Why I became a Muslim by Yasir Abdullah
Yaser Abdullah I was born into a Christian family, and I used to go to Christian Sunday school when I was a boy, where all the kids sang songs, drew and coloured in pictures about Jesus, and were told stories of how Jesus was immaculately conceived, and was born from Mary and Joseph on Christmas day. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and in the holy trinity, which is �The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit�, all as one. But this never made sense to me, because if there is only one God, then how can Jesus be part of God as his son, and instead of praying to God, Christians pray to Jesus. And it doesn�t make sense to me when Jesus is dead, but God lives forever. So to me, everyone should pray to God, not Jesus. I always believed in God, and because I am sure about the existence of God, and none of the other stuff, decided not to refer to myself as a Christian. After all, what�s the point of going to church and pretending that I believe in what everyone else does? So I decide not to go to church anymore, but to just carry around in me my belief in one God, as the creator of the universe and everything, who is everywhere, all seeing all knowing. I told people I don�t have a religion, but believe in God. So I prayed directly to God, that�s it. Over the years, I went through school, graduated, and went to work. I went out with friends to parties, nightclubs, and drank beer and whiskey. I had a couple of relationships with girls, but ended up being single. I went through my ups and downs of life, making decisions based on what I thought was right. As I got older, I started to wonder that there must have been a lot more to life than what I was doing, and finally got bored with everything, so I came to the conclusion that I needed to know more about God, and how to make my life worth something other than materialistically. I felt a part of me inside was feeling empty. Like there was a lot I needed to learn, but stuff you couldn�t learn at a school. I needed to know what God wanted from me, but I also needed to believe in it, feel it and to have my whole heart in it. I feel very strongly that God is the one and only creator of all things, and I marvel at all of nature, and life created by God, big or small. I decided since I didn�t consider myself to be Christian, that it was probably a good idea to investigate other religions, and maybe I would find what I was looking for, and what felt right. I thought that seeing as I believe in God, that sooner or later I would find the right way, but it was up to me to go looking for it. One thing I learned early in life is nothing gets handed to you on a silver plate, and that even if I didn�t find what I was looking for then I had nothing to lose but a lot to gain. First I went to the library, and with strong curiosity began browsing in the religion section. There were so many books! Such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Zoastrianism, Spiritualism, Sikhism, and etc. I bypassed all of the Christian books, as I already felt saturated by those kinds of books. Interestingly, now I think back, at that time I didn�t see any books about Islam there. After a few long visits to the library, I left feeling dissatisfied; that I hadn�t found what I was searching for. Mainly answers to a lot of questions that were going around in my head, about life, the universe and everything. All of the books I read had a few good things in them, but also things that confused me even more, or seemed so complicated. So I kept ending up at �square one�. I decided to leave my search for a while. In 1995, I was staying in a students hostel near Auckland city, while I was doing a course on travel and tourism. One Sunday morning I was invited to go to church with a friend of mine, an Iraqi man I had made friends with who also stayed there. He is Catholic, and since I had nothing else to do on that morning, accepted his invitation without muchthought, because to me it was more a social outing than anything else, and wouldn�t do me any harm. So I went, and once again sat in the church looking at the big crucifix on the wall at the front, and there was a statue of Jesus hanging off it.I thought, �everyone�s praying to a statue of Jesus�. A statue of a dead person. �Why aren�t they just praying to God?� God is the one who made us, and who helps us, and of who we are servants of, and who guides us too. I kept quiet. When we returned to the hostel, I thanked my friend for the invitation, and returned to my room.A few hours later, I met another Iraqi guy who was staying in the same hostel, and got talking to him. I asked a few things about him, and he asked me a few things about myself including what I did that morning. I told him I went to church, but admitted that I didn�t consider myself a Christian and told him why. I then asked him if he was a Christian. He said no, that he is a Muslim. I became curious. I then asked him �what does a Muslim believe?� He told me a few of the basic principles, and it interested me enough to ask if I could borrow any books on Islam. He then said if I want, he would see if he could lend me a Quran from a friend of his who was visiting from Jordan, as it was in English and Arabic. I thanked him, and a few days later knocked on my door, and produced a big book. It was the Holy Quran in English and Arabic. I read the introduction at the beginning, and then the first chapters, as I read I started to feel that a lot of the questions that I had inside me for years were getting answered. I started to smile because everything was explained so simply. There was hardly any difference between Islam and Christianity, all the prophets through the ages were mentioned, from Abraham, Moses, David, Noah, Jesus, and to Mohammed (saaw) as His last messenger. It went on to say that Jesus was immaculately conceived in Mary as God�s miracle to prove that God had chosen Jesus as His messenger for that time, so everyone would believe, and follow His words through Jesus, and that all the prophets had received God�s word through the angel Gabriel. There are so many things in the Quran that could only have come from God, for example, how man grew from a clot of blood. Obviously microscopes didn�t exist then. So of course if you believe the Quran is indeed from God (�Allah�, which is the Arabic word meaning �God�, then of course you accept Mohammed (saaw), as His last messenger. After weeks of thought, reading, and asking questions, I became convinced, and I finally recited the �Shahadah�, or declaration, that there is only one God, and Mohammed s.a.a.w., is his last messenger. From this moment I declared my self to be Muslim, and am happily living my life as one. Islam makes sense to me. The last seven years of my life as a Muslim have been interesting, I�ve learned a lot but also have a lot to learn. Islam has given me stability in my life, and a clear guide on how to live my life, and that �void� I felt a long time ago inside me is now filled. If you don�t know much about Islam, then you need to know that is a religion of peace and brotherhood, of the concept of �One family under One God�. A religion, that believes in modesty, in equality, all people are equal under God like the teeth on a comb, and of self-discipline, and hospitality. Islam is NOT about killing people or forcing the religion on people, despite what the media are construing, or implying. In most religions, there are small groups out there performing radical, and political acts of terrorism. These acts, in my opinion, are by people who are using religion as a �coat� to influence people to support their own selfish political causes. Of course the media seize every opportunity to pounce on these acts of terrorism, and make a huge story out of it to sell their newspapers. They don�t care about repercussions of what they write, or what affect it can have on innocent, peace-loving communities of people, who are the moderate majority, and are trying to live a religion of peace and brotherhood. Headlines in newspapers usually read �Islamic Terrorists�, or �Muslim Extremists�. Rather than �Political Terrorists�, or �Rebel Extremists�. But, because a lot of New Zealanders don�t have much knowledge on Islam, their minds are influenced by what the media has reported, and I can�t help but �scoff� at all the rubbish I read in the newspapers, and hear on the radio, or watch on TV in the news about Islam. If you really want to know what Islam is about, go to the library, or read the Quran, not the newspaper. I now have many friends from different cultures, and I thank God (Allah swt) for giving me the gift of their friendship, that by interacting with them and appreciating them, and sharing, and enjoying time with them, I can learn from them, and develop my own personality to it�s full potential. My friends are also like my family. Al hamdu llellah,
Why I became a Muslim by Yasir Abdullah