My name is Sarah

Khadijah: assalamualaikum wa rahmatulahi wa barakatu dear sis! thank you for taking the time sharing your story.

Sarah: Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem.

Assalamu alaikum. 

I am an English, white revert. Brought up in a white working class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Manchester with hardly any cultural diversity to speak of. 

 I have been a Muslim for 4 years now alhamdulillah and I live in The Gambia (West Africa) with my husband and 2 year old son :)

I'm a bit of a news junky, politics too esp when it concerns the Ummah. 

I love learning new things about our beautiful religion all the time mashallah. 

Khadijah: Before you became Muslim, what was your life(style) like?

Sarah:  It was a typical "living for the weekend" type life. I wasn't a party animal by any means, but I often felt all "what's the point? There's gotta be more to life.." As I didn't know the answers, having fun with friends seemed like a good place to start. 

I knew nothing about religion, I guess I was atheist in my youth and agnostic in early adulthood :)

Khadijah: How did you find out about Islam? How did you become Muslim?

Sarah: I was introduced by a man I met. At that time I'd actually started to believe  in "something"and doing a little research & soul searching. 

After attending a sisters circle at my local mosque for about 2 years,I finally took my shahaddah in August 2008 alhamdulillah.

Khadijah: How can you tell someone who doesn't believe in a Creator , that there is in fact ONE?

Sarah:  It's a tricky one :) I an remember how it feels when you don't believe in God, I'm not sure what any person could have said to me to change my mind. 

I think the beauty of creation is a good place to start, esp with those who appreciate it. 

Khadijah: What advice could you give to the youth of today?

Sarah:  I'd probably encourage them to be open minded and learn about the world. It's too easy to get caught up in the meaningless & material when you are young. 

The less ignorance there is, the easier people can appreciate each others cultures, faith etc. 

Khadijah: Who is/are your role models of today and why?

Sarah:  Of today? Hmm. I really appreciate the Dawah efforts of people like sister Myriam Francois Cerrah & brother Mohammed Ansar in the UK. 

I see many good examples of patience and strength in victims of oppression, such as the Palestinians for example. People under pressure that we can never fully appreciate in the west but still manage to carry on with dignity mashallah. 

The only one worthy of the title "role model" however is our prophet,peace be upon him. 

Khadijah: What do you think about the recent events of the slandering of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), what kind of advice would you give to non-Muslims, and Muslims? 

Sarah: Like the rest of the Ummah I am appalled by them.  

I genuinely don't understand how people can be so deliberately offensive to anyone, let alone to over a billion people who they don't even know, nor care to know. 

Under the protection of "freedom of speech" people are able to offend & provoke anyone they like. 

I think the fact that they chose to do so says a lot about them & the morals of society as a whole. 

It's easy for us to say, away from the wider context of the violent protests, that we should rise above it, but we should try to follow the examples of patience shown by Mohammed (saw)

That's what  he would want from us. 

As for non Muslims, I would hope the majority will be open minded enough to use the recent controversies to learn the truth about Islam. 

We can only help encourage this by being the best example of Muslims that we can inshallah. 

May Allah reward your efforts inshallah!

Assalaamu alaikum!

Sarah x