Sister Tena

It Takes Two By Sister Tena
Both my husband and I converted to Islam. I converted during Ramadan last year and my husband shortly after. The thing that drew me to Islam was the hijab and loose clothing of the Muslim women. We both did research on the Internet and then read hadiths.
After this, I was totally convinced. The first time I went to a masjid, a sister there greeted me and gave me my first hijab, which I will cherish always. I watched on as others prayed...too scared that if I participated I might offend someone .but not realizing that they would soon become my brothers and sisters in Islam, alhamdulillah.
After I converted I did not wear hijab right away. It wasn't until a year after that I did. I found the right one to fit my head and also the right spot in my heart to wear it. Now I don't go out without it .
My husband read the Qu'ran and then shortly after converted. I'm from a Canadian Anglican background and my husband never joined his Christian church (Presbyterian). Our parents are dealing with it slowly.
I've never had any bad experience when converting to Islam. I hope that by wearing hijab that I will prompt someone to research it too.
I've met wonderful people in my walk in Islam and will continue to pray to Allah for the wonderful thing he has bestowed upon us!! Alhamdulillah.

Sister Ericka

My Journey To Islam

Sister Ericka

Introduction

Salam alaikum

My name is Ericka, I live in the United States, I am a housewife and I am 27 years old.I am of Mexican origin and born and raised in a “Catholic” atmosphere, my family so far is somewhat “devout” in the traditions surrounding this “religion”.About three years ago by invitation of a girlfriend, I visited a “Christian” church, they were Evangelists, they seemed very similar to me in that time and assisted me many times and I understood many things among them the discipline to read the Bible and although I did not always understand it at least I took the ideas to study for the following class on Sunday.On one occasion the Reverend made an affirmation that Muslims “hated” Jesus and that they worshipped another God who was called Allah. I decided to investigate ISLAM to confirm what he said. To my suprise I met Muslims who loved Jesus as much as Christians (we who wait for his coming), and that Allah means God in the Arabic language and it is another way for us to speak of Him as if the Americans worship another God that is called God, or the Italians do when they say “Dio”, etc. I investigated and I realized that in effect Jesus is not God as people now affirm the Christian belief in it, because the same person Jesus prayed to the same God, just like us.I investigated the origin of the Bible and its authors and discovered that it has many contradictions and unknown authors and some are Jews and other single famous ones and some of the authors didn’t even know Jesus but nonetheless wrote what he said.I resisted it in the beginning but I began to see the truth with my own eyes because it was sad to think that my so sacred and well-regarded book, which to me was the word of God, was distorted.I prayed to the All-powerful God that guided me and let me see the truth, that He guided me to worship Him without worrying about the consequences.One of my major doubts was what if the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was not prophesied in the Bible, because if the Bible said that, it was truth.I encountered many proofs of it and my heart already felt the correct guidance, so I commenced to read on about Islam.I discovered that the Koran is the pure word of God and this one is not corrupt, I discovered that it is a right and logical religion with all the answers for this life and the other, it is a religion of peace and of delivering yourself wholly to God, with blessings for the believers.After much time thinking, I wanted to be Muslim and one day I went to my husband, who is also a Muslim and he helped me to say my testimony and when I did I felt a great weight lifted from my shoulders, I felt free, clean, and with much faith, since then I wear my veil and obey the living God peacefully, armored with the faith of which each day Allah gives us because everything in the earth He has already given it, because Islam is not a single religion but a way of life.I have not had any major changes, my family has accepted it, and I am very happy.Note: You can read sister Ericka’s introduction in SpanishWhat was your first religion?ChristianityWere you observant in it?YesDid you belong to a particular sect or denomination?Protestant, EvangelistWhen and why did you start thinking to change your religion?When I started reading the Bible and couldn’t understand it. When the Rev. at church said that Muslims “hated” Jesus and worshiped another god named Allah. I though that if a person like him “teaching” us was ignorant enough not to know the very basic about other religions, he must not be qualified to “guide” anyone, mis-informing people about others, what guarantees me that won’t mis-inform me about his own? So I started reading about Muslims and Islam, my husband is a born Muslim, so I went to him and asked him everything I was concerned about, I also attended the Mosque sometimes for non-Muslims classes, I also asked some knowledgable Christians about ISLAM, they knew nothing, when I asked about Christianity they knew very little.What concerns did you have with your previous religion?The main concern to me was to know, the origin of today’s Bible. I found many contradictions whithin itself that it cannot be the word of God. The founder of Christianity, Paul, gets more credit that Jesus himself and he doesn’t even keep his stories straight about his so claimed conversion. The fact that he was not a follower of Jesus in the first place is enough for me to not trust his writings. The fact that he was a Jew and of the “chosen people”, and “converted” to being not chosen. The fact that Protestants are always critizicing Catholics, but yet do the same in a very “holy” way, listen to music, even sing at church, they celebrate the sweet 15 just like Catholics do, drink alcohol in very small quantities at church just like them. So I thought, what is the difference here if they are doing the same. They even do concerts and other celebrations that within Christianity and Biblical rules are not suppose to be done!What other religions did you study?I knew a little about, Judaism, Buddhism, but I did more searching about Islam.What pros and cons did you see in the religions you studied?Judaism worships just one God, the other one is a peaceful religion, without the same God. The covering of my hair was at the beginning the excuse of not accepting Islam, but it was weak. The other was the language, other than that everything was great to me..What were your criteria in making a decision about which religion to follow?Everything, is a religion of Justice, love, peace, fairness and closeness to the Only God. The blessing of worshiping God directly and feel closer to Him. To know that my sins as a non-Muslim would be forgiven and that, that was my new start, my chance to live my live with sense and purpose. It offered me a new life and a great understanding of everything around it. Islam offered me a new way of life.Were there any external factors which influenced your decision?Yes, the lack of respect for women today in almost everywhere in the world, as wives, as daughters, as mothers and most of all as women. They are used as sex objects, sales products, and motives of sin basicaly. Husbands cheating on their wives, mothers abandoning their babies, teenagers having no respect for their bodies by fornicating with so many parters, wives don’t respect their husbands, divorces, suicides, child abuse, domestic violence I could go on, and on, but all of this because they don’t have fear for their Creator, they have no love for themselves, they don’t believe about the rewards in paradise or the punishment in hell, therefore they don’t care where they will go. They don’t have faith, because they have no God.What religion did you choose?ISLAM, MASHALLAH… Because it gives me a complete way of life, a chance to get closer to God. A chance to recieve His blessings, and a chance of live in the hereafter. It gives me peace and light to see the path I need to follow. It gives me faith and trust in my Creator, and most of all it gives me the guide to be happy here in this life. It lets me see the reason of creation, the logic behind it and the purspose of it.Did you have any problems after your conversion?MashAllah, I haven’t had any, whatever I get, won’t be seen as such, but as a chance to get stronger in what I believe.How would you advise others who are studying Islam?To study with and open mind and heart, seek the guide of God to see the truth regardless of the consequences. To take the time to find out what they are followed and by who. To take the time to balance the positive and the negative with proofs and logic. I would advice to ask instead of making assumptions If so, make sure they are asking the right person, (for Islam ask a muslim.. etc…)Are there any other points you would like to make?Dear reader, don’t be afraid to know about Islam, at least to understand it and not criticize it, only if you know you will understand and if you understad you will respect. Don’t give up in your search, and ask Allah (God) for guidance.

Shifa

A Miraculous Journey to Islam
Recounted in a letter
by
Shifa
“And say not of those who are slain in the way of Allah: ‘They are dead.’ Nay, they are living, though ye perceive (it) not.” Qur’an 2:154
Dear Robert,
Your family and mine have been friends for many years, and I know that it disturbs you that I have become a Muslim. In particular you are very anti-Islam because of the teachings related to the Martyrs. You have said it is an insidious and evil teaching - the belief that martyrs do not really die. Of course I have to tell you that I believe it absolutely, and there have been some remarkable instances which have strengthened my belief in the Qur’anic text totally.

Let me tell you what I mean:

There was an interesting case about ten years back when an Imam phoned me and asked would I interview an Australian man who had become Muslim and claimed to have come through a very strange circumstance.

When I made contact with this man I discovered that he was about fifty years of age. He was married to a Spanish Catholic woman and had two sons. He had recently come to Queensland from another state.

Anyhow, as he put it, he went to bed one night nominally Christian, and awoke, the next day, a Muslim!

On questioning him I discovered that he had lost his father during World War 11 when he was five years of age. When told of this he had sat quietly and spoken to God, saying, “My father is dead, will you be my father now?”

At first this was a comfort to him and he shared his news and feelings with God. But over the years his life altered and he had almost forgotten his earlier request to God - to take the place of his Father. There was nothing unusual about his life. He went through his schooling and eventually took up a trade. He married and had children.

Nothing spectacular at all had happened in the intervening time, and on the night in question, years later, he went to bed as usual.

During the night he had a dream that he was in the desert. As he looked about him he saw a man wearing Arab clothing and sitting cross-legged on the sand. He recognised this man’s great anguish and saw him look to heaven, raise his arms and cry out, “Ya Allah!” He said that there was so much pain that the man wept and as he did so his tears fell onto the sand. Suddenly where they fell a pond appeared. Then from heaven a tear- drop blood red fell into the water and beautiful plants appeared.

Suddenly the dream changed and he found himself looking upon Arab/Muslim dead - he said that as far as the eye could see there were mountains of dead Muslims. It was so real that he felt he could almost have smelled the odour of death.

Then a veil was drawn across. Just as he was standing wondering what was to happen next, it was drawn back. This time he saw all of the dead alive - they were greeting each other and were happy and laughing, and he was relieved and amazed.

Suddenly his dream changed and he found himself outside an enormous doorway. He knocked and asked to be let in but a voice told him that this was a doorway through which only Muslims could enter and he
must return. At this he awoke. The next day he was walking with his wife and felt a great urgency to discover more of Islam. In the shopping Centre he saw two men whom he took to be Italians. Suddenly he decided that he would ask them. “Are you Italians?” he asked. “No,” they replied, “we are Arabs.” With this he asked if they were Muslim, to which they assented, and he begged them to take him to a mosque so that he may learn further.

The eventual upshot of it was that this man became a practising Muslim. In a short time he applied and was accepted to go to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Religion. So what can one say to such an event!

