Ashraf Schneider – From Christian to Muslim

			Bismillah Ar Rahman AR Rahim. It is always such a great honor to meet everybody here and to come to
this class in particular. Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
		

			Peace, blessings and mercy upon you all.
		

			In order for me to share my message today, I think it is appropriate again, to just give a brief
introduction as to who I am, where I come from, and what my reversion story is, because it is
clinical to the message I want to leave with you.
		

			I was born and raised in a Christian family. My mother, beautiful singer, and my father, the pastor
of our church, from a very young age have been nurtured by the names of the great prophets from
Abraham and his sons, Noah, Punisher, and Moses with his remarkable courage to lead his people to
safety. As I reached my mid teens, I was met with a burning desire to follow my father's footsteps,
to become a religious leader. And thus, I dedicated myself to this cause, and soon found the
platform upon which I could share my passion for God. And what I then believed is untainted
revelation.
		

			As I reached my early 20s, or farmers offered a position of leadership at my church. However, as my
independence, career and religious freedom to cold, I started asking questions which were often left
on answered by my religious leaders. It was during this time that my mother had found a copy of the
Quran, due to a business relationship that had led her to this revelation. Thus, I questioned her
quest for additional knowledge. And I started to debate with her with love and compassion that I
have. She is my mommy, we often had beated debates regarding Islam. And I did not fully understood
why she wanted to go on this quest. And so I realized that my desire to follow my father's footsteps
		

			was starting to wither apart, that I should reevaluate who I want to be in life, and what I want to
become.
		

			And so I decided to go overseas to work for Royal Caribbean cruises abroad. It was at the airport,
when I was about to leave for my flight, that my mom helped me to close, embracing hug.
		

			And she prayed a prayer to a new God named Allah, which I will never forget.
		

			She held me close. And she played this Allah to send a big angel with me, to guide me, and to
protect me.
		

			And as I left my flights, and I landed upon Australia, and I boarded my ship, I opened my bag, I
realized that my mom had left with more than just to pray.
		

			She had left me with a copy of the Quran.
		

			And on the very first page of this book, she wrote a little note, and she said, that if I wanted to
bait against Muslims one day, I need to understand the revelation, I need to understand the belief
structure, and I need to know where they come from.
		

			And so with the love that I have for my mommy, I dedicated myself to reading at least one page every
day. And seeing one page turned into two, two into three. And I found myself completing the Quran
from cover to cover.
		

			This was the point at which my battle began,
		

			where my heart and my soul in life was torn,
		

			separated countries between myself and everything that I held there.
		

			I felt lost. And yet I knew I was exactly where to be.
		

			I felt betrayed by my religious leaders that had guided me for so long. And yet I knew there was
still something that was guiding me.
		

			I felt like I did not really know God.
		

			But I knew he was right there beside me, to give me guidance.
		

			I've been completed the complete Quran, reading about all the prophets that I've internalized for so
long, and reading about the message of Jesus Christ within this revelation, something struck me
which was remarkable
		

			that all these things that I've now learned, is in correspondence with what we're what I've been
taught, and yet there is a difference. And so I went back to the Torah and the Gospel to start a
comparative study within the Quran.
		

			And what I discovered astonished me that there is more cohesion between these revelations than what
there is separation from the very core principle of Islam and in the Quran, that there is only one
God worthy of worship, echoed through the Torah and autonomy, chapter six, verse four, when Moses
peace be upon him says, Here is around the Lord our God, the Lord is one. This being confirmed by
Jesus Christ is what came before him and what was often in Mark chapter 12, verse 29, where it says
here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one
		

			as we find Furthermore, in the Torah, where it says that nothing in the heavens above the earth
beneath the waterline
		

			The earth will ever resemble God. But there's nothing like unto him, confirmed by Jesus Christ peace
be upon him as he stands before his followers and the Pharisees where he says that you have never
seen the shape of God. Neither have you ever heard his voice.
		

			It was as if I've been reading a new revelation. Now this is not where my journey and this is only
where it began, where I was able within my heart and within my soul to find and renew myself to make
the Kalima Lyla Illallah, Muhammad Rasulullah,
		

			that there is only one God worthy of worship, who has no partner nor equal, and that Muhammad peace
be upon him is his messenger. It was at this time that I realized that my mission is to work for
Allah, that he had guided me from childhood, in a religious home, which was from a Christian
background. And he had removed my complete Foundation, and he had to rebuild me as to who I am today
and where I stand.
		

			The organization I work with now in Dawa is called era and we work with, with with an approach in
Dawa, which is called the girl rap method. And inshallah, during the course of the next couple of
weeks when I'm invited again by Mallanna, I would like to take you through these steps, because
there's an easier approach to perform down, because we know that in ourselves is an obligation
placed upon us to perform now, Allah subhana wa Allah tells us in the Holy Quran in chapter number
16, verse 125, he says, invite all to the way of the Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching,
		

			and argue with him in ways that are best and most gracious.
		

			Look within yourself and ask yourself, when is the last time that you invited somebody towards the
deen of Allah? When is the last time you sat down with someone and ask them who is the God that you
believe? Please tell me more I want to know. But allow me to also share my belief with you so you
can understand where I come from.
		

			Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us the Holy Quran in chapter 41, verse 33, he says that, who is better
in speech, then he who invites towards Allah and God's righteous deeds, and says that I am of the
Muslims. Let us take this up and understand that this obligation that is placed upon our shoulders
is no easy task. But obligation is merely to plant a seed might it be to hold somebody close in an
embrace and to pray, pray with him? Might it be to plant a seed such as putting a Quran in
somebody's bag, at the end of the day, you never know what that seed might sprout, it might lead
them towards Allah and towards his Deen, as it did with me.
		

			within the organization, the first part of performing Dharma is to speak about the existence of God.
Now we know in our existence, we have numerous different molecules and things around us that have
come together to form certain things that we have in this life. For instance, if I were to pick up
the cell phone,
		

			and I were to tell you that this phone formed itself over millions and millions of years, due to the
fact that it's formed by carbon, it is formed by silver, nickel, it's a little bit traces of gold in
here. It is formed with lithium, the batteries that it holds. If I were to save this, sulfur
rationally formed itself, you would think that I'm crazy, because it is absolutely impossible. And
yet, if we look at our creation, just with something so simplistic, our most important sense our
eyes, if we take the eye and we look at the mechanics behind the eye, and its miraculous design,
there are some people in this world that can say that that must not come from a creator.
		

			But how can we say that? Because if a phone cannot form over a million years, how can we expect an
AI to form just out of habit?
		

			It cannot be. And if we go back to the very points of creation, we understand that every cause has
something that is putting it into motion. We know that Allah subhana wa Allah as he says, In surah
class in chapter 112 was wonderful, that he is uncreated, there is absolutely no return, and that
there's nothing like unto him.
		

			So we know that if every creative thing has a creator, then surely there must be a creator, that put
everything into motion. And as we have this phone, we know that it was created by something. And
therefore we know the due to that process that we must come from equator.
		

			During my time
		

			growing into this team, my belief in God was so stable, but there was still something that was
holding me back. And that was the concept of the Trinity.
		

			In the Trinity is believed that there is only one God, but that this God exists in three different
personalities, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It is believed that these three are one that
all three of these entities are co eternal.
		

			equal, and that all of them are all powerful, all knowing, and absolute, omnipresent. And that has
always been that always has been. However, through my comparative Religious Studies between the
Torah, the Gospels and the Quran, I found that I could no longer believe in this concept, but
there's only one Allah for numerous simple reasons. The very first is this creator of this being
that is believed to be the Trinity is to be omnipresent. And yet Jesus peace be upon him says that
he is a man. He asked his followers and he says that here and the man standing in front of you,
therefore he cannot be omnipresent, he cannot be everywhere at once he is bound by flesh. Now
		

			Christian missionaries would argue that nodes due to the fact that he's still bound by flesh, but
once he died, his spirit was lead free, and therefore he's immortal. However, is it not that we have
an immortal soul that was created by Allah subhanho wa Taala. So what is the difference between us
and him? He was a man.
		

			The second point is that this entity, all three, this part, these parts are all knowing.
		

			Jesus peace be upon him says in Matthew chapter 24, verse 36, he says, that of the final day in our
notice, no one, not the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Therefore, he did not
have all knowledge, he does not know when the final day would occur. As every prophet before him,
when they were asked that question, it was attached to their Prophethood, as Muhammad peace be upon
him was asked that very question by Angel Gabriel as he sat in front of him in the in the masjid,
that is the test. He was not all knowing, then therefore, how can he be co equal to the Father?
		

			The final test is that they are all powerful, the Father, the sun and the helicopters. And yet we
know that Jesus peace be upon him says in john chapter five, verse 30, out of my own self, I can do
nothing.
		

			As I hear, I judge and my judgment is just for seek not to please myself, but only him who had sent.
		

			Therefore it is illogical to believe that the Trinity can be one God, because Jesus peace be upon
him declares that he is subservient to his God, as he says that the one that is sent by his master
is subservient to the one that had sent.
		

			And finally, Jesus Christ peace be upon him makes it unambiguously here. In the book of john chapter
17, verse three,
		

			he says,
		

			This is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God and me whom you have sent.
		

			If Jesus peace be upon him, utters upon his lips, that there is only one true God and that's true
God had sent him. And the way to get to this true God is through him as a prophet, then how can we
believe that He is a God himself? We cannot. The concept of the Trinity is a flawed creation of man.
And it was only instituted in the year 325 in the Council of nicaea, by Roman Emperor named
Constantine, for the first 300 years after Jesus peace be upon him, the concept of CO equality
between the father and the son was non existent. There is not a single church father that writes
that Jesus peace be upon his co equal to the Father, it did not exist for the first 300 years, yet
		

			they work on mind, yes, but they will not be equal. They were taken into Unity as we would take into
Unity of profit and the rod, our Creator, our sustainer. Because we know that the way to get to our
Creator is to be following the footsteps of the prophets that were sent to us and are hungry like we
were given the pacing Prophet,
		

			Muhammad peace be upon him. And it was from that moment that I've internalized this lifestyle within
myself, that I had learned how to perform down and how to speak to people. Because all too often we
believe in ourselves that we need to be an Ahmadi that or Zakir Naik in order to perform down. That
is not the truth. Yeah, you have an example of a cell phone, to bring people to the creation of
Allah, to bring people to his concept to bring people to His Majesty and then this
		

			year, we have the concept of the Trinity that is a fallacy that did not exist for the first 300
years. And inshallah as we can complete this program that isn't gonna read the next points being the
revelation, and then the prophethood. We will discuss this in further detail, and inshallah we can
even go into every single one of these points and flesh that out, to allow you to go out there and
to invite people to the way of law and please sisters, I try and ask you now, as my mommy just took
one simple step of
		

			putting into random my back.
		

			Truly generalize that your footsteps and this is the truth. For me, gentle light in the footsteps of
Manami go out there, invite your family, love them, take care of them
		

			and enjoy
		

			Allah, Allah will grow that see that you place within there and
		

			I would like to give you an opportunity to ask any dollar related question anything that might have
happened in my past fits personal questions feel free. I'm not opposed to answering anything and
then you're more than welcome to Ask any related questions and I will try to answer to the best of
my ability inshallah chicken so much for this opportunity, as always Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi
wabarakatuh