I still remember to this day my first encounter with a Muslim.  One of the boys brought his friend to the youth house.  […]  What I do remember is the boy saying “I brought my friend ‘so and so’, he’s a Muslim and I want to help him become a Christian”.  I was absolutely amazed by this 14 year old kid, he was calm and friendly! […] It blew my mind!

The Muslim kid left a copy of the Quran on the shelf, […] I started reading it.  I soon became infuriated with this book when I saw that it made more sense than the Bible.  […]The youth group used to go to various Churches on weekends to prayer events and Saturday nights were spent in a huge Church instead of at the bar.  I remember being at one such event called ‘The Well’ and I felt so close to God and wanted to humble myself and show my Creator my love for Him.  I did what felt natural, I prostrated.  I prostrated like Muslims do in the daily prayers, yet I didn’t know what I was doing, all I knew was, that it felt really good… it felt right. […] 

I felt myself slowly slipping away from the Church as my faith ebbed away.  It was at this time that my best friend, the Christian man who had helped me come to Christ, along with another close friend of mine, raped my girlfriend who I had been with for two years.  […]  A couple of weeks later, it was revealed that the man who ran the youth house had molested one of the boys that I was friends with.

My world was shattered!  […] I had nothing left to give, I was empty again. […]  A little while after, my manager at work told me that a “Moslem” would be working with us, he was really religious and we should try to be decent around him. […]

He didn’t swear, he never got angry and was always calm, kind and respectful.  I was truly impressed and decided that he would make an excellent Christian.  We went back and forth asking things about each other’s religions, but after a time I felt myself getting more and more defensive.  […] I felt it was he who was on the truth!  […] I was convinced that if I could only pray there again, I could get the feeling back and the strong faith and then I could convert the Muslim.  […]

I started to realize that I was being pushed in a certain direction, so I prayed over and over to my Creator to surrender my will to His[…] I sat up in bed and cried, ‘Jesus, God, Buddha, whoever You are, please, please guide me, I need You! […] If Christianity is the correct way then make me strong, and if it is Islam, then bring me to it!’  […] I went to work the next day and said to the Muslim brother “how do I say ‘hi’ to you?”  He asked me what I meant and I said, “I wanted to become a Muslim”.  He looked at me and said “Allahu Akbar!”  We hugged for a good minute or so and I thanked him for everything and I began my journey into Islam.

I look back at all the events that happened in my life over time, and I realize that I was being prepared to become a new Muslim.  I was shown so much mercy from God.  Out of all that happened in my life, there was something to learn.  I learned the beauty of the Islamic prohibition of intoxicants, the prohibition of illegal sex, and the need for the Hijab.  […]

For those of us who have accepted Islam at some point in our lives, we truly are blessed and fortunate.  […]Islam truly is a way of life, and even if we suffer poor treatment by fellow Muslims or non-Muslims, we must always remember to be patient and turn only to God. […]

May God increase our faith and make it in accords to that which pleases Him and grant us His Paradise, Amen!

To read the complete version of this text, go to this link

My name is Darrick Abdul-hakim.  I am a 20-year-old Muslim brother living in the United States.  […]

I grew up as a Christian who had a good deal of information.  I was very excited to express my Christian belief to my friends, co-workers and colleagues.  However, at the age of 17, life became a bit more complicated than before.  I began to observe my fellow Christians in more depth.  I was shocked how most didn’t practice the Christian faith to 100% expectation. 

To make matters worse, I became increasingly dissatisfied with the Biblical scriptures.  For example, the belief that Jesus claimed to be God was a church addition.  Jesus certainly never asserted that he was the God of the world. 

[…] I wondered what would happen if I were to become more religious, but that never happened and instead I left the Christian life and bid it farewell.  Not only that, but also my faith and belief in God, slipped quietly out the door.  I was now an agnostic, not knowing what faith to follow, or knowing if we are surrounded by God or not, I was just lost in a chaotic world.  I wasn’t an atheist, I was just confused about who, or what God really was. 

[…]  I began to have thoughts about the Universe whether we are really humans at all.  I began to ask why I should remain moral (I refused to drink because I felt it was a sin, interesting for someone who didn’t have a faith or believed in a God!). I began to question my own existence.  I began to contemplate whether I should be here or not and on account of this, I had seriously considered suicide.  I wanted to quit my job because I was coming under stress, by this time I was 18 years old.

Alhamdulilah, I had the comfort of friends to keep me from committing such a catastrophe.  But, I was still without a faith, life couldn’t get much better from my end, and I still didn’t know how to cope with my grandmother’s death. 

Eventually, I began to read for myself.  I ran across a book, which was discussing the world’s faiths, and I came across Islam.  I simply never had given Islam any thought at all.  On the following day, when I was on my way to work I saw a man with a copy of the Quran in his hand so I asked him if I could see it, Alhamduliah (all praise is due to Allah) he not only let me see it, he gave it to me! I was stunned, excited, and compelled.  I went to read it and was amazed by its literature; the things I didn’t notice before struck me.  It was comprehensible, and lucid for a layperson like myself. 

On September 11th, I saw the world trade centers go crashing down.  I wondered to myself, could the teachings of Islam have provoked such an act? Could Islam be this bad?

But, the more I read, the more I found out that Islam was a faith that denounced all forms of extremism.  Islam by all means is peace.  We certainly wouldn’t judge Christianity by the barbaric abortion clinic bombings, or we wouldn’t describe Judaism as an ethnic faith that just wants a Jewish world from the Israeli who assassinated the Israeli prime minister in 1995 because he felt the Prime minister was an apostate of God. Why must we do the same to Islam? 9/11 compelled me to learn more about Islam.  I bought and read a total of 10 biographies on Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him.  I was amazed by his life.  I didn’t look at Muhammad from a Christian perspective, but from a Historical, Political and cultural perspective.  After my readings into Islam, I decided to convert.  I was on a quest for the faith, and I found it.  Alhamdulilah.

Now, after my conversion, I have read a large number of books on Islam.  I still am currently reading the Biographies of Prophet Muhammad.  I can truly say that life now is much better!

To read the complete version of this text, go to this link