The Story Of A Convert: I Was Shown The Heart Of A True Muslim

I was shown the heart of a true Muslim!

How can a devout Christian from a devout Christian family, born and raised in the middle of the United States, never knowing anything about Islam and never meeting a Muslim until he is in his 40s, finally be able to accept Islam?

It is truly the great grace of Allah, to whom all gratitude and praise leads.

This is my story. I never tire of telling it, as praise be to Allah for His Love for me and His Mercy for me.

I was born in Oklahoma, USA and grew up in a Christian family where religion was very important.

My mother was very careful not to make good friends with just anyone. Our family goes to church at least three times a week. God protected me by placing me in a family that emphasized a high moral life: no smoking, no drinking, no drugs, no swearing, no premarital sex, etc.

I memorized almost the entire Bible. One of my grandfathers and one of my grandmothers were preachers. God blessed me with a good singing voice, and since I was 14 years old, I was paid by the church to sing, play the organ, direct the children's choir, etc.

In fact, when I first heard about Islam and met a Muslim who was a student, I was 49 years old and still working in a church and still an active Christian.

However, my whole life I was the one asking the questions. I read everything in the library on many subjects. The ability to read quickly and the desire to seek knowledge is a blessing from Allah because in the end it led me to discover the Truth of Islam.

However, where I grew up, there were no books on world religions, and certainly no books on Islam.

I always wanted to go to college, but when I graduated from high school, we couldn't afford it because my mom and dad were divorced. So I went to work. It was also a blessing from Allah, because the college I wanted to go to at that time had no international students and was in a city where there were no Muslims at all.

Eventually, I got married, had children, and got divorced, remarried, and divorced again. I'm sorry to say, this is too often a story among non-Muslims who don't understand Islamic values and the rights and obligations of husbands and wives.

After my second divorce, my friends and family encouraged me to audition for a music scholarship at the University of Tulsa, near where I lived at the time. I was accepted and enrolled in the university.

I like school. I met people from all over the world and I read many books in the vast library. Finally, I read something about the Prophet Muhammad SAW and how his religion is called "Muhammadism" by some, but it is not correct to call it that, that the original name of the religion was "Islam." That was all I knew about Islam at that time.

While at university, I started mentoring collegiate athletes and before long, other students wanted me to mentor them, especially in writing. It was there that I met Malaysian Muslim sisters, about 90 of them.

I was impressed by their good behavior, the way they treated me very politely, and the way they asked permission every day for a few minutes at certain times to pray. I think their religion must have something good in it, because it affects their way of life in a positive way.

Other than that, I like the beautiful look of Malaysian Muslims clad in hijab, but I think maybe it's just their culture and not their religion that affects the way they dress. I didn't realize that was God's way of protecting them.

SCOURCE HIDAYAH STORY

Over the years, I've had a lot of trouble with migraine headaches. Oftentimes, these headaches become so severe that I have to go to the doctor and get strong medicine to ease the pain.

When I was in college and teaching Malaysian students, these headaches escalated to the point where I had headaches every day and I spent most of the day in bed, taking strong drugs. Eventually, I couldn't stop taking these drugs and the headaches were still so bad that I couldn't go to school.

It was at this time that these Malaysian Muslim brothers showed me the true Muslim heart.

I left my door unlocked and they came in whenever they wanted, to see if I was awake. If I fall asleep, they just wait or come back later for their tutoring session.

Sometimes, I wake up to find one of them putting hibiscus leaf paste on my temples to relieve the pain or find one of them cooking soup for me to eat. I was so sick that I couldn't work.

I don't have money. My family doesn't help me. Even the church I work at (right across the street from the house I live in) doesn't call me or send anyone to see if they can help me. During these two full years of migraine problems, only one friend came to see me or call me. It was like a knife stabbed in the heart.

I prayed many times every day that God would take away my headaches and that He would help me not to use these powerful drugs. I begged, I begged, I cried, I read the Bible, but the headaches and problems continued.

Some bad things happened. For example, I don't have money to pay rent. My son, who lives with me, does not give me money. When I couldn't pay the rent, he moved out of my house and went to live with his friends.

One day I asked Amina, one of the Malaysian sisters who covers herself from head to toe in the best Islamic way possible, if she would like to tell me something about her religion.

He said he preferred to ask a more knowledgeable person to tell me about religion because he didn't want to give me wrong information. So he referred Mahmoud (from Oman) to me.