My name is Christina and this is how I accepted Islam

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTwpmGUBYLUKtSfviJLTyXa2sze-bQ4HLFmxpk_DUayEBBcSQtREA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTwpmGUBYLUKtSfviJLTyXa2sze-bQ4HLFmxpk_DUayEBBcSQtREA" style="background-color: transparent;" /></a>On Christmas Day, 2010, I embraced Islam and became a Muslim. Why? Simply because I felt ready, as a result of a gradual process of growth and change that had been slowly transforming my life over the past year.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> I moved to Abu Dhabi, UAE, in the spring of 2010, to teach English. My first time in the Gulf, I didn’t know what to expect but I wanted to understand the culture around me and the religion, which are a vital aspect of everyday life in this part of the world. Hence began my journey to learn about Middle Eastern culture and the people around me, reading books about Islam and the Quran.  I had no intention of changing my own religion. I just wanted to understand Islam.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> As I continued reading and delving , I realised that there was alot about Islam that I didn’t know or had misunderstood, and continued to search for answers to the myriad of questions I had about Muslim traditions and practices, stature and rights of women in Islam and so on.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Ramadan approached and I was marvelled by how beautifully the atmosphere transformed with everyone preparing for one of the most important times of the year for Muslims. The excitement grew around me and I decided to join and try fasting. The first day was the hardest but with each passing day, I was determined not to give up and managed to fast the entire month. I felt really good about it, like I was becoming more disciplined, and a better person.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> I started to pray whenever I heard the beautiful sounds of the Adhaan, the call to prayer, reverberating throughout the city. I read the entire Quran, word for word. I changed my lifestyle and gave up clubs and alcohol drinking, channelling my energy toward a more positive purpose, a master’s degree in education. I spent my free time doing volunteer work and I formed a group of Muslim women friends.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> I explored Islam on the Internet, signing up for Facebook groups like Hadith of the Day and Quran Surah of the Day. Every time I checked Facebook, I would read Hadith of the Day, captivated by the beauty of the words and the truth behind them. I started to identify more and more with Muslims, and I started to feel less and less like the person I used to be. It slowly started to dawn on me that maybe I was already Muslim inside and I just hadn’t said the Shahadah.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> I shared my internal conflict regarding difference of beliefs and cultures and finding myself, with a friend who had recently embraced Islam. I went with her to women’s service at a local mosque and continued talking with friends and contemplating a new way of life.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> On Christmas Eve, I had dinner with a Muslim American friend and the conversation we had then about Christianity and Islam, talking about the 5 pillars of Islam and what I believed in, was probably the turning point for me in accepting what my heart and soul were ready for.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: 'Droid Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> On Christmas Day I read Surah Maryam and watched an online documentary about Prophet Isa AS. As I went about my day, I was overcome by a strong feeling that I was ready to accept Islam. I contacted my friend who was excited at my resolution and came over in the evening. He explained the process of accepting Islam, asking over and over if I was ready for something that would be a complete overhaul of my life.  Suddenly I felt unsure and decided to sleep over it. As I got into bed, I felt again that I was ready and so I quickly prayed the Shahadah.  A deep sense of relief came over me, and I went to sleep.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The next day I felt a little scared and unsure if I had done the right thing. I was overwhelmed by questions in my mind about how I would carry out the responsibilities of being a good Muslim, how would people I knew react at my decision to abandon the religion and culture of my family. I decided the best thing to do was to take things one day at a time, and start by only telling people who I knew would support me. I shared with my closest Muslim friends and was touched by their happiness and offers of help and encouragement. I felt a sense of peace and contentment.  I knew I was doing what was meant for me and that Allah would bless my efforts.  And I prepared to start the new year, on a straight, new path.</div> </div>

My name is Christina and this is how I accepted Islam

On Christmas Day, 2010, I embraced Islam and became a Muslim. Why? Simply because I felt ready, as a result of a gradual process of growth...

