“I Went to S. Arabia to Preach Christianity… But I Became Muslim” – Missionary Converted to Islam
Published on
Our whole life was centered around the church. I would say Jesus was like my best friend. I went to work in Saudi Arabia and I was going there to teach them about Christianity. Hearing these adhans from everywhere and wow, this is powerful. I got struck. That hit me on top of the mountain and I couldn't explain it. I even ran to the nearest... Try to find a hotel to call my family to tell them. There's something here in this land. There's something in this dirt, in the soil that I think prophets come out of that we haven't seen in America.
When I read Surah Maryam in the Qur'an and I said, "Wow, none of this is in the Bible." I would go to sleep at night and I would wake up and say, "This is the truth." God tells you something else, you have to follow that. I came home still as a Christian, but nothing was the same. Assalamualaikum, Sister Daisy. Thank you so much for coming and accepting our invitation. As Towards Eternity, we are very happy to have you with us. I want to start with, who is Sister Daisy? Can you tell us briefly about your life? Waalaikum assalam Brother. Thank you for having me. My name is Daisy and I am a convert to Islam. I grew up in California, Southern California.
I spent a lot of my time in the ocean, surfing and horseback riding. My family was Catholic. We grew up in a devout Irish Catholic family. My sister was actually a Third Order Carmelite nun. A couple of my uncles are priests. I became Muslim a little over 20 years ago, and Alhamdulillah, been growing since then, Inshallah. How was your life in regards to faith? What were you believing in? How was your environment back then? Before that, I was always praying to Jesus or Mary, and doing rosaries, similar kind of like to tasbeh. But you're praying to Mary, which was very different. And I got a relationship with Jesus. My family even built some churches.
And our whole life was centered around the church, going to catechism, CCD, confirmation classes, teaching youth groups, all kinds of things. My best friends were actually nuns at the time, so... I was taught that Jesus is God and God is Jesus, and that three are one. The Holy Spirit, the Trinity, of course, being Catholic. I would say Jesus was like my best friend is what we were taught. And we would rely on him for everything, and converse with him all the time. What was the thing that made you question your beliefs? I couldn't understand if he's God, why was he dying? God doesn't die. That was always hard to understand. Why would God do that to His child?
If that's His child, why would He torture? Why didn't He save him or take him? I used to think that as a child. What kind of God did this to His child, or let this happen? So there's a lot of kind of stuff that didn't make sense, on the crucifixion, on the Trinity. How did your journey towards Islam begin? I would say when I went to Arabia. I was working there at the American Embassy to set up a childcare preschool over there for the embassy workers. And I went over there, but I was also working with my priest.
And they were saying, when I told them I was going there, they were saying, "This is a great opportunity to bring Christianity, because we can't get in there." It was really hard to get in, back in the day, for Christians to get in there. So they said, you could be the one to... We'll get the Bibles translated in Arabic, and we'll load you up with the groceries. You know, you can be the one to teach them about Jesus, the love of Jesus, because they don't have it. It's a very barbaric society and they have no idea. So they need to know Jesus's love and who Mary is. So that was how it started. I went over there to try to do that.
And as I got talking to people over there in Saudi, that's when I would find I didn't know the Qur'an necessarily at all, but they knew the Bible. A lot of them knew the Bible. A lot of them knew what was taught. They knew more about Jesus than I knew. When I would tell them the miracles of Jesus, I was telling them different miracles. They brought up the miracle of the infant talking, and then they brought up different miracles. Then they went with Mary. They would tell me the most beautiful things about Surah Maryam, And the palm trees, you know, getting her dates when she was in labor.
And I was like, "Wow, none of this is in the Bible." And this is who we think is God, and this is who we believe in, and this is our Messiah, this is Jesus Christ. So that hit me, that woke me up at the time. It was hard to keep going because they were zapping me back much harder than I could do it, and I'd just be dumbfounded sometimes. I'd have to be like, "I got to wait and go call my church." And I'd go call back home and say, "What's this? What's this miracle?" They're like, "There is no miracle. There's no Jesus talking." I'm like, "Yes, they said there is. It's in their book." And they're like, "What?!" So, they didn't know either. It was all... It was back before people knew me.
