{"id":1263,"date":"2021-04-07T22:11:49","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T19:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/from-violence-to-the-safety-of-islam\/"},"modified":"2021-04-07T22:11:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T19:11:49","slug":"from-violence-to-the-safety-of-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/from-violence-to-the-safety-of-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"From Sea of Violence to the Safety of Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Within<\/a><\/p>\n

Within myself I wanted to put an end to my sins. I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0want to continue being bad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

My name is Nick Storms, that\u2019s my name before I became Muslim. I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and I\u2019m twenty seven years old.<\/p>\n

Muhammad Islam is my name after I became Muslim. I had a very difficult childhood; I came from a very violent background. My family you could say were very bad people.<\/p>\n

So that was my upbringing; violence, crimes, drugs, etc.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know my father as he left when I was two my mother deported back to State. It was me, my two sisters and my mother. My uncles and my cousin who where living were we were. We were a tight-knit family, but with relation to bad things only.<\/p>\n

I thought the world was a very negative place because of my family and because of this environment. I\u00a0couldn’t\u00a0see many positives. Also my family restricted my access to other things, all the time wanting to do things with them, what accordingly reinforced that nothing good going on.<\/p>\n

When I was young I felt the fray, but when I grew up a little bit I became pretty normal. So my family then was not any more afraid of me being out of the team. That\u2019s initially because when you are young and be bombarded with a lot of bad things it makes you feel uneasy, just like any hardship you get accustomed to.<\/p>\n

When I was about eight years old I would go to a bakery and I would wash dishes for hours, but I was too young to be paid money. So what they (the bakery) would do is to pay me in food; some bread, jam, dates, etc.<\/p>\n

I would go home and feed my two sisters as my mother would be off doing some other crime or would be in jail. When you see you haven\u2019t eaten for a couple of days so you have to try to do something to feed yourself and your family as our family wouldn\u2019t really take care of us.<\/p>\n

I started my career when I was fourteen I was never close enough to many people to see or friends that I could call on. I never really trusted anybody. And school\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0for me; I never finished school, I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0have time for it. It\u00a0didn’t\u00a0appeal to me as many things did at the time.\u00a0I would rob, steal a lot of things, and insult people.<\/p>\n

I was never alone, but I felt lonely. I felt like there was a void thing missing. I don\u2019t like recalling the past really, but as it is for the interview, it\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n

A lot of the crimes that I would do were just out of boredom. The payoff was like a bonus. For example, I would steal a car because I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0want to walk. So somewhere I was just taking somebody\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

At that time I lost all concern for people\u2019s feelings and I felt no one concerns my feelings; if I would hurt somebody, I\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0care about what they think or feel. I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0care at all at this time.<\/p>\n

Embracing Islam<\/b><\/p>\n

Within myself I wanted to put an end to my sins. I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0want to continue being bad. So, the way I started to ask questions when I was by myself was along the lines of \u2018I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a God or if You exist. I don\u2019t know if you could hear me or am I talking to myself! I want to know why I\u2019m alive\u2019.<\/p>\n

With such questions I would be talking to myself for long, wondering if I\u2019m not talking to myself then there\u2019s a real Creator as people would call Him.<\/p>\n

\u2018Can you show me why I\u2019m alive? If there\u2019s a reason why I\u2019m here, can you just show it to me?\u2019 I was asking over and over.<\/p>\n

I stressed the point that I needed to be shown the truth because I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0trust anybody, let alone somebody telling me about God.<\/p>\n

I had a brother named Ahmad. He talked to me about Islam initially, but whatever he told me I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0believe him. He would mention things like heaven and hell. And I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0believe what he was saying until I had a dream of both the places.\u00a0 Even then I was resistant. I didn\u2019t give it intention. The, I had a dream about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).<\/p>\n

So things happened to me when I was awake and when I was asleep as well, and it happened to me a lot and in a very small amount of time. So as soon as Ahmad stared talking to me about Islam but I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0believe him, Allah only knew that I would believe him. Words like Islam, Muhammad, and Allah started resonating and things started happening\u2026<\/p>\n

Turning Point<\/b><\/p>\n

It was very difficult doing what someone else wanted you to do, even if it is God. I sat down on my knees, sitting back like people do when they finish the prayer and I just started crying and drooling hysterically. I\u00a0couldn’t\u00a0control myself.<\/p>\n

In fact I was crying some twenty years of betrayal, stress, violence, anger and all these things that were built up then. \u00a0It was like Allah allowed me to get rid of it, and I cried for very long time that I\u00a0couldn’t\u00a0move. And I remember saying at the end of it: \u2018Alright alright, I\u2019ll do what you want me to do\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m most pleased that I pray. It is important; very important. A feeling of safety from Allah and from His punishment, that\u2019s what I get out of it. It is calmness that I\u2019m alright right now until the next prayer comes in, until tomorrow.<\/p>\n

My future I see it positive in the dunya<\/i> (this life) because it\u2019s going to be controlled and simple. That\u2019s my positive future; very simple lifestyle: \u2018don\u2019t hurt anybody, don\u2019t get hurt\u2019. In sha\u2019 Allah<\/i> (Allah willing) if I get forgiveness in the Hereafter, that\u2019s what makes me feel really positive. If I am forgiven it would be great in sha\u2019 Allah<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Watch brother Nick describes his amazing life-changing journey to Islam\u2026
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