Part-time DJ finds her Escape Route through Islam

Lynne Ali, 33, from Dagenham in Essex, freely admits to having been ‘a typical white hard-partying teenager’.

‘I would go out and get drunk with friends, wear tight and revealing clothing and date boys.’

‘I also worked part-time as a DJ, so I was really into the club scene. I used to pray a bit as a Christian, but I used God as a sort of doctor, to fix things in my life. If anyone asked, I would’ve said that, generally, I was happy living life in the fast lane.’

But when she met a Muslim guy at university, something dramatic happened.

‘His sister started talking to me about Islam, and it was as if ­everything in my life fitted into place. I think, underneath it all, I must have been searching for something, and I wasn’t feeling fulfilled by my hard-drinking party lifestyle.’

Lynne converted aged 19. ‘From that day, I started wearing the hijab, and I now never show my hair in public. At home, I’ll dress in normal Western clothes in front of my husband, but never out of the house.’

Lynne Ali remembers the night this hit home for her. ‘I went to an old friend’s 21st birthday party in a bar,’ she reveals. ‘I walked in, wearing my hijab and modest clothing, and saw how ­everyone else had so much flesh on display. They were drunk, slurring their words and dancing provocatively.’

‘For the first time, I could see my former life with an outsider’s eyes, and I knew I could never go back to that.’

‘I am so grateful I found my escape route. This is the real me — I am happy to pray five times a day and take classes at the masjid. I am no longer a slave to a broken society and its expectations.’

A Mathematician & Christian Missionary who Challenged the Quran

Dr. Gary Miller was a very active Christian missionary and was very knowledgeable about the Bible. This man liked mathematics very much, and that's why he liked logic too. One day, he decided to read the Qur'an to try to find any mistakes that he might take advantage of while inviting Muslims to convert to Christianity. He expected the Qur'an to be an old book written 14 centuries ago, a book that talks about the desert and so on. He was amazed from what he found.

He discovered that this Book had what no other book in the world had. He expected to find some stories about the hard time that the Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) had, like the death of his wife Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) or the death of his sons and daughters. However, he did not find anything like that. And what made him even more confused is that he found a full "Sura" (chapter) in the Qur'an named "Mary" that gives a lot of respect to Mary (peace be upon her) which is not the case even in the books written by Christians nor in their Bibles. He did not find a Sura named after "Fatimah" (the prophet's daughter) nor "Aishah" (the Prophet's wife), may Allah (God) be pleased with both of them. He also found that the name of Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him) was mentioned in the Qur'an 25 times while the name of "Mohammad" (Peace Be Upon Him) was mentioned only 4 times, so he became more confused. He started reading the Qur'an more thoroughly hoping to find a mistake but he was shocked when he read a great verse which is verse number 82 in Surat Al-Nisa'a (Women) that says:

“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy”.

Dr Miller says about this verse: “One of the well known scientific principles is the principle of finding mistakes or looking for mistakes in a theory until it’s proved to be right (Falsification Test). What’s amazing is that the Holy Qur'an asks Muslims and non-muslims to try to find mistakes in this book and it tells them that they will never find any”. He also says about this verse: "No writer in the world has the courage to write a book and say that it’s empty of mistakes, but the Qur'an, on the contrary, tells you that it has no mistakes and asks you to try to find one and you won’t find any."

Another verse that Dr Miller reflected on for a long time is the verse number 30 in Surat “Al-Anbiya” (The Prophets):

"Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?"

He says: "This verse is exactly the subject of the scientific research that won the Noble Prize in 1973 and was about the theory of the “Great Explosion”. According to this theory, the universe was the result of a great explosion that lead to the formation of the universe with its skies and planets."

Dr Miller says: “Now we come to what’s amazing about the Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and what’s pretended about the devils helping him; God says:

“No evil ones have brought down this (Revelation), it would neither suit them nor would they be able (to produce it). Indeed they have been removed far from even (a chance of) hearing it.” The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 26, Verses 210-212.

“When thou does read the Qur'an, seek Allah's protection from Satan the Rejected One” The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 16, Verse 98.

You see? Can this be the devil’s way to write a book? how can he write a book then tells you to ask God for protection from this devil before reading that book? Those are miraculous verses in this miraculous book! and has a logical answer to those who pretend that it’s from the devil”.

