I am officially a university student!!!! alhamdulellah!

Ya salam! I made my decision today. I had to decide today which university I was going to attend. I was stuck between the University of Washington and Pepperdine University. But I prayed about it and I decided to go to the university of Washington. It will be my third year, as a Junior. I have two years before I get my bachelor's degree. I like this school because there I can study international business and Islamic studies. Pepperdine because it is a Christian university, does not offer Islamic studies. Pepperdine is a very well-respected private university and very very difficult to get into. But I know that University of Washington is a better fit for me and I trust in Allah that this is the right choice. I'm excited to see how it will be. I begin this March as a Junior insha allah, which means I will have two years left before I get my degrees in Islamic Studies and International Business.

I have been thinking a lot about Christians and Jews. I love and respect both religions very much. I have learned and grown so much spiritually as a direct result from the knowledge I have obtained through study of these religions. It has brought me closer to God. However, now that I know what I know, I can't help but think that maybe we are all meant to be Muslim in these times. Maybe at one point in our history we were even Jewish, somewhere along our bloodline, and this is special. But in the end, the fact is that Jesus is a prophet, peace be upon him. He was more than just a good man, and not quite a God. Islam unlike Judaism, embraces Jesus as a prophet and Mary as his virgin mother. I could never deny Jesus' prophet hood. It is so crystal clear even in the bible as I read it. As a learned about Mohammad, peace be upon him, and the Qur'an, I could never deny that this came from Allah either. It is good, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

He was sent of God and he brought a message, a message of affirming the laws and tying this together with the intentions of the heart. We are to love the Lord our God with all our might. But when the Qur'an was sent through the angel Gabriel to prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, this was a revelation for all of us. Not just one group. It was the seal. It was for us to combine heart and law and incorporate it into our lives. When you think about it, becoming a Muslim does not require one to give up his belief in Jesus as a holy man sent of God to earth, and it does not require one to give up his belief in the Talmud or the Torah. It does not require one to turn his back on his beliefs. It is simply a change in religious custom, tradition, and a new and complete set of guidelines to follow in life. At first, I saw it difficult for a Jew to convert to Islam. Because most Jews are Jewish because they inherited it over centuries.

How could one just give all that up? But really, what is one giving up? You keep the same blood, you stay Jewish, you are just following the reformed religion, the same religion, just reformed into its final form - Islam - submission to Allah. Before I believed that it's okay for believing Jews and Christians to stay as they are as long as they are sincere in their dedication to Allah. But now I think that it is each person's responsibility within his means to seek the truth, to pursue knowledge. Jesus knew all of the Torah and studied the Talmud even at a young age. We should also study. Why should we limit ourselves to our bibles or Jewish texts? We should also expand the study to other religions. Ignorance is not an excuse we can give God on judgment day. We are all in agreement there will be one.

We must all take initiative to study. If our faith is as strong as we believe it to be, then it will not hurt our faith to study the other religions. It will only make it stronger. Becoming a Muslim was not leaving God and the prophets behind, it was seeing them in a new light, and receiving new guidance for my life through the unchanged word of the Qur'an. It is my prayer that all Christians and Jews at least study this for themselves. Allah will lead those who seek truth to it. I don't agree with people who hide behind their religion and fear to study other religions because they think it is like a sin or something. Studying about another religion does not mean you are changing to that religion. You are just educating yourself, which is so important to do. Maybe it will lead you to the conclusion that you should get on a different path, maybe it won't, but either way you will be enlightened. And we all can benefit from increased knowledge. All three books emphasize the value of knowledge. I believe Allah appreciates that we care enough to look into these matters.