From Punk Life To Muslim Life

Originally born in Zimbabwe, Mark (@Think Revert)  had a regular Christian upbringing but could never quite get his head around the idea of worshipping a human being. His parents separated and he moved to England with his mother. During this time he becomes even more despondent from the Christian religion and leaves it altogether. Mark thinks his only option after this is living a hedonistic lifestyle (chasing a life of pleasure).Mark befriends his flatmate, Kamran, at University where the hedonism continues, however, his pursuit of pleasure was stifled via a near death encounter with alcohol poisoning. This experience further exacerbated the spiritual gap in his life and it was around this time his flatmate Kamran opened up to Mark about researching further into Islam. Mark's initial reaction was stupefaction but with each passing day as they dug deeper and deeper into their research their true purpose of life was being unveiled to them. There was only so much research they could achieve on their own and reached out to the only person who  — ​their non-Muslim narcotics dealer — who was acquainted with the Muslims in the area. He gave them directions to the local mosque which was only a stone’s throw away from where they lived.You’ll need to watch this episode to learn how Mark’s journey to Islam unravels and he also shares insights of what he’s learnt on his decade long journey which other New Muslims can learn from.Support the show

Sam Burr is a polyglot who's learnt five languages but it was specifically the Arabic language that had the biggest impact on the way he lives his life now.Support the show

Uthman Mahmood began his journey in the Dawah under a decade ago when iERA were running a Dawah campaign during the London 2012 Olympics and he wanted to get involved. From then on he was swept away in the fervour for the Dawah and went on Dawah trips all of the UK training others on how to share Islam or explaining Islam to non-Muslims within city centres. However, a nerve was struck when one of the attendees referred to him as an Ustadh and from then on he knew he was punching above his weight (something else which speaks about on this episode and how he overcame the struggles of being overweight).Support the show

Sakina Bint Erik is a Canadian revert who accepted Islam in the mid-'90s. From a young age, she realised that there were inconsistencies within her Christian faith and sought out the truth as she always believed that there was a God. She initially lived in a non-Muslim area but when she moved to a more diverse city - Ottawa - she befriended a group of Muslim sisters from all different walks of life. This bond of sisterhood resonated with Sakina.Support the show

In this episode, Yusha Evans lays out a vision of where the Dawah is moving (yes, in the gaming scene) and how the Muslim Gamers League is making waves. Learn more on https://muslimgamersleague.comSupport the show

Nadeem Ashraf speaks about how Muslims should get involved in the Dawah, learning from his mistakes and the common pitfalls when sharing Islam with non-Muslims.Support the show

Hamza Myatt is a prolific polemicist and revert to Islam. He is best known for his theological debates in Speakers Corner but not much is known about this Welsh man of his life prior to Islam and how he was looking into the religion around the time of the tragic events of 9/11.Support the show

Over the years you've probably recognised Esa Khan filling your Facebook feed within exotic locations sharing the message of Islam with native tribes. Esa has been at iERA on and off for several years but Dawah was an intuition from an early age for him. Learn about Esa's Dawah journey from his beginnings in Bangladesh to highlighting inconsistencies within atheism with his thought-provoking videos and his digital entrepreneurship now.Support the show

Ben took his shahadah 9 years ago and for Chris, it's only been 9 months. In this episode, they compare and contrast their journeys; post #shahadah, dynamics of dealing with all sorts of ‘New Muslim Mentors’ and losing non-Muslim friends.Support the show

In this episode of ReRooted Ben Iqra discusses his interesting journey towards Islam and his former life as a punk.Support the show