“I had always thought that I should look into Islam but it was something that had been kept at the back of my mind. I knew the media’s perception of Islam wasn’t correct but without studying it, I didn’t really know what Islam was. In this way, I took it upon myself to finally find out what Islam was about. I clearly recognized that those three aspects of faith I had strong feelings for – belief in one God, prayer, and fasting – all these were core beliefs in Islam. So that was where I started.
I began by just focusing on learning about solat (prayer), memorizing Surah al Fatiha (first surah in the Quran) and began fasting a couple of days each week. Almost immediately, I noticed something beginning to change within me. It seemed as though I could feel the results and that even though life sucked at the time, I felt a little better. When I finally branched out and began looking at other aspects of Islam it didn’t take longer than two weeks for me to realize that I had found the true religion. I had found the truth and accepting it had a dynamic effect on my life!
In fact, the very first Muslim teacher I found revealed to me a truth about reality that has helped me to understand Islam better and in turn transformed my life.
It’s extremely simple: Our thoughts and feelings ultimately come from Allah and nothing else. That’s it. Period. And, in reality, it’s just another way of saying “la ilaha illa Allah” (there is no God but Allah). Although, we often project external sources as the cause of our feelings this is actually completely impossible.
Our feelings come directly from our thoughts. So for me, the pain that I felt during my divorce was not something caused by my divorce but from how I was thinking at the moment.”
- Tim of Idaho, USA (slightly edited)
