A Journey to Islam

I would like to tell you a little story. This is a true story. It is the story of one persons journey. It is the story of my journey.

For you to understand my journey more fully I will start by telling you a little of my history. I became a born-again christian in 1979 at the age of 20. My christian walk was very sloppy at best for the first 6 years but at the age of 26 my commitment to christianity became very firm, steady, deep and strong. I walked this walk very devoutly for over 20 years. By 2006 I had raised my children to be good christians, taught many children about christianity and helped many to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, their mediator between them and God. I was part of the worship team at my church and a deacon on the church board. I had not questioned my beliefs and studied and prayed diligently. I walked firmly on the narrow path of christianity. I tell you this bit of history so you will see and understand that I am not a person who is blown about by the wind, who easily grasps different concepts, who is always looking for new ways of living or believing. I tell you this so you will know I am a person who does not change her beliefs easily by any means.

Now...to my journey. Early in December of 2006 as I was sitting at my computer a person I had never before met popped up on my screen via Yahoo messenger. He had seen my 360 page (a now defunct yahoo social network) and wanted to talk. He was probably one of the most polite, humble, honest and sincere men I had ever met in my life. He has remained so to this day without wavering. We talked and he shared with me that he was a Muslim and I shared with him that I was a christian. Never did he put me down for my beliefs but he did ask me questions about them. I did the same way with him. We quickly became very good and honest friends. We felt free to ask questions and share differences with no worry of condemnation.

Within a month or so of him popping into my life 2 other men also popped into my life in the same way. One of these men asked immediately if I would be an elder sister to him. At first I was very skeptical and untrusting but he was so kind, nice and polite in the way he spoke that over time I came to know he was sincere. The third man that came into my life came like a rush of wind and fire and yet he also possessed this same gentleness, humbleness and sincerity I had found in the others.

These men did not know each other. As a matter of fact they lived on 2 different continents. What they did have in common was their very wonderful and gentle way of behaving and their religious convictions. All of these men were Muslims. I find it amazing even now that after a life time of never meeting or knowing a single Muslim that in the space of 1-2 months had 3 of them enter my life, and all in the same way...by popping up on my computer screen. Looking back I see that Allah orchestrated everything so wonderfully.

I began to learn about what their beliefs were through a series of conversations. I read a small book that one of them sent to me so that I would see what he believed from his perspective. I decided to order a Quran to read it so I could tell these men how wrong they were in their beliefs and how badly they needed to become christians. Before I ever started to read I was praying and asking God to help me so I could tell them the truth. But, as I began to read...something happened. I found I was really intriuged by what I read. It seemed to reach down into somewhere deep inside me. I began praying diligently that God would make sure I was not mislead and that I would stand firmly on the truth no matter what. In this time, I continued sharing about christianity with these people but I also began asking more and more questions. Never once...not one time, did they push their beliefs on me, make me feel foolish for my questions or put me down for my beliefs. They answered my questions to the best of their ability and when they couldn't, my new brother would take the questions to his Imam (a man well versed in the Quran and Islam) and his Imam would hunt in his Quran and find the answers for me.

I went through so many thoughts and emotions in this time I cannot even begin to describe them...the one that stands out the most though is the feelings of fear as I began to doubt what I had believed for most of my life...Terrible fear as I realized that my entire life, my entire belief system may have been based on an untruth. But still I continued reading although now it was a quest to learn the truth instead of trying to convert these Muslim men into christians. As I studied, prayed, and thought on all I was reading I found my mind changing, my way of seeing things changing, my heart changing. All this time I continued praying for God to lead me to the truth no matter what it was. I sought Him as never before in this need to know what the truth was.

I would say it was probably mid February 2007 I knew I had come to a place where I could no longer pray to God in the name of Jesus...that I no longer believed I had to do that in order to talk with God...that I did not have to have this mediator to have a relationship with God...It was also in this time that I began to know I could call him Allah and it was not a bad thing but actually a good thing. I continued to pray, study, ask questions, think and talk with these 3 friends who had become so dear in this short span of time and over a little more time I knew that it was not them who was wrong or mislead but it was I who was. My heart and mind had changed in such ways that it amazed me.

By the second week of March of the same year I knew I was ready to make a commitment to become a Muslim...to embrace Islam. I knew this all the way through me. So I called a masjid (mosque) and made an appointment to meet with the Imam. On March 15th, 2007 I went to a masjid for the first time in my life. I met in person the first Muslim I had ever met besides on the internet. We talked for a few moments and then he led me through what is called the Shahadah.

This is what I said and meant with all my heart and mind: La ilaha illa Llah, Muhammad rasulu'Llah. This is the arabic transliteration which when translated to english means this: There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of God. I also made the confession that Jesus was not Lord and Savior but was a beloved and wonderful prophet of God.

This is an outline of my trip from Christianity to Islam. It took place over a period of about not quite 4 months. I now believe many things that happened before I began learning about Islam happened to bring me to the place I needed to be so I could hear and recieve this wonderful truth. I have learned that Allah did many amazing things so as to guide me to the truth and I am and will be forever thankful to Him for this.

This little story of my journey is only the beginning really. Now I am a revert to Islam with a lifetime of living and learning to do for Allah. HE is Most Gracious, Most Merciful. HE is All Knowing. He is Trustworthy. I will serve HIM with every fiber of my being and be forever thankful to HIM for guiding me to Islam and will always pray for HIM to continue guiding me on the right path.

Insha Allah, may it be so. Aameen

"Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided." (Surat An-Nahl 16:125)