My name is Aisha, I am from Melbourne, Australia and here is my story.<\/p>\n
I always found myself to be a person who liked to question things. As a little girl, I was always asking questions as children do and as I moved into my teenage years I found myself interested in philosophy and science. I wanted to understand how things work and to analyze the world we live in.<\/p>\n
I started to question the Catholic Church and its practices at the age of 15. I started to explore other faiths and after finishing a Bachelor of Science, I traveled to Nepal and India where I was exposed to a side of humanity I had never faced in Australia: a humanity that lived amongst nature and away from the materialistic way of life we have in the modern world.<\/p>\n
This experience changed me in a way that I felt we are all one people and that we are all equal. I felt this sense of equality amongst humankind, from talking to the holy man in India to the orphan children in Nepal, the feeling was the same: we are all equal. This is when I started to feel Islam but I didn’t know what it was. It was just a feeling.<\/p>\n
When I returned from my travels, I decided to enroll into a Social Work course. After I graduated I started working with different communities.<\/p>\n
I worked with people who are on the margins of society, people with no voice to speak out for themselves , people who have mental illnesses, people who are disabled and young people who are at risk of criminal activity.<\/p>\n
I felt Islam even more in this work, and I felt it stronger the more I was giving to people and helping them. I feel Islam the most when I am helping people or when people are helping me.<\/p>\n
I then started working with the Arabic communities in Melbourne and became friends with many Muslims. However they never spoke to me about Islam. I worked with the community for 4 years and decided to travel to the Middle East to learn more.<\/p>\n
I spent six months traveling around the Middle East and it was there that I started to read into Islam. I spoke to many people about Islam while I was traveling and it was so hard to change from my identity as a spiritual human rights person to a Muslim. This was the hardest thing. But I could not get away from it! Islam was drawing me in and in,the pull of Islam was too strong to turn my back on.<\/p>\n
It felt so strong and so natural to me and it was what I was searching for my whole life. The thing that drew me to Islam was the equality amongst humanity and that there is no hierarchy. I also loved that there are no images and no intermediary between you and God. It is just you and Him.<\/p>\n
I returned home from my travel to the Middle East and did not know if I would embrace Islam or not. But on August 11, 2009 I embraced Islam and it was beautiful. I said the Shahadah and lay in my bed with a smile on my face.<\/p>\n
The conversion has enabled me to feel close to God. I am seeing the world now in a clearer way and everything makes sense to me. I feel I can understand any situation without being manipulated or allured into being manipulated.<\/p>\n
I feel like a strong woman who knows what her role is. I feel intelligent and proud to be a Muslim. I wish I could wear the hijab as I love wearing it, but I am too afraid to wear it in my society\u2026 maybe in the future.<\/p>\n
It has not all been easy. I have suffered from grief and sadness at the spiritual separation from my family and friends, and I felt social isolation especially around special times like Ramadan. This was very hard for me. My first Ramadan was very difficult, but I feel that God has guided me.<\/p>\n
My family all reacted in their own unique way. My mum was worried that she hadn’t raised me the right way, and that I would wear the scarf, which would upset her. She was also upset that men can have four wives.<\/p>\n
My father was very angry and felt the need to protect himself and his faith, and started talking also about the oppression of women and terrorism.<\/p>\n
My sister said that as long as it makes me happy, she is okay with it, but she was worried we might grow further apart.<\/p>\n
At the moment, I am up and down. Everyday is different. It has been difficult, because I am now feeling like a minority. Although the Muslim sisters I am meeting are all so warm and loving, I feel I have been raised in a different way, and so I feel isolated and afraid sometimes.<\/p>\n
But I know in my heart that God is with me and whenever I am afraid I remind myself that God led me to Islam and I say Alhamdulillah (Thankful praise be to Allah).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: Aisha, Ex-Christian, Australia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"