 You are here for this momentous event, this incredible moment in your life that I hope you will cherish forever and remember forever and I just am so humbled to be a part of it with you. You know, you've met Munir and Edela and Aisha as well and Mashallah, they're amazing people and I'm sure they've already maybe even laid out the process for you but just for the sake of, you know, making this as efficient as possible, I'll just quickly summarize. I'm sure you know as well, the shahada process is really easy, like Mashallah, to come into Islam, it's so, it just takes a sincere heart and a few words and that's it. I mean, and we believe honestly though that by the fact that you're here, you're already part of this family of Muslims, you're already our sister. This is just a formal process to officiate it but I feel that just some panel lessons that came into the room and I saw your beaming smile, I felt that from you. So the actual process that we do is basically I'll just be reciting the shahada in Arabic and I'll go at a very slow pace so that you can repeat with me and then we'll say it in English. Are you familiar with that? I'm sorry because I usually get like all of this back sort of knowledge or context beforehand but this was a little bit done a little differently which is fine but are you familiar with the shahada? Do you know how the phrase or the declaration is stated? Do you know it? Okay, Alhamdulillah, beautiful. Okay, Alhamdulillah and if you don't mind just for us, just to have again total transparency here, would you mind if I ask what your previous religious background if any what it is or what it was? I appreciate the question. Mine is one of those journeys that I can summarize fairly easily but was basically born of a situation where I was not planned. I never knew my biological father and my mother not having a whole lot of insight as to how the world works was without religion and was basically just thumbing her way through life to the best of her ability made a lot of mistakes and so in short fast forward to 20 years she gave birth to my youngest sister. I was nearly 20 years older then and when my sister was just one month shy of her 16th birthday she died from an epileptic seizure that oh did I do you? Oh no I am here. Sorry. All of a sudden I was just seeing myself. So in short that moment caused a real imbalance in my life and I was on the quest to find answers because she was the dearest person to me. I had never been so close or really been able to measure what love was until she was born and came into my life. So I ended up finding a Buddhist monastery, studied Buddhism, learned from some wonderful nuns and monks how to be more mentally disciplined and physically disciplined and so really the first if I could call it religion that came into my life was Buddhism and then sometime maybe nearly a year later my relative who was also affected by my sister's passing had suggested I pray a Christian prayer and so she gave me a book and I began to read and then I was inquisitive enough and read the Bible cover to cover and started attending Christian churches and eventually was baptized. But further on down the road I was really just sort of baffled how so many of the pieces didn't really fit and I was still searching and I had kind of stumbled upon some some verbiage about the Holy Quran and I was curious but I didn't really aspire to learn because I knew it was a different language and I just thought I hadn't yet been fully inspired until September this year when I had been really just kind of at the lowest point in my life for a very long while. Just empty really depleted and feeling very defeated and this bright light came into my life that just illuminated the beauty of all things that I think that were pressing in my heart but that I hadn't really quite been able to piece together in terms of who Allah is and what Allah what Allah does for us and I was inspired to read the Quran so I bought my first Quran read from cover to cover and I know now that this was the definitive intention for me it just kind of took me a little longer road maybe and a whole lot of bumps and bruises along the way but I see how I've arrived at least whole enough to really recognize what is true and I am so genuinely grateful. Oh my goodness oh my goodness Aisha that was such a beautiful testimony I um wow you've left me really speechless thank you for for sharing that I'm sorry because you're probably are going to get this question so much as more and more people learn of you coming into the faith and I have to just prepare you for that this will be the question that everybody wants to know like what's your journey tells your story but what a beautiful beautiful story thank you mashallah I mean first of all um may god you know bring you peace over your sister's passing I pray that you are reunited with her in the best of places she sounds like a lovely person um so I'm sorry that you went through that but the fact that you know she's her passing led you to this path is is just such an incredible you know gift that she left you with right even though she really she left she