Islamic Stories,Rays of Guidance ✓

Her Story to Islam

🍀بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم🍀
ﷺ ♥̸̨͡🍃ﷺ♥̸̨͡🍃ﷺ
STORY:
How I Fell In Love with Islam 

I am a born Muslim & this is why I accepted Islam…

My parents told me I was Muslim. They taught me the basic teachings of Islam: how to behave, treat others & distinguish halal & haraam. I knew I was Muslim, but I did not know what that meant. They told me I should pray, but they did not enforce it. My parents never pressured me to practice & I grew up in a neighborhood with few Muslims. However, when I would see my parents read Qur’an & pray daily, it made me curious.

When I was twelve, as I watched my mom pray, I thought to myself: “Why don’t I know how to pray? Will I go through life not knowing?” I felt guilty. I asked my mom to teach me, she told me to listen & learn from watching her. I did not know what she was saying or the meaning behind bending down & standing back up. I knew if I continued learning like this, I would not understand what I was reciting. I wanted to have a better understanding of Islam & its teachings. I wanted to feel close to Allah. I did not want my religion to be a mundane ritual.

It was then that I decided to teach myself. After I memorized an English translation prayer book, I began praying in English & did so for about a year.  Although I was praying, I knew something was missing. I knew in my heart that I should learn how to pray in Arabic because there are many English translations, yet there is only one Arabic version. It took a lot of pausing & replaying of YouTube videos, but I finally learned after a month of studying.

During my first year at UCLA, I learned to read & write in Arabic with the help of a wonderful professor, & especially because Allah helped me throughout the way. Initially, I was afraid to take on this challenge because I thought it would be impossible to learn the Arabic language. I had no previous knowledge, & I thought I would not have the time. I am sharing my story with you because this experience taught me that if you strive to do something for the sake of Allah, He will make it easy for you.

Now, praying is something I enjoy & I cannot imagine my life without Islam & Allah. My intention was to learn & connect with my religion. I did not want to continue life having doubts every day.

Today, I cannot thank my parents enough for how they raised me. I consider myself lucky. I know others whose parents have taught them about Islam, but they take it for granted. They do not put their knowledge into action. It is one thing when you learn because you are told to, & it is another thing, if you learn because you want to. By not forcing Islam on my siblings &
I, my parents made us find answers for ourselves.

My journey has taught me that Islam is not just a religion, but it is a guide that teaches us how to live life. I am still on my journey as a Muslim. These days, I am trying to memorize verses of the Qur’an & I read it daily in English & Arabic. I am not sure how difficult or time consuming my journey will be, but one thing I know is that Allah is always by my side, guiding me through the way.

by Sister Michelle Schafieh
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The DEEN of Islam that اللَّهُ Subhana wa Ta'ala has blessed us with is a continuous journey of ongoing learning & improving.
How strange that we are always striving & working harder & harder to upgrade our gadgets, cars & homes but when it comes to our Deen, then we become lazy & complacent.
Let us make that change to learning & understanding more about our beautiful Deen. Undoubtedly the quality of our life will increase, peace, barakah & contentment will follow us & most importantly we will gain the beautiful, euphoric feeling of experiencing true love & mercy from the Creator of Love- al Wadood.
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