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My Journey to Islam by Damian C\u00faip\u00e9ir<\/p>\n
I suppose you could say that my journey began a few years ago, when the stories came to light about catholic priests & their crimes against children in Ireland, & indeed, all over the world.<\/p>\n
But we will get to that after the introductions.<\/p>\n
Hi, my name was Damian C\u00faip\u00e9ir, (Now Daamin Abdul Quadir) I was born in (withheld) in Newcastle, County Down, in the North of Ireland. I am the second youngest of 6, & I was raised as a catholic.<\/p>\n
I began having problems with the teachings of the Catholic Church when I was at high school, when I was told that I had to go to confessions, to confess my sins in front of a priest. I objected to this & stated that I could speak to God whenever & wherever,<\/p>\n
I chose to, this could be in bed at night, or anywhere really.<\/p>\n
I became a \u2018lapsed\u2019 catholic from here & really had no further involvement with religion from this point for several years. But it didn\u2019t stop me from believing in God, my view was that I could still pray without having to go through a \u2018representative\u2019 here on Earth.<\/p>\n
I was still praying using the prayers that Catholicism had taught me, & later, I just spoke to God. When the stories of the behaviors of priests & others in the Catholic Church began emerging, I wanted to have no further dealings with it. But I still \u2018knew\u2019 there was a \u2018God\u2019, & felt I needed to find a new direction to go in.<\/p>\n
I spoke to my mother about this only last year (2012), she told me to do what I was happy with, in other words, it was my choice & I\u2019d be the one living with it. Basically, that was her blessing, or as close as I was going to get to it. So, I had to decide where I wanted to put my faith. As far as I was concerned, there was \u2018ONE GOD\u2019, just everyone had a different name for him, according to their faith.<\/p>\n
The only other religion I had been looking at was Islam, I know that may sound cheesy, but it is the truth! I had been reading about it, but I was anxious, because my health was not good at all, at the time. I thought I wouldn\u2019t be able to pray \u2018properly\u2019 as I had saw it on TV, because I was unable to get up & down, prostrating as I was told it was called. I thought I couldn\u2019t be a \u2018proper\u2019 Muslim! I think because my health was so poor, it prompted me to take more decisive action. I began reading more about Islam from a few sites online, but I was a bit apprehensive; I was thinking about what others would think of my decision to embrace Islam, instead of putting my own happiness & peace of mind first.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, I had been introduced to a few brothers on Facebook; I think the first was Brother Ibrahim. I remember thinking to myself after chatting with him a few times, \u201cWhy do they say that Islam is an evil religion, this guy could live across the road from me, he talks like me, could have similar interests, HAD a similar sense of humor.\u201d I can say that he put me at ease, I wasn\u2019t nervous about talking to him, I think the first time I spoke to him on fb, I ribbed him about his name, & he took it the way it was meant, as a bit of cr\u00e1ic, a joke. \u201cHe\u2019s human\u201d, I thought. Chatting with him & others, it spurred me on to gain as much knowledge as I could find about the religion of Islam, & how to go about bringing it into my life, to become a part of it.<\/p>\n
I testified \u2018Shahada\u2019 on November 19, 2012, through islamreligion.com<\/span>. I was having an online chat with Zia, one of the operators.<\/p>\n We went through all my fears, worries, anxieties, & I was at peace with myself at last. Zia phoned me & I testified \u2018Shahada\u2019, I wanted to ensure that I was saying the words right, for my own peace of mind. I honestly felt as if a weight had been lifted from me, I was unburdened & I was happy.<\/p>\n I told Ibrahim & a few other brothers & sisters of what I had done, by private message. This was because I had wanted to tell family & friends in person, rather than to plaster it across fb. So slowly, steadily, the list of people I felt I should tell in person grew smaller & smaller. Then in mid to late December (I think), I posted it as my status on fb. Again, I felt unburdened & extremely happy.<\/p>\n Now I just look forward to learning more about Islam every day. Brother Ibrahim provided me with links to a lot of sites where I could pick up more & more knowledge. Now, I have a great bunch of \u2018true friends\u2019, brothers & sisters who help me every time I chat with them on fb. Reverting to Islam is the best decision I have made in years & my Christian friends fully supported me right through the process, & still do to this day.<\/p>\n Ref. The Religion of Islam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My Journey to Islam by Damian C\u00faip\u00e9ir I suppose you could say that my journey began a few years ago, when the stories came to light about catholic priests &… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-men-convert-to-islam"],"yoast_head":"\n