 
Early Life
My parents followed and taught me, a blend of Jainism and Hinduism. Growing up, I had a lot of questions in my mind regarding religion, customs, traditions that we followed. But just like any other person I got busy with academics, career and life in general. After clearing my Finals, Alhamdulilah I got a job and moved out of my home town.
Back then, I loved reading fictional books (Hunger Games was one of my favourites) and one day when I was surfing through the internet as to which book do I want to read next, I came across a book called MTV to Mecca, How Islam inspired my life and it’s tagline really caught my attention.
From MTV to Mecca? From babes to burkha is more like it. My spontaneous reaction was, why would she choose Islam out of all religions in the world?
Opinion on Islam.
I was not totally against Islam but my subconscious mind had Islamophobia that the mainstream media had fed me. I read some pages of it in the preview, and I started having a lot of questions in my mind because reverting to some other religion was a totally alien concept to me, so the most logical reason my mind gave me was obvious, “she didn’t find some of the things in her religion convincing that is why she thought of choosing some other faith”.
I was not totally against Islam but my subconscious mind had Islamophobia that the mainstream media had fed me
And, I was having a discussion with myself (please most of us do it but only some admit it :-P), but aren’t there so many things you yourself don’t find logical in your religion but still do it for the sake of doing it. Back then, I had a lot of free time since my job was new and I was living away from my family. So I decided to go study my own religion because my mom always used to say there is a logic behind everything religion tells us to do.
Initial Research
As I started researching, it came as a shock to me, to know nauzubillah Jainism doesn’t believe in God. I didn’t know what was I worshipping for so many years then. Alhamdulilah, I never was an atheist so I sat there questioning the entire purpose of following a religion whose basic foundation was contradictory to what I believed.
I started interacting with my Hindu/Jain friends who I thought were religious, but all in vain, everyone had different concepts and theories, most of them contradicting with each other and none of them having satisfactory answers. I decided to see what is the concept of God in Hinduism. Upon researching, I came across various shlokas which clearly indicated Hinduism does not promote idol worship. And here I was questioning myself if my entire life was a lie. I always thought that the images of these 33 crore Gods that we worship in India were coming from some authentic scripture, but somehow for 25 years of my life, I didn’t read it.
Upon researching, I came across various shlokas which clearly indicated Hinduism does not promote idol worship. And here I was questioning myself if my entire life was a lie.
The Turning Point
And I started thinking probably I am just wasting my time and all the scriptures are written by humans for their own convenience. But Alhamdulilah, one day on YouTube I came across the videos of Dr Zakir Naik preaching the message of Tawheed. In my heart, I somewhere knew what he is saying wasn’t wrong because how is it possible to have so different God’s? Me, being an auditor by profession, who never believe in anything without evidence, I was amazed by the references he gave not only of the Quran but of my scriptures as well. I checked all of them on the internet because that is what my profession has always taught me, cross verify every bit of information received before relying on it. Gradually, Allah SWT started answering many of my questions. Growing up, I always detested the concept of food, flowers offerings to the idols. I always used to think instead of wasting that food probably we can give it to some hungry, needy person.
I was amazed by the references he gave not only of the Quran but of my scriptures as well. I checked all of them on the internet because that is what my profession has always taught me, cross verify every bit of information received before relying on it.
Because why would the creator of this universe want something from me? So, I decided to study Islam further. And I started reading the Quran and the descriptions of the hereafter, the day of judgement gave me chills down my spine. And never in my entire life could anyone provide me with the clear guidelines for ending up in Swarg or becoming a human in the next life. All I was taught is “Ache Kaam Karo” but nobody could ever give me the exact do’s and don’ts, which the Quran gave me and somewhere I had started believing that this book couldn’t be written by a man. It’s impossible for a human to write a book with so much precision and to keep it intact in this world of adulteration and manipulation. I sought answers to many of my misconceptions I had about Islam like polygamy, hijab, why are the majority of the terrorists Muslims and many more, Alhamdulilah I found a satisfactory answer to each of my question.
It’s impossible for a human to write a book with so much precision and to keep it intact in this world of adulteration and manipulation.
Taking the Shahadah.
And I finally I decided to take my shahada. It was Jumma the day I embraced Islam and I still remember that day clearly, I was almost crying the entire day. Even though I had tears flowing down cheeks every now and then, I felt calm on the inside. It was as if I had found peace, found something that I had always craved for but never knew I needed it. Alhamdulilah. I still haven’t told my family that I have embraced Islam but they have started noticing a lot of changes in me which is kind of bothering them. I am just waiting for the right moment to tell them. I request everyone reading this post to please pray that Allah swt makes it easy for me.
Advice to undecided non-Muslim who wish to revert.
Don’t let the shaytan deceive you, the truth is the truth even if only a few people are following it. You are allowed to be selfish for this one time. Don’t let the shackles of family ties, traditions, customs hold you back from embracing Islam.
I know it takes courage to come out of your comfort zone, let go of so many worldly things. But please know, you are truly successful only if you succeed in your hereafter. This Dunya is temporary. Seek knowledge from the authentic sources and ask Allah SWT to guide you towards the truth.
I speak from personal experience, it really is true if you take one step towards Allah SWT he takes 100 steps towards you. Don’t be afraid my dear, think about the bigger picture. This life of 60-70 years would one day end. May Allah SWT give you the courage to embrace the truth.
Ameen.