Back before internet was around. This was in the 80s and we didn't have cell phones or anything. So, there wasn't much, you know, way to learn things. Did you see Kaaba when you first went to Saudi Arabia? I called again, my family, the church, my priest, and said, "There's this box in the middle of somewhere that they were going around, and they want me to go." That's what I said, I'm sorry. Because I didn't know. "They're doing circles around and they want me to go, check it out." And he's like, "No, no, no, no, no, They're the wrong demographics. That's not Abraham's house. No, no, they got the wrong place. Don't go.
It's ridiculous." And so I was like, "No, thank you." And then I would go, I'd be invited for dinners, different dinners and go out to different places. It would be the prayer time, usually. At the call to prayer, I would take out my rosary, and then they would take out their tasbeh, and then we would... That's how it kind of started. I said, "Do you know the rosary? Have you ever heard of a rosary?" And they said "Same, same." Because our English and Arabic wasn't too good. But they would just be like, "Same, same." And I'm like, "Okay, we have the same, same." And then I started talking to them about Jesus and what it's like. And they were like, "We know Jesus.
Isa, Isa bin Maryam." So I was like, "Wait, what?" You have a different name for him, but I guess it's the same guy. And then I found out that's probably the right name too. Very surprised because I was told they didn't know Jesus. But what we're told in the Western world, right, is like, "The women are abused, they're suppressed, they want to get out, they have no choice, and so." I found that with the Mariam thing was very different, too. That the women weren't suppressed. They weren't abused. They loved living there. They loved their life. They loved this and they loved everything about it.
And that surprised me because I was thinking, "The poor women, they need to know Mary so they can get out of this suppression." They weren't suppressed. They were happy. Happier than we were, I'd say. That's how I would describe it to American women. They were more free. They lived a really nice life. Everything I learned here was a complete opposite when I went and lived there. Totally different. The people were so kind and nice and loving and hospitable and generous, and knowing more information than I know. More devout in their prayers. Praying five times a day, no matter what. I came home still as a Christian, but nothing was the same.
I was haunted, I would say, like a seed was planted over there. And it never went away. As hard as I tried, and it was a long trial. As Towards Eternity, we need your support. We are a charity organization that aims to spread the message of Islam to the entire world in ten languages. With your support, you can help people convert to Islam, give up harams, start praying, wear hijab, learn to read the Qur'an and so on. And get your share from all these good deeds, Inshallah. Donate to Towards Eternity and don't miss this golden opportunity. I saw a movie, I saw some... A friend of mine got this movie called The Message, and I saw half of it. it was about Muhammad (saw).
And I was like, "Muhammad? I never heard of it." It was a long time ago. I'm like, "Who's this guy named Muhammad?" And I'm watching this movie, just falling in love with the movie. I got so excited. I ran home to my family. I said, "Stop the show, I'll come back. I got to get my family." I ran home to tell my mom and dad and my family, and I was forbidden to go back. I never saw the second half of the movie. I went back then and just listened to my parents and went back to the church. But that was something that stayed in that... Like, who is this guy named Muhammad?
When I came back, that's when my family took me to the monks They were scared because I kept talking about this guy named Muhammad. Like, there's this guy I told you guys about when I saw that movie, and it's real. You know, I saw it, and there's something big. It's huge over there. It's a big thing called Islam. And then they got scared. My family got angry, scared. My sister, that was a nun, took me to different priests. And she'd go higher up to bishop, to cardinal. She found a monk from India, and he had lived and studied and went to school with Muslims.
She said, "He's going to help you realize, you know, this is not good." And I went there every week for seven years, back and forth with them. I would tell them about Muhammad (saw) and they would say, "Why would you want to follow a madman?" I would go to sleep at night and I would wake up and say, "This is the truth. You're on the right. Keep going, keep going." So I go back to the monks again every week and tell them something else that I learned when I was there. I got a Qur'an in English and they have a huge library there, and they didn't have a Qur'an. So I thought maybe they would like it in their library.
And I brought a Qur'an to him, and he got really upset and threw the Qur'an across the room at me and said, "You're not going to stop with this, are you? What's wrong with you? You've got to get this out of your head." It was tough. It was later though, this monk got sick and got a horrible cancer. It was very sad. He told me he was so sorry. This is at his death that he said, "I'm so sorry for what I did to you." And he said, "People are good, whether they're Christian or Jewish or Muslim. There is good and bad, and I'm sorry I did that to you." That was the last I heard from my monk.
