 Discover the exquisite beauty of Islam with our exclusive poster collection showcasing the 99 names of Allah. Each poster meticulously presents the Arabic name, pronunciation and English translation embodying the essence of our Creator. Elevate your surroundings with these high quality designs that not only serve as art but also offer a glimpse into the profound beauty of Islamic culture. Immerse yourself in the collection and unveil the magnificence of the 99 names. Links in the description box. Alright guys, welcome back to the channel. If you're new, my name is Bobby. Guys, today we're going to react to an Orthodox Christian revert to Islam. This should be a very interesting video because if you've been watching my channel you know that I myself come from an Orthodox Christian background and I reverted to Islam last year, alhamdulillah. Therefore, for me, it is absolutely mind blowing to see that there are more Orthodox Christians that do accept Islam. Guys, before we jump into the video, as always, do me the favor. Leave me a thumbs up if you enjoy my content. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and check out the links in the description box below to further support. And now with no further ado, let's have a look. My name is Savannah. I'm 27 years old, originally from Bulgaria. And I had Islam at age of 19 in 2016. Marshall, this is quite amazing. As I said in the beginning, I come from an Orthodox Christian background. But moreover, I come from a Balkan background as well. My parents are from Northern Macedonia, which makes us ethnically Bulgarian. Even though they were back to differ, of course, they don't see it the same way. However, me studying the history of Macedonia, I, of course, realize that we are ethnically Bulgarian after all. So therefore, here I see a fellow Bulgarian lady that actually accepted Islam. This is absolutely mind blowing to me personally. As a Christian in an Orthodox family. So basically, in Christianity. But I wouldn't say that I was... I can't say that I was raised from religious people. So my family identified themselves as a Christian. They celebrate Christmas, they celebrate Easter and so on and so forth. But if you ask them, what does that mean? Or if you ask them questions related to the Bible, they can't answer because I never saw them reaching it. Yeah, I can 100% relate to this. And I talked about it multiple times here on my channel. Most people, the majority on the Balkan have absolutely no idea about religion. They are identified culturally as Christians. They have a very clear perception of who is Christian and who is Muslim. However, theologically speaking, they have absolutely no clue about the religion. It is really the case. My father is 66 years old by now and he never heard about the Trinity. He never read the Bible. How often did I have to participate in certain religious holidays? And every time I would ask the people, what are we celebrating? Nobody could tell me what it was about. They will always tell me, well, our ancestors celebrate this. Our grandparents celebrate this. So we have to celebrate this too. But this never satisfied me. I always wanted to understand why do we celebrate this particular saint? Who is this guy? What did he do? What is the importance of this holiday? Nobody had a clue. And yet again, not even intrinsic doctrines they understood, such as the Trinity. The Trinity proclaims that God is three in one, meaning the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But my father told me from a very, very young age out on that God is one, uniquely one. He is the greatest. He would always tell me there is nobody that is like God. And this, of course, absolutely Quranic, absolutely Islamic. We as Muslims would claim this is the fitrah. My father never partook in the church and never read the Bible as I said. So naturally, intuitively, instinctively, he of course understood that God is one. And this is the belief that the majority holds on the Balkan. However, they do not want to accept Islam because they see Islam as the enemy. We have a long history with the Ottoman Empire, then certain wars with the Albanian population, which is predominantly Muslim yet again. And therefore, they simply see it as their faith, not understanding that they don't even realize what their own faith entails. Of course, get my existential questions. I always wanted to know more. I always felt connected to God and, you know, I always was talking to God. For example, I hit one cross around my neck and when I was feeling sad or desperate or just wanted to talk with someone, I was always getting that cross and I was always talking to God. If I cry, I will talk to God. If I'm happy, I will talk to God, you know, like all the time. And I can't refuse to sit in front of the window and watching the sky and just talking to God. So I always hit my existential questions and I always need an answer for them. So, Alhamdulillah, Allah showed me the answers. Alhamdulillah, Allah guided me to Islam. Well, I will keep it sweet in short. Once I graduated high school, I graduated language school. So I decided that I'm going to study in Germany. But before that, my family said, okay, you need to practice your language before to go there. So because I was going, coming anyway alone at the age of 18. So they said that I have to practice my language during the summer while I'm working with German guests. And my mother actually applied for me in Thomas Cook, like a kid entertainer for a position in a Bulgarian hotel. Unfortunately for my parents, obviously not for me. Once I went to the interview, the interview went very well. But my supervisor, the woman that hired me, she said, we unfortunately do not have a position in Bulgaria, but I can offer you in Spain, Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza or Egypt. And once I've heard of Egypt, that's that. That was for me. I decided I'm going to Egypt. So I accept the boy and that's how later on I accepted Islam. So I never saw in my life someone practicing Islam. I never saw somebody fasting or praying or somebody showing that they are practicing Muslims. Yeah, I can absolutely