# We Asked 10 Asian Converts! - Why Did You Choose Islam?

- Language: en
- Published: 2026-08-17
- Canonical: https://blog.towardseternity.com/en/blog/we-asked-10-asian-converts-why-did-you-choose-islam
- Source video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q59CdQANUU
- Channel: Towards Eternity

This is the cleaned transcript of the source video. The speech is unaltered.

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I was so empty and just so lost. I was just looking for fame and money, and the same goes for magic. I always felt like, who am I? Who is Aliza? I don't even know anymore. The school teach me all the knowledge about science and math, but they didn't teach me where I'm from, who I am, where I'm going, and after I die where I will go. So I started to ask God, "I don't know who is the real God now, and I'm looking for You, so guide me, God." I continued to practice as a Buddhist, but deep in my heart, I had a question. So I asked my friend who is a Muslim, "Where is your God?

I cannot see your God." And then he said, "No, God exists, but you can never see Him." Then suddenly, my feeling to want to read the Quran getting very strong. It is so obvious; it is hard not to see. It solves all the problems, and it is simple. And it was freedom. So, Islam is freedom. Freedom of the mind, freedom of the voice, freedom to choose who sees what and what I wear, Mashallah (what Allah has willed). I grew up as a Buddhist and, Alhamdulillah (all praise is due to Allah), I became a Muslim at the age of 22. Before being Muslim, I was an atheist. I didn't have any religion, nothing. No Buddhism, no Shintoism. Just like a typical Japanese. So, I was born and raised in South Korea.

I don't think I'm that special of a person because I just lived normally in Korea, and I studied music in university. A few years ago, I converted to Islam, and I'm still on my journey, I think. My father is a Presbyterian pastor. My grandfather is a pastor, and my uncle is a pastor. And they were quite high-ranking in Thailand, anyway. My father was a very hardcore atheist philosopher who spent years and years trying to teach me how to debate against theists, and how I should respond to them, and how I could belittle their beliefs in God, and how to fight back against Christians who were trying to tell me about the message, the word of Jesus.

So I think from a very young age, literally around 10 years old or so, I felt like it wasn't supposed to be. It's not a good thing to be believing in God. The thing that really made me question my beliefs was when I was 11 years old. But prior to that, I'm someone who are very stubborn and also I like to question a lot. What happened was, my grandfather passed away. When he passed away, being a Chinese, a traditional Chinese family, there is a ritual. And this ritual is where they will call a priest to chant, to do a certain ritual. But the language in which I don't understand.

So I started to ask a question, my uncle and auntie, "Why are they doing all these things?" So they say, "Well this basically is to, in order for your grandfather to go to paradise." I was like, "That is good." But concurrently, what happened was, we have this activity where we fold the prayer paper, and also there is this hell bank notes. Like for example, if I want to go to Turkey, if I want to go to US, I have to change from Malaysia Ringgit, I have to change to US dollar. Now you have the hell bank notes, which is the money to be used in hell. So I start to be curious, I was like, "This ritual is for him to go to paradise. Paradise you have everything for free.

So this hell bank notes is for who?" So they say, "Well basically this hell bank notes is for your grandfather just in case he couldn't make it to paradise, he can use it in hell." That answer created more confusion for me. They might not be confused, I'm confused. I'm confused is that, because as a Chinese, we've been brought up with a certain philosophy like for example, you have to become a good person in this world so that you will go to paradise and enjoy. But if you are a bad person in this world, you will go to hell and you will be punished. So the idea of reward in paradise and punishment in hell stick in my mind.

But now it seems like, going to hell you can use money and you can enjoy too. So what is the benefit of me doing good in this world and avoid being a bad person in this world? I kept on questioning until the moment where they raise their voice and say, "Enough, done, don't ask." Okay, I stop asking, not because I'm satisfied with the answer, but because I don't want to be the next one in the coffin. Because when they raise their voice, I know okay, they are not ready to answer. Fine. I continued to practice as a Buddhist, but deep in my heart I have a question. But of course the more I asked, I didn't get most of the answer.

