Part 2
…When my mother told us that she had become Muslim, we were kind of shocked
As a result of that kind of shock, I moved away from… I never stopped believing in God, I wouldn’t say that I was agnostic, I still believed in God firmly. But I wasn’t so sure that they was any organized religion that was true or correct. I thought all religions were, it’s a mistake that a lot of people make, I assumed that all religions were like Christianity, where at some point there was some grain of truth, Divine truth that came down, but it had all been corrupted and it was made by people, and they made it just to control people, And they weren’t really interested in pursuing truth, it was just about control and power and those kind of things.
I still did study religion, but I was not very happy with any kind of organized religion, so I kind of went that rebellious teenage phase. Like I said, my brother was in a band, I was actually the singer and I played keyboard. And so we really got into music and playing music and trying to succeed in that and pursuing that.
If somebody from the outside would have witnessed my life and what was going on, it would have been seemingly very pleasant and nice. I was in a band, we had all different people coming over all our house all the time, we’re having fun, are in college etc. etc. But inside I felt very empty, very spiritually dead. I remember, at some point, I was listening to music, and I was watching the smoke, I think I was smoking a cigarette or something, and I was watching the smoke go out of the ashtray, and I was thinking, I wish I could just like fade away just like the smoke. I wish I could just… I never thought about killing myself.
But I just thought, I wish somehow I could just disappear, I wouldn’t exist anymore. Because I didn’t see existence as…… I saw it kind of as pointless, because there was nothing really fulfilling in my life. It was just going through the motions and going through these series of exercises that didn’t really result in any kind of spiritual nourishment at all. And I was always looking for that, and I just wasn’t finding it. I found it that my life is very unsatisfying.
My brother came to the session, where we were supposed to do our recording session, and of course, I never talked to the person he said, so I was thinking, okay, finally, we’re going to do this, so I was really excited about it. And suddenly he unplugs his guitar, throws everything and walks away. And I was just like, what is going on? I was the leader of the band. So I was even angrier than everybody else. I was the one who was really yelling and saying, you know, what are you doing? We’ve been preparing for this, literally, for years. We have this guy who’s ready to give us money for a recording contract, and all this other stuff. What’s wrong with you?
I wish I would have recorded it because he was sitting there perfectly calm, composed, explaining I have become Muslim. And here’s why. I wanted to punch him. I mean, people had to hold me back. I mean, I literally was I mean, and I’m not a violent person, but I was extremely violently angry. And I said, what are you talking about? How could you, you know, whatever. So I said, I’m going to prove to him that this is wrong. I mean my whole thing was, I mean, when I get angry, I get angry. But then I get calm. And I’m like, okay, you want to become Muslim? I’m going to prove you wrong.
I remember, my mom had given me books about Islam, whatever. And I never really read… I mean, I read like some books of hadith. I never really took it seriously though. I said I’m not doing anything else. I’m calling off of work. I’m going to stop the band, I’m going to do everything. And I said, I’m going to read the Qur’an cover to cover, and I’m sure because I’ve done this with the Bible before. I’m sure I will find contradictions, I’m sure I will find a way to disprove it.
But what I said, and the key to this all was, and I don’t know where this inspiration came from, but I said, if I’m going to do this, what I have to do first is I have to have a very clear mind when I do this. So I stopped whatever I was doing that you can probably imagine, you know chemical things. I’m going to stop anything that would alter my judgment or my reason. And I’m just going to sit here as long as it takes and I’m going to read the Qur’an. And I was determined to do this. And really, subhanAllah what’s amazing is…… so. Well he was introduced to Islam and he became Muslim because of this conversation, I feel like what introduced me to Islam was literally the Qur’an. And of course in English.
I started reading it cover to cover, because you have to understand to the Bible, no one reads it cover to cover, they just quote certain verses and they give all kinds of pop psychology from Oprah Winfrey, and this person and whatever. So nobody ever is just reading the Bible, like they do the Qur’an. So I said, you know, I definitely, but it’s subhanAllah for in the first Surat al-Fatiha, Surat al-Baqarah and Surat Aal-Imran I mean, as I was going through it, I felt like I was going to fall on the floor just from… I said, all of the things that I found in the Bible that I knew were not true, it’s like here’s the Quran coming and correcting it and even explaining more than I could have ever imagined would be in a book was in that book.
It was as if Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, as if God was reading my thoughts and telling me, okay, you’ve been thinking all this, okay, I’m going to give you the answers right here. Here’s all the answers you’ve been searching for, here you go, 1, 2, 3. And, subhanAllah, I remember, for about a week, I didn’t do anything else. I didn’t go to work, I didn’t go to school, and all I did was just read the Qur’an. And by the end of that time, I mean, I just said, this has to be the truth. I mean, there is no human being could write a book like this. It’s impossible. No, no person could have ever come up with this. It has to be from God. It’s too comprehensive, it’s too amazing. It speaks directly to your heart in a way that nothing else does, nothing else could.
