My journey to Islam started when a friend of mine a couple of friends of mine they wanted
to take me to the mosque I was hanging out with a lot of people that were Muslim they
didn't behave as Muslims but they were Muslim so the first initial group and then Alhamdulillah
I met a sister that is still very near and dear to me and um she actually took me
to the Masjid Alhamdulillah but it all started me wanting to go to the Masjid came from me
wanting something better for my kids I was looking for something better for my kids because
my life was very disorganized my I come from a household where my mother was a drug
addict my father was a cartel he was in the Colombian cartel he got thirty years in jail
my mother died from a heroin overdose so my lifestyle was very similar to them and I was
going down that path and I didn't want to leave my kids the way my mother left us so
the more I reflected on that that kind of pushed me to look for something like you know
for something and when I was hanging out with them they told me that being Muslim was about
just believing in one God and that was appeasing to me you know I didn't have to have any statues
and it's just one God and I got curious that's where it started they did let the rest of
my family did not react in a positive way to me being Muslim it wasn't so much me saying
let a little law that bothered them because they're not Catholic to the sense where they're
constantly in the church you know they just go to church when it's the palms or the ashes
but it was my entire that disturbed them and the things that I changed I no longer was
Natalie that came in with the Coronas and was I had party over here you know I was now
Natalie who was like Salam Alaikum how are you and they're like they didn't understand
what I didn't want to go to a barbecue because they had pork they didn't understand what
I didn't want to go because they were drinking didn't understand that I didn't celebrate
birthdays and I wasn't going to celebrate a birthday so they didn't understand how a
person that was so fond of her six-inch heels and her little dresses and her hair I'm talking
about extensions eyelashes nails everything they didn't understand how a person like that
can turn into this so they didn't reckon that when Christmas I went to visit them and they
literally slammed the door in my face they didn't recognize who I was my cousin looked
at me was like so um they didn't have a good reaction at first but Alhamdulillah with
time they you know they came to accept it it's just something you have to push through
you have to push through it and eventually if you hold onto it hard enough they'll accept
it you know I compared my dress attire to that of the Virgin Mary how do you pray to
her and it's okay for her to just like that this is supposed to be the person that you
think is the greatest woman on earth you know and you don't want me to just like her and
that kind of shut them up and then after reflecting I guess for a while they realized they're
like well you know what if this means you're not leaving the house drunk and they're not
calling us to tell us you drove yourself into a tree or that you're high or ever then we
like you like this so they don't like it one of my sisters doesn't speak to me to this
day but Alhamdulillah they accept it my first Ramadan was extremely difficult for me extremely
difficult because I had not that I was new to Islam I didn't have that many sisters in
Islam and well not I had a lot of sisters but I didn't know a lot of sisters like to
go to iftars and this and that and it was my first year wearing hijab it was in the
summer it was extremely long hours I was also um you know um I come from a family where
food is like you know we make huge meals all the time and I had to cook for the kids it
was very difficult but Alhamdulillah like it's one the thirst was the biggest deal but once
you push through it and it just becomes you know it becomes easier but but the good thing
is that the satisfaction you get when you do break your fast of knowing that you accomplished
it and you know being there what helped me was when I started to get with the sisters
you know surround myself with these sisters and like the bond you create with these sisters
that helped a lot so calling each other how are you doing how's it going I'm thirsty the one
thing I love about Islam is I love my sisters in Islam and I also love the promise of something
better at the end because nobody wants to do this forever right I love my sisters in
Islam because they're closer to me than my blood sisters always even before I was Muslim
the relationship that I had with my sisters I can never compare to the relationships I
have with my sisters in Islam and I can say that that's for every single Muslim woman
I know revert non revert like sisters in Islam we're just you know it's not like the funds
I had at the bar that you go there and you know your friends while you're getting drunk
and you're only there to hold each other's hair if you're throwing up you know these
sisters you know they're there the good the bad the pretty the ugly everything you know
these sisters even though they're not blood-related to me they're closer to my children than my
family they're closer to me than my family so Alhamdulillah my favorite part is definitely
my sisters in Islam one piece of advice I'd give Latinas is um look when you read the
Quran read it and don't just read it like reflect on it you know think about it and
for Latinas especially in my country Colombia it's very important our appearance you know
our hair or makeup like our whole our whole societies about how these women look you know
and that's the hardest thing that's one thing that I know that women are what oh no I'm not
putting that on my head um I wanted around like that no no no no you got to think that
you're more than that you're more than what you look like the person that looks at you
has to see something else you know and you have to realize that you're striving for something
better at the end it's just you just have to have an open mind when you read it and
just know that it's beautiful every single word is beautiful and every single word has
so much meaning and there's so much truth in any and everything if you read one thing
in the Quran read the Quran read it and if you find one thing in the Quran that you do
not see true then close the book and don't open it again
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