As a Chinese, you know Chinese we worship Chinese gods that look like Chinese, look like us. Even the color of the beard, the eyes, the size of the eyes, look like us. And there's a conversation that I have with my friend before I became Muslim is that, I ask him, "Who is this? Is he a God? When he become God?" The statue that they worship. Out of respect I ask in a proper manner. Then he say, "He is not God when he is alive. After he die then only he become God." Then I was like, "Okay, meaning that when he was alive, he didn't know that he is God, so after he die then he become God.

Then who promote him to become God?" But then I have another question, and I ask, "In that case, why don't you guys worship those who promoted him to become God? Because it seems like they have the power to promote someone to become God." I say, "For an analogy, if I can hire you and fire you as the CEO of my company, who have more power? Obviously it's me. So why don't you guys worship them?" And they were like, "We never thought about that." But doesn't matter, it's okay. And I had a very tough time in school. I was bullied, I had little to no friends. I was very shy and had little self-confidence.

I then turned to sports and music, really helped me to gain more respect and to be taken more seriously. I then turned to magic. So I performed magic tricks, yes, I tried to become a professional magician, or a performer. I was performing in hotels, in restaurants, in bars, in clubs, but the one thing that changed my mind was, again like when I was rapping, when I was playing football, I was just chasing people's recognition and their approval. I realized there has to be more to life than just these superficial things, and then I started to dig into religion. I was lost, because I always thought about that where I'm from.

Like the school teach me every knowledge about the science, math, but they don't teach me where I'm from, and who am I, and where I'm going, and after I die where I go. They don't suggest me the way I have to go. I was so empty and just so lost. So I always felt like, who am I? From being a very confident American girl, it's like I could feel the depression like rising, I just felt this darkness rising inside of me and I thought, I need spirituality now. So I start to ask God, I don't know who is the real God now. I'm looking for You. So guide me, God. So the only thing I say I must pray to God who know that I'm looking for Him.

I don't use name anymore, I said, "Oh God, You know I'm looking for You." Then suddenly my feeling to want to read the Quran, getting very strong. So I found the Quran in Japanese language. That is the main source of information about Islam. So I found it and start reading the Japanese translation. Then I found very like unique concepts of Akhirah (hereafter), that is life after death, and Tawheed (oneness of God), the oneness of God, the Creator. So that concepts is very new to me, I've never think about in my life. Because like in Japan people are so busy, how can people have time to think about life after death? Even one second they never think in their daily life. You know?

And about the concept of God also. Like in Japan it's very famous like a polytheistic society, polytheism, and there is no definition of God in Japan. Nobody teach you who God is. And then that's why I just found a very definition of God in the Quran. Clearly mentioned, like Surah Ikhlas (chapter of sincerity) for example. A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim (I seek refuge in Allah from the Satan), "Qul huwallahu ahad" Say He is Allah, one and only, right? It's very simple. But that is kind of surprise for me. Oh, there is a definition of God. I asked him like how he conceptualizes his God. Like what is God? Is God the universe? Is God a guy with a beard in a cloud?

Like to you what is God? And his response to me was like, well actually he just, he said, "Let me show you something." And he showed me Surah Ikhlas (chapter of sincerity). He said, "This is what we believe." And I said, "Okay. Is it the universe?" "No, it's like nothing you can imagine. There is, there is nothing, you know, equal to Him." And it's not like a, has nothing to do with the Christian belief? Like, "No, He wasn't, He wasn't created, you know, He didn't give birth to anything, nothing gave birth to Him." Again, it's just obvious. I was like, "Yeah, okay." You know, I actually realized that I already believed in God.

And looking back on my life, I think I realized that I believed in God my entire life, but it was something that I was pushing away for whatever reason. So I asked my friend, who is a Muslim. I asked, "Bro, me as a Chinese last time, you know, we have gods, statue in front, we worship that. So for you as a Muslim what do you worship?" And he just replied, "Well, we worship God." And I was looking left and right. "Where is your God? I cannot see your God." And then he said, "No. God exists, but you can never see Him." I said, "What do you mean? Seeing is believing. If I cannot see something, why should I believe in something?" Then he give me an analogy. And he say, "Put it this way.