Indeed, it seems that the prayer of his childhood was heard and accepted and we are told:

“When my servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every supplicant when he calleth on Me: Let them also, with a will, listen to My call, and believe in Me: that they may walk in the right way.” Qur’an 2:186.

Truly the Love and Mercy of Allah is beyond anything which we may imagine, and His Guidance something of which we can only marvel:

“….Say: Allah’s guidance is the (only) guidance, and we have been directed to submit ourselves to the Lord of the Worlds!”

In truth Robert, I am so very happy that I am among those who are Muslim, who have been very blessed. May it please Allah, upon Whom our very beings depend, to grant you His similar Guidance.

Sincerely,

Shifa

Shariffa Carlo, Ex-Christian, USA

Shariffa Carlo, Ex-Christian, USA

The story of how I reverted to al Islam is a story of plans. I made plans; the group I was with made plans, and Allah made plans. And Allah is the Best of Planners. When I was a teenager, I came to the attention of a group of people with a very sinister agenda. They were and probably still are a loose association of individuals who work in government positions but have a special agenda — to destroy Islam. It is not a governmental group that I am aware of, they simply use their positions in the US government to advance their cause.
One member of this group approached me because he saw that I was articulate, motivated and very much the women’s rights advocate. He told me that if I studied International Relations with an emphasis in the Middle East, he would guarantee me a job at the American Embassy in Egypt. He wanted me to eventually go there to use my position in the country to talk to Muslim women and encourage the fledgling women’s rights movement. I thought this was a great idea. I had seen the Muslim women on TV; I knew they were a poor oppressed group, and I wanted to lead them to the light of 20th century freedom.
With this intention, I went to college and began my education. I studied Quran, hadith and Islamic history. I also studied the ways I could use this information. I learned how to twist the words to say what I wanted them to say. It was a valuable tool. Once I started learning, however, I began to be intrigued by this message. It made sense. That was very scary. Therefore, in order to counteract this effect, I began to take classes in Christianity. I chose to take classes with this one professor on campus because he had a good reputation and he had a Ph.D. in Theology from Harvard University. I felt I was in good hands. I was, but not for the reasons I thought. It turns out that this professor was a Unitarian Christian. He did not believe in the trinity or the divinity of Jesus. In actuality, he believed that Jesus was a prophet.
He proceeded to prove this by taking the bible from its sources in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic and show where they were changed. As he did this, he showed the historical events which shaped and followed these changes. By the time I finished this class, my deen [religion] had been destroyed, but I was still not ready to accept Islam. As time went on, I continued to study, for myself and for my future career. This took about three years. In this time, I would question Muslims about their beliefs. One of the Individuals I questioned was a Muslim brother with the MSA [Muslim Students’ Association]. Alhamdulllah, he saw my interest in the deen, and made it a personal effort to educate me about Islam. May Allah increase his reward. He would give me dawaa [i.e. tell me about Islam] at every opportunity which presented itself.
One day, this man contacts me, and he tells me about a group of Muslims who were visiting in town. He wanted me to meet them. I agreed. I went to meet with them after Ishaa [night] prayer. I was led to a room with at least 20 men in it. They all made space for me to sit, and I was placed face to face with an elderly Pakistani gentleman. Mashallah, this brother was a very knowledgeable man in matters of Christianity. He and I discussed and argued the varying parts of the bible and the Quran until the fajr [dawn prayer]. At this point, after having listened to this wise man tell me what I already knew, based on the class I had taken in Christianity, he did what no other individual had ever done. He invited me to become a Muslim. In the three years I had been searching and researching, no one had ever invited me. I had been taught, argued with and even insulted, but never invited. May Allah guide us all. So when he invited me, it clicked. I realized this was the time. I knew it was the truth, and I had to make a decision. Alhamdulillah [Alla praise be to Allah], Allah opened my heart, and I said, “Yes. I want to be a Muslim.” With that, the man led me in the shahadah [the testimony of faith] - in English and in Arabic. I swear by Allah that when I took the shahadah, I felt the strangest sensation. I felt as if a huge, physical weight had just been lifted off my chest; I gasped for breath as if I were breathing for the first time in my life. Alhamdulillah, Allah had given me a new life — a clean slate — a chance for Jennah [Paradise], and I pray that I live the rest of my days and die as a Muslim. Ameen.

Sa'ad Laws

"Conversion from Nowhere" By Sa'ad Laws

I have often been asked how I came to Islam. I mean, it isn't too often you see a white guy from "cow country" turn to Islam. I guess the most amazing thing about the whole thing is where I started. Now, I am not one of those stories of brothers who you hear were in gangs, addicted to crack, or worshiped devils at stone altars. I come from quite a typical background. I have two sisters; a brother; and both my parents are still married. My father is an engineer; while my mother is a housewife (or domestic engineer, as she likes to say) and we are as middle-class as you can get. My family lives in a small country hamlet, just to the south of nowhere. To give you a glimpse of how rural it is, there is a general store about a mile from my house, where the lady who runs it say "ya'll come back now, ya hear" when ever you leave the store.
Religion was always a strange subject in my house. My father is an Irish-Catholic by birth and my mom is a Methodist. We went to church on occasion, but for the most part, religion was a "spiritual" matter that you just had in your heart. I can remember as a kid looking at a small figurine of Jesus (which I had "borrowed" from the family nativity set) and wondering why do we go to "number two" when we pray or want something? Why don't we just go to "number one", God? Growing up, the whole concept of the trinity never made since to me, but since I lived in a spiritual Christian family, this wasn't really an issue.
As I got older and entered high school, I quickly noticed that I was a bit different. In my school, like in most schools in America, there were basically four groups with whom you could be associated: the "Alternative", the "preps", the "crack-heads" or the African-Americans (being that 90% of the county I grew up in was white, they ended up being somewhat alienated and kept to themselves). Then there was me. I have to say looking back now, that this was one of the blessings of Allah. I very much feel like Allah was protecting me from all sorts of things which, had gotten involved in them, could have brought me down later on. For example, I was always in search of a "girlfriend", much like any other typical high schooler. However, whenever the situation presented itself for me to take advantage of, I always found myself overwhelmed with shyness and I wasn't able to do anything, not even move my lips. I am extremely grateful for this now, even if I wasn't then.
Although I hung out with the "Alternative" group, I never really felt like I fit in. They liked to talk about music, trash their friends, and do drugs or some other mindless pastime. I, on the other hand, was interested in the Black Panthers, Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X. This made me look a little odd to say the least and I received more than a few tags as being a "Black wannabe". It was at this time, while in the eleventh grade, that I began to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, the ultimate anti-white leader, or so I was told. I read his book, and the more I read it, the more I couldn't put it down; his story was amazing to me. He came from nothing and then…there he was.
But, it was the chapter entitled "Mecca" that would have the most profound effect on me. In it, he told his story of how he was affected by the generosity and compassion of, not only the Muslims he met while making the Hajj, but also by Islam itself. I read that and thought to myself, "who are these guys?" So, I went to the school library and started to check out every book that I could about Islam. I was amazed at what I read; here they believed in the same principals I has found so innate within myself. They said that there was only One God, that Jesus was not his son, but a rightly guided Messenger and Prophet. I was taken aback. I knew that whatever this "Islam thing" was, I needed to be a part of it.
At that time I considered myself a Muslim. If you had asked me what my religion was, I would have said Islam. I hadn't taken my official shahada mind you, but in my heart I was a Muslim. I was a bit naïve at that point though. I knew that Muslims were supposed to pray, but I didn't know how many times, or how to pray and so on. I didn't know much, and there wasn't anyone for me to learn from at that point. I was just kind of walking around saying "hey, I'm Muslim". It was then that I got the jump-start that I needed. A friend of mine got a bit agitated by me saying I was a Muslim all the time (I was a bit over zealous at this point) and said that I wasn't really Muslim. "You don't even pray," he told me. I thought to myself, you know what…he's right. I knew I needed to take this being a Muslim thing a step further. That's where I ran into a problem.
Who were these Muslims? I didn't know a Muslim or where to meet any. There wasn't exactly a mosque down the block from my house you have to understand. You could have literally found gold more easily than a Muslim where I lived. So, I searched the phone book and came across a mosque in Washington D.C. But, that was unfortunately about two and a half hours away and might as well have been two thousand miles away. When I first called them I was so nervous. Here I was about to talk to a Muslim! They were very pleased by my enthusiasm towards Islam and my eagerness at becoming a Muslim. But, they wanted me to come to the mosque. This would of course be a problem.
At the time I was still in high school and under the reign of my parents, who also controlled my extended whereabouts, especially since it was the family vehicle that I was driving. My chances of getting that car for a trip to D.C. were slim at best. What was I going to do? I couldn't get to the Muslims, so how was I going to be a Muslim. I asked them if they could come down here, but that was to no avail. I needed to do this now; I couldn't just sit around for another year or two with this. It was after much prodding that I finally convinced the brother to let me take my shahada right then and there, on the phone. I guess that might have been a first…conversion by phone.
So, that is how I came to Islam. I can truly say now, looking back on the whole story, that I was overwhelmingly blessed by the way Allah guided me to Islam. I look back now and see my old friends from high school and how lost they are. Then I look at myself. I mean I know that I have more than a few rough edges and that I have much improving to do, not only as a Muslim, but also as a person in general. But, I can't help but feel a bit awed that I was guided and that Allah picked me to be guided and out of where? Nowhere.
I look back and I think…what was it that guided me? What could have led me to this? This "religion of the Arabs", that was so foreign to me that I would have needed a passport just to get in. Then I realized that what happened to me was from Allah and that He alone has guided me. I feel kind of awestruck when I think of it. I mean, I don't know why, but Allah picked me for this religion of guidance. I feel like I have been saved from the Hell fire and plucked from the ashes. It is this, my being guided to Islam by Allah and Allah alone, that is the greatest blessing that I have ever received.