relate to this as well. Travel is so important, so absolutely crucial because she just sat there. She never saw anybody practice Islam. As I said, in Macedonia, we have a big Muslim population which are predominantly Albanians and I personally never saw them pray. I never saw Islam from the inside, if you will, because I never entered mosque. It was simply their religion, so I did not see them practice whatsoever. And the same applies for Germany, where I grew up in. In Germany, many of my friends were Muslim. However, they were far from practicing. Many of them were involved in all kinds of criminal behavior that I don't want to get into here in this video. But anyways, the point of the story is that I did not really experience Islam around me. However, when I started traveling, namely to Malaysia, this is where I experienced Islam for the very first time. I was absolutely amazed. So everybody from Malaysia watching, it is you guys that made the shift. I couldn't believe how hospitable those people were. How nice they were. How family-friendly. I haven't experienced anything like it on my travels. It was absolutely mind-blowing that this is what Islam is. So I started seeing the mosque still from the outside. But nevertheless, I got a slight taste of Islam. And then later on in Thailand, which is not a Muslim country. But nevertheless, I finally went into the mosque and saw Islam in action, so to speak. How does it look like when Muslims pray? And this really sealed the deal for me. But it was the travel. It was the change of scenery. Because within my own environment in Germany or in Macedonia, there was no possibility for me to partake in Islam. There was no possibility for me to even think about, you know, well, I'm just going to go to an Albanian Mosque now. That wouldn't have had happened. However, in a faraway country, in a different cultural environment, in a different continent even. Yes, absolutely. I was able to observe Islam and get to know Islam. So therefore, travel is an absolute blessing. I would say that most problems that people hold, be it certain racist, nationalistic ideologies, or be it even certain depressive disorders that people have, certain limited belief systems that they hold onto. All of this can be dissolved by simply traveling. So I really want to urge everybody, no matter how little money you got, you can travel very, very cheaply. It will change your perspective forever. Matter of fact, I don't want to rant on for too long, but this is how I started this channel as well. It was through travel, through talking to people. It was people that I interacted with that actually told me, hey, why don't you open up a YouTube channel? I never heard of YouTube. I never used YouTube. I was simply traveling through Australia. And people told me that I would be the guy for it. I had no clue. I bought a smartphone for the very first time in my life and I started filming myself talking to that phone. So travel shaped me like nothing else in my life. I knew about Ramadan because a day into Ramadan, we were receiving always sweet things from from in the school or from the neighbors, but I never did actually knew Islam. Once I shared with my family that I want to go to Egypt. Of course, they didn't agree, but we have the rule in Bulgaria that once you arrive to a team, nobody can say to your team. So anyway, I went to Egypt and in that place where I was working in a hotel in Fulcada, I've met my husband and through him and his family later on, I found Islam. I saw how my the family of my husband was praying and my husband and how they were reading Quran. So I just followed them and I just wanted to do exactly what they did because I saw the peace. The peace took me. I'm coming from a family. We know that peaceful inside the house and the peace I saw and I felt there just took me and I decided that I'm going to accept Islam and after that, after accepting Islam, I started to want to know more about the religion. So I asked them, but I also found that in Instagram, there are a bunch of pages which are speaking about Islam like a Mufti make or like so many shakes and so many groups. So I followed them and that's why actually made my own page later on when I started to know more about Islam. So because I wanted to help the people out there like that people, I followed helped me and that's how I found more resources through the power of internet and through my family. I was sitting like I've covered myself, I've covered some my hair and so on and I just took my fame, my Shahada with my husband. I this feeling when you take your Shahada it's indescribable. I cannot express it. I cannot describe it. You feel like a newborn. You literally feel like a newborn. You feel like like you just like you were in a tunnel and you just open the door and the light came in front of you. Like it's a feeling and you can describe it and honestly after I took my Shahada, I had so much dreams and so much beautiful dreams. You know, in that moment, at that moment when you become a Muslim, when you really take your Shahada and you witness that the reason God accept Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, you just feel it in your bones, the peace and the like you feel majestic. I don't know how to express it, but you express it pretty well. Yeah, it's always beautiful to hear Shahada stories, especially hers. I believe that everybody could feel it. She said she can re-express it. I think she expressed it quite well. With my Shahada, it was fairly similar, but slightly different. For me, it was a huge weight that just dropped off my shoulders because I postponed my Shahada for such a long time. And once I said those words, all of this weight was lifted and I realized, man, what have you been doing? Why did you rebel for such a long time? It felt almost unnecessary even because I got the message and this is why I have to urge you guys. If you get the message, you understand the message except Islam. That's really what it is. You won't get some crazy surprise later on. Many people are so brainwashed through YouTube that they really believe, before I accept Islam, I have to become perfect. I