also left you this gift so alhamdulillah you know um we always say that we all have different paths but the the fact that we get here is what matters right the fact that you're here even if you stumbled along the path we've all stumbled you know some of us were born into the faith we've certainly stumbled a lot but alhamdulillah for god's mercy and the fact that he awakens us as you said so beautifully you know that you just felt illuminated and that really is what I think many of us who who embrace this faith whether we're again born into it or we come into it it is coming out from a darkness right that we just suddenly realize this is what I need to hold on to because otherwise we're just floundering trying to find our way in this very very complex world so alhamdulillah thank you so much for sharing really beautiful I I I don't know if you're in local are you local in the in the bay area sarmcisco bay area and I've been conquered oh my god that's where I was raised like oh wow my mom lives there I was just there in the other day oh okay I I hope to meet you I would love to meet you I would love to you know sit with you and spend some time with you you're close that's wonderful news um yeah I would love to get to know you more and hear more about your journey you're so well spoken such a great storyteller mashaAllah brother mania I'm sure you took note of the of sister isha we may have to bring her on to the to the speaker circuit at mcc at some point inshallah but no you really are you're very very captivating storyteller you had me gripping you know right from the beginning so mashaAllah it's just such an honor but thank you for for all of that and and just again I feel like mashaAllah you know you're already here but let's you know if if you're ready we can proceed and we can we can go ahead and officiate this this beautiful moment inshallah so the shahada as you know you know it it's very short and typically some speakers or some people who officiate will do it one time or three times based on the preference are you comfortable with either or or would you like the the process I said him when he would emphasize something he would repeat it three times and that's where that practice comes from so I do prefer to do it three times just to kind of you know align ourselves with him and also for us who are witnessing I think it's just really um it's always beautiful to stay the shahada with someone who's coming into the faith because we reaffirm our own faith in that moment as well so if you're comfortable with that we could do three but if you want to just keep it simple short and sweet we can do one two as well whatever you prefer I love the idea of three okay I'm so again honored and excited to be here so we'll begin and I'll repeat it in Arabic and then we'll do the definition after the three full statements in Arabic we'll do the English definition and then that will be it so Bismillahirrahmanirrahim we first begin and say yes I'm sorry I forgot to give you the instruction so I will repeat I mean I will say it and then you repeat immediately after me so we'll start again Bismillah wa ash hadu ash hadu anna anna Muhammadan Muhammadan Rasul Allah Rasul Allah beautiful mashallah that's one down two more ash hadu ash hadu an an la ilaha la ilaha illallah illallah wa wa ash hadu ash hadu anna anna Muhammadan Muhammadan Rasul Allah Rasul Allah mashallah ash hadu ash hadu an an la ilaha la ilaha illallah illallah wa ash hadu wa ash hadu anna anna Muhammadan Muhammadan Rasul Allah Rasul Allah Allah who akbar God is great welcome to the faith sister Aisha you are now a muslim although you were one even seconds ago but you are it is official you are alhamdulillah part of this incredible umma welcome you are our sister in faith Aisha you are here is of course the Shahada which simply states that I bear witness that there is no god but the one and only god god and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of god and that is all it takes for someone to come into the faith of course to feel it in the heart to testify it in the heart and on the tongue so alhamdulillah welcome welcome I wish I could hug you alhamdulillah and that's usually what we do there's usually a line and we just everybody crowds around and alhamdulillah you have to kind of get through that but really special moment jazakil al-khayran for allowing us to be a part of it did you have any questions um or sister Edelin or brother Manir did you have any any announcements anything let's say I think it'd be good to bring them back into the conversation inshallah anything to share Aisha how do you feel mashallah that was really really beautiful mashallah thank you sister Aisha for you know sharing your story with us it was really um moving and you know it's you've been through so much mashallah and may Allah continue to open doors and um beautiful bring beautiful blessings into your life I mean and also um sister Hosea Hosea if you want to talk to her about like the her slate being clean and dua is being accepted inshallah yes um but anyway thank you so much and inshallah like a brother manir will be or has already