Anisah Georgia Liliou
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
I welcomed Islam into my life at, what people think, a very young age. And yet, bringing back to my memory the years before my conversion, is still a chilling experience for me. In principle, my conversion story may seem similar to many other stories. But what still amazes me is the relation between the events; a proof to the fact that God’s Will prevails, no matter the circumstances.
I was born and brought up in Athens. My parents, like 98% of the people in Greece, are Orthodox Christians. During the first years of my life I cannot remember them being particularly religious. They led a normal family life, which included the occasional visit to the church. The people who reminded us of our responsibility towards our religion were almost always my grandmothers and grandfathers. My mother’s parents were both children of priests and had great knowledge in Christian traditions. In their bedroom, they had converted part of their wardrobe into a church, shelves stocked with images of Jesus, Virgin Mary and various saints. Every night, my grandfather would stand in front of that shelf for a couple of hours, reading with humility the holy book; a picture I will never forget.
As I almost always spent my holidays with them, they introduced me to the routine of reading every night little poems to Virgin Mary. That, however, did not prevent me from having my own spiritual experiences. Up until the age of ten I used to see in my dream the events of the following day, which I thought was something normal. I never did my homework, unless I saw in my dream that my teacher would examine me. So I would do it in the school bus, on the way to school. Sometimes I would see dreams relating to other people’s worries, worries I knew little about. My elder sister probably realises this better than me. Sometimes in the morning I would say to her “I had the weirdest dream”, I would narrate it to her and then forget all about it. She would not forget though, and years later she confessed to me that my dreams had affected her life.
When I was 10 or 11, nothing seemed to go well. We had family problems, school was very hard for me, I had no friends. One night I slowly slid out of my bed and decided to pray for help. I think I spent about 10 minutes just standing there; I was trying to decide who to pray to. “Should I pray to Jesus or Virgin Mary? Saint George or Saint Helen? Or that saint, ‘the protector of children’? But what’s her name?” In the end, I did not pray to anyone that night. My reason was that I did not want to offend anyone by not praying to them. But deep down, I had realized that there was something wrong about this religion.
My parents invested a lot of money in my education, and chose responsible schools that honoured the beliefs of the Christian faith. However, the principle of respecting the faith of the Greeks was more inspired to me in the History class, rather than the Theology class. We had remained Greeks and Christians after a devastating 400-year Turkish occupation, and we clearly owed that to the religious leaders of that time. So, although the Christian faith did not appeal to me, I felt it was my responsibility to show some gratitude by going to the church once in a while. But I never believed that, just by standing there in front of an elderly man dressed in gold who was reciting for two hours was bringing me any closer to salvation.
The huge gap between the message of the scriptures and their application on people’s lives was something that always made me very skeptical. For most of the times, I did agree with the teachings of the biblical stories. But the people around me did not practice what they learnt from the scriptures. Instead, they had invented their own traditional rituals with a lot of symbolic elements, to the extent that everything in their faith remained just that: a symbolism, and not an everyday practice outside the church.
I believed that all the Prophets mentioned in the Bible were indeed the Prophets of God, sent to deliver a divine message. However, this message is not clear in the Bible, and sometimes, it is dangerously contradicting. For example, the Old Testament lists a large number of commandments which Prophet Moses conveyed to his people. The Prophet suffered a lot to deliver these laws and to convince people to follow them. But nowadays we are told that we do not have to follow these laws, as our love for Jesus would be sufficient for our salvation. But wouldn’t it be unreasonable of God to make His dear Messenger go through all this, so that we discard His message today? One has to only see the effect of the prohibited things in the modern world. People are born with perfect lungs, yet they destroy them by smoking. Families fall apart, wives get abused, children become orphans because of some pints of alcohol. And we still think there is no necessity to exclude these from our lives.
Imagine you are a teenager and your parents had to go away for some time. For your own good, they appointed your uncle to keep an eye on you. Your father said to your uncle: “Please, make sure he comes home early, does his homework, does not mix with bad companies, and does not do anything that is wrong”. They then go away. But your uncle does not prove as reliable as your parents thought. Instead, he tells you to do whatever you like. Because you consider your uncle a credible source, you take advantage of the liberties you are given. So, you are getting yourself into real trouble and end up being in a really bad state. Now, although your parents are far away, they can in fact see everything that you do because, if you like, they have installed CCTV cameras all around the house. How would you react if years later you found out they knew you were in this state, yet did not do anything to help you or protect you? Because, being a parent is not just someone that brings you into this world, it is also someone with the responsibility to nurture you and keep you away from evil things. Would you agree that, in that case your parents did not fulfill their responsibility as parents?
The relationship between God and man is similar to the one between parent and child. Through the prophets He gradually introduced us to a number of laws so that we can find peace in this life and get the reward of another life. Our first lesson was the story of Adam and Eve, where we learn that there is an abundance of good things but also a portion of bad things, of which we should be aware and protect ourselves from. The Holy Bible contains the truth, but some parts of it are distorted, either deliberately or by genuine mistake. And by observing people, I found that they preferred the distorted parts and hence, were led astray.
My perception of God was always a God who is Perfect, a God who fulfills His responsibility towards His creation, just as a good parent fulfills his responsibility towards his child. So, I found it irresponsible of God that He would conclude His revelation to us with a book which has so much misguidance in it. How could He stand seeing us falling into sin, disputing with one another on whether He is one or three, without putting the record straight? But on the other hand, I really believed that Christianity was the closest to the truth. I never attempted to study Buddhism, Hinduism or the similar faiths; I believed in Jesus and the rest of the Prophets, and I would be denying them by doing so. Islam had fallen under the same category, because I did not know at the time that Muslims accept all prophets, from Adam to Jesus, and finally Muhammad. In fear of loosing my faith that there is even a God, I remember myself saying, ‘God, show me your true guidance and I will follow it with my heart and soul’. I honestly did not think that God was listening at that moment, but the events of the years to follow proved that God was listening very carefully indeed.
I decided to study graphic design when I was 13, after reading an article about it. Four years later my dream almost reached a dead-end; to be admitted to the university I had to pass tests on maths, physics and chemistry, the subjects I was the worst at. Knowing that I was bound to fail if I followed that route, I started looking anxiously for alternatives. Somebody suggested studying in UK, which I mentioned to my parents. To my surprise, my parents were willing to make the sacrifice and let me go. Although my preparation included 70 hours of studying per week, I realised I was going only when I got to the airport to catch my flight. Most students take a parent with them for the first-day difficulties. I did not do that, because I wanted to avoid becoming too sentimental about the whole experience.
Adjustment did not prove difficult for me, and I probably have my mother to thank for that. She always insisted that I learn foreign languages and at the age of nine I had my first penpal. I grew to correspond with people from all around the world, different cultures, different faiths – a very exciting experience. During my first months in the UK my circle consisted predominately by Greek people. But soon I felt unhappy and wanted to take full advantage of the potential by meeting non-Greek people. Naturally, I left that circle and started interacting with other, to my view, much more interesting people.
Amongst these people was a Muslim student that I had met from the first day there. We used to run into each other all the time; he was always polite and very tactful. Although we were coming from very different backgrounds, we were in the same wavelength and we used to agree in everything apart from religion – I thought. He knew I was very negative about Islam but one day he decided to address the issue of religion in a very delicate manner. He asked me to explain to him the theory of the Trinity and how Jesus can be the son of God.
Under other circumstances I would not make much effort to answer, but that day I really tried my best. I told him everything I had learnt in school and I analysed all the different methodologies that reach the conclusion that there is a Trinity. However, he always managed to answer back with a better argument, because as I discovered later, he knew more about Christianity than me. In a moment of absolute frustration, I uttered these honest words: “If you want to know about the Trinity, you better ask someone who really believes in it. Because I do not believe that Jesus is the son of God, my instinct tells me that he was just a Prophet”. On that he replied, “This is what we believe”. That second my journey in discovering Islam had begun.
I did not allow my friend to preach me about Islam. My whole life I was being preached at and I did not like it - this time I was after constructive dialogue. He was superb in debating and great help in explaining things; two qualities I appreciated much more than preaching. This way I did not feel that I was being led at something or being brainwashed; I followed my own pace. I started studying the basics of Islam, which I compared with Christianity. I never knew there were so many similarities between these two religions. Just as Christianity is the next step from Judaism, only that the Jewish people do not accept Jesus, in the same way Islam is the next step from Christianity, only that the Christians do not accept Muhammad. The main principle of Islam is that there is only one God and Muhammad is His Messenger. I agreed many times with this principle but I kept on studying, sincerely hoping that Muhammad would have said or taught something I did not approve of. But whenever I found such points, after studying them in detail, I discovered that there was always a perfectly reasonable explanation behind them.
Having agreed with the basics, I moved on studying more complicated issues. If I were to accept this faith I wanted to eliminate the chance of regretting it by learning as much as possible about it. As I kept on reading, not only I found in words what I already felt in my heart, but something even more complete in a miraculous way. The authenticity of the message, the wisdom in the divine commandments, the scientific evidence, all added up into a system that could have never been invented by man. This ‘system’ not only solved the problems that I had identified in the Holy Bible, but it unveiled a whole new perspective in leading a life where religion is actually a way of life and not just a part of the jigsaw. Furthermore, if one were to study the commandments in the Bible and then objectively observe the Christians and the Muslims, he would find that the Muslims follow it more to the word, and hence the Muslims are better ‘Christians’ than the Christians.
My conversion to Islam happened in three stages. In the first stage I could see that Islam is a better religion than Christianity, but was scared to admit it. In the second stage I managed to fight my prejudice towards Islam and be honest with myself by saying, “Yes, Islam is definitely better”. But then I did not want to imitate the hypocrites, who say they believe in one thing, yet they do not act upon it or do the opposite. If I really believed that I am a sincere person who does not set double-standards, that was the time to prove it. So, I decided to accept and act upon the truth to which I was guided, and that was the final stage of my conversion.
It took me some time to get used to the idea that I was a Muslim now, but the knowledge I was acquainted with over the years gave me great confidence. Being in peace with my consciousness gave me the strength to deal with any problems that were to come. Unfortunately though, I was so excited over discovering Islam that I thought all Muslims appreciated this gift and honoured it by acting upon it to the letter. Many converts say that if they were to judge Islam by the people and not by the Book, they would have never become Muslims. Indeed, I met many Muslims who looked very religious, yet gave to Islam a bad name by following their cultural tendencies or their individual desires. Some instead of giving support to new Muslims, try to push them towards their own deviated groups that take people outside the fold of Islam. And some even find it difficult to accept that a convert may know more than a born Muslim, and hold grudges when they see that their advice is not followed. But God is all-praiseworthy, who made it a test and a learning experience for me, out of which I came out stronger. For now I can distinguish the good and sincere Muslims, who have good intention in their hearts and many good deeds in their account with the Lord.
I did not make any formal announcement to my family about my conversion; I always considered religion to be a very private thing and had grown to detest the fact that many people in Greece use religion as a social security system. All the people who accept Islam and act upon it notice a good change in their personality. The same happened to me, but unfortunately went unnoticed in my family, because I was always known as a well-mannered and disciplined child. Yet I had changed considerably; I was more patient with people, I was able to resolve arguments in a grown-up manner, I was less stressed and more positive about life. I had gone through problems, I had asked God’s help, even through routes that I found impossible, and He did it for me, He protected me and guided me. And when God is your friend and your helper, you should not fear anything.
