Stories of con/re-verts...

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Stories of of converts or reverts to Islam.


My Journey to Islam

For the first time in my life I knew the truth
By Scott Lynch


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I converted to Islam about 21 months ago. My journey to Islam was a long one that spanned over more than 2 decades

An "All-American Boy"

Allвh is a permanent reality that works in the lives of those who hear His message. Not having a personal relationship with my Creator tugged at my heart and mind for nearly two decades. Then, I discovered Islam. I would not be considered in the West as a stereotypical Muslim. I believe the popular Western stereotype of a Muslim male is something like the following: dark skin, dark hair, bearded, Middle-Eastern or Asian descent, dressed in modest clothing and possibly a head covering. No, I'm the complete opposite of this. I am in many ways the epitome of the "all-American boy": blond-hair, blue-eyed, corn-fed Protestant/Christian background. However, Islam and Muslims take on many faces, many backgrounds, many cultures, many nationalities and many tongues.

Our family moved a few times in my youth, but my world was limited to the heart of the "Bible-belt" in Augusta, GA, and Spartanburg and Greenville, SC all fairly large communities, but all offered little in religious diversity. I had normal, loving, God-fearing parents - they are still happily married today after more than 30 years and one younger brother.

I grew up as a "PK" (for those of you outside of Protestant Christianity, I was a "preacher's kid"). My father was a Southern Baptist minister for more than 25 years. As you can imagine, for the first 18 years of my life, I attended church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and any number of other nights that the church lights were on. I grew up believing in God and Jesus, or, should I say, fearing God and Jesus. Like most adolescents, I was afraid not to believe in the religion of my parents. However, something was wrong. I can recall thinking, even at age 10, "this Jesus' story just doesn't make sense to me." Even at this young age, I didn't accept the divinity of Jesus and the notion of Christian salvation (i.e., Jesus dying for my sins

As all my church friends were getting saved, baptized and confirmed during their pre-teen and teenage years (this all seemed like more of a rite of passage than a sincere decision for most, or just the popular thing to do), I quietly sat in the church pews questioning the fundamentals of Christian theology. My parents, my church-friends and the various churches my father pastored throughout my childhood all prayed for my salvation.

Then, one Sunday night, I succumb to the pressure. I was 12 years old and my family was at the First Baptist Church of North Spartanburg (in Spartanburg, South Carolina). After a fiery sermon, which obviously moved a lot of people, my father came to me and said, "Son, do you want to ask Jesus into your heart? It's about time you do so." Tired of all the solicitations, tired of all the "Scott, we're praying for you," tired of always feeling like the one who didn't belong, I lied to my father and said, "Yes POPS." That night, I repeated after my father and supposedly accepted Jesus into my heart. I was presented to the church as a new Christian, baptized and immediately became part of the Christian community; although, I was very empty inside. For the next 5 years, I put on the charade of a good preacher's kid. I attended Bible studies, went on summer mission trips and even had a couple "saves" (individuals becoming Christian) contributed to me. This was all under the veil of a big lie that night when I was 12 years old, the night that I supposedly became a Christian myself I never asked Jesus in my heart. True, I went through the motions, but it meant nothing to me.

When I graduated high school and it was time to go off to college, I only thought of one thing: religious freedom. I viewed the opportunity as the chance to move away from my parents and explore the religions of the world. I moved about 70 miles away from my parents to Rock Hill, SC, enrolled in Winthrop College and majored in religion. However, moving from one part of the "Bible-belt" to another part of the "Bible-belt" didn't help my search. Rock Hill was a smaller town than I grew up in and there were even more churches per capita. Once again, the only religious diversity was in the form of what favor of Christianity you wanted for the week. I did manage to run across a couple freethinking religion professors that mentored me in exploring religion. If anything, they pointed me to many different sources to satisfy my quest. I rarely pushed the envelope of my comfort level and only ended up exploring different forms of Christianity. During the two years I spent in little Rock Hill, SC, I attended Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Pentecostal and many non-affiliated/community churches. It would not be until another couple years before I would experience non-Christian religious expression.