My parents had passed away, and in those seven years with the monks, my parents passed away, the monk passed away. My priest passed away. The deacon passed away. I lost a lot of people in that time frame when I was going back and forth. I was going one death after another. Then one last thing happened. My sister, that's the nun, took me to another specialist priest. She was determined. She's very strict. So I did go to Father Tom. And they were waiting outside, and he shut the door and said, "Do you know what's going on? Why did your family bring you here?" And I said "Because I lived in Arabia, I went over there." You know, I told them what I told you happened.
And he just kind of sat back and said, "Okay, I might lose my position in the church, but I have to do this. I might really get in trouble for this, but you have to follow your heart. You have to follow what God tells you. Not me, not your sister, not the monks." And then he went up the... He said, "Not the cardinal, the deacon, the Pope himself, if he tells you. But God tells you something else, you have to follow that." And I was like, "Oh my gosh, thank you. Really, you're telling me?" And he said, "But now I have to tell you because now I'm accountable to God." And that was the best thing. What a great guy to do that, to take that stand. That was when I knew I had to do it.
Then I started gradually my journey to Islam. And then, my first two children, I have four, I raised Catholic. So they were being raised Catholic, and then the second two Muslims. So, they did it with me. The second two did it with me. We went into a Palestinian mosque. I told them, I don't know how to do this, we don't know how to do this. I had my two little boys with me. We want to be Muslim. We have no idea how to pray in Islam or how do we start? We're kind of scared. And so the imam at the time said, "I have the perfect lady for you." And he brought out this kind of tough woman. And I was like, "Oh, no," when I saw her. And she said, "Oh, no," when she saw me.
And he said, "No, you two are going to get together." And she literally took us out on the prayer carpet, and she kind of actually took our heads and slammed us down, into the ground and said, "This is how you pray." And that was the first time my head hit the ground in sujood. And that was massive, too, because I was just crying. I couldn't get back up. And if that strong Palestinian lady didn't take my head and put it on the ground, I don't think I would be where I am today. Can you tell us how you felt in sajdah? And what crossed your mind, your heart in your first sajdah moment? Humble. Humble. Humble. So humbling.
And I just remember thinking, "Wow, I never did this in church." You never put your head on the ground. Although the monks did prostrate and they would lie on the ground, but not the people. You have kneelers, you have chairs. It's all nice, right? But to just get your head on the ground, it's so humble to your Lord, right? How did you not lose the faith in Prophet Muhammad (saw) and in the Qur'an and in Islam for seven years against all these propaganda? I think when you're struck, like when you're called, when that... When Allah zaps you, there's no choice. You have no choice. I think you can go against the whole world, and you're going to be what you're supposed to be.
The family was hard, but the church was harder. It's the truth. You can't go against the truth. Did anyone in your family or your close circle become Muslim after you? Yes, I did have someone in my family. It's my daughter, the one that I raised Catholic. She would never convert, I didn't... It was really hard. Because I thought I raised her really well in the Catholic religion, and her whole life was involved in that. My daughter came to my son's graduation from college. And we were getting ready for the graduation. And she said, "I want to do my Shahada." Honestly, she said watching the lives of my little brothers grow up as a Muslim made her want to take her Shahada.
Just seeing that example of the life they had, compared to the life the other two raised Catholic. She saw such a difference in the way it is to be raised. Very different. So how do you think a revert should explain Islam to her family? It seems very difficult. I think they're afraid. Most of the ones I've met, I have come across, are very afraid to even tell their family. And I think you have to focus on, instead of fearing your family, fear Allah. It's simple right? I don't think preaching is a good idea, too much. I think, your example of how you live your life, what you're doing, how you treat them, your family, you know... You should be treating them even better as a Muslim, right?
You're treating them even better than what you were. And seeing that, like I said, with my daughter, seeing how our life is now as Muslims, seeing how our brothers are raised in Islam, that right there has a better effect than preaching. Because I think words can just be words sometimes, right? Especially people on the other side. They have to see it to believe it. Have you ever experienced an extraordinary event where you felt that you had a special connection with Allah? I can think of one offhand. When I was in Taif in Saudi Arabia, and I was in the mountain area there. I was kind of by myself with the shepherd climbing up this mountain, walking around.
And I got struck with just this awe that hit me on top of the mountain. And I couldn't explain it. I even ran to the nearest... Try to find a hotel, to call my family, to tell them there's something here in this land. There's something in this dirt, in the soil that I think Prophets come out of that we haven't seen in America. And I told that to my father and I said, "No, dad, there's something here. I can't put it in words, But we don't have it in America, but it's here." And my dad said, "It's God." And I was like, "Oh?" I heard the adhan going off. I didn't quite know what it was at the time. And it was going in all different, you hear all different adhans, many of them.
