Faith Freedom International

[(¯´·.((åLï)).·´¯ )]

My name is Ali , I'm a 29 year old Mexican American or as some would say a Chicano.
I thought I would my story of how I became a Muslim. I think it will Insha'Allah (God willing) help people understand Islam and why it attracted me.
People have a wrong perception About Islam and Muslims,what little they know is usually from Movies and Telivision which is almost all the time false.


My life before was bad I had no direction in life.I was wasting my life away by dropping out of school in the 11th grade. I would hang out in the streets with my friends "partying" getting high,drinking and selling marijuana,most of my friends were gang members, I myself was never in a gang. I knew most of them before they were criminals and drug dealers so it was not a problem.I slowly began to use harder drugs, I had dreams but they seemed to far away for me to make them reality.The more I became depressed the more I turned to drugs as a temporary escape.


One day A friend of mine told me that he knew where to get some good marijuana, I was eager to sample and buy some so I agreed to go check it out.We arrived and went inside this apartment their were a couple of people inside,we sat around and talked for a while and "sampled" the weed. My friend and I bought some and were getting ready to leave when my friend said one of the guys there invited us to his apartment to give him a book.


We left for this guy's apartment when we got there,he gave my friend a book and asked him to read it,and said that it might help him out with his problems in life.On the way home I asked my friend to show me the book that the guy gave him,it was the Qur'an (Koran).
I had never in my life heard of The Holy Qur'an, I began to briefly read some pages while I was reading i knew that what I was reading was true, it was like a slap in the face, a wake up call. The Qur'an is so clear and easy to understand. I was really impressed and wanted to know more about Islam and Muslims.


The strangest thing is that i was not looking for a new Religion, I used to laugh at people that went to church and some times said that there was no God.although deep down I knew there was. I decided to go to the Libary a couple of days later and check out the Qur'an.I began to read it and study it, I learned About
Prophet Muhhamed (Peace be upon him)and the true story of Jesus son of Mary(Peace be upon him). The Qur'an stressed the fact that God was one and had no partners or a son, this was most interesting to me since I never understood the concept of the trinity.The Qur'an describes the birth of Prophet Jesus (P.B.U.H ) and his mission.There is also a Surah (Chapter) called Mary and tells her story as well.




As a child I always went to church, my mother was a Seventh day Adventist and took my sister and me every Saturday. I never was really religious and stopped going to church when i was about 14 or 15.The rest of my family is Catholic, I always wondered why we were Seventh day Adventist and the rest of my family was Catholic. when we would go visit my family back in Mexico,we went to a Catholic church for weddings and Quencenira's (sweet 16 celebration).


Muhammed (peace be upon him) is the last Messenger of God sent to all mankind.The Qur'an tells the story's of all the Prophets such as
Adam,Abraham,Noah,Issac,David,Moses,Jesus (Peace be upon them all) told in a clear and understandable manner.I did months of research on Islam I bought a Holy Qur'an at a bookstore and studied about World History and Islam's contributions to Medicine and Science.
I learned that Spain was a Muslim country for about 800 years and that when the Muslims were expelled from Spain by the Christian king and Queen (Ferdanand and Isabela),the Christian Spainards came to Mexico and forced the Aztecs and others to become Catholic, history and my Islamic roots was all becoming clear to me.


After months of study and research I could not deny the truth anymore I had put it off too long, but was still living the life I was before and knew that if I became Muslim I had to give all that up.One day while reading the Qur'an, I began to cry and fell to my knees and thanked Allah for guiding me to the truth.I found out that there was a Mosque by my house so I went one Friday to see how Muslims prayed and conducted thier service.I saw that people from all races and colors attended the Mosque. I saw that they took off thier shoes when entering and sat on the carpeted floor.A man got up and began to call the Adthan (call for prayer) when I heard it my eyes filled up with tears it sounded so beautiful,it was all so strange at first but seemed so right at the same time.Islam is not just a Religion but a way of life.
After going a couple of Fridays i was ready to be a Muslim and say my Shahada (declaration of faith).


I told the Khatib (person giving the lecture) that I wanted to be a Muslim,the following Friday in front of the community I said my Shahada first in Arabic then in English : I bear witness that there is no other God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammed(P.B.U.H) is His Messenger.


When i finished a Brother shouted Takbir! and all the community said Allah O Akbar! (God is great!) a few times,then all the Brothers came and hugged me. I never recieved so many hugs in one day, I will never forget that day it was great.I have been Muslim since 1997, I'm at peace with myself and clear in Religion,bieng Muslim has really changed my life for the better thanks to Almighty God. I recieved my G.E.D. and work in the computer field.