And among the stories that amazed Dr Miller is the story of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) with Abu-Lahab. Dr Miller says: “This man (Abu Lahab) used to hate Islam so much that he would go after the Prophet wherever he goes to humiliate him. If he saw the prophet talking to strangers, he used to wait till he finishes and then ask them: What did Mohammad tell you? If he said it’s white then it’s in reality black and if he said it’s night then it’s day. He meant to falsify all what the prophet says and to make people suspicious about it. And 10 years before the death of Abu Lahab, a Sura was inspired to the prophet, named “Al-Masad”. This sura tells that Abu Lahab will go to hell, in other words, it says that Abu Lahab will not convert to Islam. During 10 years, Abu Lahab could have said: “Mohammad is saying that I will not become a Muslim and that I will go to the hell fire, but I’m telling you now that I want to convert to Islam and become a Muslim. What do you think about Mohammad now? Is he saying the truth or no? Does his inspiration come from God?”. But Abu Lahab did not do that at all although he was disobeying the prophet in all matters, but not in this one. In other words, it was as if the prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) was giving Abu Lahab a chance to prove him wrong! But he did not do that during 10 whole years! he did not convert to Islam and did not even pretend to be a Muslim!! Throughout 10 years, he had the chance to destroy Islam in one minute! But this did not happen because those are not the words of Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) but the words of God Who knows what’s hidden and knows that Abu Lahab will not become a Muslim.

How can the prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) know that Abu Lahab will prove what is said in that Sura if this was not inspiration from Allah? How can he be sure throughout 10 whole years that what he has (the Qur'an) is true if he did not know that it’s inspiration from Allah?? For a person to take such a risky challenge, this has only one meaning: that this is inspiration from God.

“Perish the hands of the Father of Flame (Abu Lahab)! perish he! No profit to him from all his wealth, and all his gains! Burnt soon will he be in a Fire of blazing Flame! His wife shall carry the (crackling) wood; As fuel! A twisted rope of palm-leaf fibre round her (own) neck!” The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 111.

Dr Miller says about a verse that amazed him: One of the miracles in the Qur'an is challenging the future with things that humans cannot predict and to which the “Falsification Test” applies. This test consists of looking for mistakes until the thing that is being tested is proved to be right. For example, let’s see what the Qur'an said about the relation between Muslims and Jews. Qur'an says that Jews are the major enemies for Muslims and this is true until now as the main enemy for Muslims are the Jews.

Dr Miller continues: This is considered a great challenge since the Jews have the chance to ruin Islam simply by treating Muslims in a friendly way for few years and then say: here we are treating you as friends and the Qur'an says that we are your enemies, the Qur'an must be wrong then! But this did not happen during 1400 years!! and it will never happen because those are the words of The One who knows the unseen (God) and not the words of humans.

Dr Miller continues: Can you see how the verse that talks about the enmity between Muslims and Jews constitutes a challenge to the human mind?

“Strongest among men in enmity to the Believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans; and nearest among them in love to the Believers wilt thou find those who say, "We are Christians": because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant. And when they listen to the revelation received by the Messenger, thou wilt see their eyes overflowing with tears, for they recognize the truth: they pray: "Our Lord! We believe; write us down among the witnesses” The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 5, Verses 82-84.

This verse applies to Dr Miller as he was a Christian, but when he saw the truth, he believed and converted to Islam and became a herald. May Allah support him.

Dr Miller says about the unique style of the Qur'an that he finds wonderful: No doubt there is something unique and amazing in Qur'an that is not present anywhere else, as the Qur'an gives you a specific information and tells you that you did not know this before. For example:

"This is part of the tidings of the things unseen, which We reveal unto thee (O Prophet!) by inspiration: thou was not with them when they cast lots with arrows, as to which of them should be charged with the care of Maryam: nor was thou with them when they disputed (the point)” The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 3, Verse 44.

“Such are some of the stories of the Unseen, which We have revealed unto thee: before this, neither thou nor thy People knew them. So persevere patiently: for the End is for those who are righteous” The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 11, Verse 49.

“Such is one of the stories of what happened unseen, which We reveal by inspiration unto thee: nor was thou (present) with them when they concerted their plans together in the process of weaving their plots” The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 12, Verse 102.

