14 replies to this topic

[KenPruitt]

Hello. My name is Ken. I recently converted to Islam from Luciferianism. Nice to meet all of you.

[AHMAD_73]

alsalam-o alykom wa rahmat Allah, brother

masha'a Allah, wa, alhamdo llelah, may Allah complete his favor up on you and provide you with the real peace, happiness and contentment in this life and the eternal life as well.

welcome to the IF, hope you will have fruitful discussions with your brothers and sisters, for the sake of Allah

i'm your brother Ahmad from Egypt

[KenPruitt]

My Arabic is non-existent, I'm afraid, so bear with me in future posts....

[AHMAD_73]

we have to have a deal first,

i bear your arabic and you bear my english, is that fair!!

brother, this forum is mainly english, while if you mean the next statments, you will, soon, know it, and it's better to say it in Arabic


alsalam-o alykom wa rahmat Allah, which means .........may peace and mercy of Allah be up on you

masha'a Allah, means........ that what Allah allowed/did/wanted (to be said when a good thing happens)

wa, means .....and

alhamdo llelah,......thanks to Allah

[KenPruitt]

Nice, and thanks. I'd learn Arabic but I lack the means to do so. So I'm afraid I have to use English for the time being.

[AHMAD_73]

that's fine

[ParadiseLost]

as salaam alaykum (this is how the prophet peace be upon him taught us to greet each other it means may peace be upon you and the reply is wa alaykum as salaam..its really an essential phrase you will get used to it when you practice )

Welcome to Islam. I also chose Islam a while back and do not speak arabic fluently but you get used to the main words as you learn more, so take your time.

Is it possible that you can share your story about how you found Islam as I think we all love to hear these type of stories here. If you want you can post it here: http://www.gawaher.c...erted-to-islam/

Also I don't know how long ago you chose Islam but maybe the following will help you if you are recently new..its a section that is aimed at helping new Muslims: http://www.gawaher.c...or-new-muslims/

If you have any questions you may want to post them here http://www.gawaher.c...new-muslims-qa/

Again welcome to Islam it is great we have a new brother to add to our community and hopefully we can do our best to help each other. May Allah keep you strong and guide you. Ameen.

[dot]

Assalamo alaikum brother Ken
Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your reversion to Islam.
As a new Muslim, it may benefits you to browse this Quick How-to Guide For New Muslims
You don't have to learn Arabic, at least at this stage, but if you're interested, here is a free Arabic Language Course

[ala'adin]

Welcome to the forum Ken,

feel free to join in any discussion and ask questions...

I hope we are able to help you on your way God Willing.

[KenPruitt]

I'm sorry for not responding sooner, but apparently I'm limited to 3 posts per day. First, I need to explain some things (give you a few warnings as it were).

1. My interpretations of Islam might be radically different from what you're used to (no, I'm not a Jihadist or any of that nonsense), and WILL offend extremist Muslims and quite possibly even the moderates.

2. There are certain things I can't do; for instance, I can't pray 5 times a day due to the fact that I live in a household that is staunchly Islamophobic. I also have an extremely hard time obeying the dietary laws, since pork and pork byproducts are regular meals. I avoid eating pork when I can, but sometimes it simply can't be avoided.

3. This has been established already, but right now, I know absolutely no Arabic (though that is soon to change thanks to someone who was kind enough to post an Arabic language guide).

4. I utterly refuse to wear the traditional attire, if for no other reason than the fact that I don't live in the Middle East or in a Muslim community. And even if I wanted to, I'm unable to do so due to the circumstances which I listed above.

Now then. To tell you all about myself. *Warning!! This story is VERY graphic (spiritually) and may offend some people.* (I put these disclaimers here because there's no telling who I might offend now or at a later date).