I had the blessing of being able to perform Hajj (Pilgrimage) to the Holy city of Mecca, it was a experiance of a lifetime, about 3 million people from every race and color in one place worshiping one God. its amazing! Alhamdulilla in December of 2002 I got married in Morocco to a very good Muslim woman.


I think that Islam is the answer for the the problems of the youth and society in general.I hope my story Insha'Allah (God willing) will attract more Latinos and people of all races to the light of Islam.

[adnan]

[CroMagnon]

Hi (¯´·.((åLï)).·´¯ ), is this your website?

http://www.homestead.com/nur/1truth.html

[adnan]

lol ! Cro. thanks for showing us! hehe.

Ali.. shame on you.. you earned 40 years of hellfire for copyright violation.
The only way you can avoid that now is by leaving islam.

Please talk to us, we will help you as much as we can to leave Islam. Guaranteed we dont have time, but we'll try our best. thank you.
Come on now boy.. hold on the to the rope and be steadfast (Mohammed said this himself, right? If you remember your hadith).

He was talking of the role that non-muslims and ex-muslims lower to Muslims who are trapped in the dark Well of Islam.

Hold on to the rope, Ali. Hold steadfast, and we'll get you out of Islam in no time.

Adnan

[Lurker]

[Ex-Malaysian Moslem]

In the state (¯´·.((åLï)).·´¯ ) was in, perhaps he could have been sucked into any cult. Yesterday, I came across a poster in a wash room at my university warning people that when they are in a difficult time of their lives - cults seem to offer hope. But we have to think if cult life is what we want. Any cults could offer all the hugs, etc, etc.

Murtad Mama

[Ali Sina]

Dear Ali,

Whether the above story is yours or you copied it from somewhere else, it is not a fake story but a typical story of all those who convert to Islam.

This is what I wrote in response to your testimony.

http://main.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina30522.htm
_________________
Doubt everything, find your own light!

[Dan Cannon]

Why is there no Muslim in this thread telling this Ali (lets keep his name simple) that it's IMPOSSIBLE for him to understand Qu'ran, since all translations are wrong and only Arabic is the right language? After all, he is a Latino, isn't he?
This Ali must read the same non-Arabic words us infidels read, so he must see all the violence like we do. Which makes this Ali not very intelligent if he still decided to convert.
Either that or he likes violence and hate.

[Robert]

Yoh man, smokin' weed while reciting the quran sure get's ya an extra trip.

But watch out: those muslims might put you on drugs and send you on a suicide bombing journey one day.

After all: Where does the word "assasin" come from?

If you ever happen to be looking for a more meek, gentle and peaceful religion than Islam, going along with smoking mariuana however, I highly recommend Rastafari.
_________________
"Le premier prophète fut le premier fripon qui rencontra un imbécile." -

"The first prophet was the first crook who met a sucker."

Voltaire (1694-1778)

[Valac]

A Mexican American named ALI - I doubt that very much
What movies and television are giving people the wrong impression?
Oh yes, pot smoking high school dropouts ALWAYS go to the house of somebody they just met to get a 'book' Pot smoking high school dropouts love books, that's why they drop out of school - so they can read more books
and of course a pot smoking high school dropout would find the quran EASY to read
and of course pot smoking high school dropouts always know where the library is, just happen to have a library card, and know they will find the quran in the library

quencenira should be spelled quenceanera and it's a Sweet Fifteen Party - not a Sweet Sixteen Party I would think a Mexican American would at least know enough Spanish to know the difference between 15 and 16
Sweet Sixteen is an American celebration (although not very common anymore) In Mexico it's a Sweet Fifteen Party
I would expect a true Mexican American would know that

this testimonial rates right up there with the Cherokee-Blackfoot, Pipe Carrier Warrior muslim
which if the author had any idea what a Pipe Carrier Warrior is, he would know that there is no way a Pipe Carrier Warrior can be a muslim

sheesh muslims can't even tell credible lies ::rolling eyes::

[adnan]

i see Valac, you confirmed the point that the testimonial is fabricated.
if this is the best testimonial they can come up with and its a lie, what to say about the real testimonials of conversion?

they're trying to make it as dramatic as possible, that, see, Quran saved him from pot, etc.
lies.

i have written to this person on email, the one who hosts this site, (which Cro Magnon pointed out - http://www.homestead.com/nur/1truth.html , his email is quran@onebox.com ), and invited him to talk to us, giving him the link to this thread.

