Garnet_Stone
New Member
Asalam Alaikum
I'm new to this website. I am from a staunch Catholic family and had a strict Catholic upbringing. However, I've been studying Islam on and off for 5 years (without my family knowing), but recently I decided to take it to the next level. Due to bad events in my life, I realized that if I had lead an Islamic life to begin with since I started studying the religion, then perhaps I wouldn't have had some of my problems in the past. In addition, Islam has given me so much self-confidence! I've realized my worth as a woman (contrary to what many non-Muslims belief!).
I'm still on the process of studying Islam. To be honest, I don't know how to break this to my family and I fear their reaction, but that's something I need to resolve sooner or later. For now, I've been slowly but surely shifting my life the Islamic way. In fact, I fasted during the most recent Ramdan, which became a life saver! It's a very long story to tell, but let's just say that observing Ramadan was one of the main reasons that I believed Islam has been such a great blessing in my life.
Here's a journal that I just typed up. It is a reflection on why I've been studying Islam:
"I went to a funeral last night of a family friend. She was a very religious lady. I overheard someone telling her son, "She's there now." He simply responded, "Yes, mom's there now."
I stood there some 20 feet away from her. I looked around and everyone was praying for her soul. I believe that the truest form of prayer to save our soul is how we lead our life. There's no point in leading a careless life just so a room full of people would pray for your soul's salvation on the funeral (however, I believe that the family friend who passed away lead a good life, God bless her). Our chance is now, not when we die, but right at this moment. How do we want to lead our lives? So many people take advantage of life as if there's always tomorrow. But what if we don't have a tomorrow? Then what? If someone told you today is your last day, most likely you would think you wouldn't have enough time to prepare for death. You might look back at your life and wish you had done things differently. The truth is, none of us get that advance warning.
As I stood there some 20 feet away from our family friend, who seemed like she was only asleep, I realized sooner or later she would be forgotten and that all the material things she posessed on earth are no longer hers. That moment reinforced my belief that life on earth is so short. Most of us only work for things that we can't even take with us when we pass away. We won't be able to take with us our car, our house, our career. So few of us wonder what we CAN take in the afterlife."
I'm new to this website. I am from a staunch Catholic family and had a strict Catholic upbringing. However, I've been studying Islam on and off for 5 years (without my family knowing), but recently I decided to take it to the next level. Due to bad events in my life, I realized that if I had lead an Islamic life to begin with since I started studying the religion, then perhaps I wouldn't have had some of my problems in the past. In addition, Islam has given me so much self-confidence! I've realized my worth as a woman (contrary to what many non-Muslims belief!).
I'm still on the process of studying Islam. To be honest, I don't know how to break this to my family and I fear their reaction, but that's something I need to resolve sooner or later. For now, I've been slowly but surely shifting my life the Islamic way. In fact, I fasted during the most recent Ramdan, which became a life saver! It's a very long story to tell, but let's just say that observing Ramadan was one of the main reasons that I believed Islam has been such a great blessing in my life.
Here's a journal that I just typed up. It is a reflection on why I've been studying Islam:
"I went to a funeral last night of a family friend. She was a very religious lady. I overheard someone telling her son, "She's there now." He simply responded, "Yes, mom's there now."
I stood there some 20 feet away from her. I looked around and everyone was praying for her soul. I believe that the truest form of prayer to save our soul is how we lead our life. There's no point in leading a careless life just so a room full of people would pray for your soul's salvation on the funeral (however, I believe that the family friend who passed away lead a good life, God bless her). Our chance is now, not when we die, but right at this moment. How do we want to lead our lives? So many people take advantage of life as if there's always tomorrow. But what if we don't have a tomorrow? Then what? If someone told you today is your last day, most likely you would think you wouldn't have enough time to prepare for death. You might look back at your life and wish you had done things differently. The truth is, none of us get that advance warning.
As I stood there some 20 feet away from our family friend, who seemed like she was only asleep, I realized sooner or later she would be forgotten and that all the material things she posessed on earth are no longer hers. That moment reinforced my belief that life on earth is so short. Most of us only work for things that we can't even take with us when we pass away. We won't be able to take with us our car, our house, our career. So few of us wonder what we CAN take in the afterlife."