Dr Miller continues: “No other holy book uses this style, all the other books consist of information that tells you where this information came from. For example, when the Holy Bible talks about the stories of the ancient nations, it tells you that this King lived in this place and that leader fought in that battle, and that a certain person had a number of kids and their names are... But this book (Bible) always tells you that if you want to know more, you can read a certain book since that information came from that book”.

Dr Garry Miller continues: “This is in contrary to the Qur'an which gives you the information and tells you that it’s new!! And what’s amazing is that the people of Makkah at that time (of inspiration of those verses) used to hear those verses and despite the challenge that the information in those verses was new and was not known by Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) nor by his people at that time, they never said: We know this and it is not new, and they did not say: We know where Mohammad came from with those verses. This never happened, but what happened is that nobody dared to say that he was lying to them because that was really new information, not coming from the human mind but from Allah who knows the unseen in the past, the present and the future”.

Ex-secularist explains how he thinks it is easier to follow Islam as a revert in Europe, than one being born & raised up in it

My name is Yahya Schroder. I am a "European" (Ex Secularist) Muslim. I became Muslim when I was 17. I am living now in Potsdam, Germany and I want to share my experience with you as a Muslim in a non-Muslim state.

As a convert to Islam, I think it's much easier to follow the religion than a born Muslim who is being raised up here. Almost all young born-Muslims I know want to become German. For them Islam is only a tradition and they think that they have to give up their tradition (Islam) to be accepted by the Germans, despite the fact that the Germans won't accept them even if they gave up their religion.

I grew up in a little village. I lived with my mother and my stepfather in a huge house with a big garden and a big pool. And as a teenager I "lived a cool life"; I had some friends whom I used to hang around with, do stupid things and drink alcohol like every young German teen.

The life of a Muslim in Germany is quite difficult than one would think especially for me as a German Muslim because when someone asks a German what they know about Islam, they would tell you something about Arabs. For them it's like a mathematical operation; Islam = Arabs. They still don't know about our big nation.

When I converted to Islam I had to leave my family and I moved to the community in Potsdam near Berlin. I left this huge house and all my material valuable stuff. When I lived with my mother and my stepfather I had everything; a big house, my own money, TV, Play-station. I was never concerned about money, but I wasn't happy. I was searching for something else.

When I turned 16, I met the Muslim community in Potsdam through my biological father who became Muslim in 2001. I used to visit my father once a month and we used to attend the meetings of the community which were held on Sundays. At that time, I was interested in Islam, and my father noticed this and told me one day that he wouldn't speak about Islam when we are together because he wanted me to learn from people of greater knowledge so that other people won't say:

"Oh he became Muslim just because he's 17 and does everything his father does."

I agreed and I started visiting the community every month and learned a lot about Islam but at that time something happened and changed my way of thinking. One Sunday, I went swimming with the Muslim community and fractured my back at two places after jumping in the pool and hitting the ground with my head. My father brought me to the hospital and the doctor told me:

"You have fractured your back quite bad and if you did one wrong movement you'll become handicapped". This didn't help me much, but then just a few moments before they brought me to the operation room, one of my friends of the Muslims community told me something. "Yahya, you are now in the hands of Allah (God), it's like a roller coaster. Now you are on the top. Enjoy the ride and just trust in God." This really helped me.

The operation took five hours and I woke up after 3 days. I couldn't move my right arm but I was feeling like the happiest person on earth. I told the doctor that I don't care about my right arm; I'm so happy that God has let me survive. The doctors had told me that I have to stay in the hospital for a few months. I stayed for only two weeks there, because I was training very hard.

One day a doctor came and said: "Today we will try to take one step on the staircase" - the exercise that I did on my own two days before. Now, I can move my right arm again and I was just two weeks there Al-hamdu lillah (thanks God). This accident changed a lot in my personality.

I noticed when God wants something; the individual's life can be turned over in one second. So, I took life more seriously and started thinking more about my life and Islam, but I was still living in this little village.

My wish to become Muslim became so strong that I had to leave my family. I left my stepfather, my mother and the nice luxury lifestyle to go to Potsdam.

I moved to my father's apartment which is rather small and I had to stay in the kitchen but it was okay because I had nothing; just a very few clothes, school books, and some CDs. It must sound to you like I lost everything, but I am very happy. I'm as happy as when I woke up in the hospital after the dreadful accident.

