Mark Wells
I would have to say that it wasn't one event that led me to As Islam. It was a life long process. I remember when I was a kid, I would hear the words Islam, Final Call, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm x, Kareem Adul Jabbar and Elijah Muhammad and these name were unique to me back than, but I was a kid and all I was concern about back than was kid's things. I remember going to church regularly from the age of three to about six years old but for some reason my mother stop going. I couldn't never embrace Christianity because I just didn't get the concept of man being a god or a son of the creator of the universe. I always believe it was more to the universe than what I was taught in school and I believed the universe was something much bigger than what a man or any group of men could ever create . And I just couldn't grasp the idea that god would purposely curse all men and women after Addam and Eve because someone ate an apple from a tree. I just couldn't piece together self responsibility and being punish for something that I was curse with. When I join the Army I had a friend who had knowledge of Islam but he wasn't practicing at the time, but his demeanor was just different than anyone else I knew at that time. In 1989, my unit was sent to Kuwait during the first gulf war and that's where I got my first taste of Islam. I didn't get a chance to socialize with the citizens of Kuwait but I remember the people ,by enlarge, being more at peace with themselves. I never seen that before and it always stayed with me. I got out of the service in 91 and move to Savannah, Georgia.Around that time, I started becoming more conscious of worldly events. Asking myself questions about life in general and just trying to make sense of it all. I started listening to Min Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam and other socially conscious brothers that was feeding my appetite the knowledge I was searching for, but their base was also a man who was god and I just couldn't grasp that concept just as I couldn't as a little boy. Around 1992, I met a brother name Addam and we became close friends . We had a lot in common and we were going down the same path now that I look back. Around 92 or 93, we went to see the movie" Malcolm X" and for the first time I was able to see a different concept of Islam instead of the Nation of Islam's version . I'm going to say around the fall of 1993, I was channel surfing and The Imam of the Savannah region ( Imam Maajid Ali ) was on television and he really caught my attention. In the fall of 1994 on a Friday afternoon, I was riding around in my car and I drove pass the masjid in Savannah and as Allah As Kareem as my witness, it look like everyone was wearing white clothing . Brothers were embracing each other with hugs and the sisters were looking so modest and humbled. Now I come to if out later that everyone wasn't wearing white but the vision I seen was so beautiful. So I went back the next day and I meet the Imam. We talk for about twenty minutes and he gave me a copy of the Quran. So I found myself hanging around the masjid and getting involve in every conversation that was going on. Than two week before Thanksgiving of 1994, I made a tearful Shahadan and became a Muslim. See, the concept of something bigger than any man was always in me and I truly believe that it's in every single man. I give praise and thanks to Allah Ar Rahman for instilling and protecting his truth in my soul. As Salaamu Alaikum!!!!!
I would have to say that it wasn't one event that led me to As Islam. It was a life long process. I remember when I was a kid, I would hear the words Islam, Final Call, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm x, Kareem Adul Jabbar and Elijah Muhammad and these name were unique to me back than, but I was a kid and all I was concern about back than was kid's things. I remember going to church regularly from the age of three to about six years old but for some reason my mother stop going. I couldn't never embrace Christianity because I just didn't get the concept of man being a god or a son of the creator of the universe. I always believe it was more to the universe than what I was taught in school and I believed the universe was something much bigger than what a man or any group of men could ever create . And I just couldn't grasp the idea that god would purposely curse all men and women after Addam and Eve because someone ate an apple from a tree. I just couldn't piece together self responsibility and being punish for something that I was curse with. When I join the Army I had a friend who had knowledge of Islam but he wasn't practicing at the time, but his demeanor was just different than anyone else I knew at that time. In 1989, my unit was sent to Kuwait during the first gulf war and that's where I got my first taste of Islam. I didn't get a chance to socialize with the citizens of Kuwait but I remember the people ,by enlarge, being more at peace with themselves. I never seen that before and it always stayed with me. I got out of the service in 91 and move to Savannah, Georgia.Around that time, I started becoming more conscious of worldly events. Asking myself questions about life in general and just trying to make sense of it all. I started listening to Min Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam and other socially conscious brothers that was feeding my appetite the knowledge I was searching for, but their base was also a man who was god and I just couldn't grasp that concept just as I couldn't as a little boy. Around 1992, I met a brother name Addam and we became close friends . We had a lot in common and we were going down the same path now that I look back. Around 92 or 93, we went to see the movie" Malcolm X" and for the first time I was able to see a different concept of Islam instead of the Nation of Islam's version . I'm going to say around the fall of 1993, I was channel surfing and The Imam of the Savannah region ( Imam Maajid Ali ) was on television and he really caught my attention. In the fall of 1994 on a Friday afternoon, I was riding around in my car and I drove pass the masjid in Savannah and as Allah As Kareem as my witness, it look like everyone was wearing white clothing . Brothers were embracing each other with hugs and the sisters were looking so modest and humbled. Now I come to if out later that everyone wasn't wearing white but the vision I seen was so beautiful. So I went back the next day and I meet the Imam. We talk for about twenty minutes and he gave me a copy of the Quran. So I found myself hanging around the masjid and getting involve in every conversation that was going on. Than two week before Thanksgiving of 1994, I made a tearful Shahadan and became a Muslim. See, the concept of something bigger than any man was always in me and I truly believe that it's in every single man. I give praise and thanks to Allah Ar Rahman for instilling and protecting his truth in my soul. As Salaamu Alaikum!!!!!
