in the name of Allah the most beneficent
the most merciful
My dear legal slam started when a friend
of mine a couple of friends of mine they
wanted to take me to mosque I was
hanging out with a lot of people that
were Muslim they didn’t behave as
Muslims but they were Muslim so the
first initial group and then I’m home
today I met a sister that is still very
near and dear to me and um she actually
took me to the Masjid at Honda line but
it all started me wanting to go to the
Masjid came from me wanting something
better for my kids I was looking for
something better for my kids because my
life was very disorganized no I my I
come from a household where my mother
was a drug addict my father was a cartel
he was in the Colombian cartel he got 30
years in jail my mother died from a
heroin overdose so my lifestyle was very
similar to them and I was going down
that path and I didn’t want to leave my
kids the way my mother left us so the
more I reflected on that that kind of
pushed me to look for something like you
know for something and when I was
hanging out with them they told me that
being Muslim was about just believing in
one God and that was appeasing to me you
know I didn’t have to have any statues
and it it’s just one God and I got
curious that’s where it started
they did let the rest of my family did
not react in a positive way to me being
Muslim it wasn’t so much me saying let
her little law that bothered them
because they’re not Catholic to the
sense where they’re constantly in the
church you know they just go to church
when it’s the palms or the ashes but it
was my entire that disturbed them and
the things that I changed I no longer
was Natalie that came in with the
Coronas and was I had party over here
you know I was now Natalie it was like
so I’m like oh how are you and they’re
like they didn’t understand when I
didn’t want to go to a barbecue because
they had pork they didn’t understand
what I didn’t want to go because they
were drinking they didn’t understand I
didn’t celebrate birthdays and then I
wasn’t going to celebrate a birthday so
they didn’t understand how a person that
was so fond of her six-inch heels and
her little dresses and her hair I’m
talking about extensions eyelashes nails
everything they didn’t understand how a
person like that can turn into this so
they didn’t reckon that one Christmas I
went to visit them and they literally
slammed the door in my face they didn’t
recognize who I was my cousin looked at
me was like so um they didn’t have a
good reaction at first but a hundred in
love with time they you know they came
to accept it it’s just something you
have to push through you have to push
through it and eventually if you hold
onto it hard enough they like something
you know I compared my dress attire to
that of the Virgin Mary like how do you
pray to her and it’s okay for her to
just like that this is supposed to be
the person that you think is the
greatest woman on earth you know and you
don’t want me to just like her and that
kind of shut them up and then after
reflecting I guess for a while they
realized they’re like well you know what
if this means you’re not leaving the
house drunk and they’re not calling us
to tell us you drove yourself into a
tree or that you’re high or whatever
then we like you like this so they don’t
like it so one of my sisters doesn’t
speak to me to this day but I’m the let
they accept it
my first Ramadan was extremely difficult
for me extremely difficult because I had
not that I was new to Islam I didn’t
have that many sisters in Islam and well
not I had a lot of sisters but I didn’t
know a lot of sisters like to go to if
DARS and this and that and it was my
first year wearing hijab it was in the
summer it was extremely long hours I was
also um you know um I come from a family
where food is like you know we make huge
meals all the time and I had to cook for
the kids it was very difficult but a
humble I like it’s one the thirst was
the biggest deal but once you push
through it and it just becomes you know
it becomes easier but but the good thing
is that the satisfaction you get when
you do break your fast of knowing that
you accomplished it and you know being
there what helped me was when I started
to get with the sisters you know
surround myself with these sisters and
like the bond you create with these
sisters that helped a lot so calling
each other how are you doing how’s it
going
I mean the one thing I love about Islam
is I love my sisters in Islam and I also
love the promise of something better at
the end because nobody wants to do this
forever
right I love my sisters in Islam because
they’re closer to me that my blood
sisters always even before I was Muslim
the relationship that I had with my
sisters I can never compare to the
relationships I have with my sisters in
Islam and I can say that that’s for
every single Muslim woman I know revert
non revert like sisters in Islam we’re
just you know it’s not like the funds I
had at the bar that you go there and you
know your friends while you’re getting
drunk and you’re only there to hold each
other’s hair if you’re throwing up you
know these sisters you know they’re
there the good the bad the pretty the
ugly everything you know these sisters
even though they’re not blood-related to
me they’re closer to my children that my
family they’re closer to me than my
family so I hope that my favorite part
is definitely my sisters in Islam
one piece of advice I’d give Latinas is
on look when you read the Quran read it
and don’t just read it like reflect on
it you know think about it and for
Latinas especially in my country
Colombia it’s very important our
appearance you know
our hair or makeup like our whole our
whole societies about how these women
look you know and that’s the hardest
thing that’s one thing that I know that
women are why no no I’m not putting that
on my head um I wasn’t around like that
none of them you got to think that
you’re more than that you’re more than
what you look like the person that looks
at you has to see something else you
know and you have to realize that you’re
striving for something better at the end
it’s just you just have to have an open
mind when you read it and just know that
it’s beautiful every single word is
beautiful and every single word has so
much meaning and there’s so much truth
in any and everything if you read one
thing in the Quran read the Quran read
it and if you find one thing in the
Quran that you do not see true then
close the book and don’t open it again
you