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| #Post#: 209-------------------------------------------------- | |
| AISHAT'S STORY ON HER JOURNEY TO ISLAM | |
| By: Captshittu Date: February 14, 2018, 4:37 pm | |
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| [font=andale mono]AISHAT'S STORY ON HER JOURNEY TO ISLAM[/font] | |
| My name is Aisha and I was born in 1990 and without eyesight, in | |
| Sanford, Florida. When I was around 2 years old, I went to live | |
| with my grandmother in Las Vegas. I grew up in a non-religious | |
| household. I lived with my grandmother until she died when I was | |
| 20. | |
| I had no brothers or sisters. I couldn�t live with my mother | |
| because she was constantly in and out of jail for substance | |
| abuse, etc. | |
| Growing up without vision, my Grandma taught me to be | |
| headstrong, do what I wanted to do, achieve all my dreams, and | |
| not to let anything get in my way. I went to Sunday school in | |
| her Unitarian church, where I would meet friends and have a good | |
| time. Holidays, such as Easter and Christmas were just a day for | |
| me to get lots of presents and eat lots of sweets. | |
| When I was about ten years old, my Grandma wanted me to go to | |
| the best school for the blind in the States, so we packed our | |
| bags and boxes, and moved to St. Augustine, FL where the Florida | |
| School for the Deaf and the Blind is. | |
| During middle school I was an all-star goal ball player. Goal | |
| ball is a game where you are blind folded, three members on each | |
| team, it is set in an indoor basketball court. They would have | |
| tape with string on the floors, so players can feel where they | |
| are. You have a ball with bells in it and the object of the game | |
| is to get that ball into the goals. The objective is to block | |
| the goals of the opposing team. | |
| A Muslim girl came to our school for a little while, but it | |
| never clicked to me. We always made fun of her voice and the way | |
| she talked. There was also a little boy who was leaving our | |
| school and going back to Egypt who was Muslim as well. | |
| In December 2007, my grandmother took my friend and me on a tour | |
| to Europe. The tour included a visit to Morocco. I thought | |
| Morocco was amazing, the Arabic language intrigued me, the men | |
| were polite and the food was fantastic. | |
| Our tour guide introduced himself to us as Ali. I was very | |
| interested in why he said Allah and what did it mean? He told me | |
| he is Muslim and that Allah means God and he worships Allah and | |
| no one else and Muhammad S.A.W is the messenger of God. | |
| However, it didn�t really interest me until I came back to the | |
| States and I wanted to do a story about an Arab lady who is | |
| abused by her husband. So naturally, I had to look into Islam | |
| because I thought Islam is why women are treated badly. I | |
| researched about the clothing, language, what men wore, what | |
| women wore, why women wore what they wore and of course, Islam | |
| vas a whole. | |
| For a year, I stopped doing my story and committed myself to | |
| looking at Islam. It amazed me. Everything made sense. We | |
| worship only one God and Muhammad is the last messenger of | |
| Allah. I read where Jesus stood in Islam, because although I | |
| didn�t grow up with any religious views, I still tried to pray | |
| to him. However, when I read that there is only one God and | |
| Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, it really lifted my spirits. | |
| Everything made sense. Every time I would read about Islam, | |
| something was pulling me closer and closer, as if you are going | |
| on an airplane somewhere far away and you are almost at the end | |
| of the trip and you are about to get off. I felt like I was | |
| being pulled towards that plane, not getting off, but jumping | |
| on. | |
| A lady I knew talked about her daughter who reverted to Islam. | |
| She was a strong Catholic, so she had all the misconceptions | |
| about Islam imaginable and she hated her daughter. I decided to | |
| visit her daughter. When at her daughter�s house, I asked the | |
| basic questions, even though I knew the answers, but I wanted to | |
| see what a real Muslim would say, not just what was written in | |
| articles or internet. Her information was similar to mine and | |
| she added a bit more information. For a few weeks, I would see | |
| her at the library and she would give me CDs. | |
| During a visit to my Uncle in New Jersey with my grandmother, I | |
| woke up one morning, five days before Christmas, with a strong | |
| feeling that something interesting was going to happen that day. | |
| I called my friend up and said, �I want to convert to Islam.� | |
| She was very happy, however, asked me a few questions to make | |
| sure I understood correctly. When I confirmed everything that I | |
| knew, she said repeat after me and then I took my Shahadah. I | |
| felt so good! Goosebumps ran up my arms and legs. I jumped in | |
| the shower; however, the feeling never vanished. | |
| I was a little nervous to tell my Grandma. I did and she was | |
| scared at first thinking I would be mistreated and abused, but I | |
| gave her the right articles to read and she was reassured. In | |
| January, I met another sister who gave me headscarves and taught | |
| me how to pray. At the time I was already wearing skirts and | |
| blouses. I was terrified to go to high school because I was the | |
| only person who was visually impaired and now I would be the | |
| only Muslim! However, I went and although some people stayed | |
| away from me, I had an overall good experience. | |
| Alhamdulillah, I have been a Muslim for four years now. Even | |
| though I have been through ups and downs, just like any Muslim, | |
| I have always grown stronger in my Eeman. I now wear niqab and | |
| feel like my life is complete. I strive to spread the message of | |
| Islam. Try and get others to realize the beauty of Islam and how | |
| much happier they would be! | |
| Islam, I believe, has saved me from the life I would have taken. | |
| Allah is so merciful and a lot of times we take this for | |
| granted. We need to realize that Allah is always with us no | |
| matter where we go and He is so gracious! Allah Akbar. May Allah | |
| keep guiding us all and guide the misguided ones back to Islam. | |
| Aameen. | |
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