My family did not notice all that. But they noticed changes in my diet, my dressing code and my social circle. I did not try to hide the fact I was a Muslim, but I did not make it obvious either. Besides, I was gradually introducing myself into practicing Islam, and I thought that gradual progress is something that works well with everyone. Many children forget that parents are the people who have seen you growing and know you best; and I was not such a child. I could soon sense that my parents knew – my father knew and accepted it, my mother knew and tried to deny it by not thinking about the possibility of it. A convert has to be very sensitive on this issue. Some parents get shocked when their child decides to abandon a major part of the family’s identity. They start blaming themselves, thinking that they were not good parents, thus the child is punishing them by denying the principles that they cultivated in him/her. This is not the case. As other converts’ parents, my parents also brought me up very well, giving me a Christian education because they sincerely believed that it was the best for me. But in school you also learn to build up arguments by weighing the pros and the cons, finally coming to a judgment of whether something is beneficial or not. This is the key to survival in life; if we did this more often, we would save ourselves from a lot of trouble. And this is exactly what I have done. I have put Christianity on one side of the scale, and Islam on the other – and Islam, to my surprise, is a clear winner.
It is not a crucial issue for me whether or not my family accepts the fact that I am a Muslim, because I will always find ways to practice my religion and therefore have peace within myself. If they do not accept it now, they will accept it as years go past, when my ongoing commitment to Islam will be getting more and more obvious. The more I read and learn, the surer I become that I made the right decision – a solid proof that this is not a phase. However, holding on to the reality that I am still the same person, is very essential to me. Unfortunately, a person may be known as sensible and responsible throughout the years, yet when s/he decides to follow a route opposite the establishment, he gets stripped off these qualities. It is an example of the double standards that get applied as a common practice nowadays, but it is only a self-defense mechanism people use to create the pretense that an issue is not there, therefore they do not have to deal with it. I had people around me who knew me very well, had acknowledged the maturity in me and had declared their full trust in me. However, when the news reached them, I became this far-too-young person to take such mature decisions, who had been brainwashed and had no independent will. Hence, a conversion like this is also a real test for relationships, which can have shockingly disappointing outcomes that one ought to be prepared for.
Here it might be interesting to add that after having studied Islam and Christianity for years, I have come up with my own terminology on what makes someone a Muslim or a Christian. A Muslim is someone who believes and accepts the teachings of the Holy Qur’an wholeheartedly; therefore I am confident that I am a Muslim because I do not reject any part of the Qur’an. Similarly, a Christian is someone who accepts the Holy Bible wholeheartedly, but I rarely meet people like that. I personally do not perceive my family as Christian anymore, because each one of them follows his/her own version of Christianity, whether they realise it or not. My mother says that she accepts and believes the Bible, but her whole life has denied studying it, because “belief should be free of investigation”. Therefore, in my view, she does not really know what she believes in. My father also says he accepts the Bible, but uses his intellect to reject parts of it that his own logic does not agree with. My sister’s faith is the most obvious example of all, as she totally rejects the Old Testament because of its content, believes in Trinity, yet when in hardship she does not turn to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit, but to Virgin Mary. So the ‘Trinity’ becomes ‘Tetranity’.
I think there are two main reasons for filtering and adjusting a religion to our own liking; (a) we have misunderstood the principle of religion and therefore we exploit it to our own advantage, or (b) we realise the importance of religion so well that we are prepared to scrutinize it and filter it using the intellect that God has gifted us with. But in this case, when changing it, we indirectly admit that this religion is not perfect. The question is: will we be honest with ourselves and ask for guidance, or will we continue to live in uncertainty because we fear change? Would God really create this perfect world for us to live in, but according to an imperfect system? My hope is that one day my family will raise these questions, but for the time being, they regard themselves as Christians and I ought to respect that. When I go back home, I practice what we are told in the Qur’an: “Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion”, (109:6). Therefore, I put no burden on them, but in return I expect them to put no burden on me, in order to have an ongoing healthy relationship. I do not think that religion is the cause for the evil wars that happen throughout history, but it is the people’s unwillingness to be patient and tolerant with each other.
Before I got to know about Islam, I had created my own framework of what I perceived the perfect religion to be like. I judged everything I learnt and saw according to that; if something did not fit to my own framework, I would reject it, otherwise, I would accept it. Many times I struggled to protect my own framework against the external influences, in order to keep it in the same condition as when I was little – simple and pure. In hindsight I realise that I was protecting the instinct that is granted to every human being, the belief in One God and the will to worship Him only. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “Every child is born with a true faith of Islam (i.e. to worship none but Allah Alone, the One and only God) but his parents convert him to Judaism, Christianity or Paganism.” I believe that the people who convert to Islam are the people who guard this instinct with honesty and know that there is a perfect religion somewhere out there, although they have not heard about it yet. So God rewards them for their honesty and grants them what they have been hoping for. And the people who are lost are those who deny to admit God’s Perfection, thus do not expect anything perfect from Him.
And when it is said to them: “Come to what Allah has revealed and unto the Messenger Muhammad”, they say: “Enough for us is that which we found our fathers following”, even though their fathers had no knowledge whatsoever, and no guidance?
Sura 5 - Al-Maeda [The Table, The Table Spread] Verse 104-104:
104. وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا إِلَى مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ قَالُوا حَسْبُنَا مَا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لا يَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَلا يَهْتَدُونَ
Sura 5 - Al-Maeda [The Table, The Table Spread] Verse 104-104:
104. When it is said to them: "Come to what Allah hath revealed; come to the Messenger": They say: "Enough for us are the ways we found our fathers following." what! even though their fathers were void of knowledge and guidance?
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Allah is the Best Planner
Allah is the Best Planner
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
The story of how I reverted to al Islam is a story of plans. I made plans, the group I was with made plans, and Allah made plans. And Allah is the Best of Planners. When I was a teenager, I came to the attention of a group of people with a very sinister agenda. They were and probably still are a loose association of individuals who work in government positions but have a special agenda - to destroy Islam. It is not a governmental group that I am aware of, they simply use their positions in the US government to advance their cause.
One member of this group approached me because he saw that I was articulate, motivated and very much the women's rights advocate. He told me that if I studied International Relations with an emphasis in the Middle East, he would guarantee me a job at the American Embassy in Egypt. He wanted me to eventually go there to use my position in the country to talk to Muslim women and encourage the fledgling women's rights movement. I thought this was a great idea. I had seen the Muslim women on TV; I knew they were a poor oppressed group, and I wanted to lead them to the light of 20th century freedom.
With this intention, I went to college and began my education. I studied Quraan, hadith and Islamic history. I also studied the ways I could use this information. I learned how to twist the words to say what I wanted them to say. It was a valuable tool. Once I started learning, however, I began to be intrigued by this message. It made sense. That was very scary. Therefore, in order to counteract this effect, I began to take classes in Christianity. I chose to take classes with this one professor on campus because he had a good reputation and he had a Ph.D. in Theology from Harvard University. I felt I was in good hands. I was, but not for the reasons I thought. It turns out that this professor was a Unitarian Christian. He did not believe in the trinity or the divinity of Jesus. In actuality, he believed that Jesus was a prophet.
He proceeded to prove this by taking the Bible from its sources in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic and show where they were changed. As he did this, he showed the historical events which shaped and followed these changes. By the time I finished this class, my deen had been destroyed, but I was still not ready to accept Islam. As time went on, I continued to study, for myself and for my future career. This took about three years. In this time, I would question Muslims about their beliefs. One of the individuals I questioned was a Muslim brother with the MSA. Alhamdulillah, he saw my interest in the deen, and made it a personal effort to educate me about Islam. May Allah increase his reward. He would give me dawaa at every opportunity which presented itself.
One day, this man contacts me, and he tells me about a group of Muslims who were visiting in town. He wanted me to meet them. I agreed. I went to meet with them after ishaa prayer. I was led to a room with at least 20 men in it. They all made space for me to sit, and I was placed face to face with an elderly Pakistani gentleman. Mashallah, this brother was a very knowledgeable man in matters of Christianity. He and I discussed and argued the varying parts of the bible and the Quraan until the fajr. At this point, after having listened to this wise man tell me what I already knew, based on the class I had taken in Christianity, he did what no other individual had ever done. He invited me to become a Muslim. In the three years I had been searching and researching, no one had ever invited me. I had been taught, argued with and even insulted, but never invited. May Allah guide us all. So when he invited me, it clicked. I realized this was the time. I knew it was the truth, and I had to make a decision. Alhamdulillah, Allah opened my heart, and I said, "Yes. I want to be a Muslim." With that, the man led me in the shahadah - in English and in Arabic. I swear by Allah that when I took the shahadah, I felt the strangest sensation. I felt as if a huge, physical weight had just been lifted off my chest; I gasped for breath as if I were breathing for the first time in my life. Alhamdulillah, Allah had given me a new life - a clean slate - a chance for Jennah, and I pray that I live the rest of my days and die as a Muslim. Ameen.
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
The story of how I reverted to al Islam is a story of plans. I made plans, the group I was with made plans, and Allah made plans. And Allah is the Best of Planners. When I was a teenager, I came to the attention of a group of people with a very sinister agenda. They were and probably still are a loose association of individuals who work in government positions but have a special agenda - to destroy Islam. It is not a governmental group that I am aware of, they simply use their positions in the US government to advance their cause.
One member of this group approached me because he saw that I was articulate, motivated and very much the women's rights advocate. He told me that if I studied International Relations with an emphasis in the Middle East, he would guarantee me a job at the American Embassy in Egypt. He wanted me to eventually go there to use my position in the country to talk to Muslim women and encourage the fledgling women's rights movement. I thought this was a great idea. I had seen the Muslim women on TV; I knew they were a poor oppressed group, and I wanted to lead them to the light of 20th century freedom.
With this intention, I went to college and began my education. I studied Quraan, hadith and Islamic history. I also studied the ways I could use this information. I learned how to twist the words to say what I wanted them to say. It was a valuable tool. Once I started learning, however, I began to be intrigued by this message. It made sense. That was very scary. Therefore, in order to counteract this effect, I began to take classes in Christianity. I chose to take classes with this one professor on campus because he had a good reputation and he had a Ph.D. in Theology from Harvard University. I felt I was in good hands. I was, but not for the reasons I thought. It turns out that this professor was a Unitarian Christian. He did not believe in the trinity or the divinity of Jesus. In actuality, he believed that Jesus was a prophet.
He proceeded to prove this by taking the Bible from its sources in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic and show where they were changed. As he did this, he showed the historical events which shaped and followed these changes. By the time I finished this class, my deen had been destroyed, but I was still not ready to accept Islam. As time went on, I continued to study, for myself and for my future career. This took about three years. In this time, I would question Muslims about their beliefs. One of the individuals I questioned was a Muslim brother with the MSA. Alhamdulillah, he saw my interest in the deen, and made it a personal effort to educate me about Islam. May Allah increase his reward. He would give me dawaa at every opportunity which presented itself.
One day, this man contacts me, and he tells me about a group of Muslims who were visiting in town. He wanted me to meet them. I agreed. I went to meet with them after ishaa prayer. I was led to a room with at least 20 men in it. They all made space for me to sit, and I was placed face to face with an elderly Pakistani gentleman. Mashallah, this brother was a very knowledgeable man in matters of Christianity. He and I discussed and argued the varying parts of the bible and the Quraan until the fajr. At this point, after having listened to this wise man tell me what I already knew, based on the class I had taken in Christianity, he did what no other individual had ever done. He invited me to become a Muslim. In the three years I had been searching and researching, no one had ever invited me. I had been taught, argued with and even insulted, but never invited. May Allah guide us all. So when he invited me, it clicked. I realized this was the time. I knew it was the truth, and I had to make a decision. Alhamdulillah, Allah opened my heart, and I said, "Yes. I want to be a Muslim." With that, the man led me in the shahadah - in English and in Arabic. I swear by Allah that when I took the shahadah, I felt the strangest sensation. I felt as if a huge, physical weight had just been lifted off my chest; I gasped for breath as if I were breathing for the first time in my life. Alhamdulillah, Allah had given me a new life - a clean slate - a chance for Jennah, and I pray that I live the rest of my days and die as a Muslim. Ameen.