Do you feel the wind?" I said, "Yeah, I feel it." "Can you see the wind?" I said, "Come on bro, look at the tree, look at the branch, look at, you know, the leaf, it's moving. That's the wind! What other evidence do you need?" And then he say, "Nope. Those things that you see moving is not the wind itself. It's the effect of the wind. It's not the wind itself." And then I hold myself, and I start to think. "Okay, okay, sounds make sense." But still he haven't answer my question, who is the God? And then he continue, and he say, "Now, just imagine that is the wind that God created. Yet you cannot see the wind, but you can see the effect of the wind and you can feel the blowing of the wind.

Then what make you think you can see the God that created the wind? You feel His existence, you feel His existence, and you can see the effect in terms of the creations in this world." But deep in my heart I was like, hmm, this God sounds logical. I think Creator, Allah azzawajal (the Mighty and Majestic), created everything and He knows everything, it's a very like a puzzle, I understood from zero to everything, even I don't know, He knows everything. And this is very true, and I, yeah, decided, okay, being a Muslim also.

Even I cannot see the Allah azzawajal (the Mighty and Majestic), but I can realize from our body structure, and even the world, the sky, and the rain, or autumn, the four seasons in Japan also. Many Koreans think Islam is a little bit dangerous. But I felt so many good things about Islam. So I talked about that, I shared my feeling in YouTube. And like suddenly many people get interested about this, so many people.

So many people advise me about Islam, like, "Oh if you want to learn Islam, then maybe you can ask to him, ask to imam (prayer leader)." "You can find mosque in Korea, and maybe you can practice how to pray, or you can join how to fast in Ramadan (the ninth month of the Islamic calendar)." So I just slowly practiced. Like I don't know why, but I just, I was like just coming to very naturally. I just go to the, I visit the mosque, pray in the mosque, and I fast in Ramadan, and, and through the process, I get, my belief have a little bit developed. When I enter in the mosque, I feel like it's a small world.

Because many nationalities coming in the same place, and the beliefs of one religion, and I feel amazing I feel. No temple never happen, no shrine, not even the church in Japan never happen. Many country, more than 20 nationalities gathering and pray together in one line. I feel really, really true and it's a peaceful religion. Then I found that Islam seems to be very practical, well-balanced. Of course the do is there, the don't is there. But the don't is minimum. You pray, but in the same time you must work hard. You know you can have a family, you can do mu'amalat (transactions), munakahat (marriage), everything is well-balanced.

And the beauty when I learn more and more is that, Islam is so perfect. Explain to you from A to Z, the SOP, everything is ready. You don't have to create your own way anymore. You know, you just follow. And then, how to eat, how to drink, how to talk, how to work, everything is so detailed, Allahu Akbar Walillahil Hamd (God is greatest and praises to Him). That I never experienced in any other religion.

The Quran mentions many scientific miracles which were really impressive because at that time, let's say 1400 years ago, someone in the desert who was illiterate, how could he have known all of these scientific facts which people only discovered like recently in the last 100 years or 150 years. So that's also something that really impressed me. It's so obvious, it's hard to not see. It solves all the problems. And it's simple. Then he asked me, "Well, what's stopping you?" So I told him, I feel like I need to learn Arabic, and I, I feel like I need to read the Quran, I feel like I need to learn how to pray. I feel like at least I should know some Hadith (saying of the Prophet).

And he's looking at me, and he asked, I remember the question, and I think he finally, or maybe he already knew, he detected the perfectionism. He kind of detected that, and he was like, "Well, how long do you think you're going to take to do that? 20 years? 30 years? 50 years?" And then, and I, I don't know if this is going to sound silly to you and the viewers or not, but the thing that made me cry, and you have to remember I've already been on this research study for like 3 months or something like that, and, and yeah. And I wanted the knowledge so bad, I wanted to understand so that I could be a good Muslim.

So he said, "Aliza, don't you know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala (glorious and exalted is He) only reserves that level of knowledge that you want for a Muslim?" So now this went inside of me, and hit my heart, and made it hurt. But by that time I was crying, because I was hurt that I couldn't be, I couldn't be perfect. But I understood, in that moment I understood. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala put into my heart, number one to think, you know, "Aliza, if Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has taken you on this journey and has already shown you that you've been Muslim your whole life, don't you think that He's going to help you with your father?

