'' Our Lord ! grant us good in this world and good in the hereafter and save us from the torment of the Fire '' [Ameen]
-
{in Arab} :->
Rabbanaa aatinaa fid-dunyaa hasanatan wafil aakhirati hasanatan waqinaa 'athaaban-naar/-
(Surah Al-Baqarah ,verse 201)
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An American Female Finds Islam
I am an American who grew up in a strict religious Christian family.
By the time I was 16 I became very devout and religious myself. The
church waslike a home away from home. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
I had read and studied the Bible on a regular basis. All the while
Iwas noticing many errors in the Bible. Many conflicting stories. So I
would ask my grandmother or the pastor of the church about it, but
would never get a solid answer.
I was told to just brush it off and not worry about these little
details that weren't adding up. So for a time I did.
Later on in my early 20s I was appointed as Youth Pastor at mylocal
church. It was during this time that my biblical studies hadbecome
intense. The more I studied, the more questions I had.
Due to the lack of answers I was not getting from the church, I
decided to enroll into Bible College. "For sure I would find my
answers there," I often thought to myself. Again, no such luck.
Nothing could ease my mind andso I decided to step down from"Youth
Pastor". I felt I could no longer lead the youth since I was confused
and doubting things myself. I was the one in need of a leader. My
heart was crying out to find some peace in all this confusion.
One night I turned on the TV andhappened to flip straight to CNN.They
were reporting straight from Iraq. Then, there in the background I saw
the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
She was adorned only in black from head to toe. She was so modest, and
to me that made her so beautiful. I knew that shewas a Muslim but I
didn't know what the religious beliefs of Muslims were.
I was more caught up in her clothing attire. It sparked my interest
more than anything. My heart immediately desired to be like her. Pious
and modest. So this is where my search began.
I immediately got online and searched "Muslim Woman Dress"& "Muslim
Woman Face Veil". This is when I came across the words " Hijab " and "
Niqab ". Wikipedia also referred to the women who wore it as Hijabis
or Niqabis.
These hijabis and niqabis were my newly-found role models. So I
immediately changed all my online nicknames to "hijabi" or"niqabi". It
had not occurred to me to investigate the beliefs of Islam yet. But it
was soon to come….
One afternoon my neighborhoodwas having a community cookout. I was
setting next to my closest neighbor and we somehow got on the subject
of religion.
He said "You know us Christians will probably be in trouble whenwe
stand before God?"
I just nodded in agreement but not really sure where he was going with this.
He said, "Yeah, you know those Muslims pray 5 times a day faithfully
and we Christians can barely make time to pray once a day."
More curiosity sparked!
I immediately excused myself and ran back to my home. I opened the
Computer and begansearching the Internet about Muslim beliefs. I was
amazed at their beliefs as it seemed to fit inline with mine.
But I wanted to be sure there were no surprises hidden in their
beliefs; you know nothing that was going to throw me for a loop if I
choose to convert.
The following weeks I drove to the closest mosque, which happened to
be 50 miles away, requesting information. I searched the Internet
into the wee hours of the morning reading all about Islam.
After a couple of months of researching and reading, I decided that I
want to convert. I drove back to the mosque and took the Shahadah! A
peace entered my heart and soul like never before. Subhanallah !
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