 Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh everyone, Alhamdulillah this is a blessed event and I'm honored to be asked to officiate this shahada It's the honor is all mine because this is your journey and you're allowing us to take part in witnessing this next part of your journey and your public announcement of your shahada and I mentioned that specifically that this is the public announcement of the shahada because the shahada is when when we witness that Allah is one the belief begins first when it enters our heart and Then the next stage is on the tongue and I know even without knowing you or having spoken to you. I know Before sitting here, you've made statements affirming that belief And so the first time that statement was on your tongue. That's that's your shahada with Allah That's where your your your witnessing that's your testimony and as one brother who was also a convert to Islam He he explained to me something about the shahada that I never thought about before Which was if you look at the statement of the shahada, it's a witnessing or a testimony And if we think about a court And they call a witness The only way a person can bear witness is if they actually know for sure and they've seen it They've seen it for sure And so what you've gone through sister natasha in your in your path is that that belief has Entered your heart and then came to a point where you looked at the world around you and you could see Around the world that Allah is one and you knew that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam is the chosen one You could see it And so now you you have that belief in your heart and then as soon as you expressed it on your tongue That was your shahada and this public shahada is so that we can all Bear witness to your witnessing and be People who testify that we saw your belief and you saw our belief as well because That's how we know each other as believers and then we support each other because the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam He told us in many different hadith that that the umma his nation that you are a part of that We are all a part of we are like a building And parts of the building support the other part So this path of ours the path of islam Witnessing that Allah is one that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam is the last and final messenger. It's not a solitary journey It's a solitary journey in that it's our own personal path But then part of our journey is being connected connected to the believers. We pray in congregation We go to hajj with other people We we we greet other people with the salam part of our faith is being connected to other people And so that's how you're honoring us by allowing to witness your your your witnessing So without further ado, we'll begin and just repeat after me And that's in English is I bear witness That there is no god But Allah And that Muhammad is his messenger Allah Akbar, that's the that's the shahada and my advice to you dear sister is that that you take this path of islam You already taking it sincerely. I don't have to tell you that or advise you that but what I can say from other people who have Become muslim and converted to islam And I've seen the the the growth. I myself was born as a muslim But my mother was a convert to islam and I have many friends and community members who are converts to islam The fact that right now there's a Brunch going on after this just for converts is a testament to the strength of this community In that there are so many converts and sometimes we forget that the The community around the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam was a community of converts They were all Converts to islam and it was the first people who were born into the faith That were actually recorded. They would say so and so sahabi was born You know, they had to keep record of who was born into into the faith because everybody else was a convert to islam And so that convert the the first community was a convert community and my advice to you is that This path is is an easy path and there's also difficulties and there's a weightiness And there's an ease at the same time in the in the in the the weight that we carry There's a law gives us ease to be able to carry it, but we know that it's it's a weight So if we're if we're on a hike with a with a backpack full of things It's heavy But we know we can do it as long as we pace ourselves and the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that this journey Is he said basically yourself your nefs is like is like an animal like a horse And you have to make sure that as you ride your horse to get to the final destination Don't drive it into the ground pace yourself Because if you if you burn yourself out if we burn ourselves out He said we won't get to the final destination And that animal that we were riding which is our souls ourselves is driven into the ground In other words, it can no longer be be used So we want to pace ourselves and this is a this is a marathon and not a sprint So mashallah may Allah bless you and please keep us in your dua and your prayers Once a person accepts Islam we believe and we were told by the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam That you are like the day that your mother gave birth to you in that there's no sins on your soul So this is a very very special Spiritual state that you are in right now and take advantage of the benefits of those spiritual state Because for those of us who who have tarnished our own souls with with an accumulation of sins We don't have the same connection to the unseen and to Allah that a person who does not have that would have access to So so take advantage of that pace yourselves. Keep us in your in your dua And then everybody here and the entire umma are your brothers and sisters and reach out as needed and Please keep us in your dua