The LDS from a Muslim perspective.

[Hala401]

Hello:

I was a practicing Muslim when the Holy Spirit led me to talk to Mormon Sisters. It has been months since I started this journey and at times I am quite astonished at God's persistence in dealing with me.

One thing that really draws me to the LDS is their unfailing love of others, even those who are not LDS. It is clear, and unmistakable. I am greatly humbled by it and still confused.

No, my name is not Hala, but this protects me. I was Muslim, and at times I wonder if I will ever entirely stop, for it is through Islam that God got my attention and began to show me obedience to his will. Had there never been Islam, I doubt that there would ever have been the book of Mormon for me.

Please, I do not come as a deceiver but I just want to talk to other Mormons. I work with Missionaries, but they are not always available.

Much peace

Hala

[Vort]

Do you live in Oregon, Hala?

[skippy740]

Welcome! I think there is truth everywhere and whatever continues to 'anchor' you to your faith and your roots will only strengthen you in your quest to find God's path for you.

I hope we can continue to help you on your search and learning journey!

[Guest gopecon]

I knew a convert to LDS from Islam once. She had a very tough road with her family due to her conversion, it was inspiring for those of us who knew her. Welcome and good luck!

[rameumptom]

Welcome. You may want to also contact Dr Daniel Peterson at BYU. He is one of the foremost experts on Islam, and is involved in preserving and translating many ancient Arab documents into English, etc.

[NeuroTypical]

I thought about Dr. Peterson as well. He has a great respect for the Q'ran, and even goes so far as to say parts of it may be divinely inspired. If there's anyone who could give you good advice on how to proceed, it would be him.

No idea how to get in touch with him. Maybe through the Maxwell Institute at [email protected].

Welcome to the forum!

[sister_in_faith]

Welcome welcome!

[Hala401]

Thank you all for your very kind welcome. Yes, I am from Oregon. I did not intend for anyone to think that I am Middle Eastern because of my Islam. I am American and was Muslim for only about 5 years. Before that I had been fundamentalistic christian for 30+ years, but many things about the doctrine and practices bothered me. Finally, I had a personal problem (which I will not discuss) and was thrown out. So, it is not like I was so great, and successful.

I had always studied the Bible a lot, and when the Christians got rid of me, I still searched for a way to worship God. In Islam, I found people who worshiped one God. They also believed that once we asked God (Allah SWT) for forgiveness, it is over. Your sins are forgotten. That is something that the Christians did not practice.

So, now I am on a new journey with people who, so far as I can tell, really do seek to follow the will of God. I wonder where this will end?

[Hala401]

Welcome! I think there is truth everywhere and whatever continues to 'anchor' you to your faith and your roots will only strengthen you in your quest to find God's path for you.

I hope we can continue to help you on your search and learning journey!

Thank you. I am a white, of distant European origin, but through Islam, and a Christian missionary trip to Kenya, I found "Blacks" to be dignified and as intelligent as any other race. I had been raised in a very prejudiced family, and the healing of my mind to other races has been a long journey in its self.

In fact, in reading an article on the study of human genetics, it said that the homo sapiens living in sub-Saharan Africa are the most genetically advanced on earth. This makes me chuckle a little, because I know people who would be really upset by that. However, it will probably take a very long time for the effects of that phenomenon to play out.

Much peace

Hala

[Hala401]

I thought about Dr. Peterson as well. He has a great respect for the Q'ran, and even goes so far as to say parts of it may be divinely inspired. If there's anyone who could give you good advice on how to proceed, it would be him.

No idea how to get in touch with him. Maybe through the Maxwell Institute at [email protected].

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you. I take the wide view of faith in 1 Cor 13, and in the book of Hebrews. So for me, and perhaps necessary for me, Islam was a bridge to the LDS.

In Islam, I found the worship of one God that the first commandment demands. I also found personal modesty, and the protection of my Hijab. The admonishment to pray 5 times a day, kept my mind focused on Allah SWT (Allah is merely the Arabic translation for the word God, and not another God)

Interestingly, Muslims believe in Jesus (Isa PBUH), the virgin birth, the miracles, and his return to bring order. But for reasons unclear to me, do not believe in the crucifixion. I think the answer to that comes from the book of Nicodemus (I think) where The Christ is not murdered but take up by God, and the people are deceived to think he was Jesus. This is not a doctrine that I advance, but merely an explanation about why Muslims believe as they do.

