Thanks El-Hajj Malik el Shabazz (Malcolm X)

Salamo Aleikom

I originally was born into a Christian household. My dad was from a long line of abusive men and carried on the tradition with his own family. We would go to church each Sunday, but I found it very hypocritical that my father would put up the front of being a good Christian on the outside yet at home inside he was a demon. 

Eventually my dad divorced my mom and he moved in with another woman. At 12 yrs I had to get a job to help support my family because my mom, going directly from her father's house to her husband's house had no life skills and got a minimum wage job that barely covered rent let alone essentials.

I then went through my rebellious teenage phase scaring my mom on numerous occasions hitchhiking to L.A. to visit friends. As a teenage girl traveling alone many horrible things could have happened, but by the protection of Allah, I passed this phase unscathed.  I had dabbled in other beliefs, studied Buddhism, Hinduism, Rastafarian.  I journeyed far from my Christian roots because I blamed the religion rather than the practitioners for my bad childhood.

My senior year of high school I met the father of my first two children. My mother, tolerant up to this point in my escapades would not accept my being with a man of a different ethnicity, and I was kicked out of my house. Being that this man is Catholic I began studying Catholicism with him. When I discovered he was married we parted ways and I had two children to care for as a single mom. 

Then, I began studying with the Jehovah's Witnesses, but became disenchanted. During that time I met the father of my third child and thought he was "the one". Things went well for a while, but I was still longing for a relationship with our creator. I happened to stumble across an autobiography I had read in high school. This life changing book is titled "The Autobiography of Malcolm X". (As told by Alex Haley).

Reading about how the young man Malcolm had a difficult childhood, a troubled youth, became a criminal, and then was elevated to a respected community leader, and eventually came to know the true Islam, was quite moving for me. I figured that the God who changed this man's life could surely move my life as well.

I began by getting an English copy of the Koran (as spelled by Penguin Press publishers). Despite the inaccurate translation the truths rang clear for me. I was pleased to see how easy it was to become absorbed into the reading. Picking up the bible and trying to read from beginning to end is tedious for me trying to wade through the genealogy.

Two days after I had read my copy of the "Koran" I felt a pressing need, an urgency to be Muslim. I didn't know where to begin or what to do, so I did what I thought was reasonable, I consulted the phone book. I began calling anyone with Muslim sounding names.  After my third attempt I found someone willing to help. The first two had hung up on me-in retrospect I don't blame them, especially post-9/11 if someone I didn't know called me asking if I were Muslim, I would be cautious.
I was given information on prayer and shahaddah.

Within days of receiving the prayer information I got a call back on a job I had applied for months before. The first day on the job I noticed that one of my co-workers name was Abdallah. I approached him and asked if he were Muslim, which he affirmed. Eventually he arranged for me to take my shahaddah and gave me a phone number of a married Muslim man so I could contact his wife and work out the logistics of visiting the masjid. Such as where I would meet her so we could enter through the correct doors,  how to properly dress, etc.

I took Shahaddah the third Friday in August, 2001.  Learning that my relationship with the father of my third child was not a proper Islamic relationship the relationship was dissolved.

Eventually, four years later I felt I was ready to pursue marriage and found my husband.

Salam to all. I am glad that Allah SWT has lead me to Islam.

Ditto!