later the other agency sent me a brief note, no explanation, informing me I did not get the windowless job.

Alhamdulillah, Allahu ‘alim. I could so easily have ended up with neither, but Allah had guided me to the right decision. I was employed. I was a person. I might even getting married. I gave my notice at the college, and on the last day I typed a letter to the psychologists informing them that I was leaving to take up a position as a project direct at the United States Embassy in Somalia, signed M. Mould, Ph.D. Of course I "had to" stop off in Nairobi for a few days on my way to Mogadishu.

We had a tearful reunion and tried to make some future plans. I’d been hired as a single man, no chance of benefits or housing for a family, and I had no idea what Somalia or my job would be like or how long I would be there. For the time being, I’d remain a single man in Nairobi. Maybe I could visit often, and there was always the phone. Maybe she could come and visit her family, whom she hadn’t seen since childhood.

The job was interesting, a little teaching, but mostly administration and management, and dealing with embassy officials. Most of my own students were senior government officials and a few of them became good friends. Outside of work was a whole different story. The culture and atmosphere in urban Somalia is more Middle Eastern than African. During my seven years in Uganda and Kenya I knew the languages, people were open and friendly, and I never had trouble adjusting or getting around; I’d always felt completely at home.

Mogadishu gave me culture shock. I didn’t know the language, no one knew Swahili, educated Somalis knew Italian, not English. All the signs were in Somali. The worst thing was communications. Home phones were overcrowded, sweltering post office. Only telegraph service was usually efficient. The mail was totally unreliable except for the diplomatic pouch. It was impossible to contact Nairobi.

Don’t get me wrong. I was quite happy there, enjoying the sights and smells, the Italian and Somali food, my views of the ocean, which was within walking distance of my house and my office, discovering a new culture. I was living downtown, in one of the older sections, behind the Italian embassy, and I was awakened early morning by a beautiful adhan from the loudspeaker of a nearby mosque. We worked a Muslim schedule: Sunday – Thursday, 7 – 3. On Fridays I would walk around and often found myself outside a little mosque behind the American Embassy, and while myrrh and frankincense drifted from the doorways in the alleys I would stop and listen to the sounds of Jumu’ah.

The first thing I noticed was the murmuring of many voices as men read from the Qur’an while waiting for the imam to give the khutbah. I was instantly transported back in my mind to my old synagogue and the identical susurrus of old men reading from the Psalms (Zabur) at the start of morning prayers. It gave me a comfortable and comforting feeling of nostalgia. A little while later, walking back the other way, I would hear the imam reciting a surah. It sounded much like the Torah readings I’d enjoyed on Saturday mornings, again comforting and nostalgic. Not that it made me want to return to any synagogue; rather, it made Islam feel more comfortable and familiar to me.

I’m a linguist, and had been a specialist in field research. I found a book on beginning Italian and, there being no grammar in English on Somali, I hired myself a tutor, who was a better friend than a teacher. I quickly learned the greetings, common nouns, and verbs, kinship terms, numbers and telling time. Some of the vocabulary, borrowed from Arabic, was just like Swahili and Hebrew. Somali is also very distantly related to Semitic languages. The grammar was something else, though, really hard to figure out, and as I got busier and more tired at work, our lessons turned more to conversations about culture, politics and religion.

He was knowledgeable enough to distinguish between genuine Islam and some prevalent aspects of indigenous, pre-Islamic culture and superstition that had bothered me.
Before long, he offered to bring a sheikh to my home so that I could make the shahada. Despite my vow I still felt hesitation, thinking of my family. But they were ten thousand miles away, my fiancée a few hundred, and I was living in, being touched by and feeling comfortable with this Muslim society. I had good friends and colleagues, and it was clear to me that much of their goodness was due to Islam.

I asked him to bring the sheikh and he did. He questioned me about my beliefs, and I told him I’d been a Jew, not a Christian ( no problems with the trinity), and that I’d long ago given up pork, alcohol, gambling and zina, and after he was convinced that I understood what I was about to say and knew the five pillars, I declared the shahadah. My fiancée had suggested the name Mustafa, which I liked very much.

After all the hesitation and procrastination I felt enormous relief, and a restored sense of belonging that I’d missed more than I’d realized. All my Somali friends were of course delighted and very supportive.

They began calling me seedi (‘brother-in-law’). As soon as I could get away I bought some gold jewelry and flew to Nairobi. To get married I had to go to the office of the chief qadi and declare the shahadah again, with witnesses, in order to get an official certificate of conversion, there being no such thing in Somalia.

We went to the qadi and made our nikah. A couple of days later I had to fly back to Mogadishu and my work. Less than a year later, at 43, I was overjoyed and blessed by Allah to become the father of a wonderful Muslim baby boy. I flew to Nairobi, and after a brief discussion we agreed on my wife’s suggestion for a name. Now I even had a kunya (nick name); I was Abu Khalid, and he was named after the great Companion, Khalid Ibn Al-Walid.

You are probably wondering if I told my family about my converting to lslam, and the answer is, not for quite some time. Of course I told my family about my marriage and they were neither surprised or upset.

I was a middle-aged man who ought to know what he was doing, and they were mainly happy for the sake of my happiness. When Khalid was born they were positively delighted and were most eager to meet him and his mother. When Khalid was a little over a year old, I went to Boston on my vacation and brought my wife and son with me. The two boys, Ali and Yusuf, were away at a Muslim boarding school in north-eastern Kenya.

The reception was as warm and loving as anyone could wish for and we had a great visit. There's no question that a baby, especially a grandson, has a most salutary and beneficial effect on people. My wife had brought little gifts for my mother, sister and aunts, and they all had little gifts for her. I suppose they all assumed, as I had once done, that Muslim can marry a Jew or Christian. They knew my wife and our sons were Muslims, that Khalid was being raised as a Muslim, and they had no problem with that.

They knew I hadn’t been a practicing Jew for nearly thirty years, and I’d married a non-Jew before. I’d decided that if they asked I wouldn’t lie, and if they didn’t I’d just wait for a more opportune time – some other time. A few years ago they finally asked me and I told them. I cannot say they were pleased, but neither were they surprised, angry or cold to me, and we still have warm, loving relationships.

Another year, another contract went by, and then I lost my job. Like the new Pharaoh "who knew not Joseph", a new director came, who saw no value in the English programs and decided to end them. I kind of saw it coming and had applied for a similar job in Yemen, so I didn't fight it very hard, but in the end the job in San’a fell through, and, as my family had predicted, I was back to square one – well, not quite.

In 1988, leaving my family in Nairobi, I returned to the States alone and jobless. It was again vary tough (winter, too), but this time I had some savings, new skills and a stronger resume, I knew better how to job-hunt; I knew my way around Washington and had a few contacts. I still had the suit. Best of all, I had my faith instead of anti-depressants. I quickly got a couple of part-time teaching jobs and a job in a men’s store. The teaching jobs dried up, so I sold suits full-time for over three years, always looking for a better job, but finally – it took two years – I managed to bring my family over and we did our best, trusting in Allah.

Then, four years ago, a Muslim neighbor told us about a new Islamic institute that had recently opened, where they were looking for an English teacher. I immediately called, made an appointment and met the director. By the grace of Allah I was hired to teach some of the staff and do some editorial work. Ironically, I am now in a cubicle in a windowless office in northern Virginia, but what a difference!

I am in an Islamic environment, surrounded and inspired by good Muslim brothers, many of them excellent scholars and all of whom I love and respect very much, and whom I learn from daily. And what is my job? To read books on Islam, to edit manuscripts on Islam, to write about what I read. In essence, I am being paid to study Qur’an, Hadith, ‘aqidah, Fiqh, Sirah, Islamic history and Arabic. I thank and praise Allah every day for leading me to Islam and for showering me with all these blessings. Alhamdulillah, ash-shukrulillahi Rabbil-‘alamin.

[Khattab]

JERUSALEM - Joseph Cohen moved from the United States to Israel as a devout Jew in 1998, but within three years he had converted to Islam and become Yosef Mohammed Khatib, a supporter of the militant Hamas, according to a report broadcast Thursday on Israel TV.

Now he refuses to say the word Israel, choosing instead to call the area "Palestine." His four children study the Quran, the Muslim holy book, instead of the Torah, its Jewish counterpart.

It was while living in the desert town of Netivot that Khatib met a sheik from the United Arab Emirates through an Internet chat about Israel. Khatib said he spent hours corresponding with the sheik, discussing theology. Gradually he began to see Judaism as racist and turned toward Islam after reading the Quran, he told Channel 10 TV. The report did not say where he lived in the United States or give his age.

Last year he told his wife of 10 years, Luna, also a devout Jew from the United States, that he wanted to convert to Islam.

"I said, `Listen, I love you very much ... and I have to be honest with you,'" Khatib said in the TV interview. "I read the Quran and I agree with everything it says in the Quran, and if I continue saying that I'm a religious Jew, I would be a liar."

The family converted together and moved from Netivot to an Arab neighborhood in east Jerusalem. The children went from being top in their classes on Judaism studies to being well-versed in Islam, he said.

Instead of supporting the Israeli Orthodox Jewish political party Shas, Khatib now supports the radical Islamic Hamas and believes an Islamic state should be set up where Israel and the Palestinian areas are now located.

He praised Hamas for setting up social services for Palestinians but dodged questions about the other side of the Islamic group — suicide bombings and other attacks against Israelis. The United States has declared Hamas a terror group.

Khatib differed from most Israelis and Americans in his views about Osama bin Laden, the top suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington.

"I think that he's number one, Muslim number one," Khatib said with a strong New York accent about bin Laden. "But I don't think that he's responsible for the World Trade Center (attacks)."

Wearing the white skullcap and robes of a religious Muslim, Khatib denied his Jewish past, insisting that he is 100 percent Muslim. He made a parody of a blessing that observant Jews say every morning, in which they thank God for not making them gentiles.

"Blessed are Thou, Lord Our God," Khatib began in the traditional Jewish blessing, but ended it with, "for not making me a Jew."

Live Dialogue here: http://www.islamonline.net/livedialo...GuestID=KzI47I

[Khattab]

By Sarah de Andrade Siqueira


I have always kept interest in the Muslim world; it passed to me a sense of peace. On the Brazilian Educative TV I watched a documentary about the life in some Muslim country. Those mystery women dressed in those beautiful long clothes and veils raised my curiosity. When a Muslim woman mentioned that it is not a matter of culture only but that her religion was a complete way of life (Deen), I wanted to know more.

The idea of a religion ruling all aspects of humankind’ way of life is not common where I live, not to mention having anything to do with economy, politics and social issues.

I decided to look into Islam. My first question was: How could I do this? No books were available at my University or in the bookshops.

1999 I earned my Bachelors degree in Languages. It was a moment that brought tears in my eyes, because my beloved family always did a lot of efforts to provide me with the best education they could, despite of our humble life. The present my parents chose to give me upon that was a computer. They saved long months to be able to pay for the gift they thought would enable me pursue a career. When I saw those big boxes in my room I felt such gratitude to them.

Now I could access the Internet and be able know more about Islam. I was surfing on the web looking for information when I came across Yusuf Islam’s (formerly Cat Stevens) website. After I read about his journey to Islam and how a famous pop star could give up the great world of music and find his certainty on the straight path. He chose Islam as a way of life based on pure love, charity, humbleness and the submission to the one and only God. When I listened to Yusuf’s lecture named “One God, One Community” my appreciation for Islam became greater than before. Since that day I have been studying Islam with an eager will to learn about the pillars of Islamic faith and way of life as well.

When I had a blessed opportunity to read the Holy Qur’an which narrates with scientific accuracy the development of the baby in mother’s womb, since his first moments of life; I have decided to embrace Islam. Beyond this, I also have to say that the submission to only one God and the complete way of life established by Allah through his last Prophet Muhammad had touched my heart.

During my “web Islamic research” I have met in an Arab chat room some Muslim friends, who helped me a lot in my journey to Islam, Alhamdulilah. The one I met first was a Sudanese Muslim student, who taught me my first words in Arabic language and always was by my side (with the famous web instant messengers), despite our distance, to solve my doubts in respect of Muslim women issues. The other one was a brother from Egypt, who was amazed with my path to Islam and gave me a blessed help shipping to me the Holy Qur’an (a bilingual version in English and Arab), the prayer carpet, books about Islam and even Hijabs, to allow me to practice the beautiful and honored concept of Islamic Modesty. My parents, are Christian, however they never opposed my religious choice-God bless them.

I thought there were no Islamic Centers in my Brazilian city. All websites about Islam I had visited were not Brazilian either and few of those I’ve found in Portuguese refer to Islamic Societies far away from my home. Hence, Allah and my Sudanese sister were my witness that I had embraced Islam.

After sometime, Alhamdulilah I have found an Islamic website developed by a Brazilian sister, who gave me the brilliant information that there was a small, but very serious and lovely Muslim Society in my hometown. She introduced me to The Imam and sisters there. It was a beautiful moment of my life, to get know a part of our Ummah in the city I was born and live in.

My mum is now considering converting to Islam. May Allah show her the right path. The last thing I would like to say from the bottom of my heart is:

“Ash Hadu Anlaa Illa Allah wa Ash Hadu Muhamadan Rasululah”

May Allah bless our Ummah!

[kadafi]

Yusuf Islam is the founder of Britain’s most Famous Muslim School Chain “Islamia Schools”, his company Small Kindness supports thousands of orphans and children around the world, Is a active participant in the Campaign against Aids, Is the author of several Islamic Booklets and Audio/Video Lectures, His company MOL has produced many video/audio cassettes CD’S Of songs about “World Peace and Harmony”. But his past was very different.

Ex Cat Stevens was one of the Greatest British POP/Folk Singer-songwriter, at just 19 His first solo album Matthew And Son was a hit, after which many of his songs reached at first position in Britain as well as America even against stiff competition by the “Beetles”. Still a teen he was every were ,media was after him ,fans were crying for him .He was in the front cover of many world magazines including Rolling Stones .His name was taken with the “Beetles”, “Rolling Stones”. He was declared as one of the “Golden Artist” of all time in the USA. In his Country he was just sensation .In a short music career he sold more then 40 million LPs through out the world.

Born in London in 1948 to a Swedish mother and a Greek Cypriot father, Stephen Demetri Georgiou aka Cat Stevens was educated in Sweden, where he studied native songs and dances as well as classical music. He grew up in the city, amidst the steady rumble of traffic, the rush and bustle that never stopped, the smoke and dirt, the bright lights and the few patches of grey grass.

Cat himself writes” I was brought up in the modern world of all the luxury and the high life of show business. I was born in a Christian home, but we know that every child is born in his original nature - it is only his parents that turn him to this or that religion. I was given this religion (Christianity) and thought this way. I was taught that God exists, but there was no direct contact with God, so we had to make contact with Him through Jesus - he was in fact the door to God. This was more or less accepted by me, but I did not swallow it all I looked at some of the statues of Jesus; they were just stones with no life. And when they said that God is three, I was puzzled even more but could not argue. I more or less believed it, because I had to have respect for the faith of my parents”


The boy and his parents were Greek, so the music played to him while growing up was the music of that wise and ancient country. Full of richness, emotions, joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, it was a good music to have as teacher (sic), and the boy learned well. As he grew older, the boy started to write his own music. He was very good, and before long he came to the attention of a very important man who knew how to make people famous. Now, not only was the boy very talented, he was also very handsome, so before very long he and his songs were well known from one end of the land to the other.

Still a young teen, fame and wealth was all over him. Huge number of people bought his songs and magazines printed pictures of him which girls stuck on their bedroom walls, so as to have him near them in their dreams. Tunes such as, "The First Cut Is The Deepest "I Love My Dog , "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun ", and "Here Comes My Baby ", were all highly representative of the diverse ability that this artist had to offer. Finally, in 1967 cat was only 19, there came his first album "Matthew & Son” It became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic and opened up many an ear and eye to the talent of the young man.
The boy became very famous, worked very hard at his new job, traveled a lot, appeared in a lot of shows, and wrote songs for other people, who in turn became famous.

But all the time the boy became more and more unhappy. The songs people wanted him to sing were not the songs he wanted to sing. He was writing songs which were far better than the ones he was famous for, and try as he would to change their minds, the people who controlled his fame and fortune did not want him to sing those songs. Then in 1969 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis .He was so ill in fact that when he saw a doctor he was told to spend at least three months in a hospital or he would die. So the boy went into the hospital for three months, and while he was there he was able to think seriously about himself and his life. He did not like what he saw in himself, and so he determined to make a complete break from the past

While recovering, Stevens underwent a spiritual crisis and began studying Eastern religions, practicing vegetarianism, and writing highly introspective songs.

Cat writes himself about the hospital time-

(”After a year of financial success and 'high' living, I became very ill, contracted TB and had to be hospitalized. It was then that I started to think: What was to happen to me? Was I just a body, and my goal in life was merely to satisfy this body? I realized now that this calamity was a blessing given to me by Allah, a chance to open my eyes - "Why am I here? Why am I in bed?" - and I started looking for some of the answers. At that time there was great interest in the Eastern mysticism. I began reading, and the first thing I began to become aware of was death, and that the soul moves on; it does not stop. I felt I was taking the road to bliss and high accomplishment. I started meditating and even became a vegetarian. I now believed in 'peace and flower power,' and this was the general trend. But what I did believe in particular was that I was not just a body. This awareness came to me at the hospital. One day when I was walking and I was caught in the rain, I began running to the shelter and then I realized, 'Wait a minute, my body is getting wet, my body is telling me I am getting wet.' This made me think of a saying that the body is like a donkey, and it has to be trained where it has to go. Otherwise, the donkey will lead you where it wants to go. Then I realized I had a will, a God-given gift: follow the will of God. I was fascinated by the new terminology I was learning in the Eastern religion. By now I was fed up with Christianity. I started making music again and this time I started reflecting my own thoughts. I remember the lyric of one of my songs. It goes like this: "I wish I knew, I wish I knew what makes the Heaven, what makes the Hell. Do I get to know You in my bed or some dusty cell while others reach the big hotel?" and I knew I was on the Path. I also wrote another song, "The Way to Find God Out." I became even more famous in the world of music. I really had a difficult time because I was getting rich and famous, and at the same time, I was sincerely searching for the Truth. Then I came to a stage where I decided that Buddhism is all right and noble, but I was not ready to leave the world. I was too attached to the world and was not prepared to become a monk and to isolate myself from society. I tried Zen and Ching, numerology, tarot cards and astrology. I tried to look back into the Bible and could not find anything. At this time I did not know anything about Islam, and then, what I regarded as a miracle occurred. My brother had visited the mosque in Jerusalem and was greatly impressed that while on the one hand it throbbed with life (unlike the churches and synagogues which were empty), on the other hand, an atmosphere of peace and tranquility prevailed”)

For more than a year he did not work, but concentrated on his new writing. The money he earned from his early fame was enough to give him complete freedom, and gradually what he felt to be the real him surfaced. Eventually, he was sure he was ready. A changed man, Stevens signed a new record deal with Island, who had just landed a U.S. distribution agreement with A&M, and began recording new material With the help of some friends and sympathetic people, he went into recording studios for a month and recorded a collection of his new songs.

Stevens' first A&M release, 1970's Mona Bone Jakon, was a solid album that established Stevens' new image as a sensitive singer-songwriter. His next record, Tea for the Tillerman, was released later that same year to overwhelming success. With the hit singles "Wild World" and "Father and Son," the album became an instant folk-pop classic and went to No. 1 in the U.S., earning gold status.

1971's Teaser and the Firecat repeated Tillerman's success and contained the international anti-war hit "Peace Train." The album also spawned a children's book and short film. 1972's Catch a Bull at Four was Stevens' first No. 1 album, and was followed the next year by The Foreigner, which went to No. 3.

He was in the front cover of many magazines including Rolling Stones .His name was already compared with the “Beetles”, “Rolling Stones”. He was declared as one of the “Golden Artist” of all time in the USA. In his Country he was just sensation. But then what happened was absolutely unexpected.

In 1973 Stevens' brother David visited Israel and, aware of his brother's fascination with religion, returned with a copy of the Quran as a souvenir. Cat Stevens Writes about the incident himself-

“When he came to London he brought back a translation of the Qur'an, which he gave to me. He did not become a Muslim, but he felt something in this religion, and thought I might find something in it also. And when I received the book, a guidance that would explain everything to me - who I was; what was the purpose of life; what was the reality and what would be the reality; and where I came from - I realized that this was the true religion; religion not in the sense the West understands it, not the type for only your old age. In the West, whoever wishes to embrace a religion and make it his only way of life is deemed a fanatic. I was not a fanatic, I was at first confused between the body and the soul. Then I realized that the body and soul are not apart and you don't have to go to the mountain to be religious. We must follow the will of God. Then we can rise higher than the angels. The first thing I wanted to do now was to be a Muslim. I realized that everything belongs to God, that slumber does not overtake Him. He created everything. At this point I began to lose the pride in me, because hereto I had thought the reason I was here was because of my own greatness. But I realized that I did not create myself, and the whole purpose of my being here was to submit to the teaching that has been perfected by the religion we know as Islam. At this point I started discovering my faith. I felt I was a Muslim. On reading the Qur'an, I now realized that all the Prophets sent by God brought the same message. Why then were the Jews and Christians different? I know now how the Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and that they had changed His Word. Even the Christians misunderstand God's Word and called Jesus the son of God. Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty of the Qur'an; it asks you to reflect and reason, and not to worship the sun or moon but the One Who has created everything. The Qur'an asks man to reflect upon the sun and moon and God's creation in general. Do you realize how different the sun is from the moon? They are at varying distances from the earth, yet appear the same size to us; at times one seems to overlap the other. Even when many of the astronauts go to space, they see the insignificant size of the earth and vastness of space. They become very religious, because they have seen the Signs of Allah. When I read the Qur'an further, it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt that the only answer for me was the Qur'an, and God had sent it to me, and I kept it a secret. But the Qur'an also speaks on different levels. I began to understand it on another level, where the Qur'an says, "Those who believe do not take disbelievers for friends and the believers are brothers." Thus at this point I wished to meet my Muslim brothers”)

From then right up to 1977 Cat Stevens composed and sang many hit records including Mathew and Son, Here Comes my Baby, Wild World, Morning has Broken and Moonshadow, selling over 40 million LPs throughout the world.

Finally in 1977 Stevens made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In December of that year Stevens formally converted to Islam at a London mosque, taking the new name Yusuf Islam. Cat Steven writes-

“Then I decided to journey to Jerusalem (as my brother had done). At Jerusalem, I went to the mosque and sat down. A man asked me what I wanted. I told him I was a Muslim. He asked what my name was. I told him, "Stevens." He was confused. I then joined the prayer, though not so successfully. Back in London, I met a sister called Nafisa. I told her I wanted to embrace Islam and she directed me to the New Regent Mosque. This was in 1977, about one and a half years after I received the Qur'an. Now I realized that I must get rid of my pride, get rid of Iblis, and face one direction. So on a Friday, after Jumma' I went to the Imam and declared my faith (the Kalima) at this hands. You have before you someone who had achieved fame and fortune. But guidance was something that eluded me, no matter how hard I tried, until I was shown the Qur'an. Now I realize I can get in direct contact with God, unlike Christianity or any other religion. As one Hindu lady told me, "You don't understand the Hindus. We believe in one God; we use these objects (idols) to merely concentrate." What she was saying was that in order to reach God, one has to create associates, that are idols for the purpose. But Islam removes all these barriers. The only thing that moves the believers from the disbelievers is the Salat(Prayers). This is the process of purification. Finally I wish to say that everything I do is for the pleasure of Allah and pray that you gain some inspirations from my experiences. Furthermore, I would like to stress that I did not come into contact with any Muslim before I embraced Islam. I read the Qur'an first and realized that no person is perfect. Islam is perfect, and if we imitate the conduct of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) we will be successful. May Allah give us guidance to follow the path of the ummah of Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). Ameen! ”

A&M released what was to be the last Cat Stevens album, Back to Earth, in early 1978; by 1979 Yusuf Islam had married and retired from pop music.

During the 1980s Islam settled in London with his wife and five children and became very involved in the local Muslim community, founding one of Britain's top Islamic school chains.

His Islamia School has become one of the most famous Muslim School. In 2000 ,Prince Charles visited his school ,congratulated Yusuf for his efforts towards the development of Peace And Harmony through education. And also declared himself a fan of Cat’s songs in 70’s.

In 1995 Yusuf established a company MOL(mountain of light) and released his first "record" since retiring from pop music, a two-CD set called The Life of the Last Prophet which features one disc of Muslim chanting and another disc of Yusuf Islam reading a 66-minute biography of Great Prophet Muhammad(pbuh). Though it was ignored in the West, the double-album reached No. 1 in Turkey and was a hit in most of the Muslim world.

Since then Yusuf has continued to release many albums for children, including recently released album for Iraqi Children, he has released many Video, Audio CD’S ,Cassetes of DA’WAH(Spreading the correct message of Islam).

His works include 30 plus DA’WAH Audio/video releases ,booklets on the different topics of Islam including Booklets on misconceptions of non-muslims towards Islam, has participated in many functions to discuss the message of Islam.He has and is working for many charity Trusts, collected money for Sep 11 victims, Kosovo Children, Iranian, Aids Charities. His own charity company Small Kindness is supporting 2,500 orphans of Kosovo, and working on 100-homes Project in Turkey, and with UNICEF Small Kindness is working for Iranian Children.

Official Site- www.yusufislam.org.uk

[kadafi]

Moved by the Prophetic Temperament:
Jewish Scholar Zaid ibn Su`nah Accepts Islam

The blessed Companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), Abdullah ibn Salaam (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that when Allah willed to guide Zaid ibn Su`nah (the great Jewish scholar of Madinah), Zaid ibn Su`nah said, "I recognized all of the signs of prophethood upon seeing the face of Muhammad save two signs that were not immediately evident: That his forbearance would precede his rashness, and that his forbearance would increase upon encountering excessive rashness."

Zaid ibn Su`nah reports [the story as follows]:

"One day, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came out from his apartment with `Ali ibn Abi Talib. A Bedouin, riding his camel, came to him and said, 'O Messenger of Allah! A group of my people of such and such a clan have accepted the faith and embraced Islam. I used to tell them that if they embraced Islam, there would be great abundance in their provision [due to divine blessing]. Now, however, they are facing famine due to lack of rain. I fear, O Messenger of Allah, that they will leave Islam out of greediness as they embraced it out of greediness. If you think it proper, send something that would suffice them.'

The Prophet looked to the man next to him, who I believe was `Ali, who replied, 'O Messenger of Allah! Nothing is left with us.'"

Zaid continues, "I approached the Prophet and said, 'O Muhammad! If youdesire, rent me such and such garden of dates for a fixed period of time.'

He replied, 'No, but I'll rent you a certain amount of date [palms] until such and such period without specifying the garden.'

I replied, 'Alright.' Thus, he rented them to me, and I opened my purse and took out eighty mithqaal of gold (350 grams) to pay for the particular dates for a fixed period. The Prophet handed the gold to the man and instructed him, 'Help them through this and distribute it justly.'

Zaid ibn Su`nah goes on, "Two or three days before the fixed period was to end, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came out with Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with them), and a number of other Companions to offer the funeral prayer.

When he finished the prayer and approached a wall to sit against it, I came to him, grabbed him by his shirt and cloak, and looked at him angrily and said, 'O Muhammad! Why don't you pay off my due?! By Allah, I know nothing of your family except deferment [on debts]. I know well of your people.'

Saying this I looked at `Umar whose eyes were bulging and turning out of anger. He glared at me and said, 'O enemy of Allah! Did you actually just say what I heard to the Messenger of Allah? Did you really just do to him what I saw? By the One Who holds my life in His hand, if I were not concerned with [the Prophet's] leaving us, I would have struck your head with my sword.'

The Messenger of Allah, who was looking at me quietly and patiently, said, 'O `Umar! We don't need this. I was more in need of your advice to pay off his loan well, and he your advice to deal courteously. Go with him `Umar, pay off his loan, and give him twenty extra saa` (44 kilograms) of dates because you frightened him.

Thus, `Umar took me, paid off my debt, and gave me an extra twenty saa` of dates. I asked him, 'Why this increase?'

He replied, 'The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered me to give you this for my scaring you.'

I asked, 'Do you recognize me, `Umar?'

'No,' he said.

'I am Zaid ibn Su`nah,' I said.

'The scholar of the Jews?'

'Yes, the same one.'

'Then what made you behave and speak with the Messenger of Allah as you did?' he asked.

'O `Umar!' I replied. 'I recognized all of the signs of prophethood upon seeing the face of Muhammad save two signs that were not immediately evident: That his forbearance would precede his rashness, and that his forbearance would increase upon encountering excessive rashness. Now I have recognized these two signs as well. Bear witness, O `Umar! I am pleased with Allah as my Lord, with Islam as my religion, and with Muhammad as my prophet. Also bear witness that I give half of my wealth - and I have plenty of wealth - in charity to the nation of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).'

`Umar said, 'Perhaps to some of them because your [money] won't suffice for all of them.'

'Alright, to some of them.'"

`Umar and Zaid returned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Zaid publicly announced, "I bear witness that none is worthy of worship besides Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger and I believe in him."

Thus, Zaid testified to the Prophet Muhammad's message and took the pledge of allegiance on his hand. Zaid participated in a number of battles along with the Prophet and was martyred in the expedition of Tabuk whilst facing the enemy and not in retreat. May Allah be pleased with him.

The story has been transmitted by Tabarani (al-Mu`jam al-Kabeer), to which al-Haithami says that all of the narrators of the Tradition are sound. Also transmitted by Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban, and Hakim, among others.

The Arabic version of this story has been taken from Muhammad Yusuf Kandhlawi's Hayaat al-Sahaaba (The Lives of the Companions).

[Abdul Fattah]

by request from Ansar Al-‘Adl, here's my story

Where to begin... It's a long story, but I hope others may find support/inspiration in it.
Also, please excuse my many spelling and grammatical errors. English is not my native tongue and on top of that, I'm dyslectic.

I was raised as a Christian but lost my faith somewhere at the age of 6. Things just didn't make sense for me. I guess I've been quite critical all my life. I even remember thinking that my teacher was a moron when I was 7 because he had claimed that time-traveling could be possible. "If time is the speed at which things change how could these changes be undone for a traveler?" was the first thing that popped into my mind smile.gif As I grew older I went trough some hard times and had to deal with serious matters at an early age. The worst of them all was a depression of my father in which he tried to kill us in order to commit suicide afterwards. The fights, fleeing home, the divorce, I’m sure one can imagine...

It seemed like every time I trusted someone, loved someone, they 'd betray me. It didn't take long for me not to trust anyone let alone believe in a higher being without any proof of such. I'd even say at one point I fitted all criteria from the definition of paranoia. Not that I seemed to have any problems, I functioned perfectly in today’s society, but inside I always felt like a big mess. I studied science and was quite good in it; I even became passionate about it, for they seemed the only certainties in life. Morality and ethics were pointless words, leftovers from old wives tales and so called holy books.

Until one day I was smoking pot for the first time of my live with a friend. I don't know what really happened that day but it was the scariest experience of my life. I was convinced of being dead and in hell. The friend sitting next to me was the devil. Every move I made was anticipated. Every sentence had an answer ready before I could even complete it. I felt like a play ball being psychologically tortured for fun. And the fear was worse than any imaginable pain. I was told by my doctor later that most likely LSD was sprayed on to the weed. I had my urine tested but since it happened in the weekend and visited the doctor on Monday, It was possible for the test to come out negative even though it did had LSD on it . The test result turned out negative, and the uncertainty was killing me. For a month I slept with the lights on. I started to better my ways out of fear. As time went by, the fear diminished but the morality and ethics kind of grew on me.

It took me about 3 years of self-reflection and philosophizing. But I was finally able to find answers to all my questions, basically get things lined out once and for all so I wouldn't have to bother myself with them anymore. I concluded to believe only in science as I have always done before. Basically, because I refused to believe science left any room for free will. An indispensable aspect of any religion containing words as hell and heaven, punishment and reward.

So I defined my personality disorder and found out the source of it on my own. Well at least, I had some clues. Memories of myself in the corridor of the house I grew up in looking at the bathroom door, sounds of my mother and father struggling, My mother screaming to my older sister: pick up that knife and get rid of it – It's funny how those memories came back. I can see myself standing in that corridor and know what is happening, but I can't recall what I saw. I only see myself in 3rd-person view.

I always knew I was different from everybody else and figured that finding out the cause of my problems would help me deal with it, solve the problem. But somehow that didn't help. I had everything figured out, but I was back at square one, everything seemed pointless. And nobody's to be trusted. So I gave up the fight and continued life. Without realizing it my morality diminished again. My life had no meaning, trusting no one, nor anything except for logic and science.

But then help came from an unexpected corner. In retrospect I'd even say right before my point of view would become problematic
23;62 On no soul do We place a burden greater than it can bear.
I was trying to bend my mind over the difficult theory of time traveling and einstein-rozenberg-bridges but it all didn't make any sense. 'Till in very small amount of time a series of unrelated events, one after another seemed to point something out to me, It was as subtle touches pushing me towards a point of view. At first I thought my paranoia was finally getting to me, but then It finally hit me, as if the puzzle came together: science doesn't deny religion, no far from it, science needs religion to complete it. When I posted this on another forum I'm active on, I was told of the miracles of the Qur’an. How certain things which were unknown in the time the Qur’an were written are in it. Being so fond of science this immediately got my attention. So I started reading....

Seas of emotions went trough me as I was reading, I cried of sadness and laughed of joy, I felt safe and afraid at the same time. The words were so strong yet deliberating; so plain, yet irreplaceable in their sentences. At some times it even seemed as if the book interacted with my thoughts. No other than the creator of all things could have made such a masterwork. I never knew religion could be this logical and rational. About a week and 15 soera's later I converted. I felt alive. I believed. I no longer mistrust. And my heart found piece as promised.
13;28 Who have believed and whose hearts have rest in the remembrance of Allah. Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest!
:wub: :wub:

[Khattab]

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)

[Khattab]

And another priest.....................................

"Thou wilt find the most vehement of mankind in hostility to those who believe (to be) the Jews and the idolaters. And thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who believe (to be) those who say: Lo! We are Christians. That is because there are among them priests and monks, and because they are not proud. And when they listen to the revelation received by the Messenger, thou wilt see their eyes overflowing with tears, for they recognise the truth: they pray: "Our Lord! we believe; write us down among the witnesses." 005:82-83



Former Arab Priest Accepts Islam

I was born in an Arab city on the 13th of January 1919 and was sent to American Mission schools until I got my secondary education certificate there. In 1942 I got my diploma from an Arab university and then I specialized in religious studies as a prelude to join the Faculty of Theology. It was no easy task to join the faculty, as no candidate could join it unless he got a special recommendation from the church, and also, after he should pass a number of difficult exams. I got a recommendation from a few Churches after passing many tests to know my qualifications to become a man of religion.
My entrance was sanctioned into the Faculty of Theology in 1944 as a boarding student.
I was supposed to be appointed in Jerusalem had it not been for the war that broke out in Palestine that same year, so I was sent elsewhere.
My acquaintance with Islam started in the Faculty of Theology where I studied Islam and all the methods through which we could shake the faith of Muslims and raise misconceptions in their understanding of their own religion.
In 1952 I got my M.A. from Princeton University in U.S.A. and was appointed as a teacher in the Faculty of Theology in an Arab city. I used to teach Islam in the faculty as well as the faulty misconceptions spread by its enemies and the missionaries against it. During that period I decided to enlarge my study of Islam, so that I should not read the missionaries books on it only. I had so much faith in myself that I was confirmed to read the other point of view. Thus I began to read books written by Muslim authors. I also decided to read the Qur’an and understand its meanings. This was helped by my love of knowledge and moved by my desire to add more proofs against Islam. The result was, however, exactly the reverse. My position began to shake and I started to feel a strong internal struggle and I discovered the falsehood of everything I had studied and preached to the people. But I could not face myself bravely and tried instead to overcome this internal crisis and continue my work.
I was sent to an Arab city as secretary general of the German Swiss Mission. That was only my apparent position for my real mission was to preach against Islam in an Arab country especially among Muslims. A missionary conference was held at that time at a hotel there. That day I spoke too much, reiterating all the repeated misconceptions against Islam; and at the end of my speech, the internal crisis came to me again and I started to revise my position.
I began to ask myself: Why should I say and do all these things when I know for sure I am a liar, as this is not the truth? I took my leave before the end of the conference and went out alone to my house. I was completely shaken. As I walked through [a] public garden, I heard a verse of the Qur’an on the radio. It said: (Say: It has been revealed to me that a company of Jinns listened (to the Qur’an). They said: We have really heard a wonderful recital! It gives guidance to the Right, and we have believed therein: We shall not join (in worship) any gods with our Lord.) (Surat Al-Jinn: 1-2), (And as for us, since we have listened to the Guidance, we have accepted it: and any one who believes in His Lord, has no fear of either a short (account) or of any injustice.) (Surat Al-Jinn: 13)


I felt a deep comfort that night and when I returned home I spent the whole night all by myself in my library reading the Qur’an. My wife asked me about the reason of my sitting up all night and I pleaded from her to leave me alone. I stopped for a long time thinking and meditating on the verse; (Had We sent down this Qur’an on a mountain, verily thou wouldst have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of Allah.) (Surat Al-Hashr: 21) And the verse: (Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews and the Pagans, and nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say, “We are Christians”: Because amongst these are men devoted to learning. And men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant. And when they listen to the revelation received by the Messenger, thou wilt see their eyes overflowing with tears, for they recognize the truth: They pray: “Our Lord! We believe, write us down among the witnesses. What cause can we have not to believe in Allah and the truth which has come to us, seeing that we long for our Lord to admit us to the company of the righteous?”) (Surat Al-Ma’ida: 82-84)
That same night I took my final decision. In the morning I spoke with my wife from whom I have three sons and one daughter. But no sooner than she felt that I was inclined to embrace Islam than she cried and asked for help from the head of the mission. His name was Monsieur Shavits from Switzerland. He was a very cunning man. When he asked me about my true attitude, I told him frankly what I really wanted and then he said: “Regard yourself out of a job until we discover what has befallen you.” Then I said: “This is my resignation from my job.” He tried to convince me to postpone it, but I insisted. So he spread a rumor among the people that I had gone mad. Thus I suffered a very severe test and oppression until I moved to the capital of the country I was in.
In the capital, I was introduced to a respectable professor who helped me overcome my severe trial and this he did without knowing anything about my story. He treated me as a Muslim for I introduced myself to him as such although until then I did not embrace Islam officially. Dr. Jamal was highly interested in Islamic studies and wanted to make a translation of the Qur’an to be published in America. He asked me to help him because I was fluent in English since I had got my M.A. from an American university. He also knew that I was preparing a comparative study of the Qur’an, the Torah and the Bible. We cooperated in this comparative study and in the translation of the Qur’an.
When the professor knew that I had resigned from my job and that I was then unemployed, he helped me with a job in a company. So I was well established after a short while. I did not tell my wife about my intention to embrace Islam thus she thought that I had forgotten the whole affair and that it was nothing but a transitory crisis that no more existed. But I knew quite well that my official conversion to Islam needed long complicated measures and it was in fact a battle which I preferred to postpone for some time until I became well off and after I completed my comparative study.
In 1955 I did complete my study and my material and living affairs became well established. I resigned from the company and set up a training office for importing stationery and school articles. It was a successful business from which I gained much more money than I needed. Thus I decided to declare my official conversion to Islam. On the 25th of December 1959, I sent a telegram to the head of the American Mission in the country I was in informing him that I had embraced Islam.


My wife left me at that time and took with her all the furniture of our house


When I told my true story to Dr. Jamal he was completely astonished. When I declared my conversion to Islam, new troubles began. Seven of my former colleagues in the mission had tried their best to persuade me to cancel my declaration, but I refused. They threatened to separate me from my wife and I said: “She is free to do as she wishes.” They threatened to kill me. But when they found me to be stubborn they left me alone and sent to me an old friend of mine who was also a colleague of mine in the mission. He wept very much in front of me. So I recited before him the following verses from the Qur’an: (And when they listen to the revelation received by the Messenger, thou wilt see their eyes overflowing with tears, for they recognize the truth: They pray: “Our Lord! We believe, write us down among the witnesses. What cause can we have not to believe in Allah and the truth which has come to us, seeing that we long for our Lord to admit us to the company of the righteous?”) (Qur’an Surat Al-Ma’ida: 84). I said to him, “You should have wept in humiliation to God on hearing the Qur’an and believe in the truth which you know but you refuse.” He stood up and left me as he saw no use. My official conversion to Islam was in January 1960.
My wife left me at that time and took with her all the furniture of our house. But all my children joined me and embraced Islam. The most enthusiastic among them was my eldest son Isaac who changed his name to Osman, then my second son Joseph and my son Samuel whose name is Jamal and daughter Majida who is now called Najwa. Osman is now a professor of philosophy in Sorbonne University in Paris teaching oriental studies and psychology. He also writes in Le Monde magazine.
My wife left the house for six years and agreed to come back in 1966 provided that she keeps her religion. I accepted this because in Islam there is no compulsion in religion. I said to her: “I do not want you to become a Muslim for my sake but only after you are convinced.” She feels now that she believes in Islam but she cannot declare this for fear of her family but we treat her as a Muslim woman and she fasts in Ramadan because all my children pray and fast. My daughter Najwa is a student in the Faculty of Commerce, Joseph is a pharmacologist and Jamal is an engineer.
During this period, that is since 1961 until the present time I have been able to publish a number of books on Islam and the methods of the missionaries and Orientalists against it. I am now preparing a comparative study about women in the three Divine religions with the object of highlighting the status of women in Islam. In 1973 I performed Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah) and I am doing activities preaching Islam. I hold seminars in the universities and charitable societies. I received an invitation from Sudan in 1974 where I held many seminars. My time is fully used in the service of Islam.
My faith in Islam has been brought about through reading the Qur’an and the biography of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him. I no longer believed in the misconceptions against Islam and I am especially attracted by the concept of unity of God, which is the most important feature of Islam. God is only One. Nothing is like Him. This belief makes me the servant of God only and of no one else. Oneness of God liberates man from servitude to any human being and that is true freedom.
I also like very much the rule of forgiveness in Islam and the direct relationship between God and His servants.


(Say: “O my servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. Turn ye to your Lord (in repentance) and submit to Him before the Chastisement comes on you: After that ye shall not be helped.”) (Surat Al-Zumor:53-54).

[Khattab]

Dr. Hofmann, who accepted Islam in 1980, was born as a Catholic in Germany in 1931. He graduated from Union College in New York and completed his legal studies at Munich University where he received a doctorate in jurisprudence in 1957. He became a research assistant for the reform of federal civil procedure, and in 1960 received an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School. He was Director of Information for NATO in Brussels from 1983 to 1987. He was posted as German ambassador to Algeria in 1987 and then to Morocco in 1990 where he served for four years. He performed umrah (Lesser Pilgrimage) in 1982 and Hajj (Pilgrimage) in 1992.

Several key experiences led Dr. Hofmann to Islam. The first of these began in 1961 when he was posted to Algeria as Attaché in the German Embassy and found himself in the middle of the bloody guerilla warfare between French troops and Algerian National Front which was fighting for Algerian independence for the past eight years. There he witnessed the cruelty and massacre that the Algerian population endured. Every day, nearly a dozen people were killed - "close range, execution style" - only for being an Arab or for speaking for the independence. "I witnessed the patience and resilience of the Algerian people in the face of extreme suffering, their overwhelming discipline during Ramadan, their confidence of victory, as well as their humanity amidst misery." He felt it was their religion that made them so, and therefore, he started studying their religious book - the Quran. "I have never stopped reading it, to this very day."

Islamic art was the second experience for Dr. Hofmann in his journey to Islam. From his early life he has been fond of art and beauty and ballet dancing. All of these were overshadowed when he came to know Islamic art which made an intimate appeal to him. Referring to Islamic art, he says: "Its secret seems to lie in the intimate and universal presence of Islam as a religion in all of its artistic manifestations, calligraphy, space filling arabesque ornaments, carpet patterns, mosque and housing architecture, as well as urban planning. I am thinking of the brightness of the mosques which banishes any mysticism, of the democratic spirit of their architectural layout."