And I was on top of the mountain and it was the most beautiful experience. Just hearing these adhans from everywhere. And just looking at the shepherd with his sheep, and being on top of a mountain going, "Wow, this is powerful." "There is something here that everybody should have, everybody should have." And I just kept thinking how America needs to know this. They don't know this. Who is Mary and who is Jesus for you after Islam? After Islam, Jesus was not to me anymore God. God is God. Because I didn't see any way possible. It doesn't make sense to me that God could be Jesus and Jesus could be God. And then you have two in power, which, somebody's got to be in control, right?
So, it has to be God. It's just common sense. Islam was very common sense to me. And I also felt that I had to see Jesus as a prophet. A very revered prophet, peace be upon him. And I still have the same love for him, great love for Jesus. But I don't pray to him. I go to who he would pray to. And Mary, I have the highest respect for her. And when I read and heard Surah Maryam in the Qur'an, you just cry, you know? You just cry. It's the most beautiful surah of the Qur'an. You can't top that even in Christianity until you know that and study that. And like I said, talk to the people who know that, the Muslims. You find that you didn't, you're not losing anything. You're just gaining.
You're getting even more beautiful miracles. And then, so we can, I would think... Then, everybody could go sin because Jesus did the work for us. So, that was alright because they're like, "It's okay, Jesus died for you." So that was confusing, too. I would say confusion in there, that always stayed. But they would say, just have faith, have faith. Did you ask these to your priests who... Oh yeah. And they... And I was very shy, so I didn't ask too much. But when I did, I would talk some, you know, some of the stuff that I couldn't understand with them. And they would say, "Just have blind faith." They called it, like, just the unseen, the unknown. You just have to have faith. Don't ask.
So I would just try to do that. And if you, that's another thing too, if you do ask questions, they'll tell you "Just have blind faith." You're lacking in your faith. Where Islam is the opposite, they encourage questions. So the part about Jesus, there were things and the confusion of the Trinity. I told you, he told me that. If a Christian asks you, "Why did you leave the team of Jesus and Mary and became Muslim?" I didn't. I'd tell them, I didn't leave them. I got to know them even more as a Muslim and loved them more as a Muslim. Actually, I went to work in Saudi Arabia. I was going there, thinking I was going to teach them about Christianity. Did not happen at all.
They were teaching me more about my Christianity, about my Savior Jesus Christ, than I knew. And that blew me away really, literally. Because I'm like, these are massive miracles you're telling me. Go back and they'd say, "It's not there, don't know what you're talking about." And then I thought, how could the Christians not believe this is God and Christ? How could they not believe in this miracle that's in the Qur'an? What would you say to your 18 year old self? Oh. Islam, Islam, Islam. Start young. Start as soon as you know. Don't wait. Don't wait. Yeah. Don't wait a minute of it.
Among those who are watching you right now and warming his heart to Islam, but afraid of the reaction of his relatives, his or her family. What would you like to say to that person? Don't listen to what you hear in the media. Research it yourself or get it from the source. Get it from the Muslims themselves. Like, don't be afraid. There's nothing to be afraid of. Even if you take your Shahada and you mess up. Or like I did, I went to the church. It's okay, it's okay. There's nothing to fear with a Shahada. It'll only bring you blessings on blessings on blessings. And that we're all there for you. We're all one ummah. We're all your family.
You might think you're losing your family, but you're going to gain a much better family. You're going to gain a family of Muslims that are going to surpass even your family that was given by God. Imagine that you made it to Paradise, Inshallah. Besides Allah and the Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (saw), who would you like to talk to? Jesus. Oh, what would you like to say to him? Gosh, that's a hard one, too. I'm sorry for your people that they didn't understand, and that he did the right message, but the people took it wrong. And I'm sorry, I just feel bad for him. Because I feel like all the people... Jesus never told us to pray to him or worship him.
So, I don't know, I would just be so happy that he's a Muslim and that he's with Muhammad (saw). And that it's straightened out. Because with the Christians, I feel like it's not straightened out. And with Islam, it's straightened out with Jesus. Like he was delivering a message, but it got so twisted and churned and diluted over time. And that must have been really hard. Sister Daisy, thank you so much for your answers, for your sincere answers. We are very happy to host you as Towards Eternity. May Allah reward you for all the things you are doing for this deen. Oh, thank you for having me. May you be blessed for this and all you're doing and all your endeavors.
