 Save 10% with my code Bobby10. Just kidding guys, today's offer is much greater than a saving of 10%. I teamed up with my Muslim brothers and we created pure passage. Imaging sending the reward of Umrah, this Ramadan, to someone you really loved but had already departed from this dunya. For they're really sick and they cannot perform Umrah at all. Imaging the feeling of honoring his or her memory and expressing your love and devotion, while still ensuring that they receive this gift, the reward of performing Umrah. As a new revert I just learned about this but you know better than me, that performing Umrah is a profound spiritual journey that most Muslims aspire to undertake and you understand the rewards of it. However, for some this journey can be challenging, especially when their loved ones are sick or have already passed away. At pure passage we understand how important it is to fulfill this obligation for your loved ones. That's why we offer our professional and reliable service to perform Umrah on behalf of your sick or deceased parents, spouse or any other relatives. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to fulfill this sacred act even if they are unable to do so themselves. And equally understand that the physical and financial challenges of performing Umrah yourself on behalf of your loved ones can be overwhelming. That's where pure passage comes in. We take care of everything and make sure that your loved ones Umrah is performed with the utmost care and attention to detail. So let us help you earn this immense reward for your loved ones by performing Umrah on their behalf. Contact us today and let's make it happen with Mila. All right guys, welcome back to the channel. If you're new, my name is Bobby. Guys, in the background you can see it, my journey to Islam. No, unfortunately we're not talking yet about my journey to Islam but stay tuned. I will make a separate video. Today we're going to watch a Scottish girl converted to Islam by the channel Logic and Islam. Before we jump into the video, as always guys, if you enjoy the content, leave the thumbs up and if you haven't subscribed already, guys, please do so. With no further ado, let's have a look. My name is Maya Wallace. I was born in 1988 in Glasgow. I grew up initially with my mother and father, who were both social workers and after a few years we moved to the west of the city with just my mom and my brother. Initially my childhood was quite lonely so I didn't have a wide social circle. It was very small so I would spend my days at school and after school I would come home. So then it would just be me, my mom and my brother and what I would do, we'd watch TV. That was a big feature in our childhood. We didn't do a lot of outdoor activities in the sense of things that you would go and pay to do. What we would do would be making jewelry, playing with my dolls. I was very active in lots of sports, gymnastics, athletics. I enjoyed a lot of outings with my mom, biking, home baking, things like this. In summer I became very active so I'd go and stay with my grandmother, my grandfather and air shire and it was activity after activity which I loved. We would go swimming every single day. We would go into town, we would go shopping. We would do more baking, which I loved because my gran is an amazing cook. I didn't have any religious views as a child. We didn't grow up with a religion so there was no Bible in the house, no Quran, there was nothing like that. My family, my wider family, some aunts and uncles, they were their scientists so a lot of the views that I had maybe came from them. So there was no impact, do I believe in God? Is there a God? There was no such discussions. I found out when I was much, much older speaking to my mom about religion that I apparently used to go to Sunday school but I have no recollection of that whatsoever. So in high school I took religious education, much to the dismay of my teachers. I decided to... Looking at her I have to say it is very brave of course in such an environment, such a wide environment, European environment to accept Islam. Because as a woman if you fully accept Islam you will cover as well and this of course a huge challenge in comparison to men. I didn't have to do anything when I reverted to Islam. I stayed exactly the same. I have my bold shaved head and a beard. This is it, I don't have to change much. Dress code wise I usually wear jogging pants and a T-shirt. So there's not much I have to change yet again. For the women however they have to be very very brave because they have to change everything about their outward appearance. So in high school I took religious education, much to the dismay of my teachers. I decided to switch subjects because I wanted to learn a little bit more about religion. At this age I had a desire to get some answers. Not to adopt a religion, not to become Christian or a Sikh or a Catholic. It was just to find the answers to these questions I had since I was a young girl. Now at school I didn't get those answers. The religions that they taught they didn't make any logical sense and I thought why would I have faith this is from God because surely God should be able to explain to me simply the answers. So my high school didn't teach Islam. Yeah this reminds me of the quote of Albert Einstein who said if you cannot explain it to a six year old you don't know the answer yourself. At the time it was quite superficial. They said that they couldn't teach Islam because they didn't have a religious education teacher who'd studied that religion either way I was happy. To me it wasn't a real religion it was barbaric. The Muslims were crazy nutcases. They were just people that would terrorize innocent people. They would blow up buildings so for me I was glad. I didn't think that I would ever become Muslim. That I would ever entertain the idea of Islam. So it's quite ironic now I am a Muslim. So many revered stories have seen that patron myself of course included. We come from a background where we hate Islam. We look at it as a foreign entity something that wants to invade our countries. Bomb everything as she said terrorize people. But then once