Islamby S.S. Lai

My Journey to Islamby S.S. Lai


The day I write this, I have lived my life knowing what Islam means for approximately 5 years and 11 months. I reverted to Islam on the 5th October 1991. I believed that every child is born in a pure state and that only their parents brought them up to the way they think best and the only way they probably know how.May Allah guides their hearts to Islam.
I came from a Chinese background. My whole families believed in worshipping the idols and the dead ancestors. Throughout my childhood I was made to believe that there were many gods, god of mercy, wealth etc., Every year, I would had high hope and enthusiasm that my grandfather would bring me to the temple to worship 'our' gods. What drew me to them as a child was that there were many foods ( I thought the foods would taste nicer because they had been worship to the great and mighty ones ) and the 'gods' look very mystique. Some of the idols projects a sense of fear, some beauty and this lists go on and on. On that day, we would burnt paper money and worship our 'gods' using some incense sticks.We would observe all these in silence and these brings more impact to my young mind. I used to hope that one day I would know how to say the words that my grandfather said to the idols and the little secrets and tricks he used with the 'magic stones'.
At home we have pictures of dead ancestors . Every fullmoon , I would eagerly ask my grandmother if she would honor me by throwing the two coins. If the coins both shows the head or tails then they ( the dead ancestors ) have not finished eating.
I also came from a 'Muslim' country called Brunei and by the blessings of Allah, I came to a school with the majority of the students being Muslims. I remembered once a friend brought a comic book with pictures of the punishment of hell fire. I didn't fully comprehend them at that time. The only lesson I had at that time was never to 'tear any packages of sweets or crisps, otherwise we would be punished equally in the hereafter ).
A lesson in geography on why we could all stand and walk on the surface of the earth and not thrown out into the dark space started my journey to Islam. I came home feeling confused and asked my uncle why this is so. My uncle advised me to always asked WHY for everything. Since that day I had never started asking WHY .
In the year 1988, I won a scholarship to come to UK to study . This had been my lifelong ambition and I had worked long and hard for this. My main aim in life up to that point was to become rich and useful and to make my parents very proud of me. The only way I know how then was to become a doctor. The helpless feeling I had when I was forced to sit next to my great grand mother's death bed till her last breath had never escaped my memory.
I studied A level in girls only school. All I know about Islam although I had many Muslims friends and live in a Muslim country then, Muslims do not eat pork, they fast in Ramadan and they were the losers. All my experience with Muslims had made me not attracted me to them although I had a strange feeling at age seven I will become a Muslim just like my uncle. I had never asked anybody about Islam for fear they will go very excited and this always frightened me and made me very shy.
In that college, one night I dreamt I heard a loud Adhan. I walked towards it and stood infant of a big gate with Arabic writing on it. I didn't know what it meant for I knew not Arabic writings then. I felt an immense sense of peace and security. The room was illuminated with light and I sawwhite figures praying ( wallahu'alam ). The feeling I had was greater than I could write or expressed. The next day I forced myself to asked one of my malaysian Muslim friend. She told me it is 'Hadassah' from Allah. This first conversation helped me to asked many more questionsthat had been on my mind for all these years about Islam. I had always been thought the Muslims are bad people and they always oppressed the non-Muslims etc..,That year I went back to Brunei, I told my families I want to have a year out for my mind cannot concentrate on my previous aim. I felt there was something more important than everything I had worked for all those years.Not surprisingly, I was not allowed and had to continue in this state of mind. Days and nights I cried because I can only hear the Adhan echo in my mind up to the point my best friend thought I was crazy ( I even believed I was ).
My first contact with real practicing Muslim was my childhood friend. At that point in life she was also renewing her faith. I learnt a lot from her mostly from her actions. That was the first time Isaw Islam in action ( people praying etc., ). I tried fasting then and also attempted to eat only halal food for 2-3 years before my conversion.
The turning point in my life was when I was rejected from all the universities to study medicine . I pondered about the attributes of Allah and promised Allah that should I be accepted to a medical college, I would believe all that my friends had told me . Allah is ever listening and everpresence. Miraculously, the next day I was told that despite their initial rejection, I was accepted. What can I say after that but 'There is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the the last prophet of Allah'.

Rifaat Halford

Islam: The Straight Path
By
Rifaat Halford
As presented at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
on 12th April 2003

“Verily We take upon Ourselves to guide,
And verily unto Us (belong) the End and the Beginning.”
Qur’an 92:12,13

I was born in Geraldton, Western Australia about 35 years ago. I was supposedly born as a Christian, although I never practiced. I took scripture training in primary school, which is basically just a non-denominational study of the Bible. I did pretty well at it and took an interest in the life of Jesus. I could see from the writings that Jesus was the genuine article, and if you followed what he said and did, you couldn’t go far wrong. So I followed that during school.

Towards the end of primary school my Mother became involved with a man who was anti-religion, so I was basically discouraged from practicing any religion for a fair while. They split up, and when I was in my late teens I joined the army. Man did I learn some stuff there! One of the biggest things I learnt was drinking, and you couldn’t beat me at it. I could out-drink everybody, it didn’t matter how big you were, I could out-drink you. Not a good thing, because that really caused me a lot of trouble, which I’m still paying for today.

I learned a lot of lessons in that time. There was no religion. There was nothing in my life at that stage. Don’t worry about the beaten track, I was way off the puff. I was out in the wilderness!

I left the military in the mid 90’s. I started getting into trouble with virtually every man and his dog. Nothing serious, just traffic infringements and all that sort of stuff. I was still out in the wilderness! Personal relationships were not working; I had fines coming in from every angle, and I couldn’t find work.

I sat back and I thought, “what are you doing man? You’re lost.” I’m trying to find the way back on to the path, but I don’t even know where I am on the map; but there’s One Who knows the map, He wrote the map, and that’s The Big Guy. So I thought, “I know what I’ll do, I’ll start looking into religion.” So being Church of England born, I went to the Church of England. I started participating in Church services, and was going to communion twice a week.

By nature, I’m a person who asks questions. This is not because I doubt what you’re telling me, it’s just that I want to get everything sorted out in my mind. I know it’s place and as the other Brother said, the Holy Trinity . . . Man! I could talk to the Priest I’d say to him “Explain this Holy Trinity to me man it’s like I can’t get this in my head”. So we’d sit down, he’d explain the Holy Trinity and I’d say “Oh right thanks man”, and I’d go to take two steps, and then think, “I still don’t understand”. I don’t know how many times I’ve had the Trinity explained to me, and every time lost it. I couldn’t even explain to you now, how it’s meant to work. I know the theory of it, but I can’t get it straight in my head!

Quranically we are told: “They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the third of three; when there is no God save the One God. If they desist not from so saying a painful doom will fall on those of them who disbelieve.” Qur’an 5:73

So that was one of the big question, and I had a lot of other questions for them too. I’d sit and read the Bible and I’d read things like: Jesus is the son of God but, he is God. I’d read in the Bible that Jesus was out in the desert and the Devil offered him the world if he turned his back on God and worshipped him. I was thinking, “how can you turn your back on yourself? How can you prostrate to the Devil if you’re God?” Because God created the Devil, He’s the Creator of everything. He can’t prostrate to the Devil, it’s not possible. So I came up with all these questions. I’d go to the priest and I’d say to him “How does this work?” And after a while, I got this answer that a lot of Christians get: “Don’t ask questions, you have to have faith.”

Wow! Did that pour the water on the fire for me? As soon as you say that, I’m out the front door, because
if it’s just follow blindly without thinking, don’t sign me up for that. I’ve got to understand what it is, so I started to lose interest, and then one day I just had this gut feeling.

I’d had an interest in the Middle East for many, many, years, although I had never really taken a lot of notice of Islam. I’d hear the Azan called on TV, you’d see it on TV shows and I always used to sit and think, wow what’s that? And it had a magical sound to my ears, so one day I had this gut feeling, I wanted to learn about Islam and I wanted to learn Arabic. So I opened the phone book, the only thing I could find even remotely close to it was The Australian Islamic College. I thought, “Yep, that will do. Islamic. They must know about Arabic. I’ll go there!”

So I walked into Dianella, and at this stage there was not an influx of people becoming reverts like there is now. A white Anglo Saxon walking in there saying, “ I want to learn Arabic, and I want to learn about Islam”. They must have thought, “What the hell is this? What are we going to do with this guy?” So they did a bit of ringing around, and they rang a guy who is now one of two special Brothers. Whether I was a Muslim or not, he would still be my Brother, one of two special Brothers I have, Rifaat Fouda. He taught me Arabic and he taught me the Pillars of Islam and this was during 1993, ’94, ’95.

I didn’t actually do anything with it, however. I was now coming back towards the path, and straight back out to the bush, again. Then, I dropped the whole thing, and I went completely off the path. At this time I was really one of those the Qur’an speaks about: “These are they who have bartered Guidance for error: but their traffic is profitless, and they have lost true direction.” Qur’an 2:16

I had a lot of trouble with the cops, with fines. I lost my license; lost my two cars; lost my flat, and much to my shame, by the age of thirty, I ended up sleeping on the floor of a one bedroom pensioner apartment that my Mother had, and I just couldn’t understand how I could have gone to this. I spent three years being depressed. Some days I didn’t even get out of bed, I would just get up and look at the watch, 10 o’clock in the morning, and think, “Why do I have to get out of bed today? Nup, just roll over and go back to sleep.” I did that many, many times.

I was actually living in Mandurah at that time, and we moved back to the city, and I made contact with Rifaat again, seeing him quite a few times. And then one day, just on impulse again, I decided it was time to stop messing around: “You’ve studied Islam before, it’s time to do something about it.” So I rang Rifaat up and I said “right, I want to be a Muslim now.” He probably thought, “What are you talking about?”

So he arranged for me to go up to the Australian Islamic College on Wednesday night for the discussion group they had. A funny little sidepiece for you - his son took me up there and tried to introduce me to Jem Oz and I thought, “I think I may already know him,” but I hadn’t seen him for five years. I used to sit and talk to him for hours down at Thornlie. So I looked at him again and thought, “Hang on! I do know this guy!” He recognized me. Anyway the long and the short of it is that he’s the other Brother that’s very special to me. These two guys, Jem Oz and Rifaat Fouda are responsible for a lot of what’s happened to me.

I was taking part in the Wednesday night discussion groups by this time, and then Jem said to me one night “The Dawah center has got a lecture on at UWA with a Sheikh from London, Abdur Rahim Green.” So I thought, “ Oh! Ok! I can handle that.” “What’s it called?” I asked. “Coca Cola Muslims” they said. “Hey that sounds pretty good! I’ll go have a squizzy at that.” So off we went.

