It's been 26 years since I said my Shahadah. At first, I wasn't interested in Islam at all. In fact, I used to think that Muslims were backward people who bow down to their God. I was a very proud Catholic ever since my birth because my parents were very practicing Catholics. In my early life, I was always closer to churches. My parents were immigrants from South Korea to the United States. My journey to Islam started when I was a sophomore in university. During the winter vacation, my sister and I had decided to visit Korea, and I told my friends at the university about it. For some strange reason, a Muslim man who was a friend of my brother's friend heard my conversation and asked me if I could do a favor for him. The favor was to bring some Islamic books in Korean for his friend who was interested in Islam but knew very little English. Hearing his request, I told him right away: “No way. There aren't any mosques nor Muslims in Korea.” He just smiled at me and gave me the address of the mosque in Seoul, South Korea. When I arrived in Korea, I called a childhood friend who was studying at the Catholic University to be a priest. He told me that he had to do a report on other religions, so he was glad to take me to the mosque. When we arrived at the mosque, I was so irritated to see a huge mosque in front of my eyes! With the feeling of irritation still inside me, we walked into the mosque and we each received copies of books about Islam. I returned to America and gave the books to the Muslim man on one condition. That was he should not ask me to read the books. He agreed, took the books, and I always spent my lunch time in the church at the university. A few weeks later I met that Muslim man in the university cafeteria. He asked me if it's against my religion to read about other religions and told me about Ramadan. “Ramadan? Muslims fast a whole month without water and food for their God?” This idea of fasting for a month troubled me. “If Muslims do this for their God, why can't I do it?” With this thought in mind, I questioned and wanted to know more about my own religion. So I started from the Old Testament, New Testament, Talmud, histories of Christianity, holidays of Christians and so on. That's when I learned that the holidays I was celebrating had nothing to do with Christ. These holidays were from pagans who didn't believe in God. From that point on I was more confused about Christianity. While I was searching for the true religion, I heard about the Gospel of St. Barnabas. In this gospel, Jesus never said he is the son of God. Why is the New Testament so different than the Gospel of Barnabas? I talked to a priest, but he said my faith was not strong enough. While I was searching I fasted during Ramadan and later met Dr. Jamal Badawi from Canada. He came to the university to give a lecture on Islam. After the lecture, he was kind enough to answer my questions, but I was not satisfied with his answers. However, he sent me books about Islam after he returned to Canada. I still don't remember how I got to the book called “Christian and Muslim Dialogue.” This was it. I found the truth! All of the questions I had about my religion were answered in this tiny book. I took my Shahadah after seven months of searching for the true path. After the Shahadah, I stopped going to church. I locked my door and started to pray. I was scared of my father who was a Sunday school teacher. But one day when I returned home from university, my father asked me what the Qur'an was doing in my room. I told him that the Qur'an belonged to a friend of mine. He told me to throw it away, but I refused my father's order for the first time in my life. My father was very furious about my action and told me to get out of the house with the Qur'an. With his order, I chose Allah and left the house. Not only was I not welcome in my house, my fiancé couldn't accept my true religion. I lost my family, my fiancé and my friends one by one. In the following fall term, I went to the university with my hijab on and met even more Muslim friends. A little over a year after becoming a Muslim, I married an Egyptian Muslim and graduated with my bachelor's around the same time. A few years after teaching at a Muslim school, I wanted to expand my knowledge of public schools. I was very scared to apply but I couldn't just think about it or just wish for it to happen. With great worry, I applied to teach in public schools with my jilbab and hijab on. To my surprise, the public school hired me! Alhamdulillah. After teaching for a few years in public schools, I wished that I could teach students in Muslim countries to share what I had learned. I applied for overseas jobs and was accepted to teach in the UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in 2009. It was a great gift from Allah that He gave me a chance to work and live in Jeddah with my husband and two younger children. Every morning when I wake up to go to work, it is like I am walking into a great place for ibadah with wonderful people around me, Alhamduillah.
