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----- Original Message -----
From: amal_al_fajr
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 3:21 PM
Subject: my journey to Islam I am very pleased to share with the group that I said shahadah on April 30 of this year.....May 1 to those of you that were kind enough to join me for the event in the eastern part of the world :- ). Bint has asked my to share my journey with you, and I will attempt to do this in a manner that will not be too time consuming or long to read.:-). Let me start my saying, that at age 47, coming to Islam has been one of the most difficult, but the most right choice I have made in all my years. The peace that now fills my days and nights is truely remarkable, alhamdullilah. My search to learn of Islam began over 3 and a half years ago...as with many, I turned to this study as a way to gain insight and understanding of the events of sept 11, 2001. If you put a dot on the map of the 3 sites which were affected that day....NYC, the pentagon and a field in western pennsylvania, and join these dots to form a triangle.....my residence is almost in the center of this triangle...thus, these events occuring one after the other on that fateful day really impacted my life, and the lives of those around me. As news reports became available, and there was ongoing mention that the persons responsible for these acts were of the Islamic religion, I found myself turning to my most readily available resource to learn more. (the net of course :-)) As bewildered and angry as I was at the time, I found myself horrified at the actions of so called Christians in some of the Islamic chat rooms. The anger I could understand and identify with, the vulgar, profane hate that many were expressing towards those that were muslims was beyond me, and I realized that there would be no answers for me in any rooms like these. I say that Allah guided me (I dont believe in luck, but I firmly think everything happens for a reason) into a more private chat room one evening, where I met the most lovely group of people...Bint was among this group. (more than 3 years later, many of this original group are still among my friends and on my buddy list). Thru this small, but very persistant (masha Allah) group of contacts....my circle of muslim friends grew to include people from all corners of the globe. From this group of new friends, I received unending patience for my multitude of questions...a defusing totally of my anger as my knowledge grew, and a very gentle, but firm guidance that increased my knowledge, and opened my eyes, my understanding, and lastly my heart to Islam. Along the way, I have met those that claim to be muslim, and have shown by their actions that their hearts are not of Islam......these people have had a negative impact on me, but at this point in time, I pray for them, as they have indeed strayed from a beautiful and true path. However, more so, my life has been blessed with those that follow Islam with true hearts and minds.....I have never seen such unshakeable faith, and I am in awe of the beauty of it. To those of you, that have aided me on this quest....from the folks I first met, to those that helped with understanding the words and pronouncitation of the quran and the shahadah, to those that have encouraged me along the way, to those who refused to be put off by my anger, or my doubts, or my indecision.......I thank you from the bottom of my heart :-). Once past the hard part, which was allowing my heart to open to the truth, I found that I had no further questions, and absolutely no reason not to embrace Islam as my chosen life style. The peace that came with that decision is simply unending, and too wonderful to express in words. Of great joy to me, is the knowledge that my youngest (shes 12) has traveled this road with me, and is very near to finding her way with Islam as well, but, thats her story :-). My journey in finding Islam has led me to many places, has opened my life to new thoughts, and feelings. It has taken time, but I now look forward to my next journey, the ongoing gift of my life, wrapped in Allah's blessings. Thank you all , for listening....and to all........Allah Hafiz Robin -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of Hidayahnet unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from Hidayahnet, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links
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