Para leer mi cuento en Espanol, toque aqui.
Ali Molina
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful
Para leer mi cuento en Espanol, toque aqui.
My name is Ali, I’m a 29 year old Mexican American or as some would say a Chicano.
People have a wrong perception About Islam and Muslims, what little they know is usually from movies and television which is almost all the time false.
My life before was bad, I had no direction in life. I was wasting my life away by dropping out of school in the 11th grade. I would hang out in the streets with my friends “partying” getting high, drinking and selling marijuana, most of my friends were gang members, I myself was never in a gang. I knew most of them before they were criminals and drug dealers so it was not a problem. I slowly began to use harder drugs, I had dreams but they seemed to far away for me to make them reality. The more I became depressed the more I turned to drugs as a temporary escape.
One day A friend of mine told me that he knew where to get some good marijuana, I was eager to sample and buy some so I agreed to go check it out. We arrived and went inside this apartment there were a couple of people inside, we sat around and talked for a while and “sampled” the weed. My friend and I bought some and were getting ready to leave when my friend said one of the guys there invited us to his apartment to give him a book.
We left for this guy’s apartment when we got there, he gave my friend a book and asked him to read it, and said that it might help him out with his problems in life. On the way home I asked my friend to show me the book that the guy gave him, it was the Qur’an (Koran).
I had never in my life heard of The Holy Qur’an, I began to briefly read some pages while I was reading I knew that what I was reading was true, it was like a slap in the face, a wake up call. The Qur’an is so clear and easy to understand. I was really impressed and wanted to know more about Islam and Muslims.
The strangest thing is that I was not looking for a new Religion, I used to laugh at people that went to church, and some times said that there was no God. Although deep down I knew there was. I decided to go to the library a couple of days later and check out the Qur’an. I began to read it and study it, I learned About Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him) and the true story of Jesus son of Mary(Peace be upon him). The Qur’an stressed the fact that God was one and had no partners or a son, this was most interesting to me since I never understood the concept of the trinity. The Qur’an describes the birth of Prophet Jesus (P.B.U.H.) and his mission. There is also a Surah (Chapter) called Mary and tells her story as well.
As a child I always went to church, my mother was a Seventh day Adventist and took my sister and me every Saturday. I never was really religious and stopped going to church when I was about 14 or 15.The rest of my family is Catholic, I always wondered why we were Seventh day Adventist and the rest of my family was Catholic. When we would go visit my family back in Mexico, we went to a Catholic church for weddings and Quencenira’s (sweet 16 celebration).
Muhammed (peace be upon him) is the last Messenger of God sent to all mankind. The Qur’an tells the story’s of all the Prophets such as Adam, Abraham, Noah, Isaac, David, Moses, Jesus (Peace be upon them all) told in a clear and understandable manner. I did months of research on Islam I bought a Holy Qur’an at a bookstore and studied about World History and Islam’s contributions to Medicine and Science.
I learned that Spain was a Muslim country for about 800 years and that when the Muslims were expelled from Spain by the Christian king and Queen (Ferdanand and Isabela), the Christian Spaniards came to Mexico and forced the Aztecs and others to become Catholic, history and my Islamic roots was all becoming clear to me.
After months of study and research I could not deny the truth anymore I had put it off too long, but was still living the life I was before and knew that if I became Muslim I had to give all that up. One day while reading the Qur’an, I began to cry and fell to my knees and thanked Allah for guiding me to the truth. I found out that there was a Mosque by my house so I went one Friday to see how Muslims prayed and conducted their service. I saw that people from all races and colors attended the Mosque. I saw that they took off their shoes when entering and sat on the carpeted floor. A man got up and began to call the Adthan (call for prayer) when I heard it my eyes filled up with tears it sounded so beautiful, it was all so strange at first but seemed so right at the same time. Islam is not just a Religion but a way of life.
After going a couple of Fridays I was ready to be a Muslim and say my Shahada (declaration of faith).
I told the Khatib (person giving the lecture) that I wanted to be a Muslim, the following Friday in front of the community I said my Shahada first in Arabic then in English: I bear witness that there is no other God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammed (P.B.U.H) is His Messenger.
When I finished a Brother shouted Takbir! And all the community said Allah O Akbar! (God is great!) a few times, then all the Brothers came and hugged me. I never received so many hugs in one day, I will never forget that day it was great. I have been Muslim since 1997, I’m at peace with myself and clear in Religion, being Muslim has really changed my life for the better thanks to Almighty God. I received my G.E.D. and work in the computer field.
I had the blessing of being able to perform Hajj (Pilgrimage) to the Holy city of Mecca, it was an experience of a lifetime, about three million people from every race and color in one place worshiping one God. It’s amazing! Alhamdulilla in December of 2002 I got married in Morocco to a very good Muslim woman.
I think that Islam is the answer for the problems of the youth and society in general. I hope my story Insha’Allah (God willing) will attract more Latinos and people of all races to the light of Islam.
Sura 22 - Al-Hajj [The Pilgrimage] Verse 6-6:
6. ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْحَقُّ وَأَنَّهُ يُحْيِي الْمَوْتَى وَأَنَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
Sura 22 - Al-Hajj [The Pilgrimage] Verse 6-6:
6. This is so, because Allah is the Reality: it is He Who gives life to the dead, and it is He Who has power over all things.
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful
Para leer mi cuento en Espanol, toque aqui.
My name is Ali, I’m a 29 year old Mexican American or as some would say a Chicano.
People have a wrong perception About Islam and Muslims, what little they know is usually from movies and television which is almost all the time false.
My life before was bad, I had no direction in life. I was wasting my life away by dropping out of school in the 11th grade. I would hang out in the streets with my friends “partying” getting high, drinking and selling marijuana, most of my friends were gang members, I myself was never in a gang. I knew most of them before they were criminals and drug dealers so it was not a problem. I slowly began to use harder drugs, I had dreams but they seemed to far away for me to make them reality. The more I became depressed the more I turned to drugs as a temporary escape.
One day A friend of mine told me that he knew where to get some good marijuana, I was eager to sample and buy some so I agreed to go check it out. We arrived and went inside this apartment there were a couple of people inside, we sat around and talked for a while and “sampled” the weed. My friend and I bought some and were getting ready to leave when my friend said one of the guys there invited us to his apartment to give him a book.
We left for this guy’s apartment when we got there, he gave my friend a book and asked him to read it, and said that it might help him out with his problems in life. On the way home I asked my friend to show me the book that the guy gave him, it was the Qur’an (Koran).
I had never in my life heard of The Holy Qur’an, I began to briefly read some pages while I was reading I knew that what I was reading was true, it was like a slap in the face, a wake up call. The Qur’an is so clear and easy to understand. I was really impressed and wanted to know more about Islam and Muslims.
The strangest thing is that I was not looking for a new Religion, I used to laugh at people that went to church, and some times said that there was no God. Although deep down I knew there was. I decided to go to the library a couple of days later and check out the Qur’an. I began to read it and study it, I learned About Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him) and the true story of Jesus son of Mary(Peace be upon him). The Qur’an stressed the fact that God was one and had no partners or a son, this was most interesting to me since I never understood the concept of the trinity. The Qur’an describes the birth of Prophet Jesus (P.B.U.H.) and his mission. There is also a Surah (Chapter) called Mary and tells her story as well.
As a child I always went to church, my mother was a Seventh day Adventist and took my sister and me every Saturday. I never was really religious and stopped going to church when I was about 14 or 15.The rest of my family is Catholic, I always wondered why we were Seventh day Adventist and the rest of my family was Catholic. When we would go visit my family back in Mexico, we went to a Catholic church for weddings and Quencenira’s (sweet 16 celebration).
Muhammed (peace be upon him) is the last Messenger of God sent to all mankind. The Qur’an tells the story’s of all the Prophets such as Adam, Abraham, Noah, Isaac, David, Moses, Jesus (Peace be upon them all) told in a clear and understandable manner. I did months of research on Islam I bought a Holy Qur’an at a bookstore and studied about World History and Islam’s contributions to Medicine and Science.
I learned that Spain was a Muslim country for about 800 years and that when the Muslims were expelled from Spain by the Christian king and Queen (Ferdanand and Isabela), the Christian Spaniards came to Mexico and forced the Aztecs and others to become Catholic, history and my Islamic roots was all becoming clear to me.
After months of study and research I could not deny the truth anymore I had put it off too long, but was still living the life I was before and knew that if I became Muslim I had to give all that up. One day while reading the Qur’an, I began to cry and fell to my knees and thanked Allah for guiding me to the truth. I found out that there was a Mosque by my house so I went one Friday to see how Muslims prayed and conducted their service. I saw that people from all races and colors attended the Mosque. I saw that they took off their shoes when entering and sat on the carpeted floor. A man got up and began to call the Adthan (call for prayer) when I heard it my eyes filled up with tears it sounded so beautiful, it was all so strange at first but seemed so right at the same time. Islam is not just a Religion but a way of life.
After going a couple of Fridays I was ready to be a Muslim and say my Shahada (declaration of faith).
I told the Khatib (person giving the lecture) that I wanted to be a Muslim, the following Friday in front of the community I said my Shahada first in Arabic then in English: I bear witness that there is no other God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammed (P.B.U.H) is His Messenger.
When I finished a Brother shouted Takbir! And all the community said Allah O Akbar! (God is great!) a few times, then all the Brothers came and hugged me. I never received so many hugs in one day, I will never forget that day it was great. I have been Muslim since 1997, I’m at peace with myself and clear in Religion, being Muslim has really changed my life for the better thanks to Almighty God. I received my G.E.D. and work in the computer field.
I had the blessing of being able to perform Hajj (Pilgrimage) to the Holy city of Mecca, it was an experience of a lifetime, about three million people from every race and color in one place worshiping one God. It’s amazing! Alhamdulilla in December of 2002 I got married in Morocco to a very good Muslim woman.
I think that Islam is the answer for the problems of the youth and society in general. I hope my story Insha’Allah (God willing) will attract more Latinos and people of all races to the light of Islam.
Sura 22 - Al-Hajj [The Pilgrimage] Verse 6-6:
6. ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْحَقُّ وَأَنَّهُ يُحْيِي الْمَوْتَى وَأَنَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
Sura 22 - Al-Hajj [The Pilgrimage] Verse 6-6:
6. This is so, because Allah is the Reality: it is He Who gives life to the dead, and it is He Who has power over all things.
Formerly ‘Stewart Humes’ Australian Aboriginal
Abdur Rahman
(Formerly ‘Stewart Humes’ Australian Aboriginal)
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
I would like to go back in time and tell you a little bit about my history.
My culture is one of the oldest cultures in the world. I love creation. The history of aboriginal people, we connect so close to the Earth, that we are like the Earth. In my younger days as a child I grew up knowing about the mysteries and spirits, that everything that is made in creation has a spirit, a formed spirit, that guides it and looks after it and also guides us.