"I am also thinking of the introspective quality of the Muslim palaces, their anticipation of paradise in gardens full of shade, fountains, and rivulet; of the intricate socially functional structure of old Islamic urban centers (madinahs), which fosters community spirits and transparency of the market, tempers heat and wind, and assures the integration of the mosque and adjacent welfare center for the poor, schools and hostels into the market and living quarters. What I experienced is so blissfully Islamic in so many places … is the tangible effect which Islamic harmony, the Islamic way of life, and the Islamic treatment of space leave on both heart and mind."

Perhaps more than all of these what made a significant impact on his quest for the truth was his thorough knowledge of Christian history and doctrines. He realized that there was a significant difference between what a faithful Christian believes and what a professor of history teaches at the university. He was particularly troubled by the Church's adoption of the doctrines established by St. Paul in preference to that of historical Jesus. "He, who never met Jesus, with his extreme Christology replaced the original and correct Judeo-Christian view of Jesus."

He found it difficult for him to accept that the mankind is burdened with the "original sin" and that God had to have his own son tortured and murdered on the cross in order to save his own creations. "I began to realize how monstrous, even blasphemous it is to imagine that God could have been fallen short in his creation; that he could have been unable to do anything about the disaster supposedly caused by Adam and Eve without begetting a son, only to have him sacrificed in such a bloody fashion; that God might suffer for mankind, His creation."

He went back to the very basic question of the existence of God. After analyzing works done by philosophers, such as Wittgenstein, Pascal, Swinburn, and Kant, he came to an intellectual conviction of the existence of God. The next logical question he faced was how God communicates to human beings so that they can be guided. This led him to acknowledge the need for revelations. But what contains the truth - Judeo-Christian scriptures or Islam?

He found the answer to this question in his third crucial experience when he came across the following verse of the Quran: "… no bearer of burdens shall bear the burdens of another." (Quran 53:38). This verse opened up his eyes and provided the answer to his dilemma. Clearly and unambiguously for him, it rejected the ideas of the burden of "original sin" and the expectation of "intercession" by the saints. "A Muslim lives in a world without clergy and without religious hierarchy; when he prays he does not pray via Jesus, Mary, or other interceding saints, but directly to God - as a fully emancipated believer - and this is a religion free of mysteries." According to Hofmann, "A Muslim is the emancipated believer par excellence".

"I began to see Islam with its own eyes, as the unadulterated, pristine belief in the one and only, the true God, Who does not beget, and was not begotten, Whom nothing and nobody resembles … In place of the qualified deism of a tribal God and the constructions of a divine Trinity, the Quran showed me the most lucid, most straightforward, the most abstract - thus historically most advanced - and least anthropomorphic concept of God."

"The Quran's ontological statements, as well as its ethical teachings, impressed me as profoundly plausible, "as good as gold," so there was no room for even the slightest doubt about the authenticity of Muhammad's prophetic mission. People who understand human nature cannot fail to appreciate the infinite wisdom of the "Dos and Don'ts" handed down from God to man in the form of the Quran."

For his son's upcoming 18th birthday in 1980, he prepared a 12-page manuscript containing the things that he considered unquestionably true from a philosophical perspective. He asked a Muslim Imam of Cologne named Muhammad Ahmad Rassoul to take a look at the work. After reading it Rassoul remarked that if Dr. Hofmann believed in what he had written, then he was a Muslim. That indeed became the case a few days later when he declared "I bear witness that there is no divinity besides Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's messenger." That was September 25, 1980.

Dr. Hofmann continued his professional career as a German diplomat and NATO officer for fifteen years after he became Muslim. "I did not experience any discrimination in my professional life", he said. In 1984, three and half years after his conversion, then German President Dr. Carl Carstens awarded him the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The German government distributed his book "Diary of a German Muslim" to all German foreign missions in the Muslim countries as an analytical tool. Professional duties did not prevent him from practicing his religion.

Once very artistic about red wine, he would now politely refuse offers of alcohol. As a Foreign Service officer, he occasionally had to arrange working lunch for foreign guests. He would be participating in those luncheons with an empty plate in front of him during Ramadan. In 1995, he voluntarily resigned from the Foreign Service to dedicate himself to Islamic causes.

While discussing the evils caused by alcohol in individual and social life, Dr. Hofmann mentioned an incident about his own life caused by alcohol. During his college years in New York in 1951, he was once traveling from Atlanta to Mississippi. When he was in Holy Spring, Mississippi all on a sudden a vehicle, apparently driven by a drunken driver, appeared in front of his car. A serious accident followed, taking away nineteen of his teeth and disfiguring his mouth.

After doing surgery on his chin and lower hip, the hospital surgeon comforted him saying: "Under normal circumstances, no one survives an accident like that. God has something special in mind for you, my friend." As he limped in Holy Spring after release from the hospital with his "arm in a sling, a bandaged knee, an iodine-discolored, stitched-up lower face", he wondered what could be the meaning of the surgeon's remark.

He came to know it one day, but much later. "Finally, thirty years later, on the very day I professed my faith in Islam, the true meaning of my survival became clear to me."



Sunday : 01/02/2004

[Pilgrim]

From ‘Me alone’ to ‘God Alone’


I was born into a family without any particular religious propensity.
This in turn meant that my religious experience was pretty much limited to school time religious education classes, which I always found intriguing, (though playground etiquette demanded I show no external evidence of this).
As I entered my teenage years, spiritual issues went somewhat on the back burner as I focussed on more financial and temporal concerns. Upon leaving school, I started a publishing business which produced a youth focussed magazine. This was to be my pathway to success and riches. Due to my lack of experience in the publishing arena, the business eventually failed and I had the unpleasant duty of laying off the 5 people I employed. This dented my confidence somewhat and I was particularly gutted at letting down my employees.
My early adventures in the publishing world benefited me in as much as it gave me experience which other publishing firms sought to utilise and I found myself gainfully employed and earning a large salary for someone under the age of 20.
The questioning of my life in a spiritual sense really began in this period of my life. I had always expected that upon cementing myself into a lucrative career, I would reap the promised satisfaction and fulfilment inherent. Sure, I had a good life with lots of fun and socialising etc. but as time progressed, I found myself becoming more and more depressed at what I increasingly found to be the futility of my shallow life.
A serious examining of major world faiths ensued, (excepting Islam though, as it seemed so archaic and extreme to me at the time) I spoke to Hare Krshna’s, Buddhist’s and street preaching charismatic Christians, but found myself unable to commit to any particular path, fearing the seemed encroachment on my freedoms.
But still, deep within me, this pain kept growing, I was the loneliest man in the world, an anguished and tormented lover, vaguely sighting the object of my affection but without the strength or courage to reach out and embrace.
I continued in this style until my early Twenties, when a mixture of apathy, weariness and what I can only remember as a complete and total disinterest in life, led me into experimentation with drugs. I very soon found the days and months becoming an accelerating roller-coaster ride of ever harder to attain highs and ever decreasing lows. One evening, I returned home exceptionally drunk, feeling hopeless, despondent, I had physically, mentally and most importantly spiritually reached the end of myself. I had always been self-sufficient and jealously guarded my right to self determination, but I was an exhausted and powerless wreck, the personal freedom I had refused to relinquish had now virtually destroyed me and I fell onto my knees weeping, crying out to God to forgive me, to save me.
At this point, my memory took me back to a conversation I had with a young Christian street preacher I had been mildly mocking, one drunken night out, several years previous. This young lad had said to me, in all sincerity, that if I wanted God in my life all I had to do was invite his son Jesus into my life and he would surely come. As I lay in my bed late that evening, it became profoundly apparent to me that God had always been there waiting for me, but I had been unprepared to release control of my life, it was my property and belonged to me alone. God was never going to impose his will upon me, in time I would discover for myself that I was not in fact the architect of my own destiny. A new reality entered my life, my whole existence is from God and too him, I gave my life, I then prayed as suggested by that young street preacher for Jesus to come into my life. I was a Christian.
To be honest with you, I really did not have much concept at this time of the complicated nature of the Christian faith. All I knew was that I had repented of my past life and accepted Jesus as my saviour and now I needed to find me a church to belong to. As my understanding of the different types of churches was limited, my choice of denomination to attend was pretty much decided by my fear of perma-grinned Jesus people types, I just knew I didn’t want to end up with them. So I chose the United Reformed Church, a haven of tradition and gentility, just the ticket for a burnt out junky.
The church I joined was named St.Columba’s, Columba was an Irish monk who settled a small island off the west coast of Scotland called Iona and established the first Scottish monastic community. Though I enjoyed my time at this church and relished the opportunity to preach and lead groups within it, the protestant tradition seemed unable to guide me in what was most important to me, communicating with God through prayer. I was offered formulaic written scripts for prayer, but I wanted to share my very heart with him, I began to feel disheartened with church life, a simple progression of one administrative meeting to the next, left me feeling spiritually barren.
Explaining my feelings to the Minister of the church, he suggested that I take a trip to the aforementioned monastic island of ’Iona’, as it would be a good place to ’recharge my spiritual batteries’. A couple of weeks later I had arrived on this tiny weather beaten outpost of Christendom and experienced my first taste of early Celtic monasticism.
It was to become a notable milestone on my quest towards the imminence of my creator.
Iona was a revelation to me, although there was no monastic community in existence there anymore, there was a thriving community of laymen and women living in the restored monastic buildings. The Iona community as they are called, consist of folk who come from the world over to dedicate a certain period of time to living and worshipping God in this ancient place. The attitude and ethos of the Iona community is very much grounded in the form of contemplative prayer and life rhythm of the monks who once lived their lives out on this remote island. My time on the island instilled within me a great admiration for the commitment undertaken by the monks, lives given in totality to God, out of pure love for God.
This life of complete abandonment to God began to haunt my every thought. I somewhat naively at the time surmised, that as these men gave everything of themselves to God, he must surely make himself closest to them in response. I couldn’t get it out of my head; I wanted to live totally and completely for God alone.
Upon my return from Iona, I began to make contacts with Roman Catholic monasteries. This communication brought to my attention the vast spiritual writings of the Catholic Church and I devoured them, one after another, feeding on their ancient wisdom and guidance. I soon decided that the path I must follow was to become a monk and therefore a Roman Catholic. I in time decided to join a Benedictine community in Scotland. My routine within the monastic confines was regimented by the ’Rule of St Benedict’ calling me to prayer 6 times a day, the earliest at 6am the latest 9am. The rule also clearly designates periods of study, manual work and refreshment. I found the monastic life incredibly rich and rewarding, the time portioned for silence and prayer helped me to a stillness and point of surrender it is hard to fully describe.
Never having experienced such a vast quantity of silence before, it was impossible to know how one would react in such circumstances. What I would say now is, silence is the most relentless stripper of the many personas we as modern people fabricate to hide our true selves. The initial monastic experience is painful, as God shines the light on you and reveals the ugliness shadowing what you have the potential to become. It does eventually become easier and less painful, but never stops being revelatory. After about 3yrs, it became quite apparent to me that I was not called to monastic life, thoughts of loving a wife and having children filled my thoughts to the point where I had to make the sad decision to leave. I still have contact with the Brothers and in hindsight, feel very much blessed to have been granted the time to grow and develop in that atmosphere.
Another personal and spiritual development I put down to my time in direct prayer with God at the monastery was, a certain distaste for the idolatry inherent within the Catholic Church, I also found it very hard to swallow that I needed to communicate my sins via the medium of a priest in order to receive forgiveness from God. I knew just through personal experience that this was untrue, as I repented of sin everyday to God personally and knew I received forgiveness there and then.
After leaving the monastery, I drifted somewhat spiritually as I attempted to re-adjust to the world outside the monastic compound. In the mid 90’s because of my involvement in the church, I was offered the opportunity to study at Oxford University, which I grasped eagerly (as who wouldn’t). I studied in Social Administration and psychology.
The next step in my journey brought me somewhat back full circle as I moved back to Scotland, left the Catholic Church (as my conscience would no longer allow me to remain) and rejoined the Protestant fold via the Congregational Church. The polity of the Congregational church suited me fine, no huge hierarchical church structure, we made our own decisions for our own community. No idols in the sanctuary and a nice straightforward evangelical theology. I eased back into preaching and was asked to become an elder which was great.
Praying for God’s guidance re my next step, I became of the firm conviction that he was calling me to full time ministry in the church. I put this to my local church, who upon voting agreed that they would nominate me for training at seminary.
Upon arrival in Manchester for my training, I was immediately struck by how ’Liberal’ the theology and lecturers were at the college. Within the first 2 months a death blow was dealt to the doctrine of the Trinity, the validity of vast swathes of the Gospels and Epistles of Paul were shown to be incredibly shaky at best and the Godhead of Jesus himself was given up to our own interpretation. Over the next year or so I was amongst a number of students who left training, after much further research after having my eyes pretty much ripped open theologically speaking by the college, I decided that I in conscience could no longer preach the Christian message, as I no longer believed in the most important parts of it.
During my period in theological training, I had taken the opportunity to read into Islam. This was the first time I had done so, as it had never interested me previously. What I found within the Qu’ran was an answer to my many irritations within the Christian scripture. The Qu’ran confirmed a progression of revelation from Abraham and the many proceeding Jewish prophets including Jesus through to the final and seal of the prophets Muhammad. The irregularities in the Christian scriptures become very much apparent when measured beside the testimony of previous revelation and particularly so when highlighted by God himself in his last scripture, Qu’ran.
Finding myself very much in agreement with Islam at a theological and conscience based level, I took to scouring the internet for information and contacts re reverting and how one should go about it. The response I received from Muslims on the net was always helpful and encouraging, but I myself was beginning to run into what I would call emotional barriers to embracing Islam.
All in all, I spent nearly 3 yrs leading up to my decision to finally embrace Islam publicly. One of the things that prolonged my decision was an imbedded fear that as one who had previously preached the Gospel, my apostasy would make me about as damned as you can get (as per the Christian scriptures). Another fear that kept me from embracing was how my wife would respond, bearing in mind she fell in love with a Christian preacher, I wasn’t sure if she would be able to handle ending up with a Muslim. And, believe it or not, having to give up alcohol felt like a massive bind, not that I’ve ever been the world’s biggest drinker, but the fear of losing the choice to drink made me really uneasy.
On the 25th April 2005 a few days after finding my way onto the ‘Why Islam’ website, I contacted a fellow revert of 2 yrs standing and asked if he would take me to local Masjid. Upon arrival there I said my Shahada and became a muslim. I was greeted into the Deen enthusiastically by all the brothers present (and even got a free meal at a special table!).
I consider myself very fortunate to have been guided through so many varied and enriching experiences by Allah, but his greatest gift he saved till last, he has made me a Muslim by his grace, from ’me alone’ I have been led to submit my life to ’God Alone'.

Only by his Grace and mercy,

Your Brother in Islam

Gavin(Pilgrim)

[Khattab]

:sl: Alhamdulillah what an inspirational story.


Brother gavin have you heard of Shiek Yusuf Estes, his website is http://www.islamtomorrow.com/ he is a former preacher and priest, his family where preists and preachers before as well as his friend who was a catholic priest before they entered into Islam, inshallah you may find his site of use.

:w:

[Henry]

:w:
Here is my story.

I grew up in a family comprised of Jews. The strongest sense of religion was withheld in my maternal grandparents. As you went down the family tree, religion became softer and softer. Even for a time, I did not even consider myself Jewish. But verily, I always believed in Ar Rahmaan.

Then, out from the smokey haze in which my faith was guided in, a friend called out to me. He showed me Islam and introduced me to it. His name is Jameel (peace and blessings be upon him! He is a great friend). This was in the year of 2003 during Ramadaan. I was introduced to Islam, learned a great deal, and I converted. Everything about Islam felt so...right. When I was first learning about Islam, I felt as if I was completely blind to the truth. I had to learn more, and my knowledge could not be quenched. Infact, that same incredible thirst for knowledge and purification still burns within me. I want to do as much as I possibily can do devote myself to Islam. Unfortunately, I do not know how to pray yet (I still have not visited a Mosque! I undoubtably will be visiting one soon. Most likely next weekend!). This one boundary is keeping my heart from believing that I am a true Muslim. Once I learn how to pray, a new spark of joy will be within me.

Infact, as of now, I decided it would be great to remember the ninety-nine perfect names of Allah! Tonight, I memorized the first ten. Each night I will memorize the next ten and so on untill I know all ninety-nine. Truely, Islam will guide me to the right path and I will recieve Al Mu'min's shade. Verily, Allah's shade is better than all shade.

[Shaakira]

: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:

[Ibn Syed]

: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:

Mashallah great story. If you become a muslim all your previous years of disbelieving are forgiven alhamdulillah.
:w:

[Far7an]

Assalamu 'alaikum


Jazakallah khair brother Henry and sister Shaakira for sharing your stories. May Allah bless you both and keep us all steadfast, ameen.

[MetSudaisTwice]

Ameen

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

:sl:
I just read the beautiful and spiritually rejuvenating stories posted by Gavin, Henry, and Shaakira. Its interesting that every story is unique in some way. Shaakira and Henry were introduced to Islam by Muslim friends, while Gavin's was based more on research and was literally a "journey" to Islam. I loved all your stories very much, may Allah Glorified and Exalted reward you for posting them. :)

I would recommend the following link to become more familiar with the basic Islamic concepts:
http://www.beconvinced.com

And I would strongly suggest reading the Qur'an, God's Last revelation to humanity. You can use either of the following links, choose wichever translatrion you feel more comfortable with:
quranicrealm.com

:w:

[Ibn Syed]

jazakallah for the links brother!
:w:

[swanlake]

:sl:

Maashallah what wonderful stories Sister Shaakira (trully amazing) and brothers Gavin and Henry. I loved all your stories very much, may Allah Glorified and Exalted reward you for posting them.

[h1jabi_sista]

:sl:
subhanallah! allah alone is the guider! allah hu akbar!
the stories are sooo beautiful! my heart just wants to burst! im so happy for you all alhamdulilah.

my mom is also muslim revert. She was born in Ireland and come from a very cathlic family.
when she met my dad she converted to islam alhamdulilah. When i ask her about her life as a non muslim she tells me that she never felt right, incomplete, empty.
and now alhamdulilah she's my biggest inspiration because she's been through soo much with her family. They didnt talk to her at all, they blamed her for things that went wrong and she stills came out stronger than ever!

may allah bless the muslim ummah inshallah! ameen! :)

:w:

[Shaakira]

:sl:
If you are a revert please add your story here, because it is very inspiring Alhamdullilah.

There are several stories on this site:
http://thetruereligion.org/modules/xfsection/

I'll post a few:

I just read Lara's story and it was fatastic. AlhamdulAllah that she did the reserch before she took Shahada.I knew very little about Islam when I took shahada but I knew it was what I wanted. I to had miscnceptions but it made draw nerer to Islam. :arabic6:

[Munda Pakistani]

^
All those stories make me wonder what I've been doing as a born Muslim. :-[

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

^
All those stories make me wonder what I've been doing as a born Muslim. :-[

:sl:
What do you mean?

[Munda Pakistani]

What do you mean?

:w:

Just that they're inspiring. Born Muslims like me tend to take thir religion for granted. I wonder whether I would have had the courage and vision to accept Islam if not born into a Muslim family. It's like wondering whether you would risk your own life to save another. You know it is the right thing to do, but would you do it? Only being in that situation would tell you for sure. That is why I have great respect for reverts; they have done what I only hope I would have done, placed in their position. They are real Muslims; Islam is their way not because it's been drummed into them or because it is the way of everyone around them, but by choice.

Anyway, do not mean to offend any born Muslims. I'm one of you. ;)

[imaad_udeen]

errrrrr. I was halfway through a LOOONG story of my reversion when Firefox crashed on me and I think I lost the whole thing. I was going to publish it on my blog and then paste it to this thread.

How upsetting...

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

:w:

Just that they're inspiring. Born Muslims like me tend to take thir religion for granted. I wonder whether I would have had the courage and vision to accept Islam if not born into a Muslim family. It's like wondering whether you would risk your own life to save another. You know it is the right thing to do, but would you do it? Only being in that situation would tell you for sure. That is why I have great respect for reverts; they have done what I only hope I would have done, placed in their position. They are real Muslims; Islam is their way not because it's been drummed into them or because it is the way of everyone around them, but by choice.

Anyway, do not mean to offend any born Muslims. I'm one of you. ;)

:sl:
I agree with you completely. :)

:sl: Br. Imadudeen,

rrrrr. I was halfway through a LOOONG story of my reversion when Firefox crashed on me and I think I lost the whole thing. I was going to publish it on my blog and then paste it to this thread.

How upsetting...

:omg: That's terrible! You should have typed it into word and saved it first. I hope you will be able to type it again for us. We would really appreciate it. :brother:

:w:

[imaad_udeen]

:sl: Br. Imadudeen,

:omg: That's terrible! You should have typed it into word and saved it first. I hope you will be able to type it again for us. We would really appreciate it. :brother:

:w:

Yea, I thought about that as I was typing the previous post.

D'oh!

I will certainly get at it again soon.

[Ibn Syed]

You better Homer!
:w:

[Ibn Syed]

:sl:
I found this revert story online.

Former pastor, missionary, professor in Divinity choosed Islam !

Khadijah 'Sue' Watson - Former pastor, missionary, professor. Master's degree in Divinity "What happened to you !" .....

This was usually the first reaction I encountered when my former classmates, friends and co-pastors saw me after having embraced Islam.
I suppose I couldn't blame them, I was a highly unlikely the person to change religions.

Formerly, I was a professor, pastor, church planter and missionary.

If anyone was a radical fundamentalist it was I. I had just graduated with my Master's Degree of Divinity from an elite seminary five months before. It was after that time I met a lady who had worked in Saudi Arabia and had embraced Islam.

Of course I asked her about the treatment of women in Islam. I was shocked at her answer, it wasn't what I expected so I proceeded to ask other questions relating to Allah and Muhammad (pbuh).

She informed me that she would take me to the Islamic Center where they would be better able to answer my questions. Being prayed up, meaning-asking Jesus for protection against demon spirits seeing that what we had been taught about Islam is that it is Demonic and Satanic religion.

Having taught Evangelism I was quite shocked at their approach, it was direct and straightforward. No intimidation, no harassment, no psychological manipulation, no subliminal influence! None of this, "let's have a Qur'aanic study in your house", like a counter part of the Bible study.

I couldn't believe it! They gave me some books and told me if I had some questions they were available to answer them in the office. That night I read all of the books they gave. It was the first time I had ever read a book about Islam written by a Muslim, we had studied and read books about Islam only written by Christians. The next day I spent three hours at the office asking questions.

This went on everyday for a week, by which time I had read twelve books and knew why Muslims are the hardest people in the world to convert to Christianity.

Why?

Because there is nothing to offer them!! (In Islam) There is a relationship with Allah, forgiveness of sins, salvation and promise of Eternal Life. Naturally, my first question centered on the deity of Allah. Who is this Allah that the Muslims worship? We had been taught as Christians that this is another god, a false god.

When in fact He is the Omniscient-All Knowing, Omnipotent-All Powerful, and Omnipresent-All Present God. The One and Only without co-partners or co-equal.

It is interesting to note that there were bishops during the first three hundred years of the Church that were teaching as the Muslim beli eves that Jesus (pbuh) was a prophet and teacher!! It was only after the conversion of Emperor Constantine that he was the one to call and introduce the doctrine of the Trinity.

He a convert to Christianity who knew nothing of this religion introduced a paganistic concept that goes back to Babylonian times. Because the space does not permit me to go into detail about the subject insha'Allah, another time.

Only I must point out that the word TRINITY is not found in the Bible in any of its many translation nor is it found in the original Greek or Hebrew languages! My other important question centered on Muhammad (pbuh).

Who is this Muhammad? I found out that Muslims do not pray to him like the Christians pray to Jesus. He is not an intermediary and in fact it is forbidden to pray to him. We ask blessing upon him at the end of our prayer but likewise we ask blessings on Abraham. He is a Prophet and a Messenger, the final and last Prophet. In fact, until now, one thousand four hundred and eighteen years (1,418) later there has been no prophet after him.

His message is for All Mankind as opposed to the message of Jesus or Moses (peace be upon them both) which was sent to the Jews. "Hear O Israel" But the message is the same message of Allah. "The Lord Your God is One God and you shall have no other gods before Me."(Mark 12:29).

Because prayer was a very important part of my Christian life I was both interested and curious to know what the Muslims were praying. As Christians we were as ignorant on this aspect of Muslim belief as on the other aspects.

We thought and were taught, that the Muslims were bowing down to the Ka'bah (in Mecca), that that was there god and center point of this false deity. Again, I was shocked to learn that the manner of prayer is prescribed by God, Himself.

The words of the prayer are one of praise and exaltation. The approach to prayer (ablution or washing) in cleanliness is under the direction of Allah. He is a Holy God and it is not for us to approach Him in an arbitrary manner but only reasonable that He should tell us how we should approach Him. At the end of that week after having spent eight (8) years of formal theological studies I knew cognitively (head knowledge) that Islam was true. But I did not embrace Islam at that time because I did not believe it in my heart. I continued to pray, to read the Bible, to attend lectures at the Islamic Center.

I was in earnest asking and seeking God's direction. It is not easy to change your religion. I did not want to loose my salvation if there was salvation to loose. I continued to be shocked and amazed at what I was learning because it was not what I was taught that Islam believed.

In my Master's level, the professor I had was respected as an authority on Islam yet his teaching and that of Christianity in general is full of Misunderstanding. He and many Christians like him are sincere but they are sincerely wrong.

Two months later after having once again prayed seeking God's direction, I felt something drop into my being! I sat up, and it was the first time I was to use the name of Allah, and I said, "Allah, I believe you are the One and Only True God." There was peace that descended upon me and from that day four years ago until now I have never regretted embracing Islam. This decision did not come without trial.

I was fired from my job as I was teaching in two Bible Colleges at that time , ostracized by my former classmates, professors and co-pastors, disowned by my husband's family, misunderstood by my adult children and made a suspicion by my own government. Without the faith that enables man to stand up to Satanic forces I would not ha ve been able to withstand all of this. I am ever so grateful to Allah that I am a Muslim and may I live and die a Muslim. "Truly, my prayer, my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are all for God the Cherisher of the Worlds. No partner has He, this I am commanded. And I am the first of those who bow to Allah in Islam." (Holy Qur'aan 6:162-163)

* Sister Khadijah Watson is presently working as a teacher for women in one of the Da'wah (Invitation) Centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

:w:

[Ibn Syed]

:sl:
Br. Imaad Udeen weren't you gonna post your story here? I'd love to see it.
:w:

[sistajannah]

Assalamu alaikum
akhi nice post

[Umm Yoosuf]

From the KKK to Islam: An Interview with an ex-racist



Few topics touch a raw nerve in the United States like race and racism in America. Given the deeply embedded psychology and history of racism found in American society, it is often surprising to discover individuals who have truly fought against racial hatred with not just their words and actions, but in the two most important battlegrounds: their hearts and minds.

Abdussalam Sipes is one example of this. Sipes is currently chief of security at a masjid. His calm, frank discussion of his journey from being a member of the virulently racist American white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan (KKK) to his decision to leave racial hatred, and then his acceptance of Islam will make you not only see one individual’s courage to change paths and "see the light" -it will also bring tears to your eyes.

Sound Vision interviewed Sipes about his former racism, what brought about his change and why he ultimately chose Islam. This is an edited version of that interview:

SV: What exactly was your connection to racism before your conversion?

AS: "I was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and before that I was a member of other (white supremacist organizations) too. I was originally just a card-carrying member and I grew up in their ranks. I started with them when I was 14 years old and by the time I was 21, I was a high-ranking official in the Klan organization. I was involved with major recruiting efforts. I was the main organizer of most of the activities in my region. I was in charge of a large geographical region of Klan chapters in the northern district of California. My activities involved everything from media interviews, recruitment drives to literature leaf letting to criminal activities [and went] as far as assaults on people, violent crimes, intimidation. I’ve spent most of my life in prison, over 13 years.”

SV: What factors in your childhood or personal experiences made you adopt racist views?

AS: “Just being around the people I grew up around who were racist. I grew up in a predominately white California suburb. All of my family used the word "n*****" (a racial slur against African-Americans) and referred to black people as parasites on society, kind of like cockroaches, just violent and bad in nature. They just [reaffirmed] the stereotypes that white America has of people of color. I went to prison for armed robbery and attempted murder. I was 15 at the time. I was involved with a group that was a paramilitary organization and their activities were intimidating blacks in the town that we lived in. We used to [commit] a lot of violent crimes against people. This particular crime was not race-motivated but we had particular views that were racist. In prison, things [are racially] segregated. You’ve got the blacks, Mexicans and whites. Of course I gravitated towards the white organization. In every subculture, you have organizations and you have groups and individuals. You have a rank and file and you fall into that rank you feel is part of your culture. People that you share a lot in common with culturally.”

SV: What triggered you to change your racist views?

AS: “I eventually came to question some of my actions and some of my beliefs through my search and study of genealogy and the origins of man. The racism drove me to study to find out proof and evidence and to find out the origin of my own people (Europeans). The deeper and deeper I got into the subject I began to find evidence that revealed that all human beings have the same origin. So I began to doubt the validity of the supreme, pure race of people anywhere in the world, let alone Europeans of Aryan race. The other element [of my change] was [that] when you hate somebody so passionately and you just live and just consume the hatred everyday, it starts to deteriorate. It’s like a cancer because it destroys your personality, it distorts your soul, and it destroys [those] close to you because it wears off on other people. I was inflicting more harm on myself than the people I hated. I was basically destroying my family and anyone else who had contact with me. Hatred and racism will manifest itself in any people in the world and that’s the interesting thing as far as the world is concerned. Everyone looks at America because of the recent slave trade, because we have the most recent history of slavery. [But] when we look at what the Serbs do to the Albanian or Bosnian Muslims, for some reason because it’s European versus European, we overlook the fact that it’s blatant racism.”
SV: What made you consider converting to Islam, and did it have something to do with your previous views on race?

AS: “I made a decision to get out of the white supremacist movement. Unfortunately, I was still living my life without guidance. I ended up going back to prison. I was in the federal penitentiary for possession of Semtax explosives (a solid form of plastic explosives). With the hatred and burden of hate off my shoulders I was able to think, contemplate. My heart was a little more open to spirituality so I knew I was tired of the life I was living, tired of going to prison. I just felt that I hit a plateau in my life where I wanted to make some serious changes again, but I didn’t know which direction to go. I think all sincerely decent, kind, caring, loving human beings always gravitate to whatever is most near to them in their subculture. My interactions with people (Christians) were always pleasant. I would sometimes gravitate towards the church but their way of believing in God, the words in the Bible, their basic beliefs, I just couldn’t grasp it, I never could develop any real belief based on the Christian view of God. The turning point was when I got to federal penitentiary in Pekin, Illinois. At that point, I had given up being racist, the guards came and asked me if I had any problem having black roommates (they interview you to see where they can place you because you have three to four roommates in one prison cell). I said I didn’t care. They usually take advantage of that because most people want to be with their own kind. I got one black roommate. This person had a friend named Fareed who was Muslim. When Fareed came to the cell, [he] noticed I had nothing-no cosmetic items, stamps to write my family, or money.

One day he came to my cell and he asked me: ‘don’t you have any money or anything like that. I said I didn't ’have any. He said you want some?

I said no.

About 15 minutes later, he came back and he had a bag in his hands.

He said ‘here’ [giving it to Sipes-it contained some basic items he needed].

I said I don’t want it, I didn’t ask for anything. I said don’t come to me next week saying I owe you something. He said it’s not like that at all, its just part of my religion.

I just kind of smiled and laughed and said what religion is that? He said Islam; I’m a Muslim. At that point, I said ‘yeah right’. Now I was convinced this guy is going to give me problems. He’ll be back saying I owe him something, I’m going to have to look for [a] knife or some weapon to allow me to eliminate this problem that he’s going to bring to me later. At this time, my understanding of Islam was that it was a black, racist religion [with] their teaching that the white man was the devil. I knew this from run-ins with the Nation of Islam [an African-American nationalist and spiritual movement].

He [Fareed] came back later. I said why don’t you give me something about your religion, because I was thinking I ‘m going to catch this guy in a lie. I was going to get a hold of some of his literature and ask him ‘how can you believe the white man is the devil and you’re going out of your way to help me? How do you explain yourself? How are you going to share with the devil (me)? He came back with some literature. It was an introduction to Islam. It was just really different from what I had thought it would be. It was something that I was not expecting to find and at the same time it was something that I needed to find. This was a real religion based on truth and that’s basically what I was hungry for and what I was searching for. I found out how simple it was, that there’s no intermediary between man and God, [that] you had a direct link to God. I felt that this is a religion where you can practice without the help of outsiders, putting partners with God.

Allah created Islam with a purity that could not be rivaled with. I finally got a hold of the Quran. Every page I read I broke down crying because I felt that as I was reading the Quran, in a way my soul was cleansing itself of all the poison. The Ayat (verses) that I was reading, they compared to Christianity, but there were a lot of things that sound so much more believable [in the Quran than the Bible]. [It] sounds so pure. When I read [most of] the first two Surahs of the Quran, that was enough for me. I was convinced the Quran was a miracle and it was the Divine word of God. I couldn’t find anything wrong with the Quran. I felt in my heart that this was the true religion Allah had created for us. I was convinced at that point.

After I took my Shahada, I read more [in the Quran about] how Allah keeps those people in ignorance and He brings people out of ignorance as He wishes. He had a plan for me to become a Muslim. At this stage in my life, Alhamdolillah, since I took Shahada, everything has been in a Positive direction in my life. Everything keeps getting better.”

SV: What was your reaction when you read verse 13 of Surah number 49, given your background as a former racist?

AS: “I broke down and cried. I just wanted to be part of a world religion where there is no racism involved, where everybody’s created equally in the eyes of God. I wanted to be part of a religion in which God did not favor anyone other than those who were most pious. When I read that particular Ayah, it really validated this religion for me because that told me that Islam is the sworn enemy of racism. This is one Ayah of many that jumped out at me. The Quran was answering questions for me. That was a very powerful Ayah for me because of my past. It was proof for me that I could go ahead and be a Muslim because God was saying how mankind should be towards one another. That was complete harmony [and] that was a beautiful, beautiful thing.”

SV: What would you advise Muslims seeking to rid themselves of racial hatred?

AS: “Basically, people to have to work on strengthening their Iman (faith) because when you lose your Deen, when you lose your prayer, Shaitan steps in and then he takes over. And then it’s all Fitna (trials and temptations) after that. Other than prejudice in our Ummah, we’re plagued with many other problems. The answer to all of those problems is that we need to start practicing the Deen and becoming better Muslims in our Ibadah (worship). When we lose our Deen, when we lose our prayer, we lose His (Allah’s) favor; we lose His protection from the Shaitan. People don’t realize the power of Shaitan, he gets between people. He manifests the divisions between us. As Muslims, we should have no real difference. Yet if Shaitan gets in there, he’ll make some reason not to get along. That’s my understanding. Every Muslim knows this is a fundamental belief that there is no racism in Islam and everybody knows its Haram (forbidden) but they just take it like any other subject that they know is Haram because the Iman is so weak, the Taqwa (fear of Allah) is [in] such a low state that they continue to commit acts and they get worse. The farther away you get from Islam [the worse its going to be].”

[Khattab]

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.

[dreams2reality]

Assalamu alaikum,

About 6 years ago I worked as a Medical Assistant, and had just began my first semester at a community college for nursing. While I was doing my internship for my medical assistant program I worked for several doctors in an urgent care. One of the doctors was Muslim and his wife worked there as well. They hired me to baby-sit their children and I did, when I saw the way that they lived and how happy they were because of simple things I was intrigued. I began to ask questions and she started to tell me about islam.

Growing up my family was Baptist, but with the exception of my grandmother, not very active in their religion. I had become close to my religion because of the large amount of time I spent with my grandmother and I stayed close even when I got older. At our Christmas parties I was the only one to leave and go to church, several members of my extended family are atheist and found that funny.

So when I began to learn about islam at first I had a lot of questions and was confused because my accepting islam basically meant that what I had believed my whole life was wrong, and I had firmly believed without a doubt. But Islam put a doubt that would not go away in my faith. I knew my family would react badly and I was Christian and couldn't accept that I had been wrong all of this time, but I knew in my heart that I wanted to say shahadah. But I told her that I cant learn this anymore and my internship ended. So I went to work for another Dr I had found that I really enjoyed computer programming because of some work that I had done with the IT people who had created the new billing program we worked with. They had told me to stay with IT and so I decided that I would go on for my BS degree and go into IT. There was a transfer agreement between the community colleges here and a local university (with a large Muslim population) that I planned to enroll in.

I still had doubts about my religion and hadn't gone to church since I left my internship. I still read the information she gave me and I still wondered but I kept trying to push it out of my mind and not think about it. On my way to class one day I was in a car accident alhumdulilah, I was pronounced dead, and am still listed as DOA on the police report. I was driving about 70 mph and went under a semi truck. They resuscitated me 2 times before they got me to the hospital and they stabilized me as well as they could. I had no ID and my family wasn't contacted until the next day when they had found a proof of insurance and called my insurance agent, who also insured my brother. He called my brother who told me mother and they came to identify me. But when they got there they couldn't identify me except finally by my legs because my upper body had been broken, cut, and twisted so badly. My head was swollen and my skull was crushed, I suffered a subarchnoid hemorrhage on impact (which is a usually fatal inoperable bleed in your brain), my neck was broken (c-1 and this is right at the brain stem and controls your breathing and heart rate etc.), both of my arms were broken, my face broken, my retina had started to detach on my eye that was out of socket, my shoulder was broken, several ribs, and my collarbone, etc. I stayed in a coma for a couple months. They said when I woke that I would never walk or talk again and they asked my family to unplug the life support that kept me alive. They refused. When I came out of the coma I was paralyzed from the neck down, and later only on the right side.

I came out of the hospital and worked hard learning to walk again and eventually got to the point where I could walk 4 miles easily, alhumdulilah. I went back to school, I had a strong desire to go back to school and wanted very much to go to the university that I mentioned before, that had the transfer agreement and was located in a city with a large Muslim population. I finished my last semester at community college and graduated with honors. During my last semester my husband had gotten a job on the other side of the country and plans changed I was to go to a university there instead. But 1 week before the moving trucks came I learned of some horrible news and decided that I would ask for a divorce, alhumdulilah. I stayed here and called the university to see about enrolling for the fall. My first day on campus I was so nervous and I could see Muslim women wearing hijab (some niqqab) all over and I just watched. My first class was bio and my lab partners were fatima and Anisah. They were really kind and I asked questions and they took me to the masjid and gave me hijab and answered all of my questions. In another of my classes I met people from the MSA and they took me to jummah and Introduced me to the Sheikh that I said shahadah with a few weeks later during Ramadan. I kept going to jummah and studying and learned the difference between Sunni and shia, and Ramadan began. I fasted all of Ramadan and went to ifthars on campus. In the last week of Ramadan I said shahadah.

I have a new outlook on life and cherish the simple things, never taking for granted the gifts Allah (subhan wa tala) has given to me. Every second that I am here able to do things I would have complained about before, or watch the sunrise, or the sunset, smell the grass after it rains, or watch the rain, or spend time with my family and friends. All the things that I am here for and can do, even the ones I don't want to do, everything that happens even when it doesn't look like there could be any good reason for it, I thank Allah (subhan wa tala) and I know (from experience) that Allah (subhan wa tala) is the best of planners and what looks like the worst thing in your life could very well turn out to be the best thing.

Allah (subhan wa tala) wanted to get my attention and he took me apart, took everything that I took for granted that only he could have given me and only he could give me back. I knew laying in the hospital bed, even though I couldn't speak, that I was only alive because of Allah (subhan wa tala) . And when I could speak the first thing I said (to my father) was that God had a plan for me. Dr's were constantly amazed or unable to explain things. But I could explain it, it was Allah's (subhan wa tala) will. Eventually Allah (subhan wa tala) put me back together (like only he could do) and I can walk and talk and with the exception of a few scars people would never know what happened to me. (and with the exception of my face and hands I am covered so when I tell people this they cant believe it and say that I don't look like this happened, then I show them the pictures and they say subhanAllah. Allah (subhan wa tala) had a plan and it involved getting my attention and making sure that I got to that university and met the people that i met and my saying shadah, and only Allah (subhan wa tala) could have planned it so perfectly. alnumdulilah

Sorry its so long

[Riya90]

Mahallahh!

[Khattab]

:sl:

"So verily with every difficulty there is relief. Verily with every difficulty there is relief." (Al-Inshirah 94:5-6)

Alhamdulillah beautiful story sister, may Allah (SWT) guide you on the straight path and make you prosper in this life and the next, ameen.

:w:

[junna1]

:sl:

Masha allah sis. Glad you came to Islam. :thumbs_up :D

:w:

[Abu Zakariya]

As-salaamu 'alaykum

I just thought I might tell you a little bit about how I started practising, insha'Allah.

I was born in Bosnia. Both of my parents were communists.
We moved to northern Europe because of the war, when I was only about 4 years old.

My parents didn't really talk to me much about islam, but I knew somethings and what always struck me was how beautiful the salaah was (I was still young when feeling this).
And I knew that there was a Creator and that we should obey him and that we would be judged by Him in the Life Hearafter (this was my fitrah, because noone really taught me this). I even felt that we should submit to that Creator (I didn't know that word existed, but that was my feeling). We should submit/surrender to the will of God, I just knew that deep down in my soul.

But, watching TV and everything I thought that Christianity was what I later on found out islam is. I saw people praying to God and asking Him for things. I didn't understand arabic and I didn't even know that the Qur'an was in arabic, I had no idea what kind of language that was (when i occasionaly heard the Qur'an). So, I assumed that Christianity was what I really believed in (because they told us the stories of the prophets in school and because of what I thought Christianity was). I wanted to belong to a religion whose followers pray to God in a way they understand. But I still felt that the movements in the salaat were special. The prostration was THE ultimate thing. I wanted to do this. I wanted to surrender to God, obeying Him and prostrating to Him. I wanted to praise Him. I didn't find this in Christianity and when I ultimately found out that they believe in the Trinity, well... That was it...

I did feel that Islams belief in God was something I could understand and that it was logical. As I mentioned, watching TV and going to school I got the impression that Christianity was what I believed in, but it all collaped as I found out the truth, so when I learned more about islam it made sense. The only thing I didn't understand was the Qur'an and it's language. I had never even picked up a translation (I was still a kid though).
One thing I couldn't put my finger on was the islamic prayer. There was something very, very magical about the Fajr prayer especially. Waking up early at dawn, washing yourself, praying to God and submitting to Him! Is there anything more beautiful?

So I learned how to pray by myself when I was twelve and did a couple of mistakes and wanted to correct myself, so I surfed the internet looking for info about the salaat. And I came across some info about islam and one thing just dazzled me when I came to know about it. Islam means submission! It MEANS SUBMISSION TO GOD! This, in my opinion, is evidence that islam is the right way of life. This was my fitrah. This was what I believed in.
Also, when I finally picked up a translation of the Qur'an... I can't describe it with words. It's as if all my feeling that I have in my heart, that I can't express were taken out and put on paper. It was unbelievable.

Imagine then how I felt when I came across the verses in the Qur'an that told us to look in our own selves for signs and the hadiths where the Prophet salallahu 'alayhi wa sallam informs us of the fitrah.

The reason why I feel islam is the right way is because of the fact that every aspect of it totally agrees with the fitrah.

This was just my little story that I wanted to share. Maybe it was gobbledygoo as I just wrote of the top of my head, but I think the point comes across, insha'Allah. =)

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

:sl:
That was a beautiful story br. Abu Zakariyah :) . I would say that you have probaby come to discover Islam in the same way that Muslim converts/reverts do, mash'Allah.

:w:

[Khattab]

:sl:

Alahmdulillah very nice story brother. Mashallah judging by your posts you seem to subhanallah be a very knowledgable brother who has studied the deen, may Allah (SWT) make you steadfast upon the straight path, increase you in knowledge and make you an inheritor of Al Jannah Al Firdus, Ameen.

