I grew up in a home where religion did not play a major part.

However, as a child, I prayed to God and poured my heart out to Him due to this lack of religion.

At the age of 6 my first prayer was answered. I found a bracelet on the floor, which I proceeded to hand to my teacher. The lady whom the bracelet belonged to rewarded me with a hug and a huge bag of sweets and toys. I had previously been praying for something good and positive to occur in my life and the prayer was answered through this incident.

My prayers eventually became more mature. From sweets and toys, I desired my own home, a nice and faithful husband and a family. It was odd for a girl of only 6 or 7 years of age to pray for these things and I do not have an idea as to why I was. Due to my shy, modest, caring and sensitive nature, I was often taken advantage of and when I hit my teens my life took a turn for the worse. From an innocent child, I became an individual involved in many vices such as smoking, pre-marital relationships and generally spending time with the wrong type of company. I recall one traumatic experience with an ex boyfriend who controlled, manipulated and emotionally abused me for many years until I got the courage to end the relationship. My life hit rock bottom, I constantly felt lonely, engaged in haram things expecting it to help me, however, it made things worse. My constant attempts to find happiness from material things and people repeatedly failed and I was in a whirlpool of depression.

On a particular night, I decided to pray again and this prayer, unlike the sweets and toys, would change my life for the better. I repented for all bad things I had gotten myself involved in, cried and begged God to show me the right path in life and vowed to give up all bad things. Within the same week I had a holiday booked to Gambia, which is a Muslim country. I had such a good time spending time with the less fortunate and was fascinated by how happy they were despite little or no material possession. I didn’t want to return to the UK. For the family I was staying with, I bought them a goat and rice and ,instead of eating amongst themselves, they invited the entire village and we had a huge feast, which was such a beautiful thing for me to see. Upon my return, I stuck to the covenant I had made with God and avoided all vices.

Islam was first introduced to me by a client whom I inquired information of the religion from. In my spare time I read more about Islam and everything made sense to me. Moreover, whenever I had a question, there was always a perfect and logical answer. I realised in my heart I had been a Muslim all along due to the views and opinions I had held, I just did not know Islam depicted those exact same views. Islam gave me everything that I needed, I also studied the Qur’an with the help of a tutor. I took my Shahada at the age of 23, once I was absolutely certain Islam was for me. I felt relieved, as if a weight had been lifted.

Allah had answered my prayer and showed me the straight path. What’s more is that He also gave me the husband of my dreams.

Now that I am Muslim, a feeling of peace engulfs my heart and I have let go of the unfortunate events of the past. Prayer and Qur’an recitation help me overcome any potential flashbacks and anxiety attack due to my past. On another note, my birth name coincided to be a Muslim name, which I found fascinating.

My advice to my dear brothers and sisters in faith would be to never take Islam for granted. At times it may seem like there are too many rules to obey but by Allah they are their for your own protection. Living a haram life of music, clubs, pre-marital relationships, alcohol consumption and so forth will ultimately bring you harm and will destroy you in this life and the next.

Islam crowns its followers with honour, respect, dignity, good health, peace- the list goes on! The only happiness is with Allah (swt), not material possessions. It is no surprise that people who have nothing still possess a beautiful smile, whereas some of the rich, despite having so much wealth, lead a miserable life.

My last piece of advice, if you feel depressed or sad in life, do not under estimate the power of dua and repentance. I am a living proof of its powers.