I was raised as a Christian and went to a fundamentalist Bible believing church.  I made a profession of faith to Jesus in 1969.  In all of my years as a growing up Christian, I read and studied the Bible regularly.  Later on, I enlisted in the US Marines and led Bible studies with my troops.  In 1988, I started my own church reaching out with a special Spanish ministry to the Hispanics. In 1990, I got out of the Marines and joined the US Navy reserves.

In 1991, I was ordered to active duty for Operation Desert Storm.  I remember being impressed with the Arabs worshipping 5 times a day and I never forgot about hearing the Adhan (call to prayer) 5 times a day over the many loudspeakers in the deserts of Saudi Arabia.  […]

As I continued in my Christian faith, when I got home, I started to become unsettled regarding it.  I went to several different churches and faiths over the years and studied their doctrines.  I studied and read the book of Mormon quite a bit and became fascinated with the Mormons.  However, I eventually found many conflicts between the Bible and the book of Mormon.

I later joined a 7th Adventist Church and thought this was the true path.  I studied and read several of Ellen G. White’s books concerning the 4th commandment of keeping the Saturday Sabbath.  However, I eventually saw some conflicts between the Bible and one of Ellen G. White’s visions of heaven.

I stayed home from all churches after that and got a job working for the Kansas City Star newspaper.  I came across a couple of Muslims at work and observed them daily, becoming impressed with their humble and pious character.  One day, I went to my favorite used book store and saw an English translation of the Noble Quran in Jan of 2008.  I took it home and began reading it.  I started to feel a drawing to the Islamic faith after about 4 weeks of reading it daily.

One January early morning, I was looking up on the internet on how to convert to Islam.  I found and repeated the Shahada very prayerfully and did this 2 or 3 times while meditating on it and with a prayerful attitude.  I suddenly felt a great weight lifted from my shoulders as I discovered that God had forgiven me of all my past sins.  […]  Since saying the Shahada, I immediately began performing Wudu (ablution) and Salat (prayer) 5 times daily.  It has now been 9 weeks since I converted to Islam and I am reading the Quran and studying the Islamic books daily.

On a side note, my wife has become upset with me over my conversion and has been trying to get me to renounce Islam.  I tell her I can never turn my back on God and continue to lead a humble Muslim life before her and being patient with her in the hopes of her one day embracing Islam.  I am now mentally, spiritually and physically feeling my best since converting to Islam.

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My story is quite brief but my journey has been such an eye-opener, and I thank Allah for the mercy that he had on me, bringing me to this beautiful religion which is now my way of life.

About 6 years ago, I converted to Islam, and here is my story...

I have always been interested in learning about different cultures and religions, especially, because of living in Australia. We have such a diverse society; I have always believed it to be important to understand all the different and beautiful cultures and religions. This way you can understand why people are the way they are.

 I have always believed in God, coming from a Macedonian Orthodox family in which religion was more based on the cultural side of things. We went to church for Easter or Christmas as a family or for christening or wedding ceremonies, but we never regularly visited God's house for any other reason.

I come from a very good family with great values and morals, but when it came to religion it was just something that was from the old days and not really enforced or practiced. For me, though, I knew something was not right with Christianity. Things just did not make sense to me.

I was never very religious and, in my younger years, went through questioning my beliefs, even the existence of our Creator.

But deep down, I knew there was a stronger force in action thirsty for knowledge, I quickly learned with my love for reading that the Almighty was there; reinforcing what is truly the undeniable existence of Allah.

I learned about Islam from some of my Muslim friends, but it was from my own research that I found Islam and its true beauty. All the teachings from the Quran then made sense, since there was a guideline for everything in life.

I stopped reading for a while, since the Western lifestyle, then, was still very appealing to me at that age.
But one day, I came across a video called the miracles of the Quran...

What really grabbed my attention was how over 1400 years ago Quran revealed the 3 trimesters of a woman's pregnancy when scientists in the 21st century have just uncovered this fact!

This then made me say the two testimonies (Shahadatain) and I started going to private Islamic classes and lectures.
But still, I kept my conversion to Islam a secret from my non-Muslim friends and family. To my non-Muslim friends I said, I believed in Islam, but I did not say that I made the change.

It was only 3 years ago that I realized, I could not deny or hide my true beliefs anymore. I told my non-Muslim friends and family that I am a Muslim. Alhamdulillah, it was the best thing I have ever done.

Some of my old friends left me, but I am not sad. I realized that it was all part of Allah's plan. Allah made me acquainted with new amazing people who were striving just like me to please our Almighty. My family did not take it as bad as I thought they would. They had their moments and did not truly understand the reason for the change. But I did not have such a hard experience like others who have made this beautiful journey.

In December 2011, I did the most life-changing act, which was putting on Hijab. It was the best decision of my life. I have never been mentally happier in my life. Now I feel I am complete. In 2012, I was invited by Allah to do the holy pilgrimage (Hajj).

Every day, I ask Allah why he had chosen me?! I am not the best of His servants. I cannot thank Him sufficiently, for the mercy He had on me, for giving me the opportunity to open up my eyes and heart to Islam, worshiping and getting closer to my only Creator.