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Conversion Stories New Muslims

Four Reasons Make Us Convert to Islam

Many articles could explain how easy it is to convert to Islam. A real convert tell his/her stories, and we can share their elation and excitement. There are even articles that explain exactly how to become Muslim.

Converting to Islam liberates a person from slavery to man-made systems and lifestyles.

Many advantages are gained by converting to Islam, the most obvious one being the sense of calmness. Establishing a relationship with God in the most pure and simple way is liberating and exhilarating.

1. Converting to Islam liberates a person from slavery to man-made systems and lifestyles

Islam emancipates the mind from superstitions and uncertainties. It liberates the soul from sin and corruption.

Submission to the will of God, does not curtail freedom, on the contrary it gives a very high degree of freedom and filling it with truth and knowledge.

Once a person accepts Islam they are no longer slaves to fashion, or consumerism.

On a smaller but equally as important scale Islam liberates a person from the superstitions that rule the lives of those not truly submitted to God.

A believer knows that good and bad luck do not exist.

Both the good and the bad aspects of our lives come from God and as Prophet Muhammad explains all the affairs of a believer are good:

“If he is granted ease then he is thankful, and this is good for him. And if he is afflicted with a hardship, he perseveres, and this is good for him”. (Muslim)

After a person is freed from manmade systems and lifestyles he or she is free to worship God in the correct manner.

A believer is able to put his trust and hope in God and sincerely seek His mercy.

2. Converting to Islam allows a person to truly experience God’s love.

Converting to Islam allows a person to achieve God’s love by following His guide to life – the Quran, and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad.

When God created the world He did not abandon it to instability and insecurity.

He sent a rope, firm and steady, and by holding tightly to this rope an insignificant human being can achieve greatness and eternal peace.

God makes His desires perfectly clear, however human beings have free will to please or displease God.

Say (O Muhammad to mankind): “If you (really) love God then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur’an and the Sunnah), God will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Quran 3:31)

And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers. (Quran 3:85)

There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in God, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break. And God is All-Hearer, All-Knower. (Quran 2:256)

3. A benefit of converting to Islam is that God promises Paradise to the believer

Paradise, as described in many verses of Quran, is a place of eternal bliss and it is promised to believers.

God shows His mercy to the believers by rewarding them with Paradise.

Whoever denies God or worships other than Him will be doomed in the Hereafter to the hellfire.

Converting to Islam will save a person from the torment of the grave, suffering on the Day of Judgment and eternal hellfire.

4. A convert to Islam can achieve happiness, tranquility and inner peace

Islam itself is inherently associated with inner peace and tranquility.

When one submits to the will of God he or she will experience an innate sense of security and peacefulness.

Perfect happiness exists only in Paradise.

There we will find total peace, tranquility and security and be free from the fear, anxiety and pain that are part of the human condition.

However the guidelines provided by Islam allow us, imperfect humans, to seek happiness in this world.

The key to being happy in this world and the next is seeking the pleasure of God, and worshiping Him.


Source: Islamreligion.com

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Conversion Stories New Muslims

The Swiss Nora Illi, the Co-founder of the Swiss Central Islamic Council, Dies Aged 35

Nora Illi, a famous Islamic preacher who co-founded the Swiss Central Islamic Council (IZRS), died on Monday at the age of 35, after a long illness. As the IZRS now reports, Nora Illi has lost the fight against breast cancer diagnosed in 2012. She is survived by six children and her husband.

Originally from Zurich, Illi converted to Islam in 2002, aged 18, after a trip to Dubai. Prior to this, she had been a punk and had also been interested in Buddhism.

Nora Illi was born in 1983 to a German psychotherapist and a Swiss social worker. Illi dropped out of high school and trained as a polygraph. In addition, she became active in the punk scene of her hometown Uster ZH. As an 18-year-old, she converted to Islam.

At a solidarity campaign for Palestine, she met her future husband, Schaffhausen’s Patric Illi (now Qaasim Illi). In 2003 they married in Jordan. Together, they subsequently represented the Swiss Islamic Central Council (IZRS) in public: Nora Illi as the commissioner for women’s affairs, her husband as the PR manager.