When we walked night and day in the bush or wherever, we knew that there was a spirit, a powerful God, that looked over us, all the time. Then as I grew up I went to high school, was taken away to high school, then I met this other God, same God but in a different form, had to go to Church and pray. I also learnt about racism, I was taken and put in a hostel with about 180 children, 90 boys and 90 girls. It was frightening really in a way because I didn’t know anybody and I didn’t know what to expect, but I stayed there for three years, and in that three years I learnt about God, Jesus and I learnt about other races. I learnt how to be hurtful, I learnt how to make people cry and it was sad really because where I come from, we were all sort of one, the white children and the black children grew up together, sort of as one family.
I left high school and then I went back home. I worked and then I wanted to know God more. I got baptized in the Church of England and I wanted to know more about God, so I read the Bible a bit, and had meetings with people and I still had my Aboriginal God too, spirits, and it was very hard to know that there is this other God, that is the same God you know? Anyway, I went to heaps of Churches. I went to the Catholic Church, the Methodists’ Church, and every Church that came from England, every church that came from America, I was a part of it. I went from one Church to another, trying to find this God. In 1967 I went to the University of Western Australia, that’s where I met Brother Mohammed Rais.
Brother Rais is a Muslim (revert) now. Anyway I knew that I had to find something because I became kind of ruff, for ten years, I became like a madman, I’m only small but I’ve done some things, some real bad things, and I needed to find a God, so I tried again, I went to people, to houses, people would slam doors on your face. I was a person, I had a hard life, I wanted everything to change for myself, so anyway I struggled on in life. I used to read the Bible to people, people used to come to me and ask me questions and I’d be out there talking about God and Jesus and I’d be fighting the next day. I would think why am I doing these things, when I know there’s someone more powerful, a God, that can help me?
So I was like in a washing machine, I was tumbling around, good times then the bad etc. I said I don’t want this, I want more good times in my life. I’d give talks at schools, and I’d tell children what to do and I wanted a better life for myself. So anyway, I met this lady. We were together for a while, then we fought, then we’d get back together again. Then we started looking into Muslims. I was with the lady that I’m now with, and I was going to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, one day a week. Then my family would come along and I’d go to the Jehovah Witnesses. I was a little mixed up as to where I was.
So anyway we went for a drive around and tried to find a Mosque. We went to one Mosque and I think it was the right time for me. We went away and we met another brother. The lady I’m with rang up one Brother and they said “Oh yes come around” so we went around and anyway his sister was home and he said can you wait outside and she’ll talk to your missus. And I thought this was a bit strange, because any other time everybody piles into the house, and don’t care less. Anyway, I was waiting outside. My missus spoke to the lady and her sister and we left. Then we were invited back again, and this time the Brother was there. We spoke to the brother, he was a very nice brother, and he told us as much as he could at that time about Islam, and about being a Muslim. I had about ten cups of tea! It was nice, and his wife was very nice.
So anyway we went to Thornlie Mosque, I was wandering around there and I met this brother and he said “I know you” and I said “You know me” and it was Brother Rais back from university in 1967. He was there. I remember I was at my Mum’s once and she got burnt and she was in hospital and he took me to the hospital to meet her. I nearly cried because he was such a nice person at the university, and I hadn’t seen him for so long, and I met some of the other brothers. I felt good you know, it was all men, ladies were one side and we were just having a yarn.
I’m not trying to put other churches down, but I feel this one. I feel better. When you’ve got the ladies and men altogether, you don’t know what’s going on, a lot of things happen in Churches. When you are with the brothers you know where you are, you find a place where you belong, and I felt that this is what I want, what I need in my life. So I went there for a time, and I said well I want to do this for myself, and I become a Muslim.
In the Quran, I hadn’t forgotten Jesus and the Prophets. I haven’t forgotten the followers of Allah, because they are all still in there. What I read in the Bible is still here in the Quran, and it makes me happy, it makes me feel good.
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) is something I need in my life. I read about his life, things he’d done and I feel free now, much freer than I used to feel.
I used to go to the Churches and I don’t know what sort of under arm I used to wear but nobody used to sit next to me. I said “gee” and I felt a little bit shy, but I didn’t worry. I don’t care what people are, I love them, because the Creator made them. He managed to love everybody and if you can’t love somebody with your heart, you can’t love Allah.
Allah created all things for all of us to enjoy, and I love creation.
When I look at creation, I see beauty. I see life. If you laugh with somebody, then someone’s laughing with you.
So I’d like to thank everybody for listening to what I’ve had to say.
Sura 46 - Al-Ahqaf [The Wind-curved Sandhills, The Dunes] Verse 4-4:
4. قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ مَا تَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَرُونِي مَاذَا خَلَقُوا مِنَ الأرْضِ أَمْ لَهُمْ شِرْكٌ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ اِئْتُونِي بِكِتَابٍ مِنْ قَبْلِ هَذَا أَوْ أَثَارَةٍ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
Sura 46 - Al-Ahqaf [The Wind-curved Sandhills, The Dunes] Verse 4-4:
4. Say: "Do ye see what it is ye invoke besides Allah? Show me what it is they have created on earth, or have they a share in the heavens bring me a book (revealed) before this, or any remnant of knowledge (ye may have), if ye are telling the truth!
(Formerly ‘Stewart Humes’ Australian Aboriginal)
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
I would like to go back in time and tell you a little bit about my history.
My culture is one of the oldest cultures in the world. I love creation. The history of aboriginal people, we connect so close to the Earth, that we are like the Earth. In my younger days as a child I grew up knowing about the mysteries and spirits, that everything that is made in creation has a spirit, a formed spirit, that guides it and looks after it and also guides us.
When we walked night and day in the bush or wherever, we knew that there was a spirit, a powerful God, that looked over us, all the time. Then as I grew up I went to high school, was taken away to high school, then I met this other God, same God but in a different form, had to go to Church and pray. I also learnt about racism, I was taken and put in a hostel with about 180 children, 90 boys and 90 girls. It was frightening really in a way because I didn’t know anybody and I didn’t know what to expect, but I stayed there for three years, and in that three years I learnt about God, Jesus and I learnt about other races. I learnt how to be hurtful, I learnt how to make people cry and it was sad really because where I come from, we were all sort of one, the white children and the black children grew up together, sort of as one family.
I left high school and then I went back home. I worked and then I wanted to know God more. I got baptized in the Church of England and I wanted to know more about God, so I read the Bible a bit, and had meetings with people and I still had my Aboriginal God too, spirits, and it was very hard to know that there is this other God, that is the same God you know? Anyway, I went to heaps of Churches. I went to the Catholic Church, the Methodists’ Church, and every Church that came from England, every church that came from America, I was a part of it. I went from one Church to another, trying to find this God. In 1967 I went to the University of Western Australia, that’s where I met Brother Mohammed Rais.
Brother Rais is a Muslim (revert) now. Anyway I knew that I had to find something because I became kind of ruff, for ten years, I became like a madman, I’m only small but I’ve done some things, some real bad things, and I needed to find a God, so I tried again, I went to people, to houses, people would slam doors on your face. I was a person, I had a hard life, I wanted everything to change for myself, so anyway I struggled on in life. I used to read the Bible to people, people used to come to me and ask me questions and I’d be out there talking about God and Jesus and I’d be fighting the next day. I would think why am I doing these things, when I know there’s someone more powerful, a God, that can help me?
So I was like in a washing machine, I was tumbling around, good times then the bad etc. I said I don’t want this, I want more good times in my life. I’d give talks at schools, and I’d tell children what to do and I wanted a better life for myself. So anyway, I met this lady. We were together for a while, then we fought, then we’d get back together again. Then we started looking into Muslims. I was with the lady that I’m now with, and I was going to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, one day a week. Then my family would come along and I’d go to the Jehovah Witnesses. I was a little mixed up as to where I was.
So anyway we went for a drive around and tried to find a Mosque. We went to one Mosque and I think it was the right time for me. We went away and we met another brother. The lady I’m with rang up one Brother and they said “Oh yes come around” so we went around and anyway his sister was home and he said can you wait outside and she’ll talk to your missus. And I thought this was a bit strange, because any other time everybody piles into the house, and don’t care less. Anyway, I was waiting outside. My missus spoke to the lady and her sister and we left. Then we were invited back again, and this time the Brother was there. We spoke to the brother, he was a very nice brother, and he told us as much as he could at that time about Islam, and about being a Muslim. I had about ten cups of tea! It was nice, and his wife was very nice.
So anyway we went to Thornlie Mosque, I was wandering around there and I met this brother and he said “I know you” and I said “You know me” and it was Brother Rais back from university in 1967. He was there. I remember I was at my Mum’s once and she got burnt and she was in hospital and he took me to the hospital to meet her. I nearly cried because he was such a nice person at the university, and I hadn’t seen him for so long, and I met some of the other brothers. I felt good you know, it was all men, ladies were one side and we were just having a yarn.
I’m not trying to put other churches down, but I feel this one. I feel better. When you’ve got the ladies and men altogether, you don’t know what’s going on, a lot of things happen in Churches. When you are with the brothers you know where you are, you find a place where you belong, and I felt that this is what I want, what I need in my life. So I went there for a time, and I said well I want to do this for myself, and I become a Muslim.
In the Quran, I hadn’t forgotten Jesus and the Prophets. I haven’t forgotten the followers of Allah, because they are all still in there. What I read in the Bible is still here in the Quran, and it makes me happy, it makes me feel good.
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) is something I need in my life. I read about his life, things he’d done and I feel free now, much freer than I used to feel.
I used to go to the Churches and I don’t know what sort of under arm I used to wear but nobody used to sit next to me. I said “gee” and I felt a little bit shy, but I didn’t worry. I don’t care what people are, I love them, because the Creator made them. He managed to love everybody and if you can’t love somebody with your heart, you can’t love Allah.
Allah created all things for all of us to enjoy, and I love creation.
When I look at creation, I see beauty. I see life. If you laugh with somebody, then someone’s laughing with you.
So I’d like to thank everybody for listening to what I’ve had to say.
Sura 46 - Al-Ahqaf [The Wind-curved Sandhills, The Dunes] Verse 4-4:
4. قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ مَا تَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَرُونِي مَاذَا خَلَقُوا مِنَ الأرْضِ أَمْ لَهُمْ شِرْكٌ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ اِئْتُونِي بِكِتَابٍ مِنْ قَبْلِ هَذَا أَوْ أَثَارَةٍ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
Sura 46 - Al-Ahqaf [The Wind-curved Sandhills, The Dunes] Verse 4-4:
4. Say: "Do ye see what it is ye invoke besides Allah? Show me what it is they have created on earth, or have they a share in the heavens bring me a book (revealed) before this, or any remnant of knowledge (ye may have), if ye are telling the truth!
Abdullah J. Armada
Abdullah J. Armada
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
Life. The very word conjures up images of events past and present, an infinite phantasmagoria of experiences, memories, and mental predictions, which we all go through.
