I am a "European" Muslim.
I became Muslim when I was 17.
I am living now in Potsdam, Germany
and I want to share my experience with
you as a Muslim in a non-Muslim state.
As a convert to Islam, I think it's much easier to follow the deen (religion) than
a born Muslim who is been raised up
here.
Almost all young born-Muslims I know
want to become Germans. For them
Islam is only a tradition and they think that they have to give up their tradition
(Islam) to be accepted by the Germans,
despite the fact that the Germans won't
accept them even if they gave up their
religion.
I grew up in a little village. I lived with my mother and my stepfather in a huge
house with a big garden and a big pool.
And as a teenager I "lived a cool life;" I
had some friends whom I used to hang
around with, do stupid things and drink
alcohol like every young German teen. The life of a Muslim in Germany is quite
difficult than one would think especially
for me as a German Muslim because
when someone asks a German what
they know about Islam; they would tell
you something about Arabs. For them it's like mathematical operation Islam =
Arabs.
They still don't know about our big
nation. When I converted to Islam I had
to leave my family and I moved to the
community in Potsdam near Berlin. I left this huge house and all my material
valuable stuff.
When I lived with my mother and my
stepfather I had everything; a big house,
my own money, TV, Play-station. I was
never concerned about money, but I wasn't happy. I was searching for
something else.
When I turned 16 I met the Muslim
community in Potsdam through my
biological father who became Muslim in
2001. I used to visit my father once a month and we used to attend the
meetings of the community which were
held on Sundays.
At that time, I was interested in Islam,
and my father noticed this and told me
one day that he wouldn't speak about Islam when we are together because he
wanted me to learn from people of
greater knowledge so that other people
won't say: "Oh he became Muslim just
because he's 17 and does everything
his father does." I agreed and I started visiting the
community every month and learned a
lot about Islam but at that time
something happened and changed my
way of thinking. One Sunday, I went
with the Muslim community swimming and I broke my back twice by jumping in
the pool and I hit the ground with my
head.
I noticed when Allah wants something;
the individual's life can be turned over in
one second. My father brought me to the hospital
and the doctor told me:
"You have broken your back quite bad
and if you did one wrong movement
you'll become handicapped."
This didn't help me much, but then just a few moments before they brought me
to the operation room one of my friends
of the Muslims community told me
something: "Yahya, you are now in the
hands of Allah, it's like a rollercoaster.
Now you are on the top enjoy the ride and just trust in Allah." This really
helped me.
The operation took five hours and I
woke up after 3 days. I couldn't move my
right arm but I was feeling like the
happiest person on this earth. I told the doctor that I don't care about my right
arm I'm so happy that Allah has let me
survive.
The doctors have told me that I have to
stay in the hospital for few months. I
stayed for only two weeks there, because I was training very hard. One
day a doctor came and said: "today we
will try to take one step on the
staircase," the exercise that I did on my
own two days before the doctor told me.
Now, I can move my right arm again and I was just two weeks there Al-hamdu
lillah. This accident changed a lot in my
personality.
I noticed when Allah wants something;
the individual's life can be turned over in
one second. So, I took life more serious and started thinking more about my life
and Islam, but I was still living in this
little village.
I made a lot of da`wah to my classmates
and now I even have a praying room
although I'm the only Muslim in my school.
My wish to become Muslim became so
strong that I had to leave my family. I
left my stepfather, my mother and the
luxury lifestyle to go to Potsdam. I
moved to my father's apartment which is rather small and I had to stay in the
kitchen but it was okay because I had
nothing just a very few clothes, school
books, and some CDs.
It must sound for you like I lost
everything but I am very happy, I'm as happy as when I woke up in the hospital
after the dreadful accident. The next
day was the first day of Ramadan. The
day after this was my first school day in
my new school.
In My New School The day after my first day in school I
said Shahadah Al-hamdu lillah. So,
everything was new for me, new
apartment, new school, and first time
without my mother. Like in my school
when they first noticed that I am a Muslim they started to make jokes at
me. I think this is usual because of what
they learned from the media. "A
terrorist," "Osama bin Laden is coming,"
"Muslims are dirty," some people
thought I am just a crazy guy. And they even didn't believe me that I am
German.
But now after 10 months the situation
has changed. I made a lot of da`wah to
my classmates and now I even have a
praying room although I'm the only Muslim in my school.
My classmates changed from making
jokes to asking serious question about
Islam and they noticed that Islam is not
a religion like the other religions. They
noticed Islam is cool! They see that we Muslims have Adab (manners) in
dealing with each other. They noticed
that we are independent from all this
peer pressure, we just keep it real we
don't need to be in a special group like
in my school. At my school there are three main
groups: the hip hop guys; the punks; and
the party people. Everybody tries to be a
member of one group, so as to be
accepted by others. Except me! I can be
a friend with everybody. I don't have to wear special clothes to be "cool." So
what happened is that they are always
inviting me and my Muslim friends to
their barbecue parties.
The special thing on this is that they
respect me as a Muslim and even more, they get Halal food especially for me
and they have organized two barbecue
grills one for them and one for us
Muslims!
The people here are very open for
Islam.
