Whenever I meet someone, they always ask me: “How come you became a Muslim?”, “How did it happen?”, “Are your parents Muslims?”, “Did you marry a Muslim man?”, etc. Well, today, I’m going to write about how Islam came into my life, alhamdulillah.
All began on July 01st, 2010 when I met my first Arab Friend, to be honest with all of you I used to be afraid of Muslims and Arabs in general, because of all those lies about them being terrorists, but... then this happened: I saw an Egyptian person online in an exchange language’s page and I didn’t think about whether he was a Muslim or an Arab or anything, I just thought “Wow! An Egyptian, how cool!” and I sent him a message telling him it would be great to be friends with someone from Egypt! He accepted and we started talking.
Long story short, Waleed, my first Arab friend, was and is a great person, a really nice friend; and thanks to him I stopped feeling scared of Arabs or Muslims & I started meeting more people from Arab countries just to show myself over and over again that Muslims were just like everybody, meaning normal people. I started feeling interested in the culture and the language so I started looking for people who will teach me Arabic language and culture online.
That is how I found my brother Muhammad, alhamdulillah, and he offered me his help; he didn’t teach me about culture and language only but religion as well. At the beginning, I must admit, I didn’t want to know anything about Islam, I was still confused about some wrong information I had about it before knowing the real deal therefore I didn’t want to know anything else; but my brother taught me about Islam anyways and he asked me to read about it. He asked me questions about my religion, which was catholicism back then, and he told me “If you show me that your religion is better than mine, I’ll change mine. You don't have to do the same about Islam though, I just want you to know the truth” so I was happy and excited about it, but at the end, as it is obvious: I never changed his faith. Allah guided me to change mine.
I met my brother Muhammad the first days of August and he taught me about Islam until he got my interest, may Allah reward him. Then I started reading about Islam by myself, I asked for some book about Islam in an Ecuadorian Muslim's page on October 2010 and I asked for a Qu’ran on November 2010, then with the pass of the time... I noticed Islam was the right way and I couldn't deny it nor do anything else but to accept that it’s the religion I had to follow. The right path.
On Monday, March 14th, 2011 at 10:29am I did my shahada officially and I have been practicing as good as I can my religion since then; and since Friday, October 14th, 2011 after the Jummuah prayer I decided to started using my hijab to go everywhere, in sha Allah, day to day I will give one more step to be a good muslim.
[By the way, my parents aren't muslims & they don't like my religion, actually, my whole family is against Islam, but what can they do about it? They can't change my mind even if they want, so I'll keep in the right way in sha Allah. And yes, I have talked to them about Islam, but I guess they are too closed to open their hearts and minds to listen to me so please keep my family in your prayers. I hope one day Allah, subhana wa ta'ala, will show them the right way too.] < Updated done on 2013.
LASTEST UPDATES (March 30th, 2017) My little brother did shahada last year, alhamdulillah. My parents let me wear hijab and pray in peace now, alhamdulillah; also they know I fast in ramadan and understand it by now and my mom has shown a more open-mind towards islam lately, alhamdulillah. May Allah guide my family to the right path, Amin <3
That's the “how” now I'm Muslim & Proud, Alhamdulillah.
Subhana Allah, walhamdulillah wallahu akbar!
