The current of life can drag you to a place you would never think of going. Our fate is not in our hands, although it would seem to be; in its very veins are traces of handprint totally in contrast to ours. I have learned this wonderful truth in my own personal laboratory called life.
My spiritual adventure started when I was a teenager. Worldly life gave me no fulfillment so I turned my head to a different road-“Religion”. I joined the Born-again movement and was very enthusiastic. My passion brought me to full time ministry and I was trained to become a Pastor.
Years went by, the challenges and my personal assessment in the church led me to question my faith. What came after was years spent in struggle that eventually led me to distance myself away from the church and into the worldly life once again. But maybe because I was really searching for fulfillment my craving for spirituality continued. This time I experimented with other religions: Vaisnavism (a branch of Hinduism), new age philosophy, Buddhism then Islam.
What I found in Islam was totally different from what I heard in the news and saw in the movies. I discovered that it is a religion of peace that seeks the betterment of society. The laws and moral codes are there to forge equality, justice, and dignity among the people. Islam dwells more on solving real life issues than ecclesiastical doctrines by providing practical solutions. […] By the guidance of Allah I was able to find one here in Cebu, Alhamdulillah!
Now I am training to become a good Daa’ee (propagator of Islam). The more I read about Islam the more I am falling in love with it. There are more jewels to be discovered as long as we stay focused and look for solutions rather than burying our hands in the mud of negativity. As long as we are determined, we will be successful. Ameen! Ameen! Ameen!
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I would like to take the opportunity to share with you my journey to Islam as a new muslim and I feel that by sharing this experience I can help you on your journey through life. We are all born into different cultures, countries and religions; in what often seems a confusing and troubled world. Actually, when we examine the world around us, we can easily see what a troubled state it is in: war, poverty and crime. Need I go on? Yet when we look at our own upbringing and our education, how can we be sure that all the things that we have been told, are in reality the truth?
Unfortunately, most people in the world decide to try to hide and escape from the world’s problems rather than stand up and deal with the truth. Dealing with the truth is often the harder avenue to follow. The question is: Are you willing to stand up for the truth? Are you strong enough? Or, are you going to escape and hide like the rest?
I started my search for the truth a number of years ago. I wanted to find out the truth about the reality of our existence. Surely, to understand life correctly is the key to solving all the worldly problems that we are faced with today. I was born into a Christian family and this is where my journey began. I started to read the bible and ask questions. I quickly became unsatisfied. The priest told me, “You just need to have faith.” From reading the bible I found contradictions and things that were clearly wrong. Does God contradict himself? Does God lie? Of course not!
I moved on from Christianity, thinking the scriptures of the Jews and the Christians are corrupted so there is no way that I can find the truth from the false. I started finding out about Eastern Religions and Philosophies, particularly Buddhism. I spent a long time meditating in Buddhist temples and talking to the Buddhist monks. Actually, the meditation gave me a good clean feeling. The trouble was that it did not answer any of my questions about the reality of existence. Instead it carefully avoided them in a way that makes it seem stupid to even talk about.
I traveled to many parts of the world during my quest for the truth. I became very interested in tribal religions and the spiritualist way of thinking. I found that a lot of what these religions were saying had truth in them, but I could never accept the whole religion as the truth. This was the same as where I started with Christianity!
I began to think that there was truth in everything and it did not really matter what you believed in or what you followed. […]
I felt confused, I fell to the floor and prayed, “Oh, please God, I am so confused, please guide me to the truth.” This is when I discovered Islam.
Of course I always knew something about Islam, but only what we naively hear in the West. I was surprised though by what I found. The more that I read the Quran and asked questions about what Islam taught, the more truths I received. The striking difference between Islam and every other religion is that Islam is the only religion that makes a strict distinction between the Creator and the creation. In Islam, we worship the Creator. Simple. […] In fact, in Islam, the only sin that God will not forgive is the worship of creation.
However, the truth of Islam can be found in the Quran. The Quran is like a guide book to life. In it you will find answers to all questions. […] I had all the pieces all along but I just did not know how to fix them together.
I would therefore like to ask you to consider Islam now. The true Islam as described in the Quran. Not the Islam that we get taught about in the West. You may at least be able to cut down your journey in search of the truth about life. I pray for your success, regardless.
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By Bruce Paterson
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!
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