The story of one new muslim

let's to present a biography of a new Muslim .

(The photo is symbolic)

I am a Muslimah living in my home-town of Dayton, Ohio where I have lived most of my life. I became interested in Islam during a stint as a travel nurse in Baltimore, MD where I had a Muslim tennis partner. I learned most of my information about Islam on the internet and met many interesting people on-line, including my darling husband of 3 years now.
They say that hind site is 20-20, and I would tend to agree. Early in my college career I taught teenage Sunday school classes at my Methodist church. My teaching style was a bit different because I preferred group discussions to actual lectures and this seemed to work well. This also helped me to avoid any cognitive dissonance with the Jesus as Son of God idea which even then made no sense to me. I guess I was at that church because that's all I knew, even though my parents didn't really push religion on my brother and I as children. Then there came an art history class I took in which I did a special paper for the final on the historical image of Jesus in art throughout history. What I learned was that the current, blonde haired blue eyed, Jesus that we envision today is really the projection of one particular German painter named Peter Paul Rubins. This man believed that we each have god-like qualities and are a part of god therefore he had ever right to project his personal image as that of Jesus. Later I took another class called Understanding the Bible which took a look at the development of the Bible in history in a non-religious context. What I learned from this class was that it was a human decision as to what was included in Biblical text not divine and therefore subject to error. Also that there was no real way to trace the texts to the original source or author.
My early encounter with Islam addressed each of my problems with organized Christian religion. Jesus was a prophet and was immaculately conceived child. Prophets were all good and respectable people...not like some of the Bible stories portray them. In fact all the well known Christian figures have a place in Islam. The Quran is straight from God, and there is a clear difference between the Sunnah and the holy book. Even the intense materialistic tendencies in society were addressed. Thus Islam helped me realize there is one true religion that encompasses all the aspects of daily life. I particularly am fond of the role of women in Islam because we hold an honored place if we choose to live appropriately.
Writed by : Judy Sabyrah Atlagh