The next day was the first day of Ramadan. The day after this was my first school day in my new school. The day after my first day of school, I said the Shahadah (testimony of becoming a Muslim), praise be to God. So, everything was new for me; new apartment, new school, and the first time without my family.

In my school when they first noticed that I am a Muslim, they started to make jokes at me. I think this is usual because of what they learned from the media. "A terrorist", "Osama bin Laden is coming", "Muslims are dirty". Some people thought I am just a crazy guy. And they didn't even believe that I was German.

But after 10 months, the situation changed. I made a lot of dawah (inviting to Islam) to my classmates, and now, I even have a praying room, although I'm the only Muslim in my school. My classmates changed from making jokes to asking serious questions about Islam, and they noticed that Islam is not a religion like the other religions.

They noticed Islam is cool! They see that we Muslims have Adaab (good manners) in dealing with each other. They noticed that we are independent from all this peer pressure; we just keep it real; we don't need to be in a special group like in my school. At my school, there are three main groups: the hip hop guys; the punks; and the party people.

Everybody tries to be a member of one group, so as to be accepted by others, except me! I can be friends with everybody. I don't have to wear special clothes to be "cool." So what happened is that they are always inviting me and my Muslim friends to their bar-b-que parties.

The special thing on this is that they respect me as a Muslim and even more, they get Halal (allowed) food especially for me and they have organized two bar-b-que grills; one for themselves and one for us Muslims! The people here are very open to Islam. 

Michael David Shapiro - From Judaism to Islam

I am ethnically a Russian Jew. My quest began when I was 19 years old. I was recovering from my stint with Scientology (yes I was brainwashed into it).

My belief in God was uncertain. My goals in life were to be a rock star. I was living in my Pasadena apartment and working as a secretary. Funny, I know.

One night I was walking to the kitchen, and encountered a dark fellow. I remembered asking him: “Can I keep this vodka in the fridge tonight?” We shook hands and went to sleep. After that point, my life changed drastically…

This dark fellow, a Muslim, was the first Muslim I had ever met. Extremely curious, I conversed with him about his faith. What’s this stuff I hear about praying 5 times a day? And about Holy War? Who is this Mohammed guy?

Our talks were accompanied by our Christian roommate, Wade. Together, we created “The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim dialogue sessions”. In it, we discovered many differences, and many commonalities.

My interest had then shifted from sex, drugs, and parties, to a massive search for the truth. A search that I had to complete. A search for God. And a search for how to follow him.

In my quest for the truth, I asked myself: “Ok let’s start simple, how many God’s do I think are out there?” I figured only one; knowing that a divided God is weaker than One God; figuring that if one God didn’t agree with the other, there might be arguments and feuds. One God was my choice.

Once I opened up my mind to the possibility of the existence of God, I analyzed both atheist and theist beliefs. The thing that directed me to the latter was the quote “Every design has a designer”. With that in mind, eventually I woke up with certainty that God exists. I can’t explain why, I just felt it somehow.

This newfound excitement was accompanied by a sense of responsibility to follow the Creator. The world of religion was my next frontier.

Then I asked myself, “Where do I start?” There are literally thousands of them. I need a way to narrow them down to a just a few. How do I accomplish such a task? “Find the ones that are monotheistic” entered my mind. “Hey that makes sense, since I believe in only One God.”

Ok, then. This ruled out Buddhism and Hinduism, both being polytheistic faiths. The major religions I encountered that fell under the title of Monotheistic, where Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Well since I’m a Jew, I started with Judaism. One God, some prophets, 10 commandments, Torah, Jewish souls…uh, what: “Jewish souls?”

While doing research this idea was brought to my attention. The story goes, “if a person is born Jewish, then they have a Jewish soul, and they must follow Judaism.” Hold on a sec…that’s discrimination, isn’t it? That’s not universal.

So God makes Jewish souls, and Christian souls, and Muslim souls, and Hindu souls? I thought all men are created equal? So, because one is born into a religion that means by the decree of God he must remain in it… even if the person believes it to be false? Hmm…I don’t agree with that.

Another thing really bothered me…there is no strict concept of hell in Judaism…then why be good? Why not sin? If I don’t have fear of strict punishment, then why should I be moral?

