A change of Perception!

Step back and reflect on all the marvelous creations of Allah to get a tiny glimpse into his magnitude of greatness.  If you take the time to reflect you would understand how important it is to follows Allah's commands to invest in your future after this life is over.  Loving and obeying Allah is now deeply in my heart because i was once astray and Allah guided me out of the dark and into the light.

 

My name is Shanaya and I was born and raised in NYC.  Becoming a Muslim was the greatest gift I had ever received in my life.  It is so important to Thank God each and every day for your blessings so they can keep coming.  My conversion story is something even interesting to me.  All my life growing up in NYC I was just going with the flow, having boyfriends, going to parties, hanging out and trusting people not worth my time.  Even though I always felt uncomfortable with all of this, I was convinced that this was the normal life because that is really all that was around me. 

I had a great childhood and an awesome mother who was and still is always there for me.  I struggled a lot spiritually growing up and the only one who understood me was my mother.  I would have seizures, night terrors and attacks from what I thought back then was spirits.  This was tough.  I was even subjected to being controlled by a woman who does magic and call herself a spiritualist. She was suppose to help me with my problems,  my mother and I let he lead and manipulate us for ten years.  She would just take my money and hurt me even further.  She wasn’t the only one though, I ended up going on this what seemed like never ending journey of meeting with spiritualist after spiritualist trying to find help and answers for all my issues, but they all did more harm than good. 

I decided to drop it all and just study on my own; I ended up understanding all about many polytheistic religions which I thought was the answer.  I also learned about Christianity but it didn’t feel like it was right and something was missing.  I studied Kabala which I really liked and thought was very helpful but it felt like this was not my last stop and I decided to just keep reading and studying.

In the mix of all my trying to find myself and God, I became very enthusiastic about Anthropology and always was intrigued by Ancient Egyptian history and decided one day to take a visit to Egypt.  I almost didn’t make it, the trip was cancelled for me and then miraculously back on.  On my way to the Airport my transportation shuttle broke down on the highway and I even almost missed my fight.  Oh man I learned when something great is about to happen to you Satan (awooze billahee mashatanee r rajime) tries to stop it from coming to you at all cost.  Well I made it on the trip and it was amazing.

The second to last day I was there, it was a man asking my friends and I to come inside his shop, I was tired at this time and told him no.  I also was tired from all the Egyptian men hitting on me all day and just categorized him as another one.  My good friend looked at me and said “it is something special about him, let’s go in his store.”  I agreed and looked around and bought a piece of art.  My friend looked at me again and said “you give him your e-mail” and then looked at him and said “you give her your e-mail, I feel something great here.”  This store clerk and I ended up talking all night, kept in contact and I came back five months later to marry him. 

I have been married for almost two years now and I can honestly say it’s the best thing that happen to me in my life because with him I gained Islam.  At first I was reluctant because America draws a bleak picture on Islam and I always thought the women were suppressed and unhappy.  Because of my Husband’s support I decided to study this religion, I mean why not I done studied everything else.  For eight months I studied Islam, challenged it and questioned it and finally decided to accept it and submit to it.  I realized that there is nothing more enlightening and that there is nothing greater than the path of Allah.  I don’t have any of the problems I had before and my life has changed for the better completely.  I trust, depend, have faith in, love, submit to, thank and believe in my Lord completely and I have never been let down.

Now I Have been Muslim for one year and it’s Ramadan and I have time to reflect.  My perception of this world has completely changed.  Now I walk down the street in NYC covered with my hijab proudly, and all the women who walk around naked with it all hanging out looks at me as if I have the problem.  I do not judge them or criticize them because maybe a long time ago I was one of them.  I just pray that Allah gives them understanding and leads them into the light.

I hope you enjoyed this short story, Inshallah I will go into it further in the future.  May Allah Guide Us and Never Let Us Go Astray.

Shanaya