My Convert Story
I was raised in a strict Christian home. African father and a Caribbean mother. We were a 7th day church of God family which meant that we went to church on Saturdays and observed the Sabbath. Almost similar to how Jewish people do in the sense that we weren’t allowed to go to work on the Sabbath or buy or sell anything. So from the sunset on Friday evening that was the start of the Sabbath day and it would end at sunset on Saturday. We never ate pork and we didn’t celebrate Christmas either.
We would get up every Saturday morning and spend all day in church , dressed in our fancy clothes and hats. Church days were long and tiring but I always enjoyed the Bible study discussions that took place in the morning lessons. Unlike most convert stories I’ve heard, I never doubted the Bible at all. I had full belief in it. I wanted to be the best Christian that I could be and live a life that was most pleasing to God.
As I grew older and became a teenager the usual things started happening. I wanted to explore the world, I wanted to be able to go to the cinema, go to clubs and party. I wanted to be able to work and earn my own money so that I could buy the type of clothes that I wanted to wear.
After finishing secondary school these possibilities started to become my reality. My parents loosened their grip on me and in going to college my world opened up to multiple experiences all at once and I felt that I could really be myself.
I was still going to church with them every weekend but outside of home I was completely wild. I knew that I was doing a lot of wrong but I had faith that God wouldn’t punish me as long as I wasn’t hurting anybody else and He knew that I had a firm intention that I wanted to be the best Christian I could be.
Throughout secondary school and college I always had Muslim friends and I really liked Muslims and the various different cultures.
What drew me to Muslims is that they really believed firmly in their religion and even though many of them were not practicing fully and doing some wrong, they were good people with solid principles. I could also understand where they were coming from having a strict religious code but wanting to ‘live life’ a bit.
I also felt safe around my Muslim friends because my family didn’t eat pork so if I went to a Muslim friends house I wouldn’t have to worry about eating the wrong thing.
I also appreciated the fact that Muslims fasted and prayed. I found that going to a Christian school I had a lot more in common with the religious practice of Muslims than most of my Christian friends.
The only thing that I didn’t understand about Muslims was why did they take Jesus as a prophet and not the son of God? This really confused me as I had never questioned the trinity. Then one day when I was 18 years old my answer finally came. I was on the bus going home when I met with my Muslim neighbour who was also in the same college as me. We somehow got into a discussion about Jesus and I was desperately trying to convince him with all my knowledge of the Bible that Jesus had died for our sins.
I was really impressed that he was listening to me and not arguing against my points. I had thought that I would finally be able to save a Muslim from eternal damnation by convincing them that Jesus was Gods son. When I had finished speaking he just smiled at me and said: ‘would yo like to know the Muslim version?’ and“Yes!” I said. I couldn’t wait to find out why Muslims thought that Jesus was a prophet, once he tells me I’ll be able to correct him easily, I thought.
We got off the bus and walked the rest of the way home. I waited for him to go and get a book from his house. I was really excited. After a few minutes he gave me a small A5 sized book about 100 pages long called: ‘The True Message of Jesus Christ’ By Bilal Philips.
I started reading it straight away. I got only about halfway through the book and I decided that I wanted to become a Muslim. I couldn’t believe what I was reading (but I believed it because it made perfect sense).
I had never before had doubts about Christianity or who Jesus was. I had never really questioned the Bible and its authenticity. To be honest I had never read it in it’s entirety from cover to cover even though I read it on a regular basis.
The first half of the book was references from the Bible I used to read every week clearly pointing out that Jesus was not a divine being or God or the son of God. He was clearly a Messenger of God like all of the other prophets of Allah.
And that was it for me, from that day I decided that I was a Muslim and I made every effort to learn as much about Islam as I could. I had always felt a connection with and loved Muslims, now I would be one of them alhamdulillah.
The Niqabi Diaries is a podcast dedicated to sharing the stories of the Muslim women who have experience wearing the face veil.
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