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My name is Jacob and this is how I accepted Islam

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> Assalamualaykum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuh<br /> <a 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G55/cvnKVql0thO2QeTFZGnEIHZIVmxictvqKTZozCqSZzHcRnJMsCTeCufvYvIpxLuydHOZyvUsm+XMhA0Vso7FkIABq5YeBhSIQnqAIpsNCwhCNhoPXIajNHCENQ8XjNp+AaNhCEbDwWM2+72CVPv+ZCEdRSDxYaMjpCVh4vlEyQhPgrKZaMjpAcFEzjmiEDxwUmVckQg0gUKxgpWEIVzE7S8peQCUyELZidpac9wE5bHSGjMIHKa6itr7iELZhaXdgGRwhokKGkVyjpB45TiLJkIEX//Z" /></a><br /> My name is Jacob and I am an American, having grown up in the southern plains state of Oklahoma. I had a very long road to Islam.<br /> <br /> I always believed in God from the time I was a child. My father had died when I was a toddler and my mother had no religious values to teach my older siblings and myself. My half-sister moved away early on, and so it was just my brother and I. We tried going to church as often as we could with whomever we could, but I grew disenchanted with the Gospel protestant way of worship common in the “Bible Belt”.<br /> <br /> The first time I ever knew there were real people who believed in God but were not Christians was in High School. A very nice young lady who I knew who had inspired me to not be so rigid in my thinking was having a conversation with me one day when she exclaimed “Praise be to Allah!”<br /> <br /> I was shocked. She was so cool, to me and many others (she had a large circle of friends) and she said THAT? I was a practicing agnostic at the time. I believed in God, but I wasn’t sure about religion. I was so taken aback that I had to excuse myself from the conversation. Even later, I couldn’t wrap my head around a non-Christian concept of God. I was always taught in Sunday school that other views earned you a ticket to Perdition.<br /> <br /> Shortly after High School I had a failed attempt at joining the military–an early discharge during basic training. I found myself homeless as I returned “home”. I was angry with God, blaming Him for making me suffer needlessly. It was a few years after I was back on my feet before I delved into the study of religion.<br /> <br /> I had met some Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roman Catholics, Mormons, and Charismatic Protestants, and was fascinated by what they all had to say. Each had a genuine faith. Each gave me intelligent answers to my questions.<br /> <br /> I made friends with some people my age who attended a Charismatic Protestant church. After a year of attending the church, I joined the worship choir, and tried to involve myself more. A year and a half later, I enrolled in Bible College in another city. I was still searching, not completely certain that Protestantism was the way to God.<br /> <br /> My life in Bible College was short lived. After four months, I decided it was not for me. I withdrew from classes and went back to just working and wondering about God. I spent much of my free time in the public library, and it was there that I found the English translation of the Qur’an. I was reading the updated Catechism of the Catholic Church at the same time, but I did take mental notes of a few things.<br /> <br /> Because I was so well versed in Catholicism, the local Diocese Bishop allowed me to skip formal RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) and be Baptized and Confirmed in the Church. I began asking questions, trying to understand the Trinitarian concept, and how God could die for three days. Nothing I was told made sense. I still didn’t have all the answers, but I was enamored with Catholic ritual and liturgy. It was beautiful. I joined the choir, as I had before. I tried to be content and happy, but after a while, I knew I never would be if I couldn’t have the answers to my questions.<br /> <br /> So I left the Catholic Church, and Christianity in general, behind. I was not in a good place spiritually, and that was affecting me mentally. I began wondering if any religion had the truth within. I began studying Judaism in depth, as well as Buddhism and Hinduism. I was still thinking about what I had read in the Qur’an, but deep down, I was afraid to truly study Islam because of American Islamophobia. I saw the treatment non-Christians received in the southern US after Sept 11, 2001, and I wasn’t in any hurry to join in on the receiving end.<br /> <br /> I moved across the country in 2005 to the West Coast. Away from home and family for the first time, I had studied Judaism exclusively for nearly seven years. Then one day, I wondered to myself, what am I afraid of, really? I began surfing website after website, looking for anything Islamic–practices, beliefs, anything. I bought an English translation of the Qur’an at the bookstore. Finally, I felt like my questions had answers.<br /> <br /> There is only One God. We are created to worship Him alone. Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Noah, David, and Muhammad (may the Peace of Allah be on them all) all preached the same message about the same God.<br /> <br /> It took me nearly four years, but I made my Shahadah on 14 April 2013. I am more joyful than ever. I love telling people I’m a Muslim. My grandmother and I have had some interesting discussion about Heaven and Hell. Some people are accepting, some are intolerant. That, unfortunately, is humanity. But I pray that Allah opens eyes and hearts.<br /> <br /> SubhanAllah! Alhamdulillah!<br /> <br /></div>

My name is Jacob and this is how I accepted Islam

Assalamualaykum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuh My name is Jacob and I am an American, having grown up in the southern plains state of Oklaho...

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