What led you to the beliefs you are now practicing?

[Hannibal Flavius]

Originally Posted by Woodrow LI

A very strange and troubling series of events.

I was living in a rural area of Central-East Texas. SomeWhat isolated. I was diagnosed with lung cancer with a very poor prognosis. I declned all treatment and began getting my affairs in order. I was an Atheist at the time and had been for 20 years or so. My wife unexpectadly died suddenly. cpm[letly unexpected. She was fine on Mon, went to the Doctor for an annual check-up and was found to be in excellent Health. She went into a coma on Wednesday and was gone before Thursday Morning. Turned out she had a knotted intestine that had long died and was essentially rotted away.

I went into a a deep depression and began a very serious drinking binge. my daily food was usually either a case of Heinekens or a fifth of Chivas Regal. That went on for a year. Then one morning I work up and said enough of this nonsense. and began a clean-up of the house. which after being occupied by a drunk slob for a year was quite a mess. In my cleaning I cam across a box that contained the few items I had salvaged from our previous home that had been demolished by a Tornado. Inside the Box was a Qur'an I had bought in Morocco in 1960/ I was in the USAF at the time and for part of my job I was studying Arabic at the university of Rabat. I thought I could use the Qur'an as a study guide. Later when I got out of the AF I returned to Morocco as an Evangelist preaching the Bible. I kept the Qur'an and used it in my sermons in my quest to convert Muslims. I travelled throughout the mid east a few months eachyear for about 20 years when I came to the conclusion god did not exist. During that time my first wife died. I married my second wife about a year later. We spent nearly 20 years being self employed and travelling as we pleased until her sudden death in Texas.

Anyhow After coming across the Qur'an I decided to see if I could still read Arabic. I began reading and a feeling of peace came over me. For the first time in my life and having had read the Qur'an many times. I felt like I understood it. I read and could not step. I do not know how many times I read it. I could not put it down. I felt like it was written for me personally, the words seemed to glow. I finally realized I was a Muslim and said the Shahadah then and there (I had learned the Shahadh in Morocco with the idea that if I every crashed in North Africa, it might come in handy if I survived the crash. (didn't help, I ended up crashing in Vietnam) Anyhow I said the Shahadah then and there and have been a Muslim ever since. I did not even think there were any Muslims in Texas. It had been nearly 20 years since I last saw a Muslim. I realized I was hungry and decided to walk to the only store in town and get a bite to eat. When I got there there was a dark sinned man in there asking for direction. He glanced at me and said "As Salamuu alaikum" I immediately replies "wa Alaikum Salaam wa Ramatullahi wa Baraktuhu" He smiled and said how long you been Muslim. I answered about 15 minutes.


Then things began getting really crazy. A day or two later My Daughter that I had not seen for almost 20 years called me. The VA had contacted her as I had not had any medical treatment in over a year (Iwas estranged from my children since I married my second wife, they did not like her and cut all ties with me) Anyhow to my surprise My children had all reverted to Islam nearly 20 years ago. I moved in with my daughter in Austin, we re-established family ties and I finally met my grand children

A year after that I met my current wife.

Great post!

[Derek41]

Was raised a Catholic, but only a moderate as far as religious or Catholic goes.
Believe in Universalism and polytheism, so something the fundies would not agree with.