Ty's comments (member since Aug 25, 2007)

Ty's comments from the Islam group.

I strongly recommend reading Martin Lings' autobiography of Muhammad. It's easy to read, and it tells a lot about Islam and also about the context of how certain practices came about.


You can also point him to some good Web sites that (together) represent the broad range of Islam---like islamicity.com and muslimwakeup.com.

Ty

I'm an American convert. I've been Muslim for 22 years.

My story: I felt a strong sense of religious "calling"---a great desire to find the truth and feel connected to God, and devote my life to God---as a teenager. I started learning about different religions, because I disagreed with the theology of the Catholic church (I was raised Catholic). I met Muslims and started learning more about Islam from them, but they recommended I read the Qur'an for more accurate information. So I did. I converted very soon after that.

I definitely struggled with my family over my conversion, especially in the beginning. They didn't understand it and thought I was too young to make "life changing" decisions. (At the same time, I was being encouraged to choose a college and a major in college... how is choosing to practice a religion more long-term life-altering than choosing a major in college??)

Over the years, I have gone from being only theoretically Muslim (believing in the ideology but not practice), to practicing a very fundamentalist type of Islam, to where I am now which is practicing, but progressive and leaning towards Sufi in some ways.