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Jonathan Beale, Ex-Catholic, UK (part 2 of 2)
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Description: How then he surrendered to God and embraced Islam.
By Jonathan Beale
Published on 16 Mar 2009 - Last modified on 04 Oct 2009
Viewed: 7200 (daily average: 5) - Rating: 5 out of 5 - Rated by: 13
Printed: 477 - Emailed: 1 - Commented on: 3
Category: Articles
> Stories of New Muslims
> Men
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I had to keep in touch with my family, but my hometown
was a bit of a war zone. So I decided if they wanted to see me, they could come
to visit me instead. I went to college and started my A levels. I was behind
everyone else because they had all just come from school, but my GCSEs allowed
me to go anyway. I took 3 years to complete a two year course, but also had to
work and provide for myself and learn to live like a normal person and cook and
clean, etc. I also learned that I had a love for chess and Bobby Fischer was my
hero. The other students were still at home with their parents, so I had
additional things to worry about, but life was pretty good. I started going
back to church but not regularly. My pastor, Friar Kevin, was a great man and I
respect him very much, but when I prayed, I could only feel that I pray to God,
not Jesus. I didn’t feel that Jesus could hear me, or that he was here on
earth, although I had a huge respect for him.
I hated Islam, as I saw Muslims as “the enemy”, as do
most English people that I know. I had met Muslims, and they were nice, but I
thought that terrorism was evil and our forces were heroes trying to save the
world.
I had forgiven my parents for the problems they had
brought me and my Dad had also turned his life around. He lived on the streets
in London for 7 years before being housed and started looking after himself
properly and gave up drugs. He took me on holiday to Morocco, where I quickly
found that Muslims were incredibly kind people. My whole life was turned on
its head. I fell in love with Islam instantly!
Most people think I had some hate preachers “making” me
become Muslim, but the truth is that I was the one asking all the questions. They
were just nice people who looked after me. I got home and became more and more
interested. I had loved the idea of God in Christianity, but never had a drive
to learn or listen regarding the religion.
I agreed that abortions were wrong, as Friar Kevin had
put a compelling argument forward, but I could never listen to all the Bible
stories. Sometimes when I sat down and started reading the Bible, I would read
for hours, but I couldn’t get into the whole culture very well. But Islam
seemed perfect. The banning of alcohol in Islam made sense and my early youth
years is an evidence of it, the bane of my youth was said to be “haram”
(unlawful).
Family values, something my early life lacked, were
incredibly emphasized. I felt Islam had all the answers. It truly must have
been the word of God. How else could the Quran revealed 1400 years ago answer
all the problems in my life?
I read all about the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and
blessings of God be upon him, and I felt a huge respect for him. I wanted to
follow in his footsteps. The Christian teachings had failed to really
captivate me, but with Islam, I would hang off of every word.
I started learning about all of Allah’s prophets, may
God praise them all, and started even looking back over my Bible to learn more
about the amazing stories of prophets that I had neglected so much as a
Christian. I couldn’t believe I had never read all this sooner.
I looked in my area for Muslims and found some. They
were very nice people and it was the only Muslim world I could get connected with,
so I started to meet up with them. I also traveled to other countries and I
accepted Islam in Cyprus and took the name Dawood for myself. After I got home
I was still hungry for more information about Islam and bought a copy of the
translations of the meanings of the Quran in English, it also had a
transliteration of the Arabic text. I began to pray twice a day. I didn’t
know the words so I did the actions and after praying I would read a bit of the
Quran.
I began to memorize a bit of the Fatihah, the opening
chapter of the Quran each day. It took me a week to learn the English and
Arabic as I felt you should know what you’re praying about. I then learnt the
chapter of Ihklas.
The blessed month of Ramadan came and each night we
would pray taraweeh (night prayers) and break fast together, the food was
amazing! They were mostly white reverts with a few Indians, some Malaysians,
and various other Muslims.
I was so happy with my religion that anytime I saw
someone Asian-looking in the shop where I work I would say “As-salam Alaykum”
in the hope that they would be Muslims.
Of course if they weren’t Muslims, it could end badly,
but it never did, and I met a lady from Bangladesh who stopped and gave salaams.
The next day she came in with her family and brought me some food for breaking
fast and offered me to come and learn to read Arabic and learn how to pray
properly.
I am now nearing the end of college. I am still working
at being a better Muslim. My area doesn’t have many Muslims but the lady from Bangladesh has really brought me leaps and bounds, and I can now pray on my own and I am
close to being able to read the Quran in Arabic and have had a change of career
plans.
I now hope to go to a Muslim community and study Islamic
Studies and Arabic and be part of a community and have a Muslim family, by the
will of God. I wanted before to study IT (information technology) but now,
Islam rules my life. I wake up every day to serve Allah and to free myself
more and more from any unlawful practices, and make a sincere effort to follow
the example of Prophet Muhammad and in general to learn my religion.
I feel very happy. My friends and family were all very
surprised at first, but they have all grown to accept it, and I refuse to let
anyone put me down for my religious beliefs, because it is my right as a human
being to believe in Allah and celebrate this belief with my fellow Muslim
brothers and sisters.
There are many of obstacles ahead. I need to find a
nice Muslim woman for marriage, and work out how to provide for her and a
family if I am dropping my I.T. studies for Islam, but it is a good way for me
to show Allah that I have trust in Him.
There is much to be learned, and my teacher tells me I
am still a ‘baby’ in Islam, but, by the will of God, I will give Islam ‘my
everything’. I also hope to help other Muslims in Britain and somehow give
back to the Muslim nation for all the nice things it has done for me.
There is no way I will ever be able to repay the debt I
owe to Islam because I truly discovered something wonderful and it has done so
many things for me. The most recent thing was that I cleared £9,000 worth of
debts, and I am now saving, because Muslims must not pay interest, so I cleared
my credit cards and loans. Another amazing message that is very clear in the
Quran is that the troubles of society can be easily resolved by returning back
to the path of God..
Islam just keeps giving me, and everything good can only
come from Allah. I am thankful that Allah put me through some tests as a
youth, as it brought me closer to Him and I am truly sorry for all my sins, may
Allah forgive me for my weaknesses and make me a better person, by the will of
God.
May Allah bless all our brothers and sisters who are
suffering around the world, from Bosnia to Palestine, Somalia to Afghanistan, may Allah offer them comfort and bless them for their commitment to Allah no
matter what they are tested with. Thanks for reading and you will all be in my
prayers.
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