Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| Anonymous |
| 06/11/01 at 16:53:25 |
| I'm a new muslim, like last week new. Up to this point, everything I know about Islam has come from 2 sources: the autobiography of malcolm x and the internet. The problem is that I'm in desperate need of some guidance. I don't know any other muslims in my community, and being that I'm from a small town down south, they probably don't exist here. the fact that i don't have contact with any other muslims is making my newfound faith already weaken after only a week, and a week is such a small amount of time that I'm contemplating just walking away from it all and cutting my losses. I have no one to teach me salat, so I'm performing it while looking at a diagram I printed out from some website, which, for anyone who's ever had to do that, absolutely sucks. If anyone can offer me some kind of advice or would like to exchange e-mails, instant messages, whatever-please do, because I really, really need some kind of help. |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| Saleema |
| 06/11/01 at 17:00:55 |
| [slm] Welcome to the faith of over a billion people! :) May Allah guide you and always keep you on the Truth. amen. :) My email is SalGul@aol.com and i of course use an aol instant messenger. So my sn if SalGul Email me yours and I will see what i can do with the Help of Allah. There are muslims in practically every nook and corner, maybe you don't know it but there is at least one muslim if not more where you live. If you don't mind, would you let us know where you live? You don't have to give a specific address. Just the state and town that you live in. The wonderful brothers and sisters on here will try to find someone there or a mosque in a nearby town. [wlm] Saleema |
| Assalamu Alaikum |
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| Ahlam |
| 06/11/01 at 17:15:10 |
| Please do not be discouraged!!!! I felt the same way as you....not having anyone to teach me salat and I still don't. I know very little but it seems that all of the sudden Allah is sending people for me to talk to. I live in a small town in PA and couldn't find any muslims anywhere, but I kept trying and finally yesterday I got an email from the president of the Islamic center in Pittsburgh. It is about and hour away, but well worth the drive. May Allah give you the strength and guidance that you need! Also this board is so great.....these wonderful people have kept me strong and answered all of my questions as best they could. Do not feel that you cannot be a good muslim because you know very little about Islam right now. It takes time to learn new things and Allah will be understanding of that. If you ever need to talk just email me at muhjaahlam@cs.com. May Allah bless you and lead you the right way. Fe Aman Allah, (Leaving you in Allahs care) Aimee |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| kiwi25 |
| 06/11/01 at 17:53:50 |
| salaam anon, welcome to the religion of islam, may Allah(SWT) make it easy on you and on us to strenthen our deen and faith! heres one important thing, try never to give up, i see that u said u are having struggles with your salah and that u had to get it from the internet, well lemme tell u something: you will be greatly rewarded for trying plus the reward from your salah itself inshallah !!! another thing to remember is the best of us struggle in our daily lives, relying on Allah(SWT) is the best way to go, ameen! dont hesitate to ask any questions! and for those of you who didnt read serenas thread i suggest u do that first! wasalam nouha:) |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| se7en |
| 06/11/01 at 18:07:47 |
| as salaamu alaykum / peace be upon you :) [quote]I'm a new muslim, like last week new. [/quote]wow, that's awesome :) May Allah guide you always.. [quote]Up to this point, everything I know about Islam has come from 2 sources: the autobiography of malcolm x [/quote]x rocks :) I *love* that book.. [quote]and the internet. [/quote]the internet!? that's pretty scary, considering the amount of misinformation out there about Islam... stick with jannah.org man :) [quote]I don't know any other muslims in my community, and being that I'm from a small town down south, they probably don't exist here. [/quote]Where do you live? We have three Muslims on the board from Alabama, one brother from mid-Missouri, and others from all over the place.. so you never know.. and I can ask around for you, maybe hook you up with a mosque or a muslims student's association in your area.. [quote]the fact that i don't have contact with any other muslims is making my newfound faith already weaken after only a week, and a week is such a small amount of time that I'm contemplating just walking away from it all and cutting my losses. [/quote]don't say that! You've been guided to