Assalam-aleikum wa rahmatullah!
I came to Islam
pretty much on my own. I was born and raised Roman Catholic, but I always had a
deep fascination with the spiritualities of other cultures. My Journey started
when I desired to have a relationship with my creator. I wanted to find my
spirituality, and not the one I was born with. I spent some time in the Catholic
religious order known as the Franciscans. I had many friends and I enjoyed
prayer times, but it just seemed to relaxed in its faith, and there was, in my
opinion, too much arrogance and hypocrisy. When I had returned back from the
order into secular living again, I once again was searching for my way to reach
God (Allah). One night I was watching the news on television, and of course they
were continuing their one-sided half-truth reports on Muslims (always in a
negative light instead of balancing it by showing the positive side as well)
with images of violence and terrorism. I decided long ago that the news media
has no morals whatsoever and will trash anyone for that "juicy story", and I
pretty much refused to believe anything they said. I decided to research Islam
for myself and draw my own conclusions.
What I found paled all the
negative images that the satanic media spewed forth. I found a religion deep in
love and spiritual truth, and constant God-mindfullness. What may be fanatacism
to one person may be devotion to another. I picked up a small paperback Qur'an
and began devouring everything I could. It opened my eyes to the wonder and
mercy of ALLAH, and I found the fascination growing every day...it was all I
could think about. No other religion including Catholicism impacted me in such a
powerful way...I actually found myself in God-awareness 24 hours a day 7 days a
week...each time I went to my five daily prayers, I went with
anticipation...finally! What I have been searching for all of my life.
I
finally got enough courage to go to a mosque and profess the Shahadah before my
Muslm brothers and sisters. I now am a practicing Muslim and I thank ALLAH for
leading me to this place: Ashhahdu anna la ilaha ilallah wa Muhammadur rasul
ALLAH! This means: "I believe in the oneness and totalness of ALLAH and that
Muhammad(peace and blessings be upon him)is the chosen prophet of ALLAH." I now
also accept Jesus as no longer equal with ALLAH, but sent as Muhammad was sent
...to bring all of mankind to submission to the will of ALLAH! May all of
mankind find the light and truth of ALLAH.
February 25, 1997
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