you start studying it your eyes start opening up and lastly your heart opens up and then you revert. I had no interaction with people of other ethnicities of other religions. There was perhaps two or three students in my school but they were very westernised. They had adopted our culture so I had no real ability to see what really is Islam what is a Muslim. So from there on in I thought well I've learned about the real religions that I load a rubbish I don't believe in them. So I just carried on I just became a normal Scottish teenager. I done what you would expect of any sort of British teenager. I went out clubbing I drank alcohol just had a laugh. Just there was there was no point looking back I just think at that time I thought that's what you did with your life but to me now it just seems it just seems it's unfortunate but she is correct. This is really what I would expect from any British teenager. It's true pointless and where my journey into Islam began was I in 2005 I started working in a call centre and in that call centre it was predominantly Pakistani people that were in there that were Muslims and they were not crazy. They were not anything that I had imagined that the media had portrayed and in actual fact they became my best friends and this is the first time I felt I had real true friendship where these people really cared for me I really cared for them and there was a group of us so it was Saima there was Shekela there was Talib Nabil and Atif and it was us us lot together and I would just initially it was just I was interacting with them and we would just do normal things go to the cinema we would go out for meals but one thing that stood out out to me was the fact that what they done was very respectful they had a lot of respect for themselves they wanted to have a good image there was a lot of things they wouldn't do so they wouldn't come out clubbing with me you know once I had a birthday I invited them and they declined and I couldn't understand why so slowly slowly it was just their behaviours their mannerisms that introduced me to Islam when I was working in the call centre with the other Muslims one of the most profound moments for me was actually during Ramadan and I remember the moment sort of very clearly we were in the Avon's office in Baird streets and my group of friends I'd mentioned earlier they were fasting and they were about to open their fast and Sam Saima she actually handed me a box of spring rolls that our mother had made and she offered them to me if I wanted some and to me that was just such a profound moment you know here I am having eaten all day probably not even realizing you know drinking in front of them having water or something and they're offering me food they're breaking their fast with me and that was a really profound moment for me so something happened in that moment I became curious it's very interesting to see of course this is now in the context of Ramadan but nevertheless many westerners are absolutely surprised and shocked when they see the hospitality of foreigners in general we come from the Balkan my family is from the Balkan from northern Macedonia it is absolutely normal for us to invite people to eat and especially when I was a child and I played with some German kids of course my parents would invite them in their kids they would give them food here eat eat eat of course and they would be so surprised their parents would be surprised as well oh they ate already but if I was in a German household and then it was time for lunch they would tell me and I was wondering back then as a kid man what's wrong with you guys you're living in such a big house you don't have a little bit of spare food I'm a six year old kid here how much will I eat a little bit of fries maybe one sausage at best you don't have a little bit of food left for a kid what is wrong with you guys but this is the culture clash of course therefore it's not surprising to me that this Scottish woman here was shocked when she was met with such a hospitality what are these Muslims doing they're starving themselves and giving their food away to me like who am I why are they doing this and then I started having questions you know what is Islam why are they Muslim you know are these kind attributes that they have they're upbringing is it just these specific people is it part of Islam what is it and so I started to ask them questions I started to inquire being inquisitive and something that really shook me is that they weren't proud well I think this or I feel this or I know that they said this is what the Quran says this is what the Sunnah says this is what the Hadith says they had proof for everything and never at any point did they say to me just believe just have faith we know this is the truth they didn't tell me that they gave me the answers and when they didn't know the answers they would go and find out and they would be humble enough to admit I don't know I can't answer that I can't tell you yep and this is one of the strongest points of Islam of course that there is an answer to almost everything you can always look it up however this is a talking point of the Islamophobes against Islam as well apparently ultimately they're just a bunch of liberals of course because they tell you oh you need a bunch of rules oh you need to pray five times per day you need to observe certain pasts some of them even go so far to say that Prophet Muhammad may peace be upon him had OCD and he was a control freak just giving people rules that were all man-made of course those people are truly sick in the heart and they're not looking for a religion they look something that will cater to their desires here I was standing Islam in the face and it was the truth I couldn't deny it was the truth but I wasn't ready to accept being a Muslim I never wanted to adopt a religion I just wanted to know the answers and I thought that would be enough but in learning about Islam I realized that believing is not enough Islam is a way of life they've got their own economical political social legal system if I was to become a Muslim if I was to accepting Islam is not only a spiritual way of life or a philosophy