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Beyond the "Chosen People" Vision

Unsatisfied with the lack of religious diversity, I left Rock Hill, SC for the University of South Carolina in the state's capital of Columbia (metro population: half-million). I thought, "Surely I can find other religions in city this size." Once again, I majored in religion. While in Columbia for the remainder of my undergraduate degree, I became extremely interested in Judaism, but not on a spiritual level, but rather, on an academic level. I was attracted to the Hebrew language. I took more than 4 years of a combined Bible and Modern Hebrew and excelled at reading the original scriptures and reading Jewish prayers. In fact, because one of my professors was a local rabbi, I even taught 6-grade Hebrew school for a term (to this day, a decade later, I can still read the Hebrew texts.

I was very involved with Judaism in Columbia, SC, but much like Christianity, it's fundamental beliefs seemed empty to me. Inside, I asked questions like, "If the Jews are considered God's 'chosen people' where does that leave me? While at the University of South Carolina, I was exposed to a glimpse of Islam. I took a class entitled "Islamic Institutions and Traditions." It was taught by a non-Muslim who had taught university in Egypt, so he seemed to be an authority on Islam but the class did little for me other than provide a good textbook background for me. Half the class consisted of Muslims, so I think the class' integrity was kept in check. Half way through the class, I did visit the local mosque and witnessed salah (prayer) for the first time.

Although I didn't understand what seemed like an impersonal approach to prayer and worship I was impressed by Islam's simplicity and humbleness (e.g.: prostrating before almighty Allвh) in prayer and worship. My brief encounter with Islam, both in a college class and my visit to a mosque, planted a seed that would grow for the next ten years. After my undergraduate studies, I went out into the workforce. For the next 5 years, I withdrew from religion and became what I considered to be agnostic. I knew there was a one God, however, I didn't know a lot about Him. For me, Christianity and Judaism did not address the issue of the proper worship of one God.

My professional positions took me all across the United States where I finally settled in Fort Collins, Colorado. After waking up day after day to the beautiful mountains, prairies and expanses of Colorado, I began to question the concept of "God" again. How could there be so much beauty and order in the world and God not intimately reveal Himself to mankind? I began to recall the religious experience I'd had over the past 10-15 years. I looked at Christianity and said "No." I still could accept the Jesus theology. I looked at Judaism. Again, "No." I couldn't live with the Jewish customs and belief in a "chosen people." Finally, I began to look at Islam. My impression of Islam was a combination of several things. It consisted of the one class I took in university, my one visit to the mosque in Columbia, SC, and then the media (I've now discovered that the U.S. media does not accurately display Islam). I began researching the fundamental beliefs of Islam. I decided to strip away the stereotypes and examine exactly what Islam is all about. After some study, I found the following:

Islam has the strongest declaration of monotheistic faith of any religion (I said to myself, "check, I agree"),

the belief that God has no partners (again, "big check"),
the belief that God has revealed Himself many times through prophets and messengers and His message has been confused and distorted by man (I always had a hard time believing parts of the Bible and its interpretation, so "check for now"),
that Islam is not just a religion, but an entire way of life (very appealing, "check"). Reading the Qur'вn

After reading about Islam, I set out to inquire a little deeper. I set out to find a Muslim. At the time of my inquiry into Islam, I was working in a very large company with more than 1000 employees. I thought, "Surely there's a Muslim or two that would be willing to answer my questions."

My search did not take long. I met a kind, quiet Muslim man named "Hani." I approached the man and told him that I wanted to learn more about his religion. The first thing Hani recommended was reading the Qur'вn, the revelation of Allвh to His Prophet Muhammad. Hani even gave me a Qur'вn (In fact, the small Arabic-English Qur'вn that Brother Hani gave me is still one of my prized possessions. Hani inscribed in it the following words that continue to touch my heart: "May Allвh guide us to the right path." I began reading the Qur'вn and to my surprise, it made sense to me. Coming from a Christian background with a good understanding of Jewish history/theology, the Qur'вn connected all the dots for me. It confirmed so many doubts I had about Judaism and Christianity, and provided the roadmap that I was looking for. After reading only part of the Qur'вn, I said to myself, "I believe in this. I should be a Muslim." But what would my family say? What would my friends say? What would my co-workers think? So, for months, I kept my feelings quiet and continued to study Islam silently. I began to read more books, subscribed to Muslim email lists, purchased Islamic videos and even began memorizing the prayers. Out of all the aspects of Islam that I observed, the prayer impacted me the most. Like the worshipers I saw in the videos, I too wanted to bow down and prostrate myself before my Holy Creator.

