Why Islam is my choice — Page 69
69 I was generally a good student in school. Until my early years in high school, I was an ‘A’ student. As time went by, I got influenced by bad company and gradually got involved in drinking alcohol. My friends were mostly people who indulged heavily in alcohol, drugs and other shameful activities such as I can not even mention here. In short, I used to hang out in the bars and the streets of the city of Dayton. Soon I became the one who used to drink the most alcohol out of all my friends. Naturally, this kind of activities affected my studies and my grades started to fall. After my graduation from the high school in 1967, I got an employment with the General Motors. They selected me to go to their engineering school. This was a great opportunity but I did not realize at that time. I had no interest left in any kind of studies because of my lifestyle. My lack of interest in the studies did not get me too far. I failed a couple of tests and was let go by the school. There was no significant change in my life for the next few years. Alcohol and drugs had become an addiction with me. Meanwhile I continued to work for General Motors. I had completed an apprenticeship program, as a result of which I was moved into a fairly well ‘A ṭā ul Jal ā l N ū rudd ī n