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How are you guys? I hope you are all in the best of health and imaan. I am doing sort of well. My health and imaan or both suffering right now, but alhamdulillah it is not as bad as some people have it.
This thread is titled "Hayya alal Islaami" or "Come to Islam", for you non Arabic speakers. I am going to be explaining in here, how I went from where I once was, in my mothers womb, to where I am now, a Shia Muslim. Although I hope that all of you have made that transition (from womb to Islam), I doubt many of you have had a journey similar to mine. I have posted it on this forum before, but it was under a different username. I was also in a hurry when I wrote that one, and probably not in the most perfect state of mind. So I am rewriting it. I hope that this one will be slightly more entertaining, truthful, and, above all, inspiring so that other people can Hayya alal Islaami. That is why the title is what it is. I have no need to post my story in here. None at all. And most of you have no need to read it. It may be nice, it may be distasteful, but if, due to my efforts, one person makes it an inch closer to Jannah, I have done my job. I am not the perfect Muslim - far from it actually - but I hope that despite everything, I can show some people what a beautiful and complete din this is. So, let's get started shall we.
Let's start with my birth. I was born around 17 1/2 years ago (Gregorian years, not Islamic years - I was born 18 years ago in the Hijri calendar). Soon after exiting my wonderful sleeping space, I was rudely shoved into a cold baptismal font to save me from original sin. This occurred in an Episcopal church, as that is what my parents were attending at the time. Within a year of this unwelcome bath, my parents split and my dad ran (off to another woman). My mother started working at a Church of Christ congregation on Sundays - helping in the nursery. As a small child, I accompanied her and played in the nursery with other children. This did not make much of an impression on me. Some time later (I have no idea) she quit because that particular church was blessing same sex unions, which she did not approve of. Then we started attending a Pentecostal church. I did not enjoy the Pentecostal church at all. The music was too loud, people danced and I didn't know why, and I always left that place with a headache. Then, I found a friend. He was a great friend. And then an incident happened that was so bad and personal that my mother took it to the police. He ceased being my friend, and out of respect for me, my mother didn't make me go back to that church.
My mum lost her job and decided to go back to college. Due to a lack of income and her savings being wiped out (by living expenses) we had to move. The house was sold and we moved to a city south of there, into an apartment. I was 11 at this point. I remember that distinctly. One day, some Mormons came knocking and got us baptized. I was very enthusiastic about Mormonism - it was something different! And there were a lot of super secret stuff like the temple. So exciting, for a young me. After around 2 or so years I got bored in Mormonism and only went to church grudgingly.
I began socializing on a Harry Potter fan site I made many friends (only 1 I keep in contact with now, unfortunately) including a Muslim. How exciting, a terrorist! jk. I was fascinated with her because she was so foreign and strange. She acted like everyone else, but she had a fun name to say. Asma. Slowly, a naive 13 year old me fell in love with her persona. So I started asking her about her religion. She didn't really care about it, much, but nonetheless she revealed some interesting things, such as the fact that she wasn't a dirty Shia. Oh, cool. Well, I ended up doing some pretty stupid stuff and she didn't want to be friends anymore.
High School rolls around and I am 14 years old. Money was tight so we did not have internet service at home. Instead of going home and doing absolutely nothing for hours until my mom came home from work (she had gotten a job at this point and we had moved 2 more times - far too many details to include here). So instead, I would take a transit bus to the local mall that had a Borders bookstore inside. I had a laptop computer and would always steal their free wifi. I guess it isn't stealing if it's free, but I never bought a book or coffee or anything, so it was practically stealing. One time, while browsing Facebook at the bookstore, I came across this girls profile. I didn't really care for her at this point, but it made me remember that she was a Muslim. So, to help pass the time, I looked for a book on Islam. I ended up reading "The Complete Idiots Guide to Islam". It was written from a very liberal Sunni perspective (yay no Wahhabis yet). I don't remember too many details from the book at this point, but I was very intrigued. Islam wasn't some terrorist thing, but man it sounded like it to the uneducated. If I became a Muslim I could get 72 virgins AND pretend to be a scary terrorist. Oh joy!! So I signed up on a "Muslim" (Wahhabi) website, Ummah.com
I didn't learn a whole lot until later. I finally decided that I had to get myself to a mosque. So I found out where the closest one was and told my mother I was going to the library (she was at work at this point so I took a transit bus). I made it to the mosque and embraced a religion I had no knowledge about. I couldn't even pronounce As-Salaamu Alaykum, let alone remember it. I did my first prayer at the masjid and got a ride home from the Imam. I was informed that I would not have to tell my mother about my conversion. Good, she would kill me. I stayed on that forum for quite a while, learning more and more. Funny enough, it was nasheeds that taught me how to pronounce words. I learned to love that Sahabah and Zakir Naik. I was taught that Osama bin Laden was only fighting the imperialist west and Zionism, and that terrorists were the guys in Washington. I was taught to LOVE Saudi Arabia. In fact, I became Saudi Arabia's HR person at my school. I was ALWAYS talking about how great Saudi Arabia was. I equated Saudi Arabia with my religion, and took extreme offense when anyone criticized it. Most of all, I was taught to stay away from filth Shia raafidis. I was told so many "facts" about them. They beat themselves, they worship Ali and Hussein, they get together in a dark room in Muharram to fornicate with each other in a mass orgy, they have a different Quran, and they curse the beloved companions of the Prophet
. How evil!!When I was 15, and finally learning how to drive, my mother was starting to become dissatisfied with Mormonism. I was re-investigating Christianity and Islam at the same time. Conveniently, a flier came in the mail for a "Bible Prophecy Seminar". Wow, this was exciting. I could unlock the future!! So I went with my mother. It turns out it was sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist church. Fantastic. We attended every Sabbath. I was still a Muslim, and when my mom became a member and got baptized, I declined. I tried to debate the pastor many times about Islam. It didn't work. I told my mother that I wanted to become a Muslim and she said it would be okay. She would be sad but I had to make my own choices. (Mind you, I had already converted, but I couldn't tell her that!)
