Asalaamu-Alaykum from a revert

Asalaamu-Alaykum wa Rahmatuallah

greetings folks! my name is malik and i'm a revert(one year alhumdullillah.)

i'm in my 20's and live in arlington, virginia and work at an elementary school.

i began to acquire about islam years ago. in fact, it was the summer of 2006 when i began to read about islam. just randomly googled and then it sparked an interest.

but at first(for at least a year 1/2) i was against islam. it was b/c i was scared. there were many aspects of the religion that i had trouble accepting. i think this is normal for any westerner acquiring about islam. there is so much we love about the religion and then there are some things we have grown so accustomed to, that when we hear it is haram, we are in shock!

but alhumdullillah, i still read about islam and always had this gut feeling that it was from god. no matter how critical i tried to be, it never worked. islam had the answers to all my questions. all the problems i saw with christianity, especially in terms of aqeedah and authenticity of the religious ******ures, islam didn't have it. in example, the authenticity of religious ******ures. pretty much everyone thinks the bible is corrupt. the veda's have a rough history too. buddhists have mahayana and theraveda ******ures, which sometimes differ.

islam has the quraan. word for word the same today. not only that, but we have a 1400 year old practice of tajweed that also ensures our ******ure is memorized and authentic. and there is a test given to those in doubt.

also, the whole jesus is god thing never really bugged me until i started reading about the tawheed. then, i realized what i hadnt before. also one thing that really stuck out, is that jesus rarely ever called himself the "son of god." but, he called himself the "son of man" dozens of times. and most of the "son of god" references in the 4 gospels were added. it was really paul that emphasized it so much. this really made me question. and even if it didnt prove islam it at least sowed me that there was some fishy aspects about christianity.

so islam answered my questions. it fixed the problems i had with my former religion. i knew this in my heart. but i didnt want to accept islam at first because i had problems accepting some of the fiqh positions. they startled me sometimes and it made me go through denial.

but alhumdullillah, christmas of 2007. christmas eve, right after church. i started reading more about islam online like i had done regularly. then i am not sure what happened, but all of a sudden i got a feeling that islam is absolutely the truth. like there was not a single dispute about it. and that i have to accept it.

to be quite honest this was depressing for me at first. i was still having problems accepting some fiqh positions. but i knew it was what it was.

so i started reading more and more about islam. this time though, i wasnt trying to disprove anything or going through denial. mainly i was learning how to do the salat, and things like that.

then, alhumdullillah, april of last year i said my shahadah!

and allow me to say that my perception of islam has changed. at first, i didnt like islam. then when i realized it was absolutely the truth i was still having many problems with it. now though i feel such a peace and tranquility in my religion. i love islam. alhumdullillah, my heart has been guided.

i still have some problems with certain fiqh positions. but i accept that they are what they are, and that ALLAH KNOWS BEST!

so now you know a little about my background and how i found this great religion.

i am a member of the forums "multaqa ahl al hadeeth" and "islamic awakening" and go by the same name, so some of you may know me.

i wanted to just tell you all hello and i look forward to learning more and interacting *smile*