Stories of those who converted to

Islam(1)
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is
his messenger. Peace and blessings be upon you all. My story
of how I reverted back to Islam is quite interesting. I am
actually 24 years old now, going on 25. I took my Shahada 8
years ago when I was a Junior/Senior in High School('91) Ma
sha'allah.

My parents are both Christians, my Father is a practicing

Baptist, and my Mother is a non-practicing Catholic. My
Mother wanted my brother and I to be raised so that we can
make our own choice when it comes to spirituality. My Father
wanted us to be raised Baptist. However, my parents divorced
when I was very young(age 3 or so), and we lived with our
Mother. I can remember going to church with my Father, but all
I remember from it was trying to stay awake. It was boring and
uninteresting to me, to the point where I disliked going. The last
time I went to church with my father was around age 12. As I
grew a little older and gained more knowledge about my
people's history in this country and how religion has played a
part, I began to not only dislike Christianity, but despise it.
With El Hajj Malik Shabazz being a great mentor and role
model for me, I began to question why it is that our people are
still in the same conditions when we are known for being a very
spiritual people. My conclusion was that the religion of
Christianity(As being practiced in recent history and present)
did not work. Somehow God was not listening to Christians. I
also began to associate Christianity as being a slaves religion.
Back in 1990 I stopped eating pork because I felt a force
coming towards me, and I also knew it was not fit for anyone to
eat. I didn't know for sure what was happening but during the
 next year after I stopped eating swine, I began to see signs of
Islam. Being a rap video fan, various rap videos by people in
the Nation of Islam started appearing. I saw them as signs. Back
then I did not know the difference between the Nation of Islam
and Islam. They were all the same to me. Also, my cousin had
become Muslim, and she had given me several pamphlets on
the life of the Prophet(S.A.W.), and Islam Alhamdullilah. She
wore hijab and basically was my resource for any questions,
concerns, or events going on. She was the only Muslim I knew
or had ever been in contact with (outside of Farrakhan video
tapes), and provided a great example of a Muslim through her
actions.

One of my other concerns with Christianity was why I had to

pray through a Middle-Man? Why did I have to pray to a man?
I believe in God Almighty. I also didn't know how to pray to
God. Islam provided answers to all of my questions on how to
be a worthy servant of God. Islam taught me how to live, and
how to pray. My first visit to the Masjid was very powerful.
Islam gave me a since of community and peace immediately
although I hadn't accepted it yet. It was more realistic to me to
pray to God everyday, rather than just thinking about God on
Sunday. A way of life, as opposed to just a religion. Those
brothers and sisters treated me like family. I took my Shahada
on my second visit.