Lopez Casanova
A Non-Denominational Christian's Journey to Islam
I spent time reading all the Bible passages of Jesus and the words that came out of his mouth. This is when I realized that Jesus also had been teaching monotheism, and that the true concept of Christianity and the message of Jesus was aligned with Islam.
I found deception and disappointment in some of my current practices as a Christian. I realized that what is being practiced today in our local Christian community church was not what Jesus taught us to do. Somehow we detoured from worshiping God to worshiping Jesus.
I do have to say there are some divisions of Christianity that do not believe in the Trinity nor worship Jesus. Finally I understood why there are so many subdivisions to Christianity; it is because of the different interpretations of who Jesus is and his role.
This was the first time I asked my Muslim friend for a copy of the Noble Quran. But at the same time, I took a step back and wanted to learn about Islam at a slower pace. I could not conceive the fact that what were once my rooted religious beliefs are off track from the original message, and now I was afraid of falling into a new trap. I was so afraid of possibly learning a false or confused religion. So I started asking all my friends for religious literature.
In search of the truth, I interviewed a Jewish friend, a Muslim scholar and many others. My most religious friends could see right through me that I was without a religion and in search for guidance. Again, I looked for answers to my questions in my Bible, because that's what I knew best.
The Bible says that there are false prophets and wrong religions, but it also says that you would recognize them by their fruits.
We are trained to judge and measure everything according to the word of God. Only if something is aligned with the word of God, then it is valid. It says a good tree cannot give bad fruit and that a bad tree cannot give a good fruit. This is a metaphor to teach us to measure people by their acts. It also teaches that those with God must display the attributes of God.
At this time I had learned more about Islam. I was in awe of the magnitude of the Muslim community and their discipline in worship to God, not just through their daily prayers (salah), but also through living a submissive life according to godly principles.
Prior to 2008, I thought only Christians lived this way. I realized that Islam is not a new or a different religion but rather it is an extension, or continuation, of both Judaism and Christianity.
Based on my Bible readings, I came to the conclusion that Islam was created by the hand of God (metaphor/analogy). I remembered that according to Christianity, anything outside of Christianity is created by the devil or a false prophet.
I discovered that there are over one billion Muslims all over the world worshiping God in prayer and fasting together. This was the fruit of their tree and the fruit was good. I came to the conclusion that the devil would have no benefit in having a billion people worshiping God every day.
Also based on the previous stories of other prophets, I was able to recognize Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a messenger of God. Only a man with the anointing, the protection, and the guidance of God Himself, could have taken Islam as far as he did. I knew with my background in Christianity that Prophet Muhammad was no ordinary man; he was a messenger chosen by God.
I was convinced that Islam was a religion created by God. However, I was still afraid of converting. This was a new conviction to me as I had been a Christian for 28 years. I feared that after wrongfully worshiping Jesus for so many years, now I might be joining a new religion and start worshiping Prophet Muhammad wrongfully.
I was very reluctant to convert, but my Muslim friend introduced me to an imam and I interviewed him. Imam Abdel-Jalil reassured me that Islam does not attribute any divinity to Prophet Muhammad, and that God, Allah, was only one, and Muhammad was simply a messenger of God. I asked: "So why are all my Muslim friends named Muhammad?" I was told that the Muslim community sees Prophet Muhammad as a role model and no one can be named by the name of God or any of God's names.
Just for a moment I considered becoming without religion and not being part of any established religion, but that would be against Christianity and all the values I had learned as a child. I did not want to become religiously cynical or an unbeliever, that would be impossible, so I rejected that idea immediately.
I was raised with the conviction to fear God and the desire to worship Him. I prayed to God and asked Him to please guide me and direct me to making the right decision. After all, I was only trying to please him, but I was still running with fear and religious guilt.
My Muslim best friend took the time to teach me how to perform prayers. I was performing salah five times a day before I converted, just to learn and practice. But after each salah I would ask God to forgive me for doing the salah, just in case I was doing something wrong. This was an inner faith battle.
I was so afraid of doing something against God's will. I remember the day I drove to the Islamic center to convert, I prayed and cried all the way there. I was crying out to God saying that if I was making the wrong decision to please not allow me to. I remembered that not even a leaf from a tree can fall unless God allows it to happen, so I asked God to get me into a car accident if necessary, and not allow me to get to the Islamic center on the day I was planning to convert.
I told God in my prayer: "I rather die being close to you, than live one day away from you." The Bible says that is better to live one day in His presence than one thousand years outside of His presence. Well, I'm still here. I made it safe to the Islamic center of San Diego and made my public declaration of faith on August 28, 2008, the Friday before Ramadan started.
Now, I'm a very happy new Muslim. I love the salah and Ramadan. These two practices have given me a great discipline to stay close to God. Although I'm a new Muslim, I'm not a new believer. I always had a strong faith in God.
I come from being highly active in the Christian community. At a very young age, I was placed by my family with leadership responsibilities in teaching and evangelisms. My last church has today over 14,000 members and I used to manage the bank accounts for the church and all the missionary teams. So, I decided to become active in the Muslim community to continue serving God.
I'm very privileged to have an access to two imams in the Islamic Center of San Diego. Imam Taha, and Imam Abdel-Jalil have become father figures to me. They are a highly respected authority figures who truly have a heart for God and for the new Muslims. They have been very supportive and encouraging with new projects.
Although I'm a new Muslim and a woman, the Islamic Center of San Diego has allowed me and encouraged me to participate in their events and given me support to start new projects within the Muslim community such as Muslim business mixers. I enjoy working with them in community involvement projects and events.
On islam
