My Conversion Story.

Bismillah
Introduction
Assalamu alaikum brothers and sisters my name is Amal, I am 22 years old, I have 3 children and I am a revert to Islam.

I live in Melbourne and I have lived here most of my life.

I am half Samoan and half English.
I spend a lot of time with family and close friends.
Family is very important to me.

I enjoy attending the Mosque for prayer, gatherings and to be around my fellow Muslim sisters.
I also love connecting with Nature.

Life before Islam.
My life before Islam was chaotic. I suffered with my mental health the majority of the time.

As a minor I turned to drugs and alcohol to try ease my pain., but it never did It only made it a whole lot worse.

I have experienced significant trauma, slept on streets, been in and out of hospital and the system.

I lived in foster care and residential care for 6 years until I was of legal age.

I have always believed in God.
Growing up in a Christian family I always had a lot of questions, that even when given a answer, I still didn't understand.

I feel with my soul and nothing seemed to sit right with me when learning of the Christian faith. No disrespect.

I have always felt my heart longing for something and I just didn't know what.

My first encounter with a Muslim.
In my early primary school ages I had a lot of Muslim friends, neighbours etc..

From a young age I was interested in Islam and I was fascinated with Hijab.
I thought it was so beautiful.

I used to ask questions to my school peers about Islam and they would always answer them.
It had me wanting to learn more and more.

There were always either family or outsiders making negative remarks about Muslims and the religion, it never made me think bad of Islam.

As I grew older probably my mid teens, I started hanging around a lot of Muslims, and I remember asking them about Islam.

They were always so kind when they would teach me and in answering my questions. They were always so welcoming, calm collected and kind to me, Mashallah.
I also did research my self.

My Conversion.
In 2016, I took my Shahada after many years of showing interest in Islam, researching and being around many Muslims, I accepted Islam as the truth.

I believed in Allah and his final messenger our beloved prophet Muhammad saw

I was 16 at the time. I have been Muslim now for 6 years Alhamdulillah but with all honesty I did not start fully practicing until about 2-3 years ago. Alhamdulillah.

At the start of becoming a Muslim I found it hard to pray, seek help, commit to hijab, and just practise in general.

In 2020 a dear brother of mine returned to our lord and I went through a deep depression, but some of his last words to me was to remember the 5 pillars of Islam, return to Allah, practise seek help at the Mosque, if I need ect, all I could think of were the words of Allah, la Illaha Illallah.

That same year my dear brother passed away not long after something horrible happened to me, I wont go into detail too much now.
Though It was traumatic, painful and I was grieving, all at the same time. I turned back to Allah swt with a clean heart.

I came back to my Rabb ready to learn my deen, ready to pray, ready to leave it all in the hands of the Almighty.

Allah guides whom he wills, and Alhamdulillah I was guided back to my religion.

What do I love about Islam?
"Everything ," The sense of peace and tranquillity when praying, reciting, being around other practicing Muslims and worshiping Allah swt.

I love how in Islam we don't see one better than the other.
We are all one, One Ummah and we belong to Allah and to him is our return.

The values Islam teaches- Respect, kindness, generosity, love, forgiveness, patience, justice, controlling our anger etc.
The truth about life, the truth about our beloved prophet Muhammad SAW.

The connection and genuine love between the people and the Masjid.

How has Islam improved me as person?
Islam has helped me to think twice about how I act, making decisions, how I treat myself and others.

It has helped give me purpose in life., hope and faith to continue, even when times get tough, to say Alhamdulillah for the good and bad.

To remember God is always with me and believe he will guide me through.

It has helped me, to want to better myself as a person each and every day, to do better InShaallah.

My family likes my changes.
My mum my sisters and the rest of my family have made it clear as long as I'm happy they are happy.

All though till this day they don't follow any religion, I pray Allah swt guides them to Islam and has mercy on them.

Alhamdulillah my family has been supportive throughout my journey to Islam.

As a Polynesian Muslim what challenges I have faced?
Alhamdulillah I haven't had too many negatives or challenges being a Polynesian /Afakasi Muslim.

The only negative has been my own family on my Samoan side, cursing me, slandering the Quran and words of Allah. Saying I am not one of them because the Quran is not the truth in their eyes.

I didn't grow up with my Samoan side at all, and met them when I already was Muslim Alhamdulillah.
Anything towards my faith from them has never been nice.

May Allah forgive them and guide them.
I have nothing but love on my end for them, Subhanallah. 

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