On July 30, 2006
/ Rajab 4, 1427, with Allah's will, I declared my
Shahadah.
I believe this
is my destiny, to become a Muslim, to return to my
true religion. My story is now in front of you to
read!
There is not
much to say about my religious background. I was
baptized as a Christian Orthodox, yet I rarely entered
a church or actually practiced the religion. In
Romania, when I was little, religion was a taboo due
to the strict Communist rules. Even when Communism
fell,I was 11 at the time, many people returned to
religion, but my parents continued to neglect it, and
the country remained mainly secular.
The only time
Mom would attend church was at a time of a wedding, a
funeral, or a baptism of a child. Sometimes she used
to take me along to church to light a candle for the
dead and the living. Strangely, I never liked the
smell of burning candles, nor the general "atmosphere"
in an Orthodox Church.
In a typical
Orthodox Church in my country there are no benches and
when there was a sermon, people used to push to be
closer to the altar. During the sermon, your legs
would hurt so much, that you couldn't concentrate on
the sermon anymore. In general, I never liked the
sound of a sermon; elders used to gossip, it was
crowded, and I never felt any religious "call" within
Christianity.
Back home, two
of my best friends were Muslims, yet not practicing
ones. I used to attend a few Muslim weddings! It was
an interesting experience. Then, during my university
in the United Kingdom, I had classmates from all
around the world and some were Muslims.
By coincidence,
I was attracted to my Muslim classmate from Morocco
and my other two from Indonesia, simply because they
were calm, joyful, down-to-earth persons with
interesting hobbies and never used to drinking like
most of the students. Personally, I rarely drank
alcohol; I can count on my fingers how many times I
drank.
In my last
months of my master's degree, I met, by pure
coincidence, a wonderful Muslim man who would later
become my husband. I reckon everyone reading this
would say my conversion to Islam was because of my
husband. On the contrary, I believe it was Allah's
way and wish to bring this man into my life to guide
me to the right path.
My husband never
mentioned Islam and never raised the issue of me
converting. I asked him once why he didn't talk about
Islam, and he said he believed a person's religious
choice should come from the heart, not convinced or
forced by others. As long as I was one of the People
of the Book [Christians and Jews], he was happy.
In the time when
I was unsatisfied with the overall teachings of
Christianity and especially the Orthodox branch of it,
I still believed God existed. I was driven to Islam
by the fact that its teachings gave me a sense of
direction, a sense of belonging to something I
originally felt in my heart. I didn't have any
financial or sentimental problems. I just simply felt
that Islam was what was missing in my life.
I was at the
local Islamic center, in a building with a beautiful
minaret, on the seaside, ever since I moved to Qatar
(where I now live), I always admired the building;
it's simply breathless to me. I thought it was only a
mosque, but when later I found out it was actually an
Islamic center with a Shari`ah court, I made a promise
to myself that if or when I would ever take the
Shahadah, it would be in that beautiful building. And
Allah answered my wish.
On the morning
of July 30, on the spur of the moment, I just took the
car and stopped at the Islamic center and decided to
take my Shahadah. My husband didn't know anything at
all. He found out afterwards, when I invited him out
in town to share with him the big news. He became
speechless.
I can say my
family-in-law's reaction took me by surprise. What I
wanted to share with my husband went further to my
father-in-law and the rest of the family. Happiness
and tears of joy were a spontaneous reaction. As for
my own parents, in sha' Allah, whenever I go back
home, there will be a proper time for them to find out
and they won't be upset.
I wish more and
more people in my country would go beyond the biased
mass media's view on Islam and start reading the
Qur'an and understand the depth of this beautiful
religion called Islam.
By Allah's will,
people will stop finding illegal ways of making more
and more money (sometimes at the expense of friendship
and moral integrity)and they will stop fighting and
there will be peace in the world. By Allah's will,
people will start seeking, or will continue, their
inner call to religious duty.
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