Aida1
Junior Member
Assalamu aleikum,
I'm Aida and I'm from the Netherlands. I grew up in the capital, Amsterdam. Three and a half years ago I first officially professed my belief in islam by having my shahadah witnessed in a local mosque. It was the end of a long process of coming to this religion, having always believed in One God, but not knowing where I belonged with the religious convictions I already held. At the age of about twelve I consciously started looking for the religion which fitted my already clear convictions and ideas of God, his message, and the way I felt I had to behave in order to please Him.
I researched all kinds of religions, but came to the conclusion that perhaps I was alone in my ideas of faith. I had never known any muslims personally, because I grew up in an area where the great majority either belonged to a christian denomination (for example, there were a lot of African churches present), or were hindu. It was several years before I learned about Islam as a seperate faith, and then another few years before I actively started researching the religion.
At eighteen years of age I started reading books about islam that contained more than just the 'outlines' of the religion... and it felt like coming home. I finally discovered that the convictions about faith that I already had for many years, were to be found in the Qur'an. What I read just fitted my beliefs and hamdulillah that I got to this religion at last. Allah must have had a purpose in making me wait so long.
At first I just kept on reading. A while later I started practicing a little. It began with praying in the islamic way. Not yet the compulsatory five a day, but one at least every day. After that, I started dressing more modestly. Wanting to learn more, I began visiting women's meetings at a local mosque (the one where I would later take my official shahadah). Fearing I had to be a perfect muslim before I could convert (or revert), I did not dare take my shahadah right away. Later people explained to me that you did not have to be perfect in order to convert, and that it's better to be a muslim first and grow in your practice already being a muslim, rather than wait too long. At the age of 21 I finally took my shahadah hamdulillah. It was the best decision of my life
There you have it, my life story
Salaam -- Aida --
I'm Aida and I'm from the Netherlands. I grew up in the capital, Amsterdam. Three and a half years ago I first officially professed my belief in islam by having my shahadah witnessed in a local mosque. It was the end of a long process of coming to this religion, having always believed in One God, but not knowing where I belonged with the religious convictions I already held. At the age of about twelve I consciously started looking for the religion which fitted my already clear convictions and ideas of God, his message, and the way I felt I had to behave in order to please Him.
I researched all kinds of religions, but came to the conclusion that perhaps I was alone in my ideas of faith. I had never known any muslims personally, because I grew up in an area where the great majority either belonged to a christian denomination (for example, there were a lot of African churches present), or were hindu. It was several years before I learned about Islam as a seperate faith, and then another few years before I actively started researching the religion.
At eighteen years of age I started reading books about islam that contained more than just the 'outlines' of the religion... and it felt like coming home. I finally discovered that the convictions about faith that I already had for many years, were to be found in the Qur'an. What I read just fitted my beliefs and hamdulillah that I got to this religion at last. Allah must have had a purpose in making me wait so long.
At first I just kept on reading. A while later I started practicing a little. It began with praying in the islamic way. Not yet the compulsatory five a day, but one at least every day. After that, I started dressing more modestly. Wanting to learn more, I began visiting women's meetings at a local mosque (the one where I would later take my official shahadah). Fearing I had to be a perfect muslim before I could convert (or revert), I did not dare take my shahadah right away. Later people explained to me that you did not have to be perfect in order to convert, and that it's better to be a muslim first and grow in your practice already being a muslim, rather than wait too long. At the age of 21 I finally took my shahadah hamdulillah. It was the best decision of my life
There you have it, my life story
Salaam -- Aida --