Moving on, I discovered Christianity. Ok, one God, a father, a son, and a holy ghost…one more time: one God, a father, a son, and a holy ghost. Uhhh, please explain. How can all those things be one God? 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 right? So how can you say you believe in only one God?

Explanation after explanation, equation after equation, comparison after comparison, analogy after analogy, I couldn’t grasp this concept. Ok let’s keep looking here.

Ok, next major doctrine: Jesus died for our sins and he did this because we all are polluted with “Original Sin”. So, Jesus Christ, the “son of God”, had to be murdered to save everyone from Hell and cure us of our sin “given” to us by Adam.

Ok then, so are you saying that we are all born as sinners? And to sin is to do something wrong right? Then you’re telling me that a one-year old baby is guilty of sin or doing something wrong? Ok that’s strange, so based on the actions of one man, all of mankind must suffer? What’s the moral of that story? Punish the whole group if one deviates? Why would God create such a rule? That’s just not in agreement with my logic.

So Jesus died because he “loves mankind”. Hold on, it says in the Bible that Jesus said “father, why have you forsaken me?” So, apparently, Jesus didn’t understand why he was being brutally murdered. But you just said he “volunteered” to be sacrificed. Anyway, I couldn’t accept this belief. Ok, what’s the next religion?

Islam. Islam means submission. The main beliefs are as follows: One God, worship God five times a day, give 2.5% annual charity, fast during Ramadan (to be closer to God and appreciate life…among other reasons) and finally journey to Mecca for Hajj if you are able financially. Ok, nothing hard to understand so far.

There’s nothing that conflicts with my logic here. The Quran is a book with all of these interesting miracles and timeless wisdom. Many scientific facts only discovered recently where proclaimed 1400 years ago in this book.

Ok, Islam had passed my initial religious prerequisites. But I wanted to ask some deep questions about it. Is this religion universal? Yes, anyone can understand these basic beliefs…no analogy or equation are needed. Does it agree with science? Yes, dozens of verses in the Quran agree with modern science and technology.

As I sifted through the countless logical facts that I read through and researched, one thing took my attention the most. “Islam”. The name of this religion. I noticed it is written many times in this Quran.

However, recalling my prior studies, I didn’t remember once seeing the word “Judaism” in the Old Testament or “Christianity” in the New Testament. This was BIG. Why couldn’t I find the very name of the religions in those two books? Because, there is no name in these books! Thinking…I noticed that “Judaism” could be broken down to “Juda- ism” and “Christianity” could be respectively “Christ-ianity”.

So who is Juda? Or Judah, rather. He was the tribe leader of the Hebrews when God revealed his message to mankind. So this religion was named after…a person. Ok let’s look at who Christ is. He was the person who delivered the message of God to the Jews. So this religion was named after…a person.

So in recollection, we can deduct that the names of these religions are people’s proper names attached to “ism” and “ianity”. Regardless of that fact, the very names of those religions are not mentioned in their scriptures. I thought that was very odd.

If I went door to door selling a product, and I said “Would you like to buy this _______”? Wouldn’t the logical question be: “What is this _____ called?” I would make no money off of a product without a name.

Naming is the very basis which humans identify with objects, both physical and non-physical. If religion is supposed to be practiced and spread to every person on earth, shouldn’t there be a NAME for it?

Moreover, shouldn’t the name be given to us from God Almighty? YES, my point exactly. The names “Christianity” and “Judaism” were not written in the Holy Scriptures. Humans named them, not God. The notion that God would ordain a religion for mankind to follow without a name is impossible for my mind to accept.

At that point, both Christianity and Judaism lost their credibility as pure, logical, and complete religions, at least from my perspective.

Islam is the ONLY of these religions to include the NAME of the religion in its scriptures. This is so huge for me.

I realized I would follow Islam at that point. I then became a Muslim. I knew the truth. I was out of the darkness. I came into the light…

The Heart Sees What The Eyes Can't - How an Ex Christian blind brother from Canada, Malik Mohammed Hassan, accepted Islam

October 23rd, 1996. Assalamalaikum brothers and sisters and non-Muslims. First off all, I would like to start by saying that this true story is not for my own fame or admiration but for the sake of my Lord and your Lord Allah.

