British Actress Inspired by Prophet's Life I embraced Islam after graduating from Cambridge.

Prior to that I was a skeptica l Catholic; a believer in God but with a mistrust of organized religion.The Quran was pivotal for me. I first tried to approach it in anger, as part of an attemp t to prove my Muslim friend wrong. Later I began reading it with a more open min d. The opening of Al Fatiha, with its address to the whole of mankind, psychologica lly stopped me in my tracks. It spoke of previous scriptures in a way which I bo th recognized, but also differed. It clarified many of the doubts I had about Ch ristianity. It made me an adult as I suddenly realized that my destiny and my ac tions had consequences for which I alone would now be held responsible. In a world governed by relativism, it outlined objective moral truths and the fo undation of morality. As someone whod always had a keen interest in philosophy, t he Quran felt like the culmination of all of this philosophical cogitation. It co mbined Kant, Hume, Sartre and Aristotle. It somehow managed to address and answe r the deep philosophical questions posed over centuries of human existence and a nswer its most fundamental one, why are we here? In the Prophet Muhammad, I recognized a man who was tasked with a momentous miss ion, like his predecessors, Moses, Jesus and Abraham. I had to pick apart much o f the Orientalist libel surrounding him in order to obtain accurate information, since the historical relativism which people apply to some degree when studying other historical figures, is often completely absent, in what is a clear attemp t to disparage his person. I think many of my close friends thought I was going through another phase and w ould emerge from the other side unscathed, not realizing that the change was muc h more profound. Some of my closest friends did their best to support me and und erstand my decisions. I have remained very close to some of my childhood friends and through them I recognize the universality of the Divine message, as Gods val ues shine through in the good deeds any human does, Muslim or not. I have never seen my conversion as a reaction against, or an opposition to my cult ure. In contrast, it was a validation of what Ive always thought was praiseworthy , whilst being a guidance for areas in need of improvement. I also found many mo sques not particularly welcoming and found the rules and protocol confusing and stressful. I did not immediately identify with the Muslim community. I found man y things odd and many attitudes perplexing. The attention given to the outward o ver the inward continues to trouble me deeply. Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) said: Forgive him who wrongs you. Join him who cuts you off. Do good to him who does evil to you and speak the truth even if it be against yourself. There is a need for a confident, articulate British Muslim identity which can co ntribute to the discussions of our time. Islam is not meant to be an alien relig ion, we shouldnt feel like weve lost all trace of ourselves. Islam is a validation of the good in us and a means to rectify the bad. Islam is about always having balance and I think the Prophet s (peace be upon him) message was fundamentally about having balance and equilibrium in all that we do. The Prophet s message was always that you repel bad with good that you always re spond to evil with good and always remember that God loves justice so even when people are committing serious injustices against you, you have a moral responsib ility and a moral obligation in front of God to always uphold justice and never yourself transgress those limits.

Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) said: Forgive him who wrongs you. Join him who cuts you off. Do good to him who does evil to you and speak the truth even if it be against yourself. Islam s beauty really becomes to its own when it becomes manifest and it becomes manifest when you make it into a tool for the betterment of society, human kind and the world. The ideal from an Islamic perspective is for ethics to become lived ethics, to b ecome an applied body of values and not remain unfortunately as it often is cloi stered in the mosque of somewhere which is some more divorced from reality. Myriam Francois-Cerrah became popular when she was a child for acting in the 90 s hit film Sense and Sensibility. Now she is gaining more popularity for being one of a growing number of educated middle class female converts to Islam in Br itain. She has recently contributed to a series of videos on Islam produced in the UK t itled (Inspired by Muhammad). ================ Ya Haq ===================== Kindly read my book Tadhkiral Awliya on thebelow web site. http://www.calameo.com...aa925 ========================== Mohammed Abdul Hafeez, B.Com. Hyderabad, India. Email : atherhafeez@yahoo.com ================================ Aqlim Hind ke hain Qutub Mere sarkar Syed Shah Afzal Biabani ===============================