What exactly is this experience of life? A dare? A quest? A random mix of experiences ending in inevitable, impersonal annihilation? Why does it seem that no matter how hard we’ve tried over the ages, man can’t seem to answer the questions as to where we are from, why we are here, and where we are going? The truth is that humankind has made numerous attempts throughout history to answer these questions and many attempts have come close while others have failed all together. The answer that man has formulated to these questions is religion. Religion and philosophy are attempts to answer these questions in the eyes of humankind. The world today is full of religions and different philosophies, some as old as Hinduism and some as young as Neo-Paganism, and this variety can be confusing to the elite few of my generation who seek the Truth. In an analytical sense, if one were to strip down all the major world religions to their essential core teachings, if one were to eliminate all the superfluous years and centuries of doctrine, dogma, corruption, innovation, etc. one would be left with one pure, pristine answer to the questions posed above. That answer, which everyone seeks, is God. Where are we from? God. Why are we here? God. Where are we going? God. Later, however, there comes another question. Namely, “how do we attain the peace and love we are all searching for?” Well, if the answer to the prior questions is God than it follows logically that in order to achieve the peace and love that God provides one must worship Him correctly. But again we are confronted with the same seemingly unsolvable conundrum, “with so many religions around, how do we know which one is correct?” There is only one answer, one system that has miraculously remained free of the corruption of human hands: Islam. Now, I could of course further elaborate and prove the existence of God, the legitimacy of Islam, etc. but I will opt to leave that for another writing, perhaps, and I will now describe my journey to Islam. I was born and raised as a Roman Catholic and I have attended Catholic schools all of my life, in fact, I still do. By the time I got to eighth grade I decided that the whole Christianity thing wasn’t working for me…call it my pacifistic adaptation of the usual angst-ridden teen rebellion. Essentially, I figured that I had been raised a Christian all my life and thus, in a sense, I had been indoctrinated into Christianity. So, I decided to try something else…some other way of viewing life. In summary, I tried many religions and each one lasted about one year. I was metaphorically caught in the eternal interplay of the spiritual “tennis court” of life. Most recently, I was Buddhist, and contrary to what most people believe, Buddhists do not worship the Buddha…in fact they have no “god”. Well, technically the Buddha never said you couldn’t believe in a “god” he just said it wasn’t required to attain enlightenment. Well, rather than go off on a tangent I will ask the reader to keep the last point in mind. What basically happened was that I started considering the existence of God. After all, it made logical sense to me, though rather than discuss that now, I’ll save it for a later time. Anyway, as I considered God I began to consider Islam because I had always had an incipient interest in Islam. I remember watching a video at school on world religions and I remember being so intrigued by the movements in the prayer, especially sujood…it was beautiful. I remember fighting that feeling inside of myself trying to convince myself that I was happy with the belief system I had. I remember looking at my compass, finding the direction of Mecca, and going through the little parts of the prayer movements that I knew always thinking, “If I were Muslim, this is what I’d do to pray.” I remember sounding out the shahada italicised in my “world religions” book thinking, “This would be what I’d say to become a Muslim.” I couldn’t explain why, but I was drawn to Islam and at the same time I fought that feeling because of fear. After September 11th, my interest was resurrected and with the money I saved I purchased “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam” by Yahiya J. Emerick. The book was amazing as it outlined everything in a comprehensive manner and made me realize that there were many misconceptions about Islam. Later, I purchased “The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an” by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. All this time, my interest in Islam grew and I was drawn even closer to it. Eventually, I called the 1877-WHY ISLAM information line, which I had called many times before. Originally, I was calling to ask a question about a verse I had read but I ended up telling the sister I was speaking to about my interest in Islam and the fear I felt because of my family. In summary, this sister gave me the push I needed to overcome my fear and convert (revert). I am eternally grateful to Allah for having put her in my life to help guide me to Islam. At this point, I can respond with confidence that the search, which I undertook to find the Truth has ended in success because the whole Truth, the whole culmination of my search can be summed up in one statement: Ashahadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa Ashahadu anna Muhammadun abduhu wa rasulu. I testify that there is no god but ALLAH and I also testify that Muhammad is His slave and messenger.
Sura 27 - An-Naml [The Ant, The Ants] Verse 2-2:
2. هُدًى وَبُشْرَى لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Sura 27 - An-Naml [The Ant, The Ants] Verse 2-2:
2. A guide: and glad tidings for the believers,-
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
Life. The very word conjures up images of events past and present, an infinite phantasmagoria of experiences, memories, and mental predictions, which we all go through.
What exactly is this experience of life? A dare? A quest? A random mix of experiences ending in inevitable, impersonal annihilation? Why does it seem that no matter how hard we’ve tried over the ages, man can’t seem to answer the questions as to where we are from, why we are here, and where we are going? The truth is that humankind has made numerous attempts throughout history to answer these questions and many attempts have come close while others have failed all together. The answer that man has formulated to these questions is religion. Religion and philosophy are attempts to answer these questions in the eyes of humankind. The world today is full of religions and different philosophies, some as old as Hinduism and some as young as Neo-Paganism, and this variety can be confusing to the elite few of my generation who seek the Truth. In an analytical sense, if one were to strip down all the major world religions to their essential core teachings, if one were to eliminate all the superfluous years and centuries of doctrine, dogma, corruption, innovation, etc. one would be left with one pure, pristine answer to the questions posed above. That answer, which everyone seeks, is God. Where are we from? God. Why are we here? God. Where are we going? God. Later, however, there comes another question. Namely, “how do we attain the peace and love we are all searching for?” Well, if the answer to the prior questions is God than it follows logically that in order to achieve the peace and love that God provides one must worship Him correctly. But again we are confronted with the same seemingly unsolvable conundrum, “with so many religions around, how do we know which one is correct?” There is only one answer, one system that has miraculously remained free of the corruption of human hands: Islam. Now, I could of course further elaborate and prove the existence of God, the legitimacy of Islam, etc. but I will opt to leave that for another writing, perhaps, and I will now describe my journey to Islam. I was born and raised as a Roman Catholic and I have attended Catholic schools all of my life, in fact, I still do. By the time I got to eighth grade I decided that the whole Christianity thing wasn’t working for me…call it my pacifistic adaptation of the usual angst-ridden teen rebellion. Essentially, I figured that I had been raised a Christian all my life and thus, in a sense, I had been indoctrinated into Christianity. So, I decided to try something else…some other way of viewing life. In summary, I tried many religions and each one lasted about one year. I was metaphorically caught in the eternal interplay of the spiritual “tennis court” of life. Most recently, I was Buddhist, and contrary to what most people believe, Buddhists do not worship the Buddha…in fact they have no “god”. Well, technically the Buddha never said you couldn’t believe in a “god” he just said it wasn’t required to attain enlightenment. Well, rather than go off on a tangent I will ask the reader to keep the last point in mind. What basically happened was that I started considering the existence of God. After all, it made logical sense to me, though rather than discuss that now, I’ll save it for a later time. Anyway, as I considered God I began to consider Islam because I had always had an incipient interest in Islam. I remember watching a video at school on world religions and I remember being so intrigued by the movements in the prayer, especially sujood…it was beautiful. I remember fighting that feeling inside of myself trying to convince myself that I was happy with the belief system I had. I remember looking at my compass, finding the direction of Mecca, and going through the little parts of the prayer movements that I knew always thinking, “If I were Muslim, this is what I’d do to pray.” I remember sounding out the shahada italicised in my “world religions” book thinking, “This would be what I’d say to become a Muslim.” I couldn’t explain why, but I was drawn to Islam and at the same time I fought that feeling because of fear. After September 11th, my interest was resurrected and with the money I saved I purchased “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam” by Yahiya J. Emerick. The book was amazing as it outlined everything in a comprehensive manner and made me realize that there were many misconceptions about Islam. Later, I purchased “The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an” by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. All this time, my interest in Islam grew and I was drawn even closer to it. Eventually, I called the 1877-WHY ISLAM information line, which I had called many times before. Originally, I was calling to ask a question about a verse I had read but I ended up telling the sister I was speaking to about my interest in Islam and the fear I felt because of my family. In summary, this sister gave me the push I needed to overcome my fear and convert (revert). I am eternally grateful to Allah for having put her in my life to help guide me to Islam. At this point, I can respond with confidence that the search, which I undertook to find the Truth has ended in success because the whole Truth, the whole culmination of my search can be summed up in one statement: Ashahadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa Ashahadu anna Muhammadun abduhu wa rasulu. I testify that there is no god but ALLAH and I also testify that Muhammad is His slave and messenger.
Sura 27 - An-Naml [The Ant, The Ants] Verse 2-2:
2. هُدًى وَبُشْرَى لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Sura 27 - An-Naml [The Ant, The Ants] Verse 2-2:
2. A guide: and glad tidings for the believers,-
Abdullah Islam (Formerly ‘Kevin Combes’ Was a Born Again Christian)
Abdullah Islam (Formerly ‘Kevin Combes’ Was a Born Again Christian)
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
To explain to you why I chose Islam, I have to go back before Islam and I was born into a Catholic Protestant family, my Father was Catholic my Mother was Protestant but as my Father ruled the house it was a Catholic family.
Now I rejected the Catholic belief at a young age and from then I basically rebelled against this strict lifestyle that I was brought up in. From there I ended up on the streets, doing drugs, all messed up drinking alcohol totally shot. I was dragged out of the gutter by a man who trained me to be a weight lifter, gave me pride back into myself and told me while I was training my body I had to seek a spiritual path as well because physically it’s not enough there must also be a spiritual part of your life. So from there I went on a journey searching all the different faiths and I ended up being a born again Protestant Pentecostal Christian, preaching Jesus to everyone and anyone who would listen and who wouldn’t listen, basically I became a Bible basher.
So from there I traveled overseas, preaching Jesus, and telling people how Jesus could change their lives, save their life and the whole thing, and I used to debate scripture with people. One brother, a Christian brother, who I led to Jesus come up against me in a debate just at work. He was going on about the Trinity and he pointed out to me a simple thing that the Holy Trinity didn’t come about until 325 years after the death of Christ. Ok that’s 325 years after the death of Jesus and the resurrection to some people. It was a political move by emperor Constantine at the first council of Nicaea (325 AD) to unite the Romans and the Christians together to give him a power base, he basically decreed that Jesus was God and the Roman Sun Gods, because what happened was basically that Greek Roman mythology took over Christianity; Christianity did not take over Greek Roman mythology. The Roman Sun God’s birthday, which was the 25th December became Jesus’ birthday. The Roman’s Sunday became the holy Sabbath, also the counsel agreed that Jesus was the Son of God, the only begotten Father, the very God of the very God. And it also declared the Trinitarian concept, the official doctrine of the Pauline Church, which is basically the Roman Catholic Church. Now if you understand the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant church, all the scriptures came from the Catholic Church, so all the canonical Gospels were in hands of the Catholics originally. They made the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, the only four Gospels. After that they went about destroying all the Hebrew Scriptures, there were over three hundred of them, written in the original Hebrew text and many of them were eyewitnesses accounts. So from there in 380 Emperor Constantinople of Rome made the Trinitarian base of belief, the Catholic faith obligatory to all his subjects, and it’s been that way since. That’s why Rome is the head of the faith. In 381 the counsel of Constantinople attended by 186 Bishops completed the three present head of the Trinity, and they added the God head of the Holy Spirit, and then from there in 381 Emperor Theodosius threatened to punish all that did not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. That’s why we have the basic Trinitarian doctrine of all Christian faiths today, except for a few who believe that Jesus was not God, Jesus was a Prophet of God, a messenger of God, similar to Islam. Now the implications of the Trinitarian doctrine are truly obvious, they have nothing to do with the original teachings of Jesus, so for me that was a major, major turning point in my Christian faith, because if Jesus didn’t become God until 325 years after his death, what can I say, simple, you know this is a man made thing.
So I went about while I was preaching Christianity, I was going to preach Christianity to the Muslims. That was my intention, and I started learning about Islam. You go to any Christian bookshop and you will find a whole shelf on Islam. You go to any Islamic bookshop or center you won’t find anything about Christianity. Well the Christians were too busy worrying about the Muslims and the Muslims were too busy getting on with their business. They’re not worried about Christians, honestly the Christians think that the Muslims want to take over the world and that they want to invade this country, and that they want to do all these crazy things; they think that they’re storing guns underneath their Mosques, I assure you I’ve been to every Mosque in Perth and there are no guns. They’re not terrorists, I don’t know a single terrorist. I have never met one, I don’t know any, I don’t know any with those views.
