I made a conscious decision to live my life after graduating from high school. Before that I was just dragging myself along. I did not want to go down a road for x amount of years, only to find I had to turn back and start again. So, I had a sit down with myself. What did I want? What would I do? How would I start?
I concluded that no matter what I gained in this world – millions of dollars, being CEO of an international corporation, having a fancy car or a lovely house, or even a perfect husband and lots of loving children - it ultimately would mean nothing if God was not pleased enough with me to admit me to Heaven.
I began studying my Bible and the history of Christianity. A subtle thought popped into my mind. What IF you were wrong? Is Christianity true just because you were born into it and it is what is familiar to you? What about idol worshipers wouldn't you encourage them to reevaluate their beliefs for certainty? I did not have any doubts about the certainty of my faith, but for moral integrity I decided that IF such would be found to be true then I would follow God – in whatever way He wanted – no matter the consequences.
I came across many interesting facts in my studies. One of them being that the Bible needs to be studied from the old language, as there are many insertions from scribes over the years which are not part of the original manuscripts. Catholicism was around even before the time of Jesus. The trinity was never mentioned in the Bible, but it was during the Council of Nicea of 325 AD that Roman Catholicism (which originally worshiped false gods and idols) absorbed Christianity. December 25th, believed to be the birth of one of their gods, was now celebrated as the birth of Jesus – who was born nowhere around that date. Ironically,it had been idol-worshiping Roman Catholics who had so fiercely persecuted early Christians before 325 AD. Well, I wasn’t Catholic anyway.
A few other things caught my eye:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.“ [Matthew 5:17-19]
So I decided to follow the law. I just needed to find out exactly what that law was.
"And you may not eat the pig. It has split hooves but does not chew the cud, so it is ceremonially unclean for you. You may not eat the meat of these animals or even touch their carcasses.” [Deuteronomy 14:8 ]
So I did away with pork.
“Do not associate with wine bibbers…” [Proverbs 21:20]
So I decided to never drink alcohol.
This is what the LORD says: "Do not act like the other nations, who try to read their future in the stars. Do not be afraid of their predictions, even though other nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an ax by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over.
So I stopped celebrating Christmas and did away with statues, pictures,and jewelry with the image of Mary and Jesus on them.
Then I found something that was just a big….huh?????
The verse is: “His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely.” [Song of Solomon 5:16]
I was reading from a Torah with notes in the original language, and the word מחמד is used. That word is “Muhammed”. “He is Muhammed.”
There are a few more, but I think the Prophet mentioned BY NAME is sufficient evidence of my “huhhh?” moment.
After studying the Bible, Old and New Testament (including the Torah in its original language), and Christian History. I looked into Hinduism. I was SHOCKED to find that the Hindu scriptures, like the Torah, spoke of the Prophet Muhammad by name, said he would live in Arabia, gave the name of his mother and father, and many more details which are too many to note here. If you want to look into it further go to this link:
http://www.irf.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=201&Itemid=131
I then began to study Islam. I went to my local library and checked out every book about Islam. Something just didn't seem right as I began to absorb more and more information from the pages, which I later realized was DISinformation. Even the translation of the Qur'an I had picked up must have been deliberately mistranslated as I specifically remember a fake verse being inserted which said “Jesus prayed to Allah to forgive him for saying that he was God” (and every Muslim knows that is NOT in the Qur’an which has remained unchanged in its original language down to the letter ). Only later did I found out, that despite the pen name of the authors being a Muslim-sounding names, the authors of those books were not really Muslims at all--nor was their aim to give correct information about Islam. Once I realized that I was conscious enough to make sure to get information from real Muslims authors. I learned that Islam put down very clear rules and made things simple. Many details about the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) were written down so we would not be confused on the best way to live our life. Prophet Muhammed said it was he who was prophesied in the Bible. And here’s the kicker…
The Qur’an cannot be written by a human being (or jinni). This is hard for a non-Muslim to accept, but it’s just a fact that any person who has good knowledge of the Arabic language will attest to—what ever their religion. The literary style of the Qur’an is literally--divine. In several places in the Qur’an it challenges man and jinnkind to gather in an attempt to produce just 1 verse similar to the Qur’an. It goes on to say with assuredly that they cannot, and that challenge has stood unbroken for over 1400 years (despite councils and conferences being held for this very purpose).
During the time of Prophet Moses, magic was widespread and at its peak. When Moses, who was unlearned in magic, threw the stick and his snake ate all the others, the best magicians in the land recognize that this was no trickery, and immediately became believers.
During the time of the Prophet Jesus, medicine was held as a divine art. So God gave the prophet Jesus, who had not studied medicinal healing the power to bring the dead back to life and heal with a single touch. Any true student of medicine could see that such healing could only come from the leave of God.
During the time of the Prophet Muhammed, the Arabic language was at its strongest. So God sent Prophet Muhammed,a man who could not even read or write, and gave him a book that even the greatest poets of that time admitted that they could not even attempt to reach such a level of elegance, concentrated meaning, and beautiful recitation with their own poems. The Qur’an lead many poets to believe in the one, true God.
At this point, I was convinced, but Jesus not dying on the cross was something hard for me to wrap my head around. This was the single most powerful belief that was instilled in me by almost every person I had ever come in contact with during my years of childhood. I thought, is it possible for God to have put the likeness of Jesus onto another person and to raise him up? My answer was immediately yes, everything is easy for God.