To be continued…
May 14 2025
Conversion Story by “Ali Smart” – Part 2
Part 2
…When my mother told us that she had become Muslim, we were kind of shocked
As a result of that kind of shock, I moved away from… I never stopped believing in God, I wouldn’t say that I was agnostic, I still believed in God firmly. But I wasn’t so sure that they was any organized religion that was true or correct. I thought all religions were, it’s a mistake that a lot of people make, I assumed that all religions were like Christianity, where at some point there was some grain of truth, Divine truth that came down, but it had all been corrupted and it was made by people, and they made it just to control people, And they weren’t really interested in pursuing truth, it was just about control and power and those kind of things.
I still did study religion, but I was not very happy with any kind of organized religion, so I kind of went that rebellious teenage phase. Like I said, my brother was in a band, I was actually the singer and I played keyboard. And so we really got into music and playing music and trying to succeed in that and pursuing that.
If somebody from the outside would have witnessed my life and what was going on, it would have been seemingly very pleasant and nice. I was in a band, we had all different people coming over all our house all the time, we’re having fun, are in college etc. etc. But inside I felt very empty, very spiritually dead. I remember, at some point, I was listening to music, and I was watching the smoke, I think I was smoking a cigarette or something, and I was watching the smoke go out of the ashtray, and I was thinking, I wish I could just like fade away just like the smoke. I wish I could just… I never thought about killing myself.
But I just thought, I wish somehow I could just disappear, I wouldn’t exist anymore. Because I didn’t see existence as…… I saw it kind of as pointless, because there was nothing really fulfilling in my life. It was just going through the motions and going through these series of exercises that didn’t really result in any kind of spiritual nourishment at all. And I was always looking for that, and I just wasn’t finding it. I found it that my life is very unsatisfying.
My brother came to the session, where we were supposed to do our recording session, and of course, I never talked to the person he said, so I was thinking, okay, finally, we’re going to do this, so I was really excited about it. And suddenly he unplugs his guitar, throws everything and walks away. And I was just like, what is going on? I was the leader of the band. So I was even angrier than everybody else. I was the one who was really yelling and saying, you know, what are you doing? We’ve been preparing for this, literally, for years. We have this guy who’s ready to give us money for a recording contract, and all this other stuff. What’s wrong with you?
I wish I would have recorded it because he was sitting there perfectly calm, composed, explaining I have become Muslim. And here’s why. I wanted to punch him. I mean, people had to hold me back. I mean, I literally was I mean, and I’m not a violent person, but I was extremely violently angry. And I said, what are you talking about? How could you, you know, whatever. So I said, I’m going to prove to him that this is wrong. I mean my whole thing was, I mean, when I get angry, I get angry. But then I get calm. And I’m like, okay, you want to become Muslim? I’m going to prove you wrong.
I remember, my mom had given me books about Islam, whatever. And I never really read… I mean, I read like some books of hadith. I never really took it seriously though. I said I’m not doing anything else. I’m calling off of work. I’m going to stop the band, I’m going to do everything. And I said, I’m going to read the Qur’an cover to cover, and I’m sure because I’ve done this with the Bible before. I’m sure I will find contradictions, I’m sure I will find a way to disprove it.
But what I said, and the key to this all was, and I don’t know where this inspiration came from, but I said, if I’m going to do this, what I have to do first is I have to have a very clear mind when I do this. So I stopped whatever I was doing that you can probably imagine, you know chemical things. I’m going to stop anything that would alter my judgment or my reason. And I’m just going to sit here as long as it takes and I’m going to read the Qur’an. And I was determined to do this. And really, subhanAllah what’s amazing is…… so. Well he was introduced to Islam and he became Muslim because of this conversation, I feel like what introduced me to Islam was literally the Qur’an. And of course in English.
I started reading it cover to cover, because you have to understand to the Bible, no one reads it cover to cover, they just quote certain verses and they give all kinds of pop psychology from Oprah Winfrey, and this person and whatever. So nobody ever is just reading the Bible, like they do the Qur’an. So I said, you know, I definitely, but it’s subhanAllah for in the first Surat al-Fatiha, Surat al-Baqarah and Surat Aal-Imran I mean, as I was going through it, I felt like I was going to fall on the floor just from… I said, all of the things that I found in the Bible that I knew were not true, it’s like here’s the Quran coming and correcting it and even explaining more than I could have ever imagined would be in a book was in that book.
It was as if Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, as if God was reading my thoughts and telling me, okay, you’ve been thinking all this, okay, I’m going to give you the answers right here. Here’s all the answers you’ve been searching for, here you go, 1, 2, 3. And, subhanAllah, I remember, for about a week, I didn’t do anything else. I didn’t go to work, I didn’t go to school, and all I did was just read the Qur’an. And by the end of that time, I mean, I just said, this has to be the truth. I mean, there is no human being could write a book like this. It’s impossible. No, no person could have ever come up with this. It has to be from God. It’s too comprehensive, it’s too amazing. It speaks directly to your heart in a way that nothing else does, nothing else could.
To be continued…
By english • Chronicles of the converted to Shia • 0 • Tags: Ali Smart, converted to Islam, Converted to Shia, Mostabserin, Reborn, Story