It's a beautiful thing what you're doing.
When I read Surah Maryam in the Qur'an and I said, "Wow, none of this is in the Bible." I would go to sleep at night and I would wake up and say, "This is the truth." God tells you something else, you have to follow that. I came home still as a Christian, but nothing was the same. Assalamualaikum, Sister Daisy. Thank you so much for coming and accepting our invitation. As Towards Eternity, we are very happy to have you with us. I want to start with, who is Sister Daisy? Can you tell us briefly about your life? Waalaikum assalam Brother. Thank you for having me. My name is Daisy and I am a convert to Islam. I grew up in California, Southern California.
I spent a lot of my time in the ocean, surfing and horseback riding. My family was Catholic. We grew up in a devout Irish Catholic family. My sister was actually a Third Order Carmelite nun. A couple of my uncles are priests. I became Muslim a little over 20 years ago, and Alhamdulillah, been growing since then, Inshallah. How was your life in regards to faith? What were you believing in? How was your environment back then? Before that, I was always praying to Jesus or Mary, and doing rosaries, similar kind of like to tasbeh. But you're praying to Mary, which was very different. And I got a relationship with Jesus. My family even built some churches.
And our whole life was centered around the church, going to catechism, CCD, confirmation classes, teaching youth groups, all kinds of things. My best friends were actually nuns at the time, so... I was taught that Jesus is God and God is Jesus, and that three are one. The Holy Spirit, the Trinity, of course, being Catholic. I would say Jesus was like my best friend is what we were taught. And we would rely on him for everything, and converse with him all the time. What was the thing that made you question your beliefs? I couldn't understand if he's God, why was he dying? God doesn't die. That was always hard to understand. Why would God do that to His child?
If that's His child, why would He torture? Why didn't He save him or take him? I used to think that as a child. What kind of God did this to His child, or let this happen? So there's a lot of kind of stuff that didn't make sense, on the crucifixion, on the Trinity. How did your journey towards Islam begin? I would say when I went to Arabia. I was working there at the American Embassy to set up a childcare preschool over there for the embassy workers. And I went over there, but I was also working with my priest.
And they were saying, when I told them I was going there, they were saying, "This is a great opportunity to bring Christianity, because we can't get in there." It was really hard to get in, back in the day, for Christians to get in there. So they said, you could be the one to... We'll get the Bibles translated in Arabic, and we'll load you up with the groceries. You know, you can be the one to teach them about Jesus, the love of Jesus, because they don't have it. It's a very barbaric society and they have no idea. So they need to know Jesus's love and who Mary is. So that was how it started. I went over there to try to do that.
And as I got talking to people over there in Saudi, that's when I would find I didn't know the Qur'an necessarily at all, but they knew the Bible. A lot of them knew the Bible. A lot of them knew what was taught. They knew more about Jesus than I knew. When I would tell them the miracles of Jesus, I was telling them different miracles. They brought up the miracle of the infant talking, and then they brought up different miracles. Then they went with Mary. They would tell me the most beautiful things about Surah Maryam, And the palm trees, you know, getting her dates when she was in labor.
And I was like, "Wow, none of this is in the Bible." And this is who we think is God, and this is who we believe in, and this is our Messiah, this is Jesus Christ. So that hit me, that woke me up at the time. It was hard to keep going because they were zapping me back much harder than I could do it, and I'd just be dumbfounded sometimes. I'd have to be like, "I got to wait and go call my church." And I'd go call back home and say, "What's this? What's this miracle?" They're like, "There is no miracle. There's no Jesus talking." I'm like, "Yes, they said there is. It's in their book." And they're like, "What?!" So, they didn't know either. It was all... It was back before people knew me.
Back before internet was around. This was in the 80s and we didn't have cell phones or anything. So, there wasn't much, you know, way to learn things. Did you see Kaaba when you first went to Saudi Arabia? I called again, my family, the church, my priest, and said, "There's this box in the middle of somewhere that they were going around, and they want me to go." That's what I said, I'm sorry. Because I didn't know. "They're doing circles around and they want me to go, check it out." And he's like, "No, no, no, no, no, They're the wrong demographics. That's not Abraham's house. No, no, they got the wrong place. Don't go.