Islam, have come to accept it as truth, don't walk away now because it's a lot of trouble! Anything worth *anything* is a challenge :) [quote]I have no one to teach me salat, so I'm performing it while looking at a diagram I printed out from some website, which, for anyone who's ever had to do that, absolutely sucks. [/quote]Yeah you're right, the majority of the step by step guides I've found do suck... not to mention a lot of them have differences/mistakes in them and the transliteration/translation are pretty bad too.. All you convert peeps, any advice? Any books you would recommend? How did you learn salah and the basics? take care.. feel free to get in contact with me (check out my profile for contact info) wasalaamu alaykum / peace be upon you :) |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| bhaloo |
| 06/11/01 at 20:41:26 |
| slm Regarding prayers, how about this guide: http://members.home.net/arshad/prayer.html I bought a CD from soundvision.com that has videos of how to preform the prayers, how to give a khutbah, how to preform the funeral prayers, how to preform the witr prayer, etc. I think it was about $50, and it has transliteration of the words as well so you can easily memorise things, as well as the audio and video is on there. I am happy to hear you have become a Muslim, and if you need any help or advice the people on here are all wonderful and very helpful and will be more then happy to take the time to help you out, many of us have gone through the same things that you are experiencing. |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| Magableh |
| 06/11/01 at 21:37:49 |
| Dear Anonymous, Welcome to Islam, and the board! :) A good friend of mine recommended "Reliance of the Traveler" for me, for prayers, and it has been very helpful, Alhamdulillah. It's also a good reference for the basics of Islam. I'm not sure where you could purchase it online, maybe someone else knows? Wa'assalam, Serena |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| bhaloo |
| 06/11/01 at 22:36:17 |
| slm I just remembered, the book, the Prophet's Prayer Described is also pretty good, with references for preforming the prayers. Someone scanned the entire book and put it online here: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/pillars/prayer/albaani/prayer_1.html A good source to purchase Islamic book is from islamicbookstore.com, they have a very large collection, alhumdullilah. |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| Marcie |
| 06/12/01 at 18:19:28 |
| As salamu alaykum Welcome to the wonderful world of Islam. Just be patient. When I first started praying I also had to use a book, but al hamdu lillah before you know it you'll have things memorized. At that time I knew no one so a brother gave me a a paper about Ramadan and I spent the month by myself. Al hamdu lillah a lot has changed since then. As for your imaan just be patient and don't expect too much from yourself. People always seem to come along and help us with our faith when we need them the most al hamdu lillah. I've done some price shopping and http://store.talkislam.com seems to be cheaper than the other online bookstores. As salamu alaykum Marcie Ps. A book that I really enjoyed reading was Let Us Be Muslims by Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi. Did you check out the list that Jannah has on the top ten books to read in English? |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| humble_muslim |
| 06/13/01 at 05:26:43 |
| AA Brother (or Sister) Anonyomus, welcome!!! We are all so happy that you have become a muslim, may Allah guide you and us. Since you are now a muslim, you should know that we all love you for the sake of Allah as much as we love our own sisters and brothers. Feel free to ask any questions about Islam, and Inshallah we will try to answer them. You can either post your questions, or send them indivudally to myself or any of the other generous brother/sisters who have volunteered to help (I personally recommend se7en). My e-mail is hkhan@sitaranetworks.com. Wasalam, Hamayoun |
| NS |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| eleanor |
| 06/13/01 at 13:48:26 |
