Stories Of New Muslims

Mr. Michael Yip

June 23, 1996. I was introduced to Islam in 1995 by
an Egyptian classmate who arrived in New Zealand the previous year, and who was
placed into my Chemistry class. I had no religion before this, though I guess I
was a non-practicing Christian, since I attended Sunday school when I was
young, (but mainly to learn Chinese, my native tongue, rather than religion).
In fact I was uninterested in much that was taught to
me, however I never at any stage discounted the notion of a higher being (i.e.
Allah, or God). Because of my background in religion, I did not know much about
religions other than Christianity and Buddhism. My parents are Buddhists, but
my knowledge of it was so weak that I did not even know the proper name for
their religion until a few years ago. So I was naive when I met my classmate,
Muhammad.

During the first few
weeks, another classmate of mine kept teasing Muhammad about his religion,
asking leading questions and the like. I thus became interested in some of the
things that this other classmate, James, was suggesting. So I got talking with
Muhammad about this religion called Islam, and we became acquainted quickly.

I requested to see a
Quran but did not find the time to read it, during a busy school year. So when
the workload became a bit lighter, I went to see my friend's father, who is our
local Imam. He spoke to me at length about Islam, and planted a seed which in a
few months time, with the blessing of Allah, blossomed into strong Muslim, alhumdulillah. I took shahada in November 1995. I am often asked why I
came to Islam. The question seems logical, and simple, but in fact, I still
find it the most difficult question to answer, even though I have been asked it
so many times. You see, I saw many things in Islam that I liked. Included in
this were the strong brotherhood and sisterhood in Islam, the way fellow
Muslims looked after each other, and the logic in Islam. The logic in women
wearing Hijab to deter from that
which is haram, the logic in the
forbidding of alcohol, which harms more than it ever will heal, and the logic
in many other areas of our lives. I have been told that many people who revert
to Islam find they fit right in with the religion. Indeed this was the case
with me. Coming from a kafir country such as New Zealand (I have lived here most of my life), it is
rare for a person to be good religiously like myself, alhumdulillah, mashaAllah. You see, alhumdulillah, I made intentions in my heart never to drink in my life, and never
have; I made intentions not to fornicate, even though everyone around me in
school was either fornicating or planning to. So you see, alhumdulillah, Allah blessed me from the
beginning, and I felt Islam was the next obvious step for me to take in my
life.

I
decided in November of 1995, with the encouragement with some brothers and
sisters on the Internet, to take shahada as a first step in
Islam, and then take further steps to learn more about Islam, after all we are
all in a constant state of learning about Islam. Alhumdulillah since then I have
progressed slowly but surely, learning some surats from Quran during a
very busy school year. Allah blessed me with some amazing results last year, alhumdulillah, and now I want to
thank my Allah by increasing the time I spend learning Quran and about Islam
this year, inshaAllah, while I pursue entry into a Medical degree. May
Allah give me the strength inshaAllah to enter Medical
school next year. May Allah help us all to learn more about Islam, and let us
all undertake to live our lives in the correct way, and follow the one true and
surely straight path, that of Islam. Ameen.