it is ideology that encompasses all aspects of life religiously spiritually but politically and socially as well Islam covers all aspects of life to adopt that identity everything I'd ever known would have to change but I don't know if I could commit to being Muslim I don't know if I could commit to what Islam required from me so I had what I would call a trial period and I was going and see if I could do what Islam required of me so initially it was simple things for me like stopping eating Haram meat and being a vegetarian previously that wasn't so hard for me then it was stopping drinking alcohol then it was stopping going out to night clubs which was a large part of my social life I started to dress more modestly so I went half of my wardrobe and slowly I realized that I was able to overcome these hurdles but still I was apprehensive you know it was a lifetime commitment if I became Muslim that was it and I wanted to be sure that I could give that commitment to Allah and it just took a long time to get that courage to take that leap to know that I was doing the right thing and that Allah would see right by me and that my fears would melt away and my fear mainly was telling my family how will my mum go my brother you know my aunt and my uncle they're not religious my grandfather and I think that when you're making such a huge life change that you will start to imagine them reacting in ways that aren't even within their character because you're just so scared because it's such a big change and it's something completely different so every Sunday my mum would I can absolutely relate here so let's step back first and talk about the trial period so to speak I did the same thing before reverting to Islam I already prayed five times per day no I did not say the Shahada many people thought that I'm already Muslim because when you pray you say the Shahada did not do that whatsoever I simply recited al-Fatiha and I went through the motions however that being said I want to understand Islam before I accepted because I wanted to know if I will be able to stick to it I explored so many different things within my lifetime dietary spiritually and whatnot and therefore I didn't want this to be a fat I didn't want this to be a face I wanted this to be for life and therefore I had to understand myself before I make the decision now talking about parents she said that most parents are not even in the capacity to react the way that she imagines it well that might be true for her parents my parents are from the Balkan and I'm facing a much harder test there from work and drive me home and every Sunday I would try and muster up the courage and before I knew we were home and I didn't see anything and this would happen week after week after week I felt like it was never going to end Sunday was my day of torment but then Ramadan was coming and I knew that I wanted to embrace my Islam during Ramadan I wanted to fast for that month I wanted to be in that environment so a few weeks before I just mustered up the courage and told her and alhamdulillah she accepted it she just questioned why so we didn't have a long discussion we're not a family for having in-depth conversations but I told her and the relief it just washed over me it made me feel silly I've been worrying all this time and it went really well I went with my my friends some of my very good friends same as well Sam and we went to Glasgow Central Mosque and I took my Shahada through tears of joy we were all crying it was so emotional and it was such a I was the experience that I wasn't expecting we went and at first we were told to go to the study room and I would take my Shahada there with the Imam I wanted to do it properly I didn't want to do it just with two witnesses which is all the requirement I wanted to do it in the mosque let everyone know get a certificate and Muslim I found the answers so we went and the Imam sat me down he started asking me strange questions why do you want to become Muslim is someone forcing you do you want to do it and I'm like yeah that's why I'm here please just let me take my Shahada he does always wanted to make sure it has to come from you therefore it's not a strange question he has to know he has to make sure you what Islam is I knew what being Muslim meant and then that day I after I prayed it was the Juma Friday prayer so we went and we prayed and I remember feeling so nervous because of all the things I had learned I don't know how to pray Juma so I was standing there and my nerves and I started to forget the the prayers and the recitation that I'd learned so I'm copying my friend and I'm like I'm allowed to be looking at her at the corner of my and we prayed and that day was very emotional the Imam gave a speech and he was saying how there was a birth that was me which I found out later because I'm a revert to Islam I'm a newborn in the eyes of Allah there was also a marriage and a death and that whole time that I was there so in 2009 I finally reverted to Islam I did change my name for two reasons one I didn't really it wasn't too fond of my original name but also I wanted something with a bit more meaning so I chose the name Maya as originally called Robin yeah that's a nicer name for sure my journey to Islam to becoming Muslim was very easy I had a lot of support I had a lot of friends around me even one family worse well my mother my brother they were very supportive of me I remember when I went to take my Shahad and my mum was calling me just to make sure good luck hope everything goes okay but where my struggles really began was when I started to go to an Islamic class and I met other sisters and this is where I learned about the proper attire that we should be covered and she didn't know that before for a long time I thought I don't want to cover my hair is so beautiful I don't want it to go away but slowly slowly I started to educate myself I started to learn a lot more about what hijab is what is the purpose of it and one of my friends gave me just a silly little analogy they said I've got two suites one covered one uncovered and I dropped them on the floor which one would you which one would you take the