| slm Welcome to Islam!!! (from a recent convert) When I started to pray, all I had was a printout of the words from the computer and a little diagram beside it. I took the time to learn about half of it off by heart and for the rest I read it off the page. You seriously won't believe how fast you can learn the prayers. Now I'm going to be honest here, because in the light of certain posts recently, I feel like I can bare my mistakes and no one is going to criticise me for it. When I first converted, I didn't pray 5 times a day. I felt good if I managed once or twice. I wasn't used to praying, couldn't get into the routine of it. When I did pray, I only prayed the Fard (obligatory) prayers. Then with time, as it got easier, and as I got faster, I started to think.."well, I only need a few minutes to do the Sunnah" (optional prayers), so I started to do them too, whenever possible. I'm really lazy by nature and the thoughts of getting up from the sofa and going and washing my feet and arms etc used to be a real turn off, but that gets easier and faster too, so you don't even notice it after a while! It was by Allah's grace and guidance that I found the Madinat Message Board. All the time I had words of advice and encouragement from the wonderful brothers and sisters here. They would tell me things like "you're getting so much reward from Allah for the struggle" and "Allah gives more reward to one who is trying hard to say the difficult Arabic prayers, than one who is fluent in Arabic". Little things like that spurred me on and made me remember that I *will* be rewarded for this and also that Allah is always with me and knows everything that goes on in my head. Now, I *do* have a husband who is Muslim, but for some stupid reason I was a bit ashamed to ask him to watch me praying to see if the movements were okay, so I watched videos on the internet. And the diagrams I had showed the differences in men's and women's positions. Before this post turns into an autobiography let me bring it gracefully to a close. Brother/Sister, do not feel alone. Allah is always with you. He is the one who guided you to the straight path and he's not going to let go of your hand and leave you stranded alone. If you ever have *any* questions, no matter how trivial they may seem, *never* feel shy or embarassed to put them up here. (check out the Akwhat Café for my thread on tripping over your skirt when praying.. "etiquette of al-salat" :-) ) We love you for posting here and we love you because you have joined us in the most fantastic religion/faith/way of life in the world. May Allah bless you and make you strong! wasalaam eleanor |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| BrKhalid |
| 06/14/01 at 05:24:32 |
| Asalaamu Alaikum ;-) Welcome to the fold of Islam Anonymous ;-) As Sr Eleanor said in her post, don't feel shy in asking any questions if you are unsure as to what you should be doing. And as Sr Aimee said, try and check out the board whenever you get a chance. InshaAllah we can all strengthen our Iman together. Wasalaam Br Khalid |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! |
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| PHATMAN2000 |
| 11/22/01 at 12:37:01 |
| ASSALAM ALIKUM, Hi, i need help. i have a friend who just converted to islam because of me but i need help so i can help him? i don't know what to tell him, or do !! should i go striaght into the prayer. thankyou may allah be pleased with you ASSALAM ALIKUM |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| Mystic |
| 11/22/01 at 12:41:53 |
| [slm] my email is mbalala@hotmail.com... please feel free to write, i will try to help as much as possible:):):) May Allah guide us back to Jannah Inshaallah and make the path tranquil (Amin) It is awesome to see how many people are rushing back:):):):):) Inshaallah Kheir :-) [wlm] |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| bhaloo |
| 11/22/01 at 12:59:21 |
| slm Alhumdullilah that is good to hear your friend has converted to Islam. Sheikh Munajid was asked a similiar question and gave the response below. I have read the many pages of your web site that instructs a non-believer. I believe that there is only Allah (one God). Ibelieve that Muhammed is the seal of the prophets. History bears this out. My question is: How do I declare this (shahadah) if I do not speak arabic? How do I perform the five daily prayers (salah) without understanding arabic? Finally would I have to change my name? The sheikh answers: To the dear inquirer: I welcome you with a warm greeting. I was besieged with great joy as I discovered your question while browsing through the ten questions which arrived during the past hour today, and it was the dearest question for me. This fact is not surprising, as how could our hearts not open to a wise man who has discovered the truth and has acknowledged and confirmed it for himself--one who wishes to embrace Islaam and asks about the next steps? In reality, everything that poses a problem for you is actually an easy matter, and can be solved simply, God willing (in shaa' Allaah), so let's take them one by one: First: all that is required of you to embrace this religion right now as you are reading these lines is to pronounce al-shahaadatain, or the two confirmations and attestations of faith, to the best of your ability. Perfect pronunciation of the Arabic letters is not required, and the following is a transliteration of the phrases with English letters to help you: ash-hadu an laa ilaahah illallaah (I bear witness