When did you take Shahada with him, how long ago?
I took shahada on the sixteenth day of Ramadan
Allaahu Akbar! April 17th I think
So the first two weeks I was already fasting before I entered the fold of Islam.
Because little by little,
probably around the end of last year, I was researching and obviously it was
a good experience, I just researching it bit by bit.
And then I found out that it just made sense.
Everything is rational.
So once I was researching and whatnot,
I was talking to God as well as talking to God, and I was just talking to one God,
not three in one, not seven in one, just one word I was talking to
I was making dua' (supplication) at night time aswell,
I was just asking to have right guidance do you know what I'm saying.
So when I got the right guidance and whatnot,
little by little by little I just drew closer to it as well.
And I was watching debates in Hyde Park,
do you know brother Shamsi and Mohamed Hijab and all
these people, I was watching debates
and just watching them go back and forth and watching how they defend Islam
and whatnot, and how it's rational compared to things about irrational.
When I was watching that little by little, I was watching people take their Shahada
and whatnot, researching it bit by bit by bit by bit.
And then eventually just... how did you
get in touch with Toufiq? (OTMF Admin)
How I got in touch with him?
I asked him, so I DM'd
One True Message Foundation, I asked him, can I take my time as a Muslim?
The one thing I was worried about was becoming a bad Muslim.
That was the one thing I was worried about.
So many people say that
I'm I was like, can I just take my time?
It's a process so when I said can I take my time?
He was like, yeah, you can take your time.
And obviously little by little he goes, are you already a Muslim?
So I said to him, no, I'm not already a Muslim?
No, I'm not a Muslim.
I just wanted to ask a question like, can I take my time?
And then he was like, yeah, you can take your time.
Would you like to take your shahada today?
So I was like, might as well. Nothing holding you back.
There's nothing holding me back.
and like I have a connection with God.
So if I was to make a mistake, I know to repent exactly.
But the thing is, one thing I've learned about tawbah (repentance)
repentance is that when you repent, you become closer to God.
Bit by bit by bit, you become closer and closer and closer.
that was the one thing I was worried about before entering the fold of Islam
I was worried about becoming a bad Muslim.
Now I know that repentance is the thing that draws toy closer to God.
Exactly.
And if you look into even the hadith about tawbah about forgiveness from Allah.
Allah loves to forgive.
If you look in the Quran, every chapter,
the Most merciful, the Most kind, Allah emphasises his mercy.
Even there's a narration of a hadith that if we were a
people that didn't sin and then repent to Allah, Allah will remove us and replace
us with people who sins and then they repent because he loves to forgive.
It's an amazing journey for you.
And how's was your.... obviously you had the last two
weeks of Ramadan or something there or part of Ramadan.
How did you feel after becoming a Muslim and start to live your life as a Muslim?
It's been good. It's been peaceful.
The thing is with the salah (prayer),
I thought the salah was going to be confusing, but it's not because I was
already learning how to recite the pillar of the salah with is Surah al-Fatiha
I was learning that before I entered the fold and learning it bit by bit.
And then I think probably around a day
afterwards, I eventually learned the actual Surah al-Fatiha.
I was like, okay, now I know the Surah al-Fatiha
It's even been its peaceful, on thing the salah.
One thing you know, the brother, Abu Taymiyyah, yeah.
He was given a lecture and one thing he said was, the salah is there to remove the filth
the evil, the wrongdoing, the bad things from your life.
And I felt that as well.
Everything I see on Instagram in terms of fitnah, in terms of things that are
just haram, it's just there to remove the anxiety, the worry, the anger.
So when you do the Salah,
you feel refreshed, you feel like you start Islam again,
you feel like you just entered the fold again.
That's the thing. That's the benefit of the Salah.
I was confused.
I found the salah complicated before i entered the fold of Islam
I was like, how am I gonna learn arabic, how am I gonna learn the movements
Allah made it easy, it just came, there you go
Alhamdulillah it's been a good experience
Allaahu Akbar Very very good experience
I'm grateful for Islam because it makes sense.
It's difficult living with my Mum,
because my mom's a Christian, and obviously she plays music, christian music all
the time, so it's like I'm making salah in one room.
Christian music is playing in the other room, so I just try to...
You know one thing,
Islam actually a lot of people when they become Muslim, their parents
in fact say that, he became a better son to me because Islam emphasises that relationship
between a parent, especially a mother and the child.
Even if your mom's a non Muslim, it doesn't matter, she's still your mother.
And that relationship is a very important relationship a person should have.
And of course, you want the best for your mum, and we ask Allah to open your
mother's heart and guide us to Islam and you be the means for that insha'Allah.
But as a Muslim, it should encourage you to even strengthen that relationship more
than you had then when you were before a Muslim.
Okay? So Inshallah take that as a reminder
to really because it shouldn't distance you and your mother.
In fact,
because we're told to be good to our parents, even whether they're Muslim or
not, it would be good to our parents and inshaAllah inside the fold of Islam.
You'll be rewarded for that striving
I try my best
I was trying to give her dawah yesterday
after I came from jumuah (Friday prayer) and I was trying to like tell her about Islam
I was going back and forth, I'm like, what you believe it don't make sense.
Look, 3 in 1 don't make sense.
And if she's trying to tell me this and that, I'm saying it's rationality.
You know what one thing I'd say when it comes to parents, all of these rational
arguments, all these evidences its irrelevant.
Let's see you as a little baby in a diaper still, okay?
Because it brought you up like that.
So what will really be powerful will be you showing Islam in your actions.
You're coming home with a gift for her, you're making a cup of tea for her.
You're being nice spending time with her.
This will really show her that the true
message and the value of Islam through your actions,
more so than your discussions and your elaborate arguments, okay?
Because what you don't want to do is you're always arguing with your mom about Islam.
It will push her further away.
So try to argue less with her and focus more on spending time with her.
I try, I try my best to do that with her
Just neutralise the conversation and try not to engage in too many arguments, okay?
You know what she herself inshaAllah we ask
Allah to guide her and make dua' for her like you're doing anyway.
Make dua' for her.
She herself will come to a point where
she will want to learn what Islam is because she will see it in you.
And the more she sees the beauty of Islam
in your manners and conduct, the closer she'll get to this religion.
Because that's how it is with family, the Bible arguments
and the contradictions and this and that, how does it make sense?
These are all different because it's an emotional bond that they have there.
And for you, they have to see you as an embodiment of Islam inshaAllah
Anything we can give you today.
Inshallah do you need a Quran?
Do you have one already?
I haven't got one.
I'm going to give you this one inshaAllaah okay.
This one is for you inshaAllah.