ISLAM MY CHOICE
Famous French rapper (Diam’s) journey to Islam
French rapper Stunsfans, makes first TV appearance wearing hijab
Amid a nationwide debate in France surrounding attitudes towards the Islamic veil, or hijab, a French rapper has surprised fans by announcing her conversion to Islam and choosing to wear a headscarf.
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Mélanie Georgiades, known as Diam’s, has gone through what onlookers have described as a “complete transformation” from an image she had prior to 2009.
Since 2009, Diam’s had been unusually absent from the mainstream rap scene, prompting more than three years of controversy over her whereabouts, despite making the odd public appearance with her scarf.
But recently the French rapper made her first television appearance with her new image.
Diam’s appeared in an exclusive TV interview with French TV station TF1, to talk about a past experience with drugs, including hallucinating narcotics, and being in a mental asylum until she discovered the “serenity of Islam.” The rapper said the religion was introduced to her by coincidence, when she saw a Muslim friend praying.
Diam’s, said she has been married for over a year and is a now a new mother, moving far away from her drug-relate past.
In her TV interview she said her “conversion to Islam was the result of a personal conviction, after understanding the religion and reading the Holy Quran.”
When asked about wearing the hijab in France, a country which has banned the niqab, she said: “I believe that I live in a tolerant society, and I don’t feel hurt by criticism, but by insults and stereotyping and ready-made judgments.”
Asked by her host about why she is wearing a hijab while many Muslim women don’t wear it, and don’t find it to be a religious obligation, she answered: “I see it as a divine order or a divine advice, this brings joy to my heart and for me this is enough.”
Stardom?
Diam’s said that by converting to Islam she gained comfort, adding that stardom doesn’t fit in with her life anymore, adding “this has warmed my heart, as I know now the purpose of my existence, and why am I here on Earth.”
Diam’s criticized the media which photographed her coming out of one of the mosques in France, wearing her Hijab and looking at her mobile, preceded by a man in a training suit, which many believed to be her husband.
Discussing how her life was like before her conversion to Islam, Diam’s said: “I was very famous and I had what every famous person looks for, but I was always crying bitterly alone at home, and this is what none of my fans had felt.”
She added: “I was heavily addicted to drugs, including hallucinating narcotics and was admitted in mental asylum to recover, but this was in vain until I heard one of my Muslim friends saying ‘I am going to pray for a while and will come back,’ so I told her that I want to pray as well.”
Recalling that moment, Diam’s said: “it was the first time that I touched the floor with head, and I had a strong feeling that I have never experienced before, and I believe now that kneeling in prayer, shouldn’t be done to anyone but Allah.”
Islam, a religion of tolerance
Diam’s said that she moved to Mauritius to read the Quran, and have a better understanding of Islam, discovering during her retreat, the tolerance of Islam.
When asked by her host about her views on Islam, and those who commit all the murders and atrocities pretending to be doing it in the name of religion, she answered: “I think we should differentiate between the ignorant and the knowledgeable, and the ignorant should not speak about what he doesn’t know, Islam does not allow murdering innocent victims the way we see it nowadays.”
During college study I discovered Islam is not barbaric as portrayed: Revert Kristin
Kristin N. C. Crowther used to believe in many religions and philosophies before getting her final destination Islam. She had been a Christian (non-denominational), a Neo-pagan (mostly wicca), a Buddhist (sotozen), a Confucist (ancient learning mostly), and an agnostic atheist.
Recently she has reverted to Islam on February 22, 2013, at the age of 21. She lives in British Columbia, Canada. She is an undergraduate student of Ancient History (3rd Year).
Born and raised in the mountains of British Columbia to mostly deistic/atheistic parents, she was always taught to seek knowledge and verify the information and keep an open and creative mind. She experimented with a few religions in her youth trying to find a place where she belonged, before settling on soft atheism after a few traumatic events piled up in her life.
She reveals: ‘When my depression was at its worst I took a closer look at Islam and found some semblance of belonging and peace’.
Her interest in Islam began unfortunately with the bombing of the World Trade Centre.
She was 10 at the time and had never heard of Islam before that. Until the 12th grade Islam was that “scary religion.” In the 12th grade and in her first year of college she took Western Civilization courses that covered the big three monotheistic religions and their contribution to history, human development and culture.
Suddenly she discovers that Islam was not “barbaric” as it was portrayed, and was incredibly cultured and well-rounded. In her second year of college she took a few religious studies courses and in her third year she attended Al-Zahra, a local Masjid. Finally she was overcome with the beauty of Islam and suddenly felt at peace. Read more »
Hijab brought me to Islam: Jessica-New revert to Islam
Jessica
Rhodes is a 21 year old female from Norwich, UK who works as a
telesales consultant and is also a student. She was a Pagan before
reverting to Islam a month ago.She was born in 1991 and was adopted in 1993. Grew up in a small seaside town on the south east coast of England, she went to university at 19 to study for a degree in Music and she hopes to do postgraduate qualifications in counselling starting September 2013.
She has an amazing story of her reversion and how she got attracted to Islam.
New York based lady Nazma Khan started a campaign known as ‘world hijab day’.
The movement has been organised almost solely over social networking sites.It has attracted interest from Muslims and non-Muslims in more than 50 countries across the world. For many people, the hijab is a symbol of oppression and divisiveness. It’s a visible target that often bears the brunt of a larger debate about Islam in the West. World Hijab Day is designed to counteract these controversies. Read more »
Titiana from Kyrgyzstan Finds Islam
My name is Titiana, but my Muslim name is Tasnim.I converted to Islam around five years ago alhamdulellah and I came to Dubai from Kyrgyzstan from central Asia and I’m staying here for around 9 months, alhamdulellah.
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I was born around 60 kilometers from the capital of my country, and I was born with my grandmothers both from my father’s side and my mother’s side. They were responsible for my education, and I loved them so much and I miss them so much also.
When I was not a Muslim, I was just an observer, and I looked at Muslims and the Muslim’s life. We have some mosques in our country, but I was not in Islam and I just saw people at the end of Ramadan at the Fajr prayer, there were a lot of Muslims in the central square and they were just praying together, masha’Allah. This is amazing. But after when I converted to Islam I just got to know new people and I noticed that a lot of young people converted to Islam around the world from different nationalities.
Alhamdulellah, every year at the end of Ramadan, in the central square there is no free space for praying alhamdulellah.
I used to go with my grandmother to the Orthodox Church. I was in the chorus also. I used to sing christian songs with my grandmother. It was good but there was a lot of conflict inside me because when I was so small I could not understand. I was going to church and I could not understand why are people playing in front of the pictures and in front of the icons? It was a huge conflict inside my heart and my soul. After some time, I just was asking my grandmother why are people just praying in front of the pictures? And nobody gave me the correct answer. Read more »
Idris Tawfiq Dwells in the Gardens of Islam
A Catholic Priest’s Conversion Story: (Strongest among men in enmity to the Believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans; and nearest among them in love to the Believers wilt thou find those who say “We are Christians”: because amongst these are men devoted to learning (priests), and men who have renounced the world (monks), and they are not arrogant. …
And when they listen to the revelation received by the Messenger, thou wilt see their eyes overflowing with tears, for they recognize the truth. They pray: ‘Our Lord! We believe, write us down among the witnesses.) (Surat Al-Maida, 5: 82-83)
This was what happened to the former British Catholic Priest Idris Tawfiq on reciting Islam’s holy book, the Quran, to his students at a school in Britain. And this was one of the important steps in his journey of conversion to Islam.
During a lecture he gave at the British Council in Cairo, Tawfiq made clear that he has no regrets about his past and what he holds in regard to what Christians do and his life at the Vatican for five years. Read more »
How an American Lady Found Islam?
Finally I Got My Questions Answered: My name is Kawkab, and I’m a convert to Islam for almost 24 years now.
… Before I was Muslim, I was baptized Greek Orthodox, and I went to a Catholic high school, so I had a lot of different religious backgrounds.
I studied different religions. I searched for about seven years. I had a book of questions, and then when I met the Muslims and I started asking my questions, everything just started to make sense and for the first time I got my questions answered
Who is God?
What am I doing here?
What’s the purpose of life? Read more »
A German Lady Finds Islam in Dubai
I was looking for something, but I couldn’t find it for so many years.
I was confused.
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I felt out of place with my friends because for my friends it was always “Ah, it is weekend, we need to party. Let’s open the first bottle of bear, and let’s get dressed.”
While I thought “Why?”
Yes, a difficult year.
And then all of a sudden, the world had changed.
And then I’m coming to an Islamic country, and I experienced Muslims in a different way. All of a sudden I thought they are actually very nice. They treat you really with respect. I felt comfortable. In the beginning I mixed more with Europeans than I would have mixed with other nationalities, because I wanted to keep my comfort zone.
But then there was a point when I wanted to step out of my comfort zone because all of a sudden this zone was not comfortable any more. Read more »
A Greek Girl Reverts to Islam
The Sound of the Adhan Changed Something Inside Me
… My name is Janna. I’m Greek. I was born in Germany and I grew up in a very strict traditional Greek Orthodox family.
We grew up almost as other Muslim families with other children. Our families wanted to guarantee that we will be brought up in a Christian way, in the Orthodox way.
We always went on our vacations all together and we never split up for vacations.
… My name is Janna. I’m Greek. I was born in Germany and I grew up in a very strict traditional Greek Orthodox family.
We grew up almost as other Muslim families with other children. Our families wanted to guarantee that we will be brought up in a Christian way, in the Orthodox way.
We always went on our vacations all together and we never split up for vacations.
So family vacations for all were always very nice and specially our
very first vacation in the UAE about 13 years ago. I was like 12-13
years old and the first week we stayed in the country we did a tour all
over the UAE, and it was on a Friday when we were on the way to al-Souq
(the market). Suddenly the adhan (call to prayer) came for the prayer
time and everything stopped. People stopped their cars, took their
prayer rugs and just went out to pray on the streets. Read more »
Scottish Atheist Lady Finds Islam at the Age of 65
It never occurred to me to think about Islam
Scottish Atheist Lady Finds Islam at the Age of 65: My name is Maryam Noor, that is my Islamic name, and my original name is Margaret Templeton.
… I was born in Scotland to a house which was atheist. In our house, we were not allowed ever to speak about God, and even if we learned something in school, we were not allowed to say anything or we would be punished.
For as long as I can remember, I have been seeking the Truth about why I am here in this world, what I’m here for, what am I supposed to do.
As soon as I became old enough, I began to search for some information about this “person called God”, that people mention, and all through my life, I have been seeking the Truth, not a particular religion. The Truth, something which made sense to me, something which opened my heart and which made my life worthwhile. I have been practically in every church in the kingdom, both here and at home, it never occurred to me to think about Islam. Read more »
Scottish Atheist Lady Finds Islam at the Age of 65: My name is Maryam Noor, that is my Islamic name, and my original name is Margaret Templeton.
… I was born in Scotland to a house which was atheist. In our house, we were not allowed ever to speak about God, and even if we learned something in school, we were not allowed to say anything or we would be punished.
For as long as I can remember, I have been seeking the Truth about why I am here in this world, what I’m here for, what am I supposed to do.
As soon as I became old enough, I began to search for some information about this “person called God”, that people mention, and all through my life, I have been seeking the Truth, not a particular religion. The Truth, something which made sense to me, something which opened my heart and which made my life worthwhile. I have been practically in every church in the kingdom, both here and at home, it never occurred to me to think about Islam. Read more »
A Young Canadian Hindu Reverts to Islam
27 May 2012
I Finally Knew Why I’m Here
A Young Canadian Hindu Reverts to Islam:
… I was born and brought up in Toronto, but my family is from an Indian background.
A lot of my life had to do with I guess a mix of Canadian culture as well as at home the Indian side of things. So I grew up knowing my culture, knowing my language and knowing the religion of my parents very well.
I grew up in a temple and I would always go to summer camps and Sunday School and always go to prayers and so on. So, I went through a lot of “culturalization” in both the culture of my parents and the culture that I was growing up in at school. Read more »
Islam Appealed to Both My Intellect and Senses
Why An English Girl Converted to Islam:
Islam Appealed to Both My Intellect and Senses You have the pure media image of what they put on the news, like Muslims as terrorists fanatics.
… They go around with the Quran in one hand and a gun in the other one.