It had been a few years journey, but the next day, I took my shahada. May Allah continue to guide me and keep me on His straight path, and make my children strong believers who fiercely guard their prayers. Ameen.
I concluded that no matter what I gained in this world – millions of dollars, being CEO of an international corporation, having a fancy car or a lovely house, or even a perfect husband and lots of loving children - it ultimately would mean nothing if God was not pleased enough with me to admit me to Heaven.
I began studying my Bible and the history of Christianity. A subtle thought popped into my mind. What IF you were wrong? Is Christianity true just because you were born into it and it is what is familiar to you? What about idol worshipers wouldn't you encourage them to reevaluate their beliefs for certainty? I did not have any doubts about the certainty of my faith, but for moral integrity I decided that IF such would be found to be true then I would follow God – in whatever way He wanted – no matter the consequences.
I came across many interesting facts in my studies. One of them being that the Bible needs to be studied from the old language, as there are many insertions from scribes over the years which are not part of the original manuscripts. Catholicism was around even before the time of Jesus. The trinity was never mentioned in the Bible, but it was during the Council of Nicea of 325 AD that Roman Catholicism (which originally worshiped false gods and idols) absorbed Christianity. December 25th, believed to be the birth of one of their gods, was now celebrated as the birth of Jesus – who was born nowhere around that date. Ironically,it had been idol-worshiping Roman Catholics who had so fiercely persecuted early Christians before 325 AD. Well, I wasn’t Catholic anyway.
A few other things caught my eye:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.“ [Matthew 5:17-19]
So I decided to follow the law. I just needed to find out exactly what that law was.
"And you may not eat the pig. It has split hooves but does not chew the cud, so it is ceremonially unclean for you. You may not eat the meat of these animals or even touch their carcasses.” [Deuteronomy 14:8 ]
So I did away with pork.
“Do not associate with wine bibbers…” [Proverbs 21:20]
So I decided to never drink alcohol.
This is what the LORD says: "Do not act like the other nations, who try to read their future in the stars. Do not be afraid of their predictions, even though other nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an ax by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over.
So I stopped celebrating Christmas and did away with statues, pictures,and jewelry with the image of Mary and Jesus on them.
Then I found something that was just a big….huh?????
The verse is: “His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely.” [Song of Solomon 5:16]
I was reading from a Torah with notes in the original language, and the word מחמד is used. That word is “Muhammed”. “He is Muhammed.”
There are a few more, but I think the Prophet mentioned BY NAME is sufficient evidence of my “huhhh?” moment.
After studying the Bible, Old and New Testament (including the Torah in its original language), and Christian History. I looked into Hinduism. I was SHOCKED to find that the Hindu scriptures, like the Torah, spoke of the Prophet Muhammad by name, said he would live in Arabia, gave the name of his mother and father, and many more details which are too many to note here. If you want to look into it further go to this link:
http://www.irf.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=201&Itemid=131
I then began to study Islam. I went to my local library and checked out every book about Islam. Something just didn't seem right as I began to absorb more and more information from the pages, which I later realized was DISinformation. Even the translation of the Qur'an I had picked up must have been deliberately mistranslated as I specifically remember a fake verse being inserted which said “Jesus prayed to Allah to forgive him for saying that he was God” (and every Muslim knows that is NOT in the Qur’an which has remained unchanged in its original language down to the letter ). Only later did I found out, that despite the pen name of the authors being a Muslim-sounding names, the authors of those books were not really Muslims at all--nor was their aim to give correct information about Islam. Once I realized that I was conscious enough to make sure to get information from real Muslims authors. I learned that Islam put down very clear rules and made things simple. Many details about the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) were written down so we would not be confused on the best way to live our life. Prophet Muhammed said it was he who was prophesied in the Bible. And here’s the kicker…
The Qur’an cannot be written by a human being (or jinni). This is hard for a non-Muslim to accept, but it’s just a fact that any person who has good knowledge of the Arabic language will attest to—what ever their religion. The literary style of the Qur’an is literally--divine. In several places in the Qur’an it challenges man and jinnkind to gather in an attempt to produce just 1 verse similar to the Qur’an. It goes on to say with assuredly that they cannot, and that challenge has stood unbroken for over 1400 years (despite councils and conferences being held for this very purpose).
During the time of Prophet Moses, magic was widespread and at its peak. When Moses, who was unlearned in magic, threw the stick and his snake ate all the others, the best magicians in the land recognize that this was no trickery, and immediately became believers.
During the time of the Prophet Jesus, medicine was held as a divine art. So God gave the prophet Jesus, who had not studied medicinal healing the power to bring the dead back to life and heal with a single touch. Any true student of medicine could see that such healing could only come from the leave of God.
During the time of the Prophet Muhammed, the Arabic language was at its strongest. So God sent Prophet Muhammed,a man who could not even read or write, and gave him a book that even the greatest poets of that time admitted that they could not even attempt to reach such a level of elegance, concentrated meaning, and beautiful recitation with their own poems. The Qur’an lead many poets to believe in the one, true God.
At this point, I was convinced, but Jesus not dying on the cross was something hard for me to wrap my head around. This was the single most powerful belief that was instilled in me by almost every person I had ever come in contact with during my years of childhood. I thought, is it possible for God to have put the likeness of Jesus onto another person and to raise him up? My answer was immediately yes, everything is easy for God.
It had been a few years journey, but the next day, I took my shahada. May Allah continue to guide me and keep me on His straight path, and make my children strong believers who fiercely guard their prayers. Ameen.