So as I went about studying Islam, while I was a Christian, I could see the similarities between Islam and the Bible. Many of the teachings in the Bible were not necessarily the words that were originally said, it was the actions. Like Moses, being told to take off his shoes when he entered Holy ground, now never once did I take off my shoes when going to Church. No one did. But yet you go to a Mosque and everyone takes off their shoes, for it is Holy ground. Moses on his knees before God, Now Brothers and Sisters of Islam forgive me if I do not say Allah, but I’m talking to the Christians, and I’ll just use the word God. Because Christians have a tendency to believe that they have their God, and then Allah is a totally separate God, but he is not, he is God. Allah means, the one true God. So God being the One true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Creator of all things, the Creator of you. Moses was on his knees before God, Daniel on his knees before God, Abraham on his knees before God, Jesus (peace be upon Him) on his knees before God. You go to any Mosque, they are all on their knees before God, Brother and Sisters. I go to a Church, we’re all dancing around in front of a band, like a rock and roll concert, waving our hands about in the air, this is not worship. This is rock and roll. Job accepting the will of God, good or bad. Read your scriptures, understand them, look at them. Pray morning, noon and night, the only time we prayed was going to Church on Sunday, you walk around talking, if you’re talking to God, you should have a true fear of God, understanding of him, who is the Creator, be down upon your knees, have your head in the sand.
To me these were all the things that I could see were not happening in the Church, but were happening in the Mosques; was happening in Islam. In I Thessalonians 5:17 it says pray without ceasing. Now I prayed in tongues, a gift from the Holy Spirit, this is babble, nothing more than babble. In Islam there is a prayer when you walk in through the door, a prayer when you walk out through the door, there is a prayer when you walk into the toilet, a prayer when you walk out, a prayer when you hop in your car, a prayer when you hop out, a prayer for everything. In Islam you pray without ceasing, every action in your life is dedicated to Allah (God). The reverence and the respect of God is not a circus act, hyped up by music and rock and roll bands. Playing and being told that the presence of God was in the place because we were all hyped up on this great music, in anointing of God simply meant that the band was playing all together, because when the band wasn’t playing, the anointing wasn’t going too well.
Now last time I spoke, I said what was Ishmael’s crime, I didn’t get to go into detail then, so now I’ll go into detail. What was Ishmael’s crime? As a Christian I was told it didn’t matter if my Mother was a prostitute, a drug addict, my father was a derelict or what ever, I accept that God accepts me, I bow down to God, I believe in God that if I totally accept him he will accept me, that it doesn’t matter where I’ve been or what I’ve done.
Yet in the Old Testament Ishmael was rejected because he was the son of a slave woman, according to the Old Testament. As the son of a slave woman, the promises of God were not attributed to him, because he was a son of a slave woman, what a contradiction in teachings. So what was his crime? None, he was born to a slave woman, yet he stills loves God, revered God, worshiped God.
I found the Quran to be the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard in the world. I didn’t understand it, but it was beautiful. When I actually read the English text… I can’t put it into words. It has no contradictions, yet the Bible is full of contradictions. Now I’m not beating up on Christianity here, I’m just telling the things that changed my life, and the direction that I was heading.
Islam is a solution to racism. A little story for you folks, Jesus was not White, blonde haired and blue eyed. He was not necessarily black, but he wasn’t white, he was somewhere in between. Equality of the sexes, I love the fact that Islam 1400 years ago made men equal to women, it’s only 50-60 years ago that women in Western countries actually got equal rights, and yet in Islam they always have had equal rights. Islam preaches tolerance of Christians and Jews. Now as a Christian I was told to love, but yet in their actions and in the actions of how we were, the only time we entertained a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Hindu is when we were trying to convert them. Now a Muslim will not Bible bash you or should I say Quran bash you, this statement does not exist in Islam, Quran bashing, because they don’t. If you wish to talk about it, they will talk about it, if you ask questions, they will talk to you about it. We as Muslims believe that you will come into the realization yourself, by the guidance of Allah (God).
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. All who were not Born again Christians were deceived by the devil and possessed by evil spirits, this is what I was taught.
In Islam we believe that not all Muslims are going to heaven, also that not all Christians and not all Jews will go to heaven; some Muslims, some Christians and some Jews will go to heaven; those who have a love for God and follow his ways and are righteous. But to a Born again Christian all I had to do was accept Jesus, and all my sins were washed away, and I was going to heaven, free ticket. Didn’t matter what I did wrong as long as I pleaded the blood of Jesus over myself, prayed, was repentant was still going to heaven, and everybody else wasn’t going there. Now who am I to make that choice? Who is this doctrine to make that choice? The only choice is by God. He decides who goes to heaven and who doesn’t go to heaven, no one else. And only God can forgive your sins, not a man that became God 325 years after he walked the Earth. God in all of his infinite wisdom and power and glory can forgive your sins, just like that. You don’t need to accept anything; you just need to be repentant. In the Quran it says;
“Who could be better in religion than one who submits his whole self to God, does good and follows the way of Abraham, the true in faith for God did take Abraham for a friend” [4:125]
It explains itself right there. What has happened to me since I have become a Muslim?
I’ve come out of the darkness and into the light; I’m a slave only to Allah. I have complete internal peace beyond all description, that I never found as a Christian.
Now it doesn’t matter if I am going through hassles in my job. Doesn’t matter if I am going through hassles everywhere else. It doesn’t matter if I am being discriminated against, because I am a Muslim, which has happened in this free democratic society that we live in, for I never experienced these things until I became a Muslim. Let me tell you something about discrimination people, you have no idea about discrimination unless you are being discriminated against. You can say “oh no he’s not being discriminated against” or she’s not being discriminated against, because you’re from the outside looking in. But when you are being discriminated against, when you are being harassed, you know it, not necessarily everybody else. Why did I choose Islam? Because I simply cannot deny the truth. Islam is the truth and the truth has set me free. Ash-hadu anlaa ilaha illa allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuuluh.
Thank you very much.
Sura 51 - Adh-Dhariyat [The Winnowing winds] Verse 23-23:
23. فَوَرَبِّ السَّمَاءِ وَالأرْضِ إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ مِثْلَ مَا أَنَّكُمْ تَنْطِقُونَ
Sura 51 - Adh-Dhariyat [The Winnowing winds] Verse 23-23:
23. Then, by the Lord of heaven and earth, this is the very Truth, as much as the fact that ye can speak intelligently to each other.
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
To explain to you why I chose Islam, I have to go back before Islam and I was born into a Catholic Protestant family, my Father was Catholic my Mother was Protestant but as my Father ruled the house it was a Catholic family.
Now I rejected the Catholic belief at a young age and from then I basically rebelled against this strict lifestyle that I was brought up in. From there I ended up on the streets, doing drugs, all messed up drinking alcohol totally shot. I was dragged out of the gutter by a man who trained me to be a weight lifter, gave me pride back into myself and told me while I was training my body I had to seek a spiritual path as well because physically it’s not enough there must also be a spiritual part of your life. So from there I went on a journey searching all the different faiths and I ended up being a born again Protestant Pentecostal Christian, preaching Jesus to everyone and anyone who would listen and who wouldn’t listen, basically I became a Bible basher.
So from there I traveled overseas, preaching Jesus, and telling people how Jesus could change their lives, save their life and the whole thing, and I used to debate scripture with people. One brother, a Christian brother, who I led to Jesus come up against me in a debate just at work. He was going on about the Trinity and he pointed out to me a simple thing that the Holy Trinity didn’t come about until 325 years after the death of Christ. Ok that’s 325 years after the death of Jesus and the resurrection to some people. It was a political move by emperor Constantine at the first council of Nicaea (325 AD) to unite the Romans and the Christians together to give him a power base, he basically decreed that Jesus was God and the Roman Sun Gods, because what happened was basically that Greek Roman mythology took over Christianity; Christianity did not take over Greek Roman mythology. The Roman Sun God’s birthday, which was the 25th December became Jesus’ birthday. The Roman’s Sunday became the holy Sabbath, also the counsel agreed that Jesus was the Son of God, the only begotten Father, the very God of the very God. And it also declared the Trinitarian concept, the official doctrine of the Pauline Church, which is basically the Roman Catholic Church. Now if you understand the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant church, all the scriptures came from the Catholic Church, so all the canonical Gospels were in hands of the Catholics originally. They made the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, the only four Gospels. After that they went about destroying all the Hebrew Scriptures, there were over three hundred of them, written in the original Hebrew text and many of them were eyewitnesses accounts. So from there in 380 Emperor Constantinople of Rome made the Trinitarian base of belief, the Catholic faith obligatory to all his subjects, and it’s been that way since. That’s why Rome is the head of the faith. In 381 the counsel of Constantinople attended by 186 Bishops completed the three present head of the Trinity, and they added the God head of the Holy Spirit, and then from there in 381 Emperor Theodosius threatened to punish all that did not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. That’s why we have the basic Trinitarian doctrine of all Christian faiths today, except for a few who believe that Jesus was not God, Jesus was a Prophet of God, a messenger of God, similar to Islam. Now the implications of the Trinitarian doctrine are truly obvious, they have nothing to do with the original teachings of Jesus, so for me that was a major, major turning point in my Christian faith, because if Jesus didn’t become God until 325 years after his death, what can I say, simple, you know this is a man made thing.
So I went about while I was preaching Christianity, I was going to preach Christianity to the Muslims. That was my intention, and I started learning about Islam. You go to any Christian bookshop and you will find a whole shelf on Islam. You go to any Islamic bookshop or center you won’t find anything about Christianity. Well the Christians were too busy worrying about the Muslims and the Muslims were too busy getting on with their business. They’re not worried about Christians, honestly the Christians think that the Muslims want to take over the world and that they want to invade this country, and that they want to do all these crazy things; they think that they’re storing guns underneath their Mosques, I assure you I’ve been to every Mosque in Perth and there are no guns. They’re not terrorists, I don’t know a single terrorist. I have never met one, I don’t know any, I don’t know any with those views.
So as I went about studying Islam, while I was a Christian, I could see the similarities between Islam and the Bible. Many of the teachings in the Bible were not necessarily the words that were originally said, it was the actions. Like Moses, being told to take off his shoes when he entered Holy ground, now never once did I take off my shoes when going to Church. No one did. But yet you go to a Mosque and everyone takes off their shoes, for it is Holy ground. Moses on his knees before God, Now Brothers and Sisters of Islam forgive me if I do not say Allah, but I’m talking to the Christians, and I’ll just use the word God. Because Christians have a tendency to believe that they have their God, and then Allah is a totally separate God, but he is not, he is God. Allah means, the one true God. So God being the One true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Creator of all things, the Creator of you. Moses was on his knees before God, Daniel on his knees before God, Abraham on his knees before God, Jesus (peace be upon Him) on his knees before God. You go to any Mosque, they are all on their knees before God, Brother and Sisters. I go to a Church, we’re all dancing around in front of a band, like a rock and roll concert, waving our hands about in the air, this is not worship. This is rock and roll. Job accepting the will of God, good or bad. Read your scriptures, understand them, look at them. Pray morning, noon and night, the only time we prayed was going to Church on Sunday, you walk around talking, if you’re talking to God, you should have a true fear of God, understanding of him, who is the Creator, be down upon your knees, have your head in the sand.
