New Muslims Stories From ( Islam Our Choice ) Book

Christopher Shelton ()






My conversion to Islam began in my eighth grade year. There was a
Muslim student by the name of Raphael who first told me a little about
Islam. At the time he was not so knowledgeable about Islam, but he put
the initial interest in my mind which never went away.



In the ninth grade there was another student by the name of Leonard who
claimed at one time or another that he was a Muslim but he was more or
less a 5 percenter. The one thing he did do was to give me a pamphlet
on true Islam which increased my interest in Islam. I didn't hear much
more about Islam until my tenth grade year.



That year me and Leonard would sit in the back of geometry class and
blame all of the world's problems on white people while we would exalt
the status of black people above all other races. At that time in my
life I thought that Islam was the religion for black people, but
unfortunately the Islam I was talking about was nothing more than black
nationalism with a slight touch of true Islam. It was very similar to
The Nation of Islam. As time went on I began to see that my black
nationalist views and my perception of what Islam was about became
tired. It was useless to hate almost all white people and to blame this
on Islam. Around the same time I totally denounced Christianity as my
religion. I got tired of the unintelligible doctrines and the many
contradictions within the religion.



The next year of high school I was conversing with a few students about
religion and they told me to buy a Qu'ran so I did. I went to the
nearest bookstore and bought a very poor translation of the Qu'ran but
it was the first real look into the truth about Islam. Within a few
weeks I took on the beliefs of a Muslim even though I hadn't taken
shahadah yet. Most of what I was doing concerning Islam was wrong
because I never had a chance to go to a masjid because my mother
totally forbade it. As time went on I finally got an Abdullah Yusuf Ali
translation of the Qu'ran which opened my eyes to so much about Islam.



In the meantime my mother was doing everything in her power to prevent
me from embracing Islam. She took me to see her preacher three times
which was of no avail. As time passed I began to learn more and more
about Islam from various books I could get my hands on. I finally
learned how to make salat correctly from one of these books. My mother
was still trying her best to make me become a Christian again.



My mother and I would frequently argue about religion until one day my
mother had enough and told my dad that I was going to have to live with
him. He had absolutely no problem with this. The day after I graduated
from high school I moved in with my dad. I can see now that my parent's
divorce was actually a blessing in disguise. Their divorce provided me
with a place to live in which I could practice Islam freely. My dad had
no problem with my interest in Islam.



One day I called the Islamic Learning Center in Fayetteville and a
brother by the name of Mustafa told me to come down for the Taleem
(lesson) to learn more about Islam. Everybody was extremely hospitable
and Mustafa even gave me a ride home. After three weeks of going to
Jumuah (Friday congregational prayers) and Taleem I finally took my
Shahadah on July 2,1995. Ever since then I have been an active member
of the Islamic community. I am also very pleased to say that Raphael
(the person who gave me my initial in interest in Islam) got back to
Islam seriously and took shahadah a few months before I did. We still
keep in touch even though he is in England.



October 28, 1996



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David Pradarelli ()





Assalam-aleikum wa rahmatullah!



I came to Islam pretty much on my own. I was born and raised Roman
Catholic, but I always had a deep fascination with the spiritualities
of other cultures. My Journey started when I desired to have a
relationship with my creator. I wanted to find my spirituality, and not
the one I was born with. I spent some time in the Catholic religious
order known as the Franciscans. I had many friends and I enjoyed prayer
times, but it just seemed to relaxed in its faith, and there was, in my
opinion, too much arrogance and hypocrisy. When I had returned back
from the order into secular living again, I once again was searching
for my way to reach God (Allah). One night I was watching the news on
television, and of course they were continuing their one-sided
half-truth reports on Muslims (always in a negative light instead of
balancing it by showing the positive side as well) with images of
violence and terrorism. I decided long ago that the news media has no
morals whatsoever and will trash anyone for that "juicy story", and I
pretty much refused to believe anything they said. I decided to
research Islam for myself and draw my own conclusions.