I started out as a Southern Baptist Christian at the age of 8. From a young age, I was already an extremist (hey, It's my nature), holding Bible Studies with the other kids at 8 years old. Needless to say, the kids didn't really care about these things so that didn't help me, socially. When I was 9, because I was sick and tired of the hypocrisy of the church members in my life (which I wrongly blamed on the entire religion at the time), I converted to Wicca (I had unrestricted internet access. 'Nuff said). I remained a Wiccan until about the age of 13. I left because Wicca is a religion that is extremely hard to study on your own, especially at that young age. From 13 to 16, I claimed no religion and stayed out of religious affairs entirely, until then I found Satanism. \

At the age of 16, I had unrestricted access to the internet (and having my own room with a lock on the door didn't help much, LOL), and one night when I couldn't sleep I just had the strangest impulse to do a Google Search on Satanism. Well, I found what I was looking for, and at the age of 16, I converted to Spiritual Satanism (a unique sect within Satanism). Yes, I made pacts with Satan and the demons (though not blood because that's unnecessary), and my studies continued. As I was exposed to more occultic material, I converted to Luciferianism (another unique sect of Satanism). I remained a practicing Luciferian and engaged in various debates on the internet. While I had my own criticisms of Islam at the time, I adamantly defended the Muslims on the accusations of Islam being a violent religion (because the people making these accusations are mainly Christians, Jews, and Atheists and they have no room to talk about violence given their respective histories), on the accusation that Islam is silly because eating pork is forbidden and so is smoking and drinking, etc.

One day, during my economic studies (I download lectures off of iTunes U and listen to them), I stumbled upon a lecture called, "The Commercial and Cultural Heritage of Islam" given at the Mises Institute by Mustafa Akyol. It caught my eye primarily because it dealt with Islam, which was slowly beginning to interest me at the time. So, I watched his hour long presentation and was thoroughly impressed by it. I looked for more material by him, and the best I could find was a book of his on Amazon called, "Islam without Extremes: a Muslim Case for Liberty", and this man single-handedly killed every single modern myth about Islam, and even explained the history that created the Jihadists that we know today.This book, which I'm still reading, deeply inspired me to get the Holy Qur'an , which I'm still reading (I don't read Arabic so I had to settle for the English translation), and I was amazed at how consistent it was. I then began to realize that all of the nonsense I've been doing over the years was just that. Nonsense. That's when I made the decision to convert to Islam.

But, unfortunately, my less than innocent past is catching up to me. When I was a Luciferian, I cooked up a ritual that would channel the power of the Succubus Lilith to increase my sex drive and my libido. It worked... far too well.... Now, because of that, I have an extreme sex addiction that I'm having to deal with, and this is just one bit of damage I'm having to undo.

Anyway, that's my story.

[ParadiseLost]

Interesting story about your journey to Islam. Firstly I am going to be blunt about a few things - and I am taking into account that you are a new Muslim and I understand the difficulties of being a new Muslim and having to learn all the things but you said there are times where you have to eat pork. This is one of the first things I gave up when I became a Muslim and it doesn't take a lot - I ate pork 4 times a week before I became a Muslim but you make the decision when you become a Muslim to obey God and not people around you. If you are afraid to tell people that you have become a Muslim (and you do not need to be afraid) then you can tell them you are going on a diet that contains no pork or that you read something about pork being unhealthy and you no longer wish to eat it. Besides it is not like there are not plenty of other meat substitutes out there. Also unless you share a room with others (which it seems you don't because you were talking about having access to the internet and locking your room) then you have no excuse for not doing your daily prayers. I know that it is hard to learn the prayers and I understand that but don't fall into the trap of making excuses for yourself and being afraid to practice your religion because of others around you. Think of what the prophets peace be upon them had to go through, even their life was in danger and they continued to tell people about God. And remember 1 prayer is better than no prayers at all.

Nobody here expects you to do everything Muslims are supposed to do in a short space of time, the important thing is making the effort to change your lifestyle. Keep positive because at times you will feel you can't do certain things but you can - you just have to believe in yourself. I am sure after time you will amaze yourself at how you can change your life and Allah says in the quran: Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves (see chapter 13 verse 11).

Anyway I hope that you will benefit from being here and ask questions if you need help.

