Help Needed Please

[amjk22]

Assalam Aliekum,
I have recently converted to Islam. The problem is that I live in a small rural American town which is all Christian. I am 16 and do not want my family to find out about my conversion yet. There is no Islamic centers anywhere near where I live, so I have tried finding some good Islamic sites but none of them are what I was looking for. Does anyone have some good Islamic sites? Also, what should my priorites be right now? Learning how to pray, or just reading the Qu'ran and learning up on Islam?

Thanks in advance.

Salaam

[amjk22]

Thank you for your reply brother....

[Mossy]

I would recommend the Guiding Helper, available here:
http://guidinghelper.com/pdf/GH_MainText.pdf
with explanation available here:
http://guidinghelper.com/pdf/GH_Explanation.pdf

In the absence of local Islamic centers, I believe it is the most comprehensive and accessible text for converts, covering all the required actions quickly and succintly (there's an 8 page print out of the entire text at the back of the first document).

This is the Maliki interpretation.

[Aaliyah]

Assalam Aliekum,
I have recently converted to Islam. The problem is that I live in a small rural American town which is all Christian. I am 16 and do not want my family to find out about my conversion yet. There is no Islamic centers anywhere near where I live, so I have tried finding some good Islamic sites but none of them are what I was looking for. Does anyone have some good Islamic sites? Also, what should my priorites be right now? Learning how to pray, or just reading the Qu'ran and learning up on Islam?

Thanks in advance.

Salaam

bro,

it's great to see you here and i pray allah gives you barakah and makes you successful in your choice and efforts. i just wanted to point out that it is quite vital that you choose one of the four "schools of thought" so that you can be guided accordingly. I don't know how aware you are regarding the four Madhabs (schools of thoughts) but if you want information please do ask in this post and we will provide some simple answers and remove any confusions that you may have. then in accordance to that he can recommend books and ulamaa (scholars) that will be able to help.

Salaams

[Mossy]

In response to the queries exactly:

The main priority is getting the main beliefs down (unity of Allah (swt) and suchlike). I imagine you're pretty much there with that, alhamdulilah.

Then prayer is very important as it provides a foundation and structure around which one can base the rest of ones religion. Once you have the hang of regular prayer, you will be able to build around this and learn more about all the other aspects of Islam - there is always more to learn! For example, I doubt you need to know about marriage laws for a while

I think the order of the Guiding Helper is good with going through these things. The main text can be covered in a few hours, the explanatory notes a week or two. Each of these notes and the main text have comprehensive source listings (ie evidences from Qu'ran, hadith, amal and books of the scholars of the Maliki school of thought) for every section so you can go even further in if you should wish.

As a brief intro, the four schools of thought represent four different ways of looking at how all the available evidences weigh up against each other and the scholars who use these methodologies. For example, the Maliki one takes the practice of the people (and more importantlly scholars) of Medina as very important in determining how we should interpret these. All the four (Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali, Shafi) are considered mutually acceptable, so you can go with any. If you mix n match rulings between them, you may come out with a final ruling that doesn't make sense in any, so you should be careful about that.

I find this another site that's useful for those new to Islam: www.iprofess.com

Would any converts care to share how they overcame the difficulties surrounding not letting your families know about your conversion and indeed how you told them?

[haqq]

You should also read:

Kitaab al-Imaan [Book of Faith]

[Simon Iskander]

Hello brother amjk22



I became Muslim just over 2 years ago. I live in the UK and my parents are both Christians. My mother is British and my father is Egyptian.

If you need help with anything, please don't hesitate to ask me. I'm sure everyone else here will be happy to help you as well.

Take care.



Simon

[Simon Iskander]

From my experience, telling my parents about my decision to become Muslim was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Even now, 2 years later, the situation can still be difficult at times. My mother says that she is generally OK with my decision, but is unhappy about it because my father is quite angry and upset.

I felt I had to tell my parents, mainly out of respect for them, but also because I am close to them, and I think they would have found out fairly quickly even if I hadn't told them.

Please note that I'm not saying this is what every new convert to Islam should do, but this what I felt was best for me to do in my specific case. I feel this is an issue that is very difficult to advise someone else on.

I haven't told my wider family yet. My mother seems to think her side of the family won't take it that badly. However, I have no plans to tell my Dad's family, who are very religious Christians. This is mainly due to the tensions and problems that, unfortunately, seem to exist in Egypt between some Christians and Muslims, and my father does not want anyone in his family to find out.



Simon

[abu-bakr]

Assalamu 'alaykum wa rahmutallahi wa barakatuhu

From my experience, telling my parents about my decision to become Muslim was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Even now, 2 years later, the situation can still be difficult at times. My mother says that she is generally OK with my decision, but is unhappy about it because my father is quite angry and upset.

I felt I had to tell my parents, mainly out of respect for them, but also because, alhamdulillah, I am close to them, and I think they would have found out fairly quickly even if I hadn't told them.

Please note that I'm not saying this is what every new convert to Islam should do, but this what I felt was best for me to do in my specific case. I feel this is an issue that is very difficult to advise someone else on.

I haven't told my wider family yet. My mother seems to think her side of the family won't take it that badly. However, I have no plans to tell my Dad's family, who are very religious Christians. This is mainly due to the tensions and problems that, unfortunately, seem to exist in Egypt between some Christians and Muslims, and my father does not want anyone in his family to find out.

Wassalam

Simon

Simon and the person who started this topic, would you please tell us what made you to convert to islam or how you converted? i am a little interested.(if you don't mind)

ma salam

[Alhumdulillah]

Assalamoalaykum...

Yes, please do tell us brother Simon!

May Allah Ta'ala make it easy for you and soften the hearts of your family towards Islam. Ameen.

Wasalaam.