My story begins in 1998. I used to visit London twice a year to purchase Rap albums from the Tower Records store in Regents Street. There was something in their rhymes that moved me, the references to Islam and Allah. I didn’t know what the words meant at that time, but I knew they meant something powerful, something meaningful and something I wanted to know more about. I used to enjoy my trips to London 2 or 3 times a year as I used to see these beautiful women in their headscarves. Again, I didn’t know who they were or why they wore these headscarves, but they just seemed so elegant and so at peace with their selves. They weren’t listening to what the latest Clothes Designer wanted them to wear. They wore what THEY wanted to wear.
It was during an afternoon at work that I began to find out more about these two words, Islam and Allah. The Wu-Tang Clan followed two schools of thought, The Nation of Islam, and The 5% Nation. I began to read. The Nation of Islam was a pro-Black racist ‘religion’ taking its teachings from the Quran and the Bible. The 5% Nation was an offshoot belief system that broke down ALLAH as meaning Arm, Leg, Leg, arm, Head. The Black man was God was what they preached. Being a white man, I soon grew tired of their preaching’s and gave up searching the Internet.
Fast forward to the year 2000. The Big Bang didn’t happen, the world was still standing…………so what was the point of all the ‘End of the World’ stuff that I read about on the net. What was the purpose of life? Why am I here? I have always believed in God, but never in Religion, thinking it was a man-made structure to control the mind……….watching too much of The X-Files I guess!!
I looked into many religions but they all seemed to curtail and change the ‘words of God’ in order to please the present society and governments of the world. But there was one religion that stayed true to the words of God, stayed true to its belief and that religion was Islam.
I bought a copy of the Quran but was too scared to read it. I didn’t want to be brainwashed I thought. I didn’t want to feel the power of this book. Yes, I admit it, I was scared to read it. At this time, I believed that Islam and being Muslim was the highest stage that a Man and Woman could reach in life. The readings of Islam that I had read made me realise that Islam was the right choice in life and the only reason for living………..but still I was scared to pick up the Quran.
Then September 11th 2001 happened.
All I read in the paper, heard on the radio and television, and read on the Internet was how Islam was responsible for this act of terrorism. But this was a religion of peace wasn’t it? I picked up the Quran and read. Read. Read. And read. Until I had finished. I began to browse Islamic Forums and read what the Muslims were saying. It all made sense. There IS a God. We WERE created. The Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammed, sallallahu alayhim wasalaam, was the textbook of life and the Day of Judgement was the exam. Pass it and go to Paradise. Fail it and to Hell we will go to stay forever.
But, I didn’t want to be Muslim did I? I mean I was happy with who I was. I didn’t drink, I didn’t have sex, I tried to be as much as a ‘gentleman’ as I could to my fellow people. Shaitan was playing with my mind. Days went by, weeks, months and still I kept reading about Islam. Nearly every day I would browse the Internet and read on Islam. I considered myself a Muslim but I hadn’t taken my Shahada. But I was a Muslim, I just needed Allah to accept me.
November 27th 2004 I took my Shahada.
That day my life began.
Now, I would like to mention that I found Islam, or Islam found me, without any help, any face to face Dawah, any experiences of meeting other Muslims. I hadn’t even said hello to a Brother or Sister, never mind spoken about this wonderful way of life with anyone. It was through the will of Allah, subhanna wa ata’alla, that I came to Islam, and through the will of Allah and Allah alone that I have now found my true purpose in life, Islam.
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