It was a very interesting lecture and I had some questions on Riba for the Sheikh. Riba is usury, the taking and paying of interest. I went down to talk to him and he was sitting on his chair. He looked like someone had deflated him, I thought he’d been surfing all day! I was talking to him, asking him questions when he said to me “Are you a Muslim?” “Technically no,” I said to him. He looked at me and he said “What does that mean? Technically no? You are either a Muslim or you are not a Muslim. What are you talking about?” I said to him “Look, I believe in all the Prophets. Jesus was a prophet, not the Son of God. I believe Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was the last prophet. I believe in the Quran, Angels, Judgment Day, the whole shooting match. I believe it all. It’s just that I’m trying to learn as much as I can before I become a Muslim, because there are people out there who are going to ask me questions, and I don’t want to give them the wrong answer, because you only get one shot at it.”

He replied “Nup, that’s a cop out, that’s an excuse.” Then he stood up and put his hands out to me, and he
said, “Say the Shahadah now.” This was in front of like thirty people. I know what he was saying, he was saying, put your money where your mouth is. He was saying, that if you’re saying you’re studying it and you believe it all, prove it! So, being by nature a procrastinator, I thought, “I hear you, I’ll get around to it in a couple of days”. But then I thought, “Yeah, I’ll do it!” So I did it right then and there. Like it says in the Qur’an, “O ye who believe! Fear God as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam.” Qur’an 3:102.

And if you speak to people who have reverted, ask them how they felt after they said their Shahadah. The one thing I found is that everyone has had a common feeling. That night when I drove home, I didn’t drive home, I flew home. I really felt like I was on a magic carpet. I was ready to tell everyone. I didn’t care who, I would have told George Bush if I could have found him! I was the happiest I’d been for years. It’s like “Wow!”. I told my Mum, she wasn’t particularly concerned, she’s never been upset about it. Family members? Yeah, I’ve told some of them; no one said anything bad to me. I’ve got a Born-Again Christian neighbour, he doesn’t think too much of it, but that’s all right!

It’s funny though how people treat you initially. The reaction is: “What the hell have you done?” It’s like I’ve had a sex change! That’s the sort of treatment some people get. It’s like “What have you done man?” “Oh I’ve become a Muslim.” “Oh you’re not going to Afghanistan with Bin Laden are you?” “Well I wasn’t thinking of it, but is that an offer!” That’s the sort of treatment you get.

After a while people get used to the idea and they start asking you questions like “Hey, what do you guys think of Jesus?” and that sort of thing. And one of the areas that really surprised me when I began to study Islam was that Jesus actually has a higher profile in Islam. A higher profile than he did in Christianity; he’s thought of better. He’s the only human being ever not to have committed sin. And I mean, look at what the Christians believe and look at what the Muslims believe, and he has a special status. He’s not worshipped, but he has a special status in the whole deal. Now when Christians find out that we are waiting for him to return they still have the same response - they think I’m joking. I get to the situation now where a lot of people are saying, “Well what about this, and what about that?” Ninety-Nine-point-nine per cent (99.9%) of any of the negative stuff is now gone, and they are just more curious. I find people are thinking about it lately.

Since I’ve said the Shahadah, my life has gone from like that to like this. I’ve got a couple of Jihads going - which for those of you who don’t know, doesn’t mean holy war, it means I’ve got a couple of struggles. One of them is against my procrastination, that’s my biggest one. If you’re going to be a Muslim you actually have to do something about it.

Some of my other Jihads are connected to my now studying Law. Whilst I’m studying Law, I’ve got I don’t know how many cases I’m fighting over on the side, we’re fighting ASIO; we’re fighting ASIC; we’re fighting the Police. It’s like, man! It’s almost like the conflict in Iraq, and I’m on the receiving end. I’ve got all these people out there with all these resources. We’ve got nothing . . . but, insha’Allah we are beating them.

So it’s a case of, at the age of 35, it feels like I have had a mission revealed to me. I’ve actually found what I’m meant to do. It’s taken me 35 years to find out I have to be in Law; to help the people who can’t help themselves. But as I said to someone the other day, there’s a much, much better man than me that had his mission revealed to him at the age of 40, and that was the Prophet. He started getting revelations at the age of 40 and I’m like, “Why was he at that age?” Maybe it’s because he had to live his life and get wisdom in his head before he could understand what he was getting. There’s no point in been given a tool, if you don’t know what to do with it. And I think that with a lot of the things that have happened to me in the past, I didn’t actually appreciate what I had; what to do with it; and how to go about it. I had to have all the suffering; all the trouble with booze; and people giving me a hard time. And I wouldn’t take one part of it back, because if I took any of it back, I might not be standing here talking to you now.

The biggest thing that’s ever happened in my life, other than being born of course, was that evening in March last year at UWA when I said the Shahadah. Everything from there has just grown - instead of having like five friends, I’ve got five hundred and five friends, and I know they are all genuine friends. I could ring any of them up and say “Hey man I need this, what can you do about it?” And if they couldn’t help me, they’d do their best to find someone who could. And joining the Islamic community in Perth is, I couldn’t even describe it to you, it’s a very, very different community. As the Brother said, the answer to
racism is right here for you, in Islam. People look at the Muslims as being one big community and yet you’ve got every cultural background going, which sometimes doesn’t work in our favour! But it’s a good thing, we get to mix with all sorts of people, and learn how they think.

I haven’t been discriminated against in the wider community. For some reason people don’t want to play around with me! Maybe it’s the way I look, I don’t know, but some people have been discriminated against in Perth. I know of one lady who has had her hijab ripped off her in the bus, but I haven’t had anything happen to me.

I now have the ability to walk into the court, and I just tell it like it is, and people say to me, “How can you walk into a court room and say to a Judge that he’s wrong and it’s this, and this, and this, and this?” What are they going to do to me, shoot me? I don’t think so. Are they going to fine me? Well I’ve already got lots of them. Are they going to put me in jail? Well I can practice Islam better in jail, because there are no distractions! What are they going to do to me?

So at the end of the day, my belief in Allah, motivates me. Actually one of the things we were taught is that, if you fear no one but Allah, he’ll make his creation fear you. I don’t fear anybody at all. I’ll tell George Bush that too, if I get my hands on him, but that’s another story. I don’t fear any of these people, so the guys - a Judge, big deal; a Policeman - doesn’t mean that they are not wrong! Everyone’s got the ability to be wrong.

“It is only the devil who would make (men) fear his partisans. Fear them not; fear Me, if ye are true believers.” Qur’an 3:175.

As I have said, I now feel I know what my mission is. I’ve got the belief that I can follow it through, even if it ends up fatal. Not that it will, but even if it ends up that I’m in danger. There are people floating around in Perth - and I’ve told this story before but never to a public meeting - an American guy I’ve known for six years turned out to be working for the CIA in Perth. He didn’t know I’d said the Shahadah, he thought I was just studying it. He turned around and said to me “We want you to work for us.”

I can’t repeat what I said to him because I wouldn’t say that in front of the ladies, but it went like this, “No man”, so he started. There are only two techniques that these people use: we’ll give you something, or we’ll take something away. The offers didn’t work so the threats started. I just said to him “You know where I live” and he actually threatened to put me into a mental institution. I said “Fine, if you can get me out of the house, do what you want.” He said to me “There’s not going to be two, or three, or four of us, there will be twenty of us.” I said “Maybe there will be, but I’ll get half a dozen of youse first.” And they basically left me alone. What they were looking for was for me to be an informant within the community. What I was going to tell them, I don’t know? Like the Brother said, if you’re going to go looking for terrorists then it’s going to be a hell of a long job.

There are all sorts of funny little things that have happened on the side, but in retrospect, if I didn’t have all of the bad things happen to me in my life, I wouldn’t be here today. What I was given, and they say that we were brought into this by Allah - not by this guy talking to me, or that guy talking to me - so if He wanted me to be a Muslim, which I truly believe he did, then, if I wasn’t here today where would I be? What would I be doing?

I sit back and I look at all those troubles and I think, “Those were learning experiences”. Every time someone slaps you in the face you learn a lesson. You ask yourself, “Why did they do it? What could have stopped them? How do you stop it from happening again?” and move on. All in all, all the bad stuff has helped me to make up an overall positive picture. So I’m quite happy to be a Muslim, obviously!

* * *
My niece came up to me one day and said “Do you find that the women you found attractive, are different now?” I thought about the answer and I thought, what she’s actually asking me without actually saying it, is has my perception changed? So I thought about it. Well on one hand you’ve got the Western women walking with virtually nothing on; and on the other hand you’ve got the women in Abayeh and Hijab. Which one would I want? Well, I like that one. I had to say, “Yes! The women I find attractive now are different”. I then started looking into the way I think about things, and I noticed how everything is changing. I used to be in to all this nationalism sort of thing, flags. This doesn’t interest me any more.

I look at a lot of the things differently. Islam has given me an ability to look at Television in a different light totally. I look at it and laugh at people who come on TV and say, “ Oh we are not going to put up with these people - they do this, and this, and this!” And really, it’s almost like watching a comedy.

My perception of the whole world is changing, and I find that I like it, looking at the world in a different way.