As Muslim, I had to accept that the Qur'an was given to Muhammad PBUH by angels sent by God. So for me, when the Sister Missionaries kidnapped me :) it was not a long step to believe in Joseph Smith as a prophet, and the book of Mormon as a divinely inspired book.

As a Christian, I always questioned the idea that the Bible was a "closed" book. Later I saw that it was not and the admonishment to not add or take away from this book, was solely applied to the book of Revelation.

So now, I believe in Joseph Smith as a prophet, the book of Mormon as inspired by God and that the LDS Church is the Church of Jesus Christ. The office of the First Presidency is deliberating on my application for baptisim, though I have no idea when approval will be given.

My greatest love in life is talking about God, his word and his people. I have vowed to never say no to God, and endeavor to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, where ever they take me, and I must say that it has been interesting already!

The missionaries keep telling me that once I am baptised that the Holy Spirit will really come for me. I wonder what that will be like?

[Blackmarch]

Hello:

I was a practicing Muslim when the Holy Spirit led me to talk to Mormon Sisters. It has been months since I started this journey and at times I am quite astonished at God's persistence in dealing with me.

One thing that really draws me to the LDS is their unfailing love of others, even those who are not LDS. It is clear, and unmistakable. I am greatly humbled by it and still confused.

No, my name is not Hala, but this protects me. I was Muslim, and at times I wonder if I will ever entirely stop, for it is through Islam that God got my attention and began to show me obedience to his will. Had there never been Islam, I doubt that there would ever have been the book of Mormon for me.

Please, I do not come as a deceiver but I just want to talk to other Mormons. I work with Missionaries, but they are not always available.

Much peace

Hala

Welcome!

Thank you for sharing that, and looking forward to your posts.

Unfortunately with how the internet is today it's safer to not use your own name for a public name. So it is not a deception, nor do we see it as such.

[Dravin]

In fact, in reading an article on the study of human genetics, it said that the homo sapiens living in sub-Saharan Africa are the most genetically advanced on earth. This makes me chuckle a little, because I know people who would be really upset by that. However, it will probably take a very long time for the effects of that phenomenon to play out.

Are you sure you didn't read diverse instead of advanced? I'm wary of any article that talks of advanced genetics (regardless of where it may be pointing it at). There is the idea of complexity in genetics, and there is the concept of derived or ancestral traits but if we're talking advanced we better be talking about scientific techniques or something.

[Hala401]

Are you sure you didn't read diverse instead of advanced? I'm wary of any article that talks of advanced genetics (regardless of where it may be pointing it at). There is the idea of complexity in genetics, and there is the concept of derived or ancestral traits but if we're talking advanced we better be talking about scientific techniques or something.

Well, you could be correct. I will attempt to find said article again, verify its contents and then share it here. There are more positions on any subject than there are people it seems sometimes. LOL And, sometimes data can be skewed to show what the investigator already beleives. Thank you for challenging me on this.

[Hala401]

Are you sure you didn't read diverse instead of advanced? I'm wary of any article that talks of advanced genetics (regardless of where it may be pointing it at). There is the idea of complexity in genetics, and there is the concept of derived or ancestral traits but if we're talking advanced we better be talking about scientific techniques or something.

OK, here it is, um well some of it.

I must admit to a bias here. I am a white American of Northern European descent. However, in my travels to Kenya, Honduras, Israel, Thailand and Northern Canada, I lost my racial prejudice. This was doubly underscored with my experience in meeting numbers of extremely intelligent, educated African and Middle Eastern people while I was Muslim. So now, I have a suspicion that at the base level, non-Africans sometimes are more aggressive and barbaric than those who we used to accuse.

Gosh, I hate to use Fox News as a resource, but the article I found seems like it has information that should provide fodder for the beginnings of a good discussion.

My main goal in life is to be pleasing to God. That includes love of others, charity and all that and also education and knowlege that will produce understanding and compassion.

African Genetics Revisited: Europeans are genetically inferior to Africans – Rasta Livewire

I will keep looking.

[Vort]

OK, here it is, um well some of it.

I must admit to a bias here. I am a white American of Northern European descent. However, in my travels to Kenya, Honduras, Israel, Thailand and Northern Canada, I lost my racial prejudice. This was doubly underscored with my experience in meeting numbers of extremely intelligent, educated African and Middle Eastern people while I was Muslim. So now, I have a suspicion that at the base level, non-Africans sometimes are more aggressive and barbaric than those who we used to accuse.

Gosh, I hate to use Fox News as a resource, but the article I found seems like it has information that should provide fodder for the beginnings of a good discussion.

