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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I am ethnically a Russian Jew.  My quest began when I was 19 years old.  […] My belief in God was uncertain.  […] One night I was walking to the kitchen and encountered a dark fellow.  I remembered asking him: “Can I keep this vodka in the fridge tonight?”  We shook hands and went to sleep.  After that point, my life changed drastically…

This dark fellow, a Muslim, was the first Muslim I had ever met.  Extremely curious, I conversed with him about his faith.  What’s this stuff I hear about praying 5 times a day?  […]

Our talks were accompanied by our Christian roommate, Wade.  Together, we created “The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim dialogue sessions”.  In it, we discovered many differences and many commonalities.

My interest had then shifted from sex, drugs, and parties, to a massive search for the truth.  A search that I had to complete.  A search for God.  And a search for how to follow him.

In my quest for the truth, I asked myself: “Ok let’s start simple, how many God’s do I think are out there?”  I figured only one; knowing that a divided God is weaker than One God; figuring that if one God didn’t agree with the other, there might be arguments and feuds.  One God was my choice.

Once I opened up my mind to the possibility of the existence of God, I analyzed both atheist and theist beliefs.  The thing that directed me to the latter was the quote “Every design has a designer”.  With that in mind, eventually, I woke up with certainty that God exists.  […]

The major religions I encountered that fell under the title of Monotheistic, where Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  Well since I’m a Jew, I started with Judaism.  One God, some prophets, 10 commandments, Torah, Jewish souls…uh, what: “Jewish souls?” […]

So God makes Jewish souls, and Christian souls, and Muslim souls, and Hindu souls?  I thought all men are created equal?  So, because one is born into a religion that means by the decree of God he must remain in it… even if the person believes it to be false?  Hmm…I don’t agree with that.

Another thing really bothered me…there is no strict concept of hell in Judaism…then why be good?  Why not sin?  If I don’t have fear of strict punishment, then why should I be moral?

Moving on, I discovered Christianity.  Ok, one God, a father, a son, and a holy ghost…one more time: one God, a father, a son, and a holy ghost.  Uhhh, please explain.  How can all those things be one God? 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 right?  So how can you say you believe in only one God?

[…] Ok then, so are you saying that we are all born as sinners?  And to sin is to do something wrong right?  Then you’re telling me that a one-year old baby is guilty of sin or doing something wrong?  […]

Islam; Islam means submission.  The main beliefs are as follows: One God, worship God five times a day, give 2.5% annual charity, fast during Ramadan (to be closer to God and appreciate life…among other reasons), and finally journey to Mecca for Hajj if you are able financially.  Ok, nothing hard to understand so far.

There’s nothing that conflicts with my logic here.  The Quran is a book with all of these interesting miracles and timeless wisdom.  Many scientific facts only discovered recently where proclaimed 1400 years ago in this book.

Ok, Islam had passed my initial religious prerequisites.  But I wanted to ask some deep questions about it.  Is this religion universal?  Yes, anyone can understand these basic beliefs…no analogy or equation is needed.  Does it agree with science?  Yes, dozens of verses in the Quran agree with modern science and technology.

[…] Naming is the very basis which humans identify with objects, both physical and non-physical.  If religion is supposed to be practiced and spread to every person on earth, shouldn’t there be a NAME for it?

Moreover, shouldn’t the name be given to us from God Almighty?  YES, my point exactly.  The names “Christianity” and “Judaism” were not written in the Holy Scriptures.  Humans named them, not God.  […]

Islam is the ONLY of these religions to include the NAME of the religion in its scriptures.  This is so huge for me.

I realized I would follow Islam at that point.  I then became a Muslim.  I knew the truth.  I was out of the darkness.  I came into the light…

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