Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!bes From: shamma@ccu.umanitoba.ca Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam Subject: HOW I REVERTED TO ISLAM Message-ID: <1990Dec2.211935.6446@nntp-server.caltech.edu> Date: 2 Dec 90 21:19:35 GMT Sender: bes@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Behnam Sadeghi) Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Lines: 144 Approved: bes@tybalt.caltech.edu A friend of mine asked to post the following article for him in S.R.Islam. Start of article: ************************************************************************* I asked a close friend of mine who recently became a Muslim to write down a brief account of how he came to Islam. Although he didn't feel like exposing some of the details, I assured him that he would remain anonymous, but I felt that his story (which I personally knew) had a crucial lesson to teach the rest of us Muslims. The key point I wanted to stress was that he came to Islam through the discussions he had at a political society at his university with a Muslima who was taking part in the activities of the society. For far too long we have discouraged our sisters from taking part in the community we are living in. We have to decide whether or not we are going to try to forge a future here in the West, or if we are going to emigrate to Muslim lands after a brief sojourn here. If we are serious about staying, then we have to get on with the job of establishing Islam here; this demands that both the brothers and the sisters *get involved* with the natives, work side by side with them, show them the Islamic alternatives and surely then we will be doing a better job of finding the potential Muslims than now. I would like us to bear in mind the story of Umm Salama, the companion of the Prophet (SAW) who told Abu Talha that she would accept his Taslim as her Mahr. He became Muslim, married her, and became one of the stalwarts of Islam later on. The author of the following article is now spending his time learning more about Islam, and has lately been frustrated with the difficulties of encouraging born-Muslims to take part in any community work. May Allah help him to find others like himself, and to surpass the efforts of those who were instrumental in his path to Islam. HOW I REVERTED TO ISLAM ======================= Why did I embrace Islam? Well, basically because I fell in love with a Muslima who was very beautiful, modest and active, with strong iman. That's the short version, here's the longer one : I was brought up as a Christian but by my teenage years got disillusioned because a lot of the 'Christians' I saw didn't act like Christians. This hypocrisy really got to me and started the process of me turning away from Christianity. Later I began to question the Christian ideology. I couldn't accept the concept of Original Sin, that everyone is born evil/sinful; this seemed so harsh for a religion that purported to believe in a just and loving God. The next step was rejecting the idea that Jesus (PBUH) was the son of God. To be honest, it wasn't the idea at first, that God could have a son that repulsed me, but that God could allow his son to be crucified; this again seemed to contradict with the idea that God was just and compassionate. Slowly I became an agnostic then a fierce atheist. By the time I came to university I was full of rage towards religion. I'm ashamed to say I had very little patience with religious people and could be quite offensive towards them. Well the inevitable happened : I fell in love with a Christian. I wanted to get to know her better and to impress her, so I swallowed my pride (a bit) and decided to go to the chapel which she went to. Well the first time I went she wasn't there ! (Quite funny really). But I was overwhelmed by the service. The chaplain was such a down to earth sort of guy with strong faith. He overwhelmed me. I felt really humbled, realising I was wrong, there is a God. I started visiting this chaplain, and talking about God; slowly my faith grew. I started re-reading the Bible, making allowances for bits I didn't like, i.e. to some extent the Bible was written for a certain time and therefore needed to be modernised a bit. I now considered myself a Christian once more though I still didn't accept that Jesus (PBUH) was the son of God nor the concept of Original Sin. Other Christians were amazed how I could call myself a Christian and not accept these two things; but I didn't care, I felt really happy. But after six months I felt alone in my beliefs and slowly frustration set in. Then I went downhill again. I fell in love again (getting a bit predictable this, isn't it). This time it was with an atheist. Well we got very close, I started doing things I knew were wrong like heavy drinking of alcohol; my peace of mind collapsed and I became an angry young man again. Well she dumped me (not surprising really). I was totally cut-up. Gave up totally on women. Never again I said. Never is a big concept however. About eight months later I met the Muslima I mentioned to you. We met through a 'political' group. Well some of her ideas really repulsed me; how could she believe in capital punishment? How could she say violence was sometimes necessary and how could she reconcile being a woman with being a Muslim? We had many lively discussions on these and other subjects. As I got to know her better I became really struck by her modesty, she was hardly materialistic at all which impressed me and she glowed with a sort of inner peace. She started giving me pamphlets and books on Islam which I read wanting to understand her more. I soon realised my preconceptions of Islam and women were quite wrong, way off mark! I gradually fell in love with her but realised that she couldn't possibly accept me unless I became a Muslim. When I made Shahadah I cried. I felt humbled and at peace and was on a high for about 2 weeks. When I next saw her I told her that I had embraced Islam; she guessed why and our friendship became strained. For the next six months I was in torment; to be or not to be a Muslim, that was the question. Firstly the sister concerned wasn't interested in me as a husband, and as this was the reason why I had reverted why stay a Muslim? On the other hand I had met some good Muslims and was impressed by the kindness they had shown me, a mere stranger, and I remembered the feeling of peace I had had when I submitted to God. But though I was impressed by the Islamic concepts of brotherhood, emphasis on reason, and on changing society, I still couldn't accept the ideas of capital punishment, use of violence (sometimes) in Jihad and I couldn't accept the stance on homosexuality (a lot of my friends were gay). For a while I reconciled these by taking the liberal Muslim view that the Qur'an should be subjected to historical analysis..that certain ideas can be rejected as they were only applicable to their time of revelation. Well I soon became uncomfortable with this liberal position. I gradually began to realise that if I wanted to be a Muslim I had to accept that the Qur'an is the Word of God and its concepts apply to all ages. I had to submit and not take Islam on my own terms, thus I slowly saw the wisdom behind capital punishment and violence in Jihad. But the issue of homosexuality still bugged me. I realised that I might have to choose between my friends and God. This was very difficult. At first I chose my friends, then I decided to submit to God even if it meant loosing my friends. So I repented again and made Shahadah, this time determined to strive Insha-Allah to be a true Muslim ! ***************************************************************************** End of article Walid -----