Finally, after more than eight months of inquiry with my friend Hani, he must have sensed I was ready to take the next step.

In early January 2001, he invited me to the Islamic Center of Fort Collins (Colorado). It is where more than 1000 Muslims in Northern Colorado go to pray and worship. He invited me the fajr prayer (before sunrise). At that time, it was around 6:15 a.m. You can imagine what I was thinking: "God, you want me to get up before 6:00 on a cold Colorado winter morning and go worship you?" I recall not sleeping too well the night before. I felt like I was being called to do something. I made it down to Islamic Center and met up with Hani.

When I went in, I was instructed to take off my shoes in the vestibule. I walked through a large communal area and Hani showed me the area that Muslims perform wudhu, the washing and purifying of one's body before going before Allвh. Hani and I then went into the prayer area. The prayer area was a large, simple, quiet room. There were many books, mostly in Arabic, on several of the walls, and the room seemed to point in one direction (the direction to the ka'bah in Makkah, or the first house of worship to Allвh).

When we walked in, there were 6-7 Muslim men praying. For the second time, I saw again in-person what I had seen only in videos - worshipers bowing before their Creator but with anew understanding after all the careful reading I did. It sent chills down my spine. I too wanted to worship as the men before me. The familiar call to prayer, the adhвn, was called and Hani asked me if I wanted to pray. I nervously said, "Yes!" Hani said, "Just do as the rest of us do." And for the first time, I prayed and worshiped Allвh as He commands. I didn't know all the words or their meanings, but it had a powerful impact. After the prayer, Hani asked me if I would like to become a Muslim. Again, I said, "Yes!" I had already practiced and said the shahadah dozens of times, and on that cold morning on January 3, 2001, at around 6:30 a.m., I said it in front of those Muslim men.

Alhamdulilвh (Glory be to Allвh), I became a Muslim.

The moment I said "lв ilaha illallвh muhammad rasыlallвh" (There is no god but Allвh, Muhammad is the Prophet of Allвh) in front of those men, I felt a huge burden lifted from my heart. I felt liberated from my search. For the first time in my life, I knew the Truth - the Truth of Allвh. It's now been over a year since I became a Muslim. Has it been easy? Not always. Have I had struggles, setbacks and doubts? Absolutely, I'm human. However, the past year has been the best of my life. Allвh has blessed me beyond belief. I've had a peace about me that is indescribable. And although I can't really describe how it feels, I know where it comes from it comes minute-after-minute, hour-after-hour, day-after-day, trying my best to follow Allвh's true dоn (religion, way of life). My peace is knowing that Allвh has revealed the Truth to me. To my Muslims brothers and sisters and all non-Muslims, may Allвh guide us all to the right path.

Email us if you have any comments about this article ...

[Ahde Vefa]

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JERUSALEM - Joseph Cohen moved from the United States to Israel as a devout Jew in 1998, but within three years he had converted to Islam and become Yosef Mohammed Khatib, a supporter of the militant Hamas, according to a report broadcast Thursday on Israel TV.

Now he refuses to say the word Israel, choosing instead to call the area "Palestine." His four children study the Quran, the Muslim holy book, instead of the Torah, its Jewish counterpart.

It was while living in the desert town of Netivot that Khatib met a sheik from the United Arab Emirates through an Internet chat about Israel. Khatib said he spent hours corresponding with the sheik, discussing theology. Gradually he began to see Judaism as racist and turned toward Islam after reading the Quran, he told Channel 10 TV. The report did not say where he lived in the United States or give his age.

Last year he told his wife of 10 years, Luna, also a devout Jew from the United States, that he wanted to convert to Islam.

"I said, `Listen, I love you very much ... and I have to be honest with you,'" Khatib said in the TV interview. "I read the Quran and I agree with everything it says in the Quran, and if I continue saying that I'm a religious Jew, I would be a liar."

The family converted together and moved from Netivot to an Arab neighborhood in east Jerusalem. The children went from being top in their classes on Judaism studies to being well-versed in Islam, he said.

