A new life begins

The beginning of the journey

So what made me fall in love with Islam was, men have rights over women and women also have rights over the men, that the prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) said that the best amongst you are those best to their wives. True muslims treat their wives with patience, respect, love, care, and compassion. Then I heard the call for prayer (also known as the athan) it is the most beautiful thing I ever heard in my life. I had also learned about the importance of worshipping Allah. I decided that I wanted to learn even more. I decided to get a book from the library with a list of all the more popular religions in the world with a little background on the religion and I studied that book for a while. I went the the synagogue to try Judaism, I went to temple to try Hinduism, but nothing felt right to me. Islam just kept calling to me so, I decided to go to a mosque to ask some questions. When I got to the mosque there was a man who was leaving and he noticed I looked lost and he asked if I needed help and I told him that I just heard about Islam and wanted to learn more. So he told me that I could go inside and go upstairs that the imam would be there. (An imam is the religious leader, like how Christian's have priests.) But first he told me I needed to wear a headscarf inside the mosque and he gave me a beautiful black headscarf. So I went in and asked the Imam my questions. Muslims have 5 pillars of Islam

1. The shahada, which is the profession of faith that "There is no God but God and that Muhammed (peace be upon him) is the final prophet.

2. Salat (Prayer) Muslims pray five times a day. Fajr (early morning), Dhuhr ( noon prayer), Asr (afternoon prayer), Maghrib (sunset prayer) and Isha (the night prayer and final prayer of the day.

3.Zakat (Charity)

4. Fasting (most of you may have heard of Ramadan the month of fasting. We do not drink or eat from Fajr (sunrise) till maghrib (sunset.) However Islam is a merciful religion. If a woman is on her menses she should not fast or even pray. If she misses days of her fast she should make them up another time. If someone is too sick, for example if they have diabetes or something like that they should not fast. If that is the case you should donate money or food to the hungry.)

5. Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) Again Islam is a merciful religion. If you cannot afford to make pilgrimage to Mecca for Hajj it will not be counted against you.

Men and Women enter the mosque through separate entrances so that women and men do not become distracted by each other so they can focus on worshipping Allah. Women are actually seen as a treasure in Islam which is why we wear the headscarf, and abayas, some wear niqabs (covering the face except the eyes), and some wear burqas. (Covering the entire face.) It is not to oppress us...it is to keep us from having men stare at us, and so we are noticed for our minds not our looks. It is also because Allah ordered it for us, and we do that to show our dedication to our religion. After a little bit of talking to the Imam, I left but returned multiple times until one day I decided to take my shahada. The imam had me repeat after him.

"Ash hadu an la ilaha illa-Allah wa ash hadu ana muhammadan rasulullah"

"I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and that Muhammad is the final prophet." And then he told me that all my sins until that point have been forgiven because I was starting off with a clean slate.

At that moment...I felt happier than I had in a very VERY long time.