It's ridiculous." And so I was like, "No, thank you." And then I would go, I'd be invited for dinners, different dinners and go out to different places. It would be the prayer time, usually. At the call to prayer, I would take out my rosary, and then they would take out their tasbeh, and then we would... That's how it kind of started. I said, "Do you know the rosary? Have you ever heard of a rosary?" And they said "Same, same." Because our English and Arabic wasn't too good. But they would just be like, "Same, same." And I'm like, "Okay, we have the same, same." And then I started talking to them about Jesus and what it's like. And they were like, "We know Jesus.
Isa, Isa bin Maryam." So I was like, "Wait, what?" You have a different name for him, but I guess it's the same guy. And then I found out that's probably the right name too. Very surprised because I was told they didn't know Jesus. But what we're told in the Western world, right, is like, "The women are abused, they're suppressed, they want to get out, they have no choice, and so." I found that with the Mariam thing was very different, too. That the women weren't suppressed. They weren't abused. They loved living there. They loved their life. They loved this and they loved everything about it.
And that surprised me because I was thinking, "The poor women, they need to know Mary so they can get out of this suppression." They weren't suppressed. They were happy. Happier than we were, I'd say. That's how I would describe it to American women. They were more free. They lived a really nice life. Everything I learned here was a complete opposite when I went and lived there. Totally different. The people were so kind and nice and loving and hospitable and generous, and knowing more information than I know. More devout in their prayers. Praying five times a day, no matter what. I came home still as a Christian, but nothing was the same.
I was haunted, I would say, like a seed was planted over there. And it never went away. As hard as I tried, and it was a long trial. As Towards Eternity, we need your support. We are a charity organization that aims to spread the message of Islam to the entire world in ten languages. With your support, you can help people convert to Islam, give up harams, start praying, wear hijab, learn to read the Qur'an and so on. And get your share from all these good deeds, Inshallah. Donate to Towards Eternity and don't miss this golden opportunity. I saw a movie, I saw some... A friend of mine got this movie called The Message, and I saw half of it. it was about Muhammad (saw).
And I was like, "Muhammad? I never heard of it." It was a long time ago. I'm like, "Who's this guy named Muhammad?" And I'm watching this movie, just falling in love with the movie. I got so excited. I ran home to my family. I said, "Stop the show, I'll come back. I got to get my family." I ran home to tell my mom and dad and my family, and I was forbidden to go back. I never saw the second half of the movie. I went back then and just listened to my parents and went back to the church. But that was something that stayed in that... Like, who is this guy named Muhammad?
When I came back, that's when my family took me to the monks They were scared because I kept talking about this guy named Muhammad. Like, there's this guy I told you guys about when I saw that movie, and it's real. You know, I saw it, and there's something big. It's huge over there. It's a big thing called Islam. And then they got scared. My family got angry, scared. My sister, that was a nun, took me to different priests. And she'd go higher up to bishop, to cardinal. She found a monk from India, and he had lived and studied and went to school with Muslims.
She said, "He's going to help you realize, you know, this is not good." And I went there every week for seven years, back and forth with them. I would tell them about Muhammad (saw) and they would say, "Why would you want to follow a madman?" I would go to sleep at night and I would wake up and say, "This is the truth. You're on the right. Keep going, keep going." So I go back to the monks again every week and tell them something else that I learned when I was there. I got a Qur'an in English and they have a huge library there, and they didn't have a Qur'an. So I thought maybe they would like it in their library.
And I brought a Qur'an to him, and he got really upset and threw the Qur'an across the room at me and said, "You're not going to stop with this, are you? What's wrong with you? You've got to get this out of your head." It was tough. It was later though, this monk got sick and got a horrible cancer. It was very sad. He told me he was so sorry. This is at his death that he said, "I'm so sorry for what I did to you." And he said, "People are good, whether they're Christian or Jewish or Muslim. There is good and bad, and I'm sorry I did that to you." That was the last I heard from my monk.
My parents had passed away, and in those seven years with the monks, my parents passed away, the monk passed away. My priest passed away. The deacon passed away. I lost a lot of people in that time frame when I was going back and forth. I was going one death after another. Then one last thing happened. My sister, that's the nun, took me to another specialist priest. She was determined. She's very strict. So I did go to Father Tom. And they were waiting outside, and he shut the door and said, "Do you know what's going on? Why did your family bring you here?" And I said "Because I lived in Arabia, I went over there." You know, I told them what I told you happened.