Richard Leiman, Ex-Jew, USA

Richard Leiman, Ex-Jew, USA


As a child, I always had access to a short-wave radio. I used to listen to the BBC World Service about the Middle East. I also loved the music from that part of the world, and I probably was listening to the Quran being recited, but did not know it at the time.
As I grew older, I continued to listen to the BBC World Service. Back then, they had a program called Words of Faith in which they had a five- to eight-minute talk given by a different religious speaker each day of the week representing all the major religions in the United Kingdom. Out of all the speakers, the Muslims were the ones I loved listening to most.
Every time the Muslim representative spoke, I wanted to find out more about Islam. My impression of the religion was that the person who practices Islam is a happy person, not like the mean people portrayed by the American media. I just refused to believe people that loved Allah so much could be like the people portrayed by the media. Because I come from a Jewish background, the thing that united me with Islam was the belief that Allah had no partners.
Work in the United KingdomAn important time in my life came when I met a real Muslim, but did not know it yet. I was doing contracting computer programming work in New York State when I had a strong urge to visit the United Kingdom.
I visited London and loved it. During my visit, I went to several employment agencies without luck. One of the agencies gave me several trade magazines. When I arrived back in the States, I started to send more CV’s to companies and other agencies listed in the magazines. I returned to the United Kingdom because one of the companies wanted to interview me. Then I started to visit more companies and agencies until I landed a position even though I was on a visitor’s visa.
The company that hired me applied for a work permit for me and the Department of Employment told me that I had to leave the country in order for the paperwork to be processed. Again, I went back to the States. Another agency obtained a temporary work permit and employed me for a company called LogoTech, which, at that time, was located in Egham, Surrey.
Meeting a Real Muslim for the First TimeSome time after I started working at LogoTech, I found out that my supervisor, Anis Karim, was Muslim. I asked him if he knew how I could get a copy of the Quran. To my surprise, he obtained a copy of the Quran for me within a few days. He also asked me to pledge that I would have a bath before I read from the Quran and that I would never show it to anyone who might make blasphemous remarks about it.
The next day, I took my morning bath and made breakfast. Then, while eating breakfast, I started to read. Later I found out that “read” is what Allah had the Angel Gabriel instruct our beloved Prophet to do, even though he could not read or write!
Well, words can’t describe how I felt when I read just that small portion of the world’s most holy book. It took only 10 pages, when, at that point, I told myself that this religion was for me. This occurred around 1990. The more I read, the more I wanted to know, and I loved what I was reading.
At the time, I did not know anything about how to pray or any of the details of Islam. If Anis had invited me to go the masjid in London, I would have gone with him. The only thing I knew about praying to Allah was the prostration position. At the time, I knew that Muslims prayed several times a day, and so I started to do so at night before I went to bed and in the morning when I woke up.
Back to the States AgainWhen the work permit ran out, I had to return to the States and was unemployed for several years. I visited my father in Huntsville, Alabama, and created a database application for him. I saw that Huntsville was a high-tech cosmopolitan city and decided to try to land a programming position there. My father told me that if I did not get a position, I would have to go back to New Jersey to my mother, who had moved from New York to New Jersey. About a fortnight before I was going to go back to New Jersey, I landed a programming position at a company in Huntsville.
My First Trip to a MasjidMy sister and I were planning a trip to Indonesia because we had a pen pal on the Internet. My sister asked me if I could help her find Islamic jewelry as a gift. At that time I had no idea that there were Muslims in Huntsville.
Then Allah put things into place for me. I remembered that there was a shop called Crescent Imports, which I thought was run by Muslims. It was not. It was run by the group called Nation of Islam. Now here is the strange part that only Allah could have arranged. We spoke to the owner of the shop and told him that we wanted to find Islamic jewelry. He directed us to the Huntsville Islamic Center.
I do thank Allah for having them direct me to the masjid. We went to the building, but there was only one car parked there. I spoke to a man in the car, and he told us that we should speak to the imam about where to find the jewelry. I was still afraid to go into the building because for me, it was such a sacred place.
At the moment, I remembered one day when I saw a lady at work wearing a hijab. I told her about accepting Islam personally and she said, “Why don’t you visit the masjid in Huntsville?” I eventually went back to the masjid after I summed up enough courage to go into that sacred place.
I spoke to the imam, and he invited me to perform salah with the Muslim brothers. This was a turning point in my life. I loved it and started to visit the masjid once a week at night. Then I started to visit it several times a week at night. The urge to come more times was stronger and I now perform most of my prayers at the masjid, except `Asr and Maghrib prayers when I am at work.
I Officially Accepted IslamIn November of 1996, I publicly made Shahadah. At work, I pray Zhuhr and Asr by myself or with other Muslim brothers in a small mosque in my work place. I proudly carry my prayer rug in the hallways at my work in an attempt to get people to ask me what they are. When they do ask me about it, I tell them that I am Muslim and the mats are what I use to pray on. Also, my work area, including my computer, is decorated with Islamic artwork. My background on my computer is usually the Ka`bah or our masjid.
Now that I am a Muslim, there is no turning back to disbelief!

Karima Burns

Reversion Through Architecture By Karima Burns

I sat in the Alhambra Mosque in Granada, Spain staring at the script that bordered the walls. It was the most beautiful language I had ever seen. "What language is that?" I said a Spanish tourist. "Arabic," they answered.
The next day, when the tour attendant asked which language I wanted my tour book in, I answered, "Arabic."
"Arabic?" she said, surprised. "Do you speak Arabic?"
"No," I replied. "Can you give me one in English too?"
By the end of my trip I had a bag full of Arabic tour guides to all the sites I had visited in Spain. In fact, my bag was so full that at one point I had to give away some of my clothes so I could make everything fit. But, I hung on to my Arabic tour books as if they were made of gold. I would open them every night and look at the letters of the language as they flowed across the page. I imagined being able to write such beautiful script and I thought to myself that there must be something worth knowing about a culture that had such an artistic language. I vowed that I would study this language when I started college in the fall.
Only two months before, I had left my family in Iowa to take a trip through Europe, alone. I was only 16 years old and due to enter Northwestern University in the fall and I had wanted to "see the world" first. At least, that is what I told my friends and family. In reality I was searching for answers. I had left the church only a few months before and did not know where to turn. I knew that I was not comfortable with what I was being taught, but I did not know of any alternatives.
Where I grew up, in the Midwest, there was no room for confusion - you were either part of the church or you were not. So, I had no idea there was something else. When I set off for Europe I hoped that there was.
In my church we were not allowed to pray to God, we could only pray to Jesus and hope that he would relay the message to God. I had intuitively felt that there was something wrong with that and so, without telling anyone, I secretly prayed to "God." I sincerely believed that there was only one entity to pray to. But, I felt guilty because this was not what I had been taught. Then, there was the confusing matter of what to do during one's "daily life."
"I dutifully went to church every Sunday and was very serious about what I learned regarding honesty, kindness and compassion. So, it confused me when I saw people from church acting so differently during the week. Were there no rules during the week? Did they only apply on Sundays? I looked for some guidance…but found none. There were the Ten Commandments that covered the obvious things like killing, stealing and lying, but other than that, I had no guidelines for how to act when I wasn't in church. All I knew was: perhaps there was something wrong with wearing mini-skirts to church and only going to Sunday School because of cute guys that attended.
One day, I went to a teacher's house and saw a shelf lined with Bibles. I asked what they were. "Different versions of the Bible," my teacher replied. It did not seem to bother him at all that there were so many different versions. But, it bothered me. Some of them were really different and some chapters were even missing from the version I had. I was very confused.
I returned to college that fall disappointed that I had not found the answers I was hoping for in Europe, but with a passion for a language I had only just learned about - Arabic. Ironically, I had stared right at the answers I was searching for, on the walls of the Alhambra. But, it took me two more years to realize that.
The first thing I did when I reached the campus was…enroll in Arabic classes. I was one of only three people in the highly unpopular class. I immersed myself in my Arabic studies with such a passion that my teacher was confused. I did my homework with a calligraphy pen and I went into the Arab areas of Chicago just to track down a Coca Cola bottle written in the language. I begged him to lend me books in Arabic just so I could look at the script. By the time my second year of college came around, I decided I should consider a major in Middle Eastern Studies. So, I enrolled in some classes focusing on the region. In one class we studied the Qur'an.
I opened the Qur'an one night to "do my homework" and could not stop reading it. It was like I had picked up a good novel. I thought to myself, "Wow. This is great. This is what I have always believed. This answers all my questions about how to act during the week and it even states very clearly that there is only one God."
It just all made so much sense. I was amazed that there was this book written about everything I believed in and had been searching for. I went to class the next day to ask about the author of the book so I could read more books by them. In the copy I had been given, there was a name. I thought it was the author of the book, akin to the Gospels written by St. Luke or the other religions I had studied…that all attributed their writings to some person who was inspired enough to write it down.
My professor informed me that it was not the author but the translator because "according to the Muslims no one had written the book." The Qur'an was, according to THEM (referring to Muslims, he was Christian) the word of God and had not been changed since it was inspired, recited and then transcribed. Needless to say, I was fascinated. After that, I became passionate, not only about my studies of Arabic, but about studying Islam and about going to the Middle East.
My senior year in college I finally went to Egypt to continue my studies. My favorite place to go became "Islamic Cairo," where the mosques always gave me a sense of comfort and awe. I felt that by being in them, one could really feel the beauty, power and awe of Allah. And, as always I enjoyed staring at the elegant calligraphy on the walls.
One day a friend asked me why I didn't convert to Islam if I liked it so much. "But I am already Muslim." My answer surprised me. But then, I realized that it was a simple matter of logic and common sense. Islam made sense. It inspired me. I knew it was right. Why did I then have to convert? My friend informed me that in order to "be official," I needed to actually go to the mosque and state my intention in front of two witnesses. So, I did. But, when they gave the certificate to me, I just filed it in my file cabinet with my "other" medical and personal records…because to me, I had always been Muslim. I didn't need to hang a piece of paper on my wall to tell me that. I had known it the minute I picked up the Qur'an. The minute I opened it, I felt like I had found my long lost family. I hung a picture of the Alhambra Mosque on my wall instead.

Rahul - a Western Australian Overseas Student

My Experience in Embracing Islam
by
Rahul - a Western Australian Overseas Student

Ever since I was young I have had this special kind of attraction towards Allah (swt). I had not been exposed to any other religions as much as I had been exposed to Islam. A great number of my friends back home were Muslims, and the house we live in is surrounded by four mosques and all our neighbours are Muslims.
This has, over time, led me more towards Islam, and my interest in it had been gradually developing, until the point when I really wanted to be part of the Muslim community and to be able to pray and follow Allah's guidance.

My timing of each day had been guided according to the Azan times. I could clearly hear the Azan throughout the day, and that was when I always used to feel that I wish I could also be able to go and pray. So I would just pray from my heart, whenever I heard the Azan. Surprisingly, it was always Allah that I used to pray to for help and guidance. Hearing the Azan had always made me feel peaceful. It gave me some kind of inner peace, especially waking up to it every morning. I truly miss not hearing that here in Perth.
When I was young I used to go to school in a private school bus and the driver, who was a Muslim, used to play a tape of Qur’anic verses. Every morning this became my motivation to go to school because then I would be able to hear the verses which gave me immense peace of mind, and made my day go well, and at times if the driver hadn’t put on the verses, then I’d ask him to do that.

