<\/p>\n
By Radko<\/p>\n
In July 2001, I met a young man from Iraq.\u00a0 His name was Ibrahim.\u00a0 We very quickly struck up a conversation.\u00a0 He told me that he was Muslim, and I responded that I was Christian.\u00a0 I was worried that my being Christian would be a problem, but I was wrong.\u00a0 I was glad to be wrong.\u00a0 It was interesting that I did not want to become Muslim and he did not try to convert me.<\/p>\n
Although I considered Muslims an exotic group, I had been interested to learn more about Islam.\u00a0 It was a good opportunity to learn more.\u00a0 I realized that I had in front of me a man who could teach me a lot about Islam, so I mustered the courage to ask him to do just that.\u00a0 That was my first meeting with Islam, indeed my first step.\u00a0 After some time we parted ways, and I did not see him again, but the seed had been sown.<\/p>\n
I remember once reading an interview with Mohammad Ali Silhavy (an old Czech Muslim) and being eager to find his address and write him a letter.\u00a0 Then came September 11.\u00a0 Because of\u00a0 the political climate, I thought it might not be an appropriate time to contact Mr. Silhavy.\u00a0 So I found myself at a dead end.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
About two months later I found the courage to write a long letter to Mr. Silhavy.\u00a0 After a while he replied and sent a package including Islamic literature and leaflets.\u00a0 He told me that he had informed the Islamic Foundation in Prague about me and asked them to send me the translation of the Qur\u2019an.\u00a0 So this was my beginning.\u00a0 Step by step, I learned that not only is Islam not a militant religion, but to the contrary, it is a religion of peace.\u00a0 My questions were answered.<\/p>\n
Because of certain circumstances, it wasn\u2019t until three years later that I decided to visit Mr. Silhavy.\u00a0 He showed a lot of patience while explaining to me different issues, and suggested that I visit the mosque of Brno (Czech Republic).\u00a0 When I went to the mosque of Brno, I was afraid that I would be seen as a stranger, an outsider. \u00a0How surprised I was to find quite the opposite.\u00a0 I met K. and L., who were the first persons to help me.\u00a0 Of course, I met other brothers who welcomed me in the warmest way possible way.<\/p>\n
I began to delve into all aspects of Islam, and found how understandable and logical Islam is.\u00a0 I gradually started to learn how to pray, and today I master prayer with no problem, even in Arabic.\u00a0 I gave up a bad habit of mine that was not compatible with Islam.\u00a0 I was a gambler and a very good one indeed.\u00a0 It was a difficult struggle with myself, but with God\u2019s help I won that battle.<\/p>\n
If I ever doubted my interest in Islam or whether I could live as a Muslim, I know now that my interest is permanent and I consider myself one of them.\u00a0 Maybe it looks very simple, but again with God\u2019s help I won this internal struggle.\u00a0 I thought carefully before I definitively decided to embrace Islam.\u00a0 To be honest, throughout 2003 and the beginning of 2004, I was not completely sure if I could manage this.\u00a0 Finally I decided definitively.\u00a0 I am not that young man from the early \u201890s anymore.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why today I feel very happy that I am Muslim.\u00a0 I finally feel free.\u00a0 I still have my imperfections but I am trying to improve upon them.\u00a0 I believe that God will help me.\u00a0 Now, listen to what I want to tell you and consider this my obligation: I believe in my heart and declare by word that there is no other god but God and Muhammad is God\u2019s Messenger.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I once knew an atheist who claimed he\u2019d never believed in God\u2019s existence.\u00a0 In his view, believers were supposed to be people of weak character who felt the necessity to find a crutch for their inability and laziness, so they attended church.\u00a0 He felt agitated if, when the debating religion, he could not persuade the opponent with his arguments.\u00a0 He despised believers in an almost hysterical way.\u00a0 He had, however, a very good friend who believed in God.\u00a0 They agreed to refrain from discussing religion whenever together.<\/p>\n
One day this man, probably in a rare moment of weakness, accepted the invitation of his friend to visit his church.\u00a0 To himself, he laughed at the thought of speaking out in the middle of mass and laughing and pointing his finger at the believers from the pulpit.\u00a0 However, as we know, God works in mysterious ways.\u00a0 He went to church, stood in the back benches, and stared at the people praying.<\/p>\n