Women are forced to cover up, they are oppressed and slaves to their husbands, … arranged marriages, and all of these things.
This is what the media is pushing about Islam.
This is maybe what intrigued me to start off with. I was trying to find out what are these people, why do they call themselves Muslims and what is Islam? … Read more »
Islam Appealed to Both My Intellect and Senses You have the pure media image of what they put on the news, like Muslims as terrorists fanatics.
… They go around with the Quran in one hand and a gun in the other one.
Women are forced to cover up, they are oppressed and slaves to their husbands, … arranged marriages, and all of these things.
This is what the media is pushing about Islam.
This is maybe what intrigued me to start off with. I was trying to find out what are these people, why do they call themselves Muslims and what is Islam? … Read more »
Muhammad Ali: American boxer, Three times World Heavyweight Champion, embraced Islam in 1965
“I have had many nice moments in my life. But the feelings I had while standing on Mount Arafat (just outside Makka, Saudi Arabia) on the day of the Hajj (the Muslim pilgrimage), was the most unique. I felt exalted by the indescribable spiritual atmosphere there as over one and a half million pilgri…ms invoked God to forgive them for their sins and bestow on them His choicest blessings.
It was an exhilarating experience to see people belonging to different colours, races and nationalities, kings, heads of state and ordinary men from very poor countries all clad in two simple white sheets praying to God without any sense of either pride or inferiority.
It was a practical manifestation of the concept of equality in Islam” One of the first public figures in America to be identified with Islam was boxer Muhammad Ali, to whom more media attention has been given than to any other athlete. He has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated more than thirty times, and his name and face are known to people all over the world.
Read more »
I Found the Best of Australian Culture in Islam
My name is Mustafa Samuel. My ex-name is Steven.
My background is that I was actually born a Greek orthodox.…
I’ve been in many Christian schools whether Catholic or Christian, Maronite or Greek Orthodox or whatever.
Growing up, I sort of had a religious background when I was younger but I guess I fell away from going to church. It didn’t really suit me. I’ve always asked questions about a lot of things. I’ve never really accepted dogma as it was presented to me. I was one of people who would always question everything including religion. I guess in the last 25 years I’ve always been searching for answers to my questions. I think I found the answer I’ve been wanting in Islam. That’s why I embraced Islam 2 years ago, in 2009 to be exact.
Read more »
Masha Alalykina Russian Model & Artist Converts to Islam
Masha Alalykina is a famous name in Russia and Russian speaking countries. Two years ago she was an attractive artist and model. Her fame reached its peak and her music group – Fabric – was at the top of the charts.
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Masha, the former star of the cinema, dancing, and music, now wears a hijab and is teaching. She says that she hates the fake façade of her past and feels that she is only now successful. The following is a translation of an interview with this Muslim artist on the Russian site islam.ru
Journalist: How did you put all of your success behind you and accept Islam?
Masha: By Allah’s (swt) grace I took a step in His (swt) direction. This was the will of Allah (swt).
Journalist: When you were a singer did you ever think that you would become Muslim, fast, and perform the pilgrimage?
Masha: No. It did not even cross my mind that I might perform the pilgrimage and drink the best water – the water of Zamzam. Read more »
I Am a Muslim Because of 9/11
Ms. Drugge, my 8th grade math teacher, was explaining that the model we were dissecting was called a parabola. In an instant, our vice principal ran into the room and exclaimed that our country was under attack. Little did I know that this Sept. 11 morning would define the rest of my life.
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In the wake of the attacks, my feelings of anxiety and concern soon turned into intense nationalism and pride. Aspirations for Harvard and Stanford took a back seat as I looked up the entrance requirements for West Point. I wanted to be a part of the solution. An American flag was placed alongside my Jerry Rice, Cris Carter and Michael Jordan posters. I could not sit on the sidelines as my country was attacked. I soon realized, however, that my nation was not the only institution that was attacked that grim morning.
As the days turned into months, the attacks of 9/11 settled in. The news would describe the terrorists as Muslim men from Muslim countries with Muslim beards and Muslim intentions. I became more cognizant of my environment and how my peers perceived my faith. When my mom would pick me up from baseball practice, I noticed uneasy eyes directed at her headscarf. During Ramadan, when I fasted through lunch, friends began commenting on how I was “terrorizing my body.” Our country was uniting together against a common enemy, and I became the enemy because of the faith in my heart. Read more »
A British Gentleman’s Journey to Islam
Ibraheem Greeves is an elderly British man who witnessed the creation of the state of Israel.
In this talk, he expresses his feelings about Islam and how he embraced it after trying several other religions.
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“Since I was a child, I was always searching, I really didn’t know what I was searching for, but my search took me to many places.
It started with Christianity, then I converted to Catholicism, Buddhism, all kinds of religions; and for some reason I felt they weren’t right.
Then I met Muslims many years ago; I didn’t even know they were Muslims. One day, I went to an eating-place in Basra, Iraq. I wondered into this place, then I sat down and someone gave me a spoon. There were people sitting at the table, but no one was eating. It was strange, and I had the sense not to eat although I was hungry.
Then, the adhan (call to prayer) came; but I didn’t know it was the adhan. After the adhan finished, they all started to eat and talk. It was Ramadan of course, but I also didn’t know what Ramadan was. Read more »
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“Since I was a child, I was always searching, I really didn’t know what I was searching for, but my search took me to many places.
It started with Christianity, then I converted to Catholicism, Buddhism, all kinds of religions; and for some reason I felt they weren’t right.
Then I met Muslims many years ago; I didn’t even know they were Muslims. One day, I went to an eating-place in Basra, Iraq. I wondered into this place, then I sat down and someone gave me a spoon. There were people sitting at the table, but no one was eating. It was strange, and I had the sense not to eat although I was hungry.
Then, the adhan (call to prayer) came; but I didn’t know it was the adhan. After the adhan finished, they all started to eat and talk. It was Ramadan of course, but I also didn’t know what Ramadan was. Read more »
An American Student’s Journey to Islam
One Step From Me, Two Steps From God
An American Student’s Journey to Islam: Abdul-Rahman is a young American who converted to Islam at an early age.
… He knew and was convinced of Islam at the age of twelve, and he became Muslim after reading the autobiography of Malcolm X.
This is his story which he narrates in his video:
“I was born into a Christian family, but we weren’t very practicing. We would go to church just a few times a year for Christmas, Easter and the holidays. God only existed on Sunday in Church for my family, not outside the church, and many American families are like this.
I’ve always been a logical thinker. When I was about eleven or twelve years old, I started thinking for myself. I asked myself, does God exist? This question, I felt, was pushed on me by a clash between science and religion, or rationality and religion in America; and I think that tradition goes back to the Christian Church in Europe, and there were always issues between the Catholic Church and science and advancement. Read more »
An American Student’s Journey to Islam: Abdul-Rahman is a young American who converted to Islam at an early age.
… He knew and was convinced of Islam at the age of twelve, and he became Muslim after reading the autobiography of Malcolm X.
This is his story which he narrates in his video:
“I was born into a Christian family, but we weren’t very practicing. We would go to church just a few times a year for Christmas, Easter and the holidays. God only existed on Sunday in Church for my family, not outside the church, and many American families are like this.
I’ve always been a logical thinker. When I was about eleven or twelve years old, I started thinking for myself. I asked myself, does God exist? This question, I felt, was pushed on me by a clash between science and religion, or rationality and religion in America; and I think that tradition goes back to the Christian Church in Europe, and there were always issues between the Catholic Church and science and advancement. Read more »
From Paganism to Islam
My name is Ibrahim Killington. Before I came to Islam, my life was really focused on drink, drugs, having fun.
The whole purpose of life was just to have fun, have a laugh; the way to make your life bearable until you die, and hanging around with people of similar interests which were not always the best company to keep.
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My first experience of seeing Muslims was the 9/11 attacks. I remember I was quite young at that time, I wasn’t completely aware of what was going on. In fact, I ran to my friends after seeing the news report, and I told them that the “tourists” have declared war on America, because I had never heard of terrorists before.
As the war was unfolding, I was seeing more and more about the war in Afghanistan, I started understanding that these people are Muslims. The Muslims are doing these horrible atrocities around the world. So, from the media bombardment, I started getting a strong hatred for Muslims. So much in fact. I tried to join the army three times with the goal of wanting to go over there, and kill as many of these people as I could, to do my bit for my country and to make it a bit safer for my family. I thought they were the big evil of the world.
I started hearing a bit more about Islam, the last time I was applying for the army, I came across this radio station, at that time, I was listening to conspiracy theory radio, and things like this. It was a radio station from the American Government called Terror Talk, and it was talking about the life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Read more »
French Rapper Finds Identity in Islam
Leading a double life, reversion to Islam has saved French rapper Regis Fayette-Mikano from falling victim to heroin, murder and suicide that ended the lives of his close friends.
“I made peace with… myself,” Fayette-Mikano, now Abd Al Malik told The New York Times.
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Born in Paris, Abd Al Malik was raised in Neuhof, a neighborhood of Strasbourg, to a catholic family.
A brilliant student, he was sent to a private Catholic middle school, where he was for a time the sole black student.
Leading a comfortable life, the Catholic altar boy became a thug, who used to pick pockets after Sunday Mass.
He also dealt with drugs, selling hashish at nightclubs and restaurants.
“I had a double life,” Abd Al Malik recalled.
“I was a good student during the day and a delinquent at night. And over vacations. And on the weekends. But for me it was normal.”
At 16, Abd Al Malik and a friend met a group of local men who preached them about Islam and death.
Deciding to start a new life, the two young men gathered their drugs and everything they had bought with drug money and burnt them in an abandoned field. Read more »
Brother took his shahadah at Birmingham City Center
Ma
sha Allah, this brother accepted his Shahadah at a Dawah stand held by
Br Muhammad Abdul Jabbar in Birmingham City Centre – after accepting his
Shahadah, he was given his copy of the Quran project. May Allah make
him steadfast and firm in his Deen, Ameen.date: Aug 21,2012
Courtesy: The Quran Project http://quranproject.org/
My Quest for Truth, Power, and Purpose
Ever since I can remember, I have been searching for the meaning of life itself.
Why am I here?
… What is my purpose?
Constantly reflecting on these questions made me different from other children: I was introspective and inquisitive; I asked questions all the time — my favorite one was, “Why?” It seemed that my grandfather’s words often echoed in my ears, “God does not create people just to fill up space on the earth.”
It was only recently that I understood the impact this statement had on me. I needed to understand; if no one was here to “take up space” then why was I here? This longing for purpose ignited within me the desire to find my place and my purpose in the universe, the bigger picture.
I remember actively surveying the world around me and desperately trying to understand why the world was the way it was; why people believed what they did, and what made them do the things that they did.
Read more »
Why Did a Canadian Catholic Woman Choose Islam?
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Growing up, I was raised in a very devout Catholic household.
Without fail, my parents used to bring us to church every single Sunday, we used to practice and celebrate all the holidays, …and the religious events. My parents would fast on Fridays. I actually went to a Catholic school my entire life, so definitely very well-versed in the Catholic faith. But the one thing I will say is even just growing up I did know a lot about the faith, but I was never really brought to think about why I was particularly doing things, or you wouldn’t really think very deeply into theology particularly.
When I finished High School, and I started going to post-secondary education at college, university, that’s when I finally actually started thinking a little bit about my faith. Maybe it was the rebellious sense in all of us when we finally become somewhat independent, we want to be our own person, but definitely it was a little bit more than that. Read more »
Why Did Katia from Russia Revert to Islam?
Interview With Sister Katia on How She Found Islam::
Q: May I know what’s your name?
Sister Katia: My name is Katia, and my Muslim name now is Aisha.
…
Q: Ma-Shaa-Allah. I want to ask you Aisha, what were you before you became Muslim?
Sister Katia: I was a Russian Orthodox, I was Christian.
Q: So you are actually from Russia. Were you born there?
Sister Katia: Yes, I was born in Russia, then I came here, so I’ve been here for over 12 years.
Read more »
A Trip to Egypt: My First Step to Islam
How a Hungarian Sister Found The Light of Islam
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said:
“Verily, the hearts of the children of Adam, all of them, are between
the two fingers of the Most Merciful …as one heart; He directs them
wherever He wills…” (Muslim)
This is what happened to me exactly; God has turned my heart from darkness to the light of Islam.
