My name is Justin Peyton, and I am a 29-year-old African American convert to Islam, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  I grew up in a loving, two-parent, and middle-class household with three siblings. 
Growing up, my family and I identified ourselves as Christians, but we were never members of a church, nor did we attend Sunday services or other activities. The extent of religious expression in our home was celebrating Christmas.

9/11 Lead Me to Study Islam

[…] If I had to identify one single event as the starting point for my journey to Islam, it would have to be the tragic events of 9/11.  After months of seeing very unflattering media coverage about Islam and Muslims, it occurred to me that the negative portrait being painted did not coincide with the experiences I had with Muslim classmates, neighbors, and others, growing up in Philadelphia. 

It also occurred to me that despite knowing Muslims, I had never actually bothered to take the time to learn about their faith.

So, with the open-mindedness instilled in me by my parents, I decided to research some facts about Islam in order to reconcile the apparent disparity between my personal experiences and media coverage.
[…] Spurred to learn more, I went to a local bookstore, purchased a copy of the Quran, and began to read. I could spend pages listing which information struck me most and why, but suffice it to say that everything that I read made intrinsic sense to me.

I Decided to Convert to Islam

After a few more months I decided that reading and learning about Islam on my own was not enough, so I searched to find any nearby mosques.
I contacted the closest mosque, which was about 45 miles away, spoke to their president, and arranged a time to visit and discuss Islam with local Muslims.

On the appointed day, I showed up and spent a great deal of time talking to a very helpful brother.  Unbeknownst to me, the information he shared permeated my heart.

During my second visit […] it dawned on me that I believed that Islam was the truth, so right then and there, I took my Testimony of Faith and spent the whole weekend at the mosque learning what was necessary for me to perform the ritual prayers on my own when I returned to school.

That community was wonderful and had I stayed in the vicinity, and I am sure that I would have received a lot of support adjusting to my life as a new Muslim.  But that was not to be. Prior to the events of 9/11, I had developed an interest in the military, and continued discussions with local armed forces recruiters, concurrent with the exploration of Islam that would lead to my conversion. […] Looking back on that part of my life, I am grateful for the skills I gained and the experiences I had during the course of my service.  But in retrospect, the timing between these two events was less than ideal.

Even after leaving training, I was located in an area of the U.S.  With no Muslim community, which prevented me from developing my faith.  It wasn't until some three years into my service that I met another practicing Muslim service member who would be able to teach me both about Islam and how to navigate military life as a Muslim.  May God reward him for his efforts.

After completing my military service in the summer of 2007, I moved back to Philadelphia, became an active member of a local mosque, and was blessed with the ability to obtain a job at the local chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a non-profit civil rights and advocacy organization for Muslims.

The two years I spent as a part of the Philadelphia Muslim community, and an employee of CAIR-PA was a tremendous learning experience that really spurred my development and whetted my appetite for more.

And that leads me to where I am now, an Islamic chaplaincy student at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, pursuing its combined Masters of Arts in Islamic studies, Christian-Muslim relations and Graduate Certificate in Islamic chaplaincy.

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Which one seems nicer to you to live in, a jungle or a cottage in a jungle? Mountains or a cave in the middle of the mountains? I guess we all agree that the latter alternatives look nicer places for living. Why is it so? Have you ever thought about it? This must be because humans always tend to put some boundaries around them considering these boundaries as the means of protection.

These limitations are supposed to keep us safe from probable dangers which mostly act as a threat from the more powerful groups to weaker ones.

Jaime, being raised in a Christian family, did not define any borders for her activities. She did whatever she wanted. She used to smoke and use drugs. It was like nothing could control her.

A program on TV made her interested in doing research about Islam. She wanted to know the reason behind all the troubles Muslims are involved in. The more she read, the more she got interested. She never thought she would become a Muslim but later on, she thought why not?!

Islam looked like a sweet border for her activities. In fact, it could protect her. She became even more interested in realizing that she did not have to quit any of her favorite activities. She could keep on waterskiing and snowboarding. The only activities she had to give up were the ones that she had no reason for doing and they were even harmful! This was why she did not see Islam as a limitation but as protection instead.

Now, she is very proud of being a Muslim and having a Muslim husband who was the first reason for her interest in religion. She believes that Islam respects women far more than any other religion and this is why Hijab is obligatory.

Islam has brought her peace. Before that, she was very eager to become a star in Hollywood but after becoming a Muslim she found everything she had been looking for, PEACE!