how i became muslim alhamdulillah

[Path2Felicity]

What I just didn't understand was: you wrote your mother asked you during summertime "Why do u want to hide your beautiful hair?"

I'm sorry to say, but that sounds really stupid. I don't understand why she says that to you.

Actually, this is quite normal. I get it too sometimes- from "non-religious" muslims and from non-muslims. Here is my question- are we allowed to show our hair to non-muslims? And if it's allowed, is it recommended?

Wasalaam

[SaraMakoSurname]

Alhamdulillah for all the sisters! They're both really touching and inspiring stories. :)

[fleetwoodmac]

Dear Sis Um Yousef & other freinds,

Your story is truly touching and heart rendering. Few are able to go through the struggles you have done and studied and had the patience and backbone to do as you have done. May Allah bless you with a lifetime of happiness in this world and the hereafter..

I can identify with you in aspects- in that I was from a Suny Background and through an amazing set of friends- I accepted the Shia thought. There is much falsification towards the followers of AhlulBait and the majority of sunnies have little knowledge of history-if anything they say “why discuss this-its History-leave it to the scholars”. But no-one should live in Ignorance. I am no-where near where I want to be-but hopefully with many more years of research I'll reach my target.

Best wishes to you all…

(Lover of Allah, lover of his prophet-& lover of the Ahlul Bait)

[786khayr]

(salam) MAshALLAh ur accounts are so beautiful sisters. InshAllah may Allah keep us all on the right path. MAy Allah give us strength and guidance to find the truth inshALLAH.

Assalamoalikum

[arifahussain2003]

Salam un alaikum

Mashallah sister um yusuf and blessedflower. Your stories made me cry and I thank to Allah that I am born in shia family and that my parents are good shias though they sometimes commite sins like ghaibah. Mashallah sisters i am surprised of how you were guieded to Allah's path even when every one in your family besides being muslim tried to stop you practicing the true religion.

And sister um yusuf if you are not married, I pray to Allah to inshllah give you a nice husband who can help you understand islam better.

May Allah guide us all to his path (amin).

Thanks again. your stories were marvellous. Really inspiring. I enjoyed and cried alot.

Ilthimas e dua sisters and brothers

Arifa

[sariff]

asalmaolikum..

blesedflower i really appreciate the way you struggled for shiaism really..i am so glad..i am intensely inspired by you..wow..you know what..when i wsa reading your story..tears were flowing down my cheeks. :cry: ..may Allah bless you the way you struggled...sister..its quite impresive...hmmm....as for um-yousuf i loved her story..its nice as well...may Allah guide the others too.....i ams o happy to read thsees stories :D :D :D ..any other converted shia.......???? :wub: ok ppl take care...salams and dua..

Allah hafiz..

[um_yousef]

salam alaikum what does "zabeeha" and "non-zabeeha" mean and what language are they in?

[Guest blessedflower]

salam alaikum what does "zabeeha" and "non-zabeeha" mean and what language are they in?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

(bismillah) (salam)

Zabeeha means ''slaughtered Islamically'' and non- or ghair-zabeeha means the opposite.

Also, if you are not aware of how an animal is slaughtered islamically you can do a search in this forum, there are many threads about it.

[Guest blessedflower]

^OH and that's Arabic (zabeeha).

[dingdong]

this is how u slaughter in he Islamic way (I guess and I hope I am not missing steps):

1. Find something to slaughter according to the recipe or your mood.
   
2. Makesure everything you do is according to your country's laws. No slaughtering in the backyard.
   
3. Buy the animal with your halal money or acquire it from halal means.
   
4. Make sure the animal has gone through itikaf (I think thats what its called when basically u put the animal on a good diet for a certain no of days.)
   
5. Take good care of the animal but not too the extent of giving up your bed and chair for it.
   
6. If you dont have the guts to slaughter an animal (which I dont think I have, never tried) then find a Muslim preferably or a Christian or Jew to slaughter.
   
7. Get a knife, a darn sharp one. And I mean SHARP sharper than a Katana. But not too sharp or you will risk chopping off your animals whole neck unintenionally.
   