I was 14 years old when I stepped, for the first time in my life, on the land of Egypt, not even thinking that a few years later I will walk on the same roads, gazing the Pyramids again and this time not as a tourist but as a proud Muslim who will have left her home for the sake of God.
Read more »
This is what happened to me exactly; God has turned my heart from darkness to the light of Islam.
I was 14 years old when I stepped, for the first time in my life, on the land of Egypt, not even thinking that a few years later I will walk on the same roads, gazing the Pyramids again and this time not as a tourist but as a proud Muslim who will have left her home for the sake of God.
Read more »
Queensland Revert Sister Making a Mark
Sisters’ House: Helping Revert Sisters Most of us have read about the life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the close-knit community he established based on piety and benevolence.
However,… few of us have experienced anything close to it in terms of mutual love and generous support in our time.
We are living at a time when information abounds and people can gain Islamic knowledge in many ways. We could say that we are the most informed of people in history but has our access to knowledge made us better Muslims?
How often does the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad these days successfully develop a united community based on piety and benevolence?
Bayaan Grant, a revert of twelve years living in Queensland Australia, believes that Sisters’ House has achieved just that!
Read more »
brother Steve from New Zealand Discovers Islam by Fasting Ramadan
A New Muslim Journey from New Zealand:::
My name is Steve.
I was born in New Zealand in 1972, in a little town called Reefton, which is on the west coast of the South Islands.
… I was adopted to some new parents, Keith and Darrel, who looked after me very well, and I moved with them to most of the places in New Zealand, and spent a little bit of time overseas.
I was brought up in a Christian home, and my father was a Baptist minister, so he was actually a clergyman or a minister of the church, and we would travel around with him to a church that he was placed at. It was a really really good upbringing, I was brought up with the ethics in the belief system of the Bible obviously and Christianity. It was a really good foundation for me in my life.
My parents worked very hard for us to understand what we were taught in the Bible, and also good manners, old traditional manners that often don’t get taught now. I was lucky enough to be brought up in such a home, with an understanding of God definitely, growing up younger going to Sunday school, and having a belief that there was a Creator who had a plan for my life, and had a plan for everyone’s life, and I had to find out what that was a do the best I could. Read more »
Knowing Who Built the Kaabah Led Me To Islam
I took my Shahadah in 2010, so I’m practically the newest kid on the block around here.
It’s the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.
… I was reading the Bible on Thanksgiving of 2010 over the phone with a friend, and I read a couple of books on the Bible that I started asking questions, then I started asking about different religions, and after that I asked about Islam, and I started doing more research about other religions, and I canceled most of the out.
Then I started researching about the history of the Quran, I googled it, and then I was intrigued that the Book was intact for 14 hundred years, and one thing led to another and I kept on searching.
But my turning point was when I found out about the history of the Kaabah. I was raised catholic, I went to catholic schools for 8 years, and I was never told that the Kaabah was built by Prophet Abraham, (peace be upon him) and Prophet Ishmael (peace be upon him). And when I found out that the Kaabah was built by them, I was really upset. I felt like I was lied to from the Catholic Church, why they kept this away from me.
Before that, growing up in a Catholic school, I never ever believed in original sin, that was something I just did not believe in, and I questioned statues, I just did not understand that: on the one hand they teach the Ten Commandments, and on the other hand they had statues, so it just didn’t make any sense. And when I read the Quran, I found Quran Explorer, and I listened to the Quran in Arabic, and in English, and a week later I took my Shahadah in front of my computer, and then a month later I did it officially in the masjid.
I reverted to Islam because of a man who had Alzheimer’s, Sister Cassie
THIS WILL MOVE YOU TO TEARS (MUST READ)
*I REVERTED TO ISLAM BECAUSE OF A MAN WHO HAD ALZHEIMER’S*
(By Sister Cassie)
… My name is Cassie. I am 23 years old. I graduated as a qualified nurse this year and was given my first position as a home nurse.
My patient was an English gentleman in his early 80’s who suffered from Alzheimer’s. In the first meeting I was given the patient’s record and from it I could see that he was a convert to the religion of Islam, therefore he was a Muslim.
I knew from this that I would need to take into account that some modes of treatment may go against his faith, and therefore try to adapt my care to meet his needs. I brought in some ‘halal’ meat to cook for him and ensured that there was no pork or alcohol in the premises as I did some research which showed that these were forbidden in Islam.
My patient was at a very advanced stage of his condition so a lot of my colleagues could not understand why I was going to such lengths for him, but I understood that a person who commits to a faith deserves that commitment to be respected, even if they are not in a position to understand.
Anyway, after a few weeks with my patient I began to notice some patterns of movement.
At first I thought it was some copied motion he’s seen someone do, but I saw him repeat the movement at particular times: morning, afternoon, evening. Read more »
(By Sister Cassie)
… My name is Cassie. I am 23 years old. I graduated as a qualified nurse this year and was given my first position as a home nurse.
My patient was an English gentleman in his early 80’s who suffered from Alzheimer’s. In the first meeting I was given the patient’s record and from it I could see that he was a convert to the religion of Islam, therefore he was a Muslim.
I knew from this that I would need to take into account that some modes of treatment may go against his faith, and therefore try to adapt my care to meet his needs. I brought in some ‘halal’ meat to cook for him and ensured that there was no pork or alcohol in the premises as I did some research which showed that these were forbidden in Islam.
My patient was at a very advanced stage of his condition so a lot of my colleagues could not understand why I was going to such lengths for him, but I understood that a person who commits to a faith deserves that commitment to be respected, even if they are not in a position to understand.
Anyway, after a few weeks with my patient I began to notice some patterns of movement.
At first I thought it was some copied motion he’s seen someone do, but I saw him repeat the movement at particular times: morning, afternoon, evening. Read more »
Jesus (PBUH) in Islam
The Islamic belief about Jesus demystifies for us who the real Jesus was. Jesus in Islam was an extraordinary individual, chosen by God as a Prophet and sent to the Jewish people. He never preached that he himself was God or… the actual son of God. He was miraculously born without a father, and he performed many amazing miracles such as healing the blind and the lepers and raising the dead – all by God’s permission. Muslims believe that Jesus will return before the day of Judgement to bring justice and peace to the world. This Islamic belief about Jesus is similar to the belief of some of the early Christians. In the Quran, God addresses the Christians about Jesus in the following way:
O People of the Book, do not commit excesses in your religion, and do not say anything about God except the truth: the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was nothing more than a messenger of God, His word, directed to Mary and a spirit from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers and do not speak of a ‘Trinity’– stop [this], that is better for you– God is only one God, He is far above having a son, everything in the heavens and earth belongs to Him and He is the best one to trust. [The Noble Quran, 4:171]
Since it has clearly been shown that Jesus is not God both according to the Bible and for historical and rational reasons – what is the next step for you?
We invite you to look further and investigate Islam. Islam is not just another religion. It is the same message preached by Moses, Jesus and Abraham. Islam literally means ‘submission to God’ and it teaches us to have a direct relationship with God. It reminds us that since God created us, no one should be worshipped except God alone. It also teaches that God is nothing like a human being or like anything that we can imagine. The concept of God is summarised in the Quran as:
Say, He is God, the One. God, the Absolute. He does not give birth, nor was He born, and there is nothing like Him*. [The Noble Quran, 112:1-4]
Becoming a Muslim is not changing or losing your Christian identity. But it’s going back to the original teachings of Jesus. Guidance ultimately comes from God. We ask God to guide us and you. May God’s peace and blessing be upon you for the rest of your days.
Sister’s Christina’s Journey to the Truth
I Found My Ultimate Freedom Being a Muslim Woman
Sister’s Christina’s Journey to the Truth::: I said Shahadah, it will be ten years in December.
I took Shahadah when I was 47 years old. I considered myself to be a good Catholic lady, but …I always would go to church and pray to God.
I couldn’t pray to Jesus, it just didn’t feel right, and I would always talk to God.
I didn’t come from a religious family. My grandmother took me to church once in a while, you know in the major holidays, but that was only when I was little.
So at 7 years old I would pick myself up and go to church and just talk to God.
When I was 8 I had my own Bible, and again I just always talked to God, and I was always a big believer of the truth, my whole life is based on the truth.
And then when I was 47, I met someone who was a Muslim, and we started talking. I had never met Muslims till I was about 46 years old. So this was after 9/11, and I started reading the Quran, and I just kept saying but this is what I believed my whole life! Read more »
Sister’s Christina’s Journey to the Truth::: I said Shahadah, it will be ten years in December.
I took Shahadah when I was 47 years old. I considered myself to be a good Catholic lady, but …I always would go to church and pray to God.
I couldn’t pray to Jesus, it just didn’t feel right, and I would always talk to God.
I didn’t come from a religious family. My grandmother took me to church once in a while, you know in the major holidays, but that was only when I was little.
So at 7 years old I would pick myself up and go to church and just talk to God.
When I was 8 I had my own Bible, and again I just always talked to God, and I was always a big believer of the truth, my whole life is based on the truth.
And then when I was 47, I met someone who was a Muslim, and we started talking. I had never met Muslims till I was about 46 years old. So this was after 9/11, and I started reading the Quran, and I just kept saying but this is what I believed my whole life! Read more »
I Felt the Power of That Night: I Found Peace in Islam
For me, I always felt that connection with God.
Within the trinity, looking back,
I think my connection was with the “father”,
like you know you want to go to the highest authority.
So with… the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit you go to the highest figure, so I always had that connection.
And you know, my favorite part of church always was coming back after the communion and you pray, and you say like “bless my Mummy and my doggy and everything”. And so I felt I always had that spiritual connection.
When my family left the Catholic church after the scandal with the Catholic priests and the boys, a friend in high school introduced me to Islam. Then as I had just entered my freshman year in college in Virginia, I was actually invited by some friends I had met at the MSA (Muslim Student Association), I was a non-Muslim, but it was Ramadan and everyone was fasting and they took me at night to the masjid (mosque) for laylatul-qadr (the night of power in the last 10 days of Ramadan).
I had never been in a masjid before, and walking in I could feel the power of that night. I went into the kind of dark room, and everyone was praying and a lot of people were crying, and I didn’t know what was going on. And I walked in, and some lady pulled my arm and pulled me in-line, and so I was just like mind of … okey … , and then I would hear something again and again, Allahu Akbar, and then I followed and I would do the next thing.
But that night and that feeling definitely stood out to me, and that kind of pushed me to take the next step to further my own education for myself about Islam. Read more »
Ex-Italian Roman Catholic Danielle M. Korzecki’s Journey to Islam
Assalam Alaikum, My name is Aliyah Wahajah Korzecki, my birth name, Danielle M. Korzecki.
I converted to Islam on December 24th, 2012. I, like many other reverted Muslims face many issues since I have reverted to Islam, but by one, Allah (SWT) helps me work out each one.
Alhamdulillah! I believe that I was searching my whole life for Islam…..I was born and raised as a Roman Catholic in a Italian/Polish American home. It was very strict and my faith almost seemed systematic, almost routine.
I was never to ask WHY, I was just told to learn and accept the faith, the prayers.
I wasn’t even encouraged to read their holy scriptures in their bible, only the leader, the priest was allowed. As you can imagine, after I became an adult, it didn’t settle well inside my spirit.
I was first told about Islam when I was in my 20′s by someone that I dated for a long time and he used to work at a prison as a Law Librarian. The Muslim inmates he befriended used to give him Islamic literature and had long extensive talks about Islam. I asked him questions to ask them, and he’d come back with the answers. Around the same time in my life, I even met someone on my own who invited me to the mosque in Philadelphia, about an hour away from where I lived, but I never went. For some reason, I don’t feel the maturity and seriousness of my faith was there yet. I always think back to those days and wonder why I didn’t say the shahada and give the rest to Allah (SWT.) My boyfriend at the time didn’t convert because he said that he, “Didn’t think he could commit himself to Islam.” He did smoke cigarettes and drink and cuss. He was lost and so was I at the time.
