 Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh what a wonderful site wallahi I felt like I just it was just a beautiful thing to enter into the space and see so many faces so thank you all for being here it's an exciting moment for all of us to bear witness to inshallah our sister Kimberley taking her Shahada today with us here at MCC so welcome Kimberley thank you for being here and who do you have next to you mashaAllah and I'm sorry what was your name? Haitham mashaAllah very nice welcome brother Haitham alhamdulillah so sister Kimberley because mashaAllah you have been in contact with I know sister Aisha Edelin as well as you have family and friends who are Muslim I just wanted to briefly summarize what we're going to be doing here you I'm sure you know but just for the audience and for everybody watching what we're about to do here is actually quite simple it's a very short process but what it is is one of the pillars or the main or the the first pillar of Islam is what we refer to as the Shahada or the testimony of faith so everybody who embraces the faith would go through this process of declaring openly their faith before witnesses so we believe I certainly believe that you are already Muslim because in your heart you have accepted that but this is the ceremony that officiates that for all of us and so inshallah it is a momentous event and that's why we're so honored here at MCC that you chose this community to do it with and as you can see you already have a growing family and likely more will come in so hahamdulillah so the process is very simple what I what we would do is I would repeat a phrase in Arabic and I will go very slowly so that you can repeat after me and we can do it three times and then the meaning of which I will translate and that is it that is that is the process before we do that did you have any questions or did you want to maybe take a moment to share with us what brought you to this point where you really feel like this is what you want to do I'm sure that you're going to get that question so you might as well do it now because otherwise each person will come and ask you privately and you'll go maybe I should have just said whatever you're comfortable sharing and can you speak into the mic yes thank you um so I think it is it is yeah um so I grew up Presbyterian but uh never really fully believed in the Bible because it's been changed so many times that I've always knew that since I was you know growing up um and I wanted to be closer to God before I met him and so he's my personal messenger um so then uh last year I started reading the Quran um every day during Ramadan that was my you know peace for Ramadan since I have a hard time fasting um and so then I just kind of carried on I read the Quran every day and it made me feel um subhanAllah how beautiful in the month of the Quran a year ago she was brought a love called her absolutely beautiful please take your time sister oh amazing mashaAllah less depressed and you know all those good things so you know to me it's the number one we agree we absolutely agree that's why we do this all the time you'll see us you know with our fingers raised we also believe is everyone uh now what a beautiful testimony may Allah increase you and protect you and preserve you uh I think it's amazing that a year from that starting point you're here back with us in Ramadan in the the month of fasting but also the month of the book of Allah so may Allah always attach you to his book because it's the door along with brother Haitham with which you entered may Allah always attach you to him too inshaAllah but thank you again for sharing that so with that said are you ready you're ready we're ready are we ready all right I'm going to advise all of my brothers and sisters as well when we have a renewal a shahada for us to also renew our shahada really important to just you know join participate so as we're repeating it to really you know internalize the meanings make sure you're connected just as our dear sister is is now connected inshaAllah so with that said we will go ahead and begin okay all right Bismillahirrahmanirrahim so you will repeat after me starting now Anna Muhammadan Rasul Allah What do we say That's one got two more to go All right ready Rasul Allah All right Dear sister, welcome to Islam You just testified in front of all of us that I bear witness that there is no god with a small g Worthy of worship except for the one god Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the last and final Messenger of God Welcome to the faith our dear sister now prepare for the hugs inshaAllah I'm the jizak Allah Khair and everyone. Thank you so much