Priests Embracing Islam: What Touches Me?

Assalamualaikum, Alhamdulillah wa kullu hamd lillah I was born as a Muslim and given the chance to accept Islam as the deen al-haq (true religion). Everyday I pray that I die a Muslim and be brought back to life as one
Upon reading Priests Embracing Islam I found myself again and rejuvenate my faith in Islam. I had done things I am not proud of in the earlier years of my life. My parents struggled hard to make me a good Muslim. I never watched my prayers consistently and always made reasons not to. I used to sit for five minutes in the praying room and come out without praying and go as far as lying that I was having my menstrual cycle so I did not have to pray. One of my parents’ efforts was to send me into a Summer Camp in which the participants were taught many Islamic values and it bored me to death that we had so many dzikr sessions. I thought there was no free time but you will find us chanting Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah wa La ilaha illallah or Ya Allah, Ya Allah, Ya Allah.
My very first experience of the feeling that ‘Allah exists’ was in 1999 when I was in Quebec. I prayed Subuh and after reading a few pages from the Quran I chanted Ya Allah, Ya Allah, Ya Allah out of spontaneity and I felt what Sister Khadijah said, “..something drop into my beng!” I cried like I had never cried before. After that I do my best to watch my prayers.
In my college years I kept asking how I can be sure Islam is the true religion. Why is it that the ustaz always said the biggest ni’mat is being a Muslim and to have iman? Why was it that the sahabah were willing to die for a Prophet Muhammad s.a.w? And finally I asked if Allah really is the only God why did He not save me from what I had done wrong? All these questions were driving me crazy.
My mother gave me a translation of the Quran and I had it with me at college but never did I give it a serious attention. Having heard so many times that Quran is from Allah, it is not written by Prophet Muhammad s.a.w then I thought if it is true it should be able to provide me with answers to my questions. Dr. Gary Miller might call it Falsification Test but I did not know anything about this then. It was on Saturday and I was not even properly covering my aurat when I picked up that translation from my desk and opened randomly. My eyes fell straight on the verse 186 from Surah al-Baqarah:
When my servants ask thee concerning me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on me: let them also, with a will, listen to My call, and believe in Me: that they may walk in the right way.
Allah never left me! I left Him! I cried and at that age of 18 I secretly renewed my shahadah. Now I really wanted to be a Muslim and I believe Islam is true.
The experience if not more was quite similar to Al-Hajj Ibrahim Khalil Ahmed when he heard the recital of certain Quranic versions. Since then I made it a point to always turn to the Quran when I have any doubt about anything and it has never failed to provide me with an adequate and convincing answer. Like Raphael Narbaez wrote: …it’s been a very loving protection. And I read more about the sirah of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w and tried to understand what Islam really asked from its practitioners.
From this point I realized that the Muslims nowadays are quite diverted from the real Islam taught by the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w thus I started to change my label of personality like did Dr. Jerald F. Dirks (Abu Yahya). I tell myself ‘I am a Muslim and I am a Muslim woman’. Thus I must first follow what Islam said instead of what the society said. The route was not easy though but I believed as long as we are sincere Allah will always be there to guide us and to lend a helping hand.
Other than these similarities in experiences towards acknowledging Islam as the true religion, what touched me in this book was how they put their all into propagating Islam and used all that was given by Allah unto them should it be their knowledge, their wealth and their other specialty to help promote Islam to the world. They really practice Islam and showed good akhlak to demonstrate the real Muslim characters.
This has opened my eyes to be more conscious about my way of conduct because I am not wandering on this earth solely as a person but I am an ambassador of Allah, I must be His spokesperson and I must carry out my duty to the best perfection I can achieve. Martin John Mwaipopo called out for us to Flood the world with literature. I have been blessed by Allah with the skill of creative writing. I pray that Allah will guide me and help me to use this skill in His advantage. Insha Allah.