My Journey to Islam by Dawn

"Assalamu Alaikum to all Members,

Brother Maqsud asked me to write my story of my journey to Islam. There is nothing very dramatic or remarkable in my story. I was living a very comfortable life, active in my church and family, and not facing any major difficulties. I wasn t looking for Islam but Islam found me. I m hoping my story will promote a better understanding between Muslims and Christians. I find both Muslims and Christians have many preconceived notions of each other which are simply not true.

I grew up in rural northern Indiana. My father was raised in an Amish/Mennonite (1) family and my mother was raised in a Baptist (2) family. I had a very happy childhood amongst all my extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We were all very close. Our faith was a big part of my life. I can t remember a time I didn t believe in God. I never once thought that our religious faith might have errors. My childhood consisted of Church/Sunday School, Bible classes, summer youth Bible camps and interaction with my Christian friends and family. All of our holidays were centered on family and God. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter were all times for focusing on God, spending time with family, and helping others. During the holiday season, our church collected canned and packaged food, basic clothing and gifts for needy families. There were many special programs at church and my family spent more time in prayers and devotions. I know Christmas is very commercialized and many Muslims who don t know any Christians believe that s all Christmas is about. Christmas for my family was a time to focus more on God, to celebrate the birth of Jesus (PBUH), and to do what you could to help those less fortunate than yourself.

I attended a Baptist High School and a Mennonite College. I never really interacted with people who believed differently than me. I did have some problems understanding the trinity but it was understood to be a mystery and I accepted that explanation. I also had some problems with contradictions in the Bible but it was always explained by copy errors and translation errors. My church believed the Bible to be the inspired word of God not the literal word of God. I explain this because Christians have different beliefs about this issue. This is also difficult for many Muslims to understand since Muslims believe the Qur an to be the literal words of God. That difference explains why it s not a big issue for some Christians when you point out errors in the Bible because they believe that the writers were inspired by God and then it s possible that fallible human beings made copy errors and translation errors.

My journey to Islam started with helping my daughter to find information about Islam. During her Fifth Grade year of Elementary School, she was trying to earn her World Religion Badge for Girl Scouts. She was required to write a report about another religion. She chose Islam. I helped her to find reading material and I read along with her both because I wanted to monitor her reading and I was curious about Islam. One of the requirements for the badge was she needed to talk to someone from the chosen religion and ask them questions. This was the difficult part as we didn t know of any Muslims in our area. I tried calling some organizations in some of the nearby larger cities but none of them returned our calls. Finally, I thought of going online. I found a site where children could get a pen pal and she was matched up with a girl her age from Iran. Luckily, the girl s mother knew English and translated their emails. They wrote to each other about their families, friends, school, likes, dislikes, and religious beliefs. The girls became good friends and even started to think of each other as sisters. To sum it up, my daughter earned her badge, gained a friend, and I started on my journey to Islam.

The basic reading I had done with my daughter for her report had made me curious enough to continue reading more in depth about Islam. I read many biographies about the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). One story which intrigued me was when the early Muslims emigrated to Abyssinia and were protected by the Christian King Negus. This initiated me to start reading about the early Christians and Church history to see how they interacted with Islam and Muslims. I was surprised to find out there were many early Christians who didn t believe in the divinity of Jesus (PBUH). Actually, the trinity and the divinity of Jesus (PBUH) were imposed as church doctrine by the Council of Nicea 325 CE. How could such integral beliefs of Christianity not be taught by Jesus (PBUH) himself? This council also selected which books were included in the Bible and which ones were discarded. I found it disconcerting to find out they discarded the most early written eyewitness accounts and included the later accounts of the gospels which were written by people who had no personal contact with Jesus (PBUH). I read and agonized over these issues and many others for over a year. Instead of being reassured of my beliefs, the more I read, the more doubts I had about Christianity. It s very difficult to accept when you challenge your lifelong belief system and find it to be lacking. Finally, I decided I needed to go beyond the reading and talk to Muslims.

As previously stated, I didn t know of any Muslims in my area so I started with the Islam public chat rooms. The public chat rooms are horrible with so much fighting and arguing. Finally, I met someone who was willing to talk with me and answer questions. He was very knowledgeable and answered many of my questions. He also suggested I try the user chat rooms as there were people there who were trying to help people learn about Islam. The Beginners to Islam user chat rooms were where I met Brother Maqsud and Brother Dust. They both came online to try to help others learn the truth about Islam. They answered my questions and explained many things about Islam to me and to many others as well.

I started to read the Qur an. I began with Sura Maryam because I wanted to read what the Qur an said about Jesus (PBUH). It was t what I expected. I would lay in bed at night reflecting and praying about what I had read. I asked myself, Does Islam have the right answers in my search for the Truth about God? There came a time when I realized I believed Islam to be the truth. Islam is a beautiful religion because it is simple and clear and sin t bogged down with incomprehensible religious doctrine. The concept of Tawheed, the oneness of God, is simple and easy to understand. Islam is the same message brought to us by all the prophets. The day I said my Shahada, I felt a peace I had never felt before. I felt like I was at the end of a long journey when actually it was also the beginning of a new journey. There is so much to learn about Islam. I have been a Muslim for almost two years now. I read the Qur an and study as much as I can. I am fascinated by the study of Hadiths. I know I have much to learn.

I accepted to become a co-moderator of the Islamic Minds Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IslamicMinds/ ) because I felt I could help to be a bridge between Christians and Muslims. I am thankful to all the members who send in great postings about Islam. I learn so much by reading them and it encourages me to read and study more.

I would like to invite any non-Muslim reading this to read the Qur an and to learn more about Islam. Remember that Allah (SWT) guided you to this page, to read these words for a purpose.

".... Allah sendeth whom He will astray, and guideth unto Himself all who turn (unto Him), Who have believed and whose hearts have rest in the remembrance of Allah. Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest!" Quran 13.27-28

your sister in Islam,

Dawn

Note: I included the following footnotes for those who are unfamiliar with these Christian Denominations.

(1)      Amish/Mennonite -The Amish are a religious group who live in settlements in 22 states and Ontario, Canada. The Amish stress humility, family and community, and separation from the world. The Amish have their roots in the Mennonite community. Both were part of the early Anabaptist movement in Europe, which took place at the time of the Reformation.

(2)      Baptist - The Baptists form one of the largest Protestant denominations, with worldwide membership of nearly 35 million. Throughout their history, Baptists have sought to be faithful to the truth of the Gospel and to pattern the Church on the principles of fellowship found in the New Testament.