Green Lane Masjid

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Revert Sisters Stories

Story 1:

I am a 52 year old, sister who reverted to Islam 33 years ago.  I am a community worker, and do voluntary work for Islamic organisations.  After being married to a Muslim for 19 years we divorced about 15 years ago.

It was a few years after we married years that I reverted to Islam, not knowing much about Islam.

My story will be like many Muslim sisters who marry a Muslim brother who is not practicing.  I learnt lots about cultural, tradition and political issues in the Middle East, but very little about Islam.

I have been fortunate that my own family and my in-laws were very accepting of my marriage and the changes that have taken place in my life.

My road to Islam has been a long one, and I would say that having children made me begin to change and start my search.  During my years as a Muslim I have grown in my faith, and it has taken some really hard 'knocks' in life to make me realize the beauty of Islam, and to seek more and more knowledge.

Whilst I reverted to Islam about 33 years ago, I would say I have been practicing in the last 10 years.  One of the steps on this journey was to begin to wear hijab, foolishly I didn't think it would change my life, but not only did it make others see me differently, it made me see the world completely differently.

Islam has given me the foundations in life that I needed, it has kept me grounded and safe, it is the BIGGEST blessing from Allah to have guided me to Islam.

There is no doubt that at times things have been a great challenge to me, but Islam has kept me safe, and insha'Allah more people will be see the wonder of Islam

Story 2:

I was never sure if I believed in God.

Raised as an atheist, I had a fascination with things 'spiritual', but wasn't certain about God.

My spiritual searching began when I was 18 years old, and took many paths. I've meditated with a Tibetan Buddhist Lama. I've lived with the devotees in a Hare Krishna Ashram and risen at dawn to chant before the Blue God. I've watched the sunset with born-again Christians and questioned them about Judgment Day. And although I found something inspiring in all of these places, I never found anything that answered all my questions. I never found anything that I felt was truly 'universal'.

When I was 27, my journey took me from Australia, where I grew up, to work as a volunteer on a hill station in rural India. It was there, amongst the mud huts of tribal villages, where migrating butterflies filled the sky, that I began to realize that there might be a 'Creator'. It seemed that the beauty and interconnectedness of nature couldn't all have come about by chance. One day, on my walk to the Hindu Temple on the top of the hill, I picked a flower as an offering. I placed it down in front of the elephant god Ganesh, and a prayer came to my heart. It said, "I can see you are there God, and I want to worship You but I don't know how. You have to show me."

A few weeks later, a group came to run their summer course at the centre where I was living. It was an Introduction to Islam, for Christians who were studying to be priests, and I asked if I could join. I knew very little about Islam. In the first class we had to take turns to read out a passage from the translation of Qur'an. I was asked to read a verse that is known as Ayat al Kursi, and it is one of the most beautiful verses in the Qur'an:

Allah!

None has the right to be worshipped but He,

The Ever Living,

The One Who sustains all that exists.

Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him.

To Him belongs whatever is in the Heavens and whatever is on the earth.

Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His Permission?

He knows what happens to them in this world,

and what will happen to them in the Hereafter.

And they will never compass anything of His Knowledge Except that which He Wills.

His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them.

And He is the Most High, the Most Great.

The teacher asked me what reading this made me think. I could hardly speak. I had never read anything like it before. "It fills me with awe", was all I could say. I decided to read what was in this book that claimed to be the 'word of God'. And so it was that my journey to Islam began.

There are many things that from the outside, might seem difficult about living as a Muslim. I myself felt afraid of all the changes that it might bring. But when you read the Qur'an, and feel the majesty of its words, you know they didn't come from a human being. These are the words of God. And when you understand that, anything is possible.

Now I am 38, and a happily married mother of three. Embracing Islam has brought a deep contentment and peace to my heart, and the knowledge that I am fulfilling my ultimate purpose, the worship of my Creator, Allah.

Story 3:

The best day in my life, the day that changed everything was the day that I entered Islam.

That is now many years ago but every day I feel it in my heart as something precious.  I never thought of changing my religion until that day, as I was a practicing Roman Catholic at that time and believed firmly in Jesus as god. I heard about Muslims calling their god Allah, but as I believed in Jesus I had never said that word.

One day however my neighbors who were living in the same block of high-rise flats as me gave me a book about Islam, so feeling a bit bored that evening, I decided to open it and read through. After the first chapter I started to think that Islam sounded similar to Christianity. Anyway as I was a bit tired I put down the book and started to day-dream and as I was sitting like that I just said the word ALLAH. That was the moment that everything changed. My heart started to pound and my body was shaking I felt so close to God more than ever in my life ALHAMDULILLAH. I remembered that I had once seen Muslims prostrating so I did that and that was a very spiritual time. From that time onwards for several months every time I said Allah's Name the same thing happened to me. I just immediately stopped going to church as I felt that would be unthankful to Allah, I just kept on reading more and more about Islam. I knew that I was a Muslim, but when I went to the mosque a few months later to say the shahada that was just a formality, as far as I was concerned because it was on that one special day that Allah had made me Muslim. I had made no effort for that. This is the point that always brings me up with a jolt at every moment . as that gift could be gone if Allah wanted. All that light all the joy . how could I live?

Story 4:

HOW I CAME TO ISLAM

I am half Czech, half French from origin and I grew up in Holland from my fifth year. I have lived in the UK since January 2006. Seventeen years ago I lived in Egypt temporarily with my husband. He was a born Muslim and we had been married for four years. I had read the Qur'an twice by that time and although I accepted almost everything written in there I was comfortable with my own religion. I followed the anthroposofic ideas of Rudolf Steiner.In Egypt I met an American lady that had reverted a year before. We became  friends. She gave me the 'Gospel of Barnabas' to read. This is a gospel written by one of the apostles of Isa (Jesus) (as), Barnaby during Jesus' life. This gospel was declared forbidden by the established church and anyone in posession of it would have to face the death penalty. In spite of that the gospel had survived well hidden over the centuries. A few decades ago it has been translated into English and many other languages.

What struck me most in this gospel was that Jesus foretells the coming of  Prophet Muhammad (saw) and he actually names him by the name 'Muhammed' and the name 'Ahmed'. When I read that I decided logically I have to obey my prophet Jesus and follow the next prophet.

Once it was clear to me I have to follow the path of Islam everything in my life fell into place and my life became so nice and simple. It was such a relief to let go of all deviant ideas I had cherished and that had dominated my life.Looking back on my life as a muslim some 17 years later I can conclude Allah (swt) has given me much much more than I had ever expected from this religion.Although we will always have to struggle in Allah's way and Allah's cause  and we will always be tested, Allah (swt) lets us taste the sweetness of Faith and rewards us in this life and the Hereafter according to our intentions and efforts with the best reward insha Allah.