ok I have no clue where to start and I suck at writing and that is why I've been putting off writing this intro. so I apologize for the horrible grammar and if my thoughts are scattered.
Just to give you guys an idea of where I'm coming from during high school and in my early 20's I was in trouble alot. Looking back on things I was a total wankster but at the time I thought I was fucking tony montana.
The stuff I did got me fast cash that allowed me to live the lifestyle I wanted. I drank alot, partied and recreationaly did drugs. However, doing drugs turned into a big problem and I eventually told myself I had to stop everything.
It was at this time I started getting interested in Islam. I had read about it before (scientific miracles, religion of peace ect..) and I liked it. I actually believed in it and considered myself a Muslims while I was in my party phase but never practised anything at all except for not eating pork.
It was when I quit drugs/drink that I started giving thought to becoming a practicing Muslim. I was looking for a whole new way to live my life. So one day I just decided to wander into a masjid and talk to the people there.
This was probably the lowest I had been in my life, I was really depressed and when I went to the masjid I was 5"11 125lbs I must have looked like a holocaust survivor. I was at the point in my life where I was looking for something to believe in and was very open to whatever they would tell me.
The people there were mostly Arab (alot of Saudis working in the country, libyans too) and Somalis. The people were really great and I have nothing but love for Arabs and Somalis especially Saudis. All the people my age I developed close bonds with and a real brotherhood existed. This is one thing that I actually missed about Islam.
From my first day they taught me how to make wudhu and pray, started teaching me Arabic and obviously al fatiha ect.. In a week I had memorized a few surahs and the Arabic alphabet and was practising saying the letters properly.
You could definitely say I was a "salafi" and the group of people I hung out with just stayed in the masjid all day and read books, discussed Islam ect. We went and drank coffe and ate all day. Nobody cared about money and we just worked odd jobs (wrapping shwarmas ect..) for cash to pay rent and buy books, thobes ect lol.
We kinda isolated ourselves from the world around us and followed sunnah and basically pretended we were living in 7th century Arabia. I didn't watch movies, TV, or music. I didn't even read the newspaper.Mostly everyone was Arab and if they weren't they were a "wannabe Arab" me included.
Now, while I was learning about Islam I read alot of stuff that made me say wtf. The scholars said alot of stuff that made me say wtf. But when you are surrounded by like minded people this all seems normal. But when you remove yourself from this environment thats when you start thinking seriously. It wasn't one thing but an accumulation of many things and when I looked at my beliefs I kinda woke up. I think this picture describes it perfectly...
Now if anyone wants to discuss what were the things that made me say wtf I would be happy to. (or answer any other questions you might have) or what Ive been doing since I left Islam.
Topic: My intro thread - ex muslim convert