Reversion followed by unwitting sectarian conversion followed by reversion
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There is much to my story, but I will try to make it as short as possible here. I met a cute Egyptian guy years back online and we wanted to be together because we did things the way I was used to doing them here in the US.....boy meets girl, infatuation, etc. We were getting close, but I had to be either Christian or Muslim in order for him to marry me (according to him.) Problem was I didn't believe Jesus was God and I was totally offended by everything I heard about Muhammad and the several wives, the burqas and beatings, etc. (you know, the usual hadith and cultural bid'ah). I said I would consider being Muslim if this Muhammad guy could define who god is to my satisfaction. Ayat al-kursy blew my mind, along with the whole freedom of slaves and no original sin stuff. I was interested. I was NOT going to wear a towel on my head, though, and I saw nothing wrong with wearing my bikini at the pool.
Some time later, I had some serious night terrors that, as night terrors go, felt incredibly real. A giant stone with a thundering sound rolled across my bedroom door at my small apartment I lived alone in at the time. Then a giant black void in the approximate shape of a cloaked figure (like the stereotypical figure of death/ghost of christmas past) appeared before me. within it, there was nothing......like NOTHING.....like a black hole just appeared in my room. It spoke to my mind. It's name was something like Asra-eel, and it was my time to go. I was afraid of dying. I was confronted with not having come to God. I pleaded that if I had been given the message, I did not receive it entirely or justly. I asked if who gave me the message was doing justice to the message or not. I called to God to give me a chance to learn what it was, but if it was my time, to just take me--I submitted the choice to God to decide. I was about to be pulled in, but was suddenly released. I came to and that was that.
(to be continued, crying baby)
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I'll add, I too am waiting for the next part. D But take your time if you need to.
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Ok, here is Part 2
I had a classmate in my Microbiology class I was taking, and just happened to have told my story about my night terror and about a strange dream I had had prior involving being swallowed by a whale and not remembering ever having read Moby Dick (wtf?!) For the record, he happened to be a Syrian Sunni. He turned pale when I mentioned the name of the cloaked figure. He said it was the angel of death and mentioned something about Moses that, to this day, I don't recollect. He also related the story about Yunus. Apparently it is Jonas in the Bible, and although I was raised Christian, I didn't know very many Bible stories--certainly not that one. Needless to say, it sort of drove me toward wanting to know more.
I will be frank I don't really like or trust superstitious/paranormal/boogety-boo Harry Potter stuff, but this was true and real (in that it was a night terror containing information I could not have known before.) I learned more about the Quran and converted the last day of Ramadan 1428. Honestly, I had a hard time with the dual shahada and found myself asking about it at the mosque I gave testimony in. The Imam was impatient with me and I didn't know why. I was in tears but I finished it reluctantly after he asked if I wanted to come to Islam or not....blah blah blah. Over the years, I fell into Sunnism despite being terribly revolted by it initially. I kept asking periodically about authenticity of hadiths and was always treated with hostility and told that I was ignorant and need to learn more. For years, I spent time trying to find the evidence to justify hadith, and would just take them and pass them on because I was told I had to or I wasn't Muslim hypno . I thought that surely it must be right, because if it weren't, surely someone would have said something...... nope Talk about a major facepalm, I know. Boy, does all this stuff make sense now......
I have had many other interesting experiences with Imams and other Sunnis of various sub-sects which I am happy to start new threads about. Honestly, I don't believe I have met a Shiite, unless they were lying about it, lol. I am considering starting a public shaming thread of some Imams who give terrible tragicomic advice/fatwas to people, as I have had a number done on me via e-mail conversations with a local imam here, and I think these people need to be exposed.
I also want to start a new thread immediately about some Quran only issues that I need to reconcile.
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Me too. What happened to that stone afterwards? hmm
It just vanished along with "Asra-eel", as if nothing happened.
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Peace be with you. Religion has a lot to answer for.
)
Richard -
Salaam,
God truly bestows His mercy upon various people as He pleases.
I was myself pretty much astray in my past, but God blessed me and guided me. I also had "supernatural" things happening to me.
Anyway, welcome to the forum of weird people, and some boring sane people.
God bless you