And he just kind of sat back and said, "Okay, I might lose my position in the church, but I have to do this. I might really get in trouble for this, but you have to follow your heart. You have to follow what God tells you. Not me, not your sister, not the monks." And then he went up the... He said, "Not the cardinal, the deacon, the Pope himself, if he tells you. But God tells you something else, you have to follow that." And I was like, "Oh my gosh, thank you. Really, you're telling me?" And he said, "But now I have to tell you because now I'm accountable to God." And that was the best thing. What a great guy to do that, to take that stand. That was when I knew I had to do it.
Then I started gradually my journey to Islam. And then, my first two children, I have four, I raised Catholic. So they were being raised Catholic, and then the second two Muslims. So, they did it with me. The second two did it with me. We went into a Palestinian mosque. I told them, I don't know how to do this, we don't know how to do this. I had my two little boys with me. We want to be Muslim. We have no idea how to pray in Islam or how do we start? We're kind of scared. And so the imam at the time said, "I have the perfect lady for you." And he brought out this kind of tough woman. And I was like, "Oh, no," when I saw her. And she said, "Oh, no," when she saw me.
And he said, "No, you two are going to get together." And she literally took us out on the prayer carpet, and she kind of actually took our heads and slammed us down, into the ground and said, "This is how you pray." And that was the first time my head hit the ground in sujood. And that was massive, too, because I was just crying. I couldn't get back up. And if that strong Palestinian lady didn't take my head and put it on the ground, I don't think I would be where I am today. Can you tell us how you felt in sajdah? And what crossed your mind, your heart in your first sajdah moment? Humble. Humble. Humble. So humbling.
And I just remember thinking, "Wow, I never did this in church." You never put your head on the ground. Although the monks did prostrate and they would lie on the ground, but not the people. You have kneelers, you have chairs. It's all nice, right? But to just get your head on the ground, it's so humble to your Lord, right? How did you not lose the faith in Prophet Muhammad (saw) and in the Qur'an and in Islam for seven years against all these propaganda? I think when you're struck, like when you're called, when that... When Allah zaps you, there's no choice. You have no choice. I think you can go against the whole world, and you're going to be what you're supposed to be.
The family was hard, but the church was harder. It's the truth. You can't go against the truth. Did anyone in your family or your close circle become Muslim after you? Yes, I did have someone in my family. It's my daughter, the one that I raised Catholic. She would never convert, I didn't... It was really hard. Because I thought I raised her really well in the Catholic religion, and her whole life was involved in that. My daughter came to my son's graduation from college. And we were getting ready for the graduation. And she said, "I want to do my Shahada." Honestly, she said watching the lives of my little brothers grow up as a Muslim made her want to take her Shahada.
Just seeing that example of the life they had, compared to the life the other two raised Catholic. She saw such a difference in the way it is to be raised. Very different. So how do you think a revert should explain Islam to her family? It seems very difficult. I think they're afraid. Most of the ones I've met, I have come across, are very afraid to even tell their family. And I think you have to focus on, instead of fearing your family, fear Allah. It's simple right? I don't think preaching is a good idea, too much. I think, your example of how you live your life, what you're doing, how you treat them, your family, you know... You should be treating them even better as a Muslim, right?
You're treating them even better than what you were. And seeing that, like I said, with my daughter, seeing how our life is now as Muslims, seeing how our brothers are raised in Islam, that right there has a better effect than preaching. Because I think words can just be words sometimes, right? Especially people on the other side. They have to see it to believe it. Have you ever experienced an extraordinary event where you felt that you had a special connection with Allah? I can think of one offhand. When I was in Taif in Saudi Arabia, and I was in the mountain area there. I was kind of by myself with the shepherd climbing up this mountain, walking around.
And I got struck with just this awe that hit me on top of the mountain. And I couldn't explain it. I even ran to the nearest... Try to find a hotel, to call my family, to tell them there's something here in this land. There's something in this dirt, in the soil that I think Prophets come out of that we haven't seen in America. And I told that to my father and I said, "No, dad, there's something here. I can't put it in words, But we don't have it in America, but it's here." And my dad said, "It's God." And I was like, "Oh?" I heard the adhan going off. I didn't quite know what it was at the time. And it was going in all different, you hear all different adhans, many of them.