My main goal in life is to be pleasing to God. That includes love of others, charity and all that and also education and knowlege that will produce understanding and compassion.

African Genetics Revisited: Europeans are genetically inferior to Africans – Rasta Livewire

I will keep looking.

"Genetically inferior", eh?

Amazing some of the scientific terms being used in the field today.

[Hala401]

"Genetically inferior", eh?

Amazing some of the scientific terms being used in the field today.

Well, I am not a scientist. I am a retired woman who reads a lot and wants to return to the Uni next year when it will be free for me. :)

[Dravin]

Skimming over the article:

Yep, like I thought: Diversity. Africans have a greater genetic diversity compared to whites because whites experienced two bottle necks which reduced their genetic diversity and apparently give them a lovely heritage of "bad" genes*. What those genes were and why they are "bad" isn't discussed, at least in the article, it probably is in the actual study. That said a conclusion that blacks have 'more advanced genes' is erroneous.

*Keep in mind that a 'bad' gene may not be a simple call. Something like sickle cell anemia provides a survival advantage in malarial Africa but the upsides of it are absent in an environment not subjected to malarial selection pressures. It a gene helps you survive but leaves you anemic in the place it developed but just leaves you anemic elsewhere is it a bad gene?

Edit: I suppose I'm derailing the thread. I'll shut up now.

Edited December 8, 2011 by Dravin

[Hala401]

Oops, that's the reason I keep studying and like to discuss what I learn from others.

The study of genetics is advancing like a wild fire, especially since they learned how to do stem cells with out killing babies. And, from that they learned other things that changed the way people see genes. All sorts of things are being discovered so fast that I can not even begin to keep up with it. But, it is fun trying. :)

[Dravin]

Oops, that's the reason I keep studying and like to discuss what I learn from others.

The study of genetics is advancing like a wild fire, especially since they learned how to do stem cells with out killing babies. And, from that they learned other things that changed the way people see genes. All sorts of things are being discovered so fast that I can not even begin to keep up with it. But, it is fun trying. :)

When you go to university a Intro Biology course will help. And in my case I had a physical anthropology class (interesting experience).

[questioning_seeker]

I look forward to keeping in tough with your learning journey Hala.

[Hala401]

I look forward to keeping in tough with your learning journey Hala.

Merry Christmas to you Seeker.

I always believed in God, even before I was Christian, and when I was Muslim, I believe it was the same God. I must admit that I never expected to be Christian again, but God set it up so that the Holy Spirit coaxed me into the Historical Site in Kirtland, Ohio.

After a while, "things" kept happening, and though there were tears at times, it became obvious to me that something special was happening to me. After a while fear drove me to listen to the sisters, because though I was not ready to accept the "plastic Jesus", I knew that something was guiding me and it could not be escaped. For a time, it felt like "The Twilight Zone" to me.

After months, I began to see that the LDS really were different than the Christianity I had once experienced, and more loving than either the apostate Christians or the Muslims.

This has been my first Christmas in 6 years and a joyous one it has been.

Much peace

Hala

[questioning_seeker]

No doubt God has something in store for you, you will be led to it when you are ready.

[Hala401]

No doubt God has something in store for you, you will be led to it when you are ready.

My roomates giggle at me, and make me turn the stereo down. For the last few weeks, I love to play Handel's, "Messiah" at full volume when I write. The Subwoofer is under my desk and the keyboard is above it, so when it is playing the keyboard vibrates with the music. It is quite a jolly good, moving experience.

Though I do not understand all that it embodies, I love God even more and love his son Jesus the Christ.

Hala

[Nikki256]

Hi! I'm new here too... it won't let me start any threads yet so I haven't posted an intro thread yet. But I was a Muslim revert too, but I keep running into missionaries so often that I decided to just take that as a sign and start looking into the LDS church :)

[Hala401]

Hi! I'm new here too... it won't let me start any threads yet so I haven't posted an intro thread yet. But I was a Muslim revert too, but I keep running into missionaries so often that I decided to just take that as a sign and start looking into the LDS church :)

Welcome. I was Muslim for only 5+ years. Some of it was very good for me and some, not so much. As I get more deeply into LDS, I see some similarities, but in a good way. Have you seen this too? It is not surprising to run into other X-revert Muslims because in some categories 66% of us fail in Islam. You will have questions and doubts and I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that your way will be guided by the Holy Spirit. Ameen.

It is very nice to meet you.

Hala