Don't you think that He's going to help you with your family?" So that one was eased. After the Ramadan, I do have belief, I do believe in God. But I, I didn't think about the shahada (Islamic declaration of faith) because I thought even if I have belief, I can't be Muslim because I live in Korea, I'm Korean, the lifestyle is too, so different. I think it's not easy. But if you don't be a Muslim, then you can't be any benefits from this, anything.

But even if you do shahada (Islamic declaration of faith), and if you be a Muslim, and after that you can change yourself slow, step by step, and then God will reward you more and more, because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, our God is merciful and forgiveness and He's the greatest. So He will help you. So if you be a Muslim, at first. Because like you don't know like, you don't, I can, I can die right now like, like there's a heart attack or I don't know, traffic accident, I don't know, I can die right today or nobody knows our future.

Yeah so I, so I thought like that way, so, "Oh I, I think I should be a Muslim then." When I find the masjid (mosque), and there was an imam (prayer leader) in Korea. So I do shahada (Islamic declaration of faith) in there, and everyone in that place congratulations and welcome to me and welcome to Islam, and I felt like, "Oh you, you know that, like when I do shahada, every sins, every past sins are gone, and you become a new, new person, new like a born baby." So I felt like, "Oh, this is really amazing, and, like happiness, I, I can't describe my feelings at that time. It was, it was really amazing." And then after shahada, at that time like a Zuhr (afternoon prayer) time.

So after wudu (Islamic ablution), I pray the Zuhr (afternoon prayer). When I took sajdah (prostration) for the first time in my life, I feel, it's amazing. How was your families' and friends' reaction of your becoming Muslim? I told her, "Mom, when I come back, I still want to become Muslim." And then there that day, during that time, she's just a long silent. When a long silent, then eventually she answer. "Up to you, but bear in mind, don't play with religion, be serious, okay?" I was like, "Mom, I'm serious." He goes, "Okay then you are not my son anymore." So that was very shocking statement. Did they any of them embrace Islam after you? Still? Unfortunately not.

My father who passed away, although his last time before dying, he even told me that if I start living with you, I will be ready to embrace Islam something but my you know family circumstance didn't allow that. Then my father asked me one question, asked me, "Why do you have beard?" Beard, you know. So that is a very interesting question. It's related with Islam. And that was a very -- question I was probably waiting. Which means I do not directly answer that question but rather I should say that, "In order to understand your question or answer to your question more, I need to explain or you should understand the basics of Islam.

So do you have ten minutes?" So my father said, "Okay." So which means I have now time to talk about Islam. Just even for ten minutes. Alhamdulillah (all praise is due to Allah). Before he disliked even few -- few minutes, you know, he cannot bear. But now I have ten minutes. Alhamdulillah (all praise is due to Allah). Then I -- I have to talk, what am I supposed to talk? So we have GORAP method, you know, the existence of God, oneness of God, and revelation and prophethood. This essential part. So I have already trained, so I just talk, you know, in Japanese, in easy Japanese. Then you know, they're listening, including my mother, listening.

So then after that, my father eventually asked me, "What do you want?" Finally, just he said, "What do you want?" So that time my -- my wife just listening, just next to me, he felt, "Oh, something happened," you know? So she said, "I want you to come together to enter Jannah (heaven)." This is what my wife -- my wife said. So then how, how, right? So that's why then I said, "Can you recite Shahada (declaration of faith)?" You know, because that the GORAP is all about Shahada (declaration of faith). Explaining there is no worthy of worship but Allah, and then Muhammad (peace be upon him) is a messenger of Allah. That is the message.

So I have already explained, and then they somehow understood it. So only thing left is just to confess it or testify it. So that's why, "What I want? I want you to testify. What just I explained." So they just, my father, my mother look at each other, and then, "Okay." So as just a survival technique I guess. I mean I was just trying to hide it as best I could. I didn't pray in front of people. I... if I was fasting I didn't tell people I was fasting. I would just make like excuses, like, "I've got a doctor's appointment after this," or "I -- I have to keep like an empty stomach," or I'd just pretend to drink something and not actually drink it.

