I'm a Muslim I came from the streets to
Islam they geter when you see your
brother give a Embrace with a hug and
greet me
with this is Islam introduce yourself
please my name is Omar I'm 31 I'm
originally from Hong Kong uh
alhamdulillah okay how long you been
Muslim for uh I've been Muslim
alhamdulillah about 7 years just over
seven years
now a can you tell us a little bit about
your life before you came to the dean
insh well yeah um well before I became
Muslim I was like
um um well my family background is like
my my parents they don't um believe in
God like my dad's like a idol worship
ancestor worship um my mom's a Buddhist
so my family is a bit mixed like my
sister she follows Christianity
um my brother they don't follow any
religion to he like he kind of worship
money and the D um so alhamdulillah I I
never had a belief e either I I believed
in God but I never like did any worship
or followed any
religion um well when I was young in
school like college
um alhamd did well School went to
college um but got into the wrong
crowd um just messing up with college
didn't really go to classes and all that
you know I just um hanging around with
my mates
um just just messing around in college
so I never really completed the college
courses I've been there for about um
three years out of college and I never
really completed the course so
alhamdulillah just
we're getting into the same crowd we
just getting into like
um just just up to no good basically um
going to clubing you know uh smoking
trying out drugs and whatnot
um you know just the normal thing that
the teenagers will get up to
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um but yeah I I had a couple Muslim
friends but didn't even talk about Islam
or never talked about religion at
all
um yeah so but when I was like say 20 in
my 20s I've like got to
um just got to a worse like worse cuz my
the background is is um Chinese I hang
around like the Chinese gangs and things
like that so
um it was going to a stage that it was
just getting a bit too hectic take you
know so
um I just had to move away from from
them um like basically kind of in the
Islamic sense I made Hijra from from my
friends and so I started there moved
away from the
area um alhamdulillah Allah you know
brought me some um better friends
alhamdulillah and also from Muslims and
um they didn't tell me about Islam much
um but there was one one brother he was
a Christian and before that um before I
moved out there's a brother who was um a
Christian and he got me into
Christianity and Subhan he's like a
proper like um his dad was a preacher um
so he was really um knowledgeable in his
Christianity and he got me into
Christianity and cuz my sister was a
Christian also it helped me go into um
Christianity you know coming from my you
know the the lifestyle was I just need
to like slow down
um so following Christian was a good
thing for me alhamdulillah you know I
believed in God you know I wanted to
change my ways um so even when I like
embraced Christianity I gave up the
drinking gave out the smok in um and
wanted to be a good person um
so alhamdulillah yeah I was just when I
was Christian I was praying I was
fasting even even though I didn't know
how to ask or pray because in the
Christian context like they don't even
teach you how to pray or fast but I did
I knew that's what you're supposed to do
and um that's what the the other brother
taught me to do
um yeah so I stayed in touch with that
brother and then um about a year later
that brother Subhan Allah he embraced
Islam and um he told me about um
uh uh Islam and how you know there's
contradictions in Christianity in the
Bible that Jesus wasn't the Son of God
and that put doubts in in in in myself
like about with
Christianity
um so I didn't really look into it to to
to but it just had a doubt in
Christianity you know so I didn't really
um follow the faith I didn't go to like
the Sunday mass and um um things like
that so
um it's not on a year later after that
brother gave me da about um Islam I
started looking into it um I think that
time was Ramadan it was po 2002 Ramadan
2002 and alhamdulillah them days on TV
normal TV there's a lot of programs
about Islam like fasting I think they
made a program about Hajj and some for
some reason I was really drawn to it um
every um program I was on you know I I
made plans to watch it I watched it
alhamdulillah I liked what I I
saw um alhamdulillah I just and and then
my friends all the friends that's when I
was with um my Muslim friends and they
still didn't really tell me about Islam
but when Ramadan came there was fasting
and CU alhamd I fasted when I was a
Christian
I thought I decided to fast as well with
them and subh they was questioning me
saying what are you fasting for and I
said alhamdulillah just um cuz I want
you and they're saying and subh just
before like my intentions before Ramadan
came yeah I thought I like Islam I like
this religion I think this is the truth
compared to Christianity I think this is
the the truth the True Religion it's
more clearer it's more more complete in
a way um even though I didn't really
studied Islam I didn't look into it like
too tough but everything that I was
hearing about Islam I liked
um so my intention was that I will
become Muslim after Ramadan so I don't
have to fast so that's had that Sol
intention but when Ramadan came and my
friends were fasting for some reason I
just started fasting with them and you
know they asked me why you're fasting I
just told him alh I just I didn't say
alhamd but I said that I just wanted to
fast so he said you know you might as
well take your shahada and become Muslim
and I just
said okay yeah I'll do it and then I
took my shahada and then I started
fasting the rest of Ramadan
alhamdulillah so when you first became
Muslim people that used to hang around
with how did they take it that you
became
Muslim um the people that I was
alhamdulillah when I became Muslim most
of my friends were um Muslims anyway um
so they were obviously they were happy
the people that was hanging around
before I didn't really see them to like
a few years later they bumped into them
like a few years after became Muslim um
when they when
they found out I was Muslim
um yeah they they were just surprised
they didn't really um was shocked or in
in a way like um and had any hatred
towards like that
um they were just
surprised um so how about your family
when you become Muslim how did your
family take it uh my family was a
different different story Subhan they
was they was quite angry at first you
know especially my dad is like um he
knew he just like he what he thought U
what he thinks of Islam is what he sees
on the TV and all that all just bad news
um
so he was pretty upset but alhamd like
my my parents brought me up in know in a
way that you know um I can s do what I
want sort of thing I follow any religion