The mass service started and he gave all of them a sarcastic glance.\u00a0 Then the sermon began, lasting about 15 minutes.\u00a0 Suddenly, in the middle of the sermon, tears welled in his eyes.\u00a0 A strange feeling of joy and happiness washed away his animosity, a feeling that engulfed his entire body.\u00a0 After mass, the two friends left together.\u00a0 They were silent until the moment they were to part ways, when he asked his friend whether they could go to church together again.\u00a0 They agreed to go again the next day.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s possible some of you might have guessed that I was that stubborn atheist.\u00a0 I had felt nothing but contempt and hatred towards people of faith.\u00a0 But after that sermon in 1989, when the priest discussed how we should not judge others if we don\u2019t want to be judged, my life suddenly took a dramatic turn.<\/p>\n
I started attending church services regularly and was thirsty for any information on God and Jesus Christ.\u00a0 I took part in meetings with Christian youngsters where we exchanged our spiritual experiences.\u00a0 I felt resurrected.\u00a0 Suddenly I felt the need to be in the company of believers.\u00a0 I needed to make up for the past 18 years.<\/p>\n
I was brought up in an atheist family, who except for having me baptized, did not exercise any attempt to guide my spiritual development.\u00a0 I remember being in sixth grade when a comrade was sent by the Communist Party to explain to us why God does not exist.\u00a0 I remember myself absorbing his every word.\u00a0 In my case, I needed no convincing.\u00a0 I believed everything he said.\u00a0 His arrogance, contempt, and hatred towards believers became mine.\u00a0 But now I had to make up for all those years.<\/p>\n
I met with a priest and others who guided me in this new direction.\u00a0 I was full of so many questions, to which they responded.\u00a0 Later I was to realize a big mistake: I accepted everything without contemplation or reflection.\u00a0 I could say that they explained things to me in a \u2018take-it-as-is\u2019 manner, but that would not be fair to them.\u00a0 It was, in fact, my mistake.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t reflect upon their words, nor did I think critically.\u00a0 This would cause me a lot of complications later.\u00a0 In retrospect, I believe an important factor that influenced my behavior was age.\u00a0 I was too young to properly comprehend matters so serious and complicated as faith.<\/p>\n
I wished to become a good Christian, and God knows I tried very hard.\u00a0 Yet over time, I could not reconcile the contradictions found in the Bible, such as the divine nature of Prophet Jesus and the concept of inherited sin.\u00a0 Priests tried to respond to my questions, but eventually, their patience began to run thin.\u00a0 I was told that such matters should be accepted on faith, and that these questions were a waste of time and would only serve to distance me from God.\u00a0 Till this day, I recall myself quarreling with a spiritual leader, an event that restarted my self-destructive tendencies.\u00a0 Maybe I wasn\u2019t right after all.\u00a0 I was young.<\/p>\n
My path toward Islam wasn\u2019t easy at all.\u00a0 You may think that since I was disappointed with Christianity, I would have immediately accepted Islam as my faith.\u00a0 This could have been very simple, but all I knew about Islam at the time were things like Muslims refer to God as Allah, they read the Quran instead of the Bible, and they worship somebody called Muhammad.\u00a0 Also, I think I was not yet ready to accept Islam.<\/p>\n
So I withdrew from the church community and claimed to be a soloist Christian.\u00a0 I found out, however, that even though I didn\u2019t miss the community of believers or church, God was \u2018settled\u2019 so deep in my heart that I couldn\u2019t let Him go.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t even try.\u00a0 Quite the opposite.\u00a0 I felt happy to have God around and hoped He was on my side.<\/p>\n
Later I began to engage in one stupidity after another, living a life of luxury and lust.\u00a0 I did not realize that such a road would lead me away from God and towards hell.\u00a0 A friend of mine says that you need to hit rock bottom in order to feel the ground beneath your feet.\u00a0 This is exactly what happened to me.\u00a0 I fell really deep.\u00a0 I can just imagine how Satan must have been waiting for me with open arms, but God did not give up on me and gave me another chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Radko In July 2001, I met a young man from Iraq.\u00a0 His name was Ibrahim.\u00a0 We very quickly struck up a conversation.\u00a0 He told me that he was Muslim, and I responded...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[36,275],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-muslim","tag-convertd","tag-new-muslim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions\/262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}