In 1998, I accepted Christianity into my life after a major life turning event, and realized that I needed God in my life and couldn’t do it alone. Now, God for them was Christ. As they say, “I was Saved. I accepted Christ into my heart.” I was also baptized a few years later as a sign of my rebirth in faith. I was very serious about my faith, and from that point on, I didn’t swear much, I no longer would ever drink, if I ever did. I didn’t smoke..because I never did… My life did change since I no longer desired the world anymore, I just wanted my world to be God. There I did find peace. But something was still missing in my faith. The doctrine didn’t seem right, I felt like a lot of what I was taught to believe in doctrine, was inconsistent with what the bible taught. For example, the trinity, Jesus being God, and the numerous inconsistencies in scriptures from the bible, the reversions and mistakes found in the bible. Over time and over the years more and more of what I was taught and discovered, didn’t connect.
I always wondered what Jesus did from ages 12-32. Not mentioned in their bible. It was not whole, not complete for me and I was still seeking the truth, the complete faith that Islam would soon offer me.
The last part in the end that did it for me before I reverted to Islam, was how I discovered how much Christianity changes, not just the scriptures, but the message, and how it continuously changes, how much it is being watered down and diluted.
I saw no unity amongst Christians, sermons that sounded like motiviational speaking with the rock star on stage acting as a pastor, and the faith had sold it’s soul to commercialism and advertisement and lost the true meaning altogether. I also discovered all the paganism found in just about every they do, holidays, actions, I knew then that this is not of Allah (SWT.) I searched and saw what Allah (SWT) was showing me. An answer to my prayers.
Last year I stopped going to church, I would read my Quran a little more often, watch videos on the computer about Islam and the Deen, not even realizing that Allah (SWT) was calling me towards Islam.
I started to study Islam more and more and realized that this is a PERFECT FAITH. Praying, the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) examples of how we should live, how everything is done and said in Arabic to keep the faith from ever changing, the originality of the Quran..there still being 3 original copies of the the original Quran…not one teaching or line of the Quran has ever changed it 1400 years, everything that is done, is done for a reason and traces back to the teaches of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and how he was instructed by Allah. So much detail of how everything was recorded back then of the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) life and how he lived such a beautiful life of an example of what Allah (SWT) wants of us, and how Allah (SWT) wants us to live as Muslims. Eventually, I could feel Allah (PBUH) pull me so strong towards him.
It’s unlike anything I ever felt in my life. I just KNEW he wanted me to become a Muslim. And his unconditional love for me. I was googling how to become a Muslim and found a website where I found information about converting to Islam. I was on a live chat with a man from Egypt, and he called me and helped me say the Shahada. Alhamdulillah!!!! That was on the afternoon of December 24, 2012.
What I love about Islam and have discovered is there is such love and unity. There is no prejudice and everyone is equal. I was also surprised to know the rights that women have in Islam. I thought women were treated beneath a man and not treated fairly. I see that women have MANY rights in Islam and that they just don’t choose to keep up with the women of the west and choose to fulfill their traditional roles as Allah (SWT) has intended them to be, so we each do our part in the marriage, so it works…the way Allah (SWT) always intended it to be. I think women in the west, do too much. We want everything! We want to be wives, mothers, career women, and wear many hats representing so many roles, but we have to realize that maybe this is why we are so stressed out too! And maybe this is why our marriages fall apart too here in America so often. It’s like a chain effect…We’re not happy, therefore, our husbands aren’t getting the attention they deserve. After all, our husbands take credit for our happiness! So when we aren’t happy, they look elsewhere to make someone else happy. It’s sad, but that is the reality of what is going on today.
The one thing that I struggle with now is wearing the hijab.Do I want to wear it? Do I not? I know the Quran says I must, Allah (SWT) tells us women to wear it to cover ourselves and keep our beauty hidden from the world, for only our husbands to see. To keep men from looking at us and sinning and thinking lustful thoughts. Yes, even a hairstyle will do that believe it or not! I was born an American and Islam is new to the west. But I am praying in that direction, to eventually wear the hijab all the time and be obedient. So if anyone struggles with that, you are not alone. I think if we pray about it though, Allah (SWT) will work on our hearts to do the right thing and be obedient to him.
Everyday since last December 24th has been a blessing from Allah (SWT.) I can’t begin to describe the peace I’ve had and have in my heart, how much I’ve learned, the wonderful Muslims I’ve met and how much heart thirsts and can’t get enough of information and learning. I’ve learned that I have to pace myself so I don’t get burned out
The more that time goes on, the more I realize how much my prayers
have been answered, and to see how long ago that seed was planted for
Allah (SWT) to water, to see my spirit grow all these years towards
Islam. I believe that reverting to Islam was the best decision and best
correct decision I’ve ever made in my life here on this earth! Praise Be
To Allah!Show someone the true path, instead of judging him/her! In sha Allah
Posted March 23, 2013
Filed under: Reverted Men | Tags: accept Islam, Allah guides whom He wants, covered with tattoos, Eman from entering his heart, every inch, excluding, judging, person, quickly judge, showing people the true path, we have to do our jo
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Filed under: Reverted Men | Tags: accept Islam, Allah guides whom He wants, covered with tattoos, Eman from entering his heart, every inch, excluding, judging, person, quickly judge, showing people the true path, we have to do our jo
Leave a Comment Most of us would quickly judge that this is the last person who may accept Islam, but subhanallah, with nearly every inch of his body covered with tattoos, this did not stop Eman from entering his heart! Allah guides whom He wants, but first, we have to do our job by showing people the path, without judging or excluding ANY person!
Ex- Tatto Artist Converts to Islam
Posted March 23, 2013
Filed under: Reverted Men | Tags: Abdullah Takazawa, Imam in Tokyo, Japanese Mafia, never exclude, Proves again, scholarship, seek knowledge, stayed for several years, travel to Saudi to make Haj, very humble brother, Yakuza
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Filed under: Reverted Men | Tags: Abdullah Takazawa, Imam in Tokyo, Japanese Mafia, never exclude, Proves again, scholarship, seek knowledge, stayed for several years, travel to Saudi to make Haj, very humble brother, Yakuza
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Shaykh Abdullah Takazawa from Japan, was previously a tattoo artist for the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia), but when Allah blessed him with Islam through the Daa’wa of a foreign brother, he traveled to Saudi to make Hajj, then was offered a scholarship to seek knowledge there, where he stayed for several years. He came back to become an Imam in Tokyo. Masha’Allah, a very, very humble brother! Proves again, you should never exclude ANYONE from Daa’wa!
Japanese sister Khalida Nakamura ex-boxer embraced Islam
Posted March 23, 2013
Filed under: Reverted Women | Tags: Allah guided her to Islam, high dedication, Ikhlas, Japanese TV, knockout, lost 1 game in her career, new Muslims bring into Islam, success, the height of her fame, the right path, world class boxer
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Filed under: Reverted Women | Tags: Allah guided her to Islam, high dedication, Ikhlas, Japanese TV, knockout, lost 1 game in her career, new Muslims bring into Islam, success, the height of her fame, the right path, world class boxer
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Sister Khalida Nakamura from Japan,
was previously a world class boxer, who only lost 1 game in her career,
and won a third of her games by knockout, but after Allah guided her to
Islam, she quit boxing at the height of her fame, and is now… using
that fame to teach about Islam on a Japanese TV!O Allah, keep her on the
right path, give her success and Ikhlas in her Daawa, and give us the
high dedication that new Muslims bring into Islam!
Ameen, In sha Allah
South Korean Shaykh Sulaiman Lee Haeng-lae
Posted March 22, 2013
Filed under: Reverted Men | Tags: 000 Muslims, 120, banned from speaking to the media, growing community, Imam and Scholar of Seoul, Korean soldiers, lecture about Islam, obvious reasons, on the spot, quantity and quality
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Filed under: Reverted Men | Tags: 000 Muslims, 120, banned from speaking to the media, growing community, Imam and Scholar of Seoul, Korean soldiers, lecture about Islam, obvious reasons, on the spot, quantity and quality
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From South Korea, meet Shaykh Sulaiman Lee Haeng-lae, who accepted Islam in 1961, went to study in Saudi, and came back to be the Imam and Scholar of Seoul for over 20 years. He is 76 years old.
Masha’Allah, the Shaykh once gave a lecture about Islam to Korean soldiers, where 37 of them accepted Islam on the spot! Eventually, they were banned from speaking to the media for obvious reasons, but today, Korea has a growing community of 120,000 Muslims (40K Natives, 80K Immigrants), may Allah increase them in quantity and quality!
Swedish brother Tobisa svensson embraced Islam
Asssalam alaikum warahmatullahe wabarakatuh,
Alhmdllah our Swedish brother Tobias Svensson 26 yr old, Took his shahada in Feb 28,2013@ Gutenburg Masjid. Tobias in Engineer in Swedish Ericsson Company.
Takbeer, Allahu Akbar
Why did Jad A Jewish boy accepted Islam!!??
The Beginning
Somewhere in France about 50 years ago there was a 50 year old Turkish man, named Ibrahim, who worked in a grocery store. . . This store was located in a building where a Jewish family lived in one of its apartments. The Jewish family had a seven year old son named Jad.
…
The Child Jad used to go to uncle Ibrahim’s shop everyday to buy necessities for his house. Every time on his way out Jad used to sneak out and steal a piece of chocolate. One day Jad forgot to steal a piece of chocolate. While he was leaving the store uncle Ibrahim called out his name and reminded him to take a piece like he usually did! Jad was extremely shocked because he thought that uncle Ibrahim did not know about his daily theft. He asked uncle Ibrahim to forgive him and made a promise that he would not steal anymore chocolate next time. Read more »
Why Leila Raffin became a Muslimah ?
Posted March 9, 2013
Filed under: Reverted Women | Tags: e mail address, human-rights, islam, Middle East, politics, religion
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Filed under: Reverted Women | Tags: e mail address, human-rights, islam, Middle East, politics, religion
Leave a Comment by Leila Raffin
I don’t know really how to begin. My native language is French and I am not used to write in English but I think it is the best way to make my story accessible for everyone. So I will ask you to be indulgent with me and if you find mistakes (everybody makes mistakes), please send me an email to notify me. My e-mail address is raffin@writeme.com and my website URL is http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/7687Where I come from
I was born in France in the suburb of Paris, we can say in a little “bourgeois” environment. I have been educated by my grand-parents. Thanks to God, they gave me everything I needed to succeed in my life. Until 17, I had a “normal” (what means normal ?) life, shared between my studies and horse riding. Horse riding was for me a real passion, I think I have learned more about life near horses than near humans (sad to say that). My grand-parents gave me a good education and thought that the best for me was to send me study in a religious school, in catholic high school. They were not very religious, I mean they did not go every sunday to church, but it was more by tradition. My mother and my uncle have been to catholic school, so I “have” to go there … They did not impose it to me, I agreed. It was not difficult, I was born catholic, I was in a catholic culture. As many people, I did not ask myself many questions about my religion. Most of people adopt religion from their culture, they are christian because they are born in a christian culture, they are jewish because they are born in a jewish culture, they are muslim because they are born in a muslim culture. Few people ask themself why they are christian, jewish or muslim. If they do, they rarely search very far and return quickly back to their culture/religion because it is easier to keep traditions and to be like people around you than to accept changes and this in every fields (religion, science, education, …).
At 18, my grand-father died, his was near 68 years old. This occurs suddenly and it was very difficult to accept his death because I considered him like my father, he brought me up. My grand-father believed in God but he never went to church. The pret of the church of the neighbourhood did not know him at all. During the ceremony for his death at church, I could not accept all the hypocrisy around it, it was too much for me. Then I began to reject my religion, and with time all form of religion and I doubted about the existence of God. I respected the religion of the others but I did not want one for me. I thought at this time that if people needed a religion, it was by lack of confiance in themselves. I thought that believe in itself was sufficient and there was no need of religion. I thought that religion was a way to avoid fear that the death generates. I thought many things I can find now in lost people, without religion. There were some questions for me without answer: Why are we on earth ? Is there something after death ? What are we in the universe ? We are so small and insignifiant in the cosmos … Who, without religion, has an answer to these questions ?