:w:

[Abu Zakariya]

Ansar al-'Adl

Yeah, because my parents never really taught me anything about islam.
I even thought that the Qur'an wasn't in a real language, rather they just said something that only God understood. That's why I, for a while, felt closer to Christianity because I saw muslims reciting something I didn't understand and thought they also didn't understand, and I also saw christians praying and they let us watch movies about the prophets in school (I didn't even know that muslims believed in these prophets).

But as the Prophet salallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, it's the parents that trn someone into a christian, jew etc. and my parents didn't teach me anything really, so my fitrah could stay intact alhamdulillah.

And now I read all of these du'aas in the Sunnah and, as I mentioned, I can't even describe what a feeling I get when reading the Qur'an. It's like being reunited with ones family after a long stay in prison or something =)

Khattab

Ameen wa iyaak :love:

[Ummu Amatullah]

:sl:
there are many muslim parents that aren't much involved in islam. :'(

[Uthman]

:sl:

there are many muslim parents that aren't much involved in islam.

It's true. Many parents also fail to distinguish between culture and Islam

:w:

[Khattab]

:sl:

This was a great story that I read recently I would recommend for everyone to read it.

How Abu Muhammad Abdullah Bin Abdullah (Al-Tarjuman)
The Majorcan became a Muslim
By: Abul-Farag Ibn Ahmad

a)An ex-priest, Anselm Tormeeda.
b)The greatest Christian scholar (during) the 14th century.
c)The author of "The Gift to the Intelligent for Refuting the Arguments of the Christians".

While the Christians were expending all their efforts in disseminating distorted Christianity all over Andalusia after the evacuation of the Muslims, Allah, the Almighty, opened the heart of one of its great scholars to Islam. He submitted sincerely to Allah, and stood upright in obedience to Him and struggled with his hand, tongue and pen in His way.

This man was Sheikh Abu Muhammad Abdullah bin Abdullah Al-Tarjuman, the Majorcan, who was once a priest called Anselm Tormeeda. He was known as Al-Tarjuman (The Translator), because in less than five months after embracing Islam, the Sultan appointed him general of the Marine Administration where he learned the Arabic language and became a skillful translator in discussions between Muslims and Christians. After only one year, he excelled in the Arabic language and was appointed as the head of Translation Affairs.

He was famous among the common people with some nicknames; the most popular was Sidi Tohfah, which means "My Master Gift", referring to his famous book "The Gift To The Intelligent For Refuting The Arguments Of The Christians.

The book was a powerful blow to the structure of Christian belief because it was written by one of the greatest scholars of Christianity in those days, as admitted by Christians themselves. He began his book by mentioning the story of his guidance to Islam; how Allah freed his heart from the slavery of idolatry and polytheism, and how He opened his heart to Islam and filled it with His Light.

What follows is a summary extracted from his story as related in his own words:


Let it be known to you all, May Allah bless you, that my origin is from the city of Majorca -May Allah return it to Islam- which is a great city on the sea, between two mountains and divided by a small valley. It is a commercial city, with two wonderful harbours. Big merchant ships come and anchor in the harbour with different goods. The city is on the Island which has the same name - Majorca, and most of its land is populated with fig and olive trees.

My father was one of the respected men in the city. I was his only son. When I was six, he sent me to a priest who taught me to read the Gospel. I memorised more than half of it in a period of two years. Then I began to learn the language of the Gospel and logic, which I finished in six years.

After that, I left Majorca and travelled to the city of Larda, in the region of Castellion , which was the center of learning for Christians, in that region. A thousand to a thousand and a half Christian students gathered there. All were under the administration of the priest who taught them. I studied physical sciences and astronomy for six years. Then I studied the Gospel and its language for another four years.


After that, I left for Bologna in the region of Anbardia. Bologna is a large city, it being the center of learning for all the people of that region. Every year, more than two thousand students gather together from different places. They cover themselves with rough cloth which they call "The Hue of God". All of them, whether the son of a ruler, or the son of a workman, wear this wrap, in order to make the students distinct from others. Only the priest who teaches them controls and directs them.

I lived in the church with an aged priest. He was greatly respected by the people because of his knowledge, religiousness and asceticism, which distinguished him from the other Christian priests. Questions and requests for advice came to him from everywhere, from Kings and Rulers, along with presents and gifts. They hoped that he would accept their presents and grant them his blessings.

This priest taught me the principles of Christianity and its rulings. I became very close to him by serving and assisting him with his duties until I became one of his most trusted assistants, so that he trusted me with the keys of his domicile in the church and of his food and drink stores. He kept for himself only the key of a small room where he used to sleep. I think, and Allah knows best, that he kept his treasure chest in there.

I was a student and servant for a period of ten years. Then he fell ill and failed to attend the meetings of his fellow priests. During his absence the priests discussed some religious matters, till they came to what was said by The Almighty Allah through His Prophet Jesus in the Gospel:
"After him will come a Prophet called Paraclete"

They argued a great deal about this Prophet and as to who he was among the prophets. Everyone gave his opinion according to his knowledge and understanding; and they ended without achieving any benefit in that issue.

I went to my priest, and as usual he asked about what was discussed in the meeting that day. I mentioned to him the different opinions of the priests about the name Paraclete, and how they finished the meeting without clarifying its meaning.

He asked me: "What was your answer ?" I gave him my opinion, which was taken from my interpretation of a well-known exegesis. He said that I was nearly correct like some priests, and the other priests were wrong. "But the truth is different from all of that. This is because the interpretation of that noble name is known only to a small number of well versed scholars. And we possess only a little knowledge."

I fell down and kissed his feet, saying: "Sir, you know that I travelled and came to you from a distant country, I have served you now for more than ten years; and have attained knowledge beyond estimation, so please favour me and tell me the truth about this name."

The priest then wept and said: "My Son, By God, you are very much dear to me for serving me and devoting yourself to my care. Know the truth about this name, and there is a great benefit, but there is also a great danger. And I fear that when you know this truth, and the Christians discover that, you will be killed immediately."

I said: "By God, By the Gospel and He who was sent with it, I shall never speak any word about what you will tell me, I shall keep it as a secret in my heart."

He said: "My son, when you came here from your country, I asked you if is it near to the Muslim's. And whether they made raids against you, or you made raids against them. This was to test your hatred for Islam. Know, my son, that Paraclete is the name of their Prophet, Muhammad." to whom was revealed the fourth book as mentioned by Daniel. His way is the clear way which is mentioned in the Gospel. I said: "Then sir, what do you say about the religion of these Christians?" He said: "My son, if these Christians remained on the original religion of Jesus, then they would have been on God's true religion; because the religion of Jesus and all the other prophets is the true religion of God. But they changed it and became unbelievers."

I asked him: "Then, sir, what is the salvation from this?" He said: "Oh my son, embracing Islam."

I asked him: "Will the one who embraces Islam be saved?"

He answered: "Yes, in this world and the Hereafter." I said: "The prudent chooses for himself; if you know, sir, the merit of Islam, then what keeps you from it?"

He answered: "My son, The Almighty Allah did not expose me to the truth of Islam and the prophet of Islam until after I have become old and my body weakened. Yes, there is no excuse for us in this, on the contrary, the proof of Allah has been established against us. If God had guided me to this when I was your age I would have left everything and adopted the religion of truth. Love of this world is the essence of every sin, and look how I am esteemed, glorified, and honoured by the Christians, and how I am living in affluence and comfort! In my case, if I show a slight inclination towards Islam they would kill me immediately. Suppose that I was saved from them and succeeded in escaping to the Muslims they would say, do not count your Islam as a favour upon us, rather you have benefited yourself only by entering the religion of truth, the religion that will save you from the punishment of Allah! So I would live among them as a poor old man of more than ninety years, without knowing their language, and they would not know my real status and I would die among them starving. I am, and all praise is due to Allah on the religion of Christ and on that which he came with, and Allah knows that from me.

So I asked him: "Do you advise me to go to the country of the Muslims and adopt their religion?" He said to me: "If you are wise and hope to save yourself, then race to that which will achieve this life and the hereafter. But my son, none is present with us concerning this matter, it is between you and me only. Exert yourself and keep it a secret. If it is disclosed and the people know about it they will kill you immediately. I will be of no benefit to you against them. Neither will it be of any use to you if you tell them what you heard from me concerning Islam, or that I encouraged you to be a Muslim, for I shall deny it. They will trust my testimony against you but will not trust yours against me. So, do not tell a word, whatever happens." I promised him not to do so. He was satisfied and content with my promise.

I began to prepare for my journey and bid him farewell. He prayed for me and gave me fifty golden dinars. Then I took a ship to my city Majorca where I stayed with my parents for six months. Then I traveled to Sicily and remained there five months, waiting for a ship bound for the land of the Muslims.

Finally a ship arrived bound for Tunis. We departed before sunset and reached the port of Tunis at noon on the second day. When I got off the ship, Christian scholars who heard of my arrival came to greet me and welcome me to their dwelling place. Some local merchants also offered their hospitality to me and I stayed with them for four months in ease and comfort.

After that I asked them if there was in the Sultan's (Ruler) Palace a translator. The Sultan in those days was Abu Al-Abbas Ahmad. They said there was a virtuous man, the Sultan's Physician, who was one of his closest advisors. His name was Yusuf Al-Tabeeb ((Joseph the doctor). I was greatly pleased to hear this, and asked where he lived. They took me there and I met him separately. I told him about my story and the reason of my coming there; which was to embrace Islam. He was immensely pleased because this matter would be completed by his help. We rode to the Sultan's Palace. He met the Sultan and told him about my story and asked his permission for me to meet him. The Sultan accepted, and I presented myself before him.

The first question the Sultan asked was about my age. I told him that I was thirty-five years old. He then asked about my learning and the sciences which I had studied. After I told him he said, "Your arrival is the arrival of goodness. Be a Muslim with Allah's blessings." I then said to the doctor, "Tell the honourable Sultan that it always happens that when anyone changes his religion his people defame him and speak evil of him. So, I wish if he kindly sends to bring the Christian priests and merchants of this city to ask them about me and hear what they have to say. Then by Allah's will, I shall accept Islam."

He said to me through the translator, "You have asked what Abdullah Bin Salaam asked from the Prophet when he-Abdullah-came to announce his Islam . He then sent for the priests and some Christian merchants and let me sit in an adjoining room unseen by them. When they came he asked them, "What do you say about this new priest who just arrived by ship?"

They said: "He is a great scholar in our religion. Our bishops say he is the most learned and no one is superior to him in our religious knowledge." After hearing what the Christian said, the Sultan sent for me, and presented myself before them. I declared the two testimonies that there is (no one worthy of Worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger), and when the Christians heard this they "crossed" themselves and said: "Nothing incited him to do that except his desire to marry, as priests in our religion can not marry" . Then they left him in distress and grief. The Sultan appointed for me a quarter of a dinar everyday from the treasury and let me marry the daughter of Al-Hajj Muhammad Al-Saffar.

When I decided to consummate the marriage, he gave me a hundred golden dinars and an excellent suit of clothes. I then consummated the marriage and Allah blessed me with a child to whom I gave the name Muhammad as a blessing from the name of our Prophet.


Thus we come to the end of the story of Al-Sheikh Abdullah Al-Tarjuman who mentioned after that in his book some events of the Hafsah State in which he served as the chief translator. He followed that with nine chapters; among them: a chapter on the truth about the writers of the four Gospels (Matthew, Marks, Luke, and John), whom he proved were not among the disciples of Christ. He also discussed other topics like Baptism, Trinity, Original Sin, The Lord's Supper, The Indulgence, The law of faith… etc. and refuted them all with the texts from the Gospels and logical proofs.

He proved also the human nature of Christ and disproved his Divine nature. He then exposed the contradictions in the interpolated texts of the Bible.

Lastly he discussed what the Christians criticise the Muslims about, like marriage of the religious scholars and the pious men, circumcision and physical enjoyment in Paradise. He concluded his book by proving the truth of the Prophethood of Muhammad with texts from the Bible.

:w:

[Far7an]

Assalamu alaikum

threads merged

[TEH]

Wow, Masha Allah, good on you sis...

:)

[Salah ud Deen]

My reversion to the true path - Salah ud Deen

Growing up I really didn't have a whole lot of religion, but I was from a Catholic family. I can remember going to church every now and then, usually on Christmas Eve and maybe a few other special occasions. For my teenage years and my earlier twenties I was really turned-off and even had a strong dislike and even a hatred of religion at the time. I had felt that it was a method of controlling people and manipulating them. I had also had one to many run-ins with Bible thumpers. I'm sure they probably meant well but all they accomplished was my aversion to religion, most specifically Christianity. I really didn't like the methods that they used. I think if they would not have been so overbearing they might have had more success.

The beginning of my interest in religion started when I was twenty-three years old. I had been out of the Navy for a few months and was living in Washington State at my friend’s house. When I found out that the Jeep I had bought from a shipmate was stolen which I returned to the proper owner. Not having the proper transportation to stay in Washington I decided to move to Northern California to live with my Mom. When I left I had only a few boxes of things in a big Ryder truck with bald tires and a bad right-side mirror. Driving down I had decided to take a "short-cut" through Humboldt county so that I could get home quicker. I ended up going up a mountain with tons of snow already on the ground and plenty more coming down at a steady pace. Instead of going slow once I got over the peak of the mountain I kept going about 10-15mph. As I made my way down the mountain, I started to slide and ended up slamming into the side of the mountain, bending the front axle and the left-front rim. I didn't stay there long because I figured with as much snow was on the ground I could continue driving and the front of the truck would just slide along. This worked for about five to ten minutes before I ended up spinning out and ended up facing backwards. Now I really thought I was just stuck and I was going to have to wait for someone to show up and help me out. Instead of waiting I got back into the truck and started driving backwards with the door kicked open so I could see. This time I ended up almost going over the side of the mountain with the only thing stopping me was the snow which had been plowed up earlier that day. Now I was really stuck. There was no way I was going anywhere. I didn't want to sit in the truck because I feared it would fall over the side and, well, I just didn't want to be in it if it went over the side. So I waited and waited freezing and cold. After what seemed like a few hours, with ice in my hair and cold water running down my head I called out to God(swt). I said something like "God (swt), I know that I have been a pretty crappy person and that I have disobeyed you and even hated and spited you. I ask that if you are out there then help me. Help me out of this situation and I will obey you and follow you. I will change myself." After that I just started waiting again. In what seemed like an hour I looked behind me and I thought that I saw light coming up the mountain and sure enough it was, it was an SUV. I have never been so happy to see a gas-guzzling, environment polluting SUV ever before or since. They called a tow-truck for me and all I had to do was wait for it to arrive. While I sat there I thought about God (swt) and the fact that he had answered me when I really needed him. I was happy. When Larry (tow guy, I still remember him vividly) showed up he had to brace his truck because there was so much snow on the ground. After we started heading into town I was talking to him a little and said something like "someone was watching out for me tonight." He agreed and said something in the manner that I should be dead. When I checked into my hotel upon arriving into town I picked up some Christian pamphlets that they had in the office, went to my room and fell asleep.

When I got to my Moms I read the pamphlets and got on the web and went to AudioBible.com. Why did I go here, well I had always found the Bible difficult to read so I figured that I would listen to it. I only listened to it for maybe ten minutes and then never again. I did stick to praying before I went to bed for about a week. Then my religious revival stopped, and I continued in my old ways.

September 11th. Killer Muslims had just come across to the sea to attack the United States because they hate freedom and goodness. They attacked the US for no reason whatsoever. President Bush declared a Crusade against all who where not on our side. September 11th was a major turning point for me. A new hatred that I had never felt towards Muslims before rose up inside me, I wanted to join back up with the Navy so I could help make the Middle-East a giant piece of glass. I really didn't have any concrete information about Muslims or Arabs except that they where behind an attack on my country. This event sparked a new desire in me for religion and I wanted to try to read the Bible again. One of the waitresses at the restaurant that I worked at was given some Bible's by one of the customers that had come in. I got one from her so I could read it at home. I started reading Genesis for a few minutes and then set it down.

Religion and I didn't seem to go together very well. I just couldn't get into reading the Bible which I felt was the most important thing to do if you where going to belong to any religion. Then something started to change. I started getting really big into politics. I was reading a lot of articles online that started to make me think. I found out that Bush was destroying the environment. I found out about the Patriot Act and how with its passage, the US Constitution and Bill of Rights ceased to exist. But the big kicker was what I learned about US foreign policy. Dead bishops and nuns in South America, 500,000 children under the age of five killed by sanctions, Muslims and Christian Palestinians being killed and oppressed with US financing and US supplied weapons and on and on and on. While this may not seem connected to religion in an outward manner, it was the study of politics that made me realize that all was not as it appeared to be. I had been fooled and been a fool. I had been a bigot on false assumptions and because I had no morality. This was when I decided to look into Islam. I wanted to know for myself if it was really true what the media and Jerry Falwell said about Islam. Was Islam a religion that promotes violence towards innocent people? What were their beliefs about God (swt), morality, combat and women? I wanted to know for myself and make my own decision about Islam. So I turned off my TV and started reading.

I started my research on Islam by going to Islamic websites and reading about Islam. What was the basic beliefs, what did they do on a daily basis. I read some articles here and there. I downloaded a Qur'an from downloads.net and started to read it. One of the first things that I noticed was that it held my interest and made sense to me. I was having no problem reading the Qur'an. The entire book really impressed me. Here was a blueprint on how to live my life in a good manner, in the best manner. To gain knowledge for the sole purpose of pleasing Allah (swt) was the greatest form of worship. To save a life is as if you saved all of humanity and to take an innocent life was as if you had killed the world. There is no compulsion in religion. We where made different so we would know one another, not hate each other. Christians and Jews are people of the book (earlier revelation). And on and on. The scientific proofs in the Qur'an also had a profound effect on me. The detailed description of how the fetus forms in the womb, which we as humans have only come to understand in the 20th century. I was completely floored. I realized that this was verbatim the word of Allah(swt) and that he was speaking to me, telling me "this is why I want you to be a moral person and this is why you should not do this..." During the months of November and December I continued my reading and research. I knew that I believed in Islam, but with all the hatred for Islam it made it really hard for me. I had the view that Islam was an Arab religion. Also Muslims where the bad guys now, no longer the Soviet communists. I really felt hesitant. Then on January 11th, 2002, I read on one website a question that said "So your thinking about embracing Islam but..." I read the answer to this question and I knew then that Islam was for me. I believed in Islam. The thing that had been holding me back was indecisiveness. So I made my declaration of faith: I declare there is no god but Allah (swt) and Muhammed (saw) is the messenger of Allah (swt). After this I taught my how to pray with a computer program that I had downloaded on the net. I continued to read about Islam and to learn and grow. I began to change. My relationship with my mother improved at a huge pace. I even eventually started to read the Bible so I could have an understanding of it. For about three months I had been practicing in secret. Then I finally worked up my courage to tell my mother. When I told her, her reaction was "oh Salah ud Deen." Needless to say this didn't make me feel very good. But I marched on and as time has gone by I have gotten more and more acceptance with my family on my being a Muslim. My friends on the other hand were all very accepting. They where true friends. I have come to love Islam more than anything that is in this world, I just hope I can live to at least some of the high standards of conduct and being that Islam demands. Insha'Allah (God willing) I will be able to do so.

:arabic6:

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

:sl:
Mashaa'Allah Br. Salah ud Deen! I didn't know you were a revert! :) May Allah reward you, and I hope you will continue to inspire others on this forum.

And May Allah bless you too, Sr. A'isha ( marrakeshfresh) for your beautiful story as well! :brother:

:w:

[Ahmed_Yaseen]

:sl: Salah ud Deen,

SubhanAllah. What an interesting story. Now you see why many Muslims like learning about how new Muslims came to Islam.

May Allah guide us all to the right path (Ameen).

I started my research on Islam by going to Islamic websites and reading about Islam. What was the basic beliefs, what did they do on a daily basis. I read some articles here and there. I downloaded a Qur'an from downloads.net and started to read it.

This is proof that the internet can be a very useful Da'wah tool in today's age.

:w:

[Zuko]

wow.... sister A'isha and bro Salah ud Deen, very inspiring stories... Masha'allah...

[Protected_Diamond]

---

asalamualykum warahmatulahi wabaralathu
awwwh!! masha Allah im pleased for you...Allah s.w.a will help you throughout yo life so don't worrry...

walkumasalaam warahmatulahi wabaralathu

MODERATOR'S COMMENT: 16.When a long article/post has been posted, and you want to comment on the article/post, do not quote it since it is a waste of space.

[ummbilal]

:sl:
I really liked this story of a boy who converted at the age of 10 !!!!!
just read on :

Allhumdulilah a wonderful example of the mercy of our Lord
i have tears streaming down my face mashallah, i think i found it esspecially touching because my son is nearly 10,

inshaallah i will share my story later. :thumbs_up

[ummbilal]

A mugger converts Allhumdulilah

this is a story of something that happened quite recently in london uk

a brother was on a train when a man came up to him and asked for his wallet, intending to rob him, the man may have had a wepon i cant remember Allahu alam.
Allhumdulilah the brother said, "I am a muslim and that means i am willing to defend my property, should i die doing so then i will die a shahid and enter paradise, if i dont die then i get to keep my possesions. Its a win win situation for me"
the robber looked stunned and walked away..

a week later the brother is on the train again and is approached by the same man, who say"I've been looking for you all week, i cannot sleep for thinking about what you said, tell me what it is that gives you such faith, what is being a muslim?"

Of course the brother told him about Islam and Allhumdulilah the man took his shahada Allhumdulilah to be taken from the gutter by the mercy of Allah to join the ranks of the believers inshaallah.

[GamilaZein]

well well well u want my story huh? Well ok here goes..I was born into a family of babtists..spent my youth in sunday school like everyone else...but always had questions..so many things in that belief conflicted...so when i got older i started doing research in all religions..and then i found islam.Started learning about it...reading..asking ppl i knew..and one day it finally slapped me in the face lol..this is home..this is where i belong..u see i have never felt like i belonged in any groups here in america..never felt like I fit in at all..with the women all running around half naked...giving their bodies up to different men all the time...makes me want to be sick...so i dont have friends here in the states..but when i found islam the ppl i talked to made me feel so comfortable from the start...so now i know ..this is truely where i belong...

oh and no i didnt' write that per say...just made my own adjustments to it ..thanks for the props

[Protected_Diamond]

How Emily became Muslim


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I said, Emily has become Muslim?!

She said, Yes, she became Muslim.

This news came as a surprise, and I asked myself, how did this woman become Muslim?

I had never noticed anything in the expression of this Filipina woman to indicate that she wanted to hear anything about Islam… But Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily, you (O Muhammad) guide not whom you like, but Allaah guides whom He wills” [al-Qasas 28:56]

And Allaah had guided this Christian woman to Islam. The lady of the house for whom Emily worked told me the story of her Islam. Her journey towards Islam had begun when she had said to her mistress, I want to learn about Islam.

This surprised the lady of the house, but she told her a few things about Islam in an attempt to convey a little of what she knew about her religion. Then she got in touch with the Centre of Daw’ah and Guidance for Non-Muslims (Markaz al-Da’wah wa’l-Irshaad li’l-Jaaliyaat ghayr al-Muslimah) in order to get hold of some books about Islam written in the Filipino language (Tagalog).

What attracted my attention to this story is the fact that this newly-Muslim woman sees things in our religion that many others do not see.

When I asked her why she had embraced our religion, she answered as follows:

I used to feel very peaceful deep in my heart, even though I was in a strange society far away from my homeland. I received kind treatment from my mistress and she was concerned about me and my rights. She cared about my safety and would not let me go out alone on my weekly day off. She said, If your husband were here, I would let you go out with him on your day off. At the beginning, I used to accuse the Muslims of being oppressive, but I soon realized that she meant well and wanted to keep me away from immoral routes. If this was the case with minor issues of your religion, then what about the major issues?

Whilst thinking about the story of this Filipina worker, whose appearance was even more beautiful than before now that she was wearing the proper Islamic hijaab, another question came to my mind: what motivates a woman to become Muslim?

Despite the fact that the people in the family for whom she worked were not particularly keen to call her to Islam and they did not follow a purely Islamic lifestyle, there still existed that common sense (fitrah – natural human inclination) which prevails over most of our households – that fitrah accompanied by kind treatment and good manners to which Allaah guides us in most of our dealings, even though some neglect much of it; that common sense which we must pay attention to. But it is this fitrah which always attracts them to the true religion.

My message here is daw’ah and raising awareness, the da’wah which starts in our homes with simple efforts. Our religion of Islam is a great religion which includes profound principles and concepts and it can save mankind from its woes; we must not neglect these principles.

If this woman could become Muslim simply from seeing or hearing a few simple things in our lifestyle, how would it be if we were really adhering to our religion properly? Wouldn’t that have a greater and more positive effect on the non-Muslim foreign workers around us? It would definitely have a great impact on improving the state of our Islamic society and the entire Muslim Ummah.

[MetSudaisTwice]

salam
alhamdulillah
wasalam

[jay]

Any stories about re/converts who were atheist and from atheist backgrounds? It seems to me that from the starting point converts were always already *sure* about God?

[Shadow]

Any stories about re/converts who were atheist and from atheist backgrounds? It seems to me that from the starting point converts were always already *sure* about God?

http://www.islamicboard.com/comparat...rs-here-2.html

read post number 13:)

oh and welcome to the forum

[libertymouse73]

Salam all! I have meaning to post this for a while but just now have some time. After reading the other converts sories though I'm a little reluctant. I didn't have any big moments or anything so here it goes.

I have to start back in 7th grade I guees, I was raised Lutheran, thjough after my parents divorce didn't attend church much. Then I meet a very good friend in 7th grade. I actually had the biggest crush on him the whole year tough I never told him. He was in 8th and then went to high school a year before me. We met up again in high school and dated for a few months then back to really good friends. My second year of high school he was promoted to his last year and was changed to a different home room. This is where he became friends and locker partners with my future hubby!

I saw my hubby in the halls and it was love at first site!:loving: SO i like to say. After a couple months we finally went on a first date, we were both very shy. I knew he was muslim but that was all. I did not know anything about Islam at the time. I learned a bit as we started to date. I know thats not right now but not hten.

We dated a year before he asked me to marry him. I was still in hs and he was in college by now. His Parents knew nothing of me, he kept it a secret. I have to admit I didn't think at the time that we would really get married. He is very loyal toi his family esp his mom! As things tend to happen here in the US we did things together that Islamically we shouldn't have. My last year of hs, near the end, I became pregnant.

We debated long and hard about what to do and finally decided we would keep the baby and he would leave his family. This he did because he didn't believe his parents would allow him to take the responsibility. He wrote them a letter and left the house with all his things. His family came looking for him and in a day or two did contact him through his older brother, who knew me and the situation. My husband had a meeting with his parents and grandparents and it was decided that they should meet me. We met the next day and they wanted us to have at least the Islamic wedding, as my step mothers insurance was covering my pregnancy. We had it in 3 days and his grandfather performed the ceremony.

After my son was born we went to live with my inlaws so my husband could finsh his college degree. A little every day I learned and saw more about Islam. I was interested but a little rebelious. My in laws kept pushing it on me and that is a sure fore way for me to say no:giggling:!So we asked them to let it be and maybe I would convert.

Now I have a new baby, husband, inlaws and trying to deal with a different culture( hubby's parents came to US from Pakistan)! I began to feel the need for God and religion in my life. I started to read the Bible and study Christianity as a whole. Also went to my sisters Religious Scientist church. I looked at Hinduism, Bhuddism, Judeaism...etc. I looked all over and also quietly at Islam. Of all of them ISlam didn't make me question beliefs or rules, etc. No one knew I was curoius, not even my hsband! I didn't want to hurt him if I decided not to convert.

One night before dinner when my son was a year old, I told him I wanted to convert. He was so happy and hugged me tight. THe first thing out of his mouth was we had to tell his parents. I wanted to hold off. Maybe convert firast then trell them but he didn't know exactly what to do so we decided we would tell them at dinner. At dinner hubby said I had some thing to tell them, they must ahve thought I was pregnant again from the look then. When I told them I wanted to convert my father in law got up and came around the table to hug me and kiss my head! THis is big cuz he usually just sniffs peoples heads!:uuh: :uuh: My mother in law was crying, which she doesn't often do, and then hugged me as well.

It was decided the night that over the weekend we would go to my husbands aunts house with all the family present for my shahada. I didn't want to wait the 4 days but it was to be a celebration.

It was a big event. My husbands cousin from florida came up with her family to be there with me! We had become friends over the year. My father in laws older brother was the one to give me the shahada and I prayed my firat salat that day. I still remember it was Maghrib salat on Feburuary 1st 1993.

A lot haaas happened since then and I have learned alot but with so much more to go. As you can see not big event when it hit me. Converting just felt right. I didn't miss anything like pork or shorts, etc and salat fit in so nicely. I didn't struggle for it at all. I guess I was always muslim in my heart.

THe hard part was telling my Mom. She was aliitle upset but always tried to show it with me. Years later she told me people ask her if shes mad about it. She tells them that she isn't because she can see the peace I have found in Islam. The rest of my family was just fine with it from the start.

I know... not too thrilling like the rest but there it it. My conversion. Thanks for reading

[sapphire]

---

that is a really thrilling and touching story sis...this just really touched my heart....may Allah reward you abundantly..Ameen...

Refer to forum rule 17.

[Naheezah]

:sl:
a True Story of New Muslim American

IMAAM SIRAAJ WAHHAAJ

Muslim Students Association (MSA) used to be umbrella organization for the Muslims residing in America and Canada. Over several years, many Muslim students became citizens of United States and made this country their future home. To serve the needs of these citizens, a new umbrella organisation came into being. It was named Islamic Society if North America or ISNA. Siraj Wahhaaj and I had the privilege and honour to be members of Majlis Shura and Executive Council of MSA. We were also members of the first Majlis Shura and Executive Council of ISNA.

We had to meet often at ISNA headquarters in Indiana. Our meetings used to be very long and extremely tiring. There was rarely any chance to talk freely with each other. The Agenda was very big. Only a few members had a chance to express their opinion on various issues. In this way, I felt a vacuum between these Muslim national leaders.

Luckily, one day Brother Siraj and I got together during the brief lunch break of the Executive council meeting of ISNA. I was curious to know how he accepted Islam. He narrated his situation as follows:

“I used to be a member of the so-called Black Muslim movement, which was quite different from the traditional Muslim beliefs and practices. ISNA held a summer training camp for community workers. I happened to attend this camp. The camp started with a recitation of the Holy Qur’aan by a Sudanese brother. I did not know Arabic at that time. This recitation of Qur’aan affected me deeply. I started crying profusely. The more recitation I heard the more tears gushed out from my eyes, flowing down my cheeks continuously and falling on my clothes. I did not understand a word of Arabic. I said to myself, ‘Whatever it is, it seems real.’ I, therefore, became a traditional Sunni Muslim.”

Brother Siraj learnt Arabic diligently and mastered recitation of Qur’aan and Hadith in due course of time. Soon, he became Imaam of Musjid Taqwa in New York. His Friday address used to be very effective. Many men and women accepted Islam through him.

The Muslim community around his mosque grew larger and larger. He surfaced as a Muslim national leader and member of Majlis Shura and Executive Council of ISNA.

I asked him how he viewed the activities of ISNA and other similar Muslim communities. He said loudly, “All of you are very lazy and your output in the activities is very minimal. For example, when I used to be in the Black Muslim Movement, I had to sell a lot of newspapers. I used to stand on my feet for hour to ensure the sale of all the newspapers. Sometimes, my legs used to tremble despite my youth. You guys talk too much and do very little.” There was no more time left in this lunch break to ask questions.

His Musjid is located in inner part of New York city where drug business was done day and night. The drug dealers were very rich and extremely dangerous. To eradicate drugs from this community was a very uphill and risky task. Dealers would kill anybody interfering in their activities. These drug dealers were thriving around Taqwa Mosque. Imaam Siraj did not like this. imaam Siraj gathered knowledge about these dealers from some of the new Muslims who used to wheel and deal with them in the past. Siraj gathered a few hundred Muslims from his community and went to the drug lords one by one. He said to them, ‘Get out of the community by tomorrow or we will get rid of you all.’ Many said to him, ‘Why do you want to rob us of our daily living?’ siraj told them that there was no room for drugs in this Muslim community. Siraj repeated his tour with his followers next day. All drug lords left their centres of activities. In this way, the vicinity of Taqwa Mosque was cleaned of drug dealers for a five miles radius. The American Government was surprised because they could not succees even after spending lot of money and applying different tactics using skilful manpower. Brother Siraj was interviewed on national television for his remarkable achievement. TV Ancherman asked, ‘How and why did you do it?’ Siraj replied, ‘Islam and drug business cannot go together. Islam cannot see the poor public ruined in the hands of these drug dealers. Sincerity of purpose and strong will helped to achieve the noble goal.’

Siraj is now closely working with other Muslim communities in America and Canada. He is very successful in inspiring youth and raising funds for Islamic schools and mosques. He is always with an open boo of Hadith or Holy Quraan in his hand even on the airports. He is respected internationally. During my last visit to Makkah Mukarramah from States, I met a few American Muslims. I asked them who else was there. They told me that Imaam Siraj was also there. Local leaders of Haram were looking for him so that he could participate in the changing ceremony of the cover of the House of Allah.

The last time when I heard his speech was at the Annual ISNA convention in Chicago. It was the time of the campaigning for the American Presidential election. It was in full swing. George Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perro were throwing as much dirt at each other as much as law permitted. Muslims residing in America expected to gain some sense of direction concerning their voting in the forthcoming election. Any word from the local American Muslim leaders like Siraj Wahhaaj would have ben highly valued. Siraj started his speech like this. “I was reading the Qur’aan last night. I was surprised to read about George Bush in it. Yes, you heard me right. I read about George Bush in the Quraan last night. In fact, I also read about Bill Clinton. Both were mentioned in the Quraan in the same place. Ross Perro was mentioned in the Quraan as well. I did not have to read lot of the Quraan since all three were mentioned in the beginning of the Quraan. You may be wondering where it is. It is in the second chapter of the Quraan. I can even give you the exact verse.” Then he recited the verse, ‘Summun Bukmun ‘Umyun fahum laa yarji’oon’ (They are deaf, dumb and blind. They will not return to truth)

He added, ‘There ears are not fit to hear the truth, their tongues are not ready to talk truth and their eyes are not capable of seeing the truth. How can there be any hope for their leaning towards or reverting to truth.’

Siraj has his own original style. There is a need for a book to be written about him. I hope somebody will do so one day.

Source:al-balagh.net

:sl:

[hidden_treasure]

Assalamu alaikum,

I came from a non religious family, however they still believed in God.

I grew up with friends of different nationalities and religions. My mother taught me the value of being kind to everyone, no matter what there colour of skin. I thank her for this...as i was far from ever being racist.

As i grew into my teens, i became very depressed with my life. I felt as though there was no meaning to it. Yes, i had life..but why was i here?

I would keep a diary of all my thoughts and emotions...i realised later i was one lost soul.

I would go out to nite clubs as a way of escaping. I would be so happy, laughing and enjoying the night with friends (or so i thought). Then when i had to return home again, i would sink into depression.

My conversion to Islam came after my cousin and grandmother passed away.

I questioned God.."why did you do this ????!!!!", and decided that i would no longer believe in Him.

I became more and more depressed, even hating myself...i felt all alone.

I went to see a doctor for some anti-depressants...i tried them once, and did not want to take them again.

I had friends who were born again christian...so i went to there church...as i guess i somehow, deep down still believed in the existence of God. I came back feeling as though everyone was fake.

I began asking people about there faith, and what they believed in.

I remember asking " if there is a God, please guide me to the truth " as i found all these religions confusing...and didnt know what the truth was.

SubhanAllah, it was maybe only weeks later that i went down to an islamic council and asked for some information on islam.

I was so nervous, but yet so excited. As i began to read up on this wonderful way of life, i felt as though it was the truth, and that Allah had guided me, when i needed Him the most.

A while later, i took my shahadah, and cried..it felt amazing !!!! I told my parents (stupid me, thinking they'd be so happy for me)..that i was now a muslim...they freaked out..and couldnt understand why i did such a thing. I asked them just to give me some time, and i would show them (through the teachings of islam) how i would change for the better, and how i would honour them and respect them.

Alhamdulillah, i have been muslim for so many years now, and have changed for the better..masha Allah. Not only that...Allah (swt) with His mercy has guided three other of my family members to Islam

Allahu Akbar.

[Mujahideen]

wow, i love these revert stories. they are an inspirition to the muslim ummah.
ALLAHU AKBAR!

[Tasneem]

Well...i dont have a revert story...
A-Hamdudillah,i've been muslim all my life by the grace of Allah all mighty.
I can tell u how i started to actually love islam and love niqab etc...
Just let me know..i dont want to go off topic.

[cihad]

i luv these stories too
v inspirational
i dont hav one aswell-been muslim all my life thanks to Allah -and my wonderful parents

[sapphire]

we are all born muslims...and yup been muslim all my life and i also luv reading these stories......

[Protected_Diamond]

I Had Not Gone Shopping for a New Religion
Written by: Michael Wolfe

After twenty-five years a writer in America, I wanted something to soften my cynicism. I was searching for new terms by which to see. The way one is raised establishes certain needs in this department. From a pluralist background, I naturally placed great stress on the matters of racism and freedom.

Then, in my early twenties, I had gone to live in Africa for three years. During this time, which was formative for me, I did rubbed shoulders with blacks of many different tribes, with Arabs, Berbers, and even Europeans, who were Muslims. By and large these people did not share the Western obsession with race as a social category. In our encounters being oddly coloured rarely mattered. I was welcomed first and judged on merit later. By contrast, Europeans and Americans, including many who are free of racist notions, automatically class people racially. Muslims classified people by their faith and their actions. I found this transcendent and refreshing. Malcolm X saw his nation's salvation in it. "America needs to understand Islam," he wrote, "because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem".

I was looking for an escape route, too, from the isolating terms of a materialistic culture. I wanted access to a spiritual dimension, but the conventional paths I had known as a boy were closed. My father had been a Jew; my mother Christian. Because of my mongrel background, I had a foot in two religious camps. Both faiths were undoubtedly profound. Yet the one that emphasizes a chosen people I found insupportable; while the other, based in a mystery, repelled me. A century before, my maternal great-great-grandmother's name had been set in stained glass at the high street Church of Christ in Hamilton, Ohio. By the time I was twenty, this meant nothing to me.

These were the terms my early life provided. The more I thought about it now, the more I returned to my experiences in Muslim Africa. After two return trips to Morocco, in 1981 and 1985, I came to feel that Africa, the continent, had little to do with the balanced life I found there. It was not, that is, a continent I was after, nor an institution, either. I was looking for a framework I could live with, a vocabulary of spiritual concepts applicable to the life I was living now. I did not want to "trade in" my culture. I wanted access to new meanings.

After a mid-Atlantic dinner I went to wash up in the bathroom. During my absence a quorum of Hasidim lined up to pray outside the door. By the time I had finished, they were too immersed to notice me. Emerging from the bathroom, I could barely work the handle. Stepping into the aisle was out of the question.
I could only stand with my head thrust into the hallway, staring at the congregation's backs. Holding palm-size prayer books, they cut an impressive figure, tapping the texts on their breastbones as they divined. Little by little the movements grew erratic, like a mild, bobbing form of rock and roll. I watched from the bathroom door until they were finished, then slipped back down the aisle to my seat.

We landed together later that night in Brussels. Reboarding, I found a discarded Yiddish newspaper on a food tray. When the plane took off for Morocco, they were gone.

I do not mean to imply here that my life during this period conformed to any grand design. In the beginning, around 1981, I was driven by curiosity and an appetite for travel. My favourite place to go, when I had the money, was Morocco. When I could not travel, there were books. This fascination brought me into contact with a handful of writers driven to the exotic, authors capable of sentences like this, by Freya Stark:
The perpetual charm of Arabia is that the traveller finds his level there simply as a human being; the people's directness, deadly to the sentimental or the pedantic, like the less complicated virtues; and the pleasantness of being liked for oneself might, I think, be added to the five reasons for travel given me by Sayyid Abdulla, the watchmaker; "to leave one's troubles behind one; to earn a living; to acquire learning; to practise good manners; and to meet honourable men".
I could not have drawn up a list of demands, but I had a fair idea of what I was after. The religion I wanted should be to metaphysics as metaphysics is to science. It would not be confined by a narrow rationalism or traffic in mystery to please its priests. There would be no priests, no separation between nature and things sacred. There would be no war with the flesh, if I could help it. Sex would be natural, not the seat of a curse upon the species. Finally, I did want a ritual component, daily routine to sharpen the senses and discipline my mind. Above all, I wanted clarity and freedom. I did not want to trade away reason simply to be saddled with a dogma.

The more I learned about Islam, the more it appeared to conform to what I was after.

Most of the educated Westerners I knew around this time regarded any strong religious climate with suspicion. They classified religion as political manipulation, or they dismissed it as a medieval concept, projecting upon it notions from their European past.

It was not hard to find a source for their opinions. A thousand years of Western history had left us plenty of fine reasons to regret a path that led through so much ignorance and slaughter. From the Children's Crusade and the Inquisition to the transmogrified faiths of nazism and communism during our century, whole countries have been exhausted by belief. Nietzsche's fear, that the modern nation-state would become a substitute religion, have proved tragically accurate. Our century, it seemed to me, was ending in an age beyond belief, which believers inhabited as much as agnostics.

Regardless of church affiliation, secular humanism is the air westerners breathe, the lens we gaze through. Like any world view, this outlook is pervasive and transparent. It forms the basis of our broad identification with democracy and with the pursuit of freedom in all its countless and beguiling forms. Immersed in our shared preoccupations, one may easily forget that other ways of life exist on the same planet.

At the time of my trip, for instance, 650 million Muslims with a majority representation in forty-four countries adhered to the formal teachings of Islam. In addition, about 400 million more were living as minorities in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Assisted by postcolonial economics, Islam has become in a matter of thirty years a major faith in Western Europe. Of the world's great religions, Islam alone was adding to its fold.

My politicized friends were dismayed by my new interest. They all but universally confused Islam with the machinations of half a dozen middle eastern tyrants. The books they read, the new broadcasts they viewed depicted the faith as a set of political functions. Almost nothing was said of its spiritual practice. I liked to quote Mae West to them: "Anytime you take religion for a joke, the laugh's on you".

Historically a Muslim sees Islam as the final, matured expression of an original religion reaching back to Adam. It is as resolutely monotheistic as Judaism, whose major Prophets Islam reveres as links in a progressive chain, culminating in Jesus and Muhammad. Essentially a message of renewal, Islam has done its part on the world stage to return the forgotten taste of life's lost sweetness to millions of people. Its book, the Qur'an, caused Goethe to remark, "You see, this teaching never fails; with all our systems, we cannot go, and generally speaking no man can go, further".

Traditional Islam is expressed through the practice of five pillars. Declaring one's faith, prayer, charity, and fasting are activities pursued repeatedly throughout one's life. Conditions permitting, each Muslim is additionally charged with undertaking a pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime. The Arabic term for this fifth rite is Hadj. Scholars relate the word to the concept of kasd, "aspiration," and to the notion of men and women as travellers on earth. In Western religions pilgrimage is a vestigial tradition, a quaint, folkloric concept commonly reduced to metaphor. Among Muslims, on the other hand, the hadj embodies a vital experience for millions of new pilgrims every year. In spite of the modern content of their lives, it remains an act of obedience, a profession of belief, and the visible expression of a spiritual community. For a majority of Muslims the hadj is an ultimate goal, the trip of a lifetime.

As a convert I felt obliged to go to Makkah. As an addict to travel I could not imagine a more compelling goal.
The annual, month-long fast of Ramadan precedes the hadj by about one hundred days. These two rites form a period of intensified awareness in Muslim society. I wanted to put this period to use. I had read about Islam; I had joined a Mosque near my home in California; I had started a practice. Now I hoped to deepen what I was learning by submerging myself in a religion where Islam infuses every aspect of existence.

