My name is Abdullah Al-Kanadi.  I was born in Canada.  My family, who were Roman Catholics, raised me as a Roman Catholic until I was 12 years old.  I have been Muslim for approximately six years, and I would like to share the story as a new muslim with you.

During my childhood I attended a Catholic religious school.  […] The more I learned about my religion, the more I questioned it! 

At the tender age of twelve, I decided I would be an atheist in order to punish God. […] My teenage years were filled with misery and loneliness. I was accepted in a local technical school and decided that I should further my education and maybe make some good money, so that I would be happy.  […]

I would forget my family and be with my friends all the time.  One night, I told my parents I was going to move out.  They told me, I couldn’t, and that I wasn’t ready for it and that they wouldn’t allow it!  I was 17 years old and very headstrong; I swore at my parents and said to them all sorts of evil things, which I still regret to this day.  I felt emboldened by my new freedom. […] I was working and going to school when my roommates introduced me to marijuana.  […]Soon though, I started to smoke more and more, until during one weekend I had smoked so much, that it was Monday morning and before I knew it, it was time for school.  I thought, well, I’ll take one day of school off, and go the next day. […] I never returned to school after that.  I finally realized how good I had it. […] Who needed school anyways?

I was living a great life, or so I thought; I became the ‘resident’ bad boy at work. […]I felt worthless and completely valueless.  I was stealing from work and from friends to help maintain the ‘chemical haze’.  […] I was beginning to crack and I needed a solution, and I figured that religion would help me.

[…] I bought a couple of books on Wicca and Nature Worship, and found that they encouraged the use of natural drugs, so I continued.  People would ask me if I believed in God, and we would have the strangest conversations while under the ‘influence’, but I distinctly remember saying that no, in fact I don’t believe in God at all, I believe in many gods as imperfect as me.

Through all this, there was one friend who stuck by me.  He was a ‘Born Again’ Christian and was always preaching to me, even though I would mock his faith at every opportunity.  He was the only friend I had at the time who didn’t judge me, so when he invited me along to go to a youth weekend camp I decided to go along.  I had no expectations.  I thought I would have a huge laugh making fun of all the “Bible Thumpers”.  […]They played all sorts of music which praised God.  I watched as the young and old, male and female cried out for forgiveness and shed tears over everything.  I was really moved and I said a silent prayer along the lines of “God, I know I have been a horrible person, please help me, and forgive me and let me start fresh.”  I felt a surge of emotion come over me, and I felt tears roll down my cheek. […]

I returned to my party home and eschewed all drugs, intoxicants, and girls.  I promptly told my friends how they needed to be Christians so they could be saved.  I was shocked that they rejected me. […]

I started to hang out at a Christian “youth house” which was basically a house where teens could go.  […] In spite of this, I felt like a fraud, for I started drinking and dating again.  […] Through all this, my one Christian friend would try to council me and keep me on the right track.

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My name is Abdullah DeLancey.  I am Canadian and I am employed as a Patient Service Worker at the local hospital. […] I was a Protestant Christian for all of my life.

My family brought me up in the Pentecostal Church until I was an adult at which time I moved to a fundamental Independent Baptist Church.

As a faithful Christian I was very involved at Church, giving lectures for the Adult Sunday School and other duties.  I was eventually elected as the Deacon of the Church.  I really wanted to further my dedication to God and decided to pursue a career as a Minister.

I was awarded a scholarship to help me start taking a degree in Divinity.  My goal was to be a Pastor of a Church or a Missionary.  […]

I thought it best to look at Christianity critically and ask some very serious questions about my faith.  I questioned the Trinity, why God would need a son, and why the human sacrifice of Jesus, as stated in the Bible, was needed to provide me with forgiveness.

I questioned the Christian belief of how all the righteous people in the Old Testament were “saved” and in heaven if Jesus wasn’t even born yet. […]

Realizing that I had always accepted Christianity, with blind faith for my entire life and never had questioned it, was perplexing to me.  How could I have not realized this before?

I could not find the answers in the Bible.  Once I realized that the Trinity was a myth and that God is powerful enough to “save” someone without the need for help from a son or anyone or anything else.  Things changed.  […]

I left the Church for good and my wife dutifully left with me, as she was having trouble accepting Christianity too.  This was the start of my spiritual journey.  I was now without a religion but believed in a God.

This was a very hard time for me and my family as Christianity was all we had ever known.  I had to search for the truth.  I began studying various religions and found them as false one after another.  Until, I heard about Islam.

Islam!!!  What was that? As far as I could remember, I had never known a Muslim and Islam was not heard or spoken of “as a faith” in my part of Canada.  Unless, of course, it was news stories talking bad about Islam. […]

But then I started to read a little about Islam.  Then, I kept reading a little more.  Then, I read the Quran.  This wonderful revelation of truth changed my life forever.  […]

I discovered the nearest mosque was about 100 miles away from my city.  So I promptly loaded the family van and drove my family to this mosque.  […] I asked myself, was I even allowed in the mosque because I wasn’t an Arab or a Muslim?

However, after arriving at the mosque, I quickly realized I had nothing to fear.  I was greeted by the Imam and the Muslims with a most warm greeting.  I found them very nice.  Nothing like the bad things the news always said about Muslims.

[…] After studying I was in shock.  How could I have been a Christian for so long and never heard the truth? I now believed in Islam.  I knew it and I wanted to convert.

I was put in contact with the small Muslim community in my city.  […]  Just before Friday prayer started and with most of the local Muslim Community present as witness; I testified that “La illaha ill Allah, Muhammadur Rasul Allah” (There is no God but Allah, Muhammad (PBUH&HP) is the Messenger of Allah).  I was now a Muslim.  It was the best day of my life.  I love Islam and have peace now.

Difficult times have come since I became a Muslim.  When people started realizing I was now a Muslim they would shun me or laugh at me, most of our old Christian friends have never talked to us again.  My parents have all but disowned me.

I love being a Muslim and it doesn’t matter if some of my fellow Canadians think of me as odd for becoming a Muslim.  Why? The reason is that I alone, am the one that will have to answer to God after my death. […]

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