What makes me search
At the age of 22, I choose to go to Canada for my studies. I went to Montreal for one year where I met many people. It was the first time, I went to live in a foreign country. This made me realize how Frenchs are nationalist, proud of their country and their culture and how they are intolerant. I think that Frenchs should see what exists in other countries, be more tolerant and more open-mind and appreciate what they have in their country instead of critize everything. It was a remark not really related to religion but I have many reasons for that disgression. As I am french, people think I am not open-mind, that I have a lot of “prejuges” and especially about Islam (as most of non-muslims). I always try to keep away the “prejuges” I can have. Everyone has “prejuges”, even if he does not want to, they can come from our culture or from medias. It is difficult to keep them away but we have to do it to stay objective in our jugements. I think there is not enough people who do that (keep its “prejuges” away). I would like to develop that point but it is not the subject here, although it is a very interesting subject. If I had not adopted this way of thinking, I would never try to know Islam because Islam has a very bad image in non-muslim countries such as France. Medias and specially television give that image by showing massacres in Algeria, fights in Afghanistan or by relating attentats revendicated by islamists. When non-muslim people read or hear the word “islamist”, they think “islamist-islam, it is the same”, they associate violence to Islam. We can reproch them their lack of curiosity and their lack of will to know the truth but nothing more. We have to reproch that image to medias and to people who revandicate Islam by using the violence, by killing women, children and innocent people. This is not acceptable.
What or who makes me interest in Islam? Unfortunately not the Muslims I met before my conversion but rather those that gives a bad image of Islam, I mean the media. In Montreal, most of my friends were arabs (or had Arabic origins) and were christian. Together, we used to go to cinema, restaurant and sometimes dancing. All things far from God and far from the true Islam. Among my friends, there was a tunisian, not more religious than the others but he was Muslim. Although his behavior was not the best one in regards to Islam, he talked me about Islam, God and the Prophet – Peace be upon Him -. Even if he was not a “good Muslim”, he was convinced in the existence of God and His Prophet. He told me about Islam, not much but enough to make me search by myself. As I came from a non-Muslim country and I never had the opportunity to meet a lot of Muslims, the only image I had from Islam was from the media (TV, radio, and press). When I began to search about Islam, I first searched for the status of women in Islam, because it was the point the most criticized by the media and also because I felt more concerned by this question as a woman. I wanted to know if the image given by medias on women in Islam was true or not. This image is a negative one, where women are submit to men, with no rights, forced to put a veil on their head, and so on. Instead of asking to someone and taking the risk of being influence by a person, I prefered to read and make my own opinion. It is true that by reading, I can be influenced by the author but not in the same way as a discussion can do. By reading, you have all the time needed to think, you can take your time. A great part of my sources was found on Internet and thanks to God, it was always true sources. At the beginning, I just want to know about the status of women in Islam. So I began to read all I can find about women in Islam. When I learnt that the most part of people who enter in Islam were women, I wanted to know why, why people enter in Islam, why so many women in spite of the negative image given by medias. Then, instead of searching only for the status of women in Islam, I searched for the status of women in the three monotheist religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). I was not interested in the way the religions were practiced nowadays; I was more interested in the sources of the three religions. I read some interesting articles that make the comparison between the three religions. Through one of these articles, I learnt more about my own religion that was officially Christianity at this time. And I finally found that Islam gives more rights, more liberties to women than Christianity or Judaism does. Islam gives to women some rights that French women have acquired only during the last past fifty years (I talk about French women because I’m French but this can be probably extended to most of European women). For most of Europeans, this can appear strange, incompatible with the image that Islam can have. But from this moment, I did not care anymore about what the others could think, I was attracted more and more about Islam, I could not resist. I kept searching more and more about Islam because there were some points that I did not understand, some points I found injust like inheritance for instance. So I kept searching, and I found the explanations by taking Islam in his whole. To understand Islam, you must take it all, not only some parts or just parts you like, because Islam is an entire system where I found everything logical. I searched something that was not logical in Islam but I found nothing. In Islam, everything has a logical explanation, not like Christianity where you are asked to believe without asking too many questions. I never looked at Muslims and their behavior, I always looked at the sources of Islam through readings, alone without the influence of anybody. All these researches have been done in a short space of time, only three weeks. Islam was for me like a magnet and it became an obsession. I thought about it all the day and the night. I felt that the only way for me to remove this sensation was to enter in Islam. I spent some nights without sleeping, thinking about Islam, about the consequences of a conversion. I thought about all the difficulties I might encounter, especially in the French society. But it did not matter for me anymore, the most important was Islam and I finally decided to convert to Islam.
What islam changes in my life
When I converted to Islam, I was still in Canada for my studies. I did not meet any difficulty in Canada because people don’t mind there (as in US). The difficulties came when I went back to France. There, I had to face my family, a non-Muslim environment with little tolerance for Muslims and everything related to Arabs. Although I lived in Paris, I did not have many Muslim friends. Without my hair covered, I faced many difficulties in France because people could not imagine one moment that I was Muslim. For instance, in France, when a man meets a woman he knows, he does not shake her hands but he kisses her (on cheeks). So when I had to say hello to a man, he felt insulted by my refusal to kiss him, I seemed to him strange. This is a detail that hides much than it can appear. I was not recognized as muslima by non-muslims, neither by muslims. However, I did not meet many problems with my family because I was already independent from them. They knew that they could not influence me or put pressure on me. The only solution they had was to respect my choice even if they did not agree, except for my grand mother which is really open-minded and understood my choice. I know I have been lucky for that (al hamdoullilah) because I recently met French women that have many difficulties with their family.
What Islam changes in my life? The answer is simple: everything, from the food to the clothes and my relations with the others. I pray my five daily prayers, I fast during Ramadan, I give the Zakat. In 1998, I decided to leave France for differents reasons. I didn’t feel comfortable and free to practice my religion there. The French Law does not prevent from practising Islam because France is a laic country but french people does (through their behavior, their remarks, …). One time I went to the mosquee with my hair covered as a muslima should do. In the subway, a man changed of place twice in order to be sitten the farest as possible from me. He did it showing me that I was disturbing him. This marked me deeply. A muslima has to face many such reactions. How people can be so intolerant in a country often called “country of Human Rights” ? Where is the liberty ? To be “integrated”, you must look like others. I feel sad about this because France is my country and I don’t want to reny my origins. As I really want to practice Islam, it was difficult, even impossible for me to work in France. I will never find a job as engineer wearing visible signs of Islam (covered hair).
Now I’m living in Morocco where I’m working. I’m pleased to live there because I feel free to practice my religion, I can work and wear long clothes and cover my hair (dressing commonly called hijab). I love hearing the prayer call five times per day. You can respect prayer times. To be in a muslim country during Ramadan is unique.
In June 1999, I went to France for one week and I tried to visit my family. The reaction of some members was radical. When my father learnt I wear hijab (long and large clothes and covered hair), he rejected me immediatly. He refused to meet me, he even called to insult me. Since that time, I have never heard about him. My mother was distant with me. As far as I do not show signs of Islam, they respect my choice … Today, I keep good relations only with my brothers (youngest than me) and my grand mother. I do not reject the other family members but I can not force them to accept me as I am.
I’m not yet married but I’d like to. Previously, I write in this page “soon incha Allah” about marriage. Things have change (everything change
) because I have to face difficulties such as racism.Far-right Dutch Politician Finds Islam
Posted March 7, 2013
Filed under: Ex-Priests/Missionaries | Tags: converting to islam, exploded when he heard the news, Geert Wilders, shocked the Netherlands, the big announcement, Twitter account, utch right-wing anti-Muslim politician, Van Doorn
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Filed under: Ex-Priests/Missionaries | Tags: converting to islam, exploded when he heard the news, Geert Wilders, shocked the Netherlands, the big announcement, Twitter account, utch right-wing anti-Muslim politician, Van Doorn
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Alhmdulillah, Allahu Akbar,
Dutch right-wing anti-Muslim politician, Arnoud Van Doorn, has shocked the Netherlands by converting to Islam.
Geert Wilders’ head probably exploded when he heard the news.
Here’s the link to his Twitter account where he made the big announcement: https://mobile.twitter.com/ArnoudvDoorn
http://www.loonwatch.com/2013/03/geert-wilders-confidante-and-former-far-right-politician-arnoud-van-doorn-converts-to-islam/
=============
(OnIslam)
AMSTERDAM – A leading member in far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders’ party has reverted to Islam after an extensive study about the Islamic religion and Muslims.
“I can understand people are skeptic, especially that it is unexpected for many of them,” Arnoud Van Doorn told Al-Jazeera English satellite channel.
“This is a very big decision, which I have not taken lightly.”
The news about Doorn’s reversion first came to the surface last month when he tweeted “new beginning”.
He later posted a tweet in Arab pronouncing the Shahadah (proclamation of faith).
The politician later announced that he reverted to Islam, giving no more information about the reasons behind the decision.
“In my own close circle people have known that I have been actively researching the Qur’an, Hadith, Sunnah and other writings for almost a year now,” he said.
“In addition, I have had numerous conversations with Muslims about the religion.”
Driven by his party’s anti-Islam discourse, Doorn decided to dig in for the truth about the religion himself.
“I have heard so many negative stories about Islam, but I am not a person who follows opinions of others without doing my own research,” he said.
“Therefore, I have actually started to deepen my knowledge of the Islam out of curiosity.
“My colleague Aboe Khoulani from the City Council in The Hague has brought me further into contact with the as-Soennah mosque, which has guided me even further.”
A member of the Dutch parliament and The Hague city council, Doorn’s name has long been associated with Wilders’ anti-Islam, far-right PVV party.
A member of the Dutch parliament and The Hague city council, Doorn’s name has long been associated with anti-Islam rhetoric by Wilders’ PVV party.
Wilders himself is known for his rants against Islam, Muslims and the Noble Qur’an.
New Beginning
Doorn’s decision to embrace Islam has won mixed reactions in the Netherlands.
“According to some people I am a traitor, but according to most others I have actually made a very good decision,” he told Aljazeera.
“The reactions are generally positive and I also received quite some support via twitter.
“It feels good that people who do not know me personally have understanding of my situation and support me in my choice.”
For the Dutch politician, finding Islam was finally guiding him to the true path in his life.
“I have made mistakes in life as many others. From these mistakes I have learned a lot,” Doorn said.
“And by my conversion to Islam I have the feeling that I finally found my path.
“I realize that this is a new start and that I still have much to learn as well.”
Departing from his earlier life as a PVV member, Doorn expects much resistance in his political life.
“The expectation is that I will continue to face much resistance, also from certain government institutions,” he said.
“I have all faith in Allah to support me and to guide me through these moments.”
Six Tips to Boost Your Faith After Shahadah (Testimony of Faith)
Posted February 13, 2013
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As a convert to Islam, you can easily remember the moment that you discovered that Islam was the one and only true religion.
The moment of realization is an intense whirlwind of emotions such as relief, joy, gratitude and peace.
The moments leading up to the taking of the Shahadah, or Islamic declaration of faith, are equally exuberating.
You wear your best clothes, travel to the mosque and pronounce the testimony of faith:
“Ash hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa ash hadu anna Mohammadan rasoolu Allah” (I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger) in public for the very first time.
Afterwards, the Muslims at the mosque will offer their congratulations and so too will the Muslims in your community.
Your new faith has lit up your heart and the sense of the Islamic nation surrounds you.
However, it is important to realize that the level of excitement you felt in taking the shahadah will likely fade away as you get back to living. It’s inevitable and it does not necessarily mean that you are a “bad” Muslim or have done anything wrong. The faith, ebbs and flows just like a babbling brook in the middle of a grassy meadow. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
“Faith wears out in the heart of any one of you just as clothes wear out, so ask Allah to renew the faith in your hearts.” (Al-Haakim)
There are several reasons why our faith decreases. Everything from engaging in unlawful activities to committing major and minor sins takes a toll on our faith. The good news is that there are several ways that you can maintain an optimum level of faith and enjoin the good while forbidding the evil.
Turn to God First
remember that you are not alone in suffering from weak faith. It can happen to any Muslim.
When you feel that your faith is weakening or that your heart is sick, turn to God in sincere dua, or supplication. When a Muslim’s heart is filled with obedience, love and gratitude towards God, Satan increases his efforts to lead the faithful Muslim away from his Creator. He does so by means of waswas (insinuating whispers) that makes a Muslim question his faith, feel nervous about his choices or even causes him to forget to perform certain acts of worship such as the obligatory prayers. You can fight off the whispers from the Shaytan by asking for Almighty’s refuge from it.