I also invited the site web master of jannah.org .. a nice seemingly innocent site of good muslims. the sitewebmaster is a young female indian muslim. she has'nt responded, but its important to invite islamic site webmasters to discuss islam.

[armour_piercing_bullets]

MR ALI,YR ARTICLE IS BANG ON TARGET!!!

WHEN PPL R DOWN,THEY WILL DO ANYTHING TO SEE
MEANING IN LIFE EVEN WHEN THERE IS NONE.

LOOK AT MANKIND,WE R ON A FREAKING ROCK,SUSPENDED
IN SPACE GOING ROUND A STAR AND IN FACT MARRONED
ON THIS GOD FORSAKEN PLACE WHERE THERE R LITTLE
LUXORIES,ETC...

IF GOD REALLY EXISTED,WE WUD HV 72 HOURIES AND HVING SEX EACH DAY ALL THE TIME.

THE FACT THAT WE HV TO STRUGGLE TO MAKE A LIVING AND
WILL DIE ONE DAY,SHOWS FACT THAT NATURE IS CRUEL,
AND MAKES A JOKE OF EVERYTHING WE DO.

IF THERE WAS A GOD/ALLAH,OR WHATEVER,THIS GOD WUD TAKE CARE OF HIS KIDS US LIKE A RICH MAN WITH INFINITE
WEALTH AND POWER WHO WILL NEVER DIE AND WHOSE WANTS
HIS KIDS TO BE HAPPY WUD.



I AND ALL HUMANS WUD LIVE IN BIG HOUSES,WITH AIR-CON,
HV 100+ SEXY HOURIES SEXIER THAN PAMELA,LIZ,YAMILA
ETC AND HV SEXY ORGIES ALL DAY AND NITE,HV THE BEST FOOD, AND STUFF....NO DISEASE,NO OLD AGE NO DEATH...

BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE.

WE HV SUFFERING,WE HV PAIN,WE HV DISEASE,LIKE AIDS,SARS
ETC...

AND WHEN WE CRY FOR HELP,NO GOD ANSWERS US.

INSTEAD SOMETIME,WE R DELUDED BY THE MIND INTO
THINKING THAT SOME GOD IS LISTENING US AND ANSWER US.

IT IS THE SAME AS THE DELUDED PROPHETS WHO HEARD
VOICES BUT ACTUALLY WERE MENTALLY UNSTABLE.

LIFE IS MEANINGLESS,AND ALL WE CAN DO,IS TO TRY TO
LIVE IT SUCH THAT WE TROUBLE OTHERS THE LEAST.

[loranga]

Hi Ali,

Your story is interesting. Don't care about what some people say. However, was Islam the specific answer for what you needed, or was it just an instance of something more general? Think about it.

I also want to share with you the story of a guy from Spain, that converted to Islam. "Mi paso por el Islam":
http://www.mallorcaweb.net/rene/islam.htm

Eventually he left Islam, but he still have good things to say about the religion. I give you the link to the story since you have a common cultural background with this guy, and can probably relate to much of it. Also I think this guy makes interesting points for all of us, regardless of if we want to promote Islam or criticise it (there is an English version).
_________________
There is no PeeCee way out of PeeCeeism, just as there is no Islamic way out of Islam.

[baqar]

[Valac]

[Ex-Malaysian Moslem]

Dear Dr Ali Sina,

[Debmey]

Aha! We see a cut and paste article by a Muslim faker trying to pass himself off as someone he isn't.

This shows that Muslims are liars.

[Crow]

[Robert]

[Medi Terraneus]

[bob]

Robert said "I guess being hugged by Islam is like being hugged by an octopus."

Indeed. As Salman Rushdie said : "It escapes me how anyone can embrace Islam, the least huggable of all religions."
_________________
"Two things fill the heart with ever renewed awe the more we meditate upon them: the starry firmament above and the moral law within." Immanuel Kant

[Madam_Rouge]

Well its pretty sad that someone would have to use a testimonial as if they are trying to SELL us a product. Sorry but at the end of the day we need cold hard FACTS not testimonials. Also this story is a bit strange, I know that in the Mexican communities those people are really big on being hospitable, and they are also hard core catholics, so you mean to tell me this close knit community could not offer him the emmotional support and guidance he needed? Something is definetly rotten in denmark.