{"id":1193,"date":"2021-04-07T21:12:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T18:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/atheist-devoted-muslim-path-islam\/"},"modified":"2021-04-07T21:12:20","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T18:12:20","slug":"atheist-devoted-muslim-path-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/atheist-devoted-muslim-path-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"From an Atheist to a Devoted Muslim: My Path to Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_15876\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.new-muslims.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/From-an-Atheist-to-a-Devoted-Muslim.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15876\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-15876\" alt=\"fence in nature\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.new-muslims.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/From-an-Atheist-to-a-Devoted-Muslim-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-15876\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I know times can get hard, with family, society, friends not agreeing or mocking your religion or choices of life. Just know that Allah is testing you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t even know Islam existed. I did not even know it was a <a title=\"Islam: A Religion of Quality\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/featured\/islam-religion-quality\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">religion<\/a>, the only religion I knew was <a title=\"From Atheism, to Christianity to Islam\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/converts\/conversion-stories\/atheism-christianity-islam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christianity<\/a>, due to my mother&#8217;s side of the family being Catholic and Christian.<\/p>\n<p>I was oblivious to what <a title=\"Islam and the Common Origin of Humanity\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/featured\/the-common-origin-of-humanity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Islam<\/a> was. <i>Subhan<\/i> <i>Allah<\/i>, I was obviously caught up in this world way too much. Satan had seriously veiled my heart from seeking the true path.<\/p>\n<p>Glory be to Allah, I went from being an atheist to (<i>al-hamdu lillah<\/i>) being a God-fearing person who implements Islam into every aspect of my life. I converted September the 21<sup>st<\/sup> 2011. Islam was the total opposite of how I lived my life before. It was a literally huge turning point in my life.<\/p>\n<h1><b>How I Did It<\/b><\/h1>\n<p>As I said, my Mom\u2019s side of the family are Christian and Catholic. They\u2019ve never been religious, only taking me to church occasionally on Christmas Eve. My dad&#8217;s side of the family are all non-practicing Muslims. However, due to my parents breaking up I was never close to my Dad. My dad would tell me to not eat pork or reveal myself, but never told me why, so I ignored it.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Believers Make Mistakes, But\u2026\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/abcs-of-islam\/articles-of-faith\/believers-make-mistakes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Before I converted<\/a>, <a title=\"How to Find the Way to God\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/abcs-of-islam\/divine-unity\/find-way-god\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">my life was chaos<\/a>. It was all about me. When I was nine years old, I had many problems which eventually led me to nearly killing myself, accidentally. Family problems, problems at school, bullying, self-image&#8230; you name it. I decided to self-harm, and ended up cutting too deep, just missing my artery on my left arm. I had to stay in hospital and have four stitches. <i>Al-hamdulillah<\/i>, Allah gave me life when I did not deserve it. I was thirteen and had been through so much.<\/p>\n<p>Towards the end of my ninth year, I had <a title=\"What Makes Me a Muslim?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/abcs-of-islam\/articles-of-faith\/muslims\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a Muslim<\/a> person on my BBM. I would always see them post words such as \u2018<i>In sha\u2019 Allah<\/i>\u2019 and \u2018<i>Masha\u2019Allah<\/i>\u2019. This intrigued me, as they would send broadcasts and etc. about Islam. I became interested and started to seek answers.<\/p>\n<p>My friends at the time were all Caucasian or Jamaican. I approached a Muslim girl in my year, who had been in my class since year seven. I told her I wanted to convert. I didn&#8217;t know why, it was so confusing. I never even knew what the religion was. Something was just telling me to <a title=\"Islam Fastest-Growing Religion in Ireland\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/converts\/conversion-stories\/islam-fastest-growing-religion-ireland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">convert<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>Another sister in my year, would speak to me every science lesson and decided to take my number. At first I was interested, I was at the point of converting, then I told my Mom.<\/p>\n<p>She told me that I wouldn&#8217;t be able to conform to the rules of Islam, due to how different it was. This hurt me. Then some serious family problems arose which was when I decided to not convert.<\/p>\n<p>I then went on holiday to Spain, as it was the six-week holiday! I was a proper Western girl and lived life to the fullest; wearing my bikini, eating bacon, and occasionally drinking Lambrini or Malibu. When I came back I was surprised to see messages from this sister. She was still trying to help me convert (<i>Al-hamdulillah<\/i>). Not once did this sister give up on me!