added you to my mailing the mailing list that I send out so inshallah I'll follow up with you about that because we have some stuff coming up inshallah thank you Aisha thank you Edelin Aisha mashallah I love it brother manir did you have any uh anything to for for sister Aisha anything any announcements a lot you said it all but uh did you just honor us sister um Heather by allowing us to be part of the special day it was just a special privilege to be part of your spiritual journey you'll hear this again again from us because we live this um this the saying that this is a this is not a sprint this is a marathon we're going to take it slowly and we are here for you uh we're running this with you and um and we're there to make it beautiful for you as you are for us to give you water to give you gatorade to give you whatever you need to run this run this marathon with you so that's that's what what it's all about and so thank you for the thing and well start the whole say we'll say that uh you know your slate is clean it's like the day you came out of your your mother's womb you got to keep your good deeds and because of your wonderful presence I can tell you have a lot of that thank you for sharing your story yet by the way very touching it just reminded me of the old saying that god reserves his hardest test for his strongest soldiers and amazing and uh and but please pray for us because you know we are all weighed down for what by by baggage by things that we have to answer for and uh the sins that we do um but your your prayers are very direct very uh go go direct to god right now and so that's why we have to selfishly ask for ourselves right now which is it's a yeah humble so i'll just thought i'll say things forgive me i'll start the first no no not at all thank you so much thank you both for the those reminders you know we do so i don't know where that's coming from but that was like a you know like a drum roll like someone is coming from one of you i don't know where it's coming from i have no idea where that's coming from do you know where it's coming from brother manier i'm checking on my tabs i have a million tabs open right now i'm just gonna say i think it's yours because when we were on mute it was still coming oh my gosh really yeah i'm so sorry fine it's very beautiful yeah i wish we what what is what is this part of the up for the column instituted i'm so sorry i had no idea it was on but the timing was so perfect oh my goodness there's no better words of course in the words of allah but sister aisha as my dear sister aisha and brother manier reminded when you've come into a sim we believe that you are as they said like a newborn baby you're sinless all of your past good deeds a crew let me they could they join you and also your any sins or any mistakes any misdeeds you've made also get converted into hasanat or good deeds for you so you basically have you know abundance and a surplus of good deeds to and that's why we seek your draws because you are not only in that beautiful pure state but you're also your draws are considered what we say mustajab which is that there's a lot of power right now because you've come into this faith you've made the ultimate sacrifice and to come into islam and as an adult of course i was reminded earlier listening to our teacher shahamza yusuf who's also a convert he was saying that sometimes people forget that the all of the first generation were converts the sahaba the wives of the problem they're all converts so converts have an immense role in our faith and they have such a weightiness because they make the ultimate sacrifice and so you join the ranks of all of those amazing incredible people of course and and here even with us astray shah who's also a convert and who who leads the convert care and so many of our members of our community are converts our teachers you know the teacher that i just mentioned i don't know if you're familiar with his work shahamza yusuf but i think you would really appreciate he has a book on islam and buddhism he wrote a section on you know comparing the two faiths and also i don't know if you're familiar with dr tomas cleary who was he wrote many books on buddhism he's actually one of the great translators of the buddhist tradition he passed away actually i believe in august or july of this past year unfortunately but he he was also a muslim people don't know that about him so there are so many people that you're going to meet who've had very similar paths and buddhism subhanallah is one of those traditions similar to christianity where people it's it's like a doorway it's a stepping stone that they will just with a little bit more uh study find their way to islam so i i really um what was thinking of that as you were speaking like subhanallah i'm not surprised especially because you said you were a seeker and seekers you know a lot like subhanallah pulls you because you're seeking the truth and until you get to that truth you're not satisfied and that's why your journey is so beautiful because it shows the sincerity of your heart you went through loss and you started you know that inquiry and