8. Shrapen the knife even more but not in front of the animal.
   
9. Get ready. Get old clothes. Get the kids and other sensitive people out of sight and out of hearing range. Find a nice clean place to slaughter.
   
10. Dont be an idiot and throw your animal down and then have a seat next to him so that you can sharpen your knife. A man did this, he threw his animal down to slaughter him but instead he started sharpening his knife. The Prophet (as) told him why he wanted to slaughter the animal twice.
    
11. When you are ready, make the animal drink water to its fill. You dont want to be an oppressor like yazid who killed when the Shaheeds were thirsty.
    
12. Make preparations according to your animal. For example for a chicken bring a bucket to throw it in so that you just have to clean the bucket and the blood does not spray all over the place. This might help if you decided to wear your old wedding dress. Example 2: A camel. For a camel I think you need a sword to hack away at its neck before you slaughter it in the normal way.
    
13. Make the kids and close and dear ones say a final good bye to the animal, if you didnt already.
    
14. Recite any duas if you want to.
    
15. Get your animal ready for slaughtering in what eve manner is appopriate. For example just hold a chicken to slaughter it. Example 2: Pull the goats legs to make it lie down. Hack away at the camels neck. etc etc.
    
16. Make the animal head face the Ka'aba.
    
17. Get reay with your knife.
    
18. Go through a final checklist for a pain and hassle free final journey for your beloved animal.
    
19. Say Bismillahir Rahman nir Raheem.
    
20. Say Allahu Akbar.
    
21. [censored for the light hearted]
    
22. [uncensored for the curious ones]Place your knife at the animals throat. With one powerful slash you have to cut the animals wind pipe and 4 main veins.
    
23. Let the blood flow.
    
24. Thats it! You have your Islamically slaughtered animal infront of you.
    
25. Clean up the scene of any blood.
    
26. Have a nice meal and thank Allah for it all.
    

I hope I ahve not missed out anything. If I have then I do not take any responsibility.

Edited September 14, 2007 by dingdong

[ithna_ashariyya_786]

:cry: wooooooooooooooooow aslamaualykum thats is such a beautiful story ..........my lord!!!

absolutely touching

all you poeplel are such good muslims i feel so ashamed of myself seeing such good deicated shias im soo bad!!!

one thing.. i wish shiachat could be live its easier and you can't catch everyone when you want to lol coz its so inspiring

anyways keep the stories coming i love seeing them !

waslaam

[wijdan38]

hi um usuf ... i read your stroy and yes u were blessed by having understanding family ,,, i convered to islam but not in public and i love a muslim man ,,, the problem i have is to tell my family that i;m not christian any more and they r making hopes for me to be with them and getting married christian man ,,, i love them so much and i find difficulties in hurting them but i;m also hurt in being christians for them i cant go back and cant do what they r doing any more how can i overcome this i;m in conflict

(bismillah)

as salam alaikum sisters,

i wanted to take you through my journy of how i became muslim alhamdulillah and a follower of ahul bait. i must finnish so inshallah ur replies will help me with that.

hope you find it intresting.

salam alaikum :rolleyes:

back in august of 1992 my father began a contract in london, UK. my mom reluctantly agreed this time we would travel with him overseas. after we got settled in our flat, mom took us to the square we lived around to play and meet other neibourhood children.

my sisters and i met a bunch of very nice girls that summer and each summer there after until we eventually returned back to canada. looking back, it is those friends i made there that peeked my interest to study islam. it was my first experience with muslims first hand and they had made an impression on me that inshallah will last a lifetime.

being asked what my religion was throughout the years prompted me to think about why i should respond that i am a christian simply because my mom said she is or cuz wernt "all canadians"? thinking about it, i had a belief but it wasnt christianity that i was sure of. i believed in God but from there i knew there had to be a truth and that i needed to find out.

i began to take any books i could find on religion at home. my father always was a book collector so we had more than he probably even knew about, thats what i think up until this day. so one day while looking through a world religions book i read the section on islam. this was basic of course. but it pushed me further as what i read all was falling into place and making sense of what i already had in my mind. it made me question was i already a muslim but i didnt know thats what to call myself? i needed to read the Quran. the next day or so i was once again in my fathers library and i spotted just that! to this day my father doesnt know the quran which lead me to where i am now was on his bookshelf. the minute after taking it down i started reading and read 3 days straight without stopping alhamdulillah. before finishing i knew it was the final revelation and i wanted to learn more on how i could become a muslim if i wasnt actually one already..

