Hi i have read some stories of the reverts on this site which all have been very touching.
I would like to share mine to this site, not a lot of people know about my decision.
I was bought up in a very strict family. My parents held firm traditions and were very religous. The religion was Hinduism, widely considered to be a polytheistic religion.
As a child i never thought anything much about religion, i did whatever my parents told me.
for secondary education i went to the church of england school and RE lessons were always taught with christianity and another religion. It was from this point that the questions began in my mind. In the old testament one of the ten commandments was to not worship idols, isnt that what i was doing? but because my family were religious i couldnt debate. However Islam never really came into mind and i had no interest to study it. Thanks to the media my parents always thought the Islam was a religion that was the cause of many of the world's problems.People are always inclined to judge a religion by the action of its ppl but not by its texts. So i was told to stay away from Islam.
However when i attended university things changed. I did have muslim friends previously but i never discussed islam with them. At uni i met a muslim friend that i got very close to that told me a few things about islam. I was so intrigued because there was an answer for everything. I had no idea that such a text, the Quran exsisted that hadnt been altered for 1400 years! and it was even more amazing to find out how the Quran was written in a series of revelations to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and hence was the Word of Allah. I really began to question what my views were on religion. I was confused, and astonished that i had been living in ignorance, not even knowing what Islam was! I began to learn mre and more. The first book i read was The book of Monotheism (kitab-At-Tauhid), and after reading a few lines of it i knew that i could no longer go back to being what i had been 19 years of my life. There was an islamic bookshop that had opened recently where i lived, but i never had the strength to go in incase any1 saw me walking in there that i knew. I used to phone the shop sumtimes and used to hang up, cos i was scared on what to say, then finally one day i spoke to the owner. I told him that i was a non-muslim, that i knew what the truth was and wanted to learn more. He told me to come to the bookshop and i told him that i couldnt just incase if sum1 saw me (the area where i lived had many of my relatives), so he told me to pray sincerly from my heart and that Allah will guide me. So finally i did manage to come to the bookshop. They answered all my questions, and were so helpful. The owner and his wife would sumtimes open the shop early just so that i could talk to them and read some books i couldnt read at home. During this time I had a few books at home that i used to hide. My mum noticed that lately how distant i was and how i avoided praying in our prayer area at home.Later on my sister found a book that i was reading on Islam and evantually my parents found out. Home life became very difficult for me, my parents had lost a lot of trust in me because i was seen as a traitor. They knew that i had a close muslim friend and that i was reading books on Islam. I couldnt risk being caught going to the bookshop but i still did, i was determined to follow my heart. During this particular time there was a nine day festival at the temple. My dad was one of the main members at the temple, and that meant that if we didnt attend the festival as a family then ppl would notice that i was missing. I knew that i didnt want to go to the temple anymore. I spoke to the bookshop owner for advice and he asked a scholar for his advice on my behalf. The advice was to follow what the prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) did. Ibrahim's (peace be upon him) father was a idol maker and if a festival was to happen then Ibrahim (pbuh) would pretend he was sick. Pretending to be sick for 9 nights in a row was hard. The best solution to tell them was that i wanted to become a muslim.I was prepared to do it one night but that night my dad fell asleep early so i had to wait. the next day i was told to get ready to go to the temple but i refused. The shouting began. I was asked that where did my loyalties lie? I said to what i believe in. I couldnt say that i was muslim because i only wanted to take my shahdah knowing that i wouldnt have to pretend to pray to statues anymore or attend festivals.I tried talking to my dad about why i believed certain things. He thought that i had gone mental, was brainwashed and needed help. I made a decision, i moved out of home. I didnt belong at home if i was a Muslim. A month later after finding out more i took my shahadah.
I took my shahadah on Friday 20th October 2006, just before Eid. I thank Allah for having mercy on me, giving me the guidance and strength to come to Islam. I continue to pray that my family come to Islam.
welcome to the deen