that inquiry took you to these beautiful other traditions which there are beauties beautiful truths and and universal truths and all of these beautiful faiths but alhamdulillah you're here you're here in islam and that of course um is such a gift islam really is a gift and i i would love to again um speak to you further inshallah when you're you know ready to come and join us in person i have halakas that i do or like gatherings for women uh the last friday of every thursday you are always welcome and if you ever come to to mcc i'm five minutes away i would be honored to meet you to give you a tour to just spend some time with you and maybe um inshallah when when we are able to do that we can provide some resources for you right i'm sure actually um sister aisha already has that process ready because mashallah they're so good at helping uh you know with the convert care program to make sure you have the resources you need but i will happily share my information with you if you want to be in touch with me any questions you have or any just to feel like you know i'm i'm now part of of something much bigger and it is it's a family and i i'm sorry i'm going on so long but i love this community so much like mcc brother mania knows this i made i came from sud of california and i made a specific duad that Allah grant me the ability to move close to mcc because i love these people so much um and you will feel the love and on this and i've been a part of many communities but what you get from the mcc community is really really special so that's why i'm so happy you took your shahada with us and uh that we will be honored with seeing you and having you a part of our community so thank you um forgive me for going on so long but any any thing to share any final remarks from you um i genuinely feel so incredibly blessed as as i realize that with the guidance of Allah he is drawing me near to some extraordinarily wonderful people all three of you have definitely um a very special place in my heart not only because you have gone out of your way to be so accommodating to a very um uh on the spot um request but i i will tell you that i have really been praying to Allah for an opportunity to um experience more of the muslim community and i feel like he has brought me closer to some wonderful people so i'm just so grateful thank you each of you that's so sweet i can tell you that the feeling is very very very mutual i'm so touched thank you uh to for again requesting this last minute shahada i felt like it was like the lottery really to have this subhanallah and this blessed night so thank you and this blessed sacred month of raja i mean there's just so many uh wonderful gifts that you've given all of us um and to reaffirm our own testimony of faith as always as i said such a blessing so thank you i look forward to being in touch with you um and i thank brother manir for making that contact he knows he knows he's got that vip he can text me anytime he wants well especially with these requests so i jumped on the opportunity but i'm so grateful to you thank you thank you so much and may Allah make it easy for you know as brother manir said this is a marathon and there's going to be a lot it's such a beautiful time and i don't want to you know say any more than that just just cherish it relish it enjoy it take your time and just really grow in your love of of your creator who's basically pulling you towards him inch by inch inch by inch every day and inshallah may Allah surround you with beautiful people who hold you who give you space who who um who you know really support you during this time and uh and we just we're excited to have you so thank you thank you so much giving you lots of hugs virtual hugs i'm not hundreds i hope you're okay with that because i will hug you at some point definitely virtual hugs lots of virtual hugs from our side too my side i can do a quick closing go out before we head out okay subhanak allahumma bi hamdika shahadu an la ilaha illa anta nas taqtiruk wa natubu ilayk allahumma salli wa sallam wa barik ala sayyidina wa maulana wa habibina muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam wa la alaihi wa sahbina sallam tasliman katirah subhanah rabbika rabbil a'izat yama yusufun wa salamun a'l al mursaleen wal hamdulillahi rabbil alameen ya Allah we ask that you bless our dear sister aisha increase her draw her closer to you provide for her from every which direction ya Allah surround her and develop her in your mercy and in your care and bring her guidance every single day so that she can again benefit our community and we can benefit her alhamdulillah thank you for bringing us together please bless mcc and mcc community brother muneer sister aisha their families all of their loved ones everyone's loved ones ya Allah please protect and preserve them all thank you for this wonderful gift alhamdulillah sister aisha joining our faith alhamdulillah thank you just ahead thank you ayyakum barak alavika thank you i should have a wonderful eating both of you aisha's have a wonderful eating brother muneer as well inshallah we will see you soon inshallah assalamu alaikum