All praises due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, the Beneficent, the Merciful Owner of the day of judgement. I would like to repeat to you something I heard: the journey of a thousand miles has to start with the first step and this is the first part of my journey.

My name is Malik Mohammed Hassan and I have recently converted to Islam. When I was in junior high school I was first introduced to Islam by reading the book Roots by Alex Haley. It taught me a little bit about the strong will that most Muslims possess, myself included. It also introduced me to Allah.

I had never heard of Allah in his real form until I read that book and I was very curious. I then started reading about The Nation Of Islam (specifically Malcolm X) and it fascinated me how devoted he was to Allah, especially after he left the self serving Nation Of Islam.

Reading about Malcolm made me think about a God who (for a change) did not have any physical form or limitations and, being a totally blind person, it made me relate to these people: the people who Malcolm and Haley referred to as Muslims.

I continued reading what I could about Islam which wasn't as much as it should have been. My reading material was very limited because like I said above:

I am a totally blind person and the material available about Islam in Braille or on tape was not only very little, but also very general. I believe the reason was that the material that I had access to wasn't written by Muslims and it kind of painted a dark picture of Islam.

I think most of the literature written by Christians or non-Muslims about Islam tends to do that most of the time. And I didn't know that their were even Muslims in Halifax so I obviously didn't know any. I didn't even know about the local Islamic association until I was already a Muslim.

So, I read what I could until my first year out of high school around the month of May, 1996, when I received a phone call asking me if I wanted to participate in a camp for blind and visually impaired people known throughout Canada as Score.

I agreed and sent them a resume and praise be to Allah I was excepted for work. At first I really didn't want to go but something kept telling me it would be a good idea if I went. So, on June 30th 1996 I boarded a plane from Nova Scotia to Toronto and took my last trip as a non-Muslim; I just didn't know it yet.

I got to Toronto and everything at first was pretty normal... It was on the second day that I was there when the journey of a thousand miles first started. I arrived on a Sunday and on the next day I met the person who Allah would use with His divine power to help guide me to the beautiful Religion of Islam.

I met a sister named Rizvana and if she reads this I hope she doesn't get mad at me for using her name. When I met her, I immediately wanted to talk to her because I liked her name.

I asked her of what origin her name was and she told me that it was Arabic; so I asked her if she was Muslim and she replied with the answer of yes. I immediately started telling her what I already knew about Islam which lasted about ten seconds. I started asking her questions and also asking her to talk to me about Islam.

One particular incident that comes to my mind is when all of the workers at the camp went to a baseball game and the sister and I started talking about Islam and missed pretty much the whole game. Well, anyway, we talked for about three, maybe four days on and off about Islam and on July the fifth if my memory doesn't fail me I became a Muslim.

My life has been totally different ever since. I look at things very differently than I used to and I finally feel like I belong to a family. All Muslims are brothers and sisters in Islam so I could say that I have approximately 1.2 billion brothers and sisters all of whom I'm proud to be related to. I finally know what it feels like to be humble and to worship a God that I don't have to see.

For any non-Muslim reading this just look at it this way. It's good to learn, but you never know when you will be tested and if you're not in the class at the time of the final exam no matter how much you know you'll never get any credit.

So like I said it's good to learn but if you want to get credit sign up for the class. In other words, declare Shehada (testimony to faith) and let Allah teach you everything you need to know. Believe me the reward is worth it. You could say the reward is literally heaven.

If any good comes out of this story all the credit is due to Allah; only the mistakes are my own. I would like to mention a part of a speech by Prophet Muhammad that has had a great effect on me and that is: "Worship Allah as if you see Him and if you don't see Him, know that He sees you."

The Party Girl who has Embraced a New Life as a Muslim Convert

Her conversion from Ibiza party girl to hijab-wearing Muslim in barely three months may well raise a few eyebrows. But trainee teacher Heather Matthews, 27, says Islam has brought her ‘love and happiness’ that she never found in her old ‘shallow’ lifestyle.

Mrs Matthews, a mother of two, converted to the faith in September 2012 – two months after returning from a holiday in Ibiza. And she says that the photographs of the ‘old her’ taken on that trip show all that is wrong with Western images of beauty.

She said: ‘I thought I needed to act and dress in a certain way to feel good about myself. I see girls now and think about what image they are portraying to other people, especially men.

