Bismillahi Ar-Rahmani Ar-Raheem

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

I testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his Messenger. My name is Ali Omair, named Thomas by my parents.

Like everyone, I was born a Muslim (in a state of fitrah - purity), but my parents raised me as a Roman Catholic. I was born in New York City of French and German heritage. My family moved to London, England where I spent all my high school years in Catholic school. My mother is a devout Catholic, but my father became an anti-clerical non-Catholic when I was young.

As an avid reader of history, I first read about Islam’s rise in terms of its early empire. I remember reading how ferocious the Arabs and Turks were and that is why they were able to defeat the Romans and Byzantines. Much of the history I read painted the conflicts in terms of the civilized Christian West defending itself against hoards of savage Muslims. Even the crusades were presented as an honorable and defensive war. The most terrible of events (the Children’s Crusade, the Crusaders Sack of Constantinople, the extermination of Spain’s Jews and Muslims, etc.) were depicted as justifiable aberrations in an otherwise thoroughly noble cause. And the destruction of Jerusalem, where 30,000 Muslim and Jewish men, women and children were massacred was a great victory. I was taught that Islam was spread by the point of the sword and that people became Muslims because they would be killed otherwise. Only later did I find out that Christians, Jews, Hindus and others all lived freely in Islamic nations. So from my childhood I had some knowledge of Muslims (though virtually nothing of Islam), but it was all so terrible, that I was convinced that these were terrible people, "our" enemies.

In High School I had tried very hard to be religious. I wanted to believe. But the hypocrisy of the people who called themselves Christians made it so hard. (Of course the behavior of many Muslims is a shame also, but I thank the Almighty that I accepted Islam before I saw some of the unsavory Muslims I have known.) And I tried to accept the Trinity on faith, but it never really made any sense to me. And as my parents had separated and my father was agnostic at best, I wanted to see some men who were believers. Yet the church seemed full of women. A few fathers would come, and of course there was the priest, but it seemed that religion was a woman’s domain. I am not a misogynist, but as a young man I was hoping for some role models. It seemed to me that real men went to pub, not to church.

Like most of my friends my life as a teenager revolved around the pubs and clubs, not around the church or family.

In my later High School years I focused on studying French and German, which meant that I traveled to Europe in the summer to practice. I was fascinated to see new places and see how different people lived. I met travelers who told me how interesting places further afield were. I enjoyed traveling so much that I decided to travel more. After I finished High School in England, I decided to travel around the world. I worked as a laborer for a while and saved enough money to travel for a long time. Of course when I traveled I stayed in the cheapest hotels and ate the cheapest food.

I traveled through Europe and then entered Turkey. I was not sure what to expect. Everyone I had met who had ever visited Turkey told me that it was a beautiful country and the people were unbelievably friendly. But what I had heard from people who had never been there, many of whom had watched movies or read stories about Turkey, was totally different. All the old stereotypes came out.

As I crossed the border from Greece to Turkey, a group of young boys came running up to me laughing and smiling and handed me tourist information on Turkey. It was not what I had expected! As I traveled through Turkey, I was amazed at how kind, generous and hospitable these people were. They were nothing like the savage, warlike people some had told me to expect! In fact after traveling in Europe, where many people had been so rude and unwelcoming, it was a real pleasure to travel in a land where you were treated as an honored guest. So many strangers invited me to eat at their homes, or to drink tea with them, or just chat a while, that I came to have an immense respect and admiration for the Turks. In the West few people have time for anybody else, especially strangers. Everyone is caught up looking out for themselves. The idea that people can just enjoy spending time with other people was new to me. My experience was that in Europe people only enjoyed getting together to drink alcohol and get drunk. Without alcohol any gathering was a burden. I enjoyed my two months in Turkey immensely and it was only after I had left that I realized that the whole time I was there I had hardly seen any drugs, alcohol, easy women or loud music that young men in my culture (and many other cultures) thought were the best and only ways to enjoy oneself. (I had traveled mostly in the less Westernized parts of Turkey.)

As I grew to respect the Turks I met, I became more interested in their beliefs and culture. I visited many mosques and enjoyed their serenity and beauty, especially in contrast to the hectic, noisy, cities outside. I started to read some books about Islam. It was the first time I read about the religion from an Islamic perspective. It all seemed so simple. I couldn’t argue with anything I read. It was straightforward and coherent. It didn’t require the complex issues and logical leaps that had made my belief in Christianity so hard. I had started my trip towards Islam. It was a long journey and I am still traveling as I try to improve my deen (religion), insha’Allah. I believed that there was only one God. As I read about Muhammad, I rejected the idea that he was an imposter and believed that he was indeed a man of God. I believed that Muhammad was His messenger. I recited the shahada in Arabic and English. I believed in it fully. Yet I did not consider myself a Muslim. My experience with religion, together with the low esteem which those I knew had for organized religion made me hesitant to identify myself with any group. And while I accepted Muhammad as a prophet, I accepted the other prophets as well, and I was not sure that one’s message was superior to another’s. (Of course in Islam, Muslims accept the message of other prophets, for strictly speaking there is only one religion. The religion taught by Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and the thousands of others was the same as that taught by Muhammad - Peace and Blessings on all of them. Only the Qu’ran is the only text that has not been changed since its revelation.) Nevertheless the Almighty had grasped me and I praise him for holding on to me for two years while I made myself ready to submit. Al-hamdullilah.