To me these were all the things that I could see were not happening in the Church, but were happening in the Mosques; was happening in Islam. In I Thessalonians 5:17 it says pray without ceasing. Now I prayed in tongues, a gift from the Holy Spirit, this is babble, nothing more than babble. In Islam there is a prayer when you walk in through the door, a prayer when you walk out through the door, there is a prayer when you walk into the toilet, a prayer when you walk out, a prayer when you hop in your car, a prayer when you hop out, a prayer for everything. In Islam you pray without ceasing, every action in your life is dedicated to Allah (God). The reverence and the respect of God is not a circus act, hyped up by music and rock and roll bands. Playing and being told that the presence of God was in the place because we were all hyped up on this great music, in anointing of God simply meant that the band was playing all together, because when the band wasn’t playing, the anointing wasn’t going too well.
Now last time I spoke, I said what was Ishmael’s crime, I didn’t get to go into detail then, so now I’ll go into detail. What was Ishmael’s crime? As a Christian I was told it didn’t matter if my Mother was a prostitute, a drug addict, my father was a derelict or what ever, I accept that God accepts me, I bow down to God, I believe in God that if I totally accept him he will accept me, that it doesn’t matter where I’ve been or what I’ve done.
Yet in the Old Testament Ishmael was rejected because he was the son of a slave woman, according to the Old Testament. As the son of a slave woman, the promises of God were not attributed to him, because he was a son of a slave woman, what a contradiction in teachings. So what was his crime? None, he was born to a slave woman, yet he stills loves God, revered God, worshiped God.
I found the Quran to be the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard in the world. I didn’t understand it, but it was beautiful. When I actually read the English text… I can’t put it into words. It has no contradictions, yet the Bible is full of contradictions. Now I’m not beating up on Christianity here, I’m just telling the things that changed my life, and the direction that I was heading.
Islam is a solution to racism. A little story for you folks, Jesus was not White, blonde haired and blue eyed. He was not necessarily black, but he wasn’t white, he was somewhere in between. Equality of the sexes, I love the fact that Islam 1400 years ago made men equal to women, it’s only 50-60 years ago that women in Western countries actually got equal rights, and yet in Islam they always have had equal rights. Islam preaches tolerance of Christians and Jews. Now as a Christian I was told to love, but yet in their actions and in the actions of how we were, the only time we entertained a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Hindu is when we were trying to convert them. Now a Muslim will not Bible bash you or should I say Quran bash you, this statement does not exist in Islam, Quran bashing, because they don’t. If you wish to talk about it, they will talk about it, if you ask questions, they will talk to you about it. We as Muslims believe that you will come into the realization yourself, by the guidance of Allah (God).
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. All who were not Born again Christians were deceived by the devil and possessed by evil spirits, this is what I was taught.
In Islam we believe that not all Muslims are going to heaven, also that not all Christians and not all Jews will go to heaven; some Muslims, some Christians and some Jews will go to heaven; those who have a love for God and follow his ways and are righteous. But to a Born again Christian all I had to do was accept Jesus, and all my sins were washed away, and I was going to heaven, free ticket. Didn’t matter what I did wrong as long as I pleaded the blood of Jesus over myself, prayed, was repentant was still going to heaven, and everybody else wasn’t going there. Now who am I to make that choice? Who is this doctrine to make that choice? The only choice is by God. He decides who goes to heaven and who doesn’t go to heaven, no one else. And only God can forgive your sins, not a man that became God 325 years after he walked the Earth. God in all of his infinite wisdom and power and glory can forgive your sins, just like that. You don’t need to accept anything; you just need to be repentant. In the Quran it says;
“Who could be better in religion than one who submits his whole self to God, does good and follows the way of Abraham, the true in faith for God did take Abraham for a friend” [4:125]
It explains itself right there. What has happened to me since I have become a Muslim?
I’ve come out of the darkness and into the light; I’m a slave only to Allah. I have complete internal peace beyond all description, that I never found as a Christian.
Now it doesn’t matter if I am going through hassles in my job. Doesn’t matter if I am going through hassles everywhere else. It doesn’t matter if I am being discriminated against, because I am a Muslim, which has happened in this free democratic society that we live in, for I never experienced these things until I became a Muslim. Let me tell you something about discrimination people, you have no idea about discrimination unless you are being discriminated against. You can say “oh no he’s not being discriminated against” or she’s not being discriminated against, because you’re from the outside looking in. But when you are being discriminated against, when you are being harassed, you know it, not necessarily everybody else. Why did I choose Islam? Because I simply cannot deny the truth. Islam is the truth and the truth has set me free. Ash-hadu anlaa ilaha illa allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuuluh.
Thank you very much.
Sura 51 - Adh-Dhariyat [The Winnowing winds] Verse 23-23:
23. فَوَرَبِّ السَّمَاءِ وَالأرْضِ إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ مِثْلَ مَا أَنَّكُمْ تَنْطِقُونَ
Sura 51 - Adh-Dhariyat [The Winnowing winds] Verse 23-23:
23. Then, by the Lord of heaven and earth, this is the very Truth, as much as the fact that ye can speak intelligently to each other.
Abdul-Lateef Abdullah (Steven Krauss)
Abdul-Lateef Abdullah (Steven Krauss)
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
My journey to Islam - How Malay martial arts led a theologically dissatisfied American Protestant to Islam.
My experience in Islam began as a graduate student in New York City in 1998. Up to that point in my life, for 25 years, I had been a Protestant Christian, but had not been practicing my religion for quite some time. I was more interested in “spirituality” and looking for anything that didn’t have to do with organized religion. To me, Christianity was out of touch and not relevant to the times. It was hard for me to find anything in it that I could apply to my everyday life. This disillusion with Christianity led me to shun everything that claimed to be organized religion, due to my assumption that they were all pretty much the same, or at least in terms of their lack of relevance and usefulness.
Much of my frustration with Christianity stemmed from its lack of knowledge and guidance around the nature of God, and the individual’s relationship to Him. To me, the Christian philosophy depends on this rather bizarre intermediary relationship that we are supposed to have with Jesus, who on one hand was a man, but was also divine. For me, this difficult and very vague relationship with our Creator left me searching for something that could provide me with a better understanding of God, and our relationship to Him. Why couldn’t I just pray directly to God? Why did I have to begin and end every prayer with “in the name of Jesus Christ?” How can an eternal, omnipotent Creator and Sustainer also take the form of a man? Why would He need to? These were just a few of the questions that I could not resolve and come to terms with. Thus, I was hungry for a more straightforward and lucid approach to religion that could provide my life with true guidance, not just dogma that was void of knowledge based in reason.
While in graduate school I had a Jewish roommate who was a student of the martial arts. While I was living with him he was studying an art called silat, a traditional Malaysian martial art that is based on the teachings of Islam. When my roommate would come home from his silat classes he would tell me all about the uniqueness of silat and its rich spiritual dimension. As I was quite interested in learning martial arts at the time, I was intrigued by what I had heard, and decided to accompany my roommate to class one Saturday morning. Although I did not realize it at the time, my experience in Islam was beginning that morning at my first silat class in New York City back on February 28th, 1998. There I met my teacher, Cikgu (which means teacher in Malay) Sulaiman, the man who would first orient me to the religion of Islam. Although I thought I was beginning a career as a martial artist, that day back in 1998 actually represented my first step toward becoming Muslim.
From the very beginning I was intrigued by silat and Islam and began spending as much time as possible with my teacher. As my roommate and I were equally passionate about silat, we would go to my teacher’s house and soak up as much knowledge as we could from him. In fact, upon our completing graduate school in the spring of 1998, upon his invitation, we spent the entire summer living with him and his wife. As my learning in silat increased, so did my learning about Islam, a religion that I had hardly any knowledge of prior to my experience in silat.
What made my orientation to Islam so powerful was that as I was learning about it, I was also living it. Because I studied at the home of my teacher, being in the presence of devout Muslims allowed me to be constantly surrounded by the sounds, sights and practices of Islam. For as Islam is an entire lifestyle, when you are in an Islamic environment, you cannot separate it out from everyday life. Unlike Christianity, which lends toward a separation between daily life and religion, Islam requires its’ followers to integrate worship of Allah into everything we do. Thus, in living with my teacher, I was immersed in the Islamic deen (lifestyle) and experiencing first-hand how it can shape one’s entire way of life.
In the beginning Islam was very different and powerful to me. It was also very foreign in many ways and the amount of discipline it requires was difficult to understand. At the time I was liberal in many ways, and was used to shunning anything dogmatic or imposed, regardless of where it came from! As time went on, however, and my understanding of Islam grew, I began to slowly see that what seemed to be religious dogma was really a lifestyle put forth to us by our Creator. This lifestyle, I would later learn, is the straight path to true contentment, not just the sensual and superficial way of life that my society and culture promote. I realized that the question is quite simple actually. Who could possibly know better what the best way of life is for human beings than the all-wise Creator?
From that first silat class in New York City to the day I took my shahadda, July 30, 1999, I had undergone a thorough self-examination that was comprised of two major processes. One was to question the culture of the society I was brought up in, and the second was to question the role I wanted religion to play in my everyday life. As for my culture, this one was not as difficult as most people would think.
American culture is highly influential on how we see life because it constantly bombards us with sensual gratification aimed at appealing to our worldly desires. In America happiness is defined by what we have and consume, thus, the entire culture is geared toward the marketplace. Unless we are removed from this type of environment it is difficult to see it’s drawbacks, which are based on worshipping and putting faith in everything but God, the only One that can provide us with real, lasting contentment in our lives.
Being a social scientist by trade, much of my professional time is spent trying to address the social ills of our society. As I learned more about Islam, I came to the conclusion that many societal ills are based on unhealthy social behaviour. Since Islam is a lifestyle focused totally on the most healthy, positive way of conducting our lives in every setting, then it is, and will always be, the only real answer to any of society’s social dilemmas. With this realization, not only did I decide that Islam was relevant to my everyday life, but I began to understand why it is so different from other religions. Only Islam provides knowledge and guidance for every aspect of life. Only Islam provides a way to achieve health and happiness in every dimension of life – physical, spiritual, mental, financial, etc. Only Islam provides us with a clear life goal and purpose. And only Islam shows us the proper way to live in and contribute to a community. Islam is what everyone needs, and what so many who have not found it yet, are searching for. It is the path to purpose, meaning, health and happiness. This is because it is the straight path to the source of truth and real power – Allah.
It was only until I actually became Muslim that I realized just how encompassing the Islamic lifestyle is. Literally everything we do has one underlying purpose – to remember Allah. The lifestyle provides us with the way – not just the understanding – but an actual method of constantly remembering our Creator in as simple an act as greeting someone, or getting dressed in the morning, or waking up from sleep. Islam shows us that by remembering Allah, everything we do becomes focused on Him, and thus becomes an act of worship. From this, our energy, our thoughts, and our actions all become redirected away from unhealthy and useless causes, and focused on the source of all goodness. Thus, we are continuously tapping into His divine strength, mercy and grace. So, by remembering Allah constantly, we become stronger and healthier in every aspect of our lives and not distracted by self-defeating thoughts and behaviours.
There still remain some minor aspects of Islam that have proven to be somewhat difficult adjustments for me. Nevertheless, I thank Allah everyday for the ease to which he has allowed me to make the necessary changes in my life so that I can continue to live in America and still be, Insha-Allah, a good Muslim. As a white, middle-class American, many cultural aspects of Islam are quite different from the way in which I grew up. In fact, when I finally broke the news to my family that I had become Muslim, almost all of their questions and concerns were related to cultural differences – marriage, social life, family, etc. They were much less concerned about my general beliefs about God and religious practice. For my family, friends, and co-workers, becoming Muslim was not seen necessarily as a negative change, but it has required a great deal of education about Islam.
