Janet
Rose
A Canadian
Teacher
Janet was born in Edmonton City, Canada where her family has been
residing for several generations.She described her brief
story to me as follows:
My family belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, so I
was educated in a Roman Catholic institution. In Catholicism I
often wondered how Jesus could be the son of God. The more I looked into
it, the more I got confused. Nobody had a clear-cut
answer to this question.
Ironically, the responder was more confused than the
questioner.
Shortly after finishing high school, I met Mr. Khaled,
a Pakistan citizen, in Edmonton. Since there was a
Canadian law that permitted marriages for immigration
purposes, Mr. Khaled married me in order to become a Canadian
citizen. After a few years of marriage, I became an expectant
mother. I wanted
to decide about the continuity of our marriage before the
coming of the child.
My husband was highly educated and had exquisite
manners. I was
surprised that he never compelled me to embrace Islam. He rather gave me
total freedom to raise the coming child as a Christian or as a
Muslim. Khaled’s
open-mindedness and exemplary behavior encouraged me to
educate myself about Islam. From these studies I
noticed that Islam was very similar to Christianity. Above all, I learned
that Jesus(pbuh) was not the son of God. He was a prominent
prophet of God.
This solved the riddle of my life. Hence, I embraced
Islam voluntarily and decided to continue my marriage with Mr.
Khaled for good.
I thank Almighty God for providing me with this
guidance. Soon
Allah gave us a daughter. Now I have two
daughters and two sons.
My husband imparted Islamic education to us daily. He used to tell us
Quranic stories using simple language which were very
beneficial to us.
It is quite common for there to be some friction
between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. However, when Khaled’s
mother came to us in Canada, I found her to be a very sincere
and loving person.
She demonstrated the proper Islamic behavior and
manners to me.
She raised my spirits very high by being an excellent
role model. I
concluded that if both the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law
follow the teachings of Islam, the conflicts between them will
not surface.
A while later, we moved to another town in Canada. I worked at an Islamic
school there as a kindergarten teacher and imparted elementary
Islamic teachings to young children. It was very beneficial
for me since it crystallized the Islamic teachings in my
mind. It was also
very rewarding to share with others what little I
knew.
After a few years we moved back to Edmonton City. We have established an
Islamic Information Center there in cooperation with a few
friends. It has
about three thousand books, along with many cassettes and
videos. It also
has free internet services for Islamic information. It is like a modern
library. Many
Muslims and non-Muslims visit it every day. We pray that Allah
may provide more guidance to mankind through this facility and
accept this humble effort from us. I would like to add
that my husband also transmits an Islamic TV program every
week. My youngest son very enthusiastically helps his father
in this project.
Finally, I honestly confess that after embracing Islam,
my life has become extremely peaceful. I am totally satisfied
with my life and wish to grow more in knowledge and
practice. I don’t
mind sharing my Islamic experiences with others. My e-mail is:
jsehbai@hotmail.com