Two discussions in Turkey still stay close to my heart after all these 13 years. The first was with two young students in Bursa. They asked me if I believed in God. At that point I was not sure and said so. I then asked them, and they were sure. I don’t think I’d ever met someone my age who had said he or she fully believed in God. The second was in Erzurum, where a man saw my beard and asked me if I was a Muslim. I said no, but it affected me deeply. I was still affected by jahili (ignorant) ideas that a person’s religion depends on his or her ethnicity. For the first time I thought a blond haired, blue-eyed American could be a Muslim.

After I left Turkey I traveled some more in Asia and learned about Hinudism, Buddhism and Chinese religions. The beauty and simplicity of Islam had aroused my curiosity. If I was ignorant of all that it held, what about other religions of which I was ignorant? While I found good things and wisdom in these religions, none of them had the appeal of Islam. The intellectual complexity and polytheism did not appeal to me. And after seeing how easily Muslims could pray to the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth without any images, idolatry disgusted me. How can our simple creations, however beautiful they may appear, equal the glory of His creation?

The question of theology continued to interest me and when I returned to the United States I continued to read from a variety of sources. At that time I was working as a bartender (AstaghfarAllah). It was an interesting job and I got to see how alcohol really affected people. As it says in the Qu’ran, there are good things to alcohol, but the bad things outweigh them. This became clear enough to me. I moved closer to Islam.

I had enjoyed traveling and seeing the world so much, that I wanted to go again. I had met people who had told me that Americans could find work in Taiwan teaching English and that one could save money while there. It sounded good, so off I went.

In the two years since I had graduated high school and started traveling I had seen so many new things and seen so many different ways of living. The power and beauty of this world impressed me so much and convinced me that there must be a Supreme Being, a Creator of all the wonder in this world. But what did he want for me? What was my place in this world? What was my duty? I had already accepted that he was one, the Almighty. And I had accepted that Muhammad was His prophet. Yet with so many other religions and philosophies, I was still hesitant. I had the knowledge, yet I still lacked the spark of faith to truly ignite my Islam. I called on my creator in my confusion and pleaded for His guidance. I made the intention to sacrifice whatever I must and do whatever was required of me, if only He would show mercy and remove this terrible soul-wrenching confusion. I was grappling with these overwhelming questions when I arrived in Taipei. There were many Christian and Buddhist and traditional Chinese influences there and I was trying to make sense of them, when one day a bus took me past the mosque in Taipei. All the beauty and simplicity of Islam came back to me. All the powerful arguments I had read came back to me. I stopped at the mosque and took my Shahada (testament of faith) and from that day to this, Islam has calmed my soul and given me a sense of inner peace that I would never have imagined possible - I have a nervous nature. Although life has been full of challenges, some of which I have failed and some of which I have met, nevertheless the love of Allah and the peace of Islam have made them tolerable, and indeed almost inconsequential. Allahu Akbar. Literally that means God is greater, comparative case. Whatever you have, whatever you see, whoever you know; anything anywhere at any time, God is greater.

From that day I have continued my personal Jehad to control the nafs (desires) of my own soul and to perfect my Islam. It has been a slow journey, and I still fight to improve my life and the lives of those around me, but I have found the Straight Path and Insha’Allah I will never leave it.

During my time in Taiwan I went to the Mosque regularly and read many books. And then I traveled to Pakistan where I spent some time with the Jama’at wa Tabligh. Six years ago I married an Argentinian woman, who also reverted, and now we have a two year old daughter, Ayesha, and we are expecting a second child after Ramadan, Insha’Allah.

Life as a Muslim in the US can be hard. Not one of my family and friends was happy about my conversion. Some grudgingly accepted it, while others all but cut me off. As a white American, strangers will often talk to me about Islam and Muslims in extremely negative ways. With some I try to correct their prejudices, but others are so foolish and full of hate, that I find it better just to say "Salaam" (Peace) as the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa Salaam / Peace and Blessings be upon him) recommended.

I hope others find this story interesting, useful, and even inspirational insha’Allah. My path to Islam was different from that of others ( I get some funny looks when I tell people I reverted to Islam in Taiwan), but to all of us Allah has come running when we merely hold out our hands. As it says in Qu’ran: "But God doth call to the Home of Peace: He doth guide whom He pleaseth to a Way that is straight." (10:25)