or follow any any so power and all that
so they didn't really have much say but
they was kind of upset I mean I remember
my dad saying some some Chinese saying
like um that um you see the line in
these lines then and yet you go into it
so I thought Subhan and it's hard trying
to tell him like about you know what the
truth about Islam is
um uh cuz when you when you talk about
God with my dad he he shuts off gets
angry Subhan Allah um alhamdulillah they
you know they see the changes in me I
mean they KN like I I can talk to them
now that how I would never used to take
talk to them I hold conversations with
them um that you know I never used to do
before um so H they know I've changed
for the best better but I don't think
they will admit it that is due to Islam
um my my mom's pretty good about she was
that you know more relaxed about it um
straight away they you know what I mean
they had halal food they halal food for
me so alhamdulillah Allah made it easy
for me then alhamdulillah but it's just
now you know gradually as years go by it
gets harder and harder you know when you
like practice the dean um and certain
little things that you know it's not
like in say like in the Chinese culture
um I may even remember even my dad he
got angry with me cuz he saw me EA my
hands and we had a little argument
alhamdulillah you know even that
argument I didn't really how I would
before Islam I would be shouting at him
or like get into an argument I just said
to him you know you know I just said
like I was just come man I think he was
shocked the way I was handling in that
situation there as well so in they you
know I mean they see my way you know in
Allah will guide them to
Islam okay how would you say Islam has
changed your
life alhamdulillah it's changed my life
for for for the better um um it's giving
me purpose in life um you know
alhamdulillah is the the life I had
before I didn't know where I was growing
um I mean alhamdulillah it's
just you had no Direction you know
before Islam it's just you know
um it's all about having fun living life
to the max um so alhamdulillah you know
when I became Muslim you know learn
about life after death you know what I
mean um the he after you know Subhan
Allah so alhamdulillah
it's it's it's it's changed me for the
good alhamdulillah what advice have you
got to like non Muslims regarding Isam
especially Muslims who are coming
Muslims are coming from the same
direction where you're coming
from um I my advice is yes to look into
Islam um I mean like cuz my mom's a
Buddhist I tried to give her da
um when I talk about Islam or the
Creator she shuts off she don't want to
hear about the Creator which is Subhan
Allah you know they have to stop and
think and not be so
close-minded and um think about um you
know how we came into this being how
this world came into um creation um who
created this world no there must have
been a Creator even the the Buddhists
they talk they do pray to someone and I
asked my mom this I said who do you pray
to and she didn't have the answer and it
wasn't Buddha that they were praying to
because Buddha is a separate um thing
that they worship um that his teachings
that they worship but they also pray to
someone else um a higher being
and I'm asking my mom who do you pray to
and she want to give me answer to that
and I'm trying to like in direct tell
her that's you know that's God that's
the almighty that's Allah that the
creator of the world um because the
Buddhism they don't get into like the
creation the Creator it's it's to me
it's like a um it teaches good in their
teachings but it's just like a Godless
religion that's why I it
um like the teachings of of of um the
Buddhism is similar to to Islam um when
I show like my my mom about the Quran
about teaching being good to parents
being good to your neighbors I mean you
know I just think if my advice is just
that you know um have a open mind and um
if you got a chance to read the Quran
look into the Quran read the Quran when
the brother um who was a Christian that
embraced Islam and told me about Islam
um he mentioned that the the Quran um
hasn't been changed for um400 years well
over, 1400 years since it was revealed
um and I thought at that point I thought
that um that was a powerful statement
for someone to make or to claim I mean
what I was thinking I thought you must
have some sort of proof to to back up
your claim um I didn't really look into
it or or or look into the proofs in a
sense that I I believed him for some I
thought I took him I took his word for
it and then um so when you look into the
Quran and there's there talk about you
know the creation or certain scientific
evidence um about the Quran that's only
revealed or made True like only the past
50 so years um that's a a miracle in
itself so um so out of yeah the the
people when you read the Quran have an
open mind because um um I believe this
is the actual word of Allah or God um so
when you read it it's like he is talking
to you it's a personal message to you um
so think of it that he's talking to you
um and then inshallah you know if you if
you read it with open heart and then you
pray to the high being that you if you
you know believe in that high being you
just pray that you know he opens your
heart and he guides you to the truth and
then inshallah you know you'll see the
beauty of Islam I one question to ask
you you said before that um when you
were Christian you were Christian for a
little bit then you became Muslim what
why didn't you stay a Christian what was
it about Christianity what made you
leave to become
Muslim um I mean when I was um
practicing Christianity um even I was
praying to God even though they say like
in the name of Jesus um but really I
never said that but I was just praying
or in my prayers I would direct my
myself to God even though I know that
Jesus there Jesus has been Son of God
but I always prayed with the intention
that it's you know of his father that
I'm praying to not Jesus himself so when
um they told me about um Islam it just
put when he just put doubt in me uh um
in Christian um about the Bible the
contradiction the Bible cuz I thought
yeah the Bible was the word of God
you know and um so and another thing
that U the brother said is that that
Jesus never himself said he was the son
of God and when I was going church and
all that that's what they keep telling
us that Jesus is son of God or he says
this
and so and I thought I can find that I
said I know where he says that so I go
back and trying to look myself and then
Subhan Allah I couldn't find it so I had
to just give him a for Christianity is
not you know the the the true way so but
it was I didn't really like um embracing
Christianity as I would before um cuz it
wasn't a year till I I um took my
shahada after that
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