My mother was involved in the Civil Rights Movement here in America.

When my mother learned about Islam’s call to Muslims to fight against oppression, she was impressed. She decided to covert to Islam and never looked back. Alhamdulillah (All praises to Allah.)

My father took a different route to Islam. While serving in the military during the Vietnam War, he met several young, African-American men who held strange beliefs. They believed in a hidden African science, and called themselves Black Israelites.

After leaving the army, my father joined this group and returned to his home in Chicago. But there he realized that the growing Muslim population far surpassed the Black Israelites. He jumped on the bandwagon and became Muslim also.

How about you? Are you ready to convert to Islam? Are you ready to submit to the Will of Allah?

Well, if you are, then you’d better get a move on. After all, you don’t know how much time you have left on this world.

Some try to make converting to Islam difficult. I’ve seen so many lists of what must be done in order to become Muslim.

But you really don’t need all of that stuff.

All you need to do is pronounce the Shahada.

But, in case you’re looking for a little more elaboration, I’ll give you a list anyway.

Here’s some of what you should do before you actually take your Shahada:

• First, understand what the Shahada is and what it really means.
• Renounce all of your former beliefs that conflict with the Shahada. If you weren’t sure if Muhammad was a prophet of Allah, then you should confirm that belief in your heart.
• Talk to other Muslims about Islam and gain more knowledge (or just read through the pages in this website, or just contact me).

Once you’ve got yourself some knowledge about Islam and what this faith entails, it’s now time to take the plunge.

Here’s another list of things you should do once you’re ready to convert to Islam.

• Take a full bath, also known as Ghusl in Arabic.
• Find some other Muslims to witness your conversion. Or you can just visit your local Mosque or Islamic center and ask for witnesses. (Don’t make this a roadblock. The only witness you really need is Allah!)
• Finally…proclaim the Shahada: Ash hadu an laa ilaha illa llah, wa ash hadu anna Muhammadan rasulullah (I bear witness there’s no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and I bear witness Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah).

If you do become Muslim at a Mosque or Islamic Center, you’ll probably be smothered in a bunch of hugs and kisses from the other Muslims who are witnessing the event. You’ll probably be a bit of a celebrity for all of ten minutes.

After that, you might be on your own.

Sadly, not all Muslim communities in the West have classes and resources for new Muslims. If this is the case where you live, or if you live too far from a Mosque, then you’re gonna have to do a lot of work.

You can try to engage other Muslims in your area for help. Some may have sufficient knowledge to help you, but there’s a good chance many will not.

Otherwise, as a new convert to Islam, you may have to go a little further to learn about Islam. Here’s what I suggest:

• Visit Islamic Learning Materials everyday. This may sound like a shameless plug, but it isn’t. This website was built, designed, and created for new Muslims and those who want to convert to Islam.

A great resource for those who just converted to Islam are Islamic lectures. I’d suggest you listen to as many lectures as you can by the following popular speakers:

• Imam Siraj Wahhaj
• Ahmed Deedat
• Bilal Philips
• Hamza Yusuf

Inshallah, I hope you do decide to convert to Islam. Being Muslim is not easy these days, but nothing worthwhile ever is.