My name is Aysha,
and I am from Northern Hungary. My interest in Islam
began from the history lessons we took at my secondary
school. I learned that Hungary had been a territory of
the Ottoman Caliphate for 150 years. My interest
increased when I met Muslims at my university. I took
molecular biology, and met many Muslim foreign
students. Looking at them, I always wondered why they
were so proud to be Muslims! I was Catholic, a good
one, but I always had my reservations towards my
faith. I didn't agree with some parts of my religion
such as, Jesus being the Son of God and the issue of
Trinity, which was simply not not believable for me.
I made many
Muslim friends and began engaging with them. Once,
when we were having dinner the Adhan (call to
prayer) started and one of my friends wanted to stop
it, but I insisted to listen to it. It mesmerized me
and truly touched my heart. During that summer, I
downloaded a Quran program, I don't know why I really
did this, but I would listen to the Quran in Arabic
and read its meanings in English. I was thinking a lot
about Islam and I was reading many books about it.
After two months
of thinking I finally chose Islam. I said the
Shahadah (Testimony of Faith) in front of two of
my friends. I said: La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad
Rasul Allah (I bear witness there is no God worthy of
worship but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of
Allah).
I chose Islam
against my culture, my family, and my mom, who was
upset with my conversion. Thereafter, the month of
Fasting (Ramadhan) begun and with it I decided to
start fresh. Alhamdulilah (thank God), I was
successful. I started to offer prayers on the 4th of
August. It was very hard for me at the beginning,
because the Muslims around me were not practicing
Muslims, so I couldn't just ask anyone about the
details of prayer and other aspects of Islam. I learnt
how to pray, by myself, from the Internet, because no
one showed me how to pray or how to make wudu
(ablution), or what invocation to say before it or how
to do ghusl (ritual cleansing of the body) or
what are the etiquettes and the rulings of Islam were.
During this
period of learning, a friend of mine said a few words
to me that hurt me. He said to me that I would never
understand Islam because I was not a born Muslim! When
I told him I wanted to start fasting Ramadan, he said
it was not just about being hungry. At that time I
was so new to Islam, I had converted just a month
before and I became scared,what if I would never learn
how to pray in Arabic? I didn't have a hijab
(head scarf) or a rug to pray on, and I didn't get any
help. So I had lots of fears.
But when I
started to pray, I was thinking God must be smiling on
me now. I would write down the text of the ritual
prayer on a paper and its instructions and I kept my
papers in my right hand and read loudly and then would
bow down and read again, and so on. I'm sure I looked
so funny. But afterwards I memorized it in the
Arabic language so things became easier for me.
Then I came to
Facebook and got many new friends and many sisters.
From online sisters I got so much love and courage. A
Muslim man proposed to me and he got me my first Hijab
and prayer rug and an Islamic book. And I got my first
Arabic Quran from Jordan by post because we cannot buy
them from here. Now it is more than a year that I
wear hijab.
I went through a
very bad period with my mom. She would say to me that
I will be a terrorist and I will leave her as I left
my religion and I will leave my country too. She
would put pork in all the food in the fridge and I
would refuse to eat it and we would end up arguing.
She couldn't stand seeing me praying or seeing me in
hijab. So I prayed upstairs in my room. She would
never look at me when I was in hijab and she would
say: "I gave birth to a Christian child not to a
veiled Muslim."
We had serious
problems, but I was never harsh or rude with her. But
alhamdulilah (thank God) she calmed down, and now it
seems she is more accepting of the fact that I
converted. I'm really thankful to Allah for that.
Now I go out in hijab, and she doesn't say anything.
I was not
talking with my father for all my life and he didn't
want to see me. But now, because of Islam, I opened
up with him, and he visits us regularly.
Yes, my life is
a big test but I thank God for it and I have patience
and hope. On the Day of Judgment I will be very
thankful for them. So I'm trying to be better and
better and learn more and more to understand my
religion. I try helping others now in Debrecen. I
organized a project to collect second hand clothes for
refugee camp people. There are a lot of Muslims there
who don't have a home because of wars. So we
collected clothes and gave them to the refugees. I
would also make some homemade bread and give it to
them, it was so nice just to see the joy and happiness
in their eyes.
I'm trying to
guide those who want to convert or just converted. I
met with two Hungarian sisters, the other day, and
they have just converted to Islam. So I gave them
books, and my prayer rug and a copy of the Quran, so
alhamdulilah we prayed together and they were
really happy. I always try to leave the image that we
Muslims are nice, friendly and have a good heart.
I converted one
and a half years ago. Now I am learning Arabic, to be
able to read the Quran. I read the Quran in
Hungarian, I offer prayers five times a day, I try to
follow the Quran and the Sunnah, and I read many books
to understand better. This is my story and peace be
unto you.
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