Because acquiring knowledge is a critical component to a Muslim’s development, having a teacher who has taught me how to apply Islam in everyday life has made all the difference in managing whatever difficulties I have experienced from my reversion. Having someone knowledgeable you can turn to whenever you have questions is a wonderful support that every new shahada should go out of their way to find. Islam is not a religion that can be rationalized, in the way that Christianity and Judaism are. It is a clear path that must be followed just as
Allah has laid out for us through the Qur’an and the lives of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.), his companions, and the saints of Islam.
In this day and age, in this society, discerning the path can often be difficult, especially when we are constantly faced with questions and doubts from people who on the surface may not be hostile to Islam, but whose general lack of faith can have a harmful effect on someone who bases everything they do on their love for Allah. It is also not easy being in an environment where we are constantly bombarded with sensual temptations that are seen as ordinary, common aspects of everyday life. But when we have the support of a knowledgeable, experienced teacher, who is able to apply the universal teachings of Islam to his life, then the truth becomes clear from error, exactly how Allah (SWT) describes in the Qur’an. From this, we are able to understand how to apply Islam correctly to our own lives, and Insha-Allah receive Allah’s many blessings. The ultimate test, however, of anyone who claims to have true and right knowledge, is to look at how they apply it in their own lives. If their actions support their teachings, then and only then should we look to them for guidance.
My journey to Islam has been a life-altering experience. It is one that with every passing day, makes me more and more appreciative and thankful to Almighty Allah. The extent of His mercy can only fully be understood from the perspective of a Muslim – one who prostrates regularly and submits their will to that of the Creator.
I look back at my life prior to Islam and reflect on the different ways I sought guidance. I think back to all the different ideas I once had of who God really is, and how we can become close to Him. I look back now with a smile and perhaps even a tear because now I know the truth. Through Islam, I know why so many people who do not believe have so much fear inside them.
Life can be very scary without God. I know, because I once harboured that same level of fear. Now, however, I have the ultimate “self-help” program. It’s the self-help program without the self. It’s the path that puts everything is in its proper place. Now, life makes sense. Now, life is order. Now, I know why I am here, where I want to go, what I want my life to be, how I want to live, and what is most important not just to me, but to everyone. I only hope and pray that others who have not found the path yet, can feel the same that I do. Ya arhama rahimeen wal hamdulillahi rabbil aylameen
Disclaimer: This convert story has been published on ChallengeYourSoul.com as is, without being edited. It may promote views & ideas not supported by ChallengeYourSoul.com and/or which are not Islamically correct.
My journey to Islam - How Malay martial arts led a theologically dissatisfied American Protestant to Islam.
My experience in Islam began as a graduate student in New York City in 1998. Up to that point in my life, for 25 years, I had been a Protestant Christian, but had not been practicing my religion for quite some time. I was more interested in “spirituality” and looking for anything that didn’t have to do with organized religion. To me, Christianity was out of touch and not relevant to the times. It was hard for me to find anything in it that I could apply to my everyday life. This disillusion with Christianity led me to shun everything that claimed to be organized religion, due to my assumption that they were all pretty much the same, or at least in terms of their lack of relevance and usefulness.
Much of my frustration with Christianity stemmed from its lack of knowledge and guidance around the nature of God, and the individual’s relationship to Him. To me, the Christian philosophy depends on this rather bizarre intermediary relationship that we are supposed to have with Jesus, who on one hand was a man, but was also divine. For me, this difficult and very vague relationship with our Creator left me searching for something that could provide me with a better understanding of God, and our relationship to Him. Why couldn’t I just pray directly to God? Why did I have to begin and end every prayer with “in the name of Jesus Christ?” How can an eternal, omnipotent Creator and Sustainer also take the form of a man? Why would He need to? These were just a few of the questions that I could not resolve and come to terms with. Thus, I was hungry for a more straightforward and lucid approach to religion that could provide my life with true guidance, not just dogma that was void of knowledge based in reason.
While in graduate school I had a Jewish roommate who was a student of the martial arts. While I was living with him he was studying an art called silat, a traditional Malaysian martial art that is based on the teachings of Islam. When my roommate would come home from his silat classes he would tell me all about the uniqueness of silat and its rich spiritual dimension. As I was quite interested in learning martial arts at the time, I was intrigued by what I had heard, and decided to accompany my roommate to class one Saturday morning. Although I did not realize it at the time, my experience in Islam was beginning that morning at my first silat class in New York City back on February 28th, 1998. There I met my teacher, Cikgu (which means teacher in Malay) Sulaiman, the man who would first orient me to the religion of Islam. Although I thought I was beginning a career as a martial artist, that day back in 1998 actually represented my first step toward becoming Muslim.
From the very beginning I was intrigued by silat and Islam and began spending as much time as possible with my teacher. As my roommate and I were equally passionate about silat, we would go to my teacher’s house and soak up as much knowledge as we could from him. In fact, upon our completing graduate school in the spring of 1998, upon his invitation, we spent the entire summer living with him and his wife. As my learning in silat increased, so did my learning about Islam, a religion that I had hardly any knowledge of prior to my experience in silat.
What made my orientation to Islam so powerful was that as I was learning about it, I was also living it. Because I studied at the home of my teacher, being in the presence of devout Muslims allowed me to be constantly surrounded by the sounds, sights and practices of Islam. For as Islam is an entire lifestyle, when you are in an Islamic environment, you cannot separate it out from everyday life. Unlike Christianity, which lends toward a separation between daily life and religion, Islam requires its’ followers to integrate worship of Allah into everything we do. Thus, in living with my teacher, I was immersed in the Islamic deen (lifestyle) and experiencing first-hand how it can shape one’s entire way of life.
In the beginning Islam was very different and powerful to me. It was also very foreign in many ways and the amount of discipline it requires was difficult to understand. At the time I was liberal in many ways, and was used to shunning anything dogmatic or imposed, regardless of where it came from! As time went on, however, and my understanding of Islam grew, I began to slowly see that what seemed to be religious dogma was really a lifestyle put forth to us by our Creator. This lifestyle, I would later learn, is the straight path to true contentment, not just the sensual and superficial way of life that my society and culture promote. I realized that the question is quite simple actually. Who could possibly know better what the best way of life is for human beings than the all-wise Creator?
From that first silat class in New York City to the day I took my shahadda, July 30, 1999, I had undergone a thorough self-examination that was comprised of two major processes. One was to question the culture of the society I was brought up in, and the second was to question the role I wanted religion to play in my everyday life. As for my culture, this one was not as difficult as most people would think.
American culture is highly influential on how we see life because it constantly bombards us with sensual gratification aimed at appealing to our worldly desires. In America happiness is defined by what we have and consume, thus, the entire culture is geared toward the marketplace. Unless we are removed from this type of environment it is difficult to see it’s drawbacks, which are based on worshipping and putting faith in everything but God, the only One that can provide us with real, lasting contentment in our lives.
Being a social scientist by trade, much of my professional time is spent trying to address the social ills of our society. As I learned more about Islam, I came to the conclusion that many societal ills are based on unhealthy social behaviour. Since Islam is a lifestyle focused totally on the most healthy, positive way of conducting our lives in every setting, then it is, and will always be, the only real answer to any of society’s social dilemmas. With this realization, not only did I decide that Islam was relevant to my everyday life, but I began to understand why it is so different from other religions. Only Islam provides knowledge and guidance for every aspect of life. Only Islam provides a way to achieve health and happiness in every dimension of life – physical, spiritual, mental, financial, etc. Only Islam provides us with a clear life goal and purpose. And only Islam shows us the proper way to live in and contribute to a community. Islam is what everyone needs, and what so many who have not found it yet, are searching for. It is the path to purpose, meaning, health and happiness. This is because it is the straight path to the source of truth and real power – Allah.
It was only until I actually became Muslim that I realized just how encompassing the Islamic lifestyle is. Literally everything we do has one underlying purpose – to remember Allah. The lifestyle provides us with the way – not just the understanding – but an actual method of constantly remembering our Creator in as simple an act as greeting someone, or getting dressed in the morning, or waking up from sleep. Islam shows us that by remembering Allah, everything we do becomes focused on Him, and thus becomes an act of worship. From this, our energy, our thoughts, and our actions all become redirected away from unhealthy and useless causes, and focused on the source of all goodness. Thus, we are continuously tapping into His divine strength, mercy and grace. So, by remembering Allah constantly, we become stronger and healthier in every aspect of our lives and not distracted by self-defeating thoughts and behaviours.
There still remain some minor aspects of Islam that have proven to be somewhat difficult adjustments for me. Nevertheless, I thank Allah everyday for the ease to which he has allowed me to make the necessary changes in my life so that I can continue to live in America and still be, Insha-Allah, a good Muslim. As a white, middle-class American, many cultural aspects of Islam are quite different from the way in which I grew up. In fact, when I finally broke the news to my family that I had become Muslim, almost all of their questions and concerns were related to cultural differences – marriage, social life, family, etc. They were much less concerned about my general beliefs about God and religious practice. For my family, friends, and co-workers, becoming Muslim was not seen necessarily as a negative change, but it has required a great deal of education about Islam.
Because acquiring knowledge is a critical component to a Muslim’s development, having a teacher who has taught me how to apply Islam in everyday life has made all the difference in managing whatever difficulties I have experienced from my reversion. Having someone knowledgeable you can turn to whenever you have questions is a wonderful support that every new shahada should go out of their way to find. Islam is not a religion that can be rationalized, in the way that Christianity and Judaism are. It is a clear path that must be followed just as
Allah has laid out for us through the Qur’an and the lives of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.), his companions, and the saints of Islam.
In this day and age, in this society, discerning the path can often be difficult, especially when we are constantly faced with questions and doubts from people who on the surface may not be hostile to Islam, but whose general lack of faith can have a harmful effect on someone who bases everything they do on their love for Allah. It is also not easy being in an environment where we are constantly bombarded with sensual temptations that are seen as ordinary, common aspects of everyday life. But when we have the support of a knowledgeable, experienced teacher, who is able to apply the universal teachings of Islam to his life, then the truth becomes clear from error, exactly how Allah (SWT) describes in the Qur’an. From this, we are able to understand how to apply Islam correctly to our own lives, and Insha-Allah receive Allah’s many blessings. The ultimate test, however, of anyone who claims to have true and right knowledge, is to look at how they apply it in their own lives. If their actions support their teachings, then and only then should we look to them for guidance.
My journey to Islam has been a life-altering experience. It is one that with every passing day, makes me more and more appreciative and thankful to Almighty Allah. The extent of His mercy can only fully be understood from the perspective of a Muslim – one who prostrates regularly and submits their will to that of the Creator.
I look back at my life prior to Islam and reflect on the different ways I sought guidance. I think back to all the different ideas I once had of who God really is, and how we can become close to Him. I look back now with a smile and perhaps even a tear because now I know the truth. Through Islam, I know why so many people who do not believe have so much fear inside them.
Life can be very scary without God. I know, because I once harboured that same level of fear. Now, however, I have the ultimate “self-help” program. It’s the self-help program without the self. It’s the path that puts everything is in its proper place. Now, life makes sense. Now, life is order. Now, I know why I am here, where I want to go, what I want my life to be, how I want to live, and what is most important not just to me, but to everyone. I only hope and pray that others who have not found the path yet, can feel the same that I do. Ya arhama rahimeen wal hamdulillahi rabbil aylameen
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