| How I embraced Islam
Jewellee
I am a new Muslim. I am writing to tell you 'why' I converted to
Islam, but it's going to be more like 'how.' Last year, at the age
of 23, I was trying to open an import/export company to sell children's
books overseas. Much thought went into my decision to work with
Saudi Arabia above any other country. After contacting the Saudi
Arabia Commercial Office at the Royal Embassy in Washington DC,
I learned that all contracts with my sponsor must be in Arabic to
be binding. That prompted me to study Arabic so I would know what
I was signing. I went to a local language school where I took classes
with a private tutor named Suad. She was one of the nicest people
I ever met as well as one of the most religious. All the books,
tapes, and videos that I studied from centered on Islam (Ifta Ya
Sim Sim, etc.), so without realizing it I was learning about Islam
all along! I was not brought up with any religious indoctrination.
I knew the basics, but I had never gone to church.
The same time this was going on, I was having the hardest time
in my life. I was on the east coast and my family was on the west
coast, the friends I had were not acting like the 'quality' kind
of people I knew I needed to hang around with, and I had really
difficult money problems (who doesn't). I was crying almost every
day. I never felt more alone in my life. It was affecting my job
and my Arabic classes. Suad noticed, and she was always there to
listen. She gave the best advice (Islamic), and she was always right.
She told me that if I just submitted myself to God completely, he
would take away all the pain and loneliness I was feeling. That
was on a Thursday. That night, I asked God to help me, when I woke
up the next day I felt completely relieved of all my pain. I could
say "God will take care of it" out loud and mean it. I
spent that weekend talking to Suad about Islam and I learned that
I knew more about Islam than I thought! On Sunday I did my Shahada
at an Islamic Women's Group meeting. The next Friday, January 20,
1995, after the noon prayer, I did my open Shahada at the Masjid
Dal Hijrah in Falls Church, Virginia. Ramadhan started shortly after
that, and I went to Mecca for Umrah at the end of Ramadhan (last
10 days). It has been the best thing I ever did in my life and I
never looked back. My experiences with Islam have shown me that
if you follow God's direction (awkward to call it law because it's
much more than that) you will have everything you need and often
what you want, enshallah. Faith in Allah is the best advantage anyone
could ever give themselves!
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