Another way is to increase your good deeds and increase other acts of worship. Perform dhikr (the remembrance of God), as often as you can and read the Quran on a daily basis. Spend in charity of what you are able, even if it is only a smile or a helping hand to someone who needs it. Most importantly, remember that you are not alone in suffering from weak faith. It can happen to any Muslim.
Follow the Five Pillars of Islam
God has given us the perfect prescription for joy and success in this world and the next. The first part of that prescription is the gift of the Quran and Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The second part is the five pillars of Islam:
Shahadah – Testimony of Faith
Prayer
Zakat – annual alms for the poor.
Fasting in (the month of) Ramadan
Hajj – Pilgrimage to Makkah Read more »
After Rejecting Islam for 23 Years Dad Died Muslim
Abdur Raheem Green describes in this video his father’s last days in hospital before he passed away.
Mr. Green was the ex-Director of Cairo Barclays Bank, and his son Abdur Raheem found Islam over 20 years ago, and is today a well-known figure among Muslim scholars and preachers in the UK.
He thought that his father would never become Muslim, but Mr. Green eventually converted to Islam only ten days before he died.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “May his face be rubbed in the dust (may he be humiliated) the one who one of his parents reaches old age and he doesn’t enter paradise by serving them.”
In an incident, a man came to the Prophet enthusiastic to join the fight, the battle that was about to ensue, the man said to the Prophet: “I left my mother crying.” And the Prophet said to him: “Go back and don’t leave her, until you leave her laughing.”
Abdul Raheem Green then says “That is why I decided to spend some time here with my mother after the death of my father.
Allah Almighty told us to pass on the message and not converting anyone to Islam. Our duty is to convey the message, to explain to people the best way we can, guidance is in the Hands of Allah Almighty.The death of my father is something I would like to share with you, and the remarkable story of how, just ten days before he died, he was blessed to take the Shahadah (the testimony of faith).
I have never thought that my father will take Shahadah. My father was an amazing father, he was an outstanding personality and no one can describe him as a bad person.
For 23 years, since I became a Muslim, I’ve been inviting my father to Islam. And I decided to give the best example I possibly could of how Islam should be, of how Islam should be lived, of how Islam teaches me to respect him as a parent. But I thought that my father was closed-minded towards Islam, so I didn’t have much hope that he would become a Muslim.
The Last Days in Portugal
| Any convert to Islam who has parents who are not yet Muslim they can relate exactly to this dilemma |
I know that I tried inviting him to Islam through so many means. But I thought that I have to make this one the last effort.
I had spent a long time thinking about what I could say. How could I say it? What was the right way to approach him? He was already very ill, so I didn’t want to distress him, I didn’t want to make him more upset.
To be honest I was afraid that he might say “No,” and reject my invitation. And I was even worried that if he did say the Shahadah and did enter into Islam, then he recovered and came home and became more arrogant about Islam; for me that was even scarier.
It is really a difficult thing. Any convert to Islam who has parents who are not yet Muslim they can relate exactly to this dilemma to this difficulty that I was going through. Never underestimate the power of duaa (supplication), because it was then when I was lost, I asked Allah to help me find something to say for my father.
As he was lying there, I said to him: “Dad! I’ve got something really important to tell you; are you listening? My dad couldn’t really speak very well, so he nodded his head. Then I said: I’ve got something to say, if I don’t say it, I’m going to regret it.
And then I told him that “in the Day of Judgment, a man will come in front of Allah and this man have scores of evil deeds as far that he can see, and in each direction, and Allah will say to him, ‘You have something that outweighs all of that.’ And the man would say, ‘What is that my Lord?’ Allah says ‘A written statement that you made: There is no God except Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger.’”
| He said, “Give me something easy to do.” |
And he nodded his head.
I said “Does that mean you want to say those words?”
And my dad said “Yes.”
He said the words with me; “There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is His messenger.”
I had to leave the hospital on that day, because it had some strict rules. I visited him the next day, and he didn’t remember anything. He wasn’t able to remember one thing from a day to another, even from an hour to another, but that wasn’t the end of it.
Three or four days before he died, my dad said: Help, help me.
I said “Dad what do you want me to do?”
He said “I don’t know!”
Then he said, “Give me something easy to do.”
I remembered the hadith of the Prophet: “There is something that is light on the tongue, and heavy on the scale.” So, I said “Dad if I was you, I would keep on repeating the shahadah over and over.”
And he said, “Yes, that’s what I want to do.”
And we spent half an hour going over and over with the Shahadah.
Then, I left for the UK, and there I heard my father had passed away…
Australian Sister Susan Carland reverted to Islam
Before I became a Muslim, I think I was just a normal teenager, I suppose.
I went out with friends, and I just did normal teenage stuff. I think
I liked to go to concerts, I took the day out, … I went to high school,
I was really a very normal person.
It wasn’t until I got to university that I decided that I wanted to be Muslim.
Why Islam?
When I was about 17, I started to question why I believed what I believed.
Did I believe what I did just because I have been raised to believe it, or because I thought it was true?
When I read about Islam itself, I realized it was actually very different to what I thought. It was actually very peaceful, very egalitarian, with strong emphasis on equal treatment of women, and a strong stance on social justice. I thought it was a very intellectual religion, yet it was also very spiritual, and that also appealed to me as well.So I decided that I wanted to look into other religions. I actually had as my New Year’s resolution that I wanted to look into Judaism, and that sort of thing. I had no interest at all in becoming Muslim.
And so after a couple of years of actually looking into it and taking it seriously, when I was 19 I realized that this is actually something that I really believe in.
My daily life hasn’t changed at all. In other words, it changed quite
flatly I think. The main difference would probably be that I pray five
times a day. I perform the ritualistic prayer five times a day, so the
first prayer is before sunrise and then they are scattered up throughout
the day. So that’s changed. And I obviously wear a headscarf now which I
didn’t do before I was Muslim.
In the other words, I don’t feel like I changed a lot. I’m still the same person. I still like the same sort of things. I still got the same friends I had before, and I have some new cool friends that I have made since becoming Muslim, some are Muslims and some aren’t.
Hijab
We live in a society where women are constantly objectified. How many times do we turn on the TV or drive past a billboard where a half-naked woman is being used to sell spaghetti or toothbrushes or carpets or whatever. By wearing the hijab, these women are saying I don’t want to be part of that and I want to be taken more for my mind than the size of my chest or how long my legs are or what kind of hair I have, or anything like that. God has chosen the women in this society to be the flag-bearers of Islam.
You know, my husband has a beard but people can’t necessarily tell that he is Muslim. He just seems to fit in with everybody else. But for me as soon as someone sees me, they know that I’m Muslim and so I’m like the flag-bearer or the ambassador for Islam, and I find it really interesting that God chose women for that role and not men.
Coming Together
I think there certainly are stereotypes of Muslims. People will assume that I’m oppressed or I do not speak English or assume that my husband is a terrorist, or whatever. If there is a negative stereotype of Muslims out there, then a lot of the blame for that is on the shoulders of Muslims. People aren’t going to think the wrong things about us if Muslims aren’t constantly doing the wrong thing or coming across negatively.
Muslims also need to have open minds and participate in open non-threatening dialogues, and welcome non-Muslims into their mosques and talk to them about their religion, because as long as there is sort of a closed mentality things are going to stay the way they are. Just a matter of talking to your neighbors or the guy who is next to you at work or the woman that you sit next to you on the bus, and just be normal and friendly and doing that sort of thing can really change stereotypes.
It wasn’t until I got to university that I decided that I wanted to be Muslim.
Why Islam?
When I was about 17, I started to question why I believed what I believed.
Did I believe what I did just because I have been raised to believe it, or because I thought it was true?
When I read about Islam itself, I realized it was actually very different to what I thought. It was actually very peaceful, very egalitarian, with strong emphasis on equal treatment of women, and a strong stance on social justice. I thought it was a very intellectual religion, yet it was also very spiritual, and that also appealed to me as well.So I decided that I wanted to look into other religions. I actually had as my New Year’s resolution that I wanted to look into Judaism, and that sort of thing. I had no interest at all in becoming Muslim.
And so after a couple of years of actually looking into it and taking it seriously, when I was 19 I realized that this is actually something that I really believe in.
| I don’t feel like I changed a lot. I’m still the same person. I still like the same sort of things. |
In the other words, I don’t feel like I changed a lot. I’m still the same person. I still like the same sort of things. I still got the same friends I had before, and I have some new cool friends that I have made since becoming Muslim, some are Muslims and some aren’t.
Hijab
We live in a society where women are constantly objectified. How many times do we turn on the TV or drive past a billboard where a half-naked woman is being used to sell spaghetti or toothbrushes or carpets or whatever. By wearing the hijab, these women are saying I don’t want to be part of that and I want to be taken more for my mind than the size of my chest or how long my legs are or what kind of hair I have, or anything like that. God has chosen the women in this society to be the flag-bearers of Islam.
You know, my husband has a beard but people can’t necessarily tell that he is Muslim. He just seems to fit in with everybody else. But for me as soon as someone sees me, they know that I’m Muslim and so I’m like the flag-bearer or the ambassador for Islam, and I find it really interesting that God chose women for that role and not men.
Coming Together
I think there certainly are stereotypes of Muslims. People will assume that I’m oppressed or I do not speak English or assume that my husband is a terrorist, or whatever. If there is a negative stereotype of Muslims out there, then a lot of the blame for that is on the shoulders of Muslims. People aren’t going to think the wrong things about us if Muslims aren’t constantly doing the wrong thing or coming across negatively.
Muslims also need to have open minds and participate in open non-threatening dialogues, and welcome non-Muslims into their mosques and talk to them about their religion, because as long as there is sort of a closed mentality things are going to stay the way they are. Just a matter of talking to your neighbors or the guy who is next to you at work or the woman that you sit next to you on the bus, and just be normal and friendly and doing that sort of thing can really change stereotypes.
Why Did This Denver Family Choose Islam? .
Posted February 10, 2013
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Tim moved from the UK to the US ten years ago,and worked as a Human Resources Manager for a large company.
His wife, Paige, worked for a large bookstore chain in the US,
and together with her daughter Kayla are very comfortable to wear hijab when going out from their home in Denver.
The following is a brief summary of their stories finding Islam.
Husband: Tim
My name is Tim, and I converted to Islam 18 months ago.
It wasn’t until I finished college and left home and starting out by myself that those nagging thoughts came to my mind, that have always been inside me, a deep-rooted belief that there is a God who looks after us and created us all and created the world and universe that we live in. At that time I needed to try and understand and explain the concept of God more closely to myself.Growing up, I went to a school that was actually part of the . In high school, we had at least 2 hours of religious education built in the curriculum each week.
When I first met my wife, we both had very heavy spiritual influences, not necessarily a part of any organized or structured religion. But we had feelings and we understood that there was certainly a lot more to life than just being here and now. I think we both had a belief in the afterlife or spiritual life, but neither of us really explored that too deeply at that time.
| my wife phoned up the mosque and made an appointment to go on a Friday around lunch time |
We went between the two sets of prayers that occur. We have roughly 500 people that are attending each of the two Jumua (Friday) prayers and khutbah (sermon) that take place each Friday. There was a cultural shock to me there. We had a lot of different nationalities walking around the place in their own costumes and national dresses and things like that. There were very few Americans walking around in jeans and T-shirts, and it was just a bit of a step back for me. It was like I walked out of America and entered into somewhere in the Middle East.
We were very fortunate to meet with a person who at that time was the president of the mosque, a sheikh by the name Muhammad Norzai, and he was the one who gave us a quick tour and explained some things about Islam, and then guided us to a place where we could observe a khutbah taking place. For me, that was certainly getting my first experience about what prayer and worship is for Muslims.
I always believed that there was a person called Jesus and that he was a great prophet and a messenger that came down from God. The problem I had trouble with is that Jesus was a man. He was born of a woman in a miraculous way but he was still a man. He was not a God. And why should we as men be worshiping another man? Surely we should be worshiping God. And the concept that there is just one God and that you should only worship that God alone and not worship idols or other people, and that forgiveness can only come directly from your relationship to God, really what started clinching it for me.
Wife: Paige
My name is Paige and I converted to Islam 2 years ago.
I was raised by my father who was an atheist and he raised my sister and I as atheists, and I didn’t believe in any God at all. Growing up, I thought that people who were religious were silly. I thought that religion was something that governments used to keep their population in line because if you have something better to look forward to in the after death, you will be more obedient during life.