I planned to begin in Morocco, because I knew that country well and because it followed traditional Islam and was fairly stable. The last place I wanted to start was in a backwater full of uproarious sectarians. I wanted to paddle the mainstream, the broad, calm water.

[Snowflake]

All the stories were so touching that I found it hard to hold back my tears. I'm a bit choked up. Time for a cuppa I think....

[DaSangarTalib]

Converted British mom, daughter say they were guided by Allah
By Afkar Ali

DUBAI - An English girl from a rural town on the outskirts of London
began spontaneously to read Arabic after purchasing a chocolate bar
with Arabic text on the packaging from a neighbourhood supermarket.
The girl, now a Muslim, can recite the Shahada, the article of faith,
and was in Dubai with her mother.

The girl's parents were stunned when their daughter started to shout
"I'm a Muslim, I'm a Muslim" and demanded a copy of the Holy Quran.
They were further surprised to hear their daughter utter words they
could not understand. While her father did not accept what was
happening, the girl found support from her mother who got her a copy
of the Holy Quran and helped her take her chosen path in life.

The seven-year-old girl, Jamila, whose previous name was Georgia, and
her mother Sameera, whose previous name was Samantha, were introduced
to the public and the Press in Dubai during a lecture organised by the
Pakistan International Forum at the Desert Rose Hotel. The lecture was
on the duty of a Muslim to contribute to instilling faith and belief
in the hearts of new Muslims. The lecture was delivered by Dr
Mansour Malik, an Islamic scholar from London.

In the middle of the lecture, Dr Malik introduced the little girl and
her mother, both of whom have recently converted to Islam.

Speaking on behalf of the child, her mother told Khaleej Times that
they live in the UK in an area where there are no Muslims or Arabs to
influence her daughter or teach her to read Arabic or even know about
Islam.

"Islam in our mind was associated with violence and terrorism from
what we hear in the news and read in the papers," Sameera said. She
added that one day her daughter Jamila could read the Arabic text on a
chocolate bar that she bought from a supermarket in their
neighbourhood.

"Her father and I were shocked when we heard our daughter uttering
words that we could not understand," Sameera added. While Jamila's
father did not accept what was happening Sameera supported her
daughter and brought her a copy of the Holy Quran and encouraged her
to choose her path in life.

"One day our house was set on fire and everything we owned perished in
the flames except for the Holy Quran," Sameera said. This accident
convinced her to accept Islam as the guidance of her life. "Allah was
guiding me towards the right path of Islam through the miracle of my
daughter when she uttered the word Islam," Sameera said.

Speaking to the Press, Jamila said that she couldn't recall the words
that were written on the chocolate bar, but she can say the Shahada,
the article of faith, "There is no true god but God (Allah) and
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is the messenger of God.".

She said that the main reason she came to Dubai is to see a Muslim
country where Muslims interact with people of other religions and to
see mosques and hear the Azzan (call for prayer).

Jamila said when they go back to the UK they would like to organise a
campaign to correct the misconceptions about Islam and spread Muslim
teachings among the non-Muslim residents in their neighbourhood.

Jamila pointed out that wearing the Hijab resulted in her being
ostracised by some of her family members and her friends and
schoolmates. "As I feel different now I also don't like to mingle with
my old friends and I prefer to meet Muslim friends to learn from them
the Islamic teachings," Jamila said. Sameera added: "Studying religion
has become a great joy for me and my daughter, other religions do not
offer the (same) depth and insight to the original source of my
belief.

"When I first read the Holy Quran it instilled in me a sense of
belonging. I began to study the Holy Quran this year with a deep
desire to know more. I know I have reached a source of truth that I
know will never desert me. I felt overjoyed and I was comforted by the
strength and belief of others who supported me and my daughter to
accept the faith in Allah."

[Noor]

:sl:

I would like to share a story of a revert that is very remarkable.

Bismillah Ar Rahman Ar Rahim
(In the name of God the Most Merciful, The Most Compassionate)


Note from the author:
Many people, both Muslim and non-Muslim alike, are surprised to see an American of European descent practicing the faith of Islam. Countless times I have been asked, “How did you become Muslim?” My journey to Islam is a unique one, but by God this is the truth as I remember, without exaggeration.



The Holy Qur’an - The Living Miracle
One American’s Path to Islam
By Anonymous


Before I became Muslim I was quite a different person. I am not proud of the person I used to be and I am quite shy in telling others the details of my previous life, but for the purposes of this story, in order to emphasize the change Islam has had on my life, I deem it necessary.

I was without true guidance for the most part of my early years. This means I was without Islam, which guides mankind to the best possible relationship with The Creator.

As a child, I looked up to the gangsters around the area. They had money and women, but what was most alluring was how they were treated like celebrities. Everywhere they went people would follow just to be seen with them. They were both feared and respected.

With these people as my role models, I embarked on my personal criminal path. By the age of twelve, I was committing crimes and by thirteen, I was carrying a handgun. May Allah have Mercy on me.

I soon found this way of life to be far from carefree; it is actually quite the opposite. Everyone around me, including myself, were constantly looking over our shoulders. We were always on guard either from the police, or from the enemies we had made. Even friends had to watch out for one another because you couldn’t even trust them. The ones you thought were your friends were often not really friends at all, and the ones closest to you are the ones who can do you the most harm. I saw so-called “friends” steal from one another, lie to each other and even have affairs with each other’s women.

By the Mercy of God I was able to go to college, and so I went away to a University directly after finishing high school in 1996. At the end of my first year of college, there was a series of stressful occurrences that took place. Although there were many unfortunate events, for the sake of space I will only refer to the more significant ones.

First, I was the victim of a robbery. One morning I woke up and to my surprise almost all of my belongings were gone. Along with my belongings, all the money I had, in other words my entire life savings was also stolen. Keep in mind at this point in my life, money meant just about everything to me.

The most peculiar aspect of the whole theft was that none of my roommate’s belongings were missing. Naturally this caused me to immediately be suspicious of my roommate and I was very distressed, having to spend every day and night with this person who I suspected had something to do with my misfortune.

Another thing that happened was I received some very disturbing news from my doctor. He informed me that blood tests taken had revealed some damage to my liver. The doctor told me that he would have to do more tests to find out the possible cause as well as the extent of the damage. Naturally, while I was awaiting the results of the follow up tests, I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about death and whether I would soon be suffering from some terminal disease.

The biggest pressure of them all was due to a situation involving my only brother. My brother and some of his closest friends had been involved in an ongoing conflict with another group of guys. My brother and his friends were a small crew, mostly young guys, who were full of pride and out to prove themselves. The other group was made up of some of the most feared thugs in our particular area. Although they weren’t an official gang, for lack of a better word, I will call them a gang in this article. They were the largest “gang” in our area, with members spanning all generations.

The conflict began when several guys from the larger, more infamous group, ganged up on and beat up one of my brother’s friends. Well, the kid who had been badly beaten surprised everyone by getting his friends together and retaliating. The result was larger numbers of people getting involved as people began choosing sides. The fighting went back and forth for about a year and escalated from people fighting with fist, to people being beat with bats, and eventually to people being shot at. During one such shooting, one of the leaders of the larger gang was killed. My brother, although not being the actual shooter was there the night this happened.

Man’s natural reaction is to get revenge and to do it swiftly. If a person is filled with hate and wants revenge but can’t get to the person he wants, sometimes they will hurt the family of the person, or others whom their target cares for. In this way they indirectly hurt the person by attacking what they love and hurting them emotionally. In many ways this is the worst form of revenge. In order to shield my family from such vengeance I left college and came home to safeguard my family.

I kept a weapon with me at all times. I stayed awake nights guarding the home of my family while they slept. When I did sleep, I slept with a gun under my pillow and would awaken with every little bump in the night. Even the simplest venture outside into public life, for example to go to the store to buy milk, was like a military expedition. If a car slowed down around me I had to be prepared for a drive-by shooting.

At this time I was also attempting to mediate on behalf of my brother for a peaceful solution to the matter. Both my brother and I had ties with the gang, so they listened to my brother’s side of the story. Many times I met with them, explaining to them that my brother did not have a weapon the night of the killing and also that my brother did not know the others with him had weapons either. Of course I was putting myself in danger by meeting members from this group because as I said before, no one is really trustworthy. I easily could have been killed or kidnapped. I had to watch every person cautiously, focusing on their hands in case they reached for a gun. I was deeply paranoid which helped me to stay alert.

One can imagine how stressful this is for a person and the toll it can take on a young man. It was like living in a war zone. I had to constantly be alert; I could never let my guard down. My thoughts were always occupied with death. I would think about the people I love being murdered, or about the fact I may have to kill someone myself. If I did have to kill someone, what would happen then? Either I could live a life on the run, or I could spend the rest of my life in jail.

At some point the normal, healthy paranoia turned into an unsound, debilitating form of paranoia. It didn’t happen all at once, but slowly I began to loose my grip on reality. My thoughts changed from wondering if people were listening to my telephone conversations, to wondering if people were listening to my thoughts. I began to think people were watching me through the T.V. Then I began to think I could talk to people through the T.V. too. For some reason I even began to think I could do magic. I believed if I did some simple ritual like clapping my hands or moving a finger at a certain time I could affect something or someone in another place.

To detail all the ways my sickness manifested itself is too lengthy a subject for this short article. Basically I developed a very complex alternate reality and also a complex system of rituals to deal with living in this alternate reality. This sort of irrational thinking is a well-documented mental illness called paranoid schizophrenia. For reference, there is a popular movie called “A Beautiful Mind” which is based on the true story of someone who had the same disability. In brief, paranoid schizophrenics have a distorted perception of reality. The person who is sick may believe any number of strange things such as he/she is surrounded by aliens or may believe their thoughts are being monitored by the government as I did. To the person with the illness, this is reality and nothing can convince them otherwise. This makes it almost impossible to help those who are sick because it is difficult to convince them they need treatment.

At this time I experienced the worst suffering I have ever experienced. Paranoid Schizophrenia is a mental sickness and therefore the brain is racing constantly with very little rest, overworking itself. I remember rarely having sleep because I was never able to relax, and also hardly eating because I was suspicious of chemicals, and food poisoning within the meals. Therefore through this mental sickness my body became very weak and overworked as well as my mind.

Before going on let me explain a little about my religious past. I was brought up to be a Christian and my family went to church every Sunday. As I became older and as reasoning and independent thought began to develop, I started to question some of the tenets of the faith, starting with the divinity of Jesus. I had become confused and troubled over the teaching that Jesus was God. I asked my mother, “If Jesus was God, how come he prayed to God?” She could not answer and so I was referred to the preacher, and after some attempts to satisfy this nagging question he ultimately resigned and stated that you just have to believe. I searched the Bible for an explanation from the key source, Jesus, and found that Jesus never called himself God; in fact he most often referred to himself as the Son of Man.
Also bothering me was the belief in the Trinity. I asked the preacher, “How can God be three but yet be one?” I essentially got the same response, which was that I had to have blind faith. I searched the Bible regarding this and found that Jesus himself never taught that God was three. {The only reference to a trinity from Jesus is "For there are Three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these Three are one." (1 John 5:7)” but this has since been removed from the revised Bibles after finding the verse had actually been added at some point}

Although I never rejected Christianity, I could not bring myself to fully commit to this faith, which was confusing rather than pacifying my soul. However I have always maintained the belief that there is a God, and as my sickness got worse I turned to my God more and more. I would literally beg for God’s help to alleviate my suffering, and because I understood Him to be a source of Benevolence, I faithfully awaited His relief.

During this time I read the Bible more than ever because I sought better communication with God. I had always been told the Bible was God’s word and I desperately wanted God’s guidance. Sometimes I would say a prayer before opening the book, asking God to please speak to me and guide me. I would then open the Bible and read the first thing my eyes fell upon, having complete faith that God was going to commune with me through this book. Instead of some grand mystical experience however, what I would read would be something about a war or a family tree, something other than the majestic response I expected. It felt like my prayers were going unanswered, and I began to feel worse and worse spiritually. This was the point at which I hit bottom. I was a complete mess. Try to imagine, my mind is disturbed, my body is in poor health, and now my spirit is troubled as well.

Here in my darkest hour my prayers were finally answered and my life has never been the same since. I had been ordered by the court system to volunteer at a local Salvation Army, which is a store that provides affordable goods for those less fortunate. While working in the section which sells used books, I happened upon an English translation of the Holy Quran. Like most Americans, I knew virtually nothing about Islam. Essentially all I knew was that it was a religion and that this Quran is believed to be Holy Scripture. With a curious yet open mind, I made the same prayer I had made with the Bible, asking God to please communicate with me and guide me and then I opened up the Quran and read the first thing my eyes fell upon; “This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favor unto you, and have chosen for you as religion Islam.”

After more than half a year of misery, I finally felt something other than suffering. But it was more than just relief, at that moment I felt tranquility which I had never experienced before. There was no doubt whatsoever about what just happened. My prayers had been answered; I had found the word of God.

After that, my mind kicked in and said, “hmm, God wants me to be a Muslim…I don’t know what a Muslim is!” So I took the Quran home to find out what I was supposed to do next. As best as I can recall, I read the Quran everyday. I learned so much. I learned that a Muslim means “someone who submits to God” and that Islam means “submission” which isn’t even a religion per say as we know it, but more of an act of faith. I learned that all the prophets of the Bible had been of those who submit to God and Muhammad is the last in the long, family line of Prophets. (Muhammad is a descendant of Abraham through Ishmael)

I can’t begin to explain all the Quran taught me; indeed I continue to learn from it till this day. It is like no other book, actually there is nothing like it. God describes it as guidance, a criterion for judgment, and a mercy. I can attest one way in which the Holy Quran manifests its mercy, through healing. As I read I began to feel better and better and after about two months time I was back to normal, praise God.

“We send down in the Quran healing and mercy for the believers. [17:82] From the translation of the Holy Quran

I never took medicine, and I never saw a psychologist. It has been almost 8 years later and I am still fine. I also had my blood tested again for liver damage and all the results came back normal. Interestingly, I went to back to college and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and have worked in the field of mental health for almost five years.

I hope my story strengthens the faith of those who already believe. As for those non-Muslims who read this, I hope it encourages you to read the Quran for yourself.
I ask God to shower blessings upon His prophets and to send peace upon the righteous followers of His guidance. I ask God to show us the straight path, the path of those whom He has favored; not the path of those who have earned His anger, nor of those who have gone astray.
Ameen




:w:

[DaSangarTalib]

Hindu converts, then his sister, then his wife-to-be, then his brother-in-law

I had a Hindu friend who I had known him since i was about 14 yrs old, because we went to the same school as each other, but we didn't share the same classes - only used to play football together.

When we moved onto college, we picked the same subjects and ended up in the same class as each other. This is around the time when i started practising, so as with all things that you've got a new interest in, i was talking about Islam all the time. And my friend would sit down with me and the brothers in the cafeteria in between lessons. At the time, alot was being made of the scientific proofs in the Qur'an, and since we were studying science subjects this was the avenue through which the brothers gave him da'wah. He became more and more interested in Islam, and would ask us intelligent questions to which we were able to respond alhumdulillah. I even remember that we would invite him to jumu'ah and he would sit at the back of the room on a chair listening to the khateeb looking over the heads of all the brothers seated on the floor, listening to the khutba.

He became more and more interested in Islam until one day, as we were walking into biology class he said "I want to become a Muslim!" Alhumdulillah, i thought!

However, we became separated in the class and he ended up sitting next to another Muslim brother in the class. I don't know what the conversation was that went on between them during those two hours but at the end of it, he had changed his mind, he didn't want to become Muslim anymore :|

We didn't stop giving him da'wah though, and we spoke often about Islam though he didn't again say that he wanted to become a Muslim. At the very least he told me he had given up on Hinduism after our discussions on tawheed vs idol-worship. I believed that because now he would eat beef-burgers with us during lunch

Then we finished college and ended up going to the same university but doing different courses. Occasionally, we would bump into each other and we would talk, and he would sit in on jumu'ah, and attend a few talks. I always got the feeling that he was on the verge of becoming a Muslim, but he just needed a little nudge. At the same time, he told me he had spoken to his parents about Islam and had received a harsh reaction from them.

Then, about 2 years into uni, we had our Annual Dinner and i was able to hook him up with one of the invited speakers for two hours. I'm sure he benefitted from that.

A year later I finished uni, and he stayed on because he had 2 yrs remaining in his course, and we fell out of touch. I didn't have his email address or a contact number. And i used to pray to Allah that i could find him again.

One day, a couple of years later, after work as i exited the train station, i heard a soft voice saying "Kash, is that you?"

It was my friend. He told me he had become a Muslim in secret. Recited the shahada by himself, reading from a book.

Masha'Allah Alhumdulillah

However, he kept his conversion a secret from his family, and this was difficult on him.

He would later tell me that he would sometimes question his own sincerity in becoming Muslim. Then he would remember that he would wake up in the early hours all alone, and silently make wudu and pray Fajr, and he would find comfort against the whisperings of shaitaan in this because it was a testament to his sincerity. Why else would he be waking up at 4 o clock in the morning and praying secretly except out of sincerity?

Qadrullah wa ma sha'a fa'al. We fell out of touch again.

But i soon met him again, and now he told me that his family knew he was a Muslim because he was giving da'wah to his sister and she blurted it out in front of them. They were very resistant at the beginning but very slowly accepted his decision. But now he faced two dilemmas.

Number one was that his parents wanted him to marry a Hindu girl from India; they would not even entertain the idea that he marry a Muslima! He knew that marriage to a Hindu was expressly forbidden in Islam. But check this out... he said to his parents, i will not marry a Hindu girl because its haraam. However, in Islam marriage isn't Fard, but obeying parents is, so i will remain unmarried to please you and out of obedience to you!

Masha'Allah. May Allah reward him.

Allah softened his parents hearts until they said to him that he can talk to one of his (Hindu) cousins and if she is willing to convert they are happy to see him marry her.

.....

Do you remember that i said he faced two dilemmmas? Well, the second was that alhumdulillah, his younger sister went ahead and converted too. The problem was that his parents didn't know about this at all, and they wanted her to marry another Hindu cousin. The marriage was planned for a few weeks time. So my friend discussed the situation with his sister and they agreed that he would speak to her husband-to-be about Islam. If he accepted, great, and if he didn't, then she would announce her conversion publically and refuse to marry him.

To cut a long story short, my friend and his sister with their families went to India for the marriages, and my friend converted his wife-to-be, converted his sister's husband-to-be and converted another relative.

As far as i know, they're living happily ever after here in the UK, alhumdulillah. Only problem is that i lost his number last month when my phone broke!

[DaSangarTalib]

:sl:

Interview With Abi Lee-carter
A Convert To Islam

Abi Lee-Carter
Aged 20
Student in a London University; studying Human Biology
Muslim for 6 weeks

In my experience of new converts to Islam I find it quite amazing the transformation of one's thoughts, opinions, and behaviour, in fact a whole transformation of one's perspective in life. Abi Lee-Carter is far from the ordinary….she exemplifies how thinking can take someone a long way…

I am Ruji Rahman, aged 20, a student in London studying Biomedical Science. It was interesting to meet a new Muslim over the summer who attended some of my lectures at university and is studying in the same year. In fact I was more impressed by Abi's change in almost everything, particularly her pre-negative views about Islam.

It cannot be gone unnoticed the negative image presented about Islam specifically Islam's treatment of women which has been rampant in the media creating an 'Islamophobia' in society. I thought it would be interesting to interview Abi Lee-Carter who in the midst of all propaganda has warmly embraced Islam.

What interested you to Islam?

Before University I had never met anyone Muslim. I was Christian and, like many people I know, only went to church for weddings, christening and funerals. I believed in God but my religion didn’t feature in my life.

One of my flat mates in University halls was a practicing Muslim and was my first insight into Islam. Islam fascinated me because of its 'controversial nature'; people seem either passionately for it or fiercely against it. A year later, I got free booklets and leaflets about Islam and a free copy of the Qur’an during Islam Awareness week at my Uni.

I read about Islam with an open mind (though slightly skeptical), but was impressed that I could get a comprehensive and rational answer to the questions I had: How did I get here? Why am I here? And where am I going? I was surprised to find an insight into my own life in the Qur’an and that caused me to do some serious self- analysis. I realised my priorities were misplaced, but was pleasantly surprised that a lot of my own strong beliefs were also features of Islam. The more I read, the less skeptical I became. Islam is so unique because it deals with every aspect of human life. It’s decisive and and, unlike a lot of religions, does not contradict itself. It’s a religion that asserts the truth and then proves it! How many other religions can do that?

I felt enlightened (excuse the cliché, but its true!) and over time, decided that Islam was the truth and a way of life that I wanted to be a part of.

How has Islam changed your life?

It goes without saying that things are really different once you become a Muslim.

“This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.” (Surah 5:3)

The Qur’an and the Sunnah (what the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did, said and approved of), provide us with a definitive guide for our entire life. It’s not just a case of good vs. evil or halal vs. haram because humans have Free Will. By calling myself a Muslim, I willfully submitted my life to the Will of Allah. As daunting as this sound, it really has changed my life for the better. This way of life that covers every aspect including my conduct within society, socially and at home, it even advises me on finance and politics. I was so indecisive before and acted too often on impulse. When asked why, my usual reply was “I don’t know…I just did it.”

Nowadays, I am conscious of all my actions and I do try to make everything I do purposeful. Being a Muslim means I have a Fear of Allah– not fear in the sense that I am scared, but that I’m continuously aware and mindful that Allah (SWT) knows everything that goes on. We are reminded in the Qur’an that, “Allah is Well- Acquainted with what you do.” So, I find myself (often subconsciously), thinking about the immediate consequences of my actions as well as the future (when I’ll be called to account for them on the Day of Judgment).

The more obvious changes are that I pray 5 times a day (which isn’t actually as hard, inconvenient as it sounds) and I cover my hair and wear the Islamic dress when I go out. I don’t feel the need to go clubbing every night or sit in front of the TV all day because I actually prefer to be more productive with my time. Im very rarely bored nowadays- in fact Im run off my feet and having so much fun because there are so many things to get involved in. I am more conscious of my health and am trying to maintain it and take advantage of my youth and my fitness by doing what I can- while I still can.

At long last I have focus and have definite goals for every aspect of my life and that’s a relief because I know what I’m working towards and the everyday things I do are more exciting now. I’m contented (the strongest and truest form of happiness) because I appreciate everything I have (even the little things), so much more now and that’s the greatest feeling. I worry less because I am confident that Allah (SWT) has provided me with everything I need.

I am more considerate of other people and a lot less selfish. Im trying to be more helpful and more patient with my parents because Islam has made me value all they do for me, and it's hugely improved our relationship with each other.

Since becoming a Muslim I have met the most amazing people and received such warmth and kindness. I’m now part of a community that accepts me regardless of my age, race or background and I feel comfortable being around them.

How did people respond to you converting to Islam such as your family?

Al hamdulillah, I’ve been so lucky! The first family member I told was my brother. His words were “Really! That’s cool!” which was a fantastic confidence booster. My biggest worry was telling my parents and it took me a while to actually break the news. It was important to me that they accepted my decision. I told my mum first and she was slightly shocked, I had let her know that I was reading about Islam beforehand, but reading and actually becoming Muslim are two very different things. My parents were worried about how others would react towards me because the view of Islam in the World is such a negative one at the moment and my mum was worried about me taking it all “too seriously”. The Islamic dress code was also an issue at first as well because they thought it was unnecessary and a bit “extreme”. They are getting used to it now and they are very supportive of me. I teach them what I can about Islam to help dispel some of their misconceptions and that helps a lot. They comment on the positive changes they’ve seen in my personality and behavior. My actions rather than my words have proved to them that I am earnest and Islam isn’t just a ‘phase’. My friends were shocked and a bit freaked out at first but they’re getting used to it and they respect what I’ve done.

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in Islam?

So many people have so much to say about Islam and it can get very confusing. I found books and the Internet helpful. But be cautious of what you read on the Internet because it’s not all accurate - make sure statements are backed up with proofs from the Qur’an and Sunnah. Reading is helpful but I found the best way to find out about Islam is by speaking to practicing Muslims. Visit a mosque (call first if you can), I found the larger mosques are great and people are more than willing to help. Don’t be afraid to ask questions (even if you think they're stupid), because as Muslims we know that there is no shame in religious questions. Most importantly, as a new Muslim sister once said to me, “keep your mind and heart open” that way you’ll find out everything you need to know and don’t be disheartened if you have a negative experience because sincere Muslims will be more than willing to help you.

It has been quoted by many that the Muslim Woman is forced to wear the headscarf and Jilbab (Islamic dress). Do you share this view?

In a word, no! I wear khimar (headscarf) and jilbab (over- garment) and no one forced me into it. I’ll admit, it wasn’t an easy decision because the pressure to look good in this society is so great.

Women are evaluated on their outward appearance; your hair, your figure your dress sense (or lack of it) are all under continuous scrutiny. Meanwhile market tells us what to wear, what we need to buy or which treatments would best improve our looks. After purging and preening ourselves to distraction, we allow society to tell us how we compare against the ever-changing ‘ideal’.

Unfortunately, we allow the way we look, and what people think about our appearance affect the way we feel about ourselves.

Modest dress is a requirement in Islam for both men and women equally. In the case of women, the Qur’an states “ O Prophet tell your wives and daughters, and believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons; that is most convenient that they should be known (to be Muslims) and so as not to be annoyed…”(33:59). Muslim women wear the khimar (headscarf) and Islamic dress because Allah (SWT) has instructed us to do so. We don’t wear it to make ourselves look ugly or to bury our beauty but to redeem respect by worshipping the One who created us.

In the West most men regard women as highly sexual objects and women unwittingly fall prey to stares and comments even molestation. The headscarf and Islamic dress prevents this; if they are judged it’s for their conduct, personalities and mind, not bodies.

Let’s suppose Muslim women were being forced to cover… how do you explain thousands of Muslims around the world who are protesting for the right to wear the hijab, our right to obey Allah (SWT), our right to be respected for our character and intellect and our right to control what we choose to show of our bodies and to whom?

Muslim women around the world are taking to the streets in their thousands. In London, 2000 people marched outside of the French embassy; women protested in Jordan, and more than 1000 teenage Muslim women marched in Beirut calling for France to overrule its ban. This struggle is nothing new. Women have been protesting for the right to wear the hijab in Turkey in the 90’s with sisters being sent to prison for merely attending peaceful demonstrations.

These educated and articulate sisters have decided to wear the head scarf and Islamic dress in submission to Allah (SWT) and to liberate themselves from an image obsessed society, but they don’t get a mention in the popular media and so the myths are kept alive.

It’s superficial and irresponsible to assume that any woman who wishes to keep her body private is oppressed or has been forced against her will.

What is your opinion on the common labels associated with Muslims, such as "terrorist", "fundamentalist", "extremist"?

To be frank, I think that governments and the media need to start using the dictionary and thesaurus more often to broaden their vocabularies. You can’t pick up a newspaper without reading these phrases. It’s amusing that all you need to do to create a new buzzword is add ‘-ist’ at the end of it and then use it to describe Islam.

I can’t stand this sudden ‘one-size-fits-all’ attitude that’s been adopted when describing Muslims or anything even vaguely Islam-related. A dictionary-defined terrorist as someone who ‘advocates intense fear as a means of coercion’ and also describes a person ‘who panics and causes anxiety’. I would therefore, be correct in labeling alarmist military officials and world leaders as terrorists because of the fear of Islam they brought about. The words used depend on the motives behind what is being said, and this is what it boils down to.

Nowadays people assume that because a Muslim believes the Qur’an is the word of Allah they are “fundamentalists” and “extremists”. Ignorance breeds fear and the people in ruling positions fear the power of Islam so they use emotive labels to create and maintain rampant Islamophobia. I sympathise with the despair of the Muslim people; and this goes for many Muslims. People are only allowed to hear one side of the story and I think it's important that the average Muslim finally has a say. We're really not all bad…you just have to converse with us.

What was your view about Islam and its treatment of women before you converted to Islam?

To be honest, I believed most of the negative things I was told by people who claimed to know about Islam. This was firstly because I had never met or interacted with any Muslims, and secondly, because I was under the assumption that Islam was something that a non- Muslim could never possibly understand, so I didn’t bother trying.

I’m not ashamed to admit that my view of Muslim women was a negative one because I know better now. It wasn’t that I thought the women were bad people, I just felt so sorry for them! I saw them as vulnerable people, completely subordinate to men, with no rights and prevented from having their own opinions! I was told that their lives were terrible; usually being one of 4 wives and probably facing frequent physical and mental abuse, which they accepted as the norm. I had heard stories that women were not allowed to get an education because that was exclusively reserved for men and that Muslim women to all intents and purposes were enslaved.

Has your view changed in any way?

That goes without saying or I certainly wouldn’t be a Muslim now! My previous views were due to ignorance. The biggest amendment I’ve made is that I thought I’d have nothing in common with a practicing Muslimah (female Muslim) but that’s just not true. All the sisters I have met have become my friends and are similar to me and even some of my non- Muslim friends; we enjoy the same pastimes, share views on life and political issues (Islamic and otherwise), in fact we share views on a lot of things.

I’ve found Muslim women to be among the most strong- willed and informed women I’ve come across. I am genuinely impressed by their natural proficiency in critical assessment of situations and those who haven’t gone into higher education show the same sharp intellect as the highly academic people I know. I think it's because Islam encourages us to use our minds more, so our brains are constantly being stimulated and Islam gives the woman the right to seek an education, to have a political voice, views and opinions. In my opinion Muslim women are strong, have a voice, self- confident and self- respecting and should be used as a positive example for all women.

What is your view on the common impression non-Muslims may have that Islam oppresses the woman, and gives her no voice or role in society?

It’s just a shame that such damaging and dismissive views of Muslim women have saturated public (mass- media driven), opinion. It aggravates me that people don’t take the time to educate themselves about Islam and then claim to be experts on the affairs of Muslim women.

How can a religion that earnestly elevated the status of women, giving them control, more than a thousand years ago, awarding them rights that non- Muslim women could only dream of, be oppressive? Islam gave women the right to divorce (although always seen a last resort), even before Christian women in the West. As well as that, a Muslim woman has the right to negotiate her own terms of marriage, including the right to accept or reject a marriage proposal without any pressure so there goes the myth that Islam condones forced marriages.

Islam gives women the right to financial independence –she can earn money and spent it as she wishes, and still has right to be supported by her husband for all her needs. Most significantly, Muslim women have the right to be identified as thinking individuals, rather than being sex objects, they are respected and appreciated.

When the Prophet (PBUH) was asked who among us deserves the most care and respect he replied “your mother (and he repeated this three times)” which goes to show the high esteem and impotence of a woman’s role in society. It is women who produce and nurture a strong and upstanding community and in Islam, this integral role is recognised, honored and rewarded. Yes, sadly some Muslim women are oppressed by men in some parts of the world today but not under the instruction of Islam.

Many have highlighted the oppression of women in Islam due to women's lives in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan under the Taliban regime. What is your opinion on these states and whether they reflect Islam?

I think it’s important to realise that cultural opinions have no relation to, or superiority over true Islamic teachings. These states do not reflect an Islamic caliphate in any way. I won’t claim to be an authority on what goes on in the countries you have mentioned but I do strongly disapprove of some practices. When I read how women are brutally abused by their husbands, or prevented from leaving the house, or denied an education and prevented from carrying out day to day tasks like shopping and driving (all things that we take for granted) it disturbs me.

No one would deny, (not even Muslims) that in a lot of cases, the things that go on in these Muslim majority countries is inexcusable and especially when they are carried out in the name of Islam. Islam prohibits all of these actions and they directly violate the rights awarded to women by Islam. Sadly, for many people Islam is a culture as opposed to a religion and way of life. Often, in Muslim countries Islam is passed down through generations and authentic Islam falls prey to deletions and additions from other cultures leaving a nation or a large section of society confused. They follow what they assume to be Islam, but actually ignorant of the fundamentals of true Islam and its rules of governing a state. You only have to take a sneak peak into the Islamic history to see how women were protected, honored, given the right of education, the right to vote for a caliph, the right to work, and a significant role in society. During the rule of Umar ibn al-Khattab as a caliph, a woman named Shifa was a market judge who was empowered to pass judgments on violations of the public right. This is the true representation of Islam and its rights given to women in society.

My simple reply is that Islam is perfect; humans, on the other hand, are not!

:w:

[Sis_ReNa]

Ok So I belive that Islam found me, but on the other hand I was guided to it. But on the other hand i was searching for. any ways here is my story i hope i dont bore you. I didnt go in great detil but inshAllah it is good enough:sister:

Salam walakum, (peace and blessings to you all) :sister:

All my life I have believed in a god . My mother and family were Christian and at the age of 5 I got my mom back to going to church. Then 10 years later I guess I got to smarter. Because it didn't make sense. They were trying to tell me 6+8=10002. I felt soo lost. Dealing with life physically hurt, physically hurt my heart. So I tried everything but jewism and thioism (remember I cant spell) but I tried buddist and witch craft and other forms of Christianity. I had just got done with looking in to wicca and duridism.

Ten YEARS Later......

January 04'

I went to a book store to get my daughter some books. I told my mom I was just going to check to see if there is any religion I hadn't tried or looked in to. When I went and checked it out there was a huge section there was over a 1,000 books on witch craft and on Christianity (go figure) some on buddism. and way On the bottom shelf, down in the corner was Islam. Now keep in mind Iam so ignorant I didn't know what Islam was or what Muslims where. There there was such a think called Islam or Muslims. There was some Qurans and a book called Islam for dummies. I picked it up and I couldn't belive my eyes. It was all the moral, spiritual Islam had everything that I had all ready belived in. I was soo happy I brought it straight to my mom and said look look what I found and she was shocked. . She didn't understand how she raised a Muslim for a daughter

Everything I had preached. Every thing I was looking for in a religion alhamduillah. And I bought a Quran that night. Started reading it . And then went to the libray and found the Islam for dummies book and studied that and took my shahhada in the 4 days of finding Islam. Wear Hijab (head Cover) right away Also



So I went in to Yahoo chat trying to find fellow sisters and learn more about Islam. I learned very quickly that Islam is not in chat rooms. You might find Muslims but there is not Islam and no Allah. A person told me to go to this certain room at a certain time. There was a very smart man teaching others about Islam. I was soo happy. I was there for few months. And then he would say stuff like: the Hijab protects woman, and woman in the US deserve to be raped and beaten for the way they dress. And any one that would try to stand up to him or test his true knowledge he would tell us to iggy. And every time I would challenge him he would say I was a none beliver. And have sisters I thought were my "sisters" iggy me. That just broke my heart so I started to think that maybe all Muslims thought this way about woman. I mean he would treat woman like they were nothing, unless they followed every thing he said. We were like disposable cameras. I stopped Islam right then and there I couldn't belive it. But I had nothing to judge him by. Remember I know nothing about Islam until now. So I took a break.

Nov. 04.... A friend that I was talking to about islam Know i was thinking of leaving islam, sent me a book (Purification of the heart) by Hamza Yusuf . How stupid am I , I allmost left the one true, last, beauitful religion. FOR what? for some reason i forgot Muslims where human too. I had to remember why I came to Islam. I came for the religion and Allah(god) not for any man or woman or what they thought was the "true" religion. So in Dec 04 I accepted Allah and the messengers and the quran and sunnah in my heart totally.. ALHAMDUILLAH

The story is not done yet, its a NEVER ENDING JURNEY!!
but later my mother of 60 yearsold on her 60th birthday. Sept. 21 2004 took her SHAHHADA.

Allah uh Akbar!!!

ONe down about 6 million to go Just kidding, I just hope I can be the example of Islam As Allah intended

People tell me my next step is marriage LOL :statisfie we will see but like i said its a never ENDING story. inashAllah we can be good exsamples of Muslims,and help the new converts find the islam that Allah intended.
So that is my story and iam sticking to it lol

Salam and peace to everyone, May Allah bless us all and guied us to his will and only is WILL Ameen
Rena :muslimah:

P.s

It dont Hurt no more :Crescent:

[Umm Yoosuf]

Masha Allah that was a wonderful story sister rena. Its amazing how Allah guides people in many different ways. How did your mother come to Islam (Alhamdulilaah she too reverted) did you give her dawah? :)

Jazakallahu Khayraan for sharing :)

[Sis_ReNa]

Masha Allah that was a wonderful story sister rena. Its amazing how Allah guides people in many different ways. How did your mother come to Islam (Alhamdulilaah she too reverted) did you give her dawah? :)

Jazakallahu Khayraan for sharing :)

Salam walakum wr wb,
No i just tried to be the best exsample of my faith and deen and decided it was best for her

[- Qatada -]

wa alykum as-Salaam warahmatulahi wabarakatuh.


masha Allaah! that waz a good story.. i've read of the guy who you were talking about on the chatroom, where he said that those women 'deserved to get raped' but i dont think thats true.. because society has such a bad effect on them and they dont look for the truth.

This happens to allsorts of people but we all should realise that it is our duty to show people the truth, and if we all as muslims did do our duty by spreading islam (even if it was one ayah/verse like our beloved Prophet Muhammad sal Allaahu alayhi waSalam told us to do.) - life would be much better and it would let people realise the truth, or atleast get to know about it.

Alhamdulillah i'm really happy for your mom too, because masha Allaah she brought you up as a muslimah without even knowin it.. Allaah the Most Merciful knew that you and your mom had alot of good inside of you, and then picked the right time to guide you and your mom to the truth.. subhan Allaah.


jazak Allaah khayr sis.


wa Salaam o 'alykum warahmatulahi wabarakatuh.

[Umm Yoosuf]

Salam walakum wr wb,
No i just tried to be the best exsample of my faith and deen and decided it was best for her

Thats great. Praise be to Allah. Keep on seeking knowledge sister.

[Sis_ReNa]

wa alykum as-Salaam warahmatulahi wabarakatuh.


masha Allaah! that waz a good story.. i've read of the guy who you were talking about on the chatroom, where he said that those women 'deserved to get raped' but i dont think thats true.. because society has such a bad effect on them and they dont look for the truth.

This happens to allsorts of people but we all should realise that it is our duty to show people the truth, and if we all as muslims did do our duty by spreading islam (even if it was one ayah/verse like our beloved Prophet Muhammad sal Allaahu alayhi waSalam told us to do.) - life would be much better and it would let people realise the truth, or atleast get to know about it.

Alhamdulillah i'm really happy for your mom too, because masha Allaah she brought you up as a muslimah without even knowin it.. Allaah the Most Merciful knew that you and your mom had alot of good inside of you, and then picked the right time to guide you and your mom to the truth.. subhan Allaah.


jazak Allaah khayr sis.


wa Salaam o 'alykum warahmatulahi wabarakatuh.

well i think its more thant that, i personly dont belive that anyone has a RIGHT to hurt another person EVEN if they think they have just caus but that is just me. LOL yea pretty funny how my mom was a christan and raised a muslim and LOL then became a muslim . alhamduillah Allah is soo good . Allah uh Akbar.
thankyou
Rena

[Umm Yoosuf]

Very strange i am sure i posted something about book here....i can't seem to see it! Sister i can't find the information on the study circles in paltalk amybe one of the mebers can be of any hlep :)

Wasalaam

[- Qatada -]

:wasalamex


I moved the posts to this section sorry:

http://www.islamicboard.com/basics-i...tml#post150115


:salamext:

[M H Kahn]

:sl:

Are all the people we know as Muslims for their birth to parents (who also identify themselves as Muslims) are really so? I think, most of them are not in that becoming a Muslim pre-requires that one learn the tenets of Islam and accept the same as the only divine code of life. This sister has learnt Islam and accepted it. She has correctly pointed out that all Muslims are not Islamists. So there should be some people with dawah to the look-alike fake Muslims to accept Islam and be true Muslims. The Tablig Jamat is working from this philosophy in part, but their ordinaruy jamats are composed of more ignorant people than the those knowing Islam.

So we each should keep on striving to be more and more pious, fighting against our own evil traits (jihad al-nafs) and inviting the fake Muslims and non Muslims to come under the shelter of Islam.The Tablig Jamat may also re-orient its activities.

[M H Kahn]

4:17 God accept the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and repent soon afterwards; to them will God turn in mercy: For God is full of knowledge and wisdom.

4:18 Of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil, until death faces one of them, and he says, "Now have I repented indeed;" nor of those who die rejecting Faith: for them have We prepared a punishment most grievous.

[*Hana*]

Salam Alaikum:

I just thought I would share my story with you. There is nothing special about it, but it might let someone else know another person has shared their thoughts or ideas, inshallah.

Like many in the west, I was raised a Catholic Christian. I came from a fairly strong religious background, grew up loving my church and participating in Sunday School and the church choir. As a young girl growing up in the Catholic Church I had a lot of questions that could never seem to be answered regardless of who I asked, but I continued to believe because that's what I was told to do. "Just have faith" seemed to be the answer of the day.

Things like original sin, the tri-union and blood atonement were a complete mystery for me and yet the very basis of my faith necessitated the following of this doctrine. To add insult to injury God said, "I am not the author of confusion." And yet, as I grew older, I was more confused than ever.

I always loved and believed in God and never questioned His existence, but I began to reject the ideas taught in Christianity as I felt these were man-made and self-fulfilling. I continued on with life happy and content with my love and belief in God without following organized religion.

The day came when the world was flooded with news stories of 9/11 and I, like most, was glued to the television for days watching the events unfold. All I remember hearing about the attack was Islam and Muslims. I had pre-conceived ideas about Islam and Muslims and they weren't good, but still I couldn't imagine any large religion like Islam, Judaism or Christianity, condoning this behavior.

As I had suspected, within 5 minutes of searching I realized Islam does not condone the killing of innocents and I continued my research. The more I read the more I realized that the teachings of Islam is what I had believed all along and now I wanted to know more from the followers of Islam. That brought me to MSN Chat and the Islam room. I met so many wonderful people there and to this day they have remained my friends. They spent countless hours teaching me and I spent countless hours trying to defend the faith I grew up with and wanting to show them I could not have been wrong all these years.

I struggled, and often cried, at the thought that all I learned and practiced was wrong. I was angry, frustrated and confused. But, after three years of learning I finally accepted the fact that the teachings of Islam is what I had always believed and it wasn't so far from what I was taught. I finally realized I had found the truth and it was time to embrace it and let go of any fears. I remember one fear was, "What if I?m wrong?" Well, I can't be wrong. I only want to be closer to God and to worship only Him. That can never be wrong and that is exactly what Islam teaches.

Alhamdulillah, I reverted in February, 2004, and I am still learning the basics and will continue to learn every day, Inshallah. Being the only Muslimah in my area, there are times I struggle and stumble, but I know I have the love and support of my Muslim brothers and sisters to help me. That is one of the beauties of Islam. You gain a large instant family of brothers and sisters within the folds of Islam. Regardless of race or color you are welcomed with open arms by Muslims all over the world. Alhamdulillah!

May Allah, swt, continue to guide us all to the truth. Ameen
Hana
:sister:

[sapphire]

Ameen!!!!May Allah keep us all on the straight path...may many more people see the beayty of deen inshallah!!!!Ameen....

[Emmy]

Asalaamu Alaikum everyone,

Wow, this thread has 7 pages. Hope someone actually reads this. I actually wrote it a while ago.


