A Christian’s Conversion Story

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you my journey to Islam and I feel that sharing my faith experience with you can help you in your journey. We all come from different cultures, countries and religions, and we all come from a seemingly confusing and disturbing world. When we look closely at the world around us, it is easy to think of it as a world of trouble – war, poverty, sin …… However, if we look closely at our own upbringing and our education, how can we be sure that everything we hear is the truth? What can we be sure that everything we hear is the truth?

Unfortunately, many people in this world choose to hide, to run away from the suffering of the world rather than face the truth. It is true that it is difficult to face the truth, but the question is, are you willing to stand up for the truth? Are you strong enough? Or, are you going to die out and choose to run away?

Years ago, I began a quest to find the truth about our existence on earth. Of course, coming to grips with life is the key to solving all present-day problems. I was born into a Christian family, and that, in turn, was the beginning of my journey. I had studied the Bible, I had all kinds of doubts, and soon, I was disappointed. The pastor told me, “Just believe.” Studying the Bible made me realize that there are many contradictions in the Bible and many glaring errors. Could it be that the Creator would contradict Himself? Could it be that the Creator would lie? Of course not!

So, I gave up on Christianity. I was convinced that the classics of Christianity and Judaism had been so artificially flawed that it was simply impossible for me to find truth in an otherwise erroneous religion. I began to search for Eastern religions and philosophies, especially Buddhism, and I spent a lot of time going to Buddhist temples to meditate and to monks to clear my doubts. I spent a lot of time meditating in Buddhist temples and going to monks to get answers to my questions. Seriously, meditation did give me a very refreshing feeling, but the problem was that it could not answer the questions about our “beingness”. On the contrary, meditation made me avoid all the questions, and it even made me feel that these questions would make me stupid.

In my search for truth, I visited many places, and I slowly became interested in traditional tribal beliefs and spiritual thinking. I realized that those tribal religions do contain a lot of truth, but I don’t think that all the information contained in a particular tribal religion is the truth. I felt the same way when I was studying Christianity.

So I came to believe that there is truth in everything, and that it doesn’t matter what we believe or what we follow. Indeed, this is a cop-out in disguise. I mean, does it really make sense? Does it mean that everyone should have a distinct truth? Of course not, since it is a truth, it is meant to be unique.

I felt so confused that I prostrated myself and kept praying, “O Lord of creation, I am so confused, guide me to the truth.” This, then, was the beginning of all my stories with Islam.

Of course, I had heard of Islam before, yet all my naive knowledge of Islam came from the propaganda of the Western world. After I began to study Islam, I was amazed by what I found. The more I studied the Quran and the more I wondered about Islam, the more truths I found. The biggest difference between Islam and other religions is that Islam is the only religion that treats the Creator differently from the created. It is the Creator that the Islamic faith worships, and as for other religions, you can always find some worship of the created. For example, it is not surprising to worship someone as an incarnation of the Creator, or even to worship objects such as stones. Of course, if you really want to have an object to worship, you should worship the Creator of all things, the one who gave you life and eventually took it away from you. The only sin in the Islamic faith that will not be forgiven by Allah is to worship a created object, i.e., to match the object with the Lord.

The Quran itself contains the truths of Islam, and the Quran is like a literal guide to life in which you can find the answers to all your questions. For me, the single truths that I have found from all the previous religions are superimposed as a complete jigsaw puzzle that perfectly explains Islam.

Therefore, I sincerely hope that you will also consider taking Islam into account. I mean the real Islam as depicted in the Quran, not the Islam that the Western world has indoctrinated us with. If you want to find the true meaning of life, at the very least Islam will provide you with some sort of shortcut.

In any case, I wish you all the success you desire.