For a long time I think it was just very hidden. I thought that with my wife, I would just make small changes and eventually if I just became a better person or she saw family life getting better, maybe you know she would ask me like, "Oh hey why are you such an awesome husband now?" Like what happened? That didn't happen though. So every little small change I had to introduce very, very carefully. For example, praying. Waking up for Fajr (dawn prayer). How quiet could I be? Like and not and so even now, it's kind of funny, like people laugh. Like when my alarm goes off, I'm trained so like I can jump up so fast. I can turn off the alarm before the first beep finishes.

So like -- like -- like if it goes "beep beep beep beep" I can be like "bee-" and like get it. When my wife started catching on that I was Muslim and I was fasting because of Islam and I was not drinking because of Islam. And I was asking her not to cook with pork anymore because of Islam. She became very anti-Islam. She started studying Islam to find things to make me not be Muslim anymore. So again things were going very bad. It was getting to the point where we were actually talking about separating. Obviously I didn't want to.

And she said, "Fine, we don't have to separate, but like you can just go live in a different place and you can live in a different room, get a different apartment, and you can be Muslim there. I don't care officially legally we can be married. You can come see the kids on weekends and stuff, but you just -- just go be Muslim somewhere else." "Leave us out of it. Like you're making life difficult for us." It was getting bad and we were just fighting all the time. I remember coming home one night, and we live on the second floor. And I got to the bottom of the stairs outside of my apartment, and I didn't have enough energy to step up to the first step.

And I -- I stood in front of the staircase, and I was just so tired. I was so tired of fighting. I was so tired of defending you know my beliefs. I was so tired of people telling me to shave my face. I was so tired of -- of so many things. And I just stood there for and for the first time turned to Allah, and I said, like, "I -- I can't do this anymore." "Like so please whatever is best for me. I don't you know if it's -- if it's with my wife, please make this work. If it's not, then please just you know I'm asking for something better. But I can't do this anymore. Like I'm just so tired." Right then it was very, very early in Corona. And very early on, I got Corona.

And so you know I was locked in a room. I had to lock myself in a room for a while, and uh you know we didn't know what was happening. But I started to get better. But as I started to get better, my wife got sick. My fever wouldn't go down, I kept coughing, I couldn't taste or smell anything, and since people around me were scared, I had to stay isolated. It felt like I had caught some strange, incomprehensible disease. So I thought, "If this goes on, maybe I'll really die, and then I won't be able to see Shige-san again, or my children anymore." And she's not getting better. Okay well it's -- it's going on like two weeks now and she's getting worse and her cough is getting worse.

And it's going on three weeks and it's like, "Okay well, yeah okay this isn't -- this isn't good." And then from my perspective, I was worried, you know her oxygen levels were still like acceptable so I wasn't like super worried, but I was concerned. If I was really going to die, I had been saying I didn't want to be Muslim, I didn't want to take my shahadah, but I didn't have time for games anymore. So I asked for a shahada. And she looked at me and she says like, "Yeah like if I -- if I die, I don't want to go somewhere different than you and the kids.

If I die I want to go to the same place as you guys." Because I could not do anything for eight years with the amount of hardship that was in that relationship. And all I had to do is just give up and say "Ya Allah (O Allah), please take this off of my hands. I can't do this." And you know two weeks later. From my perspective it was just so sudden and it took me a really long time to process that she became Muslim. And you know I'd wake up at like Fajr (dawn prayer) and like I was unsure if I should wake her up or not. I'm like, like, "Should I -- should I let her sleep? Is she going to be mad if I wake her up? Is she really Muslim?

Is it, you know?" But I would you know I would like be like this and then she'd open her eyes and she'd be like, "Fajr (dawn prayer)?" I'm like, "Yes." So we pray. What differences do you see in yourself before Islam and after Islam? Yeah, the difference uh in just one word is stability of the heart or mind. What Allah plans everything good, but we don't know the end result. Because here looking at the picture, but human being we can see only pixel. So from pixel perspective maybe it's something bad happens. But actually after we look back, you know this event, incident, after ten years, fifteen years, we realize the real meaning why it happens.