I am still relatively new to Islam, so forgive me If I sound naiive or inexperienced regarding the subject. Writing this has helped me come to terms with the changes in my life. It is the story of my stumbling in the dark before I discovered the true light of Islam. Read on if interested.
I was born May 26th, 1985 in a small, culturally homogenous town in Upstate NY. Growing up I was the shy little blonde-haired blue-eyed girl that everyone adored. I always got what I wanted. My parents loved me. I was surrounded by friends. I was happy. I guess you could say I had the perfect American life. However, around the end of 8th grade, the storm clouds started rolling in.
Then came the rain. Slowly at first, then in a downpour. I became increasingly depressed, withdrawn, and plagued by extreme anxiety. I was losing my friends, gaining weight, and constantly fighting with my parents. No longer did i wish to leave the house, or talk to anyone, as these problems intensified my already high tendencies toward shyness.. All these things going wrong made me hate myself, with a passion.
"Why is this happening to me?" Screamed a thunderous voice in my head. "I'm supposed to be having the perfect life, just like everyone else! I should be out shopping in a mall surrounded by friends in a belly shirt and low-rise designer jeans! But instead im just sitting on my ass in my room, getting fatter and fatter and hating myself. What the heck is wrong with me?!"
It came to the point that I did not want to live anymore. So why not just take my own life? This life is worthless anyway. Sadly, this logic made perfect sense at the time. However, I was lucky enough to have people around me who were concerned enough to get me help. I was involuntarily committed to 4 different psychiatric hostpitals over a period of two years. I was on 6 different medications. Anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, you name it, I probably took it. However, with what little strength and hope I had left, I made one last desperate attempt to heal myself.
Unable to find comfort in anything during this dark hour, I felt that the only solice I could find was in God. "Hey, maybe this is the chance for Him to prove to ME that He does exsist! I thought with new found excitement. "Maybe he can cure me!" I intended to find him, but unfortunately, being the naive teenager I was, I made the costly mistake of assuming that " finding God" and "finding the church" were the same thing.
I came from a family that was Catholic (I myself was originally baptized Roman Catholic) but had stopped going to church. I'm not exactly sure why. As a result, none of us kids grew up with even a basic understanding of who exactly God was. Nonetheless, my father was happy to take me to worship at St. Marys church, a rather square looking building a few blocks away from my house.
Now, I don't really think its right to launch into a rant on Catholicism and Christianity in general, so let me sum up those three months of spending Sundays in church. They didnt help me one bit. I didn't feel any closer to God. I didn't understand or agree with a lot of the church doctrine, and ended up very confused about God and religion.
"Why has God done such horrible things to me?" I wondered, disallusioned and perplexed. "I have always been a good person, and I come from a good family. Numerous people have told me that I am talented and smart. So WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?!" Still in the grips of severe clinical depression, I was faced with two choices. 1: Believe in a God who hates me, and by whom I am confounded. Or 2: Reject God all together. Sadly, I chose the latter.
In the 10th grade, I slowly pulled out of my depression. (al-hamdullah) Things seemed to be getting better. I returned to school, made some friends, and even lost some weight. I accelled in my academic endeavors, and graduated in the top 15% of my class. And as for this "God" guy, I truly had come to believe that ignorance was bliss.
However, my happiness was superficial, to say the least. Something still wasn't quite right. Something I couldnt put my finger on. I felt full on the outside, but suprisingly empty on the inside. I still had trouble likeing myself, and was still haunted by thoughts of suicide. I had no idea about my life's direction, nor its purpose. So what did I do? I attempted to fill the void with material things. But the cheap happiness I got from expensive clothes, jewlery, and other fineries was but a poor substitute for what I really needed.
What I needed was God, and bad! But of course, I was blind to this. I didnt really come to view religion with any sort of contempt, but over my almost 3 years as an athiest/agnostic, I firmly believed in the old communist line "religion is the opium of the masses."As far as I was concerned, all religions were equal. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism.... they were all man-made, cult-like, and only served to cloud and misguide the mind. Sure they made you feel nice. But isnt it better to have your mind free to think for itself and discover your real purpose in life, rather becoming a zombie and a slave to religion? I wasnt about to spend my life in this disallusioned state.
How Ignorant I was! If I had only known then what I know now, I probably wouldnt be writing this extensive essay. Of course I had learned about Islam in school, along with all the other major world religions. In fact, I still remembered some of its "pillars" from 9th grade history. But I had viewed it only objectively and academically, not really giving it a second thought. Then, 9/11. I had never heard of such crazy people in my life! Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda! What in the world were these whackos doing?! I didnt associate them with Islam, as I logically figured that they were messed up, since the killing of innocent people isnt condoned by any religion.

My path to change started in August 2004, while I was attending college in Buffalo NY, a much larger and ethnically diverse city compared to the little white-washed village where I grew up.By this time, I was more mature, as well as confident in myself. I hated the college scene. The parties, the drugs, the scantilly clad women. By this time, I was more mature, as well as confident in myself. I had become friends with a muslim who understood my plight. I confided in her that I was looking to be in a serious relationship with a good man. So, she introduced me to one of her Muslim friends. We talked over the phone for about a month, before finally meeting and taking the vow of marriage.
From the moment *name witheld* and I met eachother, we have been practically inseperable. Its like we were meant to be together. Staying around him 24/7, I immediately noticed the immense peace devotion to Allah had given him. I'll admit that I have always been intrigued by the Muslim culture and way of life, but never really cared to learn about Islam itself. I asked him a lot of questions on the subject, which he was more than happy to answer. I still was unsure about God's exsistance, but listened with an open mind. I kept him awake late asking him questions about God and Islam, as if I was some little kid asking my mother questions about why the sky is blue and why the grass is green. I would go to bed feeling warm and happy. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. So I started doing some research on my own.
When I read the first article on Islam, I felt totally blown away, as If I had gotten hit by a frieght train. All of the sudden, everything about God, the universe, and life made perfect sense to me. I was struck by how incredible simple yet deeply profound the religion was. I have always been a thinking person and here, for the first time, was something that was logical and flawless in its reasoning. It lead me to believe that God (Allah) really does exsist. Islam really was the true religion!!! I couldn't believe it. From then on, I read non-stop.Sometimes being up till 4am and forgetting to do my homework (oops!). I had never been so obsessed with anything in my life. But I did not make the decision to convert until one night, where I came to this startling revelation.
In the past I had expressed anger, even hatred. toward God. I constantly was asking why He had made me suffer so much. I now realized I had suffered simply because He had willed it. But I also realized that He had willed something else, something that was perhaps a million times more important. He had brought me out of the dark and willed me to the right path, the path of Islam!
After coming to this epiphany at the odd hour of 2am, I immediately woke my husband up and told him I wanted to convert. Of course he was thrilled, but since the poor man was half asleep, he told me to wait till the next day. And on that day, November 15th, 2004, I was born again. After saying the shehadda with the utmost belief and conviction, I broke down crying in my husband's arms. I was Muslim! I couldn't believe I was Muslim! I have never been more proud of myself.
Now, more than a year later, I couldn't be happier. In submission to Allah, I have found the inner peace I have always longed for.

To all who have read this, thank you.

Ive come so far, but still have a ways to go.

Ma'salaama,

Emily

[sapphire]

subhanaallah.....9/11 seems to be a turning point for many towards islam rather than away!!!!

[swanlake]

:sl: sis emmy

Thank you so much for posting your journey. We do read it sis and alhamdulilaah that Allah guided you.

[Sis_ReNa]

mashAllah that is beauitful sis welcome to islam and alhamduillah you found Allah, Allah uh Akbar, May Allah bless, guide, protect you in this life and in the next ameen
Salam walakum
REna

[Umm Yoosuf]

subhanaallah.....9/11 seems to be a turning point for many towards islam rather than away!!!!

Subhanallah ture

Sister Hana & Emily Welcome to Islam. Alahmdulilaah Allah has guided you.

Very interesting story :)

[Takumi]

For how long does one carry the label revert?

[Khattab]

Subhanallah Nice post Emmy! May Allah (SWT) grant you steadfastness upon the deen ameen.

[Takumi]

For how long does one carry the label revert?

Since no one can answer my question. I suggest that the forum start addressing our brothers and sisters as muslim brothers and sisters or al akh or al ukht fil Islam.

This is more appropriate because it's really a pain that even after 18 years of becoming muslim, people still designate you as revert even after you have memorized al Quran and finished your degree in Islamic Studies.

Do we have to be Hamza Yusuf or Siraj Wahhaj to have our pre fix revert or convert dropped?

By labelling you create an unseen barrier between your brothers.

[Sis_ReNa]

i was going to write this whole thing, cus I thought what you wrote was really judgement and tell about what i thought. and the idea of converts lol but i found out i dont have enough knowledge about the whole thing. so we are not suppose to speak on what we do not know.
salam walakum wr wb
may Allah bless guide and protect you all.
I just didnt want you to think that everyone was ignoring you

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

:sl: br. Takumi,
Most Muslims call someone a revert with good intentions - to honour them. However, if they wouyld not like to be repeatedly identified as a revert, they should let others know about it.

:w:

[Khattab]

:sl: Lets not forget the best muslims, the Sahahba (may Allah be pleased with them) where mostly reverts/converts.

:w:

[james]

selam.......i was raised as a Jehovahs witness from the age of four to 20 ish before getting lost in the world and finding Islam very recently... the JW religion was not a bad upbringing just very orthadox and i feel i was brainwashed by the sect.......Thank Allah i have found the truth at last...of course i am new to Islam so need a lot of time to find myself in the religion. It is a bit difficult as i was brainwashed so well it seems.......inshallah i will be a good Muslim and learn the correct path....

[Abu Zakariya]

Here's a good book for all converts to read:

http://www.leveltruth.com/documents/...%20Witness.pdf

[Pinkie]

Asalamu Alaikum to my brothers and sisters in Islam!

I would sincerely like to thank those who shared their own stories. They really give me inspiration and I hope it's the same for our Muslim brothers and sisters and for those who are thinking of accepting Islam as their deen. I guess, if you don't mind I would like to share my story too.

I was raised Roman Catholic...my mother is religious, although she doesn't go to church. I went to Catholic school for 6 years and before that, I went to Sunday school. I was taught Jesus is the Son of God, who was the Savior of humanity. Believe it or not, I never questioned those teachings because I wanted to be like my mother who never once in her life questioned anything in the Bible. In some ways, my mother reminded me of a Muslima...she told me never to pray to any of the saints or to the Virgin Mary like most Catholics did. She told me to pray to God alone (although she always insisted Jesus is the Son of God and he died for our sins). In some ways she was always a little "extreme" as my father puts it. Whenever he would watch some shows about scientific theories my mother would be the first to open her mouth and call them athiests (she even called my father an athiest a few times). I never saw Jesus (alayhis salam) as a diety. I never agreed with praying to statues or using images because I felt it created a great division in Christianity as to how Jesus Christ really looked like. I was always interested in the stories of Ibrahim (a.s) and Musa (a.s) in the Bible, and I always wished my religion classes would focus more on them too but I wasn't the authority figure.

I always tried my best to be a good girl (I never smoked, got drunk nor set foot in a club) and some of my classmates used to tease me for that. The only aspect of me was, I wanted a boyfriend just like my friends and my cousins. For a year (from when I was 14 until I was 15) I had a boyfriend (who I met from cyber space) although my mother strongly said no to dating while I was in school. I wanted to be "accepted" by society and I never understood why my mother said no to dating. Deep down inside, I didn't "love" my boyfriend. In the beginning it was fun, I had "someone" to call my boyfriend. Someone to call and say the occasional I love you and all that mooshi stuff. Deep down inside, I knew our relationship was completely wrong (especially by religious standards) but I just kept quiet. I was a strange girlfriend in the eyes of outsiders. I didn't like to kiss in public and I wasn't really in favor of holding hands in public. I have no clue why but that is just how I was. His mother was having some problems with me because my best friend was a boy and she thought I was "cheating" on her son when of course that was not the story at all. I didn't care that she didn't really like me because I wanted to find an excuse to end our relationship. Finally a few weeks after our first year of dating, he confessed that he quote on quote "kissed" two girls at a concert. Bingo, I told him I wanted to end it all. His mother got on the phone (the very same woman who used to gossip behind my back) and begged me to stay with her son because I was a respectful girl and all that jazz. I politely declined. Little did I know the direction my life would take a turn.

When I was 15 and two months after 9.11 happened, I was reading a book called "Princess" by Jean Sasson. I know the book was intended to show the corruption of some members in the Saudi royal family or whatever but something about it enticed me to learn more about Islam. I started doing more research on Rasul Allah (s.a.w) and the society that he used to live in. Especially after 9.11, people have been trying their hardest to portray Islam as male dominated dogma and terrorist ideology. I admired Rasul Allah (s.a.w) as a man who brought change to his people. The pagan Arabs were barbaric, and to know that one single man changed the course of history simply amazed me. I admired his humbleness. There was something about this man named Muhammed that no other king on this earth could accomplish. I was also learning about Islam bit by bit as time went on. I was toying with the idea of becoming a Muslima but I kept it to myself. Sometimes, I would browse websites looking at hijabs and niqabs..just sitting and daydreaming. Sometimes, I would open the Qu'ran that my father used for college. I thought maybe I was "confused" because my parents always branded those who converted to another religion as "confused". I told myself I was going through a phase.

Even before I started learning about Rasul Allah (s.a.w), I also had a great love for Turkey. I was trying to get a scoop of the whole Turkic world too while I was learning more about Islam. I don't understand why I became so attached to Turkey, and all of the Turkic countries in Central Asia. There was something about the Arabic language of the Qu'ran and something Turkish, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Turkmen that was all just music to my ears. I thought it was extremely strange since I am half Puerto Rican half Italian and not once in my life did I hear a Turkish nor an Arabic word spoken in my house. My father is a history professor so he told me a some details about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the Ottoman Empire. From middle school until I was 15, Ataturk was my hero.

So, then finally a year passed and I was 16. I was living my life and I started seeing someone else who I met at the gym. He was a Chinese Buddhist born and raised in Indonesia. He asked me to marry him but I didn't want to because he was a Buddhist (he actually went to the Buddhist temple and prayed when he had the chance). Deep down inside I wanted to open my mouth and say I wanted to become a Muslima and that's why I couldn't marry him but I just kept denying myself over and over. I still remember one November afternoon like it was yesterday. I was in my religion class discussing "terrorism". Mentally, I wasn't there with the discussion until my religion teacher said "Even China is taking care of their terrorist problems". What? China? Muslims in China? The Communist Chinese "taking care" of terrorism? It was like an alarm just decided to go off in my brain. I knew there were Muslims next to China but literally inside China? I had no idea. I knew they were Chinese living in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. I remember asking my father and he said there is a minority of Muslims in China. For the next few months, my mind was labeled with "Muslims in China" for a long time. I don't know why I became so fixated on this particular subject. One day, I decided to conduct some research and I started learning about the Uygurs, a Turkic speaking group in the most western province of China called "Xinjiang" (which translates to New Territory). I learned more about their history, their opression under the Communist boot of China and their desire to have a country called East Turkistan. There was something about Uygurs that made me feel something deep in my heart. The Soviet Union invaded Central Asia, the Russians are fighting the Chechnans, the Israelis and Palestinians are fighting a never ending war, yet it was just something about East Turkistan. I remember there were somedays when I just started crying because I was thinking about what was happening to Uygurs and yet it seemed like the United States ignored it. To sum it all up, after learning about East Turkistan, it was a reinforcement for me to realize that yes, yes and an endless answer of yes-Islam is for ME and I am not "confused"! Don't ask the connections of how and why, just realize Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala calls you in the most mysterious ways. And it so happened a year after I knew for sure I wanted to become a Muslima, the guy I was seeing (I wont mention his name) moved out of NYC to find another job and as a result we were not able to continue our relationship.

There was a problem. The only Muslims I met were from online and some of them were not as "practicing" as I had hoped. But, then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala gave me the chance to meet more brothers and sisters who were more sincere about their deen-most especially when I entered my first year in college. I was very lucky to have met very remarkable people who taught me the first basic steps of Islam. I didn't have the courage to say the Shahadah right away because I started thinking of my parents, especially my mother since her and I are very close. I thought to myself whenever it would happen, I would say the Shahadah officially because I thought I had to tell my parents right away.

Before I said the Shahadah, Rebiya Kadeer was released from prision and although I didn't know how to pray properly, whenever I put my head on the ground one of the things I asked for from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala was for her release. A little after that, I was given the opportunity to see the appearance of Rasul Allah (s.a.w) in my dream, Alhamdulillah. At the time, I didn't understand why how I was able to see him if I didn't know how to pray, didn't know how to recite suras or make wu'du.

Finally on April 18th, 2005 I said those precious words I have been wanting to say for a very long time. Words cannot describe what it's like to finally return to Islam. I feel like the weight of the world was finally lifted off of my shoulders. I haven't told my parents that I am a Muslima yet, but I know just like Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala did for me before I said the Shahadah, He will do for me in order to finally tell my parents without difficulty. I'm just waiting for the OK signal from Him for the right time:statisfie. I have my complete faith in Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and I know He will guide me during my trials and tribulations that I may face with my relatives and society just like He guided me towards Islam and I had no idea.

If someone is reading this and they are considering to turn to the path of Islam. Please, do not be afraid. If you can bow down in submission to your Creator, then there is nothing to be afraid of in this dunya.

[Khattab]

Jazzakallah Khairun for sharing your excellent story of your journey to Islam, may Allah (SWT) bless you inshallah.

[Pinkie]

Thank you :statisfie. Inshallah we will be reading more inspirational stories.

[Protected_Diamond]

Salutation And Other Aspects Of Islam Led Me To The Truth

Sister Fatima Kazue, Japan

" Ever since the Second World War I have been watching with restlessness that our faith in our religion was fast becoming weak. We had begun to accept the American model of living and I deeply felt as if something was missing. At first I could not understand what it was that was missing. It was the cry of my soul to find an answer to this restlessness.

I was fortunate to be acquainted with one Muslim who had been staying in Tokyo for sometime. His behavior and his way of worship made me curious and I asked many questions. His answers were very gratifying and afforded me much peace of mind and soul. He taught me how one should lead his life as God desires us to live. I had never imagined before that the entire outlook of life can change so suddenly, as did mine by living as a Muslim and feeling a sort of unison with the Creator Himself. Look at the salutation of a Muslim. You say "Assalamo-'Alaikum Wa-Rahamatullah Wa-barakatoho" : `May you have peace from God and be happy ever' *. This is very unlike `good morning' and `good afternoon' which simply means your morning be good and your afternoon be good. It sounds all materialistic. There is no eternal wish, no prayer to invoke God's blessings. Through that Muslim friend of mine I have learnt many things which a Muslim believes in and practices. I like the Muslim way of life which is pure, simple and essentially peaceful. I am convinced that Islam alone can bring peace in an individual's life as well as in the collective life of man. Islam alone can give real peace to mankind - a peace which humanity is eager to have. I am happy to have acquired this peace and could like to spread Islam as much as possible for me amongst my people. :happy:

*A better translation of "Assalamo-'Alaikum Wa-Rahamatullah Wa-barakatoho" would be "May Allah's peace, mercy, and blessings be extended on you".

[wafa islam]

Aslamu alaykum wa rahmat 'Ullahi wa barakatoh

This is a story that shows how Americans in Texas found Islam the deen- ul- haqq,
www.weneedtounite.com/misc_videos.htm

"Turning Muslims in Texas"
Wa alykuma Aslam

Wa alaykuma Asalamu wa rahmat 'Ullah wa barakatoh..

[The Ruler]

da stories r soooo nice....dey bought tears to my eyes....masha allah...:wub: :wub:

:w:

[julie sarri]

:sl: i dont realiy know were to start but here it goes my mum is a catholic and my dad dident belive in eney god.When my mum gave birth to me their were a lot of problems her age for one she was over 40 and they had to enduces her almost 2 months early i was born deid and the power of allah (swt)wanted me to live alhamdulillah i did i was small and purple and ill for a number of years having fixs all the time i stayed in hospital till i was 7 only being let home for the weekend.in the 1980s thay dident have teachers in hospitals so i miss so much school when i was 8 i started school and they put me down as speical needs i couldent read write or tell the time and dident even know my abc.But time went on and i sufferd in school being bullied and finding it hard to learn then when i was 15 my dads time on earth was up and allah (swt) took him me and my mum were not getting on every one took it bad ther are five of us me being the youngest butthen when i was 17 i meet him alhamdulillah he was aborn muslim from algeria i was doing a lot of sining at the time and he was to but mashallah we got engaged then married we both clamed down alot he dident always get on with my mum so we moved out then last year afther talking it threw i seid to him out of the blue i seid dont you thinck its time to return to islam allah put this idear in my head i know that now so he reverted frist why i was reading as much as i could to understand islam better he already new the bacis of islam but me being english dident have that much understanding so read and read then he showed me how to pray i also wear the hijab now as well inshallah i hope to keep on inproving inthe deen i'm 29 years old now and been married 10 years thankfuliy allah helped me back on the right path inahaalah i wount look back and hope allah will forgive me for my past:w: :sister:

[abdullahi]

:sl:
Alhamdullilah! great stories brothers and sisters. very inspirational!
i pray to Allah (SWT) that he strengthens our faith and makes life easier for us.
:w:

[Cherub]

Until one day I was smoking pot for the first time of my live with a friend. I don't know what really happened that day but it was the scariest experience of my life. I was convinced of being dead and in hell. The friend sitting next to me was the devil. Every move I made was anticipated. Every sentence had an answer ready before I could even complete it. I felt like a play ball being psychologically tortured for fun. And the fear was worse than any imaginable pain. I was told by my doctor later that most likely LSD was sprayed on to the weed. I had my urine tested but since it happened in the weekend and visited the doctor on Monday, It was possible for the test to come out negative even though it did had LSD on it . The test result turned out negative, and the uncertainty was killing me. For a month I slept with the lights on. I started to better my ways out of fear. As time went by, the fear diminished but the morality and ethics kind of grew on me.[/b]

Salam Aleikhum Steve.

I have had the exact same experience, i was also convinced i was talking to the devil when it was my best friend..still to do this day i don't know what to make of that whole episode..it felt like he knew all i was thinking and had some answer ready, i didn't say anything he just seemed to reply to what was in my head.
Of course you can't call it a real religious experience because you are high on drugs after all.
But still i recognised this very much.

I still wonder at times if my best friend is actually the devil in disguise :) maybe a Jinn? :D

Of course it sounds funny, but in fact it scared the hell out of me.
I remember my friend talking like.."do you think i can drive this good for no reason? Always taking those perfect corners?" that sort of thing..like some evil spirit was helping him do it or something answering what i was thinking.

Also it wasn't my first time smoking weed either so i was "used" to it , although i did stop smoking it on a regular basis a couple of years before i had this incident.

Scary stuff.
I guess the advice is don't do drugs :happy: (btw i post here because i can't send you a private message)

[smile]

my aunt's domestic worker became muslim when she listened to my aunts islamic radio!

[Kittygyal]

ok here we go i don't know where to start tho, anway my mum is a christain who has past away and me dad is an muzlim, so my mum did not want to convert but i wanted to because some o my fiends are asians and the amount of stories thev'e told me is just hilarious :p

well lets get to the point as i am the only daughter and 2 brothers i thought as i have got an asian dad why not me should be an asian too so i talked to one of my friend and she spoke to a man that were saying something from the koran i had to repeat it and then he told me 'i have converted' so it was easy but it is quite hard to believ stuff because iused believe 'Jesuse was the son of god' but it took me about a month or even more to the have the right intention and have people saying to me how can he be god son when god has NO children

but then again i am happy that god has brought me to religion of 'truth and peace'

so i am very proud to be a muzlim (reverted muzlim) and i am sure all me beloved brovas and sistas will help me and share there knowledge with me :)

take care

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

so i am very proud to be a muzlim (reverted muzlim) and i am sure all me beloved brovas and sistas will help me and share there knowledge with me :)

If you haven't already, you should take a look at this site which will help you learn about Islam:
http://www.beconvinced.com

:w:

[Kittygyal]

If you haven't already, you should take a look at this site which will help you learn about Islam:
http://www.beconvinced.com

:w:

aw thank you bro :thankyou:

may god bless you and your family in the year after (amin)

take care

[The Ruler]

errmmm....sis islamgyal did u post ur revertin story ere.....i wanna read that :happy: :)

:w:

[Kittygyal]

errmmm....sis islamgyal did u post ur revertin story ere.....i wanna read that :happy: :)

:w:

yes sis i hve feel free to read it :)

take care

[Mohsin]

I'd like to post this really nice story i read. it reminds me of other stories of my non-muslim friends. I'm sterotyping them, but they were generally like the guy in the following story


Taken from http://voiceforislam.com/PassionOfCh...nvertsMan.html

Passion Of Christ Converts Man To Islam


I begin in the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

My next door neighbor used to grow Marijuana in his back yard. He rode a loud Harley Davidson and could not complete a sentence without saying the “f” word. There was a party every night at his house and God knows what went on but whatever it was the whole neighborhood could hear it. He loved my family because we treated him the way Muslims should treat their neighbors. We also never called the cops on him like his previous neighbors.

[Everyone please research how Muslims should treat neighbors by studying the teachings of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him)]

Back to the subject at hand. My neighbor spoke to us on occasion about God and what we believed in. Sometimes he would kid around and ask us to have a few drinks with him. One thing that really stood out about him was that he “kept things real.” He told you what he felt and didn't care how you took it. Very straight forward guy--held nothing back. Amazingly, however, as open as he was, there was one area of his life he chose to keep very private: His deep love for God.

Although he was the type of guy you never would have guessed went to church on Sundays, my neighbor still managed to attend every service. His parents, apparently, were very religious, out-spoken Christians.

One Sunday we were both standing in front of our garages and he looked over at me and said, “Hey neighbor I'm not a Christian anymore, I'm never going to church again!” “I'm going to become a Muslim.”

I looked at him stunned. Shocked! I thought he was joking. I said, “Yeah right bro.” He quickly assured me he was serious and I figured out quickly just how serious he was.

I asked what brought about the change. He told me he watched the movie The Passion of the Christ the night before and that sealed it for him. I had been talking to him about Islam for a while but never got to him--or at least I thought I didn't. I asked how the Passion had caused this change.

“I thought it would bring you closer to Christianity,” I said.

He responded yelling in his biker voice,

“You know men die for countries, men die for women, men die for money, men die for their friends and men have died for a lot less. Last night I watched the movie the Passion and I saw these disciples of Jesus and how they all claimed they didn't even know him when they were about to kill GOD or the SON OF GOD. Someone who has shown them miracles, brought the dead to life, supposedly GOD himself, and they run and not defend him. They could have eternal paradise; I would have died that night. How are you not going to die for GOD; and you're his DISCIPLE?! It makes no sense! Keep it real man.”

Soon after, I gave the brother some videos and pamphlets to help further explain the beliefs of Islam--in case I missed anything important. About a day later I heard a knock at my door.

“I'm ready” he said.

And with those words, I asked him to repeat after me: “Ashadu Allah ilaha il Allahu, wa Ashadu ana Muhammad ar rasulullah.”

I bear witness that there is no God worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad is the final messenger of God.

[palestine_heart]

Coming To Islam

My name is Sister Fatemah Islam. I am 37 years old.
I am an American citizen by birth. A Native Indian of the United States.
I was raised in Nebraska in a very poor Indian neighborhood, but then
I was a child I didnأ know too much about being poor (it is just how things
were). I was raised under the Indian ways and ALLAH (swt). I knew nothing
of Islam.
I thought that all families were like mine, abusive, disruptive, and dangerous.
I thought that the pain was ALLAH(swt) preparing me for life as an adult, those
were some hard lessons with deep scars. This was ALLAHأ's will? I didnأ like ALLAH
very much back as a child. The innocence of blame. I grew up in a household of
drugs, alcohol, and sex . I hated everyone and everything around me. I started
drinking and drugs at the tender age of 11. Suicide was always on my mind I
figured ALLAH had made a mistake and I was going to give this life back. Well,
as you can see I am still here, ALHAMDULILLAH.
I married at the age of 17 (just turned). My first child was born to me while I was
Still in high school. Two children later and a few hard beatings the later I was pregnant
I divorced my husband. Not knowing how to be independent I fell for the first boy
To look my direction and married him. Again two children later and more beatings
I left my second husband. Four beautiful daughters and two divorces I decided
to live alone with my children.
I moved to Denver, Colorado started working in gay bars and still drinking and
Doing drugs. 14 years like this and alone, depressed, and very suicidal by this time.
I was still not speaking to ALLAH(swt)I had all but forgotten about ALLAH(swt).
One day I was surfing the net to find advertising ideas for the bar. I came across
This ad that had a banner flashing at the bottom of itأ¢â‚¬â„¢s page. www.islamnow.com
Is what it read. I was excited I thought Islam was a Country , I clicked onto the site.

Islam found me
From that moment Islam had me. I read the entire site and the adjoining sites
There. Went on like this all night. I cried, laughed, and was even angry why ALLAH
hadnأ¢â‚¬â„¢t shown or guided Islam to me before. After all I had read I knew not to question
ALLAH (swt). By this time it is morning I didnأ¢â‚¬â„¢t sleep, drink, or eat this whole time
Over 24 hours of non-stop Islam. I stood up asked a customer to take me to the nearest mosque, she did. The one hour drive was the longest wait.
I was afraid to come to ALLAH(swt). I thought maybe what if ALLAH said no to me.
I met the Imam and told him why I was there. He scared me. He started saying things
I didnأ understand, loudly but happily. When he calmed down, He calmed me down
I thought I was going to faint. This when I entered Islam. The first time I had ever
heard Arabic language up close and I was speaking them to the most important words
I will ever say in my life..SHAHADA.

fee amaan Allah
sister fatemah

[syilla]

this thread really make me cry non stop...

[Skillganon]

this thread really make me cry non stop...

I know, me too! considering I am a man, I use to hunt up reversion story every where on the world.wide.web. It is also hitting britian also, I on the other week, saw a white sister (wearing a Hijab), (althoug I don't know if she was a revert or born muslim from another country), did not ask, or talked. It is strange sometime's but it makes me happy.

[Woodrow]

I did not revert until I was 65 years old. I knew very much about Islam, in a scholastic manner for many years. But, I never saw what it meant until I was 65.

I was born in a very good Christian home. Did everything in line with the teachings of the Church. I felt very close to God(swt) and had accepted Jesus(pbuh) as my personal savior.

When I reached my mid twenties, I still loved God(swt) but I no longer agreed with the teachings of the Church. I became Buddhist, not so much as a religion, but rather as a philosophy of life.

I was very blessed with having the opportunity to pursue a very good academic life. One of my Favorite studies was languages. I also was very much interested in Philosophy and Comparative Religions. My undergraduate days were actualy in a Seminary.

My first career was as an USAF Combat Pilot. After being severly injured my Military career came to an early end. I then pursued mechanical engineering and ended up working as a Draftsman (Draughtsman for the old spelling). During that time I also continued my education torn between Biology and Psychology. I also had the opportunity to do considerable traveling. Lived in quite a few different places. I kept my interest in Languages and pursued the Arabic Language. During that time I did manage to get a copy of the Qur'an all in Arabic. I used it as a means to develope my Arabic skills. I was also interested in reading it as an informational source about Islam.

Well during the years I had 3 Children 2 girls and a son. The two Girls were interested in the Arabic Language. At an early age they reverted to Islam. My grandchildren were all born Muslim. So, I had plenty of contac with Muslims. But, I still felt it was not what I was seeking.


Finaly one day when I was 65 years old I decided to brush up on my language skills by reading the Qur'an again. For some reason, it looked different. I was not looking at it as a scholar, I was FEELING it, I do not know how long or how many times I read it in the next day or two. But, then I knew, I had to say the Shahadah, I said it to Allah(swt) immediatly and the very next Friday I said it at the Masjid.

[lfaridi]

alhamdulillah!!!!

asalamu alaykum

all these revert stories are so wonderful. as for myself, i had no knowledge of islam before i met my muslim husband. i heard the word "islam" here and there, but never knew what it was. before i agreed to marry my husband i had told him that i did not wish to change my religion. i was a christian. many nights were spent debating about religion. to me it felt like he was saying my religion was wrong, which now i believe it was in regards to worshipping jesus (pbuh)as the son of God, and the cross, but at that time i was set on proving him wrong. i searched the internet and found the english transliteration of the quran. i skimmed thru alot of the surahs and when i found something that sounded strange i asked questions. i soon got bored of reading from a computer screen and went out and bought pickthall's transliteration of the quran. i didnt get too far into it before i realized that i couldnt stay a christian. in july of 2004 i said the shahada to Allah and a few days later said it to my father in law thru the internet and the following july i said it in front of my husband's family. i still havent gotten thru the english version because i gave it to a friend of mine after discussing islam with her. i still have a ways to go before being an ideal muslim but every day ashadu an la illaha ill allah washadu ana mohammedir rasulallah.

walaykum asalam,

linda

[syilla]

it is very compelling...thank you...

i think i better read another thread...

have to stop crying hehe...

[syilla]

oh... before i forget...

i have this wonderful story taken from islamic forum

[BANANA]Asalaamo aleykum ,

This is my story of how I reverted.

Before my birth my biological father run off when
he found out I was on the way. My mother was
forced to give me up for adoption and so directly
after birth I went to a orphanage. My mother met
another man in South Africa on holiday and he had
planned to kidnap me out of the orphanage, but
was stopped by my mother's family for doing so. I
stayed in that orphanage untill I was 2 1/2. Then I
got fosterparents. They wear extremely cruel,
as ...the doctor told them just after marriage that
they couldnot get children, so they registered for
adopting a child....then they miraculous got three
sons and forgot about the registration. When after
some years the agency came with me, the mother
was very dissappointed but ( as she numerous
times told me) they felt forced as their Christian
duty to accept me anyway though they hated the
fact I was a girl. She always told and tought me I
was the filthiest creature God ever made on earth,
and that even a cat was cleaner as she would lick
herself clean. Therefor she used to put me daily in
the most horrifieing and humiliating situations and
abuses untill at the age of 7, she called on her
sons in the livingroom and "gave" me to them,
while she and her husband would watch. They
were very practising Christians i.e. they went to
church every sunday and we'ld pray 3 / 4 times a
day, help a lot with charities and all.

The sexual and fysical abuse got so far that from I
was 11 they used to tie me up with belts and
ropes beaten me up daily and regular kept me
awake at nights to clean, and used me numerous
times at gunpoint or with threatning with a "bowie-
knife". When I was sick, they made me stand in a
kind of hole in the backgarden till I fainted while
they observed behind the windows.

I used to have many fantasy-worlds where I would
live continuesly, had imaginary friends and
parents. Well...only a fatherfigure really, "mothers"
just freaked me out to death. Where I would be
always, just feeling like I wasnot here anymore.
And I wasn't. I used to dream about foreign places
to go, foreign times and people. Just as long as I
wouldnot be there.

When I was 17 I went to look for my biological
mother as she had only left me a diary when she
left me. I found her parents and called them, and
they were so happy. but as I didnot realize my
childhood was not 'normal', ..one day grandpa
asked me "how it was yesterday" ( just for the
chat )..and I breezy told him they had tied me up
again and hang me out of the third floor window on
the roof by my feet for I didnot want to 'cooperate'.
So grandpa and all went shocked and called the
childfare here and at the same time the
fosterparents found out I had layed contact with
my biological family and they kicked me out, back
to the orphanage.

After a few months of refusing to talk as I thought
there was nothing shocking or serious to talk
about, there was a documentary on tv about incest
and the girl was all crying and sad there. And I felt
disguisted and filled with laughter ridiculing through
the tv-lounge :" THAT is why she is crying ??? so
stupid, that happened to me to , why would she
cry ???" So.....again everybody shocked and
called childfare again......they came over just to tell
me and the orphange they had known that they
raped me since I was 11 for the fostermother
asked them to keep quiet if it would ever come
up.....again people shocked.....

They made me tell more and more and I got more
and more confused and in pain. I used to faint
quiet often, get panic-attacks, mutilated my hands
and head against the wall frequent and even took
overdose of sleepingpills. they made me meet my
biological mother, who lives in South Africa, and
she got panic and told me she was very
dissappointed that I didnot had a ponytail (
amazing but true ) and that my childhood wasnot
what she thought to see and she couldnot handle
that and abandonned me ( again).

I went on trial against one of the sons for I feared
my fostermother too much, and won the trial, but
the loneliness and abandonness got too much of
me and made me get a nervous breakdown
completely and I locked myself up in my house,
losed my job , and went back to my fantasyworlds.
I lived as a zombie, I had no clue, awareness at all
of the 'outside' world. I feared the world outside so
immense, I had darkened my windows with
sheets, and lived for years on crackers and
peanutbutter . Every contact with the outside just
confused me totally and I felt I wasnot human
even. I knew there was something different with
me, with my head, as it felt broken in peaces. I
went to the hospital to have a CT scan and EEG,
just to show them my head was broken, but the
neurologist said it was fine, only had too many
concussions he said, that is all. But I still was
sure my head didn't work the same as other
people, and I lived in tremendous pain and like
nightmares while I was awake. The pain inside got
so terrible I sometimes had to run on the street in
the middle of the night as to scream for help.

At one of those nights I came pass a church and I
wrote on a little paper a message if the 'minister of
the church would please have me in, and I slipped
the note in the church mailbox. The next day the
minister called and invited me over and I felt save.
Everytime the pain was too severe I could go there.
Through that church I got to know a woman who
was into New Age...and she gave me a poetrybook
of Rabindranath Tagore about God. This was so
beautiful that I went to a bookstore and found more
poetrybooks , but from Inayat Khan. When I read
his poetry and books I wished I would marry such
a man.

I used to visit a Pakistani clothes shop and the
lady there introduced me to a friend of her family.
The moment I saw him I knew he would be my
husband. Only he didnot neccesary feel the same
so strong about me. Only after a week or so I told
him about my childhood and he couldnot believe it.
Rather...he laughed and called me a lier. I told him
the f*** word and went outside. When I came back
he apologized and said he had never heard from
this kind of childhood / parents in his whole life. He
said he just couldnot believe it to be true as it was
too outrageous and he said he asked Allah to let
him show me what love is and let him show me
what to be cared for/about is, and that he loved to
be my husband and make me loose my pain one
day Inshallah. I agreed to marry him and called my
mother in SA to tell her so. A few weeks later we
married in Pakistan. After taht a specialist found
out that I have Multiple Personality Disorder, it's a
Dissociative Disorder that helped me survive and
still does. I have 19 personalities / parts who
connect and speak with eachother even through
the induvidual moving of my fingers and muscles in
my face/arms and legs, since several personalities
are paralyzed of speech.

I said Shahada at my Nikkah, and knew the
meaning, though I didnot know much more about
real Islam, since all my books were really Sufi
books. My husband told me he is Sunni Muslim,
but that was it. I rarely saw or knew him to pray,
he never fasted, never said salaam to me, never
taught me anything about hijab, haraam food (
except pork), he never read Quran, never taught
me about alcohol and much much more. Just after
our first son was born he did adhaan in his ear and
I had the child circumsized, and that was it. Only
after 2 years of marrige I met another reverted
sister and she asked me "are you Muslim?" and I
didnot know what to tell her. I said " I think so, I
am not sure?"..This made me interest in Islam. I
bought booklets about salaat, I asked my husband
for a Quran and started to wear khimaar. and read
more books.

My husband really didnot like this much. He had a
meeting with friends and they also warned him that
a revert is more "fundamental" then they were and
his only response was to them " Saffia will never
love Allah more then me ". So, he used to
humiliate and insult me often about my hijab, he
used to call me names and often order me to take
it off when being with his/our friends and non
mahram family. He would say mocking to the
neighbours " look, I don't have a dutch wife, I have
a Turk ", he even once kicked me under my butt
over a tourist street when he felt embarressed of
the drunken Kufar looking at me,... mocking " Hey,
why are you so nasty mood ? Come on and
laugh ! " Often when a Kufar or so is near, he calls
me names, openly ridiculing my hijab. I have
gotten stronger and stronger over the years. I
refuse to take my hijab off since 2 years now
Alhamdulillah. But the threats have gone worse.
He even has threatened to break my nose and
destroy my face if I wouldnot take it off for his
friends, and Alhamdulillah I am strong I bear it. He
even threatened to kidnap my children to Pakistan
if I would obey Allah over him , ( the next day he
went to a striptease-bar) and Alhamdulillah I bear
it. I am the one to teach our children 'salaam', to
teach them salaat and now 5 short Surahs
memorized. Since 5 years I refuse to drink alcohol
and even secretly emptied some beercans of him
in the drain. When he was depressed of how 'rich'
the non-believer was in compare with him, I had
read him 3 ayahs from Quran. But as a thanks , he
got furious and told me if I ever recited a word from
Quran he would destroy my face. Now I only read
Quran with the children and my oldest (8) makes
constant duaa that we become Hafidha one day,
mashallah. It is all the same with removing
pictures/ statues in the house, or one day I told
my son to beware of the meat he bought, that it
was haraam and he should not eat with him. He
furiated completely, saying how dare I humiliate
him in front of his children. And he grabbed me and
shouted and threatened me and all. it is not
allowed, he constant puts me down by saying that
he found me a non-believer and he will always see
me as one.

I have Faith in Allah Ta'ala. I know He sees me and
He hears my prayers. I have faith that He is with
me. I feel blessed that I have Islam now. He so
often Shuker Alhamdulillah answers my prayers
beofre the next prayertime enters. So often. I donot
tell my husband that often, for I think he will be
shocked as to how many duaas came and come
true. I donot feel alone or lonely. I told Allah that as
am to weak to run and I fear he will kidnap my
children ( and raise them according to his way of
practising the Deen) I will stay and bear my
husband treatment and insults, just thanking that
he only gives me another reason to let my tears
drop on my prayer rug. Then sometimes I go to my
husband and tell him with wet and tears-full red-
face " see? This is how you make Duaa !" and I
point to my face. And I know he must think about
it. I know Allah ta'ala is so near. Last year
Alhamdulillah my husband started to pray a little.
This year he prays 5 times a week max. Last year
he started to join fasting with me also. And even
since 10 months ( Inshallah) he hasnot drunk
alcohol. I have had the most wonderful mails from
sisters here about Sabr and the reward of Allah,
and that is what I hold strong to. I often think of
that Hadith of the black woman with epilepcy. And
I want to be as strong as she.I wouldnot want Allah
to take away my headaches and limitations in my
head, I couldnot live without. I feel it is Allah Who
gave me this pains to help me coope with life after
all. I know I forget so much due to the pressure
and constant pain in my head, and I have constant
black-outs, all day long. Often I cry why my head
and life seems so difficult and Alhamdulillah I
realise that it is only bearable for me as long as I
have faith in Allah's Love, Power and Reward. Then
with this in my thoughts I don't mind the torment,
all the losses and hatric and insults and
confusement. I still fear going outside alone, fear of
getting lost in my panic . I only dream and pray
that Allah gives me the time and strength to see
my children grow up and become a grandma.
Then , I tell Allah, if they donot need me anymore,
He may take me with Him. And I love to go with
Him, I dream of Him embracing me, holding me
close to Him, and that I never have to bear any
pain ever again.



ps. I realise it looks like my husband is very cruel,
and that scares me , I should tell that he does
treat me very well as a woman, and his wife, just
not the "Muslimah part" of it so much. Well, it is
so, when a practising Muslim comes over he talks
very proud of me, when a Kufaar comes over he
talks bad and complains about me . At moments
when he needs me most, he tells me he is proud
of me that I am a Muslimah, but when that time is
over, it is bad again.
O well, my head is broken, please forgive me for
talking so openly about this part of my Muslim-life,
please forgive me ?

from chaand (islamic forum)
[/BANANA]

[Umar001]

Peace be upon yall, Salaam Aleykum

I have been meaning to complete a piece of my life in written form, to be more precise the journey to the straight path.
To the reader, this is not a means to give prove Islam right or to show it’s superiority, since this was a personal journey and Islam stands with or without this journey, and I cannot add any benefit to Islam nor can I take away from it’s beauty. The purpose is to merely share a journey of one man which may help others to see things in a better prospective, in the same way that the journey of others has helped me along my journey.

EDIT: My knowledge of Islam was not very accurate, a muslim to me seemed to be an arabic guy with an ak screaming Allawackbar (thats how I used to say it and spell it)
I was the type of boy that before becoming Christian used to play soccer and when I would score would scream ALlawackbar and bow down as I used to see the some muslims do, as a joke to annoy my muslim friends, and do stupid ignorant stuff like that, little did I know I would be postrating in tears pretty soon :p.

Into Christianity

Before reaching the final destination of Islam I was driven towards my family’s religion Christianity.

