I never really thought of Jesus then. Though born a Catholic, I never knew Jesus. Sometimes when I could not handle that sinking feeling in the middle of the night, I used to cry out to God. I knew God existed, but did not know how to get to Him or even what to do. This void had led me to the Hindu Gita, Parapsychology, Hypnotism and even black magic, but nothing equipped me to handle the bleak darkness I was facing then. I somehow managed to find some comfort by hiding myself in the daily routines of work.

As life went on and things got somewhat bearable I had made some new friends. Junaid, my younger brother Joe's old classmate and I got along very well. Junaid was a Muslim, and I met a lot of Muslims through him. I was intrigued by them and at that point started feeling a little ashamed about my own prejudices towards them.

This set me on a course to learn more about a religion that I had until then found so unattractive. I did not set out to find God in the Quran, but was interested in seeing what Islam had to say about God. I had always identified myself as being a Christian and had no intention of doing something as drastic as becoming a Muslim.

However, the Quran started making sense to my intellect right from the beginning. I felt there was a sense of assurance in the Islamic system of prayers. It definitely felt more assuring and concrete than anything I had experienced in Christianity up to that point in my life.

I remember one evening sitting in my apartment with a Bible on my left, the Quran on the right and a bottle of “siddiqi” (bootleg liquor) in front of me. I thought to myself, "according to what I have seen so far as a Christian, there is not too much harm in me getting drunk, but if I follow the Quran, I'll have to throw this bottle away." I ended up throwing the bottle away because I knew getting drunk on that bootleg liquor was bad for me. My new Muslim friends had mentioned that the word of God in the Bible was tampered with and that human hands had changed it a lot through translations. I started suspecting this to be true. That evening in my apartment was a turning point because by that time in my life, the Quran was making more sense to me than what I knew about the Bible.

I also started noticing more Muslims who were true to their beliefs and in whom I could see no guile or hypocrisy. I grew to love them as brothers and to enjoy their fellowship. Their love and sincerity complimented what I read in the Quran about Allah, which made a big impression on me. I finally began to experience a sensation of peace when reading the Quran. All this took away the isolation, and instead of desperation, I felt contentment.

It was decision time for me. Although Muslims may claim similarities between their beliefs in Christ and the Bible, they believe that only those who bear witness that there is no god but Allah, proclaim Mohammed is his prophet, and obey Allah and his prophet can enter into "paradise." All others will be sent to Hell. It was a belief system that demanded nothing less than full commitment from me, and by then I felt that I had found the truth and that God had called me to it. So I became a Muslim.