Growing up in New Zealand, I was raised as a Christian however my parents were not overly religious. As a young girl I went to Sunday school every week and attended church with my grandmother and went to Christian classes as part of the school curriculum. As I got older I stopped going to church … Read more
The first time I ever thought about having Islam as my religion was at the age of 15. Reading a story in my high school religion book about a Swedish woman who converted made me think: How would it be if I became a Muslim? How would it change my life? This woman was wearing … Read more
(part 1 of 2) I remember it so well. I remember the exact moment when my entire life changed, and I realized that I was no longer thinking “if I became Muslim”, but that I had at some point begun thinking “when I become Muslim.” It was no longer optional for me. It had become … Read more
The status of women is society is neither a new issue nor is it a fully settled one, and where Islam is mentioned, for many the term ‘Muslim Women’ prompts images of exhausted mothers chained to the stove, ‘victims’ suppressed in a life of indoctrination, frantic to be westernised and so on. Others will go … Read more
I am an American who grew up in a strict religious Christian family. By the time I was 16 I became very devout and religious myself. The church was like a home away from home. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I had read and studied the Bible on a regular basis. All the while I was … Read more
It’s been 12 years since I married my Muslim husband and the road has truly been long and winding, but happy. At the time we got married I was Catholic and had no intention of converting to Islam. My new husband was very understanding and only asked that I at least try to read an … Read more
(part 1 of 2) About five years ago, I was fifty-two years old and a Christian. I had not become a member of any Christian church, but all my life I had been searching for the truth. I attended many churches and studied with their teachers. All fell short and I recognized none as being … Read more
My name is Aisha Canlas. Before I came here in Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I was a Catholic since my parents are also Catholic. We went to different churches to pray to God but through man made images. During that time I was asking myself is that the real face of God? How … Read more
(part 1 of 2) What am I doing down here? I wonder, my nose and forehead pressed to the floor as I kneel in prayer. My kneecaps ache, my arm muscles strain as I try to keep the pressure off my forehead. I listen to strange utterings of the person praying next to me. It’s … Read more
I was brought up in a devout Catholic family and raised with Catholic values and traditions. At fifteen, I entered the monastery. While inside the monastery, I was happy because I could perform my duties as a nun and the people around me including my family were also pleased with me. Until such time when … Read more