Instead of supporting the Israeli Orthodox Jewish political party Shas, Khatib now supports the radical Islamic Hamas and believes an Islamic state should be set up where Israel and the Palestinian areas are now located.

He praised Hamas for setting up social services for Palestinians but dodged questions about the other side of the Islamic group — suicide bombings and other attacks against Israelis. The United States has declared Hamas a terror group.

Khatib differed from most Israelis and Americans in his views about Osama bin Laden, the top suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington.

"I think that he's number one, Muslim number one," Khatib said with a strong New York accent about bin Laden. "But I don't think that he's responsible for the World Trade Center (attacks)."

Wearing the white skullcap and robes of a religious Muslim, Khatib denied his Jewish past, insisting that he is 100 percent Muslim. He made a parody of a blessing that observant Jews say every morning, in which they thank God for not making them gentiles.

"Blessed are Thou, Lord Our God," Khatib began in the traditional Jewish blessing, but ended it with, "for not making me a Jew."

[Ahde Vefa]

By Sarah de Andrade Siqueira


I have always kept interest in the Muslim world; it passed to me a sense of peace. On the Brazilian Educative TV I watched a documentary about the life in some Muslim country. Those mystery women dressed in those beautiful long clothes and veils raised my curiosity. When a Muslim woman mentioned that it is not a matter of culture only but that her religion was a complete way of life (Deen), I wanted to know more.

The idea of a religion ruling all aspects of humankind’ way of life is not common where I live, not to mention having anything to do with economy, politics and social issues.

I decided to look into Islam. My first question was: How could I do this? No books were available at my University or in the bookshops.

1999 I earned my Bachelors degree in Languages. It was a moment that brought tears in my eyes, because my beloved family always did a lot of efforts to provide me with the best education they could, despite of our humble life. The present my parents chose to give me upon that was a computer. They saved long months to be able to pay for the gift they thought would enable me pursue a career. When I saw those big boxes in my room I felt such gratitude to them.

Now I could access the Internet and be able know more about Islam. I was surfing on the web looking for information when I came across Yusuf Islam’s (formerly Cat Stevens) website. After I read about his journey to Islam and how a famous pop star could give up the great world of music and find his certainty on the straight path. He chose Islam as a way of life based on pure love, charity, humbleness and the submission to the one and only God. When I listened to Yusuf’s lecture named “One God, One Community” my appreciation for Islam became greater than before. Since that day I have been studying Islam with an eager will to learn about the pillars of Islamic faith and way of life as well.

When I had a blessed opportunity to read the Holy Qur’an which narrates with scientific accuracy the development of the baby in mother’s womb, since his first moments of life; I have decided to embrace Islam. Beyond this, I also have to say that the submission to only one God and the complete way of life established by Allah through his last Prophet Muhammad had touched my heart.

During my “web Islamic research” I have met in an Arab chat room some Muslim friends, who helped me a lot in my journey to Islam, Alhamdulilah. The one I met first was a Sudanese Muslim student, who taught me my first words in Arabic language and always was by my side (with the famous web instant messengers), despite our distance, to solve my doubts in respect of Muslim women issues. The other one was a brother from Egypt, who was amazed with my path to Islam and gave me a blessed help shipping to me the Holy Qur’an (a bilingual version in English and Arab), the prayer carpet, books about Islam and even Hijabs, to allow me to practice the beautiful and honored concept of Islamic Modesty. My parents, are Christian, however they never opposed my religious choice-God bless them.

I thought there were no Islamic Centers in my Brazilian city. All websites about Islam I had visited were not Brazilian either and few of those I’ve found in Portuguese refer to Islamic Societies far away from my home. Hence, Allah and my Sudanese sister were my witness that I had embraced Islam.

After sometime, Alhamdulilah I have found an Islamic website developed by a Brazilian sister, who gave me the brilliant information that there was a small, but very serious and lovely Muslim Society in my hometown. She introduced me to The Imam and sisters there. It was a beautiful moment of my life, to get know a part of our Ummah in the city I was born and live in.

My mum is now considering converting to Islam. May Allah show her the right path. The last thing I would like to say from the bottom of my heart is:

“Ash Hadu Anlaa Illa Allah wa Ash Hadu Muhamadan Rasululah”

May Allah bless our Ummah!