What I found paled all the negative images that the satanic media
spewed forth. I found a religion deep in love and spiritual truth, and
constant God-mindfullness. What may be fanatacism to one person may be
devotion to another. I picked up a small paperback Qur'an and began
devouring everything I could. It opened my eyes to the wonder and mercy
of ALLAH, and I found the fascination growing every day...it was all I
could think about. No other religion including Catholicism impacted me
in such a powerful way...I actually found myself in God-awareness 24
hours a day 7 days a week...each time I went to my five daily prayers,
I went with anticipation...finally! What I have been searching for all
of my life.



I finally got enough courage to go to a mosque and profess the Shahadah
before my Muslm brothers and sisters. I now am a practicing Muslim and
I thank ALLAH for leading me to this place: Ashhahdu anna la ilaha
ilallah wa Muhammadur rasul ALLAH! This means: "I believe in the
oneness and totalness of ALLAH and that Muhammad(peace and blessings be
upon him)is the chosen prophet of ALLAH." I now also accept Jesus as no
longer equal with ALLAH, but sent as Muhammad was sent ...to bring all
of mankind to submission to the will of ALLAH! May all of mankind find
the light and truth of ALLAH.



February 25, 1997 ==================================================





Ibrahim Karlsson ()





I was born in an ordinary , non-religious Swedish home, but with a very
loving relationship to each other. I had lived my life 25 years without
really thinking about the existence of God or anything spiritual
what-so-ever; I was the role model of the materialistic man.



Or was I? I recall a short story I wrote in 7th grade, something about
my future life, where I portray myself as a successful games programmer
(I hadn't yet even touched a computer) and living with a Muslim wife!!
OK, at that time Muslim to me meant dressing in long clothes and
wearing a scarf, but I have no idea where those thoughts came from.
Later, in high school, I remember spending much time in the
school-library (being a bookworm) and at one time I picked up a
translated Qur'an and read some passages from it. I don't remember
exactly what I read, but I do remember finding that what it said made
sense and was logical to me.



Still, I was not at all religious, I couldn't fit God in my universe,
and I had no need of any god. I mean, we have Newton to explain how the
universe works, right?



Time passed, I graduated and started working. Earned some money and
moved to my own apartment, and found a wonderful tool in the PC. I
became a passionate amateur photographer, and enrolled in activities
around that. At one time I was documenting a marketplace, taking
snapshots from a distance with my telelens when an angry looking
immigrant came over and explained that he would make sure I wasn't
going to take any more pictures of his mum and sisters. Strange people
those Muslims...



More things related to Islam happened that I can't explain why I did
what I did. I can't recall the reason I called the "Islamic information
organisation" in Sweden, ordering a subscription to their newsletter,
buying Yosuf Ali's Qur'an and a very good book on Islam called Islam -
our faith. I just did!



I read almost all of the Qur'an, and found it to be both beautiful and
logical, but still, God had no place in my heart. One year later,
whilst out on a patch of land called "pretty island" (it really is)
taking autumn-color pictures, I was overwhelmed by a fantastic feeling.
I felt as if I were a tiny piece of something greater, a tooth on a
gear in God's great gearbox called the universe. It was wonderful! I
had never ever felt like this before, totally relaxed, yet bursting
with energy, and above all, total awareness of god wherever I turned my
eyes.



I don't know how long I stayed in this ecstatic state, but eventually
it ended and I drove home, seemingly unaffected, but what I had
experienced left uneraseable marks in my mind. At this time Microsoft
brought Windows-95 to the market with the biggest marketing blitz known
to the computer industry. Part of the package was the on-line service
The Microsoft Network. And keen to know what is was I got myself an
account on the MSN. I soon found that the Islam BBS were the most
interesting part of the MSN, and that's where I found Shahida.



