My Story

I was christened Church of England when I was young. I don't remember it and it was not really done for any religious reason that I am aware of. It was more of a social etiquette that was performed at the time. During my life before Islam, I led the typical western life style. I worked hard and then made sure that I played hard also. I used to go out practically every day drinking and partying and fornicating. I got a new job and this company had a particularly vibrant social scene and things accelerated into overdrive. For the next couple of years that became my life, going to work, going for a few drinks at lunch time, going back to work and then going out drinking and partying the evening away. Sometimes I would make it back to my own home, many nights I would end up at someone else's. After a total of four or five years of living this way, a new person joined the company and he was in working in my team. He was a Muslim, not the first Muslim I had met as I had other friends who were Muslim. A few times I over heard him in conversations with another of our team. He was a Christian and there were some interesting conversations. Eventually one day we started up a conversation about Islam and I was persuaded enough that I thought I would get a copy of the Qur'an and find out some more about this. I had always been a believer in Allah and in my own way I had prayed to Allah. I had asked for help many times in my life and I have to say that I believe my prayers were always answered. As I learnt more about Islam through reading the Qur'an and discussions with my friend from work and even visits to the local mosque with him I began to modify my behaviour. When It was explained to me about Allah I did realize that the way I was addressing Allah in my prayer, on such a personal level almost as a conversation I would have with you was perhaps not the correct way of doing it. Although only a small step towards Islam, I decided that I would pray to go with more respect and did so from then on. I carried on learning more and more about Islam and many times I was going to take the final step because everything did make sense to me, but I always had trouble seeing past how much of a change it would be to my life. No more alcohol, no more going out sleeping with lots of different women After a total of four years at that company I got a new job and I left, never having reverted back to Islam. At my new company for a total of nearly two years my life went even more out of control drinking, partying and many other excesses. Then finally it all caught up with me and I had to go into hospital with severe depression and psychological problems. The stress on the body and the mind of all that as well as the constant feeling that I was getting further and further away from Islam was all too much. I was in a private hospital for 6 weeks whilst I was treated and made better. It was at this point that I faced a choice in my life, I could either take this opportunity to improve or I could go back to where I was and probably end up killing my self at a very young age. Thankfully I chose the first path and I have not looked back since. I decided that after coming out of hospital the first thing I would do is to try and stop drinking altogether. Whilst there were a couple of hiccups here and there eventually I did manage to stop altogether. I am even at the stage now where I can go with my friends to a pub or bar and I am not tempted in the slightest to have a drink. Three months after I came out of the hospital my life going well and suddenly the biggest barrier I could see to me not going to Islam all those times had gone. By the will of Allah I went to the London Central Mosque in the UK and I took my Shadah after an hour long conversation with the head of the library there. After doing that I went to the congregation and we performed Friday prayers, which was a brilliant experience. Although I had come so far to get to this point I had no idea that this was merely the beginning of my journey. Without a shadow of a doubt the most difficult thing is learning how to pray. To come for a life where you have never prayed in a particular way or with such regular intervals was very difficult. In the end I constructed my own document that all the positions I had to perform in stick form, with the text associated with each movement listed below. I found that sticking this to the back of a chair in front of my prayer mat whilst I was praying was a brilliant aid to learning. Having both the Arabic and the English on the form meant that whilst I was saying it in Arabic I also understood what it was I was saying. I see a lot of revert stories talking about how their families rebuked them after finding out about them but my parents were very good Inshallah. Although they were a little surprised I think ultimately they didn't care either way since they always have said that they would love me no matter what. My friends are also very understanding and even though their life's are somewhat more boring as I am not dragging them out to pubs all the time they appreciate what I have done and I still see them and keep up with them. I would like to finish with saying:   Ash-ha-du Allah i-laa ha ill Allah wa ash ha du an na Muhammad an ab-du-hoo wa rasool lu-hoo I bear witness that there is no God but God. I bear witness that Mohammed is His servant and His Prophet. Allahu Akbar Allah is the greatest.   My Fav Links