“And when the Qur'an is recited, give ear to it and pay heed, that ye may obtain mercy.” Quran 7:204

* * *

One person that has really motivated me and given me the courage to revert is a Muslim internet friend. We have never met in person to date, but we’ve known each other for four years. This person has supported me with my feelings towards Islam and prayed day and night for me in my times of trouble, and I have always managed to get through the problems because of these prayers. That has made my faith in Allah even stronger. It was as if He was trying to attract my attention, through this online friend, guiding me to the right path, towards the right way of life.

“ Who is better in religion than he who surrendereth his purpose to Allah while doing good (to men) and followeth the tradition of Abraham, the upright ? Allah (Himself) chose Abraham for friend.” Quran 4:125

One night in August 2002 I told my friend that I really wanted to be a Muslim, and that I didn’t know what to do. This Muslim repeatedly asked me if that is what I really wanted in my heart. I repeatedly answered “Yes”. Seeing that my desire was to become a Muslim, I was told about the beliefs in Islam, about the five pillars in Islam, and was invited to repeat Ash-hadu anna ilaaha ill-Allah wa Ash-hadu anna Muhammadar Rasool-ullah
.
It was a special moment for me. I was being lead into a way of life that I so dearly wanted. I felt great when I was told that this was all that I had to do, to become a Muslim.

Although I felt that I was a Muslim from that night, I still felt that I needed a more formal way of declaring my faith, which led me to continue in my quest to search for someone that could ‘officially’ guide me in to the way of life for which I was striving.

My quest in looking for the right channel to guide me into Islam, finally bore fruit through my search on the internet. I came across the Islam-Australia (www.islam-australia.net) web site and something within me made me immediately contact them. To my surprise, I got a prompt reply from a brother saying they could help me.

At this point I felt as if Allah (swt) was seeing my desperation to follow His guidelines, and with His
blessings and guidance, two brothers from Islam-Australia came to my place and I gave the Shahadah on 23rd July 2003, after which I felt like I was born again. I felt instant happiness and inner peace, on again declaring my faith, and that night I could not stop myself from reading almost all of the literature, provided to me, about Islam.

However, before I reverted, I had this fear in me as to how I would come out and talk to people about my feelings regarding Islam. But since seeking refuge in Allah (swt), and after my first Jumu’ah prayer, I feel blessed by Allah (swt) and now feel I have his strength in me, and realize that I have nothing to fear, except Allah (swt).

It is now over two months since I reverted, and I feel really good about myself. Memorizing and understanding the surahs is becoming much easier day by day, and I look forward to every Jumu’ah prayer, as the feeling of praying with fellow brothers is very special and brings me inner peace. I personally feel a sense of belonging, and feel much safer and more secure after reverting. Also being accepted in Islam, is definitely the most positive turn in my life.

It was related that Abu Musa said that the Messenger of God (Prayers and peace be upon him) said: “A believer to another believer is like a building whose different parts enforce each other.” Hadith - Muslim

It is my sincere request to all brothers and sisters in Islam, to encourage and give confidence to anyone who they see showing an interest in joining this ‘way of life’, but who may be reluctant to do so, thinking that they might be rejected or laughed at. Give these people confidence, and show them that they will be warmly welcomed, just like I was.

May Allah (swt) bless you and guide you.

Omar Edmond

How I Came to Islam By Omar Edmond

My Journey to Islam began when I was fifteen years of age. I was very much into rap music and many of the rap artists such as KRS-1, Public Enemy, Gangstarr, X-clan and others were trying to reawaken a sort of cultural revival and positivity within the black community. Some of these rap artists, because of being exposed to certain movements (such as the 5% nation which was started by Clarence 13X and the Nation of Islam started by Elijah Muhammad), would often use Islamic terms such as Allah, Quran, Muhammad, etc. In particular, I had began to grow fond of a group by the name of the X-Clan, who had pictured many black revolutionists on their album including Malcolm X.
This was my first time hearing the name Malcolm X and as for the rap group, the X-Clan, I thought I was one of them. I used to dress as they did and I started to read numerous books on black leaders. I began to promote talk about these great leaders though my knowledge of them was very limited. Until one day a brother of one of my close friends who was at that time a college student challenged me as to my knowledge of Malcolm X to which I failed. He advised me to read Malcolm X’s autobiography. Therefore, I started to read Malcolm X’s autobiography. I did not even finish the whole book before I knew I wanted to be what I thought was a Muslim. I reflected very deeply on how the Nation of Islam were putting words into action being independent of the mainstream society. Bringing a true since of religious values back into the home. They had set up programs, which rehabilitated black men and women within the black community from drug addiction, which systematically destroyed the black families. My only dilemma was that there was no one to teach me anything about Islam.
Eventually, I met some guys from the 5% nation one of which told me that the first step to being a Muslim was being a 5% Muslim. So I became a 5% Muslim which in reality was a 100% Kafir and we studied lessons, drank alcohol, and smoked marijuana, while at the same time trying to memorize TODAY’S MATHEMATICS.
There was one guy that did not drink and did not smoke. In addition to that, he used to meditate. This brother lived in a neighboring city, which was close to a Masjid, and he met another brother who explained what True Islam was and he became Muslim. Immediately after he became Muslim, he called me to the truth of Islam and I responded with the testimony of faith (KALIMAT-SHAHADA). In it, one bears witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except the One true God (Allah) and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.

Nurul-Ain’s Story

The Answered Prayer
Nurul-Ain’s Story
as related to Insight with their kind permission*

"When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close to them: I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me: Let them also, with a will, listen to My call and believe in Me: That they may walk in the right way." (Quran 2:186)
She entered the mosque one Saturday afternoon. Tall and graceful. I thought, at a distance, that she was probably one of my Indian sisters, but as she entered our classroom I noted that here was another Australian sister. Our class was lightened by her warm interaction and friendly smile, and we were so very happy to have her with us. "How did you come to Islam?" we asked her. "Ah sisters," she said, "Allah truly blessed and led me," and her story proceeded.

Nurul-Ain, for that was her name, had been born in Australia and even as a small child had had difficulty with church or Sunday-school attendance. "Why is this?" she had asked, or "Why was that?" she persevered. Her teachers were far from happy and always she seemed to be the only one who wanted an explanation for what was being taught.

Seemingly her questions were never answered and she lost interest in what Christianity had to offer. She blossomed from childhood to young womanhood, happy in her family life, and a good student. She graduated as a Commercial artist and was soon employed by the major newspaper in Queensland. Her artwork gave her the opportunity to help plan the Queensland Newspapers pavilion at World Expo in 1988. After this she decided that she would take her vacation and explore our Asian neighbourhood.

She travelled to Singapore, sharing a flat with an Indian Singaporean girl, she was not so enchanted by what she saw and was told by her flatmate that Malaysia would be a wonderful country for her to visit and in which to spend time. So it was that she found herself travelling to Malaysia. While travelling this country with a New Zealand girl, she was entranced by the sights and sounds, even the sweet organic smell of the countryside side beckoned to her.

She was not aware that Malaysia was virtually a Muslim country, and was not sure when she heard the Azan what it signified, but she found it very attractive. She was, however, puzzled by all the tiny nuns she saw, and said to her friend, "Look at all those midget nuns!" "Really, you are naive," laughed her travelling companion, "this is a Muslim country and those are all Muslim school children." "Is it a Muslim country really?" she replied, but there was no fear or negativity and she accepted it as a fact of life. It was about this time that Nurul-Ain decided that this is where she must surely stay until her return to Australia.

Joining a group of international travellers, she and the New Zealand girl soon became interested in expeditions and mountain climbing. It was during this time that she met Muslim guides and visited Muslim villages where the older Malays could speak English very well. This was not a quest, it was a wonderful time and she was enjoying her stay immensely. Somehow, during this time, she found herself asking religious questions of the Malaysian women with whom she came in contact.

All the questions which had never been answered came tumbling out and bit by bit she heard of what Islam was and what it meant to be Muslim. Although, she sometimes found that there were different sources of belief, and eventually her questions prompted her new Malaysian friends to tell her that it would be better for her to have the Truth from those who were qualified to answer her on behalf of Islam.

Thus it was that this young woman found herself in Kuala Lumpur on her way to Perkim. "O God," she prayed, "Please show me Your Truth, whether Islam is right, or Christianity, that I may take responsibility for it and live as you wish me to live."

For two months she studied Islam. She found that all the questions which had really bothered her were now answered. There were many Prophets mentioned in the Glorious Quran, just as she had always believed, but had been told, by her Christian teachers, was nonsense. God had sent His Messengers to every people. He was Most Merciful.

Nurul-Ain loved the time spent in study and especially she loved those who had brought her such a treasure. The sisters were wonderfully kind and helpful and she especially remembered Hajah Raffiah.

During one Ramadan she was invited to the home of Muslim friends, and during her short stay, she noted that there was a young Malaysian man also visiting, but this was a perfunctory glance and she was most interested in her sisters and, of course, asking more questions.

Some weeks later she was approached on behalf of the young man who had also been a guest. He would like to ask for her hand in marriage. She immediately sent back the message that there was no use in his asking, she was much more interested in learning of Islam than to consider marriage. Being a young man of high Islamic standards and impeccable manners he did not press matters until she had almost completed her time at Perkim, when he again sent a message to her. So persuasive was his message that she did stop to consider. Eventually she did agree to marry this young man.

Thus it was that her family in Australia received the news that their daughter had not only become a Muslim but, in fact, was now to marry into a Malaysian Muslim family. If they were aghast they did not express their fears or any disquiet. Her mother, on arriving in Malaysia said to her, "Ah, so this is why you could never be happy in Christianity! This is why you asked so many questions!" She seemed to realize that eventually Nurul-Ain had found that for which she had been looking for so very long.
Now, after a few years, I look at her and I rejoice in her Islamic joy. She and her very fine husband still live in Australia while he completes his studies. They have two beautiful little boys. They have had their share of problems with obtaining work and settling, but we are so glad that they are with us. Somehow life seems brighter with their smiles and interaction, and we are hoping that when her husband graduates from his course, that we may not lose them to Malaysia.
May Allah be praised for His leading and His very great Mercy in answering a young woman's prayer.
*Insight Magazine - the quarterly journal of IFEW (Islamic Foundation of Education and Welfare).

