Amazed By Muslim Women's Dress
I am an American who grew up in a strict religious Christian
family. By the time I was 16 I became very devout and religious
myself. The church was like a home away from home. I enjoyed it
thoroughly.
I had read and studied the Bible on a regular basis. All the while
I was noticing many errors in the Bible. Many conflicting stories.
So I would ask my grandmother or the pastor of the church about it,
but would never get a solid answer.
I was told to just brush it off and not worry about these little
details that weren't adding up. So for a time I did.
Later on in my early 20s I was appointed as Youth Pastor at my
local church. It was during this time that my biblical studies had
become intense. The more I studied, the more questions I had.
Due to the lack of answers I was not getting from the church, I
decided to enroll into Bible College. "For sure I would find my
answers there," I often thought to myself. Again, no such
luck.
Nothing could ease my mind and so I decided to step down from
"Youth Pastor". I felt I could no longer lead the youth since I was
confused and doubting things myself. I was the one in need of a
leader. My heart was crying out to find some peace in all this
confusion.
One night I turned on the TV and happened to flip straight to CNN.
They were reporting straight from Iraq. Then, there in the
background I saw the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
She was adorned only in black from head to toe. She was so modest,
and to me that made her so beautiful. I knew that she was a Muslim
but I didn't know what the religious beliefs of Muslims were.
I was more caught up in her clothing attire. It sparked my interest
more than anything. My heart immediately desired to be like her.
Pious and modest. So this is where my search began.
I immediately got online and searched "Muslim Woman Dress" &
"Muslim Woman Face Veil". This is when I came across the words
"Hijab" and "Niqab". Wikipedia also referred to the women who wore
it as Hijabis or Niqabis.
These hijabis and niqabis were my newly-found role models. So I
immediately changed all my online nicknames to "hijabi" or
"niqabi". It had not occurred to me to investigate the beliefs of
Islam yet. But it was soon to come….
One afternoon my neighborhood was having a community cookout. I was
setting next to my closest neighbor and we somehow got on the
subject of religion.
He said "You know us Christians will probably be in trouble when we
stand before God?"
I just nodded in agreement but not really sure where he was going
with this.
He said, "Yeah, you know those Muslims pray 5 times a day
faithfully and we Christians can barely make time to pray once a
day."
More curiosity sparked!
I immediately excused myself and ran back to my home. I opened the
Computer and began searching the Internet about Muslim beliefs. I
was amazed at their beliefs as it seemed to fit in line with
mine.
But I wanted to be sure there were no surprises hidden in their
beliefs; you know nothing that was going to throw me for a loop if
I choose to convert.
The following weeks I drove to the closest mosque, which happened
to be 50 miles away, requesting information. I searched the
Internet into the wee hours of the morning reading all about
Islam.
After a couple of months of researching and reading, I decided that
I want to convert. I drove back to the mosque and took the
Shahadah! A peace entered my heart and soul like never before.
Subhanallah!
By Latasha
Islamreligion.com
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