one I said the one with the the cover of course and they said well that's how we view our women in Islam they are the most precious thing to us of course we would want them to be covered and this is not something that I was being told what men want but yeah I find this example pretty silly to be totally honest the covering itself is something that has been practiced throughout human history I like the example that it is natural for us to cover up it is natural to hide certain aspects of our human body in public and especially in this day and age actually where nobody covers anymore covering becomes even more important because it sets a standard and reverses what has gone wrong people don't even understand what modesty is anymore because women in the west now really believe if they're wearing shorts and a big cleavage this absolutely modest because we're bombarded with half-naked women on social media and pornography all day long and this is why people believe that this is what is not modest if you're totally naked and you're having sexual intercourse this might be not modest I don't know but everything else goes and this is why the hijab is a beautiful reminder of what true modesty really is Allah wants this is our protection this is our safety and I didn't want to go out without it for me I loved hijab by this point I'd I'd found the love for hijab I'd found the love for covering I understood the reasons behind it and I wanted to fulfill that obligation to Allah nice but I was scared to tell my mum so I was standing in the kitchen kitchen and I was ironing my hijab and I had to sell her out I wear hijab now and she got very angry and she was and it was so painful for me and she's saying this is oppression and at this point I'm not eloquent I can't explain to her I have the knowledge but to give it to her I I don't know where to start I don't know the right place and I'm just shaking back no it's not so remember walking out of the house and going to my back garden and I was in floods of tears and I was crying my heart out and I phoned Zara who had now become my Islamic teacher my slush is very good and I'm crying to her and I said to her is that I have to take off I can't do this anymore and she gave me so much comfort and so much love and so much strength she said to me Allah will never give you a test that you cannot bear there will never be something in your life that you cannot overcome it is there for a reason so I found a lot of comfort in her words and I put it on and I wore it and I left the house and my end point with my wider family came when it was my graduation and my mother and my aunt and my uncle came and I was hiding from them I was in my graduation gown I was wearing this big black graduation cloak and a black hijab and I was just all black I was nervous I was so nervous and it was about to begin so I said okay we need to take our seats now but I'll see you afterwards I just wanted to get it over and done with I thought look when they see me walk across the stage they'll see the hijab maybe they'll talk about it and then I won't need to be there when she sees it for the first time I won't see that initial moment and alhamdulillah that's what happened it was too late for them to come and greet me before so I went upstage I accepted my award and I came down and I could see in their faces that they had some apprehension they were shocked but they accepted it my grandfather's not a man of many words and so when I went to see him he'd been informed I believe by my family that I was Muslim and that I covered and we've never spoken about it me and my grandfather and what he done he says to me all of your grandmother's scarves are upstairs in the bottom drawer and I've looked them all out and they're all there for you you know for you wouldn't say anything you just went for your and that's when I knew that through that trial through that for me that was a very hardship that there was light at the end of the tunnel if you want to call it that there was peace at the end for me and that my family accepted the hijab and that now they understand there are more what shows that even in the west women used to wear a covering a hijab if you will my grandma used to cover her hair as well and she would have been the last generation basically because after that my aunts my mother they did not cover any longer Christian women back in the day used to cover as well it is just this modernist liberal agenda nowadays it tells you that this is Islam and Islam is oppressive everybody used to do it even in Hinduism and Buddhism you saw reasons behind it it's ridiculous and you guys don't know this as you're recording it but I've wanted to wear abaya for a long time I've wanted to put on the proper covering and I've been too nervous and actually had discussion about the abaya with Amid who's another revered and he said to me abaya I hear this for the very first time is the abaya the you will find the strength your husband he will give you that guidance and you'll be there so when I was asked to come on the show I thought I don't want to go on wearing like I know where I'm covered you know my arms down to my feet my my head I said I don't want to go on and wear my dress I don't think that's right I want to be a good example to my sisters out there to Muslims to people that are thinking about reverting so today I put on the abaya for the first time okay that's the abaya so this whole covering down here before I became Muslim I was a little bit apprehensive about reading the Quran I knew it was real in Arabic so I was a bit worried that you know little things can I get in English which I could the first one I got it was just a literal translation there was no context there was no understanding and for me even though it was written in English it was like Shakespeare alien like I don't know what this book is saying but thankfully um some family friends um the Shakespeare they gave me a Quran and it was a Quran meant for children I gave the background story um so what happened um when it was revealed to the Prophet peace be upon him and that's what started my love even more for this Quran so now whenever anyone asks