Noora Alsamman, Ex-Catholic, USA

Noora Alsamman, Ex-Catholic, USA

I became Muslim when I was 15 years old. My mom is Syrian (family from Haleb) born in Detroit, and my dad is American with parents from Polish/Slovak background. I was also born in Detroit Michigan. My grandma is Maronite, my and my mom and dad are both catholic. When I was fifteen I wanted to be a nun. I was in my World History class in high school and we were studying all the major religions. When we got to Islam I was very interested, and there was an Egyptian brother (Muslim) in my class who was correcting the teacher when he would make a mistake, and I thought “Wow!” he must have strong faith to be correcting the teacher like this. So one day, I asked him what is the difference between Catholicism and Islam. He said that there was not that much. Well I was not satisfied with this answer so I asked his mom if I could have a copy of the Quran in English. She gave me one and when I started to read it, I couldn’t put it down. I just keep reading it and I knew it was from Allah. You just know there is NO way a man could write this. And me being a person who appreciates poetry, I loved it very much I found it to be amazing. So I became Muslimah in my heart.
And then all the hardships started. I started praying and fasting, etc. My parents, especially my mom, started giving me a VERY hard time. Me being so young, I imagined they would love Islam the same way I did, but for them it was completely different. They would take away my hijab, my prayer rug, my Quran, and materials about Islam. My dad would search my room everyday, and I would hide my hijab in the closet. My mom started trying to forbid me from being friends with Muslims, and she would call my friend’s parents and tell them stop telling my daughter about Islam, and that they are confusing her.
My parents made me go to church, and I would just sit there thinking these people are SO lost, and this priest how he lies to the people and reads from the bible only what he wants them to hear, and then manipulates the meaning. One day my mom set up a conference with me and one of the priests. I would say I love Islam and why would you think something so beautiful is so bad? He would tell me this and that and say some quotes from the bible. He even told me that my dream (I had a dream I was going to a Muslim country and to the desert wearing hijab) he said this was from Satan, I seek refuge in God. This man looked like he had Satan in him when he said this! I will never forget the look on his face. I asked Allah to forgive me.
My mom would cook pork for me on purpose and say it was beef, but I checked the wrapper and it said pork. And my dad, who’s parents are Polish/Slovak ancestors would tell me in this house you are either catholic or you leave. I even had to hide my Quran in the air conditioning vent so they wouldn’t get it, because they would throw it in the garbage. They even took the lock off my door, so praying was VERY hard. They would make fun of me praying. I learned the prayers in Arabic my self with a small prayer book. I can’t explain how much it would hurt me that my parents were this way towards me and Islam.
I started telling my younger sister than me about Islam. My parents told me if I didn’t stop I had to leave. I stopped, but I told my sister many things and now she questions why Catholics can’t just pray to God and why confession and many other things. I said a prayer that when I was older, I would practice Islam totally. I stopped praying for a while, may God forgive me. I had no one to support me or give me guidance except my friends parents who said listen to your parents. My Muslim friends didn’t understand what I was going through, and they weren’t mature or knowledgeable enough to teach me and answer the many questions I had.
One day (when I was 20) while I was in university I called up the lady who had given me the Quran because I heard there was a mosque just built nearby. Before then the closest mosque was 45min-1hr. away. She said they were having a dinner. So I went, and when I heard the call to prayer, I was so happy and cried. I repeated the Shahada public during Ramadan, and I made a commitment to be steadfast and not care what my parents or anyone else said or did. I felt I could relate at this point to Yunus, may God praise him who was in the belly of the whale. I was/am determined. So I stopped bad habits and left bad company. And surrounded myself with Muslims.
I started wearing hijab and my parents would say you are not going outside like that. But either I did anyway or wouldn’t go. Sometimes I would put on my hijab in my car so they wouldn’t see me because my mom would always says Islam says to obey your parents, so you must listen to us. She said you will not wear that thing on your head and you will wear shorts and be stylish. She told me I look like an old woman wearing Islamic clothing and hijab. One time my mom didn’t want my sister’s friends to see me wearing hijab so her and my sister grabbed it off my head. And in defense I hit my mom, may God forgive me.
She told me I was selfish for wearing hijab and embarrassing my sister and the whole family. She doesn’t like to be seen with me in public in the city she lives. I really got a hard time from my grandma. I would be praying sometimes and she would yell at me and say, “Don’t you hear me when I am talking to you!”
She even said one time she couldn’t believe Jesus was born miraculously. They would hear me playing the Quran and literally make fun and laugh and curse at the words. My grandpa stopped talking to me, my mom told me to go to hell and so did my grandma. My mom even tried to take me to a psychiatrist when I was younger. She explained to him I had become Muslimah, and he tried to give me psychotic medicine. I threw it in the garbage. I found it VERY hard to study in school with all this craziness going on. I wanted to study Islam and become like a scholar. So I started looking to get married.
All praise is to Allah, I found a good Muslim from Damascus Syria. I got married and moved from Atlanta to Houston. A year later I had a boy named Yousuf. All praise be to Allah, I am very happy and I hope, God willing, to move to Medina. All is very generous. Recently, I met a sister who was Jordanian who also became Muslim. She went through a hard time like me. I hear amazing stories about people embracing Islam like this Jewish guy from New York who moved to Jerusalem and he became Muslim, and his Moroccan Jewish wife became Muslim and kids and he moved to the Muslim localities and learned Arabic. All praise is due to Allah. I just thank Allah for giving me guidance to Islam.

Angel, Ex-Christian, USA

Angel, Ex-Christian, USA


Every Muslim has a story about their journey to Islam. Each one is interesting and curious to me. God truly guides who he wants and only who he wants. I feel so blessed to have been one of the chosen. Here is my story.
I always believed in one God. My entire life during hardship, I asked God for help even as a child. I remember crying on my knees in the kitchen, screaming and crying all around me. I was praying for God to make it stop. Religion on the other hand never did make sense. The older I got, the less it really made sense to me. People thinking they were the negotiator between you and God.
I felt the same about Jesus, [may the blessing and mercy of God be upon him]. How does it work that this man would save us all from our sins? Why do we have the right to sin just because of him? I refused the bible in all of its versions, believing something translated and rewritten so many times could not to be the real words of God. Around the age of fifteen I had given up on the idea of finding God.
Growing up, my family was the average American family. Everyone I knew had similar problems growing up. My dad was a hardworking blue collar alcoholic. As time progressed his condition worsened, and so did his perversion. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, and fear made an imprint on my childhood that would reflect the rest of my life. He passed away when I was in the sixth grade. My parents had divorced by then. I was the youngest of eight children. My mother would go to work to support us, and I was home alone a lot.
Here I was, one of those kids who pull from society, who scare people when they walk into a room. I began wearing black clothing and the dark makeup. I listened to the gothic music and fantasized about death. Death seemed to be less of fear and more of solution to this growing problem. I felt alone all time, even around friends. I tried to fill the gap with cigarettes, then alcohol, sex, drugs and then anything that would take me from my own thoughts. I tried to kill myself at least fifteen times. No matter what I tried this pain inside of me never seemed to subside.
I was in college when I became pregnant with my son, I feared for my son’s health and could not dream of giving him away. I worked endlessly to provide for my son. Squeezing all the pain and anger into my heart, I changed my life some. By this time, I trusted no one. Three years later, I started to date again. I got engaged. I truly wanted to have the something more. As with all of my past experiences, my world came crashing down. I was 25 and pregnant with my daughter and ended the relationship with my fiancé after he repeatedly cheated and physically hurt me. I had no idea what was next.
During this time I was working for a Pakistani guy who was Muslim. I never watched the news or even cared really what was going on. Being Muslim to me was no different than any other religion. As time moved on I became friends with several Muslim men. I began to notice something dramatically different. They had these unquestionable morals. A devotion to God in a way that required them to pray five times a day. Let alone the fact that they did not drink or do drugs. For my generation this was old school morals, maybe your grandparents might have followed.
When my daughter was born, you can’t imagine my surprise when one of these guys came in and brought gifts. I was shocked stupid he held her and spoke to her. I had never seen men behave this way over a baby. The kindness only increased with time over the next four months. I can’t express the love that was shown to us. Slowly my interest in their religion grew. I was curious as to what kind of religion could instill these kinds of values into people.
I was sharing a home with seven people when one night I decided to borrow my roommate’s computer. I was too afraid to offend my friends by asking them questions, so I turned to the internet. The first site I opened was http://www.islam-brief-guide.org/. I was dumb founded. It was if a black cloth had been lifted from my body, and I swear to you that I had never felt so close to God. Within twenty-four hours, I took my Shahadah.
To this day the majority of my time is spent on research. For the first time in my life something had stopped the anger, and the pain. I truly felt the love and fear of God. God had replaced the pain inside of me with his light, and faith in him. Since my conversion, God has truly blessed me. God gave me the strength to quite smoking, drinking and have not used drugs in almost two years. I am married to a wonderful Muslim man. He has taken my children and made them ours. I have something that I always wanted - a family, [all praise is due to God].

