I was in the seventh grade when the event of 9/11 happened. Some say it was part of a plan that developed decades and decades ago to help eradicate original religions in the world, supported by any President that did not end up assassinated, while others say that's impossible-but to me, a kid living in the USA, I perceived that Arabs = terrorists!

My Dad, a Japanese-American engineer for NASA at the time, looked like an Arab. I did not want him to change, but I felt self-conscious in public with him that year. Would people think he was a terrorist? Eight and a half years later, he doesn't mind going out in public with a niqab-wearing muslim woman-me.

In High School, I learned about the abundance of oil and other valuable natural resources in the Middle East and North Africa-dominantly consisting of Islamic countries-and dominantly countries being negatively portrayed in the media. I didn't know much, but I felt that there was something serious that the media wasn't reporting. I expressed this to my Dad, "What if the USA just wanted an excuse to enter Iraq for oil?" 

I was not the only one that felt like the pieces didn't add up. As I viewed documentaries, I learned how many people researched their questions and found that one answer led to another question, and so on. Some people heard President Bush addressing Islam and muslims, terms they were not familiar with, and as a result they learned about the beauty of Islam. People who were doing the research were finding that terrorism and oppression are against Islam; therefore, the truth was opposite of what I was hearing on the news. We are finding that true Islam is a guidance toward a lifestyle of reality and fulfillment that we didn't know could exist on Earth. 

I didn't discover this until my second year of college. I had all sorts of accomplishments and plans well within the ideal American definition of success. When I met my husband-to-be, who sparked my interests and answered all of my questions, I began to love everything about Islam. I needed it to be my present and future-it was a commitment better than any I imagined life could offer. My definition of success had changed.

The transition into Islam and into my new marriage was rocky, but rewarding and dotted with miracles only God could have arranged. Growing up, I had gotten used to stepping out of my comfort zone for a bigger comfort, but nothing compared to this. I may not have been well-spoken through it all, but I knew that my heart, my mind, and my priorities were in place for the first time in my life, and for the rest of my life. And finally relocating with him to a muslim city where, for example, the niqab-wearer is highly respected and understood? Where all food is halal? Where the community prays together? What an exhilarating feeling! 

Muslims may not be perfect, but Islam is. It is advanced and proven in every field of science, law, history, prophecies, psychology, and so forth. It is the only religion whose revelation is still perfectly preserved in its original language, a language spoken throughout the world. There will be errors in translation and interpretation and connecting passages, and even scholars and leaders who do not catch those errors, causing contradiction on many topics; but we strive to be the best we can be, and to do our best to filter through the falsifications regarding Islam. The truth is clear to those who can recognize it.

If there really is or was a goal to eradicate original religions like Islam, or to convince the world against religion, I'm happy to observe: it backfired.