So eventually what we can get is stability of the heart. I am now the Imam (Islamic leader) in the Kobe Muslim Mosque, same mosque which I took Shahada 10 years ago, 2014, and September. And exactly past 10 years, 2024, September, same month, I started to work as an Imam by Allah's Azza wa Jal's will. When Islam came into my life, first of course I aligned with the values. And then I started to align with the look. And what I found was that with the hijab (head covering), people now heard my voice. People now heard my intelligence, which I was craving so much. Because I couldn't share it. I couldn't share my voice, I couldn't share my opinions, I couldn't share anything. And it was freedom.

It was freedom from that enslavement. So Islam is freedom. Freedom of the mind, freedom of the voice, freedom to choose who sees what, what I wear. Mashallah (God has willed it). When you are putting on that makeup and that hair and that those clothes and all those things, if you really think about it, you're outsourcing your happiness to those other people. You're drawing on their validation and their acceptance of you so that you'll be happy. It's on them. Your value is with them. And what about the fame? Is the fame really the thing that's going to satisfy you? The fame is also external. The fame is also coming from other people.

You can't be famous unless other people are the ones telling you that you're so great. So is that really something that you want for yourself? Maybe it is, but there's other ways to be famous. You can be famous with the angels. Okay, but that's you can't see it. You can also be famous because of your goodness. You can be famous because of your… how you know righteous you are. If you're telling me that you can be confident in yourself in whatever and looking however, and you can still project your voice, you can still be interesting, you can still be proud of yourself. Okay maybe I'll believe you that. Yeah.

Find your self-worth within yourself and study Islam because Islam is the thing that is going to give you back your honor. Islam is the thing that is going to give your voice back, is going to give your dignity back, is going to make you realize that you're more than clothes, more than hair. Search within yourself and keep looking for those answers and don't stop until you have them. After she became Muslim, she had her first Ramadan (Islamic holy month of fasting) with me. My Ramadan is very, very sad -- it's a very sad lonely event. It's a very-- it's just difficult and hard and uh you're totally alone.

You break fast by yourself and you fast by yourself and it's like it's not -- it's not fun. On the other hand she's like on Instagram and she's seeing all these posts of people having these like really amazing spreads for like iftar (breaking of fast) parties and, you know, people like really enjoying Ramadan as like a festival. And -- and she's so mad at me. She's like, "No! I want Ramadan like this! Like this Ramadan is terrible! Like --" And so since that time, basically she's been working with uh you know JDC.

We got involved with, here we are right now we're at the Japan Muslim Association, JMA, we're part you know we do, we help out with like events around the Tokyo area with here with JDC, with our local masjid (mosque) in Yokohama. I wanted to do something for Koreans too. Korean culture is a lot of anger and depression and I think the one of the biggest reasons is they don't have belief. They don't have belief. Because there is no hope. When they are filled with depression, no one help you. You can't -- you can't find anyone rely on. The suicide rate is the highest, Korea is the highest suicide level. For example I'm Muslim. If there's a good thing, I gratitude, this is because of God.

So I gratitude. And if there is a bad thing, I also can think this is just plan of God, this is just trial, I can overcome it. If you don't believe God, if you're atheist, if you don't believe anything, then there's a good thing, you think, "Ah I'm successful because of me." So they can be really arrogant. And if there's a hard thing, they think like, "Ah why world is like this?" They blame themselves and they get the depression. And the depression is high, then they suicide or something. I think in Korean society really they need the belief, I think. Many of the parents of people like me reverts or converts are still not Muslims so please pray for us.

And so I would recommend you to read the Quran, and if you are of a different faith, if you are Christian or Hindu or Jew, uh read your own scriptures and do a comparative study with Islam. In the Bible or in the Bhagavad Gita, in the Vedas, in the Puranas, which are pointing to an Arabian prophet, and the last and final messenger who will come for all the people, all of humanity, and he will bring the true message of monotheism. And Inshallah (if Allah wills) this video will help you find the truth and I wish you the best. Thank you very much. Have you also converted to Islam but don't know where to start?

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