days past i got busy with other sorts of things. i read and read on different religions as well to confirm my belief and understand what others believed. to this day i still read so much. its what got me to where i am now alhamdulillah.

where i am now is another chapter. time to rest

:angel:

chapter 2 section 1

time went by so fast months turned too 2 years and i was still very much reading everything i could get my hands on in between meeting a few muslims in my day to day life none very strong in practice but always interested in talking to me about their beliefs. i noticed even people in name only basically were proud to say they are muslim seeming deep down they knew it was the truth. this also made me think.

back then, the net wasnt so accessible as it is nowadays. so i went to the local library for information and tried to get it from the few i knew, running into the problem that it was by their words and not verification i was listening. during this period i ran into conflicting "views" between what i was reading mostly and the history of islam in what they were saying.

more time went by, i already considered myself muslim and had said shahada alone but i decided the best thing to do would be to get in touch with a lady from the local mosque cuz i wanted to get to know other muslim girls around my age. i was very shy, i had a friend call and arranged i meet with this lovely older woman a few evenings later.

i remember it being so cold, i went to meet with her, an experience i'll never forget. it was the first time to go to an actual islamic center.. she was ready for me and we talked she gave me a few literatures to take home and said i should call these very nice Egyptian girls they would be glad to help me on my journey and i should say shahada officially soon as possible. i went home so happy

section 2

a week later i went to the university to meet with the girls. they were so welcoming. i went with them to the prayer room they have there. they had me talk with the man who leads prayers. to be sure i knew what i was doing and what being muslim meant.!. well after i talked to him and he told me some rules i already knew, i said my shahada in arabic. alhamdulillah i cant tell u how it felt after i pronounced it. i was so happy and when i was saying it some girls started crying :] it was something in all my life i will never forget. even now years have past and differing of opions and circumstances drove us to part ways, but those muslim women and girls who i said my shahada in front of will always be in my memory as the happiest and most important day of my life. they all should be blessed for all they did for me and for just for being there at that time. i became their sisters that evening. something i never knew of. a new feeling, i had made a decision and had chosen the best way of life. alhamdulillah.

chapter 3 & the answer to your question :)

I started to wear 7ijab that day. first day felt like people were staring at me but it got easier very fast. now its a normal thing which i dont think twice about. it is just another piece of clothing i put on before i go out. it must have been self consciousness then as i dont find many people actually do stare nowadays.

well what should i do when i got home, i asked myself? i was very proud to be wearing it in public that day alhamdulillah. so proud in fact, that it made me unafraid to walk up to my door with my mommy at home and be having it on! i remember i was feeling a little timid but that was all. my driver dropped me and i went straight up to the house not thinking twice to remove it before i walked in. people when they ask me tend to assume my family would have been opposed to my decision, at least at first. all i can say is my family is very accepting and open in respect to world ideas, views etc. and my choice to become a muslim didnt have oposition with them thank God. they had known i was studying islam before i walked in dressed that way so it wasnt an absolute surprise. not that i had announced it but i knew my mom had seen many books in my room on Islam and told my father about it as well.

the only thing basically that i have heard in relation to what i have chosen against it is by my mom saying constantly, especially during the summer months is, "why do u want to hide your beautiful hair?"! thats the point mom! i hope one day inshallah she will understand. :) other than that my family has been very open to my islamic way of life so i always say alhamdulillah for this.

[bonjer_gal]

May Allah bless u Um_yousef...may islam will be our religion till our very end day.inshaallah.

and for all the bros and sisters with all of their inspiring stories, i just wanna say...i am so proud of u all guys...may Allah protect us in every step we make..inshaallah.

salam :)

[mrs zahabi]

(salam)

mashaallah sister a nice story.i can feel the tears in my eyes.may Allah bless u.

[.x.azadari4evaa.x.]

wow sister, ur story is inspirational to us all. May Allah bless you.