This is the argument for God as put forward by some of...

This is the argument for God as put forward by some of history’s best natural philosophers. It is not impossible to find logical flaws in such a method depending on your point of view, but at the least it is something to ponder. I believe it is possible to see that God exists through these many signs of His creation. When I was in junior high, lots of people were telling me that the Universe just happened randomly on its own, as did life, and I heard it so much that it seemed almost plausible.

The Qur’an tells us that there are signs of God’s existence all around us: “We have sent down to thee manifest signs, and none reject them but those who are perverse.” (2:99) I concluded from the evidence at hand that God indeed existed, that the Qur’an was a sign from God as per my previously mentioned investigations, and that therefore, as stated in Qur’an, the (saw) was sent by God. The criterion for right and wrong, I decided, was in Islam.

That left me with a choice: convert or be a hypocrite, living what I did not believe. So, I converted. I was relieved that I was on the path I had been looking for, but I still knew very little about Islam. And, I knew I had just done something that would cause more pain to my parents than anything else I had ever even thought of doing. I dreaded telling my family. I knew there would be yelling and screaming and crying and a long time of anger, hurt, and shock. Well, I was right.

They thought I was being foolish, that I could not possibly be in a right state of mind. I had been brainwashed. They would have to lock me up in my house or something. I was going to burn in hellfire. I was doing it to please that Muslim guy because I could not actually believe in it. I would be beaten, oppressed and treated like property. The evil Muslim clerics would come and take me away and treat me horribly. I would change my mind soon.

I learned that when your child converts to another religion, it often feels as if you have lost him or her. There is anger, denial, mourning, and, eventually, acceptance. Some accept it by accepting that they have lost the child and having nothing to do with it. Others accept it by ignoring it as much as possible, or overlooking it, in order to have a relationship with the child. My parents try to ignore it and sort of pretend it didn’t happen.

But of course you can’t always do that and so time and again there is pain and conflict.