Why Islam is my choice — Page 57
57 ‘Al ī Murtaz ā How I Accepted Isl ā m My name is ‘Al ī Murtaz ā. I was born on May 18, 1952. I live in Brooklyn, New York. I am married and have three children, one girl and two boys. I was born and raised in Eagle Rock, North Carolina, which is in Wake County. At the time of birth, my parents had named me Leonard L. Jones. My family at Eagle Rock was a typical African American Southern Baptist family, meaning you went to church on Sundays from morning until noon. Then the regular service carried over to mid afternoon until 1:30 or 2:00 PM, depending on if the preacher was long winded or not. Religion was always a major part of my life, as the women in my family saw to that. There were prayer meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday night, Bible class on Friday night and church on Sunday. It was during my younger years in North Carolina that I started to question the concept of the divinity of Christ. I left Eagle Rock, N. C. , when I was fourteen years old and went to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to live with my mother. I stayed there until 1972, the year I joined the United States Navy. While I was in the navy, my mother passed away. I decided to settle in New York after my military tour was over. When I got to New York, I was advised by my mother’s best friend to look up her son, Akbar Musafiri Tshaka, to help me get settled. So, in the summer of 1975, I met Akbar and was immediately impressed with his name and his looks, or I