Original subtitles

hey everybody Sam here

um I am currently in the parking lot at Walgreens

I've had kind of a day so

I decided to do something to boost my mood a little bit

and share with you guys my revert story

so um

here it goes and yes

that is baby money sleeping in the background

um so I'll start it with um

I was brought up Christian

we didn't we weren't like super practicing

you know we celebrated Christmas

but you know that's more of um

an American culture thing at this point

everybody celebrates Christmas that's not um

you know like most Muslim or Jewish

I think even like atheists celebrate Christmas

but anyways um

so yeah I was brought up Christian

um I've had a lot of different experiences in my life

some really good and some really bad

and that influenced my uh

choices as a teenager I was pretty wild

um I rebelled in a lot of different ways

you know what I'm saying um

I was super into um self medicating

you know I smoked a lot of weed coming up

you know as a teenager um

and I mentioned that because Islam

changed a lot in my life

so I bring up the bad stuff so you can understand why

you know Islam was so good for me

um so I was 16

me and my mom and family

you know we moved to another house in Detroit

there was a Muslim family

across the street and before then keep in mind

I cannot

cannot tell you a time where I had

personally interacted with a Muslim

and if I did they were probably not an Arab and men

because I can tell you I'd never like it

knowingly looked at a woman in a scarf even

you know what I'm saying

so my perception of the religion was

you know they're all Arabs that's

you know that's usually what kids think about Muslims

and they hate Americans and that's

that's pretty much the knowledge that I had

you know they prayed five times a day

I Learned that in school but that was it

you know as far as world religion studies or whatever

but yeah so my knowledge in Islam was um

not little but completely misinformed

um so yeah

meeting them was like an awakening

you know what I'm saying

so seeing these people that are so sweet and

you know

the daughter didn't wear scarf but the mom did and um

the dad was super religious

he fasted outside of Ramadan

um so like

it was nice to see the difference

and what I thought versus

you know the reality

and then going forward I had met someone who

I remember my first interaction was

talking about a Marilyn Monroe tattoo

that I wanted to get on my back

and he was like

but why though that's really dumb

so he just instilled in me

um

basically think before you act

you know simple stuff

um he also over the time okay

so first of all I'm talking about my husband

everybody knows that I've been married for um

basically a decade at this point

and um

before I go further into details

I wanna make something very clear with you all

I am not Muslim because I wanted to marry my husband

I am Muslim because Islam is what's right for me

in my heart and regardless of my relationship with him

I would still be Muslim so

please

do not accuse me of faking my religion for a man

because it's very common and I'm aware of that

but I'm surely not the case anyways

so we met and we would argue about a lot of things

you know mostly I was wrong

you know because a lot of things that

my side of the argument would just be stupid immature

you know kids wanting to get their way type of stuff

so

you know

we would talk about religion and he taught me a lot

and at first the idea of hijab was like why

why do I have to cover I didn't understand

why do I have to do something and you don't

and first of all

I was wrong because men have to cover too

um they just have different ways of covering

um and I

I didn't understand it first

the value of modesty in general

and then even when you take away all the other things

um hijab is for God

you know you

you do it to show your dedication and love for God

you know that's just like the basics of it

so when

when I understood that or when he explained that to me

it was such a beautiful thing

and you know

further more

um the more I Learned about Islam

the more I kind of decided that I needed it

you know because Islam is not um

just a religion it's a way of life

it's um every

every aspect of your life

you know eating with your right hand and not your left

um staying Bismilla before you take a bite

um there

there are a lot of parts of Islam that

is a positive

influence in different aspects of your life

and I saw that learning it

you know I just

I saw how

beautiful someone's perception on the world can be

when they're looking at it through the eyes of Islam

and that sounded so corny coming out

I swear to God I didn't

I didn't mean to sound so corny

but um

Columbia loud sorry baby

um but yeah

so we we were friends um

and we would talk about religion and

you know our lives and what we wanna do with our lives

you know growing up and stuff like that

and you know

I decided that I wanted to be Muslim

and through this time at the time um

I did go through a a point of uh

confusion I don't know

cause I was trying to figure out

you know I was 16

17 I was young um

we don't think clearly when we're teenagers

so I was struggling with

understanding my own feelings

of whether or not I loved

Islam or if I loved my husband

or both you know what I'm saying

I was trying to figure out if I was doing this

like 100% for me or if I was being

you know

the typical teenage girl just trying to make her

you know this guy that she liked like her back

you know what I'm saying and it was

it was a tough time for me

but when I can't

I can't tell you for certain the moment

but there was a moment and I just like I needed Islam

but I needed him to you know what I'm saying like

he's it was like a package deal

kind of

like I knew I could be Muslim on my own because I

I feel it in my heart and I believe

I believe you know

the teachings of Islam

but he just brings he brings it out on me

he makes me try harder to be a better Muslim

you know what I'm saying

like you just wake up in the morning and you just

I need to pray you know what I'm saying

like he's that person for me so

I love him for so many different reasons and ways

you know what I mean and this did not

I didn't intend to have this be about my husband at all

but um he really did save my life

and I say that all the time

and my mom kind of laughs and she says it a little bit

too um but

he

I'm gonna stop actually because I think I'm gonna cry

um

but I

love being Muslim and I love the community

and the family that I've joined

and I love that my babies

are gonna grow up to be Muslims

that just well

obviously they're Muslim now

but uh

just knowing that they have that

makes me so happy so again

please

do not ever assume that I am the type of woman that

wears a scarf because she got married to a Muslim

because that's not the case

us ladies over here we love Islam

um so yeah

that's my story

and I love you all and I appreciate you listening

and if you have time

press the like button and share please

so we can get more people involved in our little family

we got going here

and if you have anything you want me to talk about

you know put it in the comment section

and I will talk to you guys soon bye