me about Quran I say to them don't be scared about reading it you know I'll give them a copy of it um that I think would be a good one to read because although every single Quran has the same words in it some are very good at explaining it and for me the my my favorite part of the Quran is in Surah Al-Bukra it's in this verse that Allah sets a challenge for the whole of mankind that if you don't believe that this book is the word of God then just produce one verse like it the same style the same transparency but if you can match that then you can disprove Islam and that was that had such strong meaning for me because I thought of all these people that say the Quran's not real Allah doesn't exist uh Muhammad made everything up they'll have lengthy debates for hours and hours but they won't do this one simple challenge right of ours how long can it take them but in 1400 years not one person has been able to do this and the second part of this this surah that that meant a lot more to me is that Allah goes on to say that you will not be able to that you will not be able to write a verse like it and I just think to anyone out there that's doubting Islam then take this challenge come forth and bring a verse let's see it we're waiting Islam means everything to me Islam is my whole life I believe it's given me everything that I want not materialistic things but it's giving me contentment in my heart it's giving me the understanding to life it's told me why I'm here what I should be doing is giving me comfort knowing that Allah is out there that there is a God that I can worship him and obey him and from how I describe it in humanly terms in his eyes I'm doing the right thing you know no longer do I need to lead my life by my own moral compass I've got God there to tell me what is right and what is wrong and I know when in my actions that I'm doing the right thing it's giving me there is no own moral compass per se there is a subjective view and that's all you got because your moral compass will differ from the moral compass quote unquote of a serial killer in his eyes it is absolutely okay to slaughter people in your eyes it is not a vegetarian a vegan on the other hand tells you that it's morally not all right to eat animals and to slaughter them so therefore morality is not subjective or at least it cannot be if we're looking for a right and wrong if we say morality is subjective then we say hey anything goes basically as long as you're all right with it it must be fine and of course this is the argument for many movements nowadays hey as long as you don't hurt anybody it is okay just do what you want but this is not accurate and moreover it is irrational to live your life like this because if there is no right and wrong anything goes as I said you can do whatever you want why would I even listen to any authority at all why would I obey certain laws in our society everything goes moreover if there is no afterlife at all there is no consequence whatsoever if my lights go out right now I won't remember what happened correct and if I die in 10 20 30 years I won't remember either what happened so who cares how long I live I can kill myself right now or I can kill everybody around me I can jump out of the window who cares if morality is subjective therefore we need God of course as an objective moral guideline a much better relationship with my mother you know she now she's very private women stiff upper lip sort of thing now every day she tells me she loves me um actually I would never have found my husband and had I not become Muslim he's Muslim of course and I just think that is an avenue that if I'd never taken my shahada I would never have experienced it's just it's overwhelming that my life now feels complete no longer am I chasing after the latest dress or the latest car or job I have everything I need to keep me content right now at this age I grew up in an environment where what I was told was that you're meant to go out you're meant to travel the world you're meant to experience many different things date different people to try and attain something and when you've attained it get more earn money and when you've got money earn more money when you drink learn to drink and then drink a bit more um love to miss it was just you know and to me it had no real value it was like I'm going to live inshallah 60 70 80 years and I'll have achieved nothing now I understand my place in this world and what I'm here for and that's to obey Allah and complete my duties as a Muslim spread Islam and be an example to the community of my sisters and this is it for today's video long enough as it is so I'm going to cut it off here guys I said everything I want to say throughout the video it's absolutely beautiful to see what Islam can do even in such a remote environment as Scotland in a town where she wasn't even surrounded by many foreigners most people that she met were Scottish and then later on in her life she met a few Pakistanis at her job this is how she found out about Islam and it absolutely transformed her because it gave her an objective standard of morality an objective standard of truth what is right what is wrong is it okay if I go drink expose my skin date many men and chase the money is this okay society tells me this all right so therefore it must be true correct appeal to majority everybody around me does it so hey might as well this is what we see Islam is not dependent upon a certain historical time frame Islam is never changing so therefore no matter what society will tell you is good right now is in right now you always know what is right and wrong if you remember what Islam tells you all right guys but this is it for today's video if you like to leave the thumbs up if you haven't subscribed already guys please do so if you want to support this channel all the links are in the description box below thank you so much for your ongoing support guys especially lately it has been absolutely amazing if I look at my live streams for example so much support so much love thank you from the bottom of my heart all right guys but this is it for today's video as always may God bless you all much love and peace