Shahida is a American woman, who like me has converted to Islam. Our
chemistry worked right away, and she became the best pen-friend I have
ever had. Our e-mail correspondence will go down in history: the fact
that my mailbox grew to something like 3 megabytes over the first 6
months tells its own tale. She and I discussed a lot about Islam and
faith in god in general, and what she wrote made sense to me. Shahida
had an angels patience with my slow thinking and my silly questions,
but she never gave up the hope in me. Just listen to your heart and
you'll find the truth she said.



And I found the truth in myself sooner than I'd expected. On the way
home from work, in the bus with most of the people around me asleep,
and myself adoring the sunset, painting the beautifully dispersed
clouds with pink and orange colours, all the parts came together, how
God can rule our life, yet we're not robots. How I could depend on
physics and chemistry and still believe and see Gods work. It was
wonderful, a few minutes of total understanding and peace. I so long
for a moment like this to happen again!



And it did, one morning I woke up, clear as a bell, and the first
thought that ran through my brain was how grateful to God I were that
he made me wake up to another day full of opportunities. It was so
natural, like I had been doing every day of my life!



After these experiences I couldn't no longer deny God's existence. But
after 25 years of denying God it was no easy task to admit his
existence and accept faith. But good things kept happening to me, I
spent some time in the US, and at this time I started praying, testing
and feeling, learning to focus on God and to listen to what my heart
said. It all ended in a nice weekend in New York, of which I had
worried a lot, but it turned out to be a success, most of all, I
finally got to meet Shahida!



At this point there was no return, I just didn't know it yet. But God
kept leading me, I read some more, and finally got the courage to call
the nearest Mosque and ask for a meeting with some Muslims. With
trembling legs I drove to the mosque, which I had passed many times
before, but never dared to stop and visit. I met the nicest people
there, and I was given some more reading material, and made plans to
come and visit the brothers in their home. What they said, and the
answers they gave all made sense. Islam became a major part of my life,
I started praying regularly, and I went to my first Jumma prayer. It
was wonderful, I sneaked in, and sat in the back, not understanding a
word the imam was saying, but still enjoying the service. After the
khutba we all came together forming lines, and made the two 'rakaas'.
It was yet one of the wonderful experiences I have had on my journey to
Islam. The sincerity of 200 men fully devoted to just one thing, to
praise God, felt great!



Slowly my mind started to agree with my heart, I started to picture
myself as a Muslim, but could I really convert to Islam? I had left the
Swedish state-church earlier, just in case, but to pray 5 times a day?
to stop eating pork? Could I really do that? And what about my family
and friends? I recalled what Br. Omar told me, how his family tried to
get him admitted to an asylum when he converted. Could I really do
this?



By this time the Internet wave had swept my country, and I too had
hooked up with the infobahn. And "out there" were tons of information
about Islam. I think I collected just about every web page with the
word Islam anywhere in the text, and learned a lot. But what really
made a change was a text I found in Great Britain, a story of a newly
converted woman with feelings exactly like mine. 12 hours is the name
of the text. When I had read that story, and wept the tears out of my
eyes I realized that there were no turning back anymore, I couldn't
resist Islam any longer.



Summer vacation started, and I had made my mind up. I had to become a
Muslim! But after all, the start of the summer had been very cold, and
if my first week without work was different, I wouldn't lose a day of
sunshine by not being on the beach. On the TV the weatherman painted a
big sun right on top of my part of the country. OK then, some other
day... The next morning; a steel grey sky, with ice-cold gusts of wind
outside my bedroom window. It was like God had decided my time was up,
I could wait no longer. I had the required bath, and dressed in clean
clothes, jumped in my car and drove the 1 hour drive to the mosque.



In the Mosque I approached the brothers with my wish, and after dhuhr
prayer the Imam and some brothers witnessed me say the Shahada.
Alhamdulillah! And to my great relief all my family and friends have
taken my conversion very well, they have all accepted it, I won't say
they were thrilled, but absolutely no hard feelings. They can't
understand all the things I do. Like praying 5 times a day on specific
times, or not eating pork meat. They think this is strange foreign
customs that will die out with time, but I'll prove them wrong.
InshaAllah!

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