My Journey to Islam
By Dawn Ross

Assalamu Alaikum to all Members,

Brother Maqsud asked me to write my story of my journey to Islam. There is
nothing very dramatic or remarkable in my story. I was living a very
comfortable life, active in my church, happy with my family, and not facing
any major difficulties. I wasn't looking for Islam but Islam found me. I'm
hoping my story will promote a better understanding between Muslims and
Christians. I find both Muslims and Christians have many preconceived
notions of each other which are simply not true.

I grew up in rural northern Indiana. My father was raised in an
Amish/Mennonite (1) family and my mother was raised in a Baptist (2) family.
I had a very happy childhood amongst all my extended family of grandparents,
aunts, uncles and cousins. We were all very close. Our faith was a big part
of my life. I can't remember a time I didn't believe in God. I never once
thought that our religious faith might have errors. My childhood consisted
of Church/Sunday School, Bible classes, summer youth Bible camps and
interaction with my Christian friends and family. All of our holidays were
centered on family and God. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter were all
times for focusing on God, spending time with family, and helping others.
During the holiday season, our church collected canned and packaged food,
basic clothing and gifts for needy families. There were many special
programs at church and my family spent more time in prayers and devotions. I
know Christmas is very commercialized and many Muslims who don't know any
Christians believe that's all Christmas is about. Christmas for my family
was a time to focus more on God, to celebrate the birth of Jesus (pbuh), and
to do what you could to help those less fortunate than yourself.

I attended a Baptist High School and a Mennonite College. I never really
interacted with people who believed differently than me. I did have some
problems understanding the trinity but it was understood to be a mystery and
I accepted that explanation. I also had some problems with contradictions in
the Bible but it was always explained by copy errors and translation errors.
My church believed the Bible to be the 'inspired' word of God not the
'literal' word of God. I explain this because Christians have different
beliefs about this issue. This is also difficult for many Muslims to
understand since Muslims believe the Qur'an to be the 'literal' words of
God. That difference explains why it's not a big issue for some Christians
when you point out errors in the Bible because they believe that the writers
were 'inspired' by God and then it's possible that fallible human beings
made copy errors and translation errors.

My journey to Islam started with helping my daughter to find information
about Islam. During her Fifth Grade year of Elementary School, she was
trying to earn her World Religion Badge for Girl Scouts. She was required to
write a report about another religion. She chose Islam. I helped her to find
reading material and I read along with her both because I wanted to monitor
her reading and I was curious about Islam. One of the requirements for the
badge was she needed to talk to someone from the chosen religion and ask
them questions. This was the difficult part as we didn't know of any Muslims
in our area. I tried calling some organizations in some of the nearby larger
cities but none of them returned our calls. Finally, I thought of going
online. I found a site where children could get a penpal and she was matched
up with a girl her age from Iran. Luckily, the girl's mother knew English
and translated their emails. They wrote to each other about their families,
friends, school, likes, dislikes, and religious beliefs. The girls became
good friends and even started to think of each other as sisters. To sum it
up, my daughter earned her badge, gained a friend, and I started on my
journey to Islam.

The basic reading I had done with my daughter for her report had made me
curious enough to continue reading more in depth about Islam. I read many
biographies about the life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). One story which
intrigued me was when the early Muslims emigrated to Abyssinia and were
protected by the Christian King Negus. This initiated me to start reading
about the early Christians and Church history to see how they interacted
with Islam and Muslims. I was surprised to find out there were many early
Christians who didn't believe in the divinity of Jesus (pbuh). Actually, the
trinity and the divinity of Jesus (pbuh) were imposed as church doctrine by
the Council of Nicea 325 CE. How could such integral beliefs of Christianity
not be taught by Jesus (pbuh) himself? This council also selected which
books were included in the Bible and which ones were discarded. I found it
disconcerting to find out they discarded the most early written eyewitness
accounts and included the later accounts of the gospels which were written
by people who had no personal contact with Jesus (pbuh). I read and agonized
over these issues and many others for over a year. Instead of being
reassured of my beliefs, the more I read, the more doubts I had about
Christianity. It's very difficult to accept when you challenge your lifelong
belief system and find it to be lacking. Finally, I decided I needed to go
beyond the reading and talk to Muslims.

As previously stated, I didn't know of any Muslims in my area so I started
with the Islam public chat rooms. The public chat rooms are horrible with so
much fighting and arguing. Finally, I met someone who was willing to talk
with me and answer questions. He was very knowledgeable and answered many of
my questions. He also suggested I try the user chat rooms as there were
people there who were trying to help people learn about Islam. The Beginners
to Islam user chat rooms were where I met Brother Maqsud and Brother Dust.
They both came online to try to help others learn the truth about Islam.
They answered my questions and explained many things about Islam to me and
to many others as well.

I started to read the Qur'an. I began with Sura Maryam because I wanted to
read what the Qur'an said about Jesus (pbuh). It wasn't what I expected. I
would lay in bed at night reflecting and praying about what I had read. I
asked myself, "Does Islam have the right answers in my search for the Truth
about God?" There came a time when I realized I believed Islam to be the
truth. Islam is a beautiful religion because it is simple and clear and
isn't bogged down with incomprehensible religious doctrine. The concept of
Tawheed, the oneness of God, is simple and easy to understand. Islam is the
same message brought to us by all the prophets. The day I said my Shahada, I
felt a peace I had never felt before. I felt like I was at the end of a long
journey when actually it was also the beginning of a new journey. There is
so much to learn about Islam. I have been a Muslim for almost two years now.
I read the Qur'an and study as much as I can. I am fascinated by the study
of Hadiths and I'm slowly trying to learn some Arabic. I know I have much
to learn.

I accepted to become a co-moderator of the Islamic Minds Yahoo group
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IslamicMinds/ ) because I felt I could help
to be a bridge between Christians and Muslims. I am thankful to all the
members who send in great postings about Islam. I learn so much by reading
them and it encourages me to read and study more.

I would like to invite any non-Muslim reading this to read the Qur'an and to
learn more about Islam. Remember that Allah (swt) guided you to this page,
to read these words for a purpose.

".... Allah sendeth whom He will astray, and guideth unto Himself all who
turn (unto Him), Who have believed and whose hearts have rest in the
remembrance of Allah. Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find
rest!" Quran 13.27-28

your sister in Islam,

Dawn
aprildawnofday@yahoo.com


Note: I included the following footnotes for those who are unfamiliar with
these Christian Denominations.

(1) - Amish/Mennonite -The Amish are a religious group who live in
settlements in 22 states and Ontario, Canada. The Amish stress humility,
family and community, and separation from the world. The Amish have their
roots in the Mennonite community. Both were part of the early Anabaptist
movement in Europe, which took place at the time of the Reformation.

(2) - Baptist - The Baptists form one of the largest Protestant
denominations, with worldwide membership of nearly 35 million. Throughout
their history, Baptists have sought to be faithful to the truth of the
Gospel and to pattern the Church on the principles of fellowship found in
the New Testament.