During my first year in college (in the U.K. not American College) I found myself being asked to leave after a couple of months, at this period societies nature had taken it’s toll on me and I seemed to be doomed as another young male with no purpose. I found myself out of college, passing day by day with no actual focus. It was out of this darkness that the journey would begin. A sunny afternoon I found myself passing through the local shopping centre, as far as I recall I was going to pick my little brother up from his school, it was then that I found a lady’s outstretched hand, passing me a book, considering I had never read a book up to that point in life, never from cover to cover, except for maybe one for school, I found myself instinctively taking the book, without even knowing what it was about, funny enough after handing me the book the lady eagerly suggest I should provide a donation, nice tactics.

The book was entitled ‘Survivors’ by a man named Zion Ben Jonah. This book struck me by total surprise with its hardcore and explicit statements; it was a great change from everything I had heard before then in Church. The loving, merciful and passionate side of God was always being talked about, what this book did was take the worst case scenario and apply it to the end times which was a very intriguing wake up call to the former ‘happy-go-lucky’ type of attitude in the Church, that nothing harmful would ever happen.

From this concerned prospective I began to stand up and take more of a vocal point at church and began to start engaging with Christianity, I began stating my point of view and my distress at the one sided preaching that happened in the Church. I questioned and questioned as to why we didn’t speak about the end times, why we didn’t talk about the wrath of God and rather spend every Sunday speaking about the same thing again and again. It was this sort of blind Church going that provoked my reaction from myself. I began questioning and reading passages from Revelation to my peers to wake them up, that anyone ‘Luke-warm will be spat out’ and that 100% dedication would be needed and a part time Christian is no Christian at all.

Christian Union

By now the next curriculum year of college had began and I had enrolled in the same college. It was on one occasion that I found a family friend in a room with about 7 or so people at lunch time, intrigued I looked through the door-window hoping to get a glance; she then saw me and indicated that I should enter.
I humbly entered not knowing what to expect, but hearing something very sweet, the speaking of God, on a serious level. I started from this attending the Christian Union meetings, and what I loved more was the preaching contained a balance of both love and justice, the never ending reminders that ‘your mouth will testify about what it was used for, the finger will testify what it was used for’ and so on kept me at an edge and consistently reminded me of the need for repentance and acceptance of God. Although the meetings only took place of Wednesday and Fridays I began to urge for meetings on every lunch time and would find myself restless if no meetings occurred. Such qualities must have been obvious because it was soon after I had expressed my intention of more meetings vocally, that I remember a couple of instances in which the group leaders, whom were all leaving that year, were sat round talking about finding a successor and all in turned expressed that God had spoke to them and revealed some names, now, I don’t claim to be a mind reader, but it was pretty obvious who they were indirectly saying God said.
At that time, I was battling myself, with a major problem I had always had, the problem of putting myself in the right place, since practicing Christianity, the place being that I am nothing, and that all good that I may do is from God and so on, although I believe that and understand it, and even tried my best to practice it, I have always found it hard to even speak without feeling that I have let Satan find a way to place pride in me, so I told the leaders that I couldn’t see myself as a leader because I needed my humility, and with becoming a leader I feared pride.


The Talk

Although I have always had Muslim friends they have never been able to give me da’wah properly (another key factor, this is the need as to why Muslims should learn da’wah, had I died a couple of years earlier I would have never known the proper Islam) but somehow, although it had never entered my mind, I heard about a Muslim talk that was going to take place, I decided to go.

[On a quick note, the decision to go was somewhat similar and instinctive as the decision to take the book from the lady.]

On arriving, I didn’t know to expect, the speaker was not going to turn up, but there were plenty of books and a lot of chocolate, which sure helped me stay, a brother took up the speakers place and just entertained some questions.

From there, December 2004 until July 2005 I started learning the views of Islam and started to also view Christianity, something I hadn’t done, although I had believed in it, I had never scrutinised it and examined it from a neutral viewpoint.

Another point to help me was the Autobiography of Malcolm X, and the journey of his helped in a subtle way to shed a light on Islam.

It was during this period that I slowly started to realise, that Eesa is but Abdullah, meaning that Jesus is but a Servant of Almighty God.

And in, July 2005 I bore my testimony of faith.

[All praise is due to Almighty God for any benefit that has occurred through this article and any mistakes are solely mine and may God forgive me]

Salaam Aleykum Wa Rhametula Wa Berekatu
[Peace be upon yall and mercy from Almighty God and blessings]

Your brother in Islam and/or Humanity

Eesa Abdullah
[Jesus servant of Almighty God]

[swanlake]

:sl: brothers and sisters

These stories never cease to fill me with happiness that you all embraced this way of life. I personally cant imagine life without Islam. But i feel i fall short of what is good muslim. May Allah bless us with His mercy and make us those who are guided. aameen.

[Umar001]

:sl: brothers and sisters

These stories never cease to fill me with happiness that you all embraced this way of life. I personally cant imagine life without Islam. But i feel i fall short of what is good muslim. May Allah bless us with His mercy and make us those who are guided. aameen.

Ameen, I hope I die Muslim. well we all die muslim

[habiibti]

salaam.

i don`t remember ever crying this much.i`m so happy and glad i found this site.
revert stories r always inspirational and brave.i thanks Allah for making us muslims.
we born muslims take islam for granted while some had to srtuggle and fight for it.

thank u every one for sharing ur stories,May Allah reward those who founded this site,

wasalaamu aleikum.

[bint_muhammed]

mashallah! all these stories are awsome!

[Zohair]

best thread ever!

it is very touching. it is even more touching to actually see people convert, unfortunately I have not had the chance to see it with my own eyes yet.

[bint_muhammed]

Peace be upon yall, Salaam Aleykum

I have been meaning to complete a piece of my life in written form, to be more precise the journey to the straight path.
To the reader, this is not a means to give prove Islam right or to show it’s superiority, since this was a personal journey and Islam stands with or without this journey, and I cannot add any benefit to Islam nor can I take away from it’s beauty. The purpose is to merely share a journey of one man which may help others to see things in a better prospective, in the same way that the journey of others has helped me along my journey.

EDIT: My knowledge of Islam was not very accurate, a muslim to me seemed to be an arabic guy with an ak screaming Allawackbar (thats how I used to say it and spell it)
I was the type of boy that before becoming Christian used to play soccer and when I would score would scream ALlawackbar and bow down as I used to see the some muslims do, as a joke to annoy my muslim friends, and do stupid ignorant stuff like that, little did I know I would be postrating in tears pretty soon :p.

Into Christianity

Before reaching the final destination of Islam I was driven towards my family’s religion Christianity.

During my first year in college (in the U.K. not American College) I found myself being asked to leave after a couple of months, at this period societies nature had taken it’s toll on me and I seemed to be doomed as another young male with no purpose. I found myself out of college, passing day by day with no actual focus. It was out of this darkness that the journey would begin. A sunny afternoon I found myself passing through the local shopping centre, as far as I recall I was going to pick my little brother up from his school, it was then that I found a lady’s outstretched hand, passing me a book, considering I had never read a book up to that point in life, never from cover to cover, except for maybe one for school, I found myself instinctively taking the book, without even knowing what it was about, funny enough after handing me the book the lady eagerly suggest I should provide a donation, nice tactics.

The book was entitled ‘Survivors’ by a man named Zion Ben Jonah. This book struck me by total surprise with its hardcore and explicit statements; it was a great change from everything I had heard before then in Church. The loving, merciful and passionate side of God was always being talked about, what this book did was take the worst case scenario and apply it to the end times which was a very intriguing wake up call to the former ‘happy-go-lucky’ type of attitude in the Church, that nothing harmful would ever happen.

From this concerned prospective I began to stand up and take more of a vocal point at church and began to start engaging with Christianity, I began stating my point of view and my distress at the one sided preaching that happened in the Church. I questioned and questioned as to why we didn’t speak about the end times, why we didn’t talk about the wrath of God and rather spend every Sunday speaking about the same thing again and again. It was this sort of blind Church going that provoked my reaction from myself. I began questioning and reading passages from Revelation to my peers to wake them up, that anyone ‘Luke-warm will be spat out’ and that 100% dedication would be needed and a part time Christian is no Christian at all.

Christian Union

By now the next curriculum year of college had began and I had enrolled in the same college. It was on one occasion that I found a family friend in a room with about 7 or so people at lunch time, intrigued I looked through the door-window hoping to get a glance; she then saw me and indicated that I should enter.
I humbly entered not knowing what to expect, but hearing something very sweet, the speaking of God, on a serious level. I started from this attending the Christian Union meetings, and what I loved more was the preaching contained a balance of both love and justice, the never ending reminders that ‘your mouth will testify about what it was used for, the finger will testify what it was used for’ and so on kept me at an edge and consistently reminded me of the need for repentance and acceptance of God. Although the meetings only took place of Wednesday and Fridays I began to urge for meetings on every lunch time and would find myself restless if no meetings occurred. Such qualities must have been obvious because it was soon after I had expressed my intention of more meetings vocally, that I remember a couple of instances in which the group leaders, whom were all leaving that year, were sat round talking about finding a successor and all in turned expressed that God had spoke to them and revealed some names, now, I don’t claim to be a mind reader, but it was pretty obvious who they were indirectly saying God said.
At that time, I was battling myself, with a major problem I had always had, the problem of putting myself in the right place, since practicing Christianity, the place being that I am nothing, and that all good that I may do is from God and so on, although I believe that and understand it, and even tried my best to practice it, I have always found it hard to even speak without feeling that I have let Satan find a way to place pride in me, so I told the leaders that I couldn’t see myself as a leader because I needed my humility, and with becoming a leader I feared pride.


The Talk

Although I have always had Muslim friends they have never been able to give me da’wah properly (another key factor, this is the need as to why Muslims should learn da’wah, had I died a couple of years earlier I would have never known the proper Islam) but somehow, although it had never entered my mind, I heard about a Muslim talk that was going to take place, I decided to go.

[On a quick note, the decision to go was somewhat similar and instinctive as the decision to take the book from the lady.]

On arriving, I didn’t know to expect, the speaker was not going to turn up, but there were plenty of books and a lot of chocolate, which sure helped me stay, a brother took up the speakers place and just entertained some questions.

From there, December 2004 until July 2005 I started learning the views of Islam and started to also view Christianity, something I hadn’t done, although I had believed in it, I had never scrutinised it and examined it from a neutral viewpoint.

Another point to help me was the Autobiography of Malcolm X, and the journey of his helped in a subtle way to shed a light on Islam.

It was during this period that I slowly started to realise, that Eesa is but Abdullah, meaning that Jesus is but a Servant of Almighty God.

And in, July 2005 I bore my testimony of faith.

[All praise is due to Almighty God for any benefit that has occurred through this article and any mistakes are solely mine and may God forgive me]

Salaam Aleykum Wa Rhametula Wa Berekatu
[Peace be upon yall and mercy from Almighty God and blessings]

Your brother in Islam and/or Humanity

Eesa Abdullah
[Jesus servant of Almighty God]

so you are pretty new to Islam and it amazes me because you sound so informative about Islam. i'm born muslim however i'm studying the Quran in english now and its really amazing, however at the age of 18 i think the mosques and my parents haven't really taught us much about islam, and whenever they did culture would be involve, bear in mind i have supposed to have come from a religiouse family! anyway nice to have you brother!:happy:

[ummAbdillah]

salaam
manshallah manshallah!!
great posts keep it up!
wa salaam

[Fishman]

:salamext:
I know that quite a few of you have already seen most of this, but I've added a few bits to it now.

Well, like how I refused my first drink, my conversion to Islam started with something that I misunderstood as a miracle, and I made a terrible mistake with my creed, which is too embarassing for me to talk about here (how do I say 'Allah forgive me' in Arabic?). But what kept me in Islam after I rejected my mistakes was actually something in the Bible. It was a prophecy that even now I believe must have been reffering to Makkah (It's not that 'vale of Baca' thing). I found it on wikipedia, but you won't find it there anymore, it's been deleted because of it's lack of neutrality. I found a post in the talk section of the article that said something like 'This is a crazy atempt by Muslims to make it seem like Islam is the true sucessor to Christianity and Judaism. Keep neutral-point-of-view and everything, but I want it to seem like this is false'. This is also partly deleted now. A lot of non-Muslims claim that there is a group of Muslims censoring wikipedia, but it's actually the other way round.
I then read all the pages about Islam on wikipedia that I could understand, but felt I still wanted to know more. But I was really nervous about reading sites outside wikipedia.
After I visited my first Muslim site, I felt more and more secure with my faith. I found answers to all my questions about other religions, I found amazing prophecies in the Books of religions from around the world that must be reffering to Islam, and I found out about the miraculous nature of the Quran itself.
But then I stopped feeling so secure. I noticed that despite loads of people saying that Islam was completely compliant with science, I realised most of the 'scientific miracles' were fake, and some of what people were saying was made using psuedoscientific sites to back it up. I realised that all the people who I had counted on had been lied to, and some of them were liars themselves. I felt really sad, and I often cried at night, but Allah heard my prayers, as he always does.
I miraculously recovered from my dramatic loss of Iman. I started thinking much more logically, questioning and evaluating my beliefs. I found explanations for the verses of the Quran I had worries about. I realised that the people who taught me were not liars, they were just making mistakes, or were being lied to themselves. I decided that when I grew up, I would free Islam from psuedoscientists like Harun Yahya, and all the others who mislead the innocent.
Afterwards is pretty much the same as before I lost my faith (and got it back again, alhamdulilah!), just reading the web as much as I can, from Islam Online to Islamic-Awareness, from Muslimconverts to Muttaqun Online. Eventually, when I had learnt enough, I knew I was ready for my proper conversion. The trouble was, I couldn't talk to anyone about it. I was too scared of their reaction to tell my parents, and I was too worried I might offend the Muslim boy in my class by accident if I told him.
After a while of just reading some more, I had a science project about famous scientists. Because I had also been reading about evolution, for my 'war (by words, of couse) on psuedoscience' that I wanted to fight in the future, I decided to do Darwin. One of my friends wrote a one-and-a-half page essay on the life of Darwin, and I wrote a 10-page book on the theory of evolution. In my book, besides other things, I talked about the Muslim theory of evolution from the Islamic golden age that was based on the Quran, in an attempt to show that there was no conflict between Islam and science.

When I finished the book, I printed five copies of it. One to give to my English teacher (it was remarkably long), one to give to my RE teacher (it dealt with religion), one to give to my science teacher (it was my science project), one to keep, and, most importantly, one to give to my Muslim friend, called Rehan. After I had given it to him, we talked about Islam for a bit. He didn't get the hint that I wanted to revert, but afterwards, I felt happy knowing that I had taken some important steps. That night, like I often do, I prayed that I could become a Muslim soon. My prayers were answered, in the form of this site.

After being on this site for a while, alhamdulilah I came to a decision. Even though I was very ill with a cold, and my mum said I could choose not to go into school on that day, I decided that I would go into school, for the sole purpose of telling Rehan about what I wanted to do. I walked down to school thinking about it all the way. When Rehan walked into my tutor group, I was shaking all over. As he walked past my seat, I said to him, my voice trembling, 'I want to tell you something really important'. I decided to go outside the room with him, whilst saying things that were so jittery that they couldn't be understood. When we were in the corridor just outside the room, I said what could be described as my second first words: 'the Quran is true'.

He understood what I meant emmidiately. I can't exactly remember what Rehan said next, but I'm sure he referred to me as 'scary boy' (he often says strange things like that). I sat back down at my desk, and waited through my next lesson, maths, whilst still shaking. After maths, I caught up with him when I was walking to upper school. He talked to me about a few other people who he had heard of that converted to Islam, including the 'miracles of the Quran' scientists, and then told me about his grandfather, who is the chairman of a local Masjid.

The next part comming soon, insha'Allaah!
:w:

[faisal86]

:sl:
If you are a revert please add your story here, because it is very inspiring Alhamdullilah.

There are several stories on this site:
http://thetruereligion.org/modules/xfsection/

I'll post a few:

:sl: dear :brother: you have brought up something that lighted me up

[The Ruler]

nyc story fishman....but howcum ur way of life is undisclosed :? :?

:sl: :peace:

[Fishman]

nyc story fishman....but howcum ur way of life is undisclosed :? :?

:sl: :peace:

:sl:
Insha'Allaah I will put it as Muslim after I formally say Shahadah on Monday!
:w:

[جوري]

Thankfully I was born Muslim... today I was browsing the net looking for something islamic when I embarked upon all the hate sites clustered out there in cyber space... I have to sort through tons of crap to find a gem it was/is disheartening but sobha7n allah as if God were trying to console me I found this http://www.salaam.co.uk/themeofthemo...hp?l=6#denmark
I even found Mr. Pickthall in there... you know from the Quranic translation =)
so enjoy hope it brings you all a smile as it has for me
gnight

[i_m_tipu]

:salamext:
......

The next part comming soon, insha'Allaah!
:w:

:salamext:

comming soon........:p


3 weeks past where is it :-\

[Selising]

Really enjoy reading this thread. Especially the story of the 10 year ols Waa'il. How is he now? He must have been 16 yrs old this year.

[i_m_tipu]

:salamext:

what is the post no sis..

[Selising]

:salamext:

what is the post no sis..

Poist #6 by ZAK in 2005. The first page

[i_m_tipu]

Poist #6 by ZAK in 2005. The first page

jajakAllaah

[Fishman]

:salamext:

comming soon........:p


3 weeks past where is it :-\

:sl:
I have a bizzare concept of soon. :p
:w:

[i_m_tipu]

:sl:
I have a bizzare concept of soon. :p
:w:

bizzare concept: oh boys :p
i can't wait much longer :p

[The Ruler]

bizzare concept: oh boys :p

dat includes u ryt :uuh: or am i rong :uuh:

btw fishy waitin 4 ur nxt part...its takiin waayyy long lyk de scripts dt piXie ryts :)...lol

:w:

[syilla]

:sl:

yeah fish...i'm waiting too...:uhwhat

if i grow beard...it will reach my knees:D

[Fishman]

:sl:

yeah fish...i'm waiting too...:uhwhat

if i grow beard...it will reach my knees:D

:sl:
I don't know when it will be ready...

If you grow a knee-length beard I will be very worried...
:w:

[doodlebug]

Well I haven't had a minute to write my story but lo and behold we're having technical problems at work so I guess now is as good of a time as any.:D

I was a 'cradle Catholic' meaning that I was born Catholic. My mom is devout and my dad is just practicing meaning he goes to church when he has to but he does not pray during the day at all. I have an older brother and two older sisters. My brother is a practicing Catholic, my oldest sister is nothing at all religious wise and my next to oldest is a born again Christian but does not believe in organized religion.

I went through religious education and was confirmed, not because I felt I wanted to but because I was supposed to. As soon as I got to college I stopped going to mass. I didn't attend except for holidays and I never prayed. Then I went through a rough patch in my life and started going again and praying the rosary. That lasted about a year and then I got married to another Catholic.

Every so often I would go to mass but the fact that he never went kind of did me in and didn't encourage me in the least bit. I really didn't start being a true Catholic until my kids were of the age where I had to teach them something. This unfortunately was during the time when the sexual abuse scandal was prevalent in Boston, where I live. Because of that I searched for another Christian religion. I just could not dream that the Pope would not have put a stop to all of this nonsense when it first came to his attention.

I searched and searched and went to Lutheran, Baptist, Congregational, etc. churches and each one left me feeling 'empty'. I started searching my roots and decided that when in the bible Jesus said to Peter you are the rock, that that is what he meant. I went back to the church fullstop and had my kids go to religious ed and all that.

Although I felt this strong bond to God I looked around at the times I would do adoration and just sit in the church to pray rosary or the times I would go to confession and I noticed that the people my age (late 30's to 40's) were few and far between. It was moreso the blue haired gals that would be praying along with me.

I started hearing about Islam more and more due to the obvious state of the world and one thing stuck out to me.................................there is very little crime in Islamic countries, the woman don't dress in miniskirts and go out and sleep around. They follow the rules of the bible without ever feeling a bit of embarassment. In fact they are full of pride when they do this!!!

I looked at my fellow Christians and gee wiz there are so many people in church wearing mini skirts. Not one person, save a few of the elderly women, cover their head in Church anymore even though it was clearly written in the bible to do so. Why was that? I searched and searched and found that after Vatican II people started loosening their ties so to speak. Casual sex became prevalent in that time as well, not just with Catholics but all of the US. (this was in the mid to late 60's).

What happend? Divorce was so taboo before this and now all women were burning their bras and leaving their husbands. Why????

*sigh*

I would go from priest to priest asking if this is right or that is right and I would get five different answers depending on the mood of the priest or the area that they lived in. Some would say birth control is fine others would say it is not. Some would say that you only have to bring kids to mass twice a month if they are little and others would say every Sunday. Some would say mass properly and others would not.

All this time I kept looking at Islam and thinking, they do it all the same way. There are no differences amoung them. I could not bring myself to investigate it deeply though because of course Islam is evil!! That is what we were taught. Beware of false prophets and that is what this is. I avoided deep investigation like the plague.

Until I met Usama. We met online and started talking. I kept waiting for him to say bad things about us and not once did he diss my religion. He said that it is perfectly fine that I am Catholic and that we praise the same God. I waited for him to insist that I revert after we decided to be serious with each other but nothing to that effect happened. As a matter of fact he rarely even brought religion up so as not to stir things up.

I bought the book Understanding Islam for Idiots, or something like that. WOW. What a page turner that was. All of my generalizations of Muslims went right down the drain. I had known a few muslimahs online and started chatting with them. Much to my surprise they were normal!!:uuh: They did not hypnotize me or try to swirl me in!!! Actually they were the most loving gentle and helpful people I would ever meet.

Ok so what was stopping me. Wellllllll............Jesus. I love Jesus sooooo much and I did not want to leave him. Then I watched a video of a man who came to Islam along with a priest. He explained to me how you can still love Jesus and he talked of the inconsistancies of the bible. My goodness I knew for a fact that there are so many many gospels out there that did not make it but always accepted that the VAtican knew best!!! How could they know best if they didn't even stop the child molestation???

I started really reading the Gospels and found how many many of them did not make sense or tie to one another. Then I started to ponder, why if the next one to come is the Holy Ghost, was John baptising people in the name of the Holy Ghost before Jesus was supposedly crucified? Why did Jesus pray to himself in the garden of Gethsemane???

I started learning how to pray, but was so scared that I would mess up. I have a little bit of ocd and it was preventing me from reverting. I met with a nice woman in Boston and she told me that if I were to wait until I knew I would be perfect before reverting, I most assuredly would never revert.

That stuck with me and I slept on it that night and the next. Then I woke up one morning at 4:10am. I NEVER wake up that early, trust me, especially on my days off. I have a hard time sleeping and it is extremely hard for me to wake up even with an alarm clock.

I knew. Allah woke me up to start my new life off with fajr. I took a long shower, put on a long sleeved long dress, covered my head and began to pray.

It is now day 3 and the struggles are increasing. Growing up Christian in the US I just always assumed that the freedoms that we so ardently fight for actually exist. Well I'm here to tell you that they do not. It is extremely difficult to become a Muslim in the good ole US of A. It saddens me that a few sickos had to ruin it for the rest of us.

My family's transition will be very difficult. I have two daughters who are 9 and 10 and I am not making them become Muslim because of their age. You cannot force anyone to accept Islam and especially a hard headed tween who was just taught by you that they should be Catholic. I taught them that Jesus is God and to pray the rosary. How do I unteach this and still remain credible as an authority figure in their eyes?

These are the many stumbling blocks I will have to climb. I remain strong though and when I pray I am so very humbled and I know deep in my core that I am not the one running this show. Never was. :)

[Jayda]

the sexual abuse scandal shook me too... i tried being a baptist for like a month or two... it was nice they are very celebratory but the lack of guidance and everything seemed wrong... so i became a catholic again, jesus is the reason islam does not appeal to me...

thats kind of weird...

[doodlebug]

the sexual abuse scandal shook me too... i tried being a baptist for like a month or two... it was nice they are very celebratory but the lack of guidance and everything seemed wrong... so i became a catholic again, jesus is the reason islam does not appeal to me...

thats kind of weird...

I still love Jesus very dearly. He was one of the greatest prophets of all time and I still am able to love him in my heart.

[habiibti]

doodlebug,congrats on ur convertion.
i read revert stories like this and i remain speechless.

jayda,jesus is there too in islam but as a beloved prophet.

[جوري]

doodlebug.... I feel enriched somehow to have been there when you had questions and now to read this... Hopeful ... that amidst all that is going on, people still find God... thank you for sharing your story.....
from my heart I wish you and yours the very best
fi aman illah

[glo]

Until I met Usama. We met online and started talking. I kept waiting for him to say bad things about us and not once did he diss my religion. He said that it is perfectly fine that I am Catholic and that we praise the same God. I waited for him to insist that I revert after we decided to be serious with each other but nothing to that effect happened. As a matter of fact he rarely even brought religion up so as not to stir things up.

Your husband to be sounds lovely! :)
It is special to find somebody who devoutly follows his faith and yet is so tolerant towards other faiths!

peace, sister
Thanks for sharing your story! :)

[Umm Yoosuf]

Assalaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatulaahi Wa Barakatuh

Truly amazing story sister Doodlebug. Indeed Allah guides the one who truly wants guideness. Allahu Akbar!

I knew. Allah woke me up to start my new life off with fajr. I took a long shower, put on a long sleeved long dress, covered my head and began to pray.

Subhan Allah!


Hi Jayda :)

the sexual abuse scandal shook me too... i tried being a baptist for like a month or two... it was nice they are very celebratory but the lack of guidance and everything seemed wrong... so i became a catholic again, jesus is the reason islam does not appeal to me...
thats kind of weird...

Why do you say that? Islam has high respect for jusus and excepts him a messenger of God :)

[DaNgErOuS MiNdS]

Wowwww that was great to read sister Doodlebug(kool name lol) what I loved most about your story is you realised when Allah swt gave you the oppurtunities and the way you took them. :) Subhan'Allah

[Jayda]

...i was kind of just talking to doodlebug about my reaction to the priest scandal... i really dont want to talk about my impressions of jesus in islam or my problems with islam if thats okay with some of you guys... this is her thread...

[DaNgErOuS MiNdS]

...i was kind of just talking to doodlebug about my reaction to the priest scandal... i really dont want to talk about my impressions of jesus in islam or my problems with islam if thats okay with some of you guys... this is her thread...

That's kool :)...Most of the time members come with many misconceptions so some muslim member try clear them. Please dont think we are here to attack what you believe.:peace:

anyway doodlebug...:peace:

[~Stranger~]

...i was kind of just talking to doodlebug about my reaction to the priest scandal... i really dont want to talk about my impressions of jesus in islam or my problems with islam if thats okay with some of you guys... this is her thread...

Perhaps you could open a new thread to discuss why you dont agree with islam regarding jesus, insha'Allah that will help clear some misconceptions :)

and doodlebug sis, ur story is masha'allah very inspiring, jazakAllah for sharing it with us

[syilla]

Well I haven't had a minute to write my story but lo and behold we're having technical problems at work so I guess now is as good of a time as any.:D

I was a 'cradle Catholic' meaning that I was born Catholic. My mom is devout and my dad is just practicing meaning he goes to church when he has to but he does not pray during the day at all. I have an older brother and two older sisters. My brother is a practicing Catholic, my oldest sister is nothing at all religious wise and my next to oldest is a born again Christian but does not believe in organized religion.

I went through religious education and was confirmed, not because I felt I wanted to but because I was supposed to. As soon as I got to college I stopped going to mass. I didn't attend except for holidays and I never prayed. Then I went through a rough patch in my life and started going again and praying the rosary. That lasted about a year and then I got married to another Catholic.

Every so often I would go to mass but the fact that he never went kind of did me in and didn't encourage me in the least bit. I really didn't start being a true Catholic until my kids were of the age where I had to teach them something. This unfortunately was during the time when the sexual abuse scandal was prevalent in Boston, where I live. Because of that I searched for another Christian religion. I just could not dream that the Pope would not have put a stop to all of this nonsense when it first came to his attention.

I searched and searched and went to Lutheran, Baptist, Congregational, etc. churches and each one left me feeling 'empty'. I started searching my roots and decided that when in the bible Jesus said to Peter you are the rock, that that is what he meant. I went back to the church fullstop and had my kids go to religious ed and all that.

Although I felt this strong bond to God I looked around at the times I would do adoration and just sit in the church to pray rosary or the times I would go to confession and I noticed that the people my age (late 30's to 40's) were few and far between. It was moreso the blue haired gals that would be praying along with me.

I started hearing about Islam more and more due to the obvious state of the world and one thing stuck out to me.................................there is very little crime in Islamic countries, the woman don't dress in miniskirts and go out and sleep around. They follow the rules of the bible without ever feeling a bit of embarassment. In fact they are full of pride when they do this!!!

I looked at my fellow Christians and gee wiz there are so many people in church wearing mini skirts. Not one person, save a few of the elderly women, cover their head in Church anymore even though it was clearly written in the bible to do so. Why was that? I searched and searched and found that after Vatican II people started loosening their ties so to speak. Casual sex became prevalent in that time as well, not just with Catholics but all of the US. (this was in the mid to late 60's).

What happend? Divorce was so taboo before this and now all women were burning their bras and leaving their husbands. Why????

*sigh*

I would go from priest to priest asking if this is right or that is right and I would get five different answers depending on the mood of the priest or the area that they lived in. Some would say birth control is fine others would say it is not. Some would say that you only have to bring kids to mass twice a month if they are little and others would say every Sunday. Some would say mass properly and others would not.

All this time I kept looking at Islam and thinking, they do it all the same way. There are no differences amoung them. I could not bring myself to investigate it deeply though because of course Islam is evil!! That is what we were taught. Beware of false prophets and that is what this is. I avoided deep investigation like the plague.

Until I met Usama. We met online and started talking. I kept waiting for him to say bad things about us and not once did he diss my religion. He said that it is perfectly fine that I am Catholic and that we praise the same God. I waited for him to insist that I revert after we decided to be serious with each other but nothing to that effect happened. As a matter of fact he rarely even brought religion up so as not to stir things up.

I bought the book Understanding Islam for Idiots, or something like that. WOW. What a page turner that was. All of my generalizations of Muslims went right down the drain. I had known a few muslimahs online and started chatting with them. Much to my surprise they were normal!!:uuh: They did not hypnotize me or try to swirl me in!!! Actually they were the most loving gentle and helpful people I would ever meet.

Ok so what was stopping me. Wellllllll............Jesus. I love Jesus sooooo much and I did not want to leave him. Then I watched a video of a man who came to Islam along with a priest. He explained to me how you can still love Jesus and he talked of the inconsistancies of the bible. My goodness I knew for a fact that there are so many many gospels out there that did not make it but always accepted that the VAtican knew best!!! How could they know best if they didn't even stop the child molestation???

I started really reading the Gospels and found how many many of them did not make sense or tie to one another. Then I started to ponder, why if the next one to come is the Holy Ghost, was John baptising people in the name of the Holy Ghost before Jesus was supposedly crucified? Why did Jesus pray to himself in the garden of Gethsemane???

I started learning how to pray, but was so scared that I would mess up. I have a little bit of ocd and it was preventing me from reverting. I met with a nice woman in Boston and she told me that if I were to wait until I knew I would be perfect before reverting, I most assuredly would never revert.

That stuck with me and I slept on it that night and the next. Then I woke up one morning at 4:10am. I NEVER wake up that early, trust me, especially on my days off. I have a hard time sleeping and it is extremely hard for me to wake up even with an alarm clock.

I knew. Allah woke me up to start my new life off with fajr. I took a long shower, put on a long sleeved long dress, covered my head and began to pray.

It is now day 3 and the struggles are increasing. Growing up Christian in the US I just always assumed that the freedoms that we so ardently fight for actually exist. Well I'm here to tell you that they do not. It is extremely difficult to become a Muslim in the good ole US of A. It saddens me that a few sickos had to ruin it for the rest of us.

My family's transition will be very difficult. I have two daughters who are 9 and 10 and I am not making them become Muslim because of their age. You cannot force anyone to accept Islam and especially a hard headed tween who was just taught by you that they should be Catholic. I taught them that Jesus is God and to pray the rosary. How do I unteach this and still remain credible as an authority figure in their eyes?

These are the many stumbling blocks I will have to climb. I remain strong though and when I pray I am so very humbled and I know deep in my core that I am not the one running this show. Never was. :)

Thank you for your wonderful story...

The way you learn islam...making me realise that i should take an effort too...to learn islam.

May Allah help and protect you all the way.

:)

[Selising]

MasyaAllah sis Doodlebug..... I love you. I love all muslims

[F.Y.]

mashallah doodlebug - only day 3! Keep it up girl. We're all in this together.
We love you for the sake of Allah.

I pray Allah will make things easy for you. Remember (and im sure you already know)...just be a good role model for your daughters and be kind and patient with them. Inshallah, they will come to realise and value Islam and people of other faiths too.

All my love. :)

[Fishman]

:sl:

Then I woke up one morning at 4:10am. I NEVER wake up that early, trust me, especially on my days off. I have a hard time sleeping and it is extremely hard for me to wake up even with an alarm clock.

Alhamdulilah that happens to me too! One night I made dua, asking for Allah (swt) to wake me for my first fajr, and the next morning, it happened! I have never used an alarm clock, and I have only been late to fajr once, and that was only by a few minutes!
:w:

[QuranStudy]

Fishman, do you happen to have your revert story somewhere? Thanks.

[Fishman]

Fishman, do you happen to have your revert story somewhere? Thanks.

:sl:
Try page ten. it's not finished though, and part two is only coming soon if you happen to have a bizzare concept of soon!
:w:

[i_m_tipu]

part two is only coming soon if you happen to have a bizzare concept of soon!

:hiding: not that bizzare concept again :hiding:

[i_m_tipu]

:salamext: sister

It's really amazing felling to read revert story.....


Allaahu Akbar
May Allaah Guide u.


never forget Jesus including all prophet is beloved and honoured by muslim.

[~Stranger~]

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.

[syilla]

^^^your story is so inspiring...

you make me cry :cry:

you had such a strong iman...and may Allah keep you in best iman forever...

your story teach others to be strong eventhough...your closest family is giving you a hard time...

thank you so much with the story....May Allah bless you

[~Stranger~]

tis is not my story sis, i posted it coz i thought it was inspiring.... masha'allah may Allah reward this sister for her sabr ameen!

[syilla]

lol...i thought it was yours...where do you get it?

[~Stranger~]

on islamonline.net :)

[*love4isl@m*]

Salaamu 3alaikum :sl: :) ,

Shaikh Khidir, a Khateeb in Toronto, narrated the following conversion incident of a woman during a Friday sermon last year. He mentioned that a Non-Muslim woman moved to a Muslim country for some business purposes. As she stayed among the Muslims and saw their lifestyle, she was impressed and wanted to learn more about Islam. As a result, she started borrowing books from the local library about Islam. A Muslim lady in the library used to ask her often if she was convinced to become a Muslim yet. She would reply that the time hasn't come yet. One day as she got some books from the library and was walking back home, the iqamah for coming to the prayer was called in a masjid accross the road. She observed that a person who was sweeping the floor had left his work and stood on the line to pray and right beside him stood a rich man who came to the masjid driving a very expensive car. At that moment, she decided to become a Muslim as she was greatly impressed by seeing that in Islam there is no difference between the rich and the poor when they stood in front of Allah.

"O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa [i.e. one of the Muttaqun (pious)]. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware." Holy Quran, Surah Al-Hujuraat, 49:13

[The Ruler]

on islamonline.net :)

oops....i fort it was ur n gav u reps sayin 'ur story o convertin is nyc' awww...but it di move me to tears tho :'(

n yh...u DID deserve reps neway 4 postin sucha gud story :happy:

:w:

[~Stranger~]

:sl:
well its ramadan and (rep) charity is good u know

its indeed touching masha'allah
:w:

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

My neighbors daughter reverted some years back...I was little so I dont know her story.
Her mom is starting to take interest and her dad...LOL..he called us the Taliban..*sigh*

[nishom]

Marwa's conversion story
How a headstrong Slovakian teenager found solace and contentment in Islam.

I converted to Islam just over one year ago. I'm from Slovakia (Europe), but I lived in England for 2 two years and also in Holland. I never really cared about any religion. I didn't have religious friends or anything like that. I was a usual teenager. Then I left home when I was 18 and went to work in England as an au-pair. I loved it. And of course I went really wild.

When I was 21 I came to Holland. I was unhappy for a long time. I met my husband just 2 weeks after my arrival. We fell head over heels in love and he introduced me to Islam. I needed it. I have a very strong personality and say what I want. It brought me trouble sometimes. I have a diploma from Commercial College, two certificates for English (one for tourism and business) and know a lot about the world of economy and politics.

But I needed some spirituality. I found it in God. It might seem I did it for my husband, but it is not true. He said it was my own decision whether I do it or not. Since I did I feel very happy. Somehow complete and fulfilled. It is difficult at times to explain to my parents or friends, but they try to understand.

I know I did some bad things in my life, but I also believe that our Creator is the Most-forgiving, Most-merciful. I'm trying to be as good as I can. Islam brought me my freedom and happiness. It's hard to explain how I feel, but I know that my fellow sisters and brothers will understand how it is to stand alone. My home country is very intolerant against Muslims, so I'll have a hard time when I go and see my parents. But God will help me to go through it.

There are still things I need to find out and I cannot wait to know them all. I realised one thing since I became a Muslimah and started wearing Hijab. Fellow Muslims smile at me and say Inshaalah or Alhamdulillah. It's a great feeling.

This is my story in short. Peace be upon you all. Ma`a assalama,

Marwa

April 2002

[جوري]

This is the honest truth to God story of a man who loved Jesus.... I was told this story by a Puerto Rican lady who knew the man personally and as a result reverted herself...

J*** was a devout catholic... After 911 he used to throw the local mosque in his part of NJ with tomatoes and other items and harass the local worshippers. They used to avoid getting into confrontations with him as he was zealous and loved a good fight... No one wanted to get on his bad side...
He had some affliction since childhood, though I am not sure of what nature... most likely a congenital cardiac anomaly... as a result he was not feeling very well toward the last few weeks of his life and he'd pray to Jesus every night as he loved him so very much...

One night Jesus came to him in a dream and said "say Mohammedi" J*** really didn't understand... so Jesus(PBUH) asked him to repeat it again "Mohammedi" and one final time before he left (Mohammedi) ... I found it strange I am not sure why he didn't say Mohammed instead of Mohammedi?... but that is how the story was told to me ....I digress... J*** woke up in a cold sweat and was restless for the remainder of the night.....

The next morning he headed toward that local Mosque, and people were expecting trouble from him, but he asked to see the Imam, and told him "I wish to convert RIGHT NOW"... the Imam asked him a few questions but J*** really wanted to convert first and right away... He took his shahada, then told the Imam the story. Later he joined the rest for Isha prayer, and while he was sajid I swear to God this is a true story... his life left him.... he died on the prayer rug........

When I heard that story from sister B***** I was startled and didn't want to believe it. It seemed unusual .... but, She herself was a catholic before, and now is Muslims, she divorced her old husband, married a new one... Sobhan Allah..... I am seeing such a rise in conversion in the Hispanic community...... All I can say is
Allahu Akbar

[جوري]

I think Wallah A3lam he had always been a religious person... that is what I am told of him anyway..... so Jesus did save him after all sobhan Allah

[syilla]

Aminah Assilmi


A Girl On A Mission
It all started with a computer glitch. She was a Southern Baptist girl, a radical feminist, and a broadcast journalist. She was a girl with an unusual caliber, who excelled in school, received scholarships, ran her own business, and were competing with professionals and getting awards – all these while she was going to college. Then one day a computer error happened that made her take up a mission as a devout Christian. Eventually, however, it resulted into something opposite and changed her life completely around.

It was 1975 when for the first time computer was used to pre-register for a class in her college. She was working on her degree on Recreation. She pre-registered for a class and then went to Oklahoma City to take care of a business. Her return was delayed and she came back to college two weeks into the class. Making up the missed work was no problem for her, but she was surprised to find that the computer mistakenly registered her for a Theatre class, a class where students would be required to perform in front of others.

She was a very reticent girl and she was horrified to think about performing in front of others. She could not drop the class for it was too late

to do so. Failing the class was also not a choice, for she was receiving a scholarship that was paying for her tuition and receiving an ‘F’ would have jeopardized it.

Advised by her husband, she went to her teacher to work out some other alternative to performing, such as preparing costumes, etc. Assured by the teacher that he would try to help her, she went to the next class and was shocked by what she saw. The class was full of Arabs and “camel jockeys”. That was enough for her. She came back home and decided not to go back to the class anymore. It was not possible for her to be in the middle of Arabs. “There was no way I was going to sit in a room full of dirty heathens!”
Her husband was calm as usual. He pointed out to her that God has a reason for everything and that she should think about more before quitting. Besides, there was the scholarship that was paying her tuition. She went behind locked doors for 2 days to think about. When she came out, she decided to continue the class. She felt that God gave her a task to convert the Arabs into Christianity.

Thus she found herself with a mission to accomplish. Throughout the class, she would be discussing Christianity with her Arab classmates. “I proceeded to explain to them how they would burn in the fires of hell for all eternity, if they did not accept Jesus as their personal savior. They were very polite, but did not convert. Then, I explained how Jesus loved them and had died on the cross to save them from their sins. All they had to do was accept him into their hearts.” They still did not convert, and so she decided to do something else: “I decided to read their own book to show to them that Islam was a false religion and Mohammed was a false God”.

At her request, one student gave her a copy of the Qur’an and another book on Islam. With these two books she started on her research, which she was to continue for the next one and half years. She read the Qur’an fully and another fifteen books on Islam. Then she came back to the Qur’an and re-read it. During her research, she started taking notes that she found objectionable and which she would be able to use to prove that Islam was a false religion.

Unconsciously, however, she was changing from within which did not escape the attention of her husband. “I was changing, just in little ways but enough to bother him. We used to go to the bar every Friday and Saturday, or to a party, and I no longer wanted to go. I was quieter and more distant.” She stopped drinking and eating pork. Her husband suspected her of having an affair with another man, for “it was only for a man that a woman changes”. Ultimately, she was asked to leave, and she soon found herself living in a separate apartment.

Watching A Rose Open - Petal By Petal
Throughout these times, she continued studying Islam and although she was changing subtly from within, she remained a devout Christian. Then one day, there was a knock on her door. It was a man in traditional Muslim robe, who appeared to her as a “man in a long white night gown with a red and white checkered table cloth on his head”. His name was Abdul-Aziz Al-Sheik and he was accompanied by three other men in similar dress. She was very offended by Muslim men coming to her in nightgowns and pajamas. She was further shocked when Abdul-Aziz told her that he understood that she waited to be a Muslim. She replied that she was a Christian and she did not have any plan to become a Muslim. However, she had some questions to ask if they had the time.
At her invitation, they came inside. She now brought up the questions and objections that she noted down while she was researching. “I will never forget his name”, she said of Abdul-Aziz who proved to be a very patient and soft-mannered person. “He was very patient and discussed every question with me. He never made me feel silly or that a question was stupid.” Abdul-Aziz listened to every question and objection and explained it within the proper context. “He explained that Allah had told us to seek knowledge and questions were one of the ways to accomplish that. When he explained something, it was like watching a rose open – petal by petal, until it reached its full glory. When I told him that I did not agree with something and why, he always said I was correct up to a point. Then he would show me how to look deeper and from different directions to reach a fuller understanding.”

It would not be long before she would externally submit to what she had already been submitting to internally during the last one and half years. Later in that same day, this Southern Baptist girl would declare in front of Abdul-Aziz and his companions: “I bear witness that there is no god but God and Mohammed is His Messenger.” It was May 21, 1977.

A Sacrifice For Faith & Conviction
Conversion to Islam, or to any other religion for that matter, is not always a simple thing to do. Except for a few fortunate ones, a new Muslim usually face consequences. The convert may face isolation from family and friends, if not pressure to go back to the family faith. Sometimes, a convert may even face sever economic hardship, as in the case of those who are asked to leave the house because of converting to Islam. Some converts are fortunate to continue to be well respected by family and friends, but most of them face minor to severe hardship especially during the first few years after the conversion.
But the difficulty that Aminah Assilimi had to go through and the sacrifice that she had to make for the sake of her conviction and faith is almost unheard of. There are few who could rely so much on Allah as she did, standing firm and meeting the challenges, making sacrifices, and yet maintaining a positive posture and influencing people around with the beauty of what she found and believed in.