And I was on top of the mountain and it was the most beautiful experience. Just hearing these adhans from everywhere. And just looking at the shepherd with his sheep, and being on top of a mountain going, "Wow, this is powerful." "There is something here that everybody should have, everybody should have." And I just kept thinking how America needs to know this. They don't know this. Who is Mary and who is Jesus for you after Islam? After Islam, Jesus was not to me anymore God. God is God. Because I didn't see any way possible. It doesn't make sense to me that God could be Jesus and Jesus could be God. And then you have two in power, which, somebody's got to be in control, right?
So, it has to be God. It's just common sense. Islam was very common sense to me. And I also felt that I had to see Jesus as a prophet. A very revered prophet, peace be upon him. And I still have the same love for him, great love for Jesus. But I don't pray to him. I go to who he would pray to. And Mary, I have the highest respect for her. And when I read and heard Surah Maryam in the Qur'an, you just cry, you know? You just cry. It's the most beautiful surah of the Qur'an. You can't top that even in Christianity until you know that and study that. And like I said, talk to the people who know that, the Muslims. You find that you didn't, you're not losing anything. You're just gaining.
You're getting even more beautiful miracles. And then, so we can, I would think... Then, everybody could go sin because Jesus did the work for us. So, that was alright because they're like, "It's okay, Jesus died for you." So that was confusing, too. I would say confusion in there, that always stayed. But they would say, just have faith, have faith. Did you ask these to your priests who... Oh yeah. And they... And I was very shy, so I didn't ask too much. But when I did, I would talk some, you know, some of the stuff that I couldn't understand with them. And they would say, "Just have blind faith." They called it, like, just the unseen, the unknown. You just have to have faith. Don't ask.
So I would just try to do that. And if you, that's another thing too, if you do ask questions, they'll tell you "Just have blind faith." You're lacking in your faith. Where Islam is the opposite, they encourage questions. So the part about Jesus, there were things and the confusion of the Trinity. I told you, he told me that. If a Christian asks you, "Why did you leave the team of Jesus and Mary and became Muslim?" I didn't. I'd tell them, I didn't leave them. I got to know them even more as a Muslim and loved them more as a Muslim. Actually, I went to work in Saudi Arabia. I was going there, thinking I was going to teach them about Christianity. Did not happen at all.
They were teaching me more about my Christianity, about my Savior Jesus Christ, than I knew. And that blew me away really, literally. Because I'm like, these are massive miracles you're telling me. Go back and they'd say, "It's not there, don't know what you're talking about." And then I thought, how could the Christians not believe this is God and Christ? How could they not believe in this miracle that's in the Qur'an? What would you say to your 18 year old self? Oh. Islam, Islam, Islam. Start young. Start as soon as you know. Don't wait. Don't wait. Yeah. Don't wait a minute of it.
Among those who are watching you right now and warming his heart to Islam, but afraid of the reaction of his relatives, his or her family. What would you like to say to that person? Don't listen to what you hear in the media. Research it yourself or get it from the source. Get it from the Muslims themselves. Like, don't be afraid. There's nothing to be afraid of. Even if you take your Shahada and you mess up. Or like I did, I went to the church. It's okay, it's okay. There's nothing to fear with a Shahada. It'll only bring you blessings on blessings on blessings. And that we're all there for you. We're all one ummah. We're all your family.
You might think you're losing your family, but you're going to gain a much better family. You're going to gain a family of Muslims that are going to surpass even your family that was given by God. Imagine that you made it to Paradise, Inshallah. Besides Allah and the Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (saw), who would you like to talk to? Jesus. Oh, what would you like to say to him? Gosh, that's a hard one, too. I'm sorry for your people that they didn't understand, and that he did the right message, but the people took it wrong. And I'm sorry, I just feel bad for him. Because I feel like all the people... Jesus never told us to pray to him or worship him.
So, I don't know, I would just be so happy that he's a Muslim and that he's with Muhammad (saw). And that it's straightened out. Because with the Christians, I feel like it's not straightened out. And with Islam, it's straightened out with Jesus. Like he was delivering a message, but it got so twisted and churned and diluted over time. And that must have been really hard. Sister Daisy, thank you so much for your answers, for your sincere answers. We are very happy to host you as Towards Eternity. May Allah reward you for all the things you are doing for this deen. Oh, thank you for having me. May you be blessed for this and all you're doing and all your endeavors.
It's a beautiful thing what you're doing.