Sometimes when I was at high school I started going with a friend to her church occasionally as a guest, and I was really moved by the faith that people seemed to have, but I still couldn’t get my head around the inconsistencies of Christianity that there are a lot of leaps of faith that I was just not willing to make.
I’ve always been interested in philosophy, people in general, religion, and religious history, and I happened to be watching a documentary about the three Abrahamic faiths; Christianity, Judaism and Islam. And for the first time I really listened to something about Islam. I found it fascinating that Islam comes from Christianity which of course comes from Judaism. And the messages are essentially the same messages. And I thought that it’s like God tried to give us this message and human beings kept messing it up.
| Christianity has leaps of faith but Islam doesn’t. It’s all very rational religion, everything makes sense. |
So I started kind of reading. I bought a book called “Islam for Dummies”, really good. There were just some really beautiful things about Islam and I found myself more and more drawn to it especially its rationality. Like I said, Christianity has leaps of faith but Islam doesn’t. It’s all very rational religion, everything makes sense.
In fact the first time I went to the mosque, I thought of having this feeling that I was going inspite of Muslims. It was nothing to do with these crazy people you see on the TV blowing things up, you know, and I was terrified to go into the mosque. But I felt like to find my religion and I had to put up with these people who go to the mosque. That was before I met my first Muslim.
When Tim decided to become a Muslim, I was absolutely tickled because I had been a Muslim at that point for a few months. I wasn’t quite sure like what my plan of action was going to be. As a Muslim woman I can’t be married to a non-Muslim man, but leaving my husband was not really an option. I think like I sort of knew that he wasn’t going to be too far behind me when I said my shahadah. And I was right, within six months he said the sahadah as well.
Daughter: Kayla
My name is Kayla Botello. I was born in the United States of America. I was raised here my whole life and I converted to Islam over a year ago. We didn’t grow in a religious household. We didn’t grow up believing in God necessarily, but knowing that there is a greater being. So there wasn’t really any certain religion that we followed. We just made sure that we were well-rounded and knowledgeable.
I believed in God. I’ve always had a kind of positive attitude on life. So for me I was kind of looking around. There was so much beauty in the world, how could there not be a God? But as far as any kind of religion, I didn’t have a religion.
Converting to Islam was like a series of events, you know, it wasn’t one defining moment. I think what really got me about Islam was because I started to attend classes after my mother had converted, so I just started attending classes just for my mom to be respectful and to understand her and a lot of things that caught me was the science in Islam. They talked about the Big Bang and they talked about things like where the salt water meets the fresh water, that was only discovered in the 1970s. Things like that just make you think how did they know that 1400 years ago? And for me I believed in God but I also believed in science.
Daughter’s Husband: Yassir
My name is Yassir. I’m an American-born Muslim and I’m Kayla’s husband. My father came to this country about 1980. He was doing aviation school, lived a single life for a while until he met my American mother with whom he be friended and had very good connection with. When they came to religious talks and they had this intellectual spark immediately. They got married and they gave their five children the opportunity to live the American life and the Syrian life.
We have been going to Islamic schools since we were very young. So we had that kind of education and we have always been very close to our American neighbors, friends like that. There has always been that kind of relationship, never any tension, and we really had a lot of good friends who actually came to our house and learn about the Islamic and Arabic culture.
When Kayla converted to Islam, I believe it was something that was destined to happen whether or not I came into her life. She had many qualities in her that reflected so many good attributes that were already in Islam, and it was something that she just needed to find and apply in her life. There were so many things about modesty and just being a good child to your mother and father and being obedient and just having that consistent respect to your fellow men and fellow women. I mean there were some things that she had but she just needed something to define it on a bigger scale … which was Islam.
(Irish) brother Damian Cúipéir’s Journey to Islam
Posted February 9, 2013
Filed under: Reverted Men | Tags: & felt, & I was at peace with myself at last, (withheld) in Newcastle, a bit apprehensive, a joke, all over the world, anxieties, ‘lapsed’ catholic, believing in God, best decision I have made in years, catholic priests, Catholicism had taught me, Christian friends fully supported me, could still pray without having to go through a ‘representative’ here on Earth, County Down, cráic, decision to embrace Islam, fears, felt unburdened & extremely happy, find a new direction to go in, find about the religion of Islam, go to confessions, great bunch of ‘true friends’, have similar interests, how to go about bringing it into my life, I objected to this & stated that I could speak to God whenever & wherever, in the North of Ireland, indeed, instead of putting my own happiness & peace of mind, Islam is an evil religio, learning more about Islam, links to a lot of sites, my health was so poor, nervous about, newcastle county, no further involvement with religion, pick up more & more knowledge, priests & others in the Catholic Church began emerging, proper’ Muslim, put me at ease, raised as a catholic, Reverting to Islam, ribbed him about his name, similar sense of humor, spoke to God, spurred me on to gain, still ‘knew’ there was a ‘God’, stories of the behaviors, talks like me, teachings of the Catholic Churc, teachings of the Catholic Church, testified ‘Shahada’, the introductions, the stories came to light about catholic priests & their crimes against children in Ireland, to become a part of it, words right, worries
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Filed under: Reverted Men | Tags: & felt, & I was at peace with myself at last, (withheld) in Newcastle, a bit apprehensive, a joke, all over the world, anxieties, ‘lapsed’ catholic, believing in God, best decision I have made in years, catholic priests, Catholicism had taught me, Christian friends fully supported me, could still pray without having to go through a ‘representative’ here on Earth, County Down, cráic, decision to embrace Islam, fears, felt unburdened & extremely happy, find a new direction to go in, find about the religion of Islam, go to confessions, great bunch of ‘true friends’, have similar interests, how to go about bringing it into my life, I objected to this & stated that I could speak to God whenever & wherever, in the North of Ireland, indeed, instead of putting my own happiness & peace of mind, Islam is an evil religio, learning more about Islam, links to a lot of sites, my health was so poor, nervous about, newcastle county, no further involvement with religion, pick up more & more knowledge, priests & others in the Catholic Church began emerging, proper’ Muslim, put me at ease, raised as a catholic, Reverting to Islam, ribbed him about his name, similar sense of humor, spoke to God, spurred me on to gain, still ‘knew’ there was a ‘God’, stories of the behaviors, talks like me, teachings of the Catholic Churc, teachings of the Catholic Church, testified ‘Shahada’, the introductions, the stories came to light about catholic priests & their crimes against children in Ireland, to become a part of it, words right, worries
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My Journey to Islam by Damian CúipéirI suppose you could say that my journey began a few years ago, when the stories came to light about catholic priests & their crimes against children in Ireland, & indeed, all over the world.
But we will get to that after the introductions.
Hi, my name was Damian Cúipéir, (Now Daamin Abdul Quadir) I was born in (withheld) in Newcastle, County Down, in the North of Ireland. I am the second youngest of 6, & I was raised as a catholic.
I began having problems with the teachings of the Catholic Church when I was at high school, when I was told that I had to go to confessions, to confess my sins in front of a priest. I objected to this & stated that I could speak to God whenever & wherever,
I chose to, this could be in bed at night, or anywhere really.
I became a ‘lapsed’ catholic from here & really had no further involvement with religion from this point for several years. But it didn’t stop me from believing in God, my view was that I could still pray without having to go through a ‘representative’ here on Earth.
I was still praying using the prayers that Catholicism had taught me, & later, I just spoke to God. When the stories of the behaviors of priests & others in the Catholic Church began emerging, I wanted to have no further dealings with it. But I still ‘knew’ there was a ‘God’, & felt I needed to find a new direction to go in. Read more »
CLAIRE EVANS wasn’t religious before she converted to Islam
Posted February 9, 2013
Filed under: Reverted Women | Tags: some stares and nasty comments, new partner, who is a Muslim, we’re not settling down just yet, Islam has made me calmer, for the first time in my life, I feel accepted, not much I miss about my old life, odd sausage roll, can’t eat pork now, I wasn’t religious before I converted, I didn’t really believe in God, cover my hair, wear a hijab, which was a big decision, dad doesn’t like it, though, Claire, from Bridgend, South Wales, after researching
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Filed under: Reverted Women | Tags: some stares and nasty comments, new partner, who is a Muslim, we’re not settling down just yet, Islam has made me calmer, for the first time in my life, I feel accepted, not much I miss about my old life, odd sausage roll, can’t eat pork now, I wasn’t religious before I converted, I didn’t really believe in God, cover my hair, wear a hijab, which was a big decision, dad doesn’t like it, though, Claire, from Bridgend, South Wales, after researching
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last July after researching it following a break-up. Claire, from Bridgend, South Wales, says:After my heart was broken by a… Muslim man, I wanted nothing more to do with the religion –
I thought it was cruel and unkind.
But my mum started looking up more about Islam and pointed out the way this man had behaved was contrary to the faith’s teachings.
I read up on it and discovered that Islam actually promotes tranquillity and peace.
I wasn’t religious before I converted. I didn’t really believe in God. I now cover my hair and wear a hijab, which was a big decision.
At first I got some stares and nasty comments but in the past six months I’ve grown in confidence. Now I go to the mosque once a week and I pray every day.
I also took a Muslim name, Safir, but I still use my old name of Claire too. I have a new partner too, who is a Muslim, but we’re not settling down just yet.
Islam has made me calmer and, for the first time in my life, I feel accepted.
There’s not much I miss about my old life, except the odd sausage roll – I can’t eat pork now.
Devout Jayne Police officer at Manchester U.K converted to Islam
Posted February 9, 2013
Filed under: Reverted Women | Tags: 000 Brits convert to Islam, 75 percent are women, and patient and respectful of others, as a Police Community Support Officer, but I found out it was about being generous with your time, change her name to Aminah, decided to become Muslim, Devout Jayne converted to Islam, Gtr Manchester, half of those who make the switch are white, hijab headscarf, I thought Islam was all about women being forced to slave away in the kitchen, JAYNE KEMP, more than 5, neighbours and cherishing, patrols Eccles, similarities with Catholicism, so-called honour violence, to change their lifestyle so dramatically
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Filed under: Reverted Women | Tags: 000 Brits convert to Islam, 75 percent are women, and patient and respectful of others, as a Police Community Support Officer, but I found out it was about being generous with your time, change her name to Aminah, decided to become Muslim, Devout Jayne converted to Islam, Gtr Manchester, half of those who make the switch are white, hijab headscarf, I thought Islam was all about women being forced to slave away in the kitchen, JAYNE KEMP, more than 5, neighbours and cherishing, patrols Eccles, similarities with Catholicism, so-called honour violence, to change their lifestyle so dramatically
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JAYNE KEMP patrols her beat wearing a traditional hijab headscarf and even works extra time after shifts so she can attend Friday prayers at her mosque.
Devout Jayne converted to Islam last April and even plans to change her name to Aminah.
The single mum, who patrols Eccles, Gtr Manchester, as a Police Community Support Officer, says: “I thought Islam was all about women being forced to slave away in the kitchen — but I found out it was about being generous with your time, and patient and respectful of others.
“As I looked into it, I saw similarities with Catholicism and noticed values such as looking after your neighbours and cherishing the elderly, which is something older people say younger people don’t do any more.
“I wasn’t looking for any religion at the time but for every question I had answered about Islam, I had five more. I think I fell in love with it.”
EVERY year, more than 5,000 Brits convert to Islam.
More than half of those who make the switch are white – and 75 percent are women.
But what would make someone want to change their lifestyle so dramatically? Police Community Support Officer Jayne Kemp left her Catholic roots behind after “falling in love” with Islam while helping victims of so-called honour violence.
Here EMILY FOSTER, JENNA SLOAN and EMILY FAIRBAIRN speak to Jayne and three other women about why they decided to become Muslim.
Ex-Christian Brother Musa Abdul Hadi’s Journey to Islam (from U.S Dallas,Texas)
I start by saying praise and glory to Allah Subhanahu wa ta ala, to whom all thanks belongs. He whom Allah guides will find no one to miss guide Him, and He whom Allah causes to stray will find no helper except in Allah Subhanahu wa ta ala.
I was born and raised in Dallas Texas of the United States.
My parents separated when I was 5 and I spent most of my time growing up living with my mom, 2 brothers and 1 sister with my grandparents. It was a very religious Christian home.
