00:00May the peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.
00:02Hi
00:04it's Vanessa here
00:05and I thought I should give you
00:07a story of how I became
00:09Muslim because so many of you
00:11ask me for that story
00:13and my moderator
00:15Amal, thank you Amal
00:17told me about 10 months ago
00:19to do this video so I'm a little
00:21bit late but
00:23better late than ever
00:25so
00:26here is my story
00:29I was born a Catholic, raised as a Catholic
00:35just didn't really have much to do with religion as I got older
00:41always believed in God
00:43and then when I came to Egypt on holiday in 2005
00:47I just fell in love with Egypt
00:50the vibe, just everything about Egypt
00:54I fell in love with it
00:55and it was my first introduction to Islam
00:59I had been to other countries
01:02I'd been to Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey
01:05but I didn't get the same Islamic withdrawal as I did here in Egypt
01:12My friend and I, we said, we're very ignorant
01:16We don't know anything about this major religion in the world
01:20so we need to educate ourselves
01:22So after our holiday, we went back to London
01:25and we both bought the translation of the Quran
01:30in English, of course
01:32and we started reading it
01:33now before anyone says about reading the Quran in Arabic
01:37I know, but if you can't read Arabic
01:39You have to read it in your own language
01:41so we started to read in English
01:47Unfortunately my friends stopped
01:49but I continued
01:51And over the next few months I continued to read
01:55I came back to Egypt again
01:57Maybe about six months later on another holiday
02:00And I continued to read the Quran
02:04and when I was in the hotel
02:07Sitting on the balcony reading the Quran
02:09And there was, I can't remember what surah
02:13what ayah, I can't remember
02:15but there was a part
02:17and I went, oh, yes
02:20I understand that, I believe it, yes
02:23And from then on, Alhamdulillah
02:26Thank you
02:27Everything started to stick in my mind
02:31Everything started to become more relatable to me
02:35I could understand it more
02:37so after that holiday
02:40I went back
02:41and I was determined
02:42that I was going to study more
02:45and I did
02:46I bought a lot of books
02:47I started to go to
02:50One of the big mosques in London
02:52every Saturday
02:53they had a sister's circle
02:56where you could go and get information
02:58and the sheikh would come
02:59and speak to us
03:01and the sisters were very knowledgeable
03:03and that was the support
03:05I remember the first time
03:08I still remember this as clear
03:10as if it was yesterday
03:11I remember
03:14I was so scared
03:16walking into the mosque
03:17I was so scared
03:19I didn't know where to go
03:22what to do
03:22but I walked in
03:24and all of a sudden
03:26this sister came up to me
03:27and I said
03:28do you know where the sister's is
03:30the sister's circle is
03:32and she said
03:32come with me
03:33she just grabbed me
03:34and she became
03:36my very very very good friend
03:38and so I took my shahada
03:40about six weeks
03:42after going to that circle
03:44every Saturday
03:46and one beautiful thing
03:49that I found about it
03:50were the sisters there
03:51I had never met
03:53a group
03:53a group of sisters
03:55who were so welcoming
03:57and kind
03:57compassionate
03:58they were just
04:00absolutely beautiful
04:01and I thought
04:04if this is what
04:05Islam
04:06is
04:07then I want to be part of it
04:10because those girls
04:11those sisters
04:12showed me
04:14what Islam was
04:15just from their way
04:17the way they treated me
04:19Alhamdulillah
04:22my family
04:24accepted
04:25me becoming Muslim
04:28Alhamdulillah
04:29they of course
04:32preferred that I
04:33would have stayed
04:34as a Catholic
04:35but
04:35Alhamdulillah
04:36they accepted it
04:38overall
04:39my friends
04:40accepted it
04:41Alhamdulillah
04:42I had
04:42I had a bit of an issue
04:45with my best friend
04:46but Alhamdulillah
04:47she
04:48she got over it
04:50and we are still
04:52best friends
04:52today
04:53we've been
04:54best friends
04:54for 30
04:55something years
04:56so
04:57Allah has
04:58definitely made it
05:00very easy for me
05:01and I am
05:01continually
05:03thankful to Allah
05:04for making my
05:06journey into Islam
05:07an easy one
05:07I know that a lot
05:08of people don't
05:09have it easy
05:10but
05:11my
05:12my journey
05:13Alhamdulillah
05:15it's been easy
05:16there's been
05:17sacrifices of course
05:18there's been
05:18sacrifices
05:19but Alhamdulillah
05:21I'm happy to make
05:22those sacrifices
05:23for the sake of Allah
05:24so
05:25I hope that answers
05:27your questions
05:27some of your questions
05:28about
05:29my journey
05:30into Islam
05:31I know it's a long
05:32video
05:33but
05:36there you go
05:37and
05:37May Allah
05:38always keep us
05:39on the straight path
05:40Ameen
05:41Salam alaikum
05:48I know it's a long
05:49I know it's a long
05:50time to
05:50to
05:51I know it's a long
05:51time to
05:52to
05:54me
05:54I know it's a long
05:55thing to
05:56to
05:57me
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