Tom Facchine – Not Ready To Pray or Fast, Should I Take My Shahada

			Somebody asked, Should I convert to Islam if I feel kind of convinced about it, but I'm not
necessarily ready to pray five times a day or fast, and Allah knows best, Allah knows best. But my
personal opinion is that yes, you should know yes, you should. Because first of all I can I, when I
tell people about Islam, I compare it to a ladder, a ladder that has many rungs, right? And the
very, very, very bottom rung is to believe that there is no God except Allah, and that the Prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alayhi salam is his last messenger. Okay? If you believe in those things, right,
then that gets you on the ladder, you know, on the very, very, very last rung. And then there's all
		

			these rungs, countless rungs above that, for whoever wants to climb, and you know, and even some
that you should climb, right, you shouldn't just stay at that last rung. But if you're at that last
rung, you're on or at least you're on the ladder. The other consideration is that if you take the
shahada, and you take kind of your initial step, Allah subhanaw taala, can continue to guide you
further after that. And this is something that shakes out volition Katie told us when we were in
Medina, and he actually brought up a story
		

			that might may or not be true, I've never actually found the source for it. But he, he told us a
story about a similar situation that happened at the time of Oman, where there was somebody who
basically wanted to accept Islam, but not for the best reasons. Basically, they wanted some sort of
political gain or political favor, from the Khalifa at the time, and Amara delanco. And they
basically said,
		

			I'll accept Islam. If I can become the leader of the Muslims, after you die, I can become the
Khalifa. And so Sheikh Abdullah told told us a story. And if anybody watching can find a source for
the story, I will I've been searching for years for a source for the story, I haven't found it. So
take it with a grain of salt. But Sheikh Abdullah would tell us that
		

			the people who are with this individual wrote a letter back to Omar asking what to do? Should we
tell him? Okay, yes, so that he becomes a Muslim, he was a powerful guy locally? Or should we say,
No, this is ridiculous. We're not going to give you the PDF after Oman. Like you got to basically,
you know, fall online and submit first before you submit. And so supposedly almost sends a letter
back saying that tell him he can have it, that it's better that he enters into a slam, and then
Eliza gel can guide him further from there. Right. So people and whether this actual story, and
actually that by the time the letter had reached this individual, apparently he had passed away
		

			already.
		

			That's how it was told to me, regardless of whether the actual events of the story are completely
true or not. There's a principle in here that that is true, that we have sources for from other
places in our our faith, which is that yes, if you take one step towards Allah, that he takes to
towards you. And if you walk towards Allah, then he comes running to you in the sense that people
aren't static, right? So sometimes we get scared, because we see somebody in a certain situation.
And we're like, Well, if this person continues like this for the rest of their lives, then they're
headed for trouble. And we don't recognize or appreciate the fact that this person is trending in a
		

			good way, and that they're not static, and that they're going to continue to change. And so
sometimes in data, you have to be patient with somebody, even if they're coming crazy. Or from a
particular, you know, maybe they have some problematic aspects, but they're trending in the right
direction. And so sometimes you have to be patient with those things. Because you you trust that a
loss bounds audit is able to guide them further after they've got they take care of the big things.
There's priorities and Tao. Right and priority number one is getting someone to accept Islam become
a Muslim, as the Prophet alayhi salatu. Salam did with tried to do with his uncle, I will tell him,
		

			right, he was what was the the line that he would say to I will tell him on his deathbed, at least
I'll have an argument for you with Allah subhanaw taala. Right. If you just take the shahada forget
the Salah, forget the psalm, forget all the other pillars, right? If you take the shahada, at least
I can have, I can have an argument for you, right. And so this is the sort of a sort of similar
situation, if you take the shahada, you step in the doorway, you get on that first rung of the
ladder, you know, at least you have an argument, there's an argument in your favor. You won't be in
the afterlife, someone who's like, well, I've recognized that Islam was true, but I decided not to
		

			that's a scary situation of being compared to somebody who even if you died tomorrow, and I took my
Shahada, but I wasn't even intending to pray or it's a fast, right. If you're going to compare
between those two situations, definitely the second situation is preferable to the first and, you
know, hopefully, hopefully, that Allah continues to guide that person from there. And they get to
the point where they understand the importance of submitting to not just the initial call to bear
witness about the reality of Allah's one.
		

			pneus an exclusive right to worship and the finality of the messenger Allah He set out to surround
but also to the content of the guidance that was sent