‘It is about self-respect. If you dress and act in a certain way, rightly or wrongly, you’ll be treated in a certain way.

‘Islam has taught me about real love, not false passion and lust. I can even see the logic in arranged marriage.’

A study by multi-faith group Faith Matters found the number of Muslim converts in Britain has now passed 100,000, doubling in ten years.

The report estimated nearly two-thirds of the new converts were women, with an average age of 27 – like Mrs Matthews.

Her path to conversion began when she tried to convince her ex-husband Jerrome, himself a Muslim convert, that the religion was wrong. She was ‘very suspicious’ of the faith, and began reading up on it to support her arguments.

Although they separated last year, she continued to learn about Islam – and identified with it more and more. Then, in late September, she completed the ‘revert’ process. She said: ‘I underwent the ‘Shahadah’ ceremony of conversion to Islam by repeating a declaration of faith in front of the Imam at my local multi-faith centre.

‘I had several Muslim sisters with me and they bought me a hijab and Islamic books to celebrate. It was wonderful.’

But she admits that her friends have been shocked at her conversion to a religion which is often seen as being oppressive towards women.

‘People are probably thinking “Oh, it is just another one of Heather’s fads”. It isn’t. It is what I’ve been searching for during the times I’ve been filling my life with instant gratification,’ she said.

Mrs Matthews, from Preston, has also had a cautious reaction from her family. But it is the response from passers-by that surprised her the most – especially the effect of her headscarf.

‘No men try to chat me up. It is an idiot repellent. When I’m wearing the headscarf I can smile at people without them thinking it is a sexual advance,’ she said.

‘I definitely agree with Islam’s principles of not having sex with someone you’re not married to and to save your beauty for your husband. So I think my next partner would need to be a practicing Muslim to understand.

‘It is easy for me to say this now, with hindsight, having made the mistakes, but I think I would have been better off with partners who my parents thought were suitable, learning to love them through friendship first.’ Mrs Matthews has given up alcohol, sticks to a halal diet and plans to fast during Ramadan. She has an English-language Quran which she reads daily, and wants to learn Arabic so that she can recite prayers five times a day.

‘People think I must be oppressed but I’m a strong, confident and free woman,’ she said. ‘I know I’m one of the most unlikely people to revert to Islam.

‘It astounds me. But I’ve done it for love and happiness and it has completely changed my life.’

British Musician's Journey towards the Light of Islam

Abdullah Rolle was born in the UK and embraced Islam about nine years ago. Since an early age he has been involved in music production, musical instruments and singing. He launched his first Nasheed CD, ‘Peace’ at the Global Peace and Unity Conference held in London, in 2008.

His journey to Islam is closely linked with the development of his career as a nasheed artist. One day he was walking in a market and a Muslim came up to him and asked if he could speak to him for a minute. This man asked Rolle if he knew anything about Islam and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Rolle admits that he always knew God is the creator of everything but noted that he had been taught about Jesus, not Muhammad. Rolle tried to get out of the discussion. “I wasn’t into religion in any way at that time A few years later I got into a conversation with a Muslim about Almighty Allah, but I still wasn’t ready to consider anything about Islam or become a Muslim. I wasn’t around anyone like that. The people I was associating with were in the music business and they have their own type of lifestyle. So at that time there was no chance of me being drawn toward Islam.” The right time had not yet come.

A Bookshop Changes His Life

Rolle moved to East London and used to go to a book shop called Dar Assalam in the West End. He recalls, “I‘ve always liked reading about world affairs and conspiracies and what’s going on. Some things I read about were true and some weren’t but it didn’t bring me any closer to the Creator. My soul was always searching even though I wasn’t one hundred percent aware of that. The brothers at the shop used to give me booklets and I’d take them home and put them in the cupboard. Shortly after Iraq was invaded, and after reading up about it all, I felt sympathy for the Muslims. I used to ask myself why the world was always attacking Islam and Muslims.” Rolle noticed that the media was portraying Muslims as terrorists, and he just knew that could not be right because he was aware that the media does not always tell the truth. He wanted to know why they were attacking the Muslims. In response to his confusion, he went into his bedroom, put his head down on the floor, prostrated and prayed.