<\/p>\n<p>I started to <a title=\"What Disbelief Says about God and Existence\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/abcs-of-islam\/divine-unity\/disbelief-crime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">challenge the religion<\/a>, trying to pick flaws, but it was too perfect, there were no flaws, <i>subhan Allah<\/i>!<\/p>\n<p>When we went back to school, the sisters were trying so hard. One day, they brought me some chocolates; this is what changed my heart. I was no one to these girls yet they were so passionate about my hereafter. The love they showed towards me was <a title=\"How It Feels to Be Connected to God\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/featured\/feels-connected-god\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">beautiful and unique<\/a>. I converted later that day!<\/p>\n<h2><b>Challenges Faced<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>As for <a title=\"Experience Lessons from Converting to Islam\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/featured\/experience-lessons-from-converting-to-islam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reaction from non-Muslim friends<\/a> and family members, my mom&#8217;s family was disappointed and still are. I lost all my old friends.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t speak to most of my family. Now, morals, friends, choices and life are for Islam.<\/p>\n<p>As for holidays, I spend most <a title=\"What Do Muslims Celebrate?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/featured\/islamic-and-non-islamic-celebrations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>`Eids<\/i><\/a> alone. Still, he warming, loving atmosphere of <a title=\"Muslims on the Day of `Eid Al-Fitr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/featured\/muslims-on-the-day-of-eid-al-fitr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>`Eid <\/i><\/a>is beautiful.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Stand Your Ground<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>You can benefit and learn from my experience. So, this is my advice to you:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Ensure that you have good company, <a title=\"Make the Shift: Instill the Real Habits, Weed out the Guilty\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/featured\/make-the-shift-instill-the-real-habits-weed-out-the-guilty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">leave any bad influences<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Learn <a title=\"The Five Pillars of Islam\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/abcs-of-islam\/pillars-of-islam\/five-pillars-islam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the basics of the religion<\/a> before trying to rush into the deeper aspects of it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Do things in your own time with <a title=\"Actions Are Judged by Intentions: How?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/abcs-of-islam\/articles-of-faith\/actions-judged-intentions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pure intentions<\/a> for the sake of Allah; do not aim to please the creation, but to please <a title=\"Know Your Creator\" href=\"http:\/\/www.new-muslims.info\/abcs-of-islam\/articles-of-faith\/who-is-allah\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Creator<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Try to use your experience to help others to convert.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Share the message of Islam.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Put your trust in Allah. I know times can get hard, with family, society, friends not agreeing or mocking your religion or choices of life. Just know that Allah is testing you.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Hold firm to your religion and know that Allah chose you to be amongst his beloveds.<\/p>\n<p>______________________<\/p>\n<p><i>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/islam.about.com\/\">Islam.about.com<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<p>[ica_orginalurl]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From being far away from Islam, from life itself, to living my life for the very religion of God. This insightful life-changing story is about faith, patience, perseverance and strength\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[510,2],"tags":[644,2120,659,516,517,1533,5794,10,2209,559,5795,5796,5797,15,167,604,647,5798,5799,565,535,33,35,136,539,5800,568,43,5801,574,5802,55,58,575,5803,5804,5805,1156,785,655,552,553,919,554],"class_list":["post-1193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversion-stories","category-new-muslims","tag-american-muslim","tag-atheism","tag-atheist","tag-belief-in-allah","tag-catholicism","tag-challenges-facing-new-muslims","tag-christmas-eve","tag-concept-of-god-in-islam","tag-conversion-story","tag-conversion-to-islam","tag-creator-of-the-universe","tag-deep-belief-in-god","tag-devout-muslim","tag-existence-of-god","tag-featured","tag-from-catholicism-to-islam","tag-from-christianity-to-islam","tag-how-i-became-muslim","tag-islam-changed-my-life","tag-journey-to-islam","tag-meaning-in-life","tag-meaning-of-islam","tag-meaningful-life","tag-muslim-community","tag-my-journey-to-islam","tag-my-path-to-islam","tag-one-god","tag-principles-of-faith","tag-roman-catholic","tag-search-for-truth","tag-started-to-study-islam","tag-submission-to-god","tag-tawheed","tag-testimony-of-faith","tag-the-shahadah","tag-the-way-to-god","tag-true-meaning-of-life","tag-understanding-islam","tag-virtues-of-islam","tag-what-islam-means","tag-why-i-became-muslim","tag-why-i-chose-islam","tag-why-islam","tag-worship-god"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/From-an-Atheist-to-a-Devoted-Muslim.jpg?fit=281%2C180&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ZvKT-jf","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}