[Abu Hurayra]

more articles related topic:
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I will say right away that I am very young. I am only 18, and that fact seems to astound most people. I think it is proof that we are never too young to begin looking for God, or to understand His truth.

I was raised christian, nondenominational. We were never big church goers, but we always knew who our God was and what our obligation was to Him. In my living room, to this day hangs a big velvet painting of Jesus as a black man. That left a huge imprint on me, because it made God real to me. Not only did he come to earth as a man, but he was black like me.

In my preteen years I was a crusader for Christ. I wanted to convert the world and save souls. i beleived blindly 100% in everything that was given to me by the Bible and my pastor/youth leader. Then one day I ran across something in the Bible that didn't sound anything like the God who I had learned to love and obey. I thought perhaps I was just too young to understand and took it to a more knowledgable christian who confirmed that it was what I thought it was. My world fell apart.

I read the Bible, cover to cover, and marked along the way all of the things that were contradictory or ungodly. By the time I got to revelations i had a large segment of the Bible marked as invalid. So, thinking maybe I needed to look at it in a historical perspective I did my history work. There I found even more hypocracy, blasphemy, and human tampering with holy scriptures. What shocked me was the story of the coucil of Nice where human men "divinely guided" decided which text would be in the Bible and which ones needed editing.

I also had to ask myself how God could be three and one at the same time. What happens to a good man like Ghandi when he dies without Jesus? Does Hitler get to go to heaven if he accepts Christ as his lord and saviour? What about those who have never been exposed to christianity? I was once told that the trinity was part of the essence of God and that since the breadth and scope of God is beyond my understanding I should simply beleive. I couldn't worship a God I couldn't understand.

I never lost my faith in God, I just decided that christianity was not the right path for me to travel. I felt no kinship with fellow beleivers. I never felt anything special while attending service except that i was doing an obligatory service to God. So I wandered faithless, looking for something to hold on to. In my search I found Wicca, the Bahai faith, and finally Islam.

I studied Islam quietly, on my own, in secret, for two years. I wanted to be able to seperate fact from fiction. i did not want to confuse Islam with the cultures who claim to practice Islam while instituting things that are clearly against all that Allah has revealed to us. I wanted to make the distinction between the religion and the societies that adopted it. That took time and patience. I met a lot of helpful brothers and sister via e-mail who answered all of my questions and opened their lives up for me to examine.

I never liked the image that I was handed as to what a woman was. In popular culture we are portrayed as very sexy, lady like, independant enough so that men have no real responsibility toward us or the children they help create, but dependant enough that we are continually in search of a new man. The average woman on the street is honked at , whistled at, has had her butt or breasts pinched, slapped, rubbed, or oggled by some strange woman. I never agreed with any of that and never found a "come on" flattering.

In christianity I was taught that as a woman I should not teach in church or question the authority of any man in public. The picture painted of women in Christianity was one of inferiority. We were supposed to be chaste and silent with children about our feet. In Islam i found a voice, a system that gave me ultimate respect for being a mother and acknowledged the fact that I was equal to man in every way except one: physical strength. The hadith are littered with stories of women who spoke publically and Islamic history is full of women who were leaders. It was a theology that i could respect because it respected me.

I had to ask myself if I really wanted to be like all of the people I saw around me. Who was really oppressed? The girl wearing skin tight jeans getting cat calls from boys rolling by in cars was not free. She was society's whore and she got no respect. I was thankful that my mother had never allowed me to wear such things, not that I ever wanted to, but her disapproval was an added incentive. After examining the position of the muslim woman and what I felt to be truth in my heart, how could I deny Islam.


Six weeks ago i made the decision to convert to Islam. I did so and have not looked back since. My friends respect it because they see that it has not changed who I am and what I stand for, in fact it has backed it up. My advise to any woman out there is to ask herself these questions:

What do you want your daughtor to beleive about herself?
How should she allow herself to be treated?
Is she really born with evil tendencies because she is a descendant of Eve?
How do you want her to feel about her body?
What are you modeling for her?
What image of womanhood are you promoting?
How do men treat you and how do you allow yourself to be treated?

Phreddie (USA)

[Sayyoh]

should be merged with the other thread