 Alhamdulillah, you know, this is a blessed occasion. It's a blessed moment. It's a blessed a time in your life Alhamdulillah and the the ones conversion to Islam I believe this outward manifestation of a conversion to Islam is only for an outward manifestation of what already exists inside of your heart between yourself and God and and That's what that's what we are here for and that's what we will do that in of itself is very simple. We'll just recite the the Proclamation of faith three times And then there's a few things that I'll ask you prior to that But what I would just say is that you know, is there would you like to share anything of your story? Would you like to share anything of your of your journey to Islam? We are you are welcome to to have an opportunity to do that as well I guess I It started last year during Ramadan and The It happened so fast. I didn't realize it, but I was just talking to a couple of my friends who are actually Muslim and they were talking about like Ramadan and how it is going to start the next day And they were going to fast and I was so curious like this I kept on asking them questions and then at the end of that conversation. I told them. Oh, I want to fast with you guys They're like, are you sure? And I was like, yeah, I really want to fast and I um Because I had spent some time talking to them before that and I didn't I still didn't know But I was telling the brother and sister earlier that When the next day happened and it was the first day of Ramadan like I woke up before pleasure and I was super excited and Like the sit the whole thing was very you made it very easy for me and during that whole time I Like down downloaded the Quran and I was listening to it and I found myself like losing myself with time and You know 30 minute turned into like six hours and You know all the heartache that I had or all the confusions in life I Found it very easy talking to Allah back in the mornings and he just made so many things so much clearer for me and It's been almost a year now and I had finished the Quran I had bought the translation portion of it and while driving I'll listen to it in Arabic I Did enroll myself in learning Arabic because I actually want to learn it one day inshallah But I'm doing really good I think and I enjoy it which is nice But I'm really excited to be here. I think thank you for sharing that and You know, I pray that your That your journey Continues to be filled with just blessings and this relationship and this nearness to to to our Creator To your Creator to our Creator When I think about this Shahada, there's there's a few things That we have to I have to ask you and the first and foremost is that that this is by your own volition Right, there's no one that is kind of making you do this or you're being forced into do it and something like that So we ask this because in the Quran we have la ikrah of the Dean. There's no compulsion in religion There's no compulsion to force someone to to convert. So we ask the person is this through your own volition This is through your own personal choice Yes, yes it is So with that For everyone that is here One of the scholars that I was with Actually, it was dr. Samar who comes here quite often when we were in Damascus when we were students He would recite the verse of Quran. Yeah, you'll be no aminu He was oh you who believe believe and the question is ironic, right? If you were a believer Then then then how do you believe or right if you owe you who believe believe? But the Quran what we say is that all you who believe Jadidu iman of kum renew your Eman or you who believe renew your faith and The renewal of faith is through la ilaha illallah Muhammad the Rasulullah So inshallah as we recite as our sister recites her Shahada that inshallah we can recite with her We'll recite once in Arabic and then we'll recite three times In English, okay, so once in Arabic will recite once in Arabic and you can repeat after me inshallah ta'ala and then after that We will recite three times in English and at that point that is required for a person Entering into the fold of Islam through the first time with the Arabic will be sufficient But we also include the English to ensure that a person knows what they're saying, okay, so Is there any of the male that have a scar for shawl or something So sister grace one of the things that we've read in this era is that when a the prophet's Islam Was would interact or he would give a shahada or something of that with the opposite gender as not to Engage in in touch with them that he would either he would give them something of a natural material of a shawl Or of a staff his stick or there's also narrations that they would put their hands in water in a vessel That was large, so if you'd like inshallah you can hold on to the end of that and emulation of a prophetic Sunnah Of this so inshallah with that you can repeat after me inshallah We can repeat inshallah Ash hadu An La La Ilaha Ilallah Ilaha Ilallah Ilallah And ash hadu And ash hadu Anna Anna Muhammadan Muhammadan Abduhu Abduhu And Rasuluhu Rasuluhu We say it again, ash hadu Ash hadu An An La Ilaha Ilaha Ilallah Ilah La Ilallah Ilallah And ash hadu And ash hadu Anna Anna Muhammadan Muhammadan Abduhu And Rasuluhu Rasuluhu I bear witness I bear witness That there is no God That there is no God Except Allah Except Allah And I bear witness And I bear witness That Muhammad That Muhammad Is his messenger Is his messenger And servant And servant I bear witness I bear witness There is no God There is no God But Allah But Allah And I bear witness And I bear witness That Muhammad That Muhammad Is his messenger Is his messenger And servant And servant I bear witness I bear witness There is no God There is no God But Allah But Allah And I bear witness And I bear witness That Muhammad That Muhammad Is his messenger Is this messenger? Is this messenger? And servant? And servant. Taqbir. Taqbir. Allahu akbar. Taqbir. Allahu akbar. Alhamdulillah. Sister Grace, you know as I will just give you some advice similar to those that shared advice with me when I became Muslim and saying that this is a marathon. It's a marathon of life and there'll be many, there'll be much advice, there will be much well-intended advice, but one should feel that they will go at a pace in which they can maintain. When Aisha, the prophet, saw Islam's wife, the daughter of Abu Bakr, she asked the prophet which action is most beloved to Allah. He said that which is done frequently even if it is small because there's nothing that is small with Allah. So our intention is that we have what's called istiqama, that we have a consistency in our actions and you are here and I see that our sister is with you, there are others that are close to you. One of the other most important things that the prophet has told us, he said to choose wisely who your companions are. And so may Allah keep you in the company of people who are righteous, people who are striving for the best in this world and the next, who are striving to be near to Allah and are always encouraging a good for all of humanity. So yes, you are very welcome and may Allah, as I said, continue to bless your journey, bless you and all that you love and care about in this world and make it easy for you in this world and in the next. Alhamdulillah, we welcome you, sister Grace. Alhamdulillah. Yes, Alhamdulillah. So as we heard, it's a journey, it's a long marathon, not a sprint, you're going to pace yourself and what we have here in the new Muslim boxes, what we feel that you might need to hit the ground running, inshallah. So it's a little gift from our congregation to you, inshallah. And your prayers are very special right now because all of us, we all have something we have to answer for, but I can just tell from your beautiful presence that you don't have a lot of sin, but whatever was there has been cleaned. So it's like the day you were born and very beautiful. So please pray for every single one of us here because your prayers are very special, go very direct. Jazakallah, sisters, if you want to welcome sister Grace. Jazakallah. Thank you so much.