Why I Am a Muslim

By Amina Cisse Muhammad

I cannot say how well my story represents those of the estimated over three
million Americans of African descent who have converted to Islam in the last few
decades, but I would guess our stories share common threads.

As a child born into a Christian family, the granddaughter of a Baptist minister and
his very devout wife, I was required to attend Sunday School and church services
every week. Although I always accepted the existence and omnipotence of a
Supreme Being, I always had problems with the concept of the Holy Trinity upon
which present day Christianity is based. I can remember sitting in church and
feeling shivers go up and down my spine at the mention of the Almighty; yet, I was
ambivalent, if not suspicious, when Jesus Christ (Prophet Isa, AS) was elevated to
the status of the son of Allah, or even Allah Himself.

Equally disturbing to me was the hypocrisy I observed amongst members of the
church congregation I belonged to, and in American society in general. Despite
Christian and American ideals of equality and brotherhood, the disdain with which
people of color and the poor were, and still are to a large degree, held was very
obvious to me. That an unequal distribution of wealth formed the basis of
capitalistic societies was obvious as well. The subsequent exploitation suffered by
the disadvantaged masses at the hands of an advantaged few deeply troubled me
and led me to become a champion of the oppressed.

While studying Sociology in college in the 1970s, I was required to read the
Autobiography of Malcolm X, which he co-authored with writer Alex Haley. Except
for an occasional mention of Moslems spreading Islam by the sword in the Euro-
centric textbooks used by my primary and secondary school teachers, and one or
two encounters with followers of the Nation of Islam, my knowledge of Islam prior
to reading this book was practically nil. The book had a profound impact on me,
particularly the last few chapters where Malcolm X related the events that led to
his discovery of true Islam.

Malcolm was one of times greatest spokesmen for the cause of the oppressed. For
twelve years, as a follower and minister of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the
Nation of Islam, he taught that the condition of African Americans was the result of
evils committed against them by Whites, whom the Nation of Islam regarded as
devils. Because of his teachings, Malcolm was labeled a Black racist who incited
riots and violence among poor Blacks. However, before his murder in 1965,
Malcolm was blessed to be exposed to true Islam when he made a pilgrimage to
Mecca in 1964 and witnessed equality and brotherhood amongst Muslims with
white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes; Muslims whose skin was the darkest of dark;
and those whose skin color was of the many different shades in between. During
this pilgrimage, Malcolm X became Al Hajj Malik Al Shabazz.

I identified with Malcolms analysis of the condition of African Americans, and I
shared his frustration and anger over our four-century long exploitation. I was also
deeply moved by his account of his pilgrimage where he was introduced to the
Islam practiced by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) over fourteen centuries ago. This
pilgrimage altered Malcolms attitude toward Whites, and it broadened his
perspective on life from one focused on the personal circumstances he had
encountered as an African American in his immediate surroundings to a global
perspective that allowed him to identify with all of the worlds oppressed peoples.
The remaining less-than-a-year of his life he spent working to have African
Americans identify with their long lost brothers and sisters in Africa spiritually,
culturally, and politically.

Al Hajj Maliks story, along with events occurring at the same time in my personal
life, prompted me to search for a belief system that was relevant to my life as a
young African American female one who recognized a Supreme Being and so
accounted for the many otherwise unexplainable phenomena that we observe and
experience each and every day. A belief system that was practical and could be
utilized in my day-to-day living. A belief system that preached unity, love, and
brotherhood, and was being practiced faithfully by those who professed to be its
adherents.

I started my search by attempting to better familiarize myself with what I already
knew I began reading the Bible from cover to cover and I resumed going to
church (I had stopped going when I left home to attend college). I even visited the
Jehovahs Witnesses Kingdom Hall (one of my older sisters was a Witness) in
Greensboro, NC where I was attending school. However, my doubts regarding
Christianity did not subside and the void in my life remained unfulfilled. Finally, I
decided to pour my heart out to Allah and ask Him to guide me on the Right Path.