[KenPruitt]

Interesting story about your journey to Islam. Firstly I am going to be blunt about a few things - and I am taking into account that you are a new Muslim and I understand the difficulties of being a new Muslim and having to learn all the things but you said there are times where you have to eat pork. This is one of the first things I gave up when I became a Muslim and it doesn't take a lot - I ate pork 4 times a week before I became a Muslim but you make the decision when you become a Muslim to obey God and not people around you. If you are afraid to tell people that you have become a Muslim (and you do not need to be afraid) then you can tell them you are going on a diet that contains no pork or that you read something about pork being unhealthy and you no longer wish to eat it. Besides it is not like there are not plenty of other meat substitutes out there. Also unless you share a room with others (which it seems you don't because you were talking about having access to the internet and locking your room) then you have no excuse for not doing your daily prayers. I know that it is hard to learn the prayers and I understand that but don't fall into the trap of making excuses for yourself and being afraid to practice your religion because of others around you. Think of what the prophets peace be upon them had to go through, even their life was in danger and they continued to tell people about God. And remember 1 prayer is better than no prayers at all.

Nobody here expects you to do everything Muslims are supposed to do in a short space of time, the important thing is making the effort to change your lifestyle. Keep positive because at times you will feel you can't do certain things but you can - you just have to believe in yourself. I am sure after time you will amaze yourself at how you can change your life and Allah says in the quran: Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves (see chapter 13 verse 11).

Anyway I hope that you will benefit from being here and ask questions if you need help.

First of all, I don't have my own room anymore. Secondly, I have faith in Allah, but only a fool would have faith in people. Thirdly, I can't do the 5 prayers, but I can do two, and even then I have to modify my position go make it look like I'm not praying. I explained the situation regarding pork, and I also explained that sometimes there is no avoiding eating it. It's either eat this or starve. Yes, it sounds to you lot like I'm making excuses, but you don't have to live in the type of household I live in, so save the lectures on excuses. I don't need them nor want them.

[ParadiseLost]

I wasn't giving you a lecture I was just giving advice and I know its hard being a new Muslim. I also live with my family who are not Muslims so I know the issues that can arise ...

[KenPruitt]

I wasn't giving you a lecture I was just giving advice and I know its hard being a new Muslim. I also live with my family who are not Muslims so I know the issues that can arise ...

The fact that they aren't Muslims isn't the problem. The fact that they're staunchly Islamophobic is. And don't worry about it. Being defensive is just part of my nature. This is my last post for the day, so I'll instead talk about the way I am applying Islam so far.

The term hereafter appears a lot in the Qur'an. As a matter of fact, quite possibly my favorite verse from the Qur'an thus far is Surah 2:86 "These are the people who buy the life of this world for the price of the hereafter. Their penalty shall not be lightened, nor shall they be helped." Let me start by pointing out that the term hereafter doesn't just mean life after death, it also means the near/distant future. A very small real-world example of this verse coming true are the people who choose to go out one night and get as drunk as they can. When they wake up, they have a massive hangover. A much more serious example are the people who advocate bank credit expansion as a cure for the ailing economy (I know this isn't an economics forum, I'm merely showing you that the Qur'an can be applied to more than just spirituality). The creation of artificial credit creates the illusion of prosperity, but false economic booms always end badly when interest rates must inevitably rise and the factors of production which depended upon the artificially low interest rates cease to exist. The creation of credit via lowering the interest rates below their market level allowed people to consume more in the present, but created a massive economic downturn as a result.

The problem is that all credit is debt, and all debt must be repaid contrary to the people who say "In the long run, we're all dead" would have us believe. I'm sure the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) would agree with me, especially since he was a merchant himself. Again, Surah 2:86 comes into play. You can't buy the present for the price of the future, ever, and not think that there won't be consequences. (I'm an economist at heart, just so you know where I'm drawing from to come up with this).

Anyway, I don't have time to type the rest up, but that's just a short example of how I'm applying Islam thus far.

[Saracen21stC]

As-Salāmu `Alaykum (السلام عليكم) , brother Ken,

Welcome to the forum. I hope that you will no longer feel lonely, and may Allah make it easy for you.....