Influence of chemotherapy

She was known in public for always wearing her Niqab. Illi was an advocate of polygyny. This differs from polygamy in that a man may have several women, but a woman may only have one man.

In the talk show Anne Will in 2016, she was defending the woman’s right to wear niqab. Thus, she was falsely accused of supporting extremist groups like ISIS. Replying to this false accusation, she stressed that any Muslim whether in Switzerland or any other country in the world should denounce and avoid violence.

Bussenfang in Ticino

As a Niqab activist, Illi publicly caught fines: After the ban on veiling came into force in the canton of Ticino in July 2016, she received the first banned buses because of her public appearance in the Niqab. In 2017 she also had to pay for her veiling in Vienna.

Her husband, Qaasim Illi on the passing of Nora Illi, said, “We are overwhelmed by your tributes from all over the world – Thank you!” Keep her and us in your du’a’.


Sources: 20min.ch/schweiz/ (as cited in allaboutgeneva.com) with some modifications.

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Conversion Stories New Muslims

Yusha Evans: “My Attraction to Islam was the Quran”

By Editorial Staff

This is the story of the famous American preacher, Yusha Evan, whose study of the Bible led him to leave Christianity. He studied the Bible fifteen times from cover to cover. In doing so, he realized there were many inconsistencies and contradictions.

Passing through many phases of searching the true religion, he was finally invited to Islam by an ordinary Muslim. In this video, he tells us his story with the Quran and how it attracted him. This is an inspiring story for us all to study the Gracious Quran and invite people from everywhere to study it.

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Conversion Stories New Muslims

Why I Converted to Islam – Part 1

By Sarah Price

Islamic. Jihadist. ISIS. Terrorist. Women banned from driving in Saudi Arabia. Burqa. 9/11…unfortunately, the term ‘Muslim’ or ‘Islam’ isn’t always associated with the most positive attributes. In fact, the term ‘Islam’ can inflict some pretty negative connotations in this day and age. For a term that means ‘peaceful submission to God’, it is a religion that is often seen in the media for all the wrong reasons.

Islam quickly became a mysterious religion I wanted to learn more about. That’s when I decided to do one of my investigative articles about Muslim women’s rights.

So, why would an educated, independent and well-travelled young Australian woman decide to convert to a religion widely considered ‘backwards’?

Well, it’s for multitude of reasons. Although people usually assume it’s for a man. Why else would a woman do that, right?

WRONG. Not in my case anyway. It’s pretty dazzling how some people assume these things though. Even asking for halal food at my local university cafe received a snarky comment from the waitress asking if I ‘converted for my boyfriend’.

I get confused looks at my fair skin and light eyes, some Australians ask what country I’m from, only to be shocked to hear I am myself an Australian. Australian AND Muslim? The combination is unthinkable to some.

Converting to Islam Has Been No Easy Task.

Despite some pretty harsh and rude comments about my change in faith, I’ve also had some amazing people come up to me and ask me why. This, ladies and gentleman, is the question that I am happy to answer.

You don’t have to agree with it – my word, you don’t even have to accept it – but this is my story and reasons which led me over the course of two years to where I am now.

Converting to Islam has been no easy task. I’ve been called names, been scrutinized, rejected and fired from jobs, lost friends and had a really difficult time with my family accepting the changes in my life. But with prayer, investigation, lots of reading and researching and talking to people from different faiths and backgrounds has all contributed to my peaceful way of life now.

Yes, I am Muslim. I am also Australian, I’m a journalist, and I am also a traveler. Being a Muslim doesn’t change the elements that make up who I am as a person. Although you can never truly express what comes from your own heart in your own personal journey, my reversion to Islam was due to three main factors. This is my story and mine alone.

MALAYSIA

Traveling to Malaysia was definitely the foundation for my conversion to Islam. After deciding on a whim to go on student exchange to Malaysia, I never imagined what a crazy adventure I had set myself up for.

