Why Islam is my choice — Page 24
24 Jal ā ludd ī n ‘Abdul-Lateef How I Accepted Isl ā m? I was born in September of 1941 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. My family would be considered as an average, middle class, working family. There were seven of us growing in that household, six brothers and a sister, may God rest her soul in peace. My parents belonged to the Methodist sect of Christianity. My mother was, and still is to a great extent, a religious person. However, my father was not, and I do not recall him going to church that often in my early years, but later on, when I was about twelve, he also started to attend the Church. I grew up in an average American environment and spent much of my youth in a rather careless manner. Atlantic City was not the gambling town as it is today, but it was a very aggressive society. We had a mix of many different cultures. The city was a major summer resort. I first heard about Isl ā m from a follower of Elijah Mu ḥ ammad of the Nation of Isl ā m. His name was Columbus Wayland. He introduced me to some very abstract interpolations of Isl ā m. I didn’t hear much more about Isl ā m until much later in my life, when I had moved to New York. There I was re-acquainted with some of my old friends from New Jersey. One of them, Akbar Tshaka, who had turned to be a very religious person, started preaching me the teachings of Isl ā m. At that time I was not