I never really thought about it again until I took a class in high school called Religion and Human Culture. We learned about a lot of different religions, but Islam really stood out to me. We didn't spend a lot of time on Islam, but it stayed in my head.
The summer that I got out of high school, I was invited to go with a friend to a wedding reception. That night was the beginning to my pathway to Islam. I met a man there. Before I go any further, I should tell you neither of us planned on going to the wedding reception.
I saw him near the music table. I kept looking over at him. He finally came over, but he asked my friend to dance. When she said, "no", he asked me. I was disappointed, so I told him, "no." Later that night we did dance and had a lot of fun! He told me he asked my friend to dance first just in case I said,"no."
When we were finished dancing we started talking. I don't know how, but we got on the subject of religion. He asked me what my religious preference was. I told him that I didn't have one, but was interested in Islam. He told me he was also interested in Islam.
We started going out after that night. We never really talked about Islam after that night until he got transferred from his job to another state. By that time, we had a son named Kasim. The state that we moved to was Michigan. We saw a lot of muslims there! This is the state where we declared our faith and got married.
I was scared at first, I didn't think I was ready. But, we did it! Alhumdulillah! I was pregnant again when we got married. All of the sisters were very nice to me! They invited me to come back, but I never did. I feel badly about it too. Insha'allah, I'll go back there.
I was a homemaker and I didn't have a car. I told my parents about my conversion to Islam and the marriage. My mom was happy for us. My dad and his wife were happy that we were married and that's about it. In March of the next year, I had our daughter, Zayna.
It hurts me to say that after I had Zayna, I stopped practicing Islam, not completely, but I didn't pray like I should have. May Allah forgive me!
Things weren't going that well for us. My husbands dad had passed. When we went to his dad's funeral, I met my husband's cousin. She's muslim as well.
Anyway. We ended up having to get my husbands oldest daughter for awhile and stayed with his cousin over night. She told us we could stay with her.
We went back to Michigan, but ended up back at his cousins house. Things were going great for awhile. His cousin and I were becoming friends. I started praying regularly again. I met other sisters at the Masjid. They were wonderful! They felt like family. I had our last child down there, Salimah.
But unfortunately, things didn't work out. So, we moved back to where I'm from. This happened almost a year ago. Now we're trying to get involved in an Islamic community again. Insha'allah we'll find one soon! Although my family has been through a lot, we never lost our faith in Allah.
We plan on getting married again this year, so that our family and friends can be there. Insha'allah we'll meet some brothers and sisters to invite. May Allah's blessings be upon us all!