My grandma was a Sunday school teacher, and my grandfather and her never missed a Sunday in church. With that being said I learned a lot about the Bible from a young age, and I took an interest in God from a very young age. But my family pretty much took it as I just wanted to show off to my grandparents who were active in church, which was an initial shock to me that even my Christian family would take my religious seriousness as a joke. After brushing that off I quickly realized, still at a young age, that Christians were mean people in general.
At some point in elementary school my grandmother passed away, and a few years later my grandfather. Without them there my mom got away from church, and I eventually formed an atheist point of view by high school. But even before I considered my self as complete atheist, I had serious doubts in religion from my experiences at church.
But once I hit high school I turned more rebellious and spent a lot of time making some big mistakes, and spent the majority of my years between 15 and 18 in and out of jail. At 18 I moved from Dallas to California and pretty much kept my self out of trouble from that point on, but other than that my choices weren’t much better, and as the years went on, the further and further I was from any form of truth. Eventually I found my way to Pennsylvania when I was 19, and ended up being with a girl that I have been with ever since and ended up getting engaged to. I started to grow more and more in my hatred of religion in general, I felt religion was only something people used to make them selves feel better than others.
In 2008 for some reason I just completely changed, and out of no where felt the urge to get closer to God and get my life on a better path. I started with reading the Bible, because I wanted to know what God wanted before I started looking into churches. I quickly realized that no church practices what the Bible teaches, but I felt God changing me and knew it was important I learned, so I just stuck with the Bible which is what I had. The changes I was making so quickly were a complete shock to my girl friend I was living with at the time, and we ended up splitting up, because for our whole relationship I taught her why religion was wrong, and now I’m changing and trying to teach her why religion is important, and it was too much.
So we split up and I moved back to California, during that time I stuck to studying the Bible, and visited church one time during that point. I was looking into the Jehovah Witnesses because they seemed to hold more truth than any other Christian group. I went to church there once and really liked it, was considering becoming a Jehovah Witness myself, until my mom showed me some history of theirs that made me change my mind. Eventually me and my girlfriend that I moved away from in Pennsylvania started talking again, and she decided she realized she needed to be more religious too, and we wanted to work things out so I moved back.
We got engaged immediately after I got back, and I was pretty quickly falling off my changes I made. She got pregnant shortly there after with a girl, and life got busier, all the while I was falling further and further from my relationship with Allah. The whole time I realized I was making bad decisions, and knew my life was miserable like this, but I couldn’t figure out how to change. Reading the Bible was not enough, and I had no one I trusted to guide me. Me and my fiancé started fighting worse than ever, and by the time our daughter was born we were on the edge of splitting up again. I ended up getting a really bad drug addiction, and I felt all this pressure to fix my relationship with my fiancé because now we have a daughter, but every day just got worse. I knew I needed Allah… But had no idea how to get close to him from the point I was at… Between the time my daughter was born and when she was 6 months old was the darkest time of my life, between the drugs and the fighting the new baby and everything falling apart, I was lost and confused. Eventually I gave up the drugs because of the damage I was doing to my loved ones, but it was too late and the relationship with my fiancée was too damaged.
At some point in that time, (which was during Ramadan 2011, but I had no idea because I never even knew one Muslim at this point) during a normal night for me, I was at home in my room, late at night. My fiancée was asleep on the couch, which had become normal because of all the fighting, so I’m sitting there trying to not think about my problems. I ended up deciding to look into what Muslims believe, it was pretty much random, but what influenced me to do so was a few months before that I found out Muslims worship the same God as Christians, which surprised me, and also I was trying to find something to occupy my mind.
So I started out looking up the differences between Christians and Muslims, and found out the only real differences were about how they see Jesus. Which wasn’t a big deal to me, because I was starting to get uncomfortable with some of the beliefs Christians held about Jesus, but I still believed he was Allah’s son (Astaghfirullah) and still believed you needed him for removal of sins and to get to heaven (Astaghfirullah). So this was enough for me to look into the Quran, I wanted to see what actually inspired Muslim beliefs.
So I goggled the Quran and found an English translation and started reading. I read up to the point in Baqarah where it talks about the blessings of Ramadan and the Quran being sent down in Ramadan, and already with the power of the Quran it felt special that I was there in that moment reading it. So I went back to Google out of curiosity to see when Ramadan was, and found out I was in it. The whole situation blew me away, it felt very relevant that I was there at that time reading this powerful book, filled with an amazing guidance and light. I continued reading and felt my problems leaving. I felt this was it, the answer to all my problems, the peace and guidance I needed. I thought every problem would go away, I knew I wasn’t ready to be Muslim but I knew I wanted to learn this book and model my life after it. As soon as my fiancée woke up (I stayed up all night reading Baqarah) I had to tell her about it, I was so excited, I wasn’t too surprised when she thought I was crazy, but I wanted to keep trying to talk to her about it over the next few days. Unlike how I thought, my problems far from went away, my life was getting darker quicker, and the fighting worse. In my mind, I knew the Quran was true… But kept remembering how surah Baqarah states how Allah causes those to stray who He wishes, I felt positive I messed my life up too much and Allah just showed me the Quran to show me how bad I messed up. Me and Tori ended up splitting up and I moved back to California, which was devastating to me at first, because of my new daughter. But I ended up getting over it.
I was staying with my mom in Cali, and I spent a lot of time reading Quran on my phone, I eventually ordered a physical copy at one point. And slowly life started to look brighter and I felt Allah guiding me again, which is all that mattered to me at the time. Around the time I was coming close to finishing the Quran my Imaan was getting higher and I decided I should tell my mom that I want to be Muslim. Like I expected she completely flipped out and tried to do all she could to talk me out of it, but at this point I had no doubts about my choice, Allah already taught me the truth about Jesus in His Quran at that point, and I already had gotten over my doubts before I even told her. Fighting between me and my mom ended up getting really bad now, she didn’t want to stop bringing it up and it would always turn into a very nasty debate. But the whole time I was learning Quran I was also trying to explain it to my ex fiancé when I would call to see how my daughter was doing. She thought I was crazy at first but slowly started to see the truth in it. And eventually as tensions rose between me and my mom I decided to go back to Pennsylvania with my family, because my fiancé wanted to learn about Islam. Eventually in January 2012, I took my Shahada, and in July 2012 she took hers, and we are both students of Islam and in sha Allah I pray to Allah Subhanahu wa ta ala I always will be.
My apologies for this being so long dear brothers and sisters.
Asalamu alaikum wa rahmatoulah
An American Sister’s Struggle to Find & Keep Islam
An American Sister’s Struggle to Find & Keep Islam
I am born and raised in Jersey City.
My parents are from Columbia and from Italy.
From being with my friends, spending time more with them, once I began on my own journey, really, because I really didn’t ask anyone exactly of other religion, it was just something teenagers at that age we really didn’t discuss about religion.
So I myself started searching on the Internet about Islam, that’s when I came into the site Why Islam, which was one of my web sites that I found, and they sent me a lot of information, books, the Quran, a prayer rug, hijab.
Once I got this information I started reading on my own. I also had ordered brochures about Islam. And once I continued to read more and more every day, it would just interest me and bring me more and more to continue to read and learn about it.
I continued to go on the web site here and there, and what I did see was a way to go into a mosque. They have you set up with someone in order to go and visit a mosque, so I did that, and they had e-mailed me and connected me with another sister, actually she had converted four months earlier, prior to my decision to converting, so I think that’s what made me feel more comfortable and push me to really convert was after I met this sister.
One day, through the Internet we connected, we called each other and we met and set up a date to go to the mosque. And after we did go to the mosque, she did take me before to an Islamic store, bought hijab, showed me how to wear hijab, and she made me feel very comfortable because she was African American, had converted four months prior, pretty much was going through the same process and questions that I felt that would push me away from Islam, and why I should convert. So every question I had she answered, and she was going through the same experience as I would after I converted. Read more »
Wrestling Champion Finds Peace in the Quran
Wrestling Champion Finds Peace in the Quran,It was like all the weights of the world have been lifted off me.
My name is Ismail Chartier, and I converted to Islam 10 years ago.I was raised Irish catholic in a neighborhood called Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, which when I was a kid was a very bad neighborhood. It was full of drug use. The Irish mafia ran it with an iron fist and if anyone got in their way, they were dealt with.
My mum and dad are both first generation Irish American.
There was a mixture of Puerto Rican Catholics and Irish Catholics there, and never did the two ever meet. There were two parishes in my neighborhood, one for Roman Catholics and one for Irish Catholics and we never went to the other parish.My brothers and I are second generation Irish American, which comes with a lot of culture and heritage. You have to learn wajibat (mandatory, obligatory) to learn what it means to be Irish, the culture, the dancing, the music, and the hate of English occupation of Northern Ireland especially when your family is from Belfast.
I wrestled from the time I was 5 years old to the time I was 20 years old. That’s who I was. It was my identity. Everything I was, was this. I was known as Brandon the wrestler. That’s who I was. I was 4-time state-wrestling champion.
I was in university, at the University of Arizona in the wrestling team. And I got hurt really bad. I hurt my back and I couldn’t wrestle any more. And I remember the day that the trainer and the coach brought me in to their office and they said “You are finished, you can’t do this anymore” and when I couldn’t do that anymore, I didn’t know who I was and all I felt was pain and anger, and I wanted the world, not just certain individual but the whole world to feel as much pain that I felt…
KIM EDWARDS
"I grieve for all the innocents of this world. From the children playing in a field in a remote part of Pakistan as a drone blows them to bits, to the Palestinian children whose sleep is shattered by Apache gunships, to the Iraqi children maimed by depleted uranium...all over the world there are innocents dying because of wicked people who seek to pit one faith against another, who seek to force others to adopt 'democracy' when it is not wanted. What happened in Boston is a tragedy but let me tell you this: there is a campaign, a plan to foment hatred against Islam and Muslims."
"Kim Edwards shared Imam Zaid Shakir's status.
Terrorism
is not the weapon of the weak. It is the weapon of the morally bankrupt
and mentally depraved. As Muslims, we should join all civilized human
beings in condemning it in Boston, Baghdad or Burma. We condemn it if it
is state-sponsored or orchestrated by rabid, depraved individuals. We
condemn it whether the victim is Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu or
professes no religion. We condemn it
with no hesitation or equivocation, for God tells us in no uncertain
terms in the Qur'an, "Do not kill the life which has been sanctified by
God..." He mentions elsewhere in the Scripture, "Whoever kills an
innocent life it is as if he has killed all of humanity..." We affirm
the sanctity of innocent life and condemn all acts of terrorism in the
strongest possible terms. A strong, unqualified, universal rejection of
any act of terrorism is the first step in contributing to its
eradication."
"I grieve for all the innocents of this world. From the children playing in a field in a remote part of Pakistan as a drone blows them to bits, to the Palestinian children whose sleep is shattered by Apache gunships, to the Iraqi children maimed by depleted uranium...all over the world there are innocents dying because of wicked people who seek to pit one faith against another, who seek to force others to adopt 'democracy' when it is not wanted. What happened in Boston is a tragedy but let me tell you this: there is a campaign, a plan to foment hatred against Islam and Muslims."
"Kim Edwards shared Imam Zaid Shakir's status.
I
am back in Kuwait and should anyone need any advice on how to handle
oneself during patdowns, currency enquiries, cell phone, kindle and
other electronic devices being confiscated and all information copied,
please, do not hesitate to contact me. If you need advice on how to
maintain one's composure during an endless list of twenty questions
conducted by a barely literate TSA agent...contact me. If you want to
know what the best strategy is for being taken off your flight for no
reason..ask me. If you are curious as to why an ordinary housewife whose
support of Palestine should warrant a visit from the FBI...well, you
know-ask me.
What's
on my mind? Being denied entry to the us on four different flights.
Waiting for the twits at homeland security to give me the all
clear...why? Really why? No one knows. But you can bet that supporting
Palestine and speaking the truth will cost you.
Ghyslaine Roc I
am sorry I have missed what happened to you. Well, alhamdulillah you
are back! I am contemplating of going to the US and I never learned not
to react to provocation and maintaining my composure in such situations
is out of the question, so I better meet somewhere else than in the
Christian Zionist Unites States Corporation! BAFS
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