have to finish all the Hadith. I have to finish the Koran, et cetera, et cetera. You name it. But the message of Islam is so simple and think about it. The Koran wasn't revealed in its fullness before people started accepting Islam, right? It took over 20 years for the Koran to be revealed and during those 20 years, many people accepted Islam. So therefore, it's not a prerequisite that you have to read the whole Koran in order to accept Islam. The message is very simple. There is no God worthy of worship, but Allah, one God. That's it. And Muhammad is his messenger, may peace be upon him. That in turn implies that all of the people, the prophets before him were just that, prophets, messengers of God. They were not God, such as the Christians claim. This is Islam. It's simply pure monotheism. And for me, it took so long, man, because I was so brainwashed by YouTube, by my environment, by history, by culture and whatnot. And therefore, once I took my Shahada, it simply felt like, oh, such a relief. Finally, it is done. Finally, I'm not rebelling against God anymore. Finally, I submitted my will. Allah guides whom he wills. And that's how that has happened. My family wasn't for it. Like, to not mention that I'm brainwashed. Of course, I didn't, I didn't share with them directly once I accepted Islam. But later on, when I decided when I, when I saved my courage to say so, they thought that I'm brainwashed. It was a time where I didn't have connections with them. But, you know, like, I, I've tried so many times to explain. I've tried so many times to explain. Why did I accept Islam? And I've tried, but they say, um, don't try to convince me in something I don't believe. So Allah guides whom he wills. I can't make more than that. And, uh, they, of course, they are not, um, happy that I'm a Muslim and they feel betrayed that I betrayed them and I betrayed God, like, but I already said in the beginning, they are not the kind of people that read the Bible, but they feel offended from my decision. But even though it's a my decision. Yeah, man, this video really delivered for me personally because as I said in the beginning, this should be an interesting video and absolutely is for me. I hope for you as well. But there's so many parallels, man, that I can relate to. It's quite fascinating because Balkan parents are Balkan parents after all. And my parents reacted the same way. They feel absolutely betrayed by my decision. And moreover, they believe as well that I betrayed God somehow I committed a great sin to leave Christianity in front of God because God decided apparently that I am supposed to be a Christian and therefore if I accept Islam, I'm going against God. I'm committing some sort of sin. This is really their understanding, but the same time just as she said here, they do not have any idea about the theology of Islam or Christianity. So who are they to judge ultimately, but be that as it may as I said already, Balkan parents will be Balkan parents and for them it was absolutely not understandable to this very day. So I accept Islam roughly one year ago and to this very day, I haven't talked one word with my father. We haven't exchanged one word. He simply does not want to respond to me. He doesn't talk to me. He acts as if I do not exist at all. It's very unfortunate, but as she said as well correctly I can fully relate a lot of guides who he wants. My family, the family of my husband, they are so excited and all of the neighbors and everyone who knows me, it's very happy that I took my Shahada, I would always be thankful to him and his family for showing me the beauty of Islam because that changed my life. I found my peace. I found I found the happiness because you know you may have everything, but if you do not hear the peace inside your heart, the peace inside your soul, like you just don't hear a thing. All right, this is it for today's video. I'm going to cut it off here. If you want to watch the full video, please head over to the channel, the Quran Motivation and check out the video Darkness to Light. Islam gives inner peace to me. Revered story of Orthodox Christian as I said throughout the video, I could relate to pretty much everything she said and in the entry mentioned there that the inner peace is the most important thing. And she's absolutely right. If you don't have the inner peace, nothing in this world counts. You can be in a huge mansion. You can be surrounded by everything you love on the surface level, but if you don't have peace inside, nothing means anything. This inner peace, this perfect peace that Islam can give you sets the stage for the rest of your life. Only if you have this inner peace, you are actually living, I would claim because otherwise you're in a constant disconnect. You're seeking on the outside. You're trying to feed yourself to feed your inner peace, but you cannot accomplish it because that peace does not come from the outside. It comes from the inside. It comes through God. Your fitra is in a constant struggle with your ego because you simply are not submitting your will to God, but you're seeking on the outside, trying to mold the world to your will. Ultimately, if you don't accept Islam, you are playing God. You're acting as if you are God. This is basically the atheistic framework. And if you, let's say, are Christian, well, then you're still not adhering to your own fitra, to your natural inclination, but you start believing man-made concepts such as a Palestinian Jewish man, Jesus, is actually God after all, right? Or you believe in Hinduism and all of a sudden the elephant-head man is a God for you as well. This is incongruity. It is absolutely unjustifiable to your intuition, to your fitra. You might trick your brain, but you cannot trick your heart. The only way to live a peaceful life, a fully fulfilled life, is by accepting Islam. All right, guys, but this is it for this video. If you enjoyed it, leave me a thumbs up. Subscribe to the channel. If you haven't already, check out the links in the description box. We have a beautiful merge for you to further support the channel. And now, as always, may God bless you all, much love and peace.