Malaysia is my second home. It holds a very special place in my heart and I grew immensely as a person there. I experienced some of the best and worst moments of my life; and the whole experience was filled with color, adventure and opportunity.

From sleeping in a dirty ferry port for eight hours, getting lost in a rainforest on Tioman Island (and trying to make it back before dark), riding on motorbikes in Penang and scuba-diving in Perhentian Islands, these were just the beginning of my adventure there.

I was getting out of my comfort zone in Malaysia and exposed to things I had never seen as a small town Australian girl from Gippsland. Nothing went to plan nor was expected in Malaysia.

My Thoughts About Islam Before Malaysia

Before Malaysia, I knew nothing about Islam. I had never met a Muslim (to my knowledge) and I always thought of Muslims as wearing heavy black garments somewhere in the Middle East, far, far away from ‘civilization’.

Yes, I also thought Muslim women were oppressed. That they couldn’t go anywhere without their husbands, that they couldn’t have careers, and had to wear black all the time. Not that I really thought about it much, I was always in my own bubble of society to ponder too much about it.

So, my somewhat fabricated image of Islam was shattered when I came to Malaysia. Suddenly, I found myself becoming curious of the pretty South-East Asian Muslim girls with their colorful hijabs and clothes. I met many Muslim friends – who became life-long friends- who went to university, who had jobs, who wore veils and also many who didn’t, and they all seemed quite content and loved their religion.

An Article on Muslim Women’s Rights

Being a journalism student, I’ve always been an open-minded person and have a lust for the unknown. Islam quickly became a mysterious religion I wanted to learn more about. That’s when I decided to do one of my investigative articles about Muslim women’s rights.

THIS was the beginning of everything. My eyes and mind were completed opened and bursting with knowledge about Islam and the fact that WOMEN HAVE MANY RIGHTS IN ISLAM!

In fact, Muslim women were legally given rights (that’s including divorce, land rights, monetary rights, the right to choose who to marry, etc.) in the Qur’an and Hadiths hundreds of years before Western women were legally given the same rights.

There’s even a whole chapter about Women in the Qur’an. Men are taught to lower their gaze, and to treat women and their wives with utmost respect because this is favored in God’s eyes.

THIS, of course, does not mean Muslims are sinless. People need to differentiate between culture, politics and religion. We humans are not perfect, in fact far from it. Even I learned this in Malaysia – instead of judging a whole religion on a few people’s actions, look into the religion and what it teaches.

Feelings Never Felt Before

When I first stepped into a mosque, I felt an immediate sense of calm and peace. I even interviewed an imam. The strong yet humble cry of the call to prayer invoked feelings in me I had never felt before. When I first bowed my head toward the Ka’ba, I felt home in my heart. I didn’t convert to Islam in Malaysia – I was to over a year later – but it introduced me in a beautiful way to Islam and to the Oneness of God.

As each day passed in Malaysia, and with each experience I lived, it dawned on me that I was starting to outgrow the sheltered life I was living back home in my country town, and the various stereotypes placed on society from culture to culture. Malaysia was having an effect on me far greater than the boundaries of Monash University, cool clubs and intriguing food; it was the people itself and the lessons I was learning. I realized that every little moment in Malaysia would be some of my best.

I was definitely not the same girl that left Melbourne airport for this unexpected journey I grew immensely, while paradoxically also finding myself and what I’m truly capable of. I was a girl who was insecure and always feeling confined and trapped in the community I was living in – Malaysia, in a way, set me free.

The Best Decision I Have Ever Made

While we can’t be sure of much in this world, I know without a shadow of a doubt that going to Malaysia randomly was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Malaysia didn’t turn out as I imagined or planned, and that in itself made it so wonderful. It taught me to believe in my own capabilities and in myself more than ever, and that comes with taking a deep breath and stepping into the world on your own for the very first time.

Malaysia gave me adventure. It kick started my career in journalism. It allowed me to meet wonderful, terrible yet interesting people. But most importantly…Malaysia gave me Islam. I truly believe I was meant to go there.

To be continued…


Source: http: muslimsincalgary.ca with some modifications

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