Okay, enough of this Wahhabi and Christian business - onto the good stuff. As I mentioned earlier, I was taught to absolutely hate Shias. So, how did this stop? A variety of things. One time, while I was in English class (last year), my teacher was making fun of a New York law that banned certain topics for being on standardized tests (he's an extreme liberal). One of these was birthdays. I, sort of shyly, told him that Muslims don't celebrate birthdays. He, and the only hijabi in the class, both freaked out and said "YES THEY DO!" Well, damn, shut up, I'm a Muslim and know this. I didn't say that, but it's how I felt. So I went home and printed off a fatwa that banned birthdays (from a Wahhabi site, of course). I went to him the next day with this in hand and my teacher was like "according to who?!" And I was trying to explain that 90% of all Muslims believed this and that the girl in our class just belong to some fringe sect. He dismissed me and said that there is no way in hell that Sunnis are 90%. Well, he was stupid. This is evident from many other things, not just this.
Whatever, I have better things to do, like cursing Shias. Another person that influenced me was a guy named Ali in my Animation Design class. I talked to him about Islam a little, not too much. He was a Shia. I didn't outright curse him, but I made it clear that I was part of the Jamaat and knew better. He was too nice to tell me to bug off. I was sort of shocked. Why hadn't he cut me up like Shias do to themselves? Why hadn't he told me to go do something inappropriate to Umar, as Shias always curse the sahaba. And most of all, why did he, when talking to other people, say things like "Mike and I are Muslims"? Did he really consider me to be his brother in Islam? No way this Shia was a nice person. He was obviously in taqiyyah, as you can never trust a Shia. Oh well, two can play at that game.I was in the school library one day, in the religious section, and came across a book called "After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam" by Lesley Hazleton. Fantastic, I thought, finally I can prove that a Jew Munafiq started that stupid sect. Oops. That's not what the book said. I learned a LOT about history from that book, it was incredible. And what shocked me even more is that the author is an Agnostic Jew - not a Shia!! Okay, well, whatever. I went home and looked up the history. She was right!! Holy krap. This can't be right! Wow. I was in a total state of shock. I couldn't put that book down. When I had finished it, I was so surprised. This can't be right.
Remember that girl I mentioned earlier, the hijabi in my English class? Well, it was towards the end of the year in April/May/June (can't remember exactly). I was chatting with her and some other people and the subject of homosexuality came up. I said "I think homosexuals should be put to death in the most severe way". The little group was in shock. Why?! My religion says so. So the hijabi asked, well, what is your religion? Islam, of course. Then, she asked when I reverted. Wow. Why is she being nice to me? She's a Shia! Well, we got into a religious discussion. I said that although I agree that Ali should have been the first leader after Muhammad
, I could never be a Shia. I can't accept the worship of shrines, I can't accept that you have to beat and cut yourself, etc. She put me straight. "Uhm, we only worship Allah". Okay, well don't you prostrate to shrines? Nope. What is this madness?! She sounds like a decent Muslimah. I was deeply troubled. Later that very day, my mother had a doctors appointment, so I was in the car. I went to Youtube on my phone and typed in "Shia Nasheed" and it came up with my very favorite nasheed ever, at this point. Firaq e Ali/Separation from Ali. It was so beautiful. I couldn't believe it. So at some point I created an account here on Shia Chat (different username - let's not discuss that) to learn more. Wow!! What is this madness?! These people are just normal Muslims, for the most part, with some minor differences. Where's the taqiyyah? Where's the fornication in darkness? Where's the prostitution marriages? Where's the cursing? Where's the cutting and beating? Well, after these months I have become educated on those issues
So that's how it happened. A lot of details have been left out, especially recent events (I am so ashamed of them). But that is the "good stuff". If you want to know more about the past few months, feel free to PM me. But it's not the glorious events of this thread.
Sorry for the length and sorry for all of the sarcastic Shia insults.
If you know my old Username(s), please do not mention them here.
I wanted to keep reading, but that was all you shared! 