Later, outside the bookshop he said to his son, “I need something to feed my soul. These other books aren’t doing anything for me.” His son pointed out a DVD called What Is The Purpose of Life? by Khaled Yaseen. He took part one home and played it and watched it and felt greatly inspired. “Everything that was being said on the DVD I felt I already knew. I knew it was the truth,” recalls Rolle. He learned that Muslims pray five times a day but because he was still into mainstream music at that time, he thought he would not be able to make time to pray like that. However, his soul was telling him that it was right. The bookshop gave him some books but they could not get him past this point of praying five times a day.

Being Nurtured by Muslims

Rolle remembers that the Muslim community nurtured him and he found himself surrounded by brothers who really showed that they care. He says, “I spent a lot of time with them for about two years. They taught me, corrected me, and reminded me. These were mainly brothers in the bookshop. I have been with them ever since.”

He adds, “I have always found that most Muslims are polite, generous and kind-hearted. Even though there are problems in the Ummah worldwide, the individual Muslims have always been kind to me. I wanted to try to become pious and I keep trying. I want to be like them.”

By this time, Rolle believed in Islam and had acquired fundamental knowledge of the religion and was on the way to learn more and more. At that time, the brothers were telling him that he should declare the two testimonies of faith and they reminded him that death is always near. However, he still felt he was not quite ready.

Another DVD

He told his wife about the DVD he had seen and explained how it really moved him. Then he saw a DVD by Sheikh Fiez in Australia called One Islam. When he watched that and learned about the last days and the Day of Judgment he felt he was being reborn. The fear of Almighty Allah had entered his heart. If he could have made the two testimonies of faith at that moment he would have. The following day he told the brothers that he was ready to officially become a Muslim. The brothers told him they would arrange things for him at the weekend which was a day or two later. He says that he has not looked back since that day.

Sometimes, he observes, he is a bit envious of the scholars. He wishes he could have come to know Islam when he was much younger. But Allah knows best.

Rolle observes, “The brothers used their common sense with me. So they worked slowly with me step by step. They didn’t tell me music is haram in the beginning. If they had I probably wouldn’t have become a Muslim because I was involved in a number of projects. They assured me that it is ok to still be in it as long as my intention is to come out of it.”

Challenges

Rolle recalls that the greatest challenge after accepting Islam was learning Arabic and learning the prayer in Arabic. “I felt like I was going back to school. I was lucky because I managed to memorize some Qu’ran and I could read it, so I was able to Pray and I wanted to do that more than anything else.” There is a CD entitled Pray as You Have Seen Me Pray and Rolle says that this is an excellent CD that helped him a lot. One of the brothers would take him to the mosque but he admits that he also had to spend time learning himself. He watched the CD many times until he knew it by heart. He also focused on memorizing invocations and wanted to fill himself up with as much Islam as he could. He learned to put aside any distractions and put his head in the Qur’an, books and DVDs and start learning.

Music or no Music?

In the beginning of his Islam Rolle was working in schools teaching music to children and composing songs in city learning centers. He worked with children who had left home. He came to know many sad stories from young people and he wanted to help them. He was also working in community centers and had his own business teaching music to young people.

Slowly it dawned on him that perhaps there is no blessing in what he was doing. He thought, “If I have to stand in front of Allah what will I say about me and teaching mainstream music? So I just gave it all up; the schools, the community centers and so on. Some people respected what I did and others thought I was wrong. I had no intention of doing nasheeds after that but I had a recording studio. I spoke to a brother whose father was a scholar in Saudi and he had Tawhid mosque in London. He had been doing lectures there for 15 or 20 years. I sought his advice.” Rolle took many of the lectures this scholar had delivered and revamped them and prepared them for CDs to be sold in shops. He did this for Al Qu`ran society. He had some of the lectures published including Surat Ta Ha and Surat Yaseen.

Then the same Al Qu’ran society asked him if he would like to work for the Islamic Shari`ah Council. He agreed and started working with fatwa as well as with divorces. His job was to keep all the clients updated about their cases. He found that the sisters wanted to know about their cases and he had been told he should be hard, and not get involved. He recalls, “The problem was that the sisters would speak to me because I could speak English, and the other brothers were from Pakistan. When I heard about how disturbing their marriages are I found it impossible to be hard.”

Rolle is now focusing on developing his career as an international nasheed artist.