SR AMINAH VANDERDRIFT

Victoria

I was also known as Aminah Abdullah. I was raised as a strict Roman Catholic. My father is Dutch and my mother is an Australian. I was educated at St. John Vianney's Catholic School in Springvale and went to Killester College for Ladies in Springvale. At a young age I had a strong belief in God and I also felt that Jesus (pbuh) was a Prophet and not God.

By the time I was 10, I was already a strong Christian girl and I noticed contradictions in Christian teachings together with the fact that there were three main issues that I found difficult to come to terms with. They are; 1. Each child is born with original sin, this concept didn't go hand in hand with the characteristic of a Merciful God. 2. The need for priesthood, we needed to go to confession every week, "0 Father, I have sinned, forgive me etc, etc." and if we told a lie, we will be given penance to go home and, for example to say 10 specified prayers and promise not to do it again. This was embarrassing for most of the girls at school because the priest always knew who we were by our voice and I used to say to my self in my prayers "0 God, Why can't I pray to You directly? Why can't I go to You to seek forgiveness? Why do I have to go to the priest and tell him all my problems." 3. The most difficult thing for anyone to understand is the concept of "Trinity". Even today I cannot comprehend it.

I came from a broken family and my parents are divorced. Since I was in the Roman Catholic religion, I was taught as a child that both my parents will be in hellfire forever because they were divorced. My education was about the fire and brimstone threat of disobeying God. It was very difficult for me to believe that God would create mankind and then once they were married, enforce a law on them that they should stay married forever for the rest of their lifetime even when obviously they were not suited and they will go to hell forever, if they broke up.

I started reading at the age 12 to 14, on Buddhism, Hinduism and other spritual paths by different groups in which I was very much interested. I became very involved with reincarnation, I was consciously looking for something to fill the void in my life. i knew that there was something missing.

I used to live near a cemetery. A crematorium in Springvale. It used to be our playground. You couldn't possibly visit or play on the graves over the years without reflecting that we are also going to be a skeleton buried beneath the soil and that's the reason for our existence. SubhanAllah, it