in the name of Allah the most beneficent
the most merciful
for me I always had that I always felt
that connection with God and within the
Trinity I felt looking back I think my
connection was with the father like you
know you want to go to the highest guy
of the Father Son Holy Spirit you go to
the the highest up figure so I always
had that connection and you know my
favorite part of church always was
coming back after communion and you
prayed and you say like bless my mommy
and my doggie and everything so I would
say like I always had that spiritual
connection so when my family left the
Catholic Church after the scandal with
the Catholic priests and the boys and a
friend in high school introduced me to
Islam and I had just entered my freshman
year of college in Virginia I actually
was invited by some friends that I met
in the MSA I wasn’t non-muslim but they
took me to it was it was Ramadan never
was fasting and they took me at night to
the Masjid for a a little closer and I
had never been in a message before and
walking in I could feel the power of
that night and I went in the kind of
dark room and everyone’s praying and
everyone’s crying well not everyone but
a lot of people are crying and and I
didn’t know what’s going on and I I
walked in and some lady pulled my arm
and pulled me in line so I was kind of
just like okay and then I we hear
something again and again allah – i
would do the next thing but that night
and that feeling definitely stood out to
me and that kind of pushed me to take
the next step to further my own
education for myself about Islam I
always tell people there was kind of two
turning points there was a little color
which was like me feeling really that
spiritual connection and then there was
my education Imams aid shockers back to
basics Islam 101 a DVD set it goes
through everything it talks about the
pillars the articles of faith and it
addresses things that often make
non-muslims shy away from Islam like
what’s the deal with Osama bin Laden
what’s the deal with the Taliban all
those issues and he addresses them and
he’s just the way he talked
masha’allah he’s a great speaker and so
you can tell he’s so at peace with his
life in his creator so that I really
educated me on everything and that was
definitely the that was what pushed me
to say okay I am a Muslim I need to do
the next step and say the Shahada so I I
did that at the Masjid candala I’m not
one of those stories where my parents
wanted to take me out
my parents they saw that I was happy in
high school not so happy kind of not
really so when they saw that I was
actually finding finding something that
made me happy of course they they want
that for me not my parents weren’t that
happy about the hijab they didn’t want
me to wear the hijab but they’ve gotten
used to it Heimdall I didn’t think that
would happen but just I just graduated
from college and I’m home and they don’t
really make any more comments it’s kind
of just they’ve accepted it so hamdullah
and my my mother and I are very close
and she actually has started buying me
hijab so I’m Tula
like I said this the Knights not only
Lytle de-clutter but all of the Knights
after fasting when everyone goes to the
Masjid and you can just feel that power
of the knight of prank that are we
that’s the most special part of Ramadan
for me as well as the discipline and the
day that I never realized I was so not
disciplined you really don’t realize how
much you take food and water for granted
until you everytime you go to to get
some you you realize you can’t sew that
discipline I feel is very important for
everyone and I would just love to be
able to sit down and really talk from my
heart about how happy I am and I know
everyone whether they say they they
don’t whether they say oh there’s no God
I don’t care if I die that’s it you have
those questions and it doesn’t I think
everyone has those questions of what
happens when I die I know there must be
something else going on and for me to
find that piece I would love to give
that to them there are some what I what
I found for myself is that we really
have no we think we have control and
when things are going good but when it
soon as something goes bad that’s when
people say like oh my god or they cry
out to God in that moment of realizing
that God is the one in control I think
that’s such a humbling that humbling
effect is what is what can really change
people’s lives and lead them to
realizing that God is in control there
is one God