and attest that there is no god worthy of worship but the One God Allaah) ash-hadu anna muhammad-ar-rasool ullaah (I bear witness and attest that Muhammad is the messenger of Allaah) After pronouncing them, you should promptly hasten to take a shower to purify yourself and prepare to start performing your regular prayers which will be an obligation as soon as you have declared your belief. Second: If you have not yet learned the manner and characteristics of performing the prayer (i.e. at least the movements and positions), appended to this message is a description from which you can learn. What is requried from you for the time being is to say in the beginning of the prayer and between each movement between positions "Allaahu ak-bar" (a glorification of Allaah). While standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting, you should say "subhaan allaah wal-hamdu lillaah wa-laa ilaaha illallaahu wallaahu akbar." (Glory be to Allaah, and praise and thanks be to Allaah, and there is no god but Allaah, and Allaah is the most Exalted and Great.) Then conclude the prayer by turning your head to the right then left, each time saying "as-salaamu alaikum." This way of performing salaat is permissible for you until you can learn and memorize what should be said in each movement and position of the salaat. Third: You are not required to change your name, and in fact, a number of scholars among the forefathers and modern-day Muslims have indicated declared that your name is in fact the name of one of the prophets! I ask Allaah to aid you and ease your affairs, and to bestow upon you the blessing of Islaam and perseverence in adhering to it. |
| NS |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| Anik |
| 11/22/01 at 14:36:42 |
| asalaamu alaikum brother/siser! That's awesome news to hear, Subhaan Allah (Glory be to God)! Don't worry AT ALL there are thousands of people in your boat, I myself accepted Islam not too long ago, and I had one book with me (Islam in Focus by (i'll find out later)... try to involve yourself with other muslims, it is a blessing to have them around and you can learn both good, and sometimes even bad from them. anyone who wants to email me can : misra_g@yahoo.com feel free, i love to talk about Islam. asalamau alaikum. abdullah,. |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| BroHanif |
| 11/22/01 at 17:47:14 |
| AWW, Hey I don't wanna miss out on any reward as well, email me as well. If your in states I'd go for Sis Se7en, Saleema and brother Bhaloo, sound people. Anyway whatever your concers, they are shared here. May Allah always guide you to success.Ameen. Salaams Hanif |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| haaris |
| 11/23/01 at 04:46:44 |
| slm Welcome to THE straight and correct path, from yet another revert (watch out you guys, it seems to be catching ... Insha Allah). When I first became Muslim, someone gave me the most fantastic thing to help me learn: a tape with all the basic things that you should say when praying. Just like those dodgy "Linguaphone" tapes, except this one worked (for me anyway), Masha Allah. If you mail/message me your address I'll happily send you this tape if you think it will help your friend. wlm |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| sis_malak |
| 11/23/01 at 05:11:26 |
| Asalaam alaikum brothers and sisters, Congratualations anonymous bro or sis on finding Islam and saying your shahadah. I said my shahadah two years ago, alhamdulillah. I just want to tell you that you have come to the right place...not just Islam in general, but also to this message board. I remember the first question I ever posted (What is Ramadan and why does my boyfriend say he can't kiss me during it?)(Astaghfirallah) on this board back in 1999, and I just want to say that everyone here has helped in every way they could since that message, and all my others as well. Brothers and sisters, jazak Allah khair for that. Anyways, it will be difficult at first to learn the prayers, but you can do it....just try one part at a time. And feel free to ask questions here on the board. Try looking online at www.islamicfinder.com for a mosque near you...you just have to enter your zip code. Inshallah that will help. And my email is malak000@hotmail.com....I will be happy to help you if you have any questions. Good luck, and remember, we are all your brothers and sisters now, so you can always count on us. Wasalaam Sis Malak |
| Re: Help!!!Please!!! [I'm a new Muslim] |
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| akhan |
| 11/23/01 at 11:26:34 |
| Asalaamalaikum, Congratulations. What city are you located? Maybe we can find someone to get in touch with you. Please let me know if I can help, my email is newtonii@hotmail.com . Jazaakallah Khair. Wasalaam. |
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