She lost most of her friends, for she was “no fun anymore”.

Her mother did not accept her becoming a Muslim and hoped that it was a temporary zeal and that she would soon grow out of it.

Her “mental health expert” sister thought that she lost her mind. She attempted to put her in a mental health institution.

Her father was a calm and wise man. People would come to him for advice and he could comfort anyone in distress. But when he heard that his daughter became a Muslim, he loaded his double-barrel shotgun and started on his way to kill her. “It is better that she be dead rather than suffering in the deepest of Hell”, he said.

She was now without friends and without family.

She soon started wearing hijab. The day she put it on, she was denied her job. She was now without family, friends, and job. But her greatest sacrifice was yet to come.

She and her husband both loved each other very much. But while she was studying Islam, her husband misunderstood her for her apparent changes. She became quieter and stopped going to the bar. Her changes were visible to him and he suspected her of having affair with another man, for whom she must have been changing. She could not explain to him what was happening. “There was no way to make him understand what was changing me because I did not know.” Eventually he asked her to leave and she started living separately.

After she openly accepted Islam, it went worse. A divorce was now inevitable. This was a time when Islam was little known, much less understood for what it is. She had two little children whom she loved dearly and whose custody should have rightfully be given to her. But in a grave violation of justice, she was denied their custody just because she became a Muslim. Before giving the formal verdict, the judge offered her a harsh choice: either renounce Islam and get custody of the children, or keep Islam and leave the children. She was given 20 minutes to make a decision.

She loved her children very dearly. It is perhaps the worst nightmare that a mother can have: asked to willfully leave her child - not for one day, month, or year, but forever. On the other hand, how could she keep the Truth away from her children and live as a hypocrite? “It was the most painful 20 minutes in my life”, she said in an interview. Those of us who are mothers and fathers, especially of young children, little imagination is needed to feel the pain and torment that she must have passed every second in those 20 minutes. What added further to her pain was that according to doctors, she could never bear another child because of certain complications. “I prayed like I had never done before … I knew that there was no safer place for my children to be than in the hands of Allah. If I denied Him, there would be no way in the future to show my children the wonders of being with Allah.”

She decided to retain Islam. Her two dear children – one little boy and one little girl – were taken away from her and given to her ex-husband.

For a mother, is there a sacrifice greater than this – a sacrifice that is done for no material reason but only for faith and conviction?

“I left the court knowing that life without my babies would be very difficult. My heart bled, even though I knew, inside, I had done the right thing” . She found comfort in the following verse of the Qur'an:

Allah! there is no god
But He – the Living,
The Self-subsisting, Eternal.
No slumber can seize Him
Nor sleep. His are all things
In the heavens and on earth.
Who is there can intercede
In His presence except
As He permitteth? He knoweth
What (appeareth to his creatures
As) Before or After
Or Behind them.
Nor shall they compass
Aught of His knowledge
Except as He willeth.
His throne doth extend
Over the heavens
And the earth, and He feeleth
No fatigue in guarding
And preserving them
For He is the Most High,
the Supreme (in glory).

(Quran 2: 255)

Help of Allah Is Always Near!
Or do ye think
That ye shall enter
The Garden (of Bliss)
Without such (trials)
As came to those
Who passed away
Before you?
They encountered
Suffering and adversity,
And were so shaken in spirit
That even the Messenger
And those of faith
Who were with him
Cried: "When (will come)
The help of Allah?"

Ah! Verily the help of Allah
Is (always) near!

(Quran 2: 214)

Perhaps the air of Colorado was too thin for justice. Or perhaps there was a plan in Allah’s greater scheme of affairs. Aminah Assilimi later fought back and took her case to the media. Although she did not get custody of her children again, a change was made in the Colorado law that one cannot be denied child custody on the basis of his or her religion.

Indeed Allah’s love and mercy engulfed her so much that, as if, she has been granted the touchstone of Islam. Wherever she goes, people are touched by her beautiful words and Islamic manners and become Muslim.

By accepting Islam, she became a changed person, and a much better person. So much so that her family, relatives, and people around her started appreciating her mannerism and the faith that brought about such changes in her. Despite her family’s initial reaction, she remained in touch with them and addressed them with respect and humility, just as the Qur’an enjoins the Muslims to do. She would send cards to her parents on different occasions, but she would always write down a verse from the Qur’an or the Hadith without mentioning the source of such beautiful words of wisdom. It was not long before she started making a positive influence among her family members.

The first to become Muslim was her grand mother. She was over 100 years old. Soon after accepting Islam, she died. “The day she pronounced Shahada, all her misdeeds had been erased, while her good deeds were preserved. She died so soon after accepting Islam that I knew her “book” was bound to be heavy on the good side. It fills me with such a joy!”

Next to become Muslim was her father, the one who wanted to kill her after she became Muslim. Thus he brought alive the story of Umar ibn Khattab. Umar was a companion of the Prophet who persecuted the early Muslims before he converted to Islam. When he heard one day that his sister became a Muslim, he went out with an open sword to kill her. But upon hearing some of the verses from the Qur’an that his sister was reciting, he recognized the truth and went straight to the Prophet and accepted Islam.

Two years after she (Assilmi) accepted Islam, her mother called and said that she appreciated her faith and hoped that she would keep it. Couple of years later, she called again and asked her about what one would need to do to become a Muslim. Assilmi replied that one had to believe that there is only One God and Muhammad was his Messenger. “Any fool knows that. But what do you have to do?”, she asked again. She replied that if that is what she believed, then she was already a Muslim! At this, her mother said, “Well … OK. But let’s not tell your father just yet”.

She was not aware that her husband (Assilmi’s step father) had had the same conversation with her a few weeks earlier. Thus the two lived together as Muslims for years in secret without knowing that the other was also a Muslim.

Her sister who wanted to put her in mental institution accepted Islam as well. She must have realized that becoming Muslim is indeed the most healthy and sound thing to do.

Her son, upon becoming adult, accepted Islam. When he turned 21, he called her and said that he wanted to become a Muslim.

Sixteen years after the divorce, her ex-husband also accepted Islam. He said that he had been watching her for sixteen years and wanted his daughter to have the same religion that she had. He came to her and apologized for what he had done. He was a very nice gentlemen and Assilimi had forgiven him long ago.

Perhaps the greatest reward for her was yet to come. Assilmi later married another person, and despite the doctors’ verdict that she could never conceive another child, Allah blessed her with a beautiful boy. If Allah (swt) makes a gift to someone, who can prevent Him? It was truly a wonderful blessing from Allah (swt), and so she named him “Barakah”.

Radiating With Allah's Love
it was for me to share the truth of Islam with
The sacrifice that Assilmi made for the sake of Allah (swt) was tremendous. And so Allah (swt) turned in mercy to her and rewarded her with enormous blessings. Her family discarded her after she accepted Islam, and now by Allah’s mercy, most of them are Muslim. She lost her friends because of Islam, and now she is being loved by so many. “Friends who loved came out of nowhere”, she said. Allah’s blessings came upon her so much that wherever she goes people are touched by the beauty of Islam and accept the Truth. Both Muslims and non-Muslims now come to her for advice and counseling.

She lost her job because of wearing hijab, and now she is the President of the International Union of Muslim Women. She delivers lectures nationwide and is on high demand. It was her organization that successfully lobbied for the “Eid Stamp” and had it approved by the United States Postal Service, but it took many years of work. She is now working on making the Eid Day as a national holiday.

She has tremendous trust on Allah’s love and mercy and she never looses faith on Him. She was once diagnosed with cancer some years ago. Doctors said that it was in an advanced stage and that she would live for another year. But her faith in Allah (swt) remained strong. “We must all die. I was confident that the pain I was experiencing contained blessings.” As a brilliant example of how much one can love Allah, she mentions about a friend of her named Kareem Al-Misawi who died of cancer when he was in his 20’s:

"Shortly before he died, he told me that Allah was truly Merciful. This man was in unbelievable anguish and was radiating with Allah’s love. He said: “Allah intends that I should enter heaven with a clean book.” His death experience gave me something to think about. He taught me of Allah’s love and mercy."

All praise is due to Allah, she continues to live in good health. She now thinks that having cancer was the greatest blessing that she ever had.

Assilmi’s is a story of faith and conviction. It is a story of test and tribulation and success. It is a story of triumphant victory of faith. It is a story of inspiration for the rest of us, and it is a story of confidence and reliance on Allah. It is story of Allah’s love and mercy, and it is a story of Allah’s promise come true. “True, Allah has tested me as was promised, and rewarded me far beyond what I could ever hoped for”.

May Almighty Allah continue to shower His love, mercy, and blessings on this wonderful Muslima. May Allah grant her long life and enable her to do more and more work for Islam. May Allah benefit more and more people by her story and example, and turn their hearts to the Message of Truth, and to His love and mercy.

Bibliography
Aminah Assilmi, Choosing Islam (The Introduction and Decision)
Scripps Howard News Service: Former Baptist Explains why she is now a Muslim, Nov 1, 1997
The Post (Ohio Univ Student Newspaper), Veil is Not Oppressive, Oct 25, 1995
Aminah Assilmi, Getting to Know Allah Through Nature (video)
Welcome Back, a radio interview of Aminah Assilmi by Islamic Foundation of America, August, 2001

_______________________

i got this from http://www.4newmuslims.org/e/women/story2.htm.
her story...is so much like bro woodrow's daughter's story...

erm..is so inspiring....and sad too :cry: and happy too :)

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

MashAllah, beautiful story. I dont i have read one story which was not good :)

[The Ruler]

:sl:

dat was sooo nyccc!! :cry: :thumbs_up

:w:

[Pure]

Sun. Aug. 13, 2006

Finding Islam in Cyberspace

The Story of a Jewish Boy

By Musa Caplan

Prior to my conversion to Islam, I lived my life as a Jew. Although my family was not traditional, I learned Judaism from traditional Jews. I went to an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, and an Orthodox Jewish school. I lived, and continue to live, in a Jewish community in the United States where there is little diversity. And considering how much Judaism was involved in my life, I did not have any non-Jewish friends. But about a year ago, I began to chat online quite often and my e-mail list slowly began to fill with more and more Muslims.

I developed a strong interest for studying other religions as well as my own. I paid special attention to Islam, for I knew it was a religion not much different than Judaism. We share many similar prophets (peace be upon them all), morals, values, and most importantly, we worship the same God — Allah. Although I knew much about Islam and knew it was a peaceful religion, I cannot say I did not have stereotypes. I was lucky because I knew many Muslims online, one of which was my girlfriend who I consider to be my guide to Islam. She led me to the doors of Islam, and Allah took me through the rest. Regardless, when I heard of a terrorist attack, similar to many others, I figured the cause of it was Islamic extremists.

Many times I was not wrong. But then you must ask yourself, what makes these people go to the extreme? Does their religion really teach to kill innocent people? The reality is that it does not. Prophet Muhammad was a great warrior. Yet he managed to never kill an innocent human being. I realized that Islam is a religion that teaches respect, peace, and tolerance. Never does it say to kill an innocent disbeliever. A true Muslim is taught never to force conversion, but instead, to share his knowledge with the world, which I hope to do in this article. In the Qur'an a valuable lesson to be learned is "to kill a man, is to destroy the world."

[Whoever slays a soul, unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he slew all men; and whoever keeps it alive, it is as though he kept alive all men.] (Al-Ma'idah 5:32)

After realizing Islam was not a religion of war, I decided to look deeper into the faith. By doing so I discovered flaws in my own religion. According to the Old Testament, the great Prophet Aaron committed the worse sin possible. Due to pressure put upon him by the people while waiting for Moses to return with the Torah from Mount Sinai, he built an idol.

How could a great prophet possibly commit one of the three sins that are so great that one should prefer death before committing them? In the Qur'an, Moses comes down and sees the Jews worshiping the Golden Calf. At first he thinks it is the creation of Aaron and is angry at him; later he finds it was other Hebrews who had created this idol. A lot can be learned from this story.

Would a nation of people led by God really be forgiven for such a sin? My view on this story matches the Islamic view that the Old Testament has changed over the years. In the past, there have been many Cohaneem (religious leaders at the Holy Temple) who were corrupt. Couldn't it easily be possible for them to have changed Judaism to make it easier to observe and less time-consuming in order to make more money with their profession?

Another astonishing factor that led me to Islam is the scientifictruth written in the Qur'an. The Qur'an mentions the human embryonic development long before it was discovered by science.

[And certainly We created man of an extract of clay, Then We made him a small seed in a firm resting-place, Then We made the seed a clot, then We made the clot a lump of flesh, then We made (in) the lump of flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, then We caused it to grow into another creation, so blessed be Allah, the best of the creators.] (Al-Mu'minun 23:12-14)

The Qur'an also mentions how mountains are formed and talks about the layers of the atmosphere! These are just a few of so many scientific discoveries mentioned in the Qur'an 1400 years before discovered by science. Here is one of the key factors that led me to explore my heart to find the truth of life. In Arabic, the word Islam comes from salama which means "to submit"; "purity" and "peace" come from the same root. The person submits to the One, the Merciful, and the Most Beneficent Allah; whereas other religions are named after people: Judaism comes from the tribe of Judea, Christianity from Jesus Christ, etc. Islam is a word derived from a verb; anyone who submits to Allah and believes in all the prophets is a true Muslim. Many of the great prophets mentioned in the Old Testament lived prior to Judaism and Judea; they submitted to God, and therefore they were all Muslims. And we shall live as the prophets lived, for they were great human beings.

Considering my situation of being very young and living in an all-Jewish area, it would be difficult to have my beliefs accepted. My parents and relatives are very respectful, but I am unsure how they would react if it is their own son who reverts to Islam. So for now, I am unable to live out an Islamic life to the fullest, but thanks to Allah, I am able to pray five times a day, I am able to study Islam online, and at least I am openly able to believe in one God and express those feelings. In some ways it can be very difficult. I become more emotional than most people would when I debate something involving Muslims, for example the Middle East. When I talk about Israel, my whole family supports Israel and doesn't know the truth of what goes on to Palestinians, but I think they should have proper treatment for the Palestinians. And when they talk about this situation, I become easily offended, especially if they bring up the idea that it is "the Jewish Holy Land" and "Promised Land."

Because I have not yet told my parents of my reversion to Islam, I am unable to attend prayers at a mosque. As I stated before, my area has little diversity and all the mosques are far away. I have never had the opportunity to do Shahadah in front of witnesses although I have said Shahadah for the best witness of all — Allah. When I am 16 in about one year, I will be able to drive to the mosque, in sha' Allah (Allah willing). The most important thing is to improve the person I am. I try to avoid my friends who do drugs, watch porn, drink alcohol, and steal. It is not always easy to avoid close friends, but I try my best for the sake of Allah. And I hope over time my personality will meet what Allah wishes to see from us all.

When studying Qur'an, my advice to you is to read it for yourself. Looking at biased websites, you are not able to see the full content of a verse. "Go forth to war" will be a phrase you can find on prejudiced sites in order to make you think Islam is a religion of war. But if you read on, you will see the Qur'an specifically says only with those who first wage war with Islam. Through this whole experience I have discovered that I did not find Islam, I re-embraced Islam; nor did I convert, I reverted; and on my ride from darkness to light, it has only made me a stronger, more spiritual, and a better human being. May Allah guide us all to the truth that I was led to.

Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammad rasulu Allah!

[The Ruler]

:sl:

^ that is very recent...and the story is amazing although it does not include much detail but its still nice :happy:

:w:

[madeenahsh]

Asallam alaikum warahmatullaahi wabarakatuh


SubhanAllaah

All the Tawfeeq is truly from Allaah subhana wataala


http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...&q=islam&hl=en

wa-salam-alaikum

[Abu Ibraheem]

SubhanAllah - i know a brother thats compiling a book on new converts i want to reccomend your narration to him , can i have permission to do so and if so i will get him to contact you. wasalams

[Pure]

You can read about his story through this link:

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/S...am%2FDIELayout

[Hijrah]

:sl: Alhamdulillah what an inspirational story.


Brother gavin have you heard of Shiek Yusuf Estes, his website is http://www.islamtomorrow.com/ he is a former preacher and priest, his family where preists and preachers before as well as his friend who was a catholic priest before they entered into Islam, inshallah you may find his site of use.

:w:

He gives a great lecture on it here, check out the video, I didn't see the whole thing myself.

http://kalamullah.com/yusuf-estes.html

Also, Abdur-raheem Green's conversion story is a great one, check it out right here

http://kalamullah.com/Abdur-Raheem%2...To%20Islam.mp3

[Muslim Woman]

I seek refuge in Allah (The One God) from the Satan (devil) the cursed, the rejected

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh (May the peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you)

Listen to the holy Quran---the Final Testament
Recitation of Sura Fathiha by Shiekh Saad Al-Ghamdhi of Saudi Arabia

http://www.islamworld.net/fathiha.au


&&&

thanks bro for sharing ur story with us.

.... when I would score would scream ALlawackbar and bow down as I used to see the some muslims do, as a joke to annoy my muslim friends...

,

---hehe , that's really funny :giggling:

little did I know I would be postrating in tears pretty soon :p.

---Allahu Akbar.


Into Christianity

.... apply it to the end times which was a very intriguing wake up call to the former ‘happy-go-lucky’ type of attitude in the Church, that nothing harmful would ever happen.

---if Jesus (p) died for all's sin , then why Christians need to worry about the Last Day ?

And in, July 2005 I bore my testimony of faith.

--Alhamdulillah.


&&&

Salaam Aleykum Wa Rhametula Wa Berekatu
[Peace be upon yall and mercy from Almighty God and blessings]

Your brother in Islam and/or Humanity

Eesa Abdullah
[Jesus servant of Almighty God][/QUOTE]

[Skillganon]

European SCIENTIST Converts To ISLAM

Video: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?...78863&hl=en-GB

[T@z@belle]

:thumbs_up mashallah all you guys have finally seen da true path.....ALLAH BLESS YOU ALL!!!!

[starfortress]

By Muhammad Asad

In 1922 I left my native country, Austria, to travel through Africa and Asia as a Special Correspondent to some of the leading Continental newspapers, and spent from that year onward nearly the whole of my time in the Islamic East. My interest in the nations with which I came into contact was in the beginning that of an outsider only. I saw before me a social order and an outlook on life fundamentally different from the European; and from the very first there grew in me a sympathy for the more tranquil— I should rather say: more mechanized mode of living in Europe. This sympathy gradually led me to an investigation of the reasons for such a difference, and I became interested in the religious teachings of the Muslims. At the time in question, that interest was not strong enough to draw me into the fold of Islam, but it opened to me a new vista of a progressive human society, of real brotherly feeling. The reality, however, of present day Muslim life appeared to be very far from the ideal possibilities given in the religious teachings of Islam. Whatever, in Islam, had been progress and movement, had turned, among the Muslims, into indolence and stagnation; whatever there had been of generosity and readiness for self-sacrifice, had become, among the present-day Muslims, perverted into narrow-mindedness and love of an easy life.

Prompted by this discovery and puzzled by the obvious incongruence between Once and Now, I tried to approach the problem before me from a more intimate point of view: that is, I tried to imagine myself as being within the circle of Islam. It was a purely intellectual experiment; and it revealed to me, within a very short time, the right solution. I realized that the one and only reason for the social and cultural decay of the Muslims consisted in the fact that they had gradually ceased to follow the teachings of Islam in spirit. Islam was still there; but it was a body without soul. The very element which once had stood for the strength of the Muslim world was now responsible for its weakness: Islamic society had been built, from the very outset, on religious foundations alone, and the weakening of the foundations has necessarily weakened the cultural structure— and possibly might cause its ultimate disappearance.

The more I understood how concrete and how immensely practical the teachings of Islam are, the more eager became my questioning as to why the Muslims had abandoned their full application to real life. I discussed this problem with many thinking Muslims in almost all the countries between the Libyan Desert and the Pamirs, between the Bosphorus and the Arabian Sea. It almost became an obsession which ultimately overshadowed all my other intellectual interests in the world of Islam. The questioning steadily grew in emphasis— until I, a non-Muslim, talked to Muslims as if I were to defend Islam from their negligence and indolence. The progress was imperceptible to me, until one day— it was in autumn 1925, in the mountains of Afghanistan— a young provincial Governor said to me: "But you are a Muslim, only you don't know it yourself." I was struck by these words and remained silent. But when I came back to Europe once again, in 1926, I saw that the only logical consequence of my attitude was to embrace Islam.

So much about the circumstances of my becoming a Muslim. Since then I was asked, time and again: "Why did you embrace Islam ? What was it that attracted you particularly?"— and I must confess: I don't know of any satisfactory answer. It was not any particular teaching that attracted me, but the whole wonderful, inexplicably coherent structure of moral teaching and practical life program. I could not say, even now, which aspect of it appeals to me more than any other. Islam appears to me like a perfect work of architecture. All its parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other: nothing is superfluous and nothing lacking, with the result of an absolute balance and solid composure. Probably this feeling that everything in the teachings and postulates of Islam is "in its proper place," has created the strongest impression on me. There might have been, along with it, other impressions also which today it is difficult for me to analyze. After all, it was a matter of love; and love is composed of many things; of our desires and our loneliness, of our high aims and our shortcomings, of our strength and our weakness. So it was in my case. Islam came over me like a robber who enters a house by night; but, unlike a robber, it entered to remain for good.

Ever since then I endeavored to learn as much as I could about Islam. I studied the Qur'an and the Traditions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); I studied the language of Islam and its history, and a good deal of what has been written about it and against it. I spent over five years in the Hijaz and Najd, mostly in al-Madinah, so that I might experience something of the original surroundings in which this religion was preached by the Arabian Prophet. As the Hijaz is the meeting center of Muslims from many countries, I was able to compare most of the different religious and social views prevalent in the Islamic world in our days. Those studies and comparisons created in me the firm conviction that Islam, as a spiritual and social phenomenon, is still in spite of all the drawbacks caused by the deficiencies of the Muslims, by far the greatest driving force mankind has ever experienced; and all my interest became, since then, centered around the problem of its regeneration.

Source

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace

... my mind was labeled with "Muslims in China" for a long time. I don't know why I became so fixated on this particular subject. One day, I decided to conduct some research and I started learning about the Uygurs, a Turkic speaking group in the most western province of China called "Xinjiang" (which translates to New Territory). I learned more about their history, their opression under the Communist boot of China and their desire to have a country called East Turkistan. .......

Woow , sis Masha Allah. I don't know how many born Muslims know or care about opressed Muslims in various parts of the world. Even before embracing Islam , u thought about them ? May Allah reward u in this world & the life hereafter. Ameen.

[Muslim Woman]

salaam/peace;

For how long does one carry the label revert?............By labelling you create an unseen barrier between your brothers

----I m so jealous of my revert bro & sisters. Their past sins are not only forgiven but transferred as rewards......... unbelievable mercy of God Almighty .

How i wish , i could be a revert. Why u think , calling revert is an unseen barrier ?

[Goku]

:sl:

Ex-Hindu Women reverts to Islam:

Experiences of a Recently Converted Hindu Woman
My Experiences and How I Find that Islam does not Oppress Women"
by Sister Noor, University of Essex


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I came from a purely Hindu family where we were always taught to regard ourselves (i.e. women) as beings who were eventually to be married off and have children and serve the husband-- whether he was kind or not. Other than this I found that there were a lot of things which really oppressed women, such as:


If a woman was widowed, she would always have to wear a white sari (costume), eat vegetarian meals, cut her hair short, and never re-marry.
The bride always had to pay the dowry (bridal money) to the husband's family.
And the husband could ask for anything, irrespective of whether the bride would have difficulty giving it.
Not only that, if after marriage she was not able to pay the full dowry she would be both emotionally and physically tortured, and could end up being a victim of "kitchen death" where the husband, or both the mother-in-law and the husband try to set fire to the wife while she is cooking or is in the kitchen, and try to make it look like an accidental death. More and more of these instances are taking place. The daughter of a friend of my own father's had the same fate last year!

In addition to all this, men in Hinduism are treated literally as among the gods. In one of the religious Hindu celebration, unmarried girls pray for and worship an idol representing a particular god (Shira) so that they may have husbands like him. Even my own mother had asked me to do this. This made me see that the Hindu religion which is based on superstitions and things that have no manifest proof (1), but were merely traditions which oppressed women could not be right.

Subsequently, when I came to England to study, I thought that at least this is a country which gives equal rights to men and women, and does not oppress them. We all have the freedom to do as we like, I thought. Well, as I started to meet people and make new friends, learn about this new society, and go to all the places my friends went to in order to "socialise" (bars, dance halls, ...etc.), I realised that this "equality" was not so true in practice as it was in theory.

Outwardly, women were seen to be given equal rights in education, work, and so forth, but in reality women were still oppressed in a different, more subtle way. When I went with my friends to those places they hung out at, I found everybody interested to talk to me and I thought that was normal. But it was only later that I realised how naive I was, and recognised what these people were really looking for. I soon began to feel uncomfortable, as if I was not myself: I had to dress in a certain way so that people would like me, and had to talk in a certain way to please them. I soon found that I was feeling more and more uncomfortable, less and less myself, yet I could not get out. Everybody was saying they were enjoying themselves, but I don't call this enjoying.

I think women in this way of life are oppressed; they have to dress in a certain way in order to please and appear more appealing, and also talk in a certain way so people like them. During this time I had not thought about Islam, even though I had some Muslim acquaintances. But I felt I really had to do something, to find something that I would be happy and secure with, and would feel respected with. Something to believe in that is the right belief, because everybody has a belief that they live according to. If having fun by getting off with other people is someone's belief, they do this. If making money is someone's belief, they do everything to achieve this. If they believe drinking is one way to enjoy life then they do it. But I feel all this leads to nowhere; no one is truly satisfied, and the respect women are looking for is diminishing in this way.

In these days of so called "society of equal rights", you are expected to have a boyfriend (or you're weird!) and to not be a virgin. So this is a form of oppression even though some women do not realise it.(2) When I came to Islam, it was obvious that I had finally found permanent security. A religion, a belief that was so complete and clear in every aspect of life. Many people have a misconception that Islam is an oppressive religion, where women are covered from head to toe, and are not allowed any freedom or rights. In fact, women in Islam are given more rights, and have been for the past 1400 years, compared to the only-recently rights given to non-Muslim women in some western and some other societies. But there are, even now, societies where women are still oppressed, as I mentioned earlier in relation to Hindu women.

Muslim women have the right to inheritance. They have the right to run their own trade and business. They have the full right to ownership, property, disposal over their wealth to which the husband has no right. They have the right to education, a right to refuse marriage as long as this refusal is according to reasonable and justifiable grounds. The Quran itself, which is the word of Allah, contains many verses commanding men to be kind to their wives and stressing the rights of women. Islam gives the right set of rules, because they are NOT made by men, but made by Allah; hence it is a perfect religion.

Quite often Muslim women are asked why they are covered from head to toe, and are told that this is oppression--it is not. In Islam, marriage is an important part of life, the making of the society. Therefore, a woman should not go around showing herself to everybody, only for her husband. Even the man is not allowed to show certain parts of his body to none but his wife. In addition, Allah has commanded Muslim women to cover themselves for their modesty:

"O prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) over their bodies (when outdoors). That is most convenient that they could be known as such (i.e. decent and chaste) and not molested." (Quran 33:59)

If we look around at any other society, we find that in the majority of cases women are attacked and molested because of how they are dressed. Another point I'd like to comment on is that the rules and regulation laid down in Islam by Allah (God) do not apply just to women but to men also. There is no intermingling and free-running between men and women for the benefit of both. Whatever Allah commands is right, wholesome, pure and beneficial to mankind; there is no doubt about that. A verse in the Quran explains this concept clearly:

"Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and protect their private parts (i.e. from indecency, illegal sexual acts); that will make for greater purity for them. And Allah is well aware of what they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and protect their privaate parts (from indecency, illegal sexual intercourse); and that they should not display their beauty and ornaments...." (Quran, surah "Al-Nur" 24:31)

When I put on my hijaab (veil), I was really happy to do it. In fact, I really want to do it. When I put on the hijaab, I felt a great sense of satisfaction and happiness. Satisfied that I had obeyed Allah’s command. And happy with the good and blessings that come with it. I have felt secure and protected. In fact people respect me more for it. I could really see the difference in behaviour towards me.

Finally, I'd like to say that I had accepted Islam not blindly, or under any compulsion. In the Quran itself there is a verse which says "there is no compulsion in religion" (3). I accepted Islam with conviction. I have seen, been there, done that, and seen both sides of the story. I know and have experienced what the other side is like, and I know that I have done the right thing. Islam does not oppress women, but rather Islam liberates them and gives them the respect they deserve. Islam is the religion Allah has chosen for the whole of mankind. Those who accept it are truly liberated from the chains and shackles of mankind whose ruling and legislating necessitates nothing but the oppression of one group by another and the exploitation and oppression of one sex by the other. This is not the case of Islam which truly liberated women and gave them an individuality not given by any other authority.

Sister Noor has been a muslim for over a year and a half and is currently in her second year of undergraduate study in the Department of Biology


Notes
(1) In Islaam, strong emphasis is placed on proof and evidence. Superstition, conjecture and following the ways of ones ancestors is heavily censured. Allaah says:

{Say : Bring your proof if indeed you are truthful} {Baqarah 2:111} {Inform me with knowledge if indeed you are truthful} [An’aam 6:143] {And they do not possess any knowledge regarding it. They do nothing but follow conjecture and conjecture avails nothing against the Truth} [Najm 53:28] {And when it is said to them: ‘Follow that which Allaah has sent down’, they say: ‘Nay! We shall follow that which we found our fathers following} [Baqarah 2:170]

If the scientists among the non-muslims were to follow this advice and research objectively many of the rulings regarding women in Islam they would find that they are in perfect harmony with the biological/psychological knowledge they have arrived at regarding the nature of women. It is the reaction of the feminist movement to western hypocrisy that has led to the debasement of ‘perceived’ female roles in Islam. That is why most of what is portrayed regarding women in Islaam is pure conjecture and distortion, not fact and truth.

(2) This is where muslims consider the fallacy of the freedom and non-oppression of women lies. Under the name of ‘freedom’ women are told that they have complete automonomy to do as they wish. However, ‘do as they wish’ means that they are encouraged to conform to the trends and fashions that are set for them and imposed upon them by means of the media machine and by means of the multi-billion dollar film industry which makes, fashions, and nurtures the ideas of people and their principles, morals and conduct. As a result they are made the objects of the fantasies of menwho harass them, oppress them and reduce them to nothing but a source of temporary joy and pleasure. Men themselves have been made to let loose the reins of their desires due to the high exposure to naked women they receive, day in day out. This results in provocation, frustration and eventually - a deserving punishment - desensitization. Impotence is a widespread ‘disease’ in the West! This is the position of women in the west. The mere mention of the words sexual harrasment, date-rape - which includes men deliberately getting women tipsy or drunk so that they can have their way with them - and slogans such as NO MEANS NO are sufficient as proof for this reality of the oppression of women in the west. These problems are unknown to the muslim world and are not issues in Islaam.

(3) {There is no complulsion in religion. The truth has been made clear from error} [Baqarah 2:256]


http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/F.../hinducon.html

[Helena]

:w:

Grateful for the Courage to Change
By Selma Cook

Image
Picture © Microsoft.com
This article is based upon an interview with Ayesha Starkey, an Australian revert to Islam.
I was brought up in the Church of England, but my family and I only went to church on Christmas and Easter. When I was a teenager, I used to go to church alone because I had this yearning to be close to God and I felt peaceful when I prayed. I was searching for something more than just me and my reality.
I never believed that Jesus was the son of God — I always thought he was a prophet. Even though I had been taught differently, it just did not seem logical that God would have a son. I used to pray to God the Creator, not Jesus.
I stopped going to church because I used to get annoyed when they kept asking for money. The Church of England is the biggest landowner in England. I thought the money should go for charity, not to fix the church's financial problems.
Also at that time, there was the problem in northern Ireland. Catholics and Protestants were fighting and killing each other while calling themselves Christians. Each side would say it's doing the right thing. I had this continual feeling that there were so many things wrong around me.
Learning About Islam
I used to work as a secretary for a Muslim doctor, and we used to discuss religion. He would read to me in Arabic and then translate the meanings. I wanted to argue with him, so I bought a copy of the Qur'an in English from a secondhand shop. I did not know I could get one for free. Another secretary at the same doctor's clinic had joined the Salvation Army, and we also would argue about religion.
As I was reading and searching for points I could argue, I read in Surat Al-An`am what can be translated as:
{Say: Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds.](Al-An`am 6:162)
When I read that verse, I sat and cried for about an hour. In these few words I had found the purpose of life. It sounded so nice, even in English. The more I read of the Qur'an, the more everything seemed so simple, so natural to understand.
He thought it was a phase I was going through and that I would come back to my "normal" self soon.
I went to the small local masjid but found it shut. There was a contact number posted for anyone who wanted information. I phoned the number and a Pakistani man answered. He wasn't a scholar, just someone involved in da`wah (inviting people to Islam).He sent me pamphlets about the pillars of Islam. I read them in only one day and found that I desperately wanted more information. I told him I wanted to be a Muslim, so he came with his wife and they told me about the message of Islam and the basic things expected of me. After that the doctor and I discussed Islam instead of arguing!
Family Life
At that time, I was divorced and had two small sons. The boys used to visit their father, who wasn't a Muslim, and at that point I didn't want him to know that I had reverted. I had to keep it all a secret for some time.
The brother who brought me books about Islam called one day and asked me if I'd like to officially become a Muslim. I went to the same masjid again on a Sunday where there were a lot of sisters having a lesson. There was a sheikh there and he told me the basics of Islam, and I became a Muslim in front of many witnesses. There was a woman there who taught me to read Qur'an, and she readily answered any questions I had.
They started teaching the boys as well. After I had been a Muslim for a few months, I decided I would wear hijab and that I would tell everyone. I told my parents and the boys' dad. He thought it was a phase I was going through and that I would come back to my "normal" self soon. He did not say anything at first. I thought he was taking it well.
However, time passed and he saw that I was not going back to my old ways, so he started giving the boys beer and feeding them bacon and eggs. I told him about the masjid where he could go to get more information about Islam if he had any questions, but he only became more anti-Muslim.
How then can someone, for example, wear hijab and look down on those who do not?
After some time, he got really angry and applied for sole custody. Thanks to Allah, he did not get it. Since the day he was denied sole custody by the courts, he has not seen the boys. At the family court counseling, he told the counselor, "The kids are Australian!" as if they cannot be both Muslim and Australian at the same time.
Muslim Community
When I accepted Islam I thought the Muslims were all united and that there was just one Islam. That had appealed to me. But as I started to mix with Muslims more, I found that they had broken up into sects. However, I found that beneath all that human interference, the authentic sources are still there and you can find the answers to any question. I really believe sheikhs and scholars should give their fatwa and the evidence and then respect each other's opinions.
Even before becoming a Muslim, I found it impossible that anyone could think another human being was infallible. When I came to know that even Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was not infallible, except for the revelation, it seemed right and normal, and in accordance with the fitrah (pure nature) of man.
My Personal Growth
I had always had the feeling that I was not good enough, and that left me with a huge vacuum inside. After I became a Muslim, I realized that it is normal to make mistakes and that Allah is forgiving, so I had hope to keep trying and improving.
I think it is really important that Muslims see one another as human beings who are fallible and on a journey of learning and growing. If we do not see each other like that, people might give up trying, especially if Muslims adopt a black-and-white approach to Islam and to life. This concept also applies to children: You need to give them hope that they can start a new page.
This is just one of the many beautiful things about Islam, but Muslims sometimes forget the humanness in one another and find it difficult to forgive. We should love people more than we hate the sin because people can change and Allah made us inclined to weakness. If we step away from people and do not interact with them, how can we help and advise them? Only Allah knows what we deserve.
I found that the more we learn about Islam, the more we realize how little we know and how little good we do. How then can someone, for example, wear hijab and look down on those who do not? Everyone is on a different level of understanding, and we do not know what good deeds Allah will accept from us because of our intentions.
Were they afraid of telling me what I have to do as a Muslim because they thought I would run away?
It is important not to lose sight of the reason why we do things. We should not judge people according to their outward appearance or outward manifestations of practicing Islam. I am very grateful that when I became a Muslim, people took me just for who I am.
One of the things I had to stop when I became a Muslim was drinking alcohol. Being a single parent and not having direction and meaning to my life led me to drink more and more alcohol. Also, before becoming a Muslim, the people I was mixing with used to drink a lot. It was normal to drink a couple of bottles of wine a night. When the time came for me to take Shahadah, I vowed I would never drink again, and I never did. Before that, I had been well on my way to becoming an alcoholic.
In the early days after I accepted Islam, even though friends sat with me coaxing me to drink, I refused. One time I was driving home with these friends from a journey. They had passed out in the car, but because I had not been drinking, I got to see a beautiful sunset. I remember thinking what a blessing it was. The others missed out on this blessing because they were drunk. I was so grateful to Allah that I had the courage to change my life for the better.
New Friends
I met new friends through the couple who had been teaching me and through the lessons I began attending. They took me to Tarawih Prayers and I started going to other classes.
The other women were wearing hijab, but no one told me I also had to wear it. I felt upset afterwards that people did not tell me everything that was expected of me as a Muslim. Were they afraid of telling me what I have to do as a Muslim because they thought I would run away? Sometimes people fail to understand that often new reverts want to do everything properly, so not telling them what is expected is a big drawback.
New Muslims are looking for something with structure and rules so they can change their life for the better. It is important to teach them and explain in a nice way without forcing and yet without neglecting the duty of telling them the truth.

Bringing Up My Boys in Islam
My boys were 4 and 6 years old when I became a Muslim. I honestly believe I have had things very easy. My boys have not caused me problems at all. No teenage rebellion, drugs, or any of the usual problems of being a teenager these days.
They grew up with guidelines and knowing about Allah the Almighty. I homeschooled them until they went to secondary school, and that gave them a good base. Islam became part of their character.
They did not have problems attending the local high school. They know who they are and have a strong sense of what is right and wrong. They do not mind being different. They prayed at school and they were part of a group that requested a prayer room. In Australia they give you what you ask for, but you won't get it if you do not ask.
Now after 15 years, they have a strong identity and so do I. Every good thing comes from Allah the Almighty.

:sl:

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace;

Maryam Noor - Finding Islam at the Age of 60!


http://www.lightuponlight.com/islam/...=index&lid=371

Beautiful story that will bring tears to your eyes. Also Brother Yusuf rediscovers the beauty in Islam as you will see half way through this video



:okay: :D :p

[fazeem]

:sl:
If you are a revert please add your story here, because it is very inspiring Alhamdullilah.

There are several stories on this site:
http://thetruereligion.org/modules/xfsection/

I'll post a few:

salaam hi may Allaha bless u for accepting the truth u know even prophet Muhammad(p.b.u.h) grand father Abutaalib did not get that lucky chance but Allahs mercy is upon u ur luckier than us though we are born as muslims but ur a newly coverted ur rank with Allaha is higher take advantage of it time is gold if u past a minuite u wont get back ur going closer to the grave yard may Allaha bless u urs brother in islaam

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace;

More Hispanic Americans are Converting to Islam

Jesus Marti , a Puerto Rican living in Florida, converted to Islam only a year ago.

He is one of tens of thousands of Hispanic Muslims in the United States: estimates range from around 70,000 to 200,000.




The number of Hispanic Americans converting to Islam is growing rapidly -- particularly in New York, California, Texas and Florida, which have the greatest concentration of Hispanic residents.



Muslim leaders say interest in Islam has increased in the past few years, and they also note that Muslims and Hispanics, many of whom are immigrants, share a number of common concerns. Steve Mort reports from a mosque in Florida that has seen a steady increase in Latino worshippers.


http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-02-09-voa33.cfm

video clips



&&&

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace


The Words of the Devil?


An Australian Woman's Path to Islam :smile: :D :p



By Jill Forrest


I took out every book on religion from the library, studying them all. The faiths that preached monotheism stood out from the others. With Judaism, I could never understand their rejection of Jesus. They didn't even see him as a prophet. I always saw them as blinded to the truth.



At that time, Islam really seemed to have the answers for me, but I brushed it aside, as I thought that my doubts in Christianity were just a lack of faith.




I felt that the original church might hold the answers. I became a Catholic. Through the church, I received help to learn about the history of the church and its doctrines. I was shocked to find that the Bible was put together more than 300 years after Christ.



I also found out that they voted on whether or not Jesus was divine. People made these decisions? People are imperfect, what if they were wrong? I was horrified! Why didn't they tell me these things in Bible class at the Baptist Church?



I tried to carry on with following Christianity, but I had great doubts. I shoved them to the back of my mind, and told myself that I needed to have more faith.






In time I was to learn more:
[They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of Allah, and (they take as their Lord) Christ, the son of Mary; Yetthey were commanded to worship but One God: There is no god but He. Praise and glory to Him: (Far is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him)] (At-Tawbah 9:31)




9/11 was to prove a turning point for me. I was totally shocked by these attacks, and I was further shocked to read some truly negative comments by Australians regarding Islam. From my previous study, I realized they had drawn their opinions from those portrayed by the media and that they were in error. I was determined to learn as much as possible about Islam. At this time, I didn't even know any Muslims. I contacted Islam Australia's website and inquired about learning more.





During this time, there was an inner struggle taking place, but I had to confess that Islam truly did hold all the answers. Nevertheless, my problem was that I was always taught that Islam had been sent by the devil to trick us into losing our salvation. Maybe I was being deceived! Then I read the article, "Attributing it to the Devil," by Gary Miller, wherein he says,

I had experience, on one occasion, describing some of the contents in the Qur'an to a man who did not know the book I was talking about. He sat next to me with the cover turned over.



I just told him about the book, what it contained and told him it was not the bible. His conclusion was, the book was miraculous. This man was a minister in a Christian Church. He said, "Yes, that book could not possibly have originated with man, therefore it must come from the devil, because it's not the bible."





The Qur'an comments on this suggestion in chapter twenty-six, verse two-hundred and eleven, as to those who would suggest that the book came from the devil. It points out that it does not quite suit him, does it? Is this how the devil misleads people? He tells them, worship none but God, he insists that they fast, that they practice charity. Is this how the devil misleads people?

Compare the attitude of someone like this, to the attitude of the Jews who knew Jesus and opposed him until the very end.


There is an episode reported in the bible where Jesus raised a man from the dead, one Lazarus, who had been dead for four days. When Lazarus came out of the tomb, alive again those Jews who were watching, what did they do? Did they suddenly say that this man is a true prophet and become believers?




No, the bible says they immediately discussed among themselves that "since this man is working on his signs soon everyone will believe in him. We've got to find a way to kill him," and they attributed his miraculous powers to the devil. He raised that man by the power of the devil.

Now, the Christians who read that episode will feel very sorry for those Jews who had clear evidence right before their very eyes and attribute the miracles to the devil. Does it not appear that they may be doing the same thing when we illustrate what we have in the Qur'an and their final excuse is only: "It originated with the devil."

In the Qur’an we are told:

[No evil ones have brought down this (Revelation)] (Ash-Shu`araa'26:210)

[Oyewho believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow not the footsteps of the evil one; for he is to you an avowedenemy] ( Al-Baqarah 2:228)

I read it and wept. It seemed to answer my doubts, and I realisedI was a believer. I had to be true to myself. I gave myShahadahon March 7, 2002, and I feel so happy and truly at peace, Al-hamdu lillah (Praise be to Allah).