Around the same time, I met the man who would later become my husband. We
were in a Philosophy class together. He had already embraced Islam, and I felt a
certain unexplained attraction to him. As time went on, he began to tell me about
Islam and the pieces in my life began to fall into place.

A significant analogy that I can remember being told by someone during this time
was that of a person drowning in a river. Despite the fact that a rivers current is
very strong, much stronger than a humans strength, it is the natural impulse of a
person drowning in a river to try to swim against the current. The feat being
impossible, this person will likely soon tire and eventually drown from fatigue.

However, if this person submitted to the flow of the river and allowed it to carry
them along, perhaps along the way, a rock or tree branch would appear that they
could grab onto and save themselves. In the same way, I was told, as humans we
quite often resist the natural order of things the Divine Laws and Decree of Allah
and we perish. However, if we were to submit to that natural order indeed, to
Allah not only is our salvation possible, it is guaranteed.

Although I wrote to my parents one day to inform them of my interest in Islam and
assure them I would not make any impulsive decisions, it was that very night that
Allah sent those individuals to me who would offer the final persuasion that Islam
is definitely that submission to the natural order of things. The peace that I felt
when I uttered the Khalimat Shahadah Ashhadu an La ilaha ill Allah wa ashhadu
anna Muhammadan Rasulullah has been sufficient to keep away any doubt,
during the past almost 24 years since I embraced Islam, that this was the real
thing. Allahu Akbar!

I must say that, unlike some converts to Islam, I never faced bitter opposition from
my family. However, they have made several attempts to re-convert me to
Christianity. I can remember my oldest sister asking me once if I did not feel
strange (hence, obviously wrong) that everyone else in our family considered
themselves Christians when I did not. She shook her head in amazement when I
replied that I often marveled at the fact that Allah had chosen me out of all of them
to become a Muslim. Allah is Most Merciful! Although I constantly pray that He
makes them all Muslims, if there can be only one Muslim amongst us, I am grateful
that it is me.

Though they all profess Christianity, my observation is that Christianity does not
have nearly the impact on their lives as Islam has on mine. One example of this
was in 1988 when my husband suddenly passed away. My younger sister who had
also become a Jehovahs Witness, said that she did not see how I could be as
strong as I was, and that if it had been her, she probably would have fallen apart.
The others were amazed as well. Couldnt they see that it was Islam that gave me
the perspective that nothing, absolutely nothing, happens except by Allahs will,
and that even though as humans, in our shortsightedness, we fail to see the good
in so many things, Allah Almighty surely knows best?

When I compare Muslims to Jews and Christians, I use the analogy of slices of a
cake. If we consider the cake to be Truth, since Jews accept some of the Prophets
of Allah (but not Prophet Isa or Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon them) and
parts of His Scriptures to mankind, we can say that they have a slice of the cake.
Christians accept Prophet Isa (although as the son of Allah or even Allah) although
they reject Prophet Muhammad (SAW), so we can say that they have an even
larger slice of the cake. However, as Muslims, we are blessed to accept all of the
Prophets of Allah and His uncorrupted Scriptures to mankind so we have the entire
cake. Allah is Most Gracious!

Islam has brought peace to my life. Islam has taught me to more completely
submit to the Divine order of things. It has given me purpose and direction in life,
and so has filled the void I once felt. Islam has given me the vehicle by which I
have established a personal relationship with my Lord and Creator, and by which I
can continually move closer to Him. Islam has given me a practical and useful
framework in which to conduct all of my affairs; hence, it encompasses all of my
life the physical as well as the spiritual and intellectual. The Muslims I have
encountered in the last 24 years have not been perfect (no human being is), but
they have come closest to practicing what they profess to believe and what they
preach than the adherents of other faiths that I have encountered in my lifes
time.

On this day I have perfected your religion for you and completed my favor onto
you, and have chosen for you as your religion Al-Islam (Holy Quran, Suratul
Maida (5), Ayat 5).

I thank Allah for Islam and for allowing me to be a Muslim. Allah is Most Kind!