Nick Compton

The new face of Islam
By Nick Compton

At first she tried to resist. She did not want this to happen. She was not that sort of person. After all, there were no gaps in her life, no spiritual ache, she did not need support or direction. But she kept reading and it kept making sense.
‘I had absolutely no expectation or desire to end up where I am,’ she says. ‘It was almost with trepidation that I kept turning the pages and the trepidation just increased. I kept thinking: “OK, where’s the flaw? Where’s the bit that doesn’t make sense?” But it never came. And then it was like: “Oh no, I can see where this is leading. This is disastrous. I don’t want to be a Muslim!”
Caroline Bate is 30 years old, blonde, blue-eyed and pretty, with a soft Home Counties accent. She has a degree from Cambridge (she studied Russian and German before switching to management studies) and works for an investment bank in the City. She is Middle England’s dream daughter or daughter-in-law. And though she has yet to make her formal declaration of faith in Allah and the prophet Mohammed - a two-line pledge called the Shahada - she considers herself Muslim. She ticked the box on a form recently. It felt good, she says.
Caroline is not alone. Though data is hard to come by, several London mosques have been reporting an increase in the number of converts to Islam, especially since 11 September. Like Caroline, many of these converts are from solid middle-class backgrounds, have successful careers, enjoy active social lives and are fundamentally happy with their lot.
This is not a new trend, however. Matthew Wilkinson, a former head boy of Eton, became Tariq, when he converted to Islam in 1993. Jonathan Birt, son of Lord Birt, late of the BBC and now the government’s transport guru, converted in 1997. The son and daughter of Lord Justice Scott also converted and Joe Ahmed Dobson, the 26-year-old son of the former Health Secretary Frank Dobson, has recently and, somewhat reluctantly, emerged as the voice of new Muslim converts in Britain. But it is a trend that has been pushed along by recent events. So far it has gone largely unnoticed, as the press concentrates on some of the more colourful characters that 11 September has thrown up.
Since 11 September, the luridly painted poster boys of British Islam have been radical clerics such as Abu Hamza al-Masri, the steel-clawed, milky-eyed so-called ‘mad mullah’ of Finsbury Park mosque. Here are Victorian villains, fiendish emissaries of some ancient and foreign evil, straight out of an Indiana Jones movie.
Their followers are blank-eyed drones like Richard Reid, packing his high-tops with high explosives. Or James McLintock, the ‘Tartan Taliban’. There are lost boys, dislocated and dysfunctional, petty thieves preyed on in South London prisons and young offenders’ institutions by fakir Fagins who forge an untempered anger into a righteous ire and provide it with a target. (Three imams working in British prisons have been suspended since 11 September for making ‘inappropriate remarks’ about the terrorist attacks.)
But that is a sideshow, a compelling melodrama played out beyond the fringes of Islamic culture in this country. And while it might be stretching a point - and answering caricature with caricature - to insist that a demure English rose is the exemplar of the modern British convert to Islam, Caroline Bate is certainly more representative than Richard Reid.
Talking to recent Muslim converts, it is striking how similar the descriptions of their embrace of Islam are. Most were introduced to Islam, and Islamic history and teaching, by friends. And, given that Islam is not generally a missionary faith, these were gentle introductions. For most, conversion was born of curiosity, an attempt to better understand the people around them.
Caroline first started reading about Islam last April. A school friend she has known since she was 11 was marrying a Tunisian, a Muslim. ‘My best friend was marrying into a different culture so I wanted to know more about it,’ she explains. ‘I came at it from more of a cultural perspective than a religious one. But the literature that I picked up just stimulated me. And Islamic teaching made perfect, logical sense. You can approach it intellectually and there are no gaps, no great leaps of faith that you have to make.’
Roger (not his real name) is a doctor in his mid-thirties. About a year and a half ago, he started talking about Islam to Muslim colleagues at work. ‘All I had ever heard about Islam in the media was Hezbollah and guerrillas and all of that. And here were these really decent people whom I was beginning to get to know. So I started to ask a few questions and I was amazed at my own ignorance.’ He became a Muslim a couple of months ago.
For these new converts, embracing Islam is usually a covert operation. They quietly read, talk, listen, learn. The hard part is coming out, declaring your newly acquired faith to friends and family, and, in some cases at least, facing up to fear, scepticism and even loathing.
Caroline insists that the coming-out process has not been too painful. ‘The reaction has been pretty much what I expected. I’ve had everything from “Do you know how they treat women?” to “Wow, great timing!” But your friends are your friends and I expect them to deal with it.’
Others have had a harder time. Eleanor Martin, now Asya Ali (or some other combination of these names, depending on the circumstance), was a 24-year-old TV actress when she met Mo Sesay. She had a regular role as WPC Georgie Cudworth in BBC’s Dangerfield during the mid-Nineties and Sesay, who later starred in Bhaji on the Beach, was also a Dangerfield regular. Sesay is a Muslim.
‘Mo was such a kind man, just a good person. He wanted to know me as a person, there was nothing else going on. And I thought, well, here is this really decent guy and he is a Muslim. And the image I had of Islam was of men beating up women and going round in tanks killing people.
‘The thing is we both had regular parts on the show, but they weren’t very big parts, so we had a lot of time to sit in the caravan and talk. He really opened my eyes.’
Eleanor finally converted in 1996. ‘I wasn’t sure I was going to until the last minute and then it just felt as if everything had fallen into place and there was no other option.’
At first she kept her conversion secret. ‘I was afraid of an adverse reaction from friends and family. I was really worried about what my father would say.’ Her father was a devout Christian. A former radiotherapist, he had taken early retirement to go into the priesthood. But circumstances forced Eleanor’s hand. A few months after she converted she met a Muslim African-American actor, Luqman Ali, and they decided to get married. ‘I went home and said: “I’ve got some news. I’m getting married and I’m a Muslim.” My mum was great. My dad said: “I think I’m going to get a drink now.”
‘It took Dad time. He went to see his spiritual adviser, a nun, whose brother happened to be a convert to Islam, and that helped. And he’s great now, too. He’s just happy that I’m following a path to God.’
Roger, meanwhile, has yet to tell family or work colleagues of his conversion. ‘I worry it will affect my career prospects,’ he admits. ‘I know first-hand how little people understand Islam. I know there is prejudice based on ignorance. A couple of years ago, if someone had told me they had converted, I would have thought they were odd. I don’t want people to think I am an oddity or a curiosity because I don’t think of myself like that.’
Most converts acknowledge that living in an ethnically diverse city has made conversion easier than it might have been elsewhere. Stefania Marchetti was born and raised in Milan but came to London to study in 1997. She converted to Islam from Catholicism in April last year. ‘It would have been far more difficult for me to convert in Italy,’ she admits. ‘The Italian media is very anti-Islam and generally Italians think that Muslim men are all terrorists and all Muslim women are slaves.’
Certainly Karen Allen, a 28-year-old scheduler for Sky TV from Stoke Newington, has enjoyed a relatively smooth transition period. She converted to Islam last June and soon started wearing the traditional headscarf or hijab. ‘When I first started wearing the hijab to work, there were a few jibes about Afghanistan and stuff, but people are fine now. They say things like: “That’s a nice one you’re wearing today.”
‘I think it might be more difficult outside London, but here there are a lot weirder things to look at than me.’
What is especially striking about this stream of converts to Islam is that the majority seem to be women. Some suggest that twice as many women as men are turning to Islam.
Batool Al Toma, who heads the New Muslim Project at the Leicester-based Islamic Foundation, which offers advice and support to recent converts, suggests this might be exaggeration, but admits that female converts are in the majority. ‘A lot of people seem to think that women are more susceptible to Islam. I think it’s largely because a lot of people are obsessed with the idea of an educated, liberated British woman converting to Islam which they feel subjugates and represses them in some way. We just get a lot more attention I suppose and that sparks people’s interest.’
The lure of Islam for women is surprising, given that the conversion process may be even more problematic for them than for men. There is the commonly held belief that Islam represses women and female converts often have to deal with recrimination from female friends who view their adoption of Islam as some sort of betrayal. The wearing of a headscarf or hijab (a sartorial option, it should be noted, not a requirement) also makes Muslim women more visible than their male counterparts.
Certainly, all the women I spoke to were quick to refute the idea that Islam imposes a women-know-thy-place ideology.
‘The perception of how women are treated is completely incorrect,’ insists Caroline. ‘Women have a fantastic position in Islamic society.’
Indeed, many women converts talk about the adoption of the Islamic dress code as a liberation. They see it not as a denial of sex and sexuality but rather as an acknowledgement that these are treasures to be shared with a loved one and them alone. They are not hidden but rather freed from objectification.
Asya insists that the trick is to turn preconceptions on their head. She wears a scarf to show she is a Muslim and a smile to prove she is happy being one.
One problem for converts is that they are caught between two cultures. ‘Young Muslims are very accepting,’ says Caroline. ‘They are really happy that you have chosen to become Muslim. The older generation are not so accepting. For them, Islam is part of their cultural background, it’s about the country they came from and it’s what binds their communities together.’
One step towards greater acceptance came last October when Reedah Nijabat opened ArRum, an Islamic restaurant/members’ bar/ cultural centre/social club in Clerkenwell. Nijabat, a 31-year-old former barrister and management consultant from Walthamstow, originally conceived ArRum as a meeting place and networking venue for professional first- and second-generation London Muslims. But it has also become a focal point for many of London’s Muslim converts.
It is easy to see why. On any work evening, a mixed bag of middle-aged Pakistani men, young couples (some Muslim, some curious non-Muslim), kids and white British converts chat and tuck into halal ‘fusion’ food. While the club promotes Islamic culture, the vibe is a Hempel temple of inner calm. Sufi wailing calms the nerves, while the bar specialises in healthy juices.
For the new converts I spoke to, ArRum is a place to meet other Muslims and somewhere to bring non-Muslim friends and introduce them to Islam in a way that doesn’t scare them.
ArRum accents Islam’s USP among the major faiths: its openness and lack of hierarchy. And Nijabat has realised that if there is an endemic suspicion of stuffy organised religion among the British (and increasingly, one suspects, second-generation British Muslims) there is great interest in ’spirituality’, whatever that might mean.
‘I think that the problem has not been with the substance of the major faiths, whatever they are, but a marketing defect,’ argues Nijabat. ‘Everything we do here is about remembrance of God and Islam, but you can get that across in a cool way. I’m not saying anything that isn’t in the Koran, but you have to talk to people on their level.
‘I’m beginning to see that there is a huge misunderstanding and a bridge that needs to be crossed between ethnic communities, host communities and spiritual communities, and I think we are making a contribution to that. You can get so hung up on the divisions and how different we are, but it is the same God for all of us. And we still feel that loss whether it is an American life or a Palestinian life. A lot of people are going through a period of soul-searching and that can only be a good thing.’
For many, that soul-searching has led them to Islam, not the Islam of the suicide bombers but mainstream Islam. And, as Joe Ahmed Dobson points out, ArRum and its new converts do not represent some kind of liberal IslamLite, a media-friendly dilution of the real thing. Dobson and the other new converts are orthodox, in the truest sense, and proud.
They are also part of a project that may help all parties see Islam in new ways. As Nijabat admits: ‘You can end up being quite defensive about it. And you can either get hung up about it or be proactive. Opening ArRum has helped me recognise that I can be British and Pakistani and a Muslim and a woman. And I’m not going to be a victim in any of this.’

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-921247-details/The+new+face+of+Islam