[Hemoo]

In this thread i will put the stories of jews and christians which has converted to islam after they knew the truth ...and i will try to put some of their sound or video lectures after becoming muslims ...

and i would like to say that islamic belief is the right conclusion to every non muslim who is really sincere in seeking the truth ..

islam is the right conclusion to every non muslim who is really sincere in worshiping his GOD alone with no partners...

and i will start with the first one which is DR. Gary Miller

Who is Dr. Gary Miller :

G.R. Miller is a mathematician and a theologian. He was active in Christian missionary work at a particular point of his life but he soon began to discover many inconsistencies in the Bible. In 1978, he happened to read the Qur'an expecting that it, too, would contain a mixture of truth and falsehood.
Gary Miller (Abdul-Ahad Omar) shows how we can establish true faith by setting standards of truth. He illustrates a simple but effective method of finding out the right direction in our search for truth.
He discovered to his amazement that the message of the Qur'an was precisely the same as the essence of truth that he had distilled from the Bible. He became a Muslim and since then has been active in giving public presentations on Islam including radio and television appearances. He is also the author of several articles and publications about Islam.

for more about him visit http://www.mydeviant.com/miller/gary_miller.html

& http://www.islamicinvitationcentre.com/speakers/Gary_Miller.html

and here are some of his lectures

1- The Amazing Quran.mp3 (Recommended)
2- Basis for Muslim Belief.mp3
3- Islam and Christianity.mp3

for more visit the links above

here is a picture of DR. Gary Miller




i will soon get the story of chaplin yusuf estes.

salam

[Hemoo]

and second one who converted from Judaism to islam

his name now is Yousef Khattab his name used to be kohen
he was a strict jew but he became a muslim after he knew the truth ...

he was a citizen of occupied Palestine




and here is a small video about him and his family which have all converted to islam download the video



salam

[Hemoo]

third story is for Yusuf estes he used to call people to christianity but now he is making a great efforts to call all people to be muslims

here is a before and after pictures




and after becoming a muslim :




you can find a lot of articles and audios and videos by Shiekh Yusuf estes in his web site www.islamtomorrow.com

and here are many videos http://www.watchislam.com/videos/index.php?catid=-1

he has a good sence of humor in his lectures you will really enjoy listening to him....

and for a full story on how he accepted islam visit http://www.islamtomorrow.com/Yusuf_story.htm

and wait for other stories soon

salam all

[syilla]

source

My day as a Muslim
By Raquel Martinez-Sharp

That was when I knew: “The ‘ONE’ is true, it’s true! There is only one God…” This realization came to me with many tears, when I rose out of the first sudjood of my life. Without knowing what I was doing, I’d managed to huddle into rows of praying women during a jummuah prayer in the month of Ramadan three years ago.

Three years ago, I asked a wonderful young Muslim woman, a good friend to my sister, to please let me spend a day of Ramadan with her. I had chosen to do a research paper on Islam for my world religion’s class. To this day, I’m not really sure why I chose to write about Islam, because growing up in Europe I certainly harbored certain negative stereotypes many western women have about Islam. However, I was curious about Islam and because I’m a journalism student I decided to write an investigative paper: ‘My day as a Muslim ’.

I began my day as a ‘Muslim’ by fasting and I set out early to meet my friend, who took me to a masjid where I also interviewed a few of her friends and peers. However, as my day as a ‘Muslim’ wore on, I didn’t want to ask people questions anymore; I just wanted to experience what I was feeling: a wonderful sense of calm.

My first masjid experience began with a shock that women were in the back of the prayer hall, but ended with one of the most moving experiences I’ve ever had. I’d give anything to feel like I did during my very first sudjood, at least once more some time in my life.

After such an experience one would think that I would’ve immediately joined the Ummah. But I didn’t. Next to skeptical thoughts that suggested my sudjood experience could surely be credited to lightheadedness from fasting, I also experienced Christian guilt.

Furthermore, I was going through a deeply skeptical and almost agnostic phase, but that experience during Ramadan reminded me that Allah (swt) is real.

Although, I’d unexpectedly become attracted to Islam, it was also foreign to me, but I was inspired to incorporate religious practice in my life again. I attempted to be a ‘good Christian’ and sometimes even went to church more than once a week. But nonetheless, during the past three years I yearned for the day I was so content: the day I was a Muslim.

I admired Muslims’ strong belief in God and the beauty of Islamic religious practice. Among my favorite aspects of Islamic practice, are the forms of prayer and the praise of Allah (swt) through the beautiful sounds of Qur’anic recitation.

During the past three years I tried contacting my sister’s kind friend, who introduced me to Islam, but strangely I could not get a hold of her. But Alhamdullilah, one day she called to talk to my sister and I knew it was my chance, this was a little over a year ago.

Throughout the past year, as I learned more about Islam, I would tell my friend sincerely: “I’m a friend of Islam.” She would just smile. I remember her smile clearly, it was the smile one gives a child when they say something naïve but sweet. I think she knew I wouldn’t be content until the day I was what I wanted to be, one of those who submit, a Muslim.

This past summer I took shahaddah, Alhamdullilah and although I still have spiritual questions, I don’t mind. I will worry the day I don’t have any questions.

But now, I can explore those questions while on the path I wanted to be on since I discovered it. This path/deen has reminded me that the only true thing I need is remembrance of Allah (swt). And this path/deen provides me with all I need for my journey. Allahu Akbar.

[Hemoo]

The Fifth was a famous man his name was cat stevens and he was a famous singer in united kingdom and when he knew the truth after he read a chapter in the Quran named "YUSUF" and this chapter talked about prophet joseph's life then cat stevens knew that this words can not be a human words and he realised that the Quran is really the words of ALLAH (SWT)

to know detailed story about his journey to islam visit http://www.islamtomorrow.com/converts/yusuf_islam.asp

a before picture


and after becoming muslim

and





and to know a full story about Yusuf islam here is a video in google (sorry that this video contains prohibited music)

and wait for the next story




salam

[Hemoo]

our next convert is Dr. bilal phillips that is his name now







and here a summarized informations about his story :

Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips was born in Jamaica, but grew up in Canada, where he accepted Islam in 1972. He completed a diploma in Arabic and a B.A. from the College of Islamic Disciplines (Usool ad-Deen) at the Islamic University of Madeenah in 1979. At the University of Riyadh, College of Education, he completed a M.A. in Islamic Theology in 1985, and in the department of Islamic Studies at the University of Wales, he completed a Ph.D. in Islamic Theology in 1994.

Abu Ameenah taught Islamic Education and Arabic in private schools in Riyadh for over ten years and for three years he lectured M.Ed. students in the Islamic Studies department of Shariff Kabunsuan Islamic University in Cotobato City, Mindanao, Philippines. Since 1994 he has founded and directed the Islamic Information Center in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (which is now known as Discover Islam) and the Foreign Literature Department of Dar al Fatah Islamic Press in Sharjah, UAE. Presently, he is a lecturer of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the American University in Dubai and Ajman University in Ajman, UAE.

for more about him and his video lectures and articles visit his site click here

He talked about himself once in a recorded video lecture named "Truth Seekers" he said that he converted from christianity and that he actually went from christianity to communism and then and finally to Islam


and salam
and wait for the next convert story ...


:)

[Hemoo]

The seventh one to convert to islam this time ..

he is an Anatomy specialist and he was (may be still) the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and is the former Dean of the faculty of Medicine, University of Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand



After he knew some of the scientific miracles of the Quran and Sunna he declared the shahada ,want to watch him here is a video and here to download.

and here is the text of what he said in the video :

"In the last three years, I became interested in the Qur'an... From my studies and what I have learned throughout this conference, I believe that everything that has been recorded in the Qur'an fourteen hundred years ago must be the truth, that can be proved by the scientific means.

Since the Prophet Muhammad could neither read nor write, Muhammad must be a messenger who relayed this truth which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the one who is eligible creator. This creator must be God, or Allah.

I think this is the time to say La ilaha illa Allah, there is no god to worship except Allah (God), Muhammad rasoolu Allah, Muhammad is Messenger of Allah...

The most precious thing I have gained from coming to this conference is La ilaha illa Allah, and to have become Muslim."

and as usual wait for the next story

salam

[Redeemed]

:sl:
If you are a revert please add your story here, because it is very inspiring Alhamdullilah.

There are several stories on this site:
http://thetruereligion.org/modules/xfsection/

I'll post a few:

I am in the process of studing the Islam faith. I am comparing and contrasting it to the Christian faith. I find it interesting that the Quran recognizes Jesus as the Word of God. It says in the Bible that God exalts His word above all His name.
I am interest in knowing how Muhammad got his vision or the history behind it from a Muslim's perspective. I would also like to own the Quran and visit a Mosque. Does anyone know where one is in Chesapeake, VA or how I can get the Quran?

[Hemoo]

here is a video with some of the many new muslims in texas telling how and why they accepted islam as their way of life


so

New Muslims in Texas (United States of Americans) speaks about their new life in Islam DOWNLOAD HERE

[Woodrow]

This is a duplicate of an existing thread. I believe it is best to merge both.

[MustafaMc]

I grew up in the rural South USA as a Baptist, but I became a member of the Church of Christ in college. When I was a junior (1981), an Iranian student asked if he could be my roommate and I said yes. He practiced Islam and I adhered to Christianity. Though I was not (and am still not) a saint, I was pretty serious about my religion. My roommate and I would discuss religion, but only occassionally and in no great detail. After a year of being his roommate, I took his Quran (Yusuf Ali with commentary and index) home over Christmas break. I used the index to find and then read all of the ayat about Jesus (pbuh) and Mary. At first I was opposed because it disagreed with my beliefs, but, as I read more, I reached a point where I saw that what I was reading made more sense. I said my shahada upon returning to school.

I learned the basic prayer and practiced Islam until I went to graduate school in the Midwest. Away from my home "support group" I found it difficult to be different (Scottish/European Caucasian) from the other Muslims and for other reasons I did not practice Islam during that time.

I finished my MS degree and returned to the South to work. Upon returning to the same university where I became a Muslim, I started openly practicing Islam again and discussing it with my co-workers. As would be expected, my family was strongly opposed to my conversion and practicing Islam. No need for details, but it wasn't pleasant during this time. This opposition by my family, being associated with so-called "terrorists", and my inability to find a Muslim wife led me to quit practising Islam. I married a Christian and started a PhD program. After graduating and getting a job, I made a few half-hearted attempts to start practicing Islam, but to little avail.

As I reached 40 years old, I realized that one day I will die and that I would have to give an account of my life. While on a family vacation in June of 2001 I made the decision to practice Islam regardless of what others thought. I remember thinking that I could not use the excuse that some "Muslim" terrorist blew himself up and killed innocent people as the reason for my not practicing Islam. I felt a personal accountability for my own life and the need to practice my Islamic faith regardless of what others might do in the name of Islam. Then, as everyone knows, came 9/11... That was indeed a struggle, but Allah led me through it. Alhamdulillah!

I feel extremely blessed to have been guided to the Truth. Guidance comes only from Allah! My simple prayer is that I die not, but as a Muslim. What else really matters?

[syilla]

Quran & The sensory characteristic of the skin

Dr. Tagata Tagasone: Laa Ilaaha Illallah Muhammad Rasool Allah !

This man is uttering the Islamic creed (Shahaadah) and declaring that he is becoming a Muslim. This occurred during the Eighth Saudi Medical Conference which was convened in Riyadh. He is Professor Tagata Tagasone, formerly Head of the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at the University of Shiang Mai in Thailand. He is now the Dean of the College of the Medicine at the University.

We presented to Professor Tagasone some Qur’aanic verses and Prophetic Ahadeeth which deal with his specialization in the field of anatomy. He commented that they also had in their Buddhist books very accurate descriptions of embryonic developmental stages. We told him that we were very anxious and interested to see those descriptions and learn about these books. A year later, Professor Tcame to King Abdul Aziz University as an outside examiner. We reminded him of the statement he made one year before, but he apologized and said that he in fact had made that statement without ascertaining the matter. However, when he checked the Buddhist books he found that they contained nothing of relevance to the subject.


Upon this we presented to him a lecture written by Professor Keith Moore about the compatibility of modern embryology with what is contained in the Qur’aan and the Sunnah and we asked Professor Tagasone if he knew of Professor Keith Moore. He replied that he knew him of course, adding that Professor Moore was one of the Most world-renowned scientists in that field.

When Professor Tagasone studied this article he also was greatly astonished. We asked him several questions in his field of specialization. One of the questions pertained to modern discoveries in dermatology about the sensory characteristics of the skin.
Dr. Tagasone responded: Yes if the burn is deep.

It was stated to Dr. Tagasone: You will be interested to know that in this book, the Holy book the Qur’aan, there was a reference 1400 years ago which refers to the moment of punishment of the unbelievers by the fire of Hell and it states that when their skin is destroyed, Allah makes another skin for them so that they perceive the punishment by a fire, indicating knowledge about the nerve endings in the skin, and the verse is:

Those who reject our signs. We shall soon cast into the fire; as often as their skins are roasted through. We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the chastisement: for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise [ Qur’aan 4:56]

So do you agree that this is a reference to the importance of the nerve endings in the skin in sensation, 1400 years ago?

Dr. Tagasone responded: Yes I agree. This knowledge about sensation had been known long before. Because it says that if somebody does something wrong, then he will be punished by burning his skin and then Allah puts a new skin in him, cover him, to make him know that the test is painful again. That means they knew many years ago that the receptor of pain sensation must be on the skin, so they put a new skin on.

The skin is the center of sensitivity to burns. Thus, if the skin is completely burnt by fire, it looses its sensitivity. It is for this reason that Allah will punish the unbelievers on the Day of Judgement by returning to them their skins time after time, as He, the Exalted and Glorified, said in the Qur’aan:Those who reject our signs. We shall soon cast into the fire; as often as their skins are roasted through. We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the chastisement: for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise (Qur’aan 4:56).

We asked him the following question: ‘Is it possible that these verses came to the Prophet Muhammad, (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), from a human source?’

Professor Tagasone conceded that they could have never come from any human source. But he still asked about the source of that knowledge and from where could Muhammad have possibly received it?

We said, ‘From Allah, the Most Glorified and Most Exalted.’ Then he asked: ‘But who is Allah?’ We replied: He is the Creator of all that is in existence.’ If you find wisdom then it is because it comes only from the one Who is Most Wise. If you find knowledge in the making of this universe, it is because the universe is the creation of the One Who has all the knowledge. If you find perfection in the composition of these creations, then it is proof to you that it is the creation of the One Who Knows Best. And if you find mercy, then this bears witness to the fact that it is the creation of the One Who is Most Merciful. In the same way, if you perceive creation as belonging to one unified order and tied together firmly, then this is proof that it is the creation of the Only Creator, May He be Glorified and Exalted.

This is no less than a reminder to (all) the worlds. And you shall certainly know the truth of it (all) after a while.(38:87-88).

source

[Khadijah79]

Assalamu Alaikum warrahmutalahi wabarakatuhu, Brother's and Sister's

OK this is my story.....

I was born in N/Ireland {Londonderry} my mother was a protestant so is my older sister

My name is Aisha but my birth name was Emma {I changed it by de-pole}

My mother died in the year 2000 and my mothers twin sister died 44 days later.....

I got married to a non-Muslim because at the time I was a non-Muslim

My Ex husband done the dirty on me with my so called friend So I then moved from where I was living

And moved down to Swindon and it was while I was at Swindon that I saw my first Masjid {Mosque}

Wow it was breath taking some how I know that I should not walk into....

I found my birth-father there because he left me my mother and sister when I was 1 years old

Alot of things happened wont go into it.............

I had a very bad car crash on coming on the M4...

My car rolled and flipped over 6 times I thought my time was up........

When the car came to a stop I looked around the car and I was totally shocked that I'm still here
I was sitting waiting to see if I broken something or had any pain anywhere and I did not to I hoped out of the window.....

And waved down a car passing on the M4 and ask him if he could phone the police and tell them where I am
because I had no idea where I was....

When the Police, ambulance and the fire brigade came thay all said by just looking at the car thay thought thay were going to take a body

But Alhumduliliah I was fine.....

And it was that night that I knew something did not want me to die

I know about Islam/ Muslim's from the minimum that my school told us
1) worship Allah

2) pray 5 times a day

3) don't eat pork
And I think that was pretty much it from my high school

After I gotten over my crash I moved back to east Anglia I began to research Islam and what I found en-lighting

I found a Masjid in Norwich where I sent an e-mail saying

That I would like to learn more about Islam

About one week later I got talking to a sister and she was telling me about Islam and she welcomed me into her home

After we talked for a few hours and she was asking me questions to make sure I'm not just jumping into becoming a Muslim

She invited me to come to Masjid for Jumma and we talked about the Prophet {Sal-allahu-aleihi-wassallam}

And on the 24th of Feb 2006 I taken my shahadah and I have not looked back from that day :D
I'm the only Muslim in my family
I had a boyfriend and he was all fine about me becoming a Muslim but after I taken my shahadah I told him that we can no-longer go with each other
he did not take to well to this information and he pinned me down and batted me for days afterwards I begged him to move out but he never listened to me
he also done a unforgiving thing to me a few days after I taken my shahadah.....
I told a fellow sister and she said have arranged for a brother to pick you up and to move you out of your house and Alhumduliliah I moved to Yorkshire were I meet my husband...
I'm now married to my loving husband a we have a little girl we called her Fatima and Marshallah I'm more happier now then I ever have been before Alhumduliliah

wa alykum as-Salaam warahmatulahi wabarakatuh

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

I am in the process of studing the Islam faith. I am comparing and contrasting it to the Christian faith. I find it interesting that the Quran recognizes Jesus as the Word of God. It says in the Bible that God exalts His word above all His name.
I am interest in knowing how Muhammad got his vision or the history behind it from a Muslim's perspective. I would also like to own the Quran and visit a Mosque. Does anyone know where one is in Chesapeake, VA or how I can get the Quran?

I dont know about a Masjid there but you can download the Qur'an for the time being.

http://freequran.org/

Peace

[Abdul-Raouf]

100-Year-Old Journey

By Discover Islam Team
http://discover.islamonline.net/

100-year-old, Dr. J. Nicholson was born in Scotland, UK. He obtained his PhD in theology in 1933. He was a minister of Jehovah's Witnesses Church, which he left in 1969.
Nicholson says, "I did everything that was bad: I gambled, I drank, and I womanized." Then on October 28, 1995, he embraced Islam. Only 18 months before he embraced Islam, he quitted drinking and gambling.
He married seven times. He has 31 children, 18 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren. One of his wives (the wife he is with now) and their six children are Muslims, and one son from a previous marriage is also a Muslim.

Click here to watch Dr. J. Nicholson speaking about his journey to Islam.

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace;

... I would also like to own the Quran and visit a Mosque. Does anyone know where one is in Chesapeake, VA or how I can get the Quran?

u may search here online :



Find a mosque in the database by entering the city/town/locale name (e.g Birmingham) or the first part of the postcode (e.g NW8).



Or find a mosque by part of its name (e.g %Noor will find mosques with 'Noor' in the name)


http://www.salaam.co.uk/mosques




http://www.islamicity.com/orgs

[tears4husain]

:sl: Well, my story is kind of personal, but I will share it any way. I was in prison and stayed in trouble actually, because I was a real hot head. So one day I was hole(segregation) and just picked up the bible and couldnt put it down I saw it impossible to create the earth in seven day and wanted answers, the chaplian couldnt answer my question. Then I read my firt contradiction about Isaac(a.s.) being the first born and Ishma'il being the wrongfully born. When I questioned the chaplian He told me dont question the bible just believe, but I read the bible saud test what is brought to you to be truth. Then I read how jacob(a.s.) wrestled with God and won, I was through with the bible. So I went to the nation of islam that was short because God is not races and once I understood their doctrine that wasnt what I was looking for, the same with the Moorish science temple of america. When I saw that the founder of the nation of islam came from the m.s.t. of a., and both of them were founded in the 1900's I didnt see truth in them. Then one day I saw a guy speaking a funny and putting his head on the floor and bowing so I waited for him to finish then I asked him what were you just doing he said praying why? I said why do you pray like that, He said do you really want to know? I said yes and he gave me three books 1.breif illustration to islam. 2.christian muslim dialogue. 3.why I choose islam. and that started my never ending journey. I have been muslim for five years and counting.:D

[Haidar_Abbas]

Bismillah. Asalaamu Alaikoum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu. This is my own story, may it inspire others and remind the remainder that anything less than Islam will leave you empty. Aouthoo biAllahi min aShaitan-ir rajeem. Bismillah-ar rahman-ir raheem. Its been for me this Ramadan four years since i shed the burden of kufr. Alhamdulillah it was the best thing in my life since Allah(SWT) blessed me with life. Nearly four years ago i was a person who had tried nearly all forms or thought and life. From athiesm to buddhism, moaism, socialism and communism. All, which i hadnt the incling then, all lacked essential part of life which i only discovered like a moment of "eureka", they all lacked La Ilaha IlAllah. For most of my life i didnt give much thought for monotheism. The thought of times past sickens me nearly to death Alhamdulillah those times are ever fading to distant memory by each passing day.Before i was guided to my birthright i was a much different person.I dont like to talk about in great detail but to give one an idea, i used substances, smoked cigarettes,drank heavily and gave little thought to things outside my own agenda. AstaghfirLi. During the time before Allah(SWT) guided me to Islam, i was a communist. AstaghfirLi. As for my family its the typical story they didnt really have to high feelings or a good word to say about me then and now since i lovingly and thankfully proclaim La Ilaha IlAllah wa Muhammad-ar Roosulullah aameen. However i endever and keep my head up to coin a phrase Alhamdulillah. Being a muslim to me is wonderful and im thankful to Allah(SWT) for guiding me to the truth. Im thankful to have all my brothers and sisters in Islaam and to be apart of such an amazing line from Roosul Adam (AS) to Al Nabi Muhammed (SAW). It truly is a blessing from Allah(SWT) the All Mighty. Pardon me this story is a page turner or a hundred pages long but its my personal experience and just an insight to the life of a brother who could just as easily be standing next to you at the masjid. BarakaAllahu feekoum.
Asalaamu alaikoum wa rahmatullah wa barakathu.[/B]

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace;

I would also like to own the Quran and visit a Mosque. Does anyone know where one is in Chesapeake, VA or how I can get the Quran?

free Quran for non-Muslims


http://freequran.org/order/to_non-mu...89d3a9d0a224ed



To order more free Islamic materials (only pay for shipping), please visit: www.media4islam.com

The Message International: P.O. Box 50336 , Staten Island , NY 10305 , USA

Toll Free: 1877-AL-ISLAM


Tel: 718-448-2004

Fax: 718-874-1384

info@FreeQuran.org



Visit a mosque

Toll Free Line. Dial 877-WHY-ISLAM

http://www.whyislam.org/877/Services/MosqueVisit.asp

[Khayal]

:arabic6:

Islam and Christianity
Oum Abdulaziz, Ex-Christian, USA
(part 1 of 4)

:salamext:


I did not become Muslim overnight. In fact, at first, learning about Islam came quite unexpectedly on my part. I had simply become acquainted with some Muslims and questioned them wanting to understand something of their beliefs. I was surprised to discover many similarities between the teachings of Islam and Christianity. I came to understand that I could not judge Islam merely from the actions of some “Muslims” I had seen and heard about. To learn something of the real teachings of Islam, I was going to have to throw away my prejudices and begin to learn about it open-mindedly. Unfortunately, I found a great deal of misunderstanding between the Christian and Muslim communities partly due to biased media coverage on both sides and by Muslim and Christian individuals who are not living by the standards of good conduct taught in both these great faiths. Just as the teachings of Christianity are not always apparent from observing the actions of the “typical American Christian,” I realized that to understand Islam I was going to have to look beyond the actions of some Muslim individuals to get to the truth. I was encouraged by a new friendship with a sincere, amicable Muslim woman. As I have always enjoyed reading, I went in search of some good books about Islam.
What surprised me most, initially, was that the Muslims already had some knowledge of the teachings of Christianity because Muslims, too, love and believe in Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. I learned that the word “Islam” literally means peace through submission to God by belief in His Oneness and by obedience to Him. Thus, Islam claimed to be the same religion preached by all the earlier prophets, in whom Muslims must also believe. These prophets include Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, John the Baptist, and Jesus (peace be upon them all), among others. The Quran says:

“And We (God) did not send any Messenger before you but we inspired him (saying): There is no god but God. None has the right to be worshipped but I (God). So worship me.”
(Quran 21:25)

Islam encourages marriage as a means of sexual chastity and a means of comfort and happiness in life. A marriage is considered a contract between a man and a woman with each of the parties having rights and responsibilities. Upon marriage, a Muslim woman loses neither her family name nor control of her own property. In fact, I discovered that Islam is not oppressive to women, as I had previously thought. I learned that for centuries Muslim women have had rights that most Western women have only obtained in recent years.
I also learned that the followers of Islam worship God in ways strikingly similar to the worship described in the Bible. The Muslim prays daily reciting these words from the Holy Quran: “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful; Praise be to God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds; Most Gracious, Most Merciful; Master of the Day of Judgement; Thee (alone) do we worship and Thine aid we seek; show us the straight way, the way of those on whom thou has bestowed Thy Grace, those whose portion is not wrath and who go not astray.” (1:1-7)
Christians are kindly referred to in the Holy Quran as the People of Scripture or “People of the Book” and are addressed directly.

“Say: O people of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but God; That we associate no partners with Him; That we erect not from among ourselves lords and patrons other than God.”
(Quran 3:64)

Christians and Jews are also told that their own scriptures will guide them to the truth of the Quran and Mohammed’s prophethood (2:146, 5:41-47, 7:157). Obviously, I was going to have to take this “challenge” and see if my Bible could really vouch for the divine origin of Islam.
Evidence of the unity and oneness of God as taught in Islam is found throughout the Bible. In Deuteronomy (32:39) God says, “There is no god beside Me,” and in Isaiah (43:10) “Before Me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after Me.” In Exodus (8:10) “No one is like the Lord our God,” and in Jeremiah (10:6-7) “There is none like unto Thee, O Lord.” Other verses stating the same can be found in Deuteronomy (4:35, 4:39, 6:4), Isaiah (45:5, 45:21-22, 46:9), II Samuel (7:22), I Kings (8:60), I Chronicles (17:20), Psalms (86:8, 89:6, 113:5), Hosea (13:4), and Zechariah (14:9). When asked “Which commandment is the first of all?”, Jesus answered, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” (Mark 12:28-29) Even after the ministry of Jesus, Jesus’ apostles understood this oneness of God. Evidence of this is found throughout the epistles. “God is One” (Romans 3:30); “There is no God but One” (I Corinthians 8:4); “One God” (Ephesians 4:6, I Corinthians 8:6, I Timothy 2:5); and Paul writes to James (2:19), “You believe that God is One: you do well.”
It is over the nature of Jesus (peace be upon him) that Islam and Christianity really differ. I could agree with the Muslim on basically every other issue, as I found Islam to be both simple and rational. That Jesus was the divine Son of God and part of the Trinity is the essential belief of most Christians. That Jesus was not divine but rather an honored prophet of God is the essential belief of every Muslim. I knew that I had to prove to myself (in order to remain a Christian) that the Bible unequivocally affirms the trinity (i.e. that God is One yet made of three equal and distinct parts), one of part of the trinity being Jesus, the Son. Yet, when I earnestly searched, I could find no real base for the trinity in the Bible. I could not find proof that Jesus or any of the prophets who came before him (peace be upon them all) taught trinity. They all preached monotheism. And how could it be that all of the prophets were ignorant of the very basic nature of God and misguided of the true religion? This could never be! Further investigation showed that the word “trinity” itself is found nowhere in the Bible. The verse that for years seemed to give it some justification has been expunged from the Revised Standard Version and other versions of the Bible because it is not found in any old texts of the New Testament (i.e. it was added to the Bible much later). This is the verse found at I John (5:7) in the King James Version: “The Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.”
According to Christian sources, “Various Trinitarian concepts exist. But generally the Trinity teaching is that in the Godhead there are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; yet, together they are but one God. The doctrine says that the three are coequal, almighty, and uncreated, having existed eternally in the Godhead.” (Watchtower) This is the fundamental doctrine of most churches. Because there is no rational or logical way to explain the trinity teaching that three can be separate yet equal one (1 + 1 + 1 = 1)! most churches say this doctrine is a “mystery,” cannot be proved, and must be accepted merely on faith. But I began to question how or why I should accept such a doctrine on faith when it is not explicitly taught in the Bible. If it was not a Biblical teaching, then whose teaching was it? It seems that the trinity concept evolved as an explanation of the supposed divinity of Jesus. So I decided to look further for Bible proofs of Jesus’ divinity.

Source.

:wasalamex

[Ubaidah]

:sl:

I may have answered or posted my story before in this thread, but I feel that now I can give a fuller, richer account of my journey to Islam.

The true start to my road to becoming a Muslim started around the year 2000-ish (maybe a little earlier). Islam wasn't on my radar, but at the time I was just feeling lost. I was born and raised Catholic, but around the age of 6 or 7 stopped attending Church regularly (to no fault of my parents, they had to work A LOT in my early years to make ends meet). So from age 7-15 I was a firm believer in a God. Never in my life has that fact wavered in my mind. But I began to question many other things, nothing specific, just went through a general "Why" phase.

So in my "Why" phase I began reading about any and all religions I could find. And one day I came upon Islam, I read about it was SHOCKED that is fell in line with Judaism and Christianity, so I kept read more and more and more. I fell in love with the faith and everything it encompassed and in the Summer of 2001 was SERIOUSLY thinking of reverting. Then 9/11 happened. And I just felt to uncomfortable in that climate to go to my parents and tell them my feelings about reverting. They're wonderful and open minded, but at that time it just would have been hard for them to swallow. For the next few months after 9/11, I drifted away from Islam. Not only because I didn't know how people would react to me studying and reading, but because the attack on the World Trade Center just had a HUGE impact on me.

Slowly but surely I started back on my search to find inner peace, and again Islam was the brightest light. I kept on reading and listening to EVERYTHING about Islam I could, I wanted to be absolutely sure that IF I were to revert it was going to be the best thing for me. Little did I know it would take 4+ years for me to reach that level of certainty. Yes, 4+ years later I was sure Islam was my path. And the reason it took so long is because I understood Islam wasn't a half-hearted faith, and by jumping in half-heartedly I'd only be hurting myself.

Almost a year ago my life changed forever. I gave my declaration of faith, and filled that emptiness in my heart with my new submission to Allah (SWT). I'm learning more everyday, and striving more and more everyday. And although being a Muslim can be tough. Just the feeling of waking up every morning is a wonderful thing now.

[believer]

Coming To Islam

My name is Sister Fatemah Islam. I am 37 years old.
I am an American citizen by birth. A Native Indian of the United States.
I was raised in Nebraska in a very poor Indian neighborhood, but then
I was a child I didnأ know too much about being poor (it is just how things
were). I was raised under the Indian ways and ALLAH (swt). I knew nothing
of Islam.
I thought that all families were like mine, abusive, disruptive, and dangerous.
I thought that the pain was ALLAH(swt) preparing me for life as an adult, those
were some hard lessons with deep scars. This was ALLAHأ's will? I didnأ like ALLAH
very much back as a child. The innocence of blame. I grew up in a household of
drugs, alcohol, and sex . I hated everyone and everything around me. I started
drinking and drugs at the tender age of 11. Suicide was always on my mind I
figured ALLAH had made a mistake and I was going to give this life back. Well,
as you can see I am still here, ALHAMDULILLAH.
I married at the age of 17 (just turned). My first child was born to me while I was
Still in high school. Two children later and a few hard beatings the later I was pregnant
I divorced my husband. Not knowing how to be independent I fell for the first boy
To look my direction and married him. Again two children later and more beatings
I left my second husband. Four beautiful daughters and two divorces I decided
to live alone with my children.
I moved to Denver, Colorado started working in gay bars and still drinking and
Doing drugs. 14 years like this and alone, depressed, and very suicidal by this time.
I was still not speaking to ALLAH(swt)I had all but forgotten about ALLAH(swt).
One day I was surfing the net to find advertising ideas for the bar. I came across
This ad that had a banner flashing at the bottom of itأ¢â‚¬â„¢s page. www.islamnow.com
Is what it read. I was excited I thought Islam was a Country , I clicked onto the site.

Islam found me
From that moment Islam had me. I read the entire site and the adjoining sites
There. Went on like this all night. I cried, laughed, and was even angry why ALLAH
hadnأ¢â‚¬â„¢t shown or guided Islam to me before. After all I had read I knew not to question
ALLAH (swt). By this time it is morning I didnأ¢â‚¬â„¢t sleep, drink, or eat this whole time
Over 24 hours of non-stop Islam. I stood up asked a customer to take me to the nearest mosque, she did. The one hour drive was the longest wait.
I was afraid to come to ALLAH(swt). I thought maybe what if ALLAH said no to me.
I met the Imam and told him why I was there. He scared me. He started saying things
I didnأ understand, loudly but happily. When he calmed down, He calmed me down
I thought I was going to faint. This when I entered Islam. The first time I had ever
heard Arabic language up close and I was speaking them to the most important words
I will ever say in my life..SHAHADA.

fee amaan Allah
sister fatemah

Salaamu alaikum Sister!

If you don't mind - I have copy pasted your reversion story for my collection... I needed stories like your for my future Dawa. May Allah bless you more and keep you and your family always in his guidance... Ameen

[believer]

Salaamu alaikum everyone...

After Isha... I called the Athan and - since the usual Imams where not yet there... the congregation pushed me back in front to be Prayer Imam. It felt natural right now and I feel very much at home in front.

Then, I finally got the chance to start reading all these Reversion Stories starting from Page 1.... Alhamdullillah! it's now 1:30AM - and I just finished it. Most of the stories I copy pasted for my compilation project.

I wanted to put my story here now... but I found out that my story in my Website isn't finished yet, I only have a brief sumary in the Introduce Yourself Threads... I guess I will just copy paste that one and place it here.

This is truly a site Blessed and protected by Allah SWT. And I thank HIM for keeping and guiding me always into the right path.

Ameen!

[believer]

Allahu-akbar! Allahu-akbar! Allahu-akbar!

HERE'S MY REVERSION STORY (digested form)

Alhamdullillah! I am so happy and thankful to Allah (SWT) for guiding me and helping me find the company of the righteous here in cyberspace.

I am also glad to find a fellow former seminarian (Woodrow) who also discovered the truth and embraced the true religion preached by all prophets sent by Allah, One God Almighty.

My journey in discovering Islam is one long and lonely road. I really never had any chance to come across any Islamic material or literature whatsoever before and I would say that my entrance to Islam was a divine journey.

Eversince I was a child… I read in the bible that we shouldn’t be calling anyone father… since there is only One father… but how come I need to call the Jesuit Rector in my school as Father Lutz?.... I grew up with this hanging question in the back of my head. I joined many sects of Christianity in their Sunday services before I entered the seminary in 1986. My entry into the seminary was actually accidental… I was frustrated with so many things that time – I wanted to enter a Monastery and be a monk… even Shaolin Monk or Budhhist – whatsoever – as long as I can live in seclusion and be away from the cares of this world. It turned out to be a secular order seminary… Nevertheless, I though I can find the answers in this formation house.

I didn’t, however – I learned many things… in fact, I learned a lot…. Since it was a formation house… I have to live there with problematic adolescents… so I learned to drink, smoke and everything that is associated with alchohol and nicotine and Bars.

Since I befriended the Bishop and some Major Seminarians… I have advanced my Regency… but it’s actually an excuse to get out of the seminary and get busy with the family business.

To cut a long story short. I became a man of the world… Been there… done that…. You name it… I’ve been it. And eventually, got married… had a child… became domesticated by a Christian wife… underwent into a long marriage crisis. Lost one of the family houses… Lost 2 family Businesses… Family broke apart…. Almost lost my own family… Almost died for about 7 times more or less, Became down and out… Hitting rock bottom. I have been at many times experiencing the downs of life… but this time 2 years ago – was the lowest and the darkest. I locked myself in a room and faced the floor with my hands stretched… crying and surrendering. I knew that there are only two things that can happen to me after this. It was –1. asking for the devil and end my life… or 2. Surrender to God. I cried so hard until I couldn’t cry anymore… talking to God directly… somewhat having a conversation with Him. I have seen my life flashing back in front of me starting from the day I was born to the turmoil to the present… all the bitterness, hardships and pain… all rushed in as if it was a wild stream. And suddenly… it was peace and calm. I felt like a veil was suddenly lifted up and it’s as if I can see the sun rising for the first time in my life. I felt like it was the first day of my life…

After that incident… I attended my brother in laws Ecumenical Prayer Group and also my Mother in Laws Protestant Church… I became active in both and they all wanted me to become a pastor since they were all touched by my testimony.

My brother in law who knew me for so long couldn’t believe that I really have changed. He recall that I was always critical about protestants before… due to my Catholic family background. But I was ecumenical already even before I entered the priesthood seminary. I just became my real self once again before I was introduced to the dirty world.

But, this was just a short introduction to where I was truly led for. I was without a job for about a year already and the small business I am setting up was cut short due to my raptured appendix last January 2006. Since I surrendered to God, I will accept whatever He will provide for me… no matter what. I was prepared to accept even a small job like selling Fishballs in the market – and I will not be ashamed – even if this will be embarrassing for somebody whom a lot of people in my area would consider as among the upper class of society. I really don’t care about family pride anymore, I was already a new man. As most Christians would say… I was born again.

Then after a few weeks… although my family is still at the risk of breaking up… I asked and prayed with the Christian Groups I was involved in and I was only encountering miracle after miracles. But this is not yet the gist of the story.

I just received a call from Saudi… I never wanted to go in this place, I never applied for any job whatsoever specially not here anyway. It was a job offer… and it was an offer I cannot refuse. The job was something I always dreamed of doing for so long since childhood. To cut the long story short…

I asked my Saudi employer when I got here last September to buy me an English Qur’an… after he heard my story, he told me… my friend… you are a Muslim. I was shocked to hear it… I asked how and why? He told me the definition of Muslim and Islam… and eventually, bought me an English Qur’an.

I read it and I was crying while I was reading it. At last! I have found the truth! I FASTED that October since it was Ramadan after I made my informal Shahadah… I made 3 informal Shaddahs since every place I visited thought I didn’t made shahadah yet. But I Didn’t have a Muslim guide who can always be with me… but the Qur’an. I have read it day and night… prayed in the mosque 5 times… Been friends with the Imam… The Imam who don’t speak a word in English except Good Morning! whose name is Muhhamad always kid me that I will become Imam when he goes back to Egypt. I never took him seriously… I know he’s just kidding – It was impossible for me to learn Arabic… it was like a tongue twister… moreover, I am nearly 40 and memorizing a foreign language would be really difficult.

My dear Brothers and sister… for the past months… I was occasionally the Imam and I don’t recall how it happened and when it happened. I am recognized already a the official Muazzine. I sometimes wonder… how it could be.

But – I have never felt more happier… “a day in the courts of the Lord is better than a thousand elsewhere…” -

Please pardon me for writing long… since this is not off topic… it is still introducing myself. I tried my best to summarize my story but it’s hard to give the big picture without showing the small ones that make the connection.

What I really wanted to say… “When Christ mentioned in the book of Timothy: Ask anything to my Father using my name, cast evil using my name… but there will come a time when you can pray directly to the Father without using my name,” - I am not sure what verse but I was grasping the context of that chapter. I was wondering why… no apostle of Jesus (Issa AlleihiSalaam) asked.. WHEN?

Then I found myself into Islam… all my hanging questions were answered.

I believe!… I surrender!…. I submit!…. I follow!...

May Allah be pleased with us all and Bless Us always to Say the Right words, think the Right Thoughts, Do the right Deeds and all at the Right Time, all the time.

Sallaamu Alikum Warahmatullahi wabarakathu Brothers and Sisters in faith!



A Believer.

[Muslim Woman]

:sl:

Allahu-akbar! Allahu-akbar! Allahu-akbar!

HERE'S MY REVERSION STORY (digested form)


A Believer.

thanks for sharing ur story :D ..i saved it ..InshaAllah will read when i go offline..may Allah bless u :statisfie

[cute123]

:sl:
I really liked this story of a boy who converted at the age of 10 !!!!!
just read on :

:sl:
very inspiring and very touching . May ALLAH TALLAH shower his blessings on you.
:w:

[niler]

subhanallah the stories left me in tears!!
i really liked the story of the ten year old who became muslim. Hopefully al be able to read the rest of the stories .

TRULY ISLAM IS A COMPLETE WAY OF LIFE!!

PLEASE CONTINUE POSTING SUCH BEAUTIFUL AND TOUCHING STORIES..MAY ALLAH REWARD U OL ABUNDANTLY..SHUKRAN

[niler]

Hopefully Ur Members Here And Al Get To Talk 2 U One Day When I Become A Full Member!!

[Ummu Sufyaan]

:sl:
I really liked this story of a boy who converted at the age of 10 !!!!!
just read on :

:sl:
just wondering at that age, assuming that the boy hasn't reached adolesence yet and since children are not resposible for the actions at that age, would he still be considered as a revert. does that make sense?
:sl:

[swanlake]

:sl:

Brother believer..that was touching story. Subhaanallaah. Allah guides whom He wills. You were sincere in search and you finally found. Hopefully your family havent broken down.

[niler]

asalamu aleyk sister. i really liked ur story.i wud like to ask u some questions and i was wondering how i will get in touch. Praying that ur family become muslims (if they arent already).

[Ommuslim]

very touching :)
may Allah bless u all :)

[niler]

mashallah very very nice article!!

[IbnAbdulHakim]

believer your reversion is so amazing... Allahu Akbar...

[lmaestro]

Its always nice to hear reverts' stories.It makes me think that I took my religion for granted sometimes.

[niler]

thank u ol 4 sharing ur stories!!it makes me contemplate my islam, my actions..and thank the Almighty for making me a muslim..

[niler]

assalamu aleykum.hope u guys dont mind if i use ur stories in our school's muslim magazine...

[niler]

a very nice story indeed!!
we shud all learn something from it..
1. we shud never give up hope that our efforts dont bear any fruits.

2.we shud practise sabr when caling people to islam.

3.Everyone and everybody is worth our time..

[niler]

Sikh Enters Islam

the lessons i drew from the above topic

[niler]

a really beautiful story sister!!

Mashaaalah..

[niler]

My name is A'ishah but I was born with the name Bonnie Khadija. When I was 2 years old, my non-practicing Moroccan Muslim father, and my American Christian mother got a divorce and my mom tricked my father into her getting custody of me and took me away.

nice story mashaallah.Glad it all turned out wel n ur now a muslim...

[niler]

after 9/11 the enemies of islam really used that as an excuse to portray muslims as violent and evil but Subhanallah that incident, as much as they portrayed muslims as being really bad people in the media, it gave people, who have not heard about islam, to study about it and amazingly many people converted to islam.

ALLAHU AKBAR!!!
GOD IS REALLY GREAT!!!

[niler]

[QUOTE=niler;838562]after 9/11 the enemies of islam really used that as an excuse to portray muslims as violent and evil but Subhanallah that incident, as much as they portrayed muslims as being really bad people in the media, it gave people, who have not heard about islam, A chance to study about it and amazingly many people converted to islam.

ALLAHU AKBAR!!!
GOD IS REALLY GREAT!!!:thumbs_up
;D ;D

[niler]

very nice article believer

[niler]

assalamu aleykum
welcom to Islam sister Aisha.
i read ur story and wat am wondering is wat made u take the first step to want to know abt islam?
may Allah guide ur family 2 wat He luves

[niler]

MUSLIMS LEAD BY GOOD EXAMPLES

assalamu aleykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu.

I wanted to share something personal that i had experienced on muslim's behavior.i am a born muslim.this is something i have seen and i also got first hand information from my friends.
my friends are university students and they live in the campus hostels. The non muslims living there do not care about wasting resources, be it water or anything.
But according to Islam Israaf is prohibited so it does bother them and they help prevent it as much as they can. an example :They leave taps open and water spils but no non muslim will ever go to close the taps its only the muslim..and subhanallah they are REALLY shocked & amazed when one does it!!
As muslims we should as much as possible display our islamic values 4 it can be a reason 4 people to embrace islam..

TRULY ISLAM IS A COMPLETE WAY OF LIFE!!!
:w: :D

[believer]

very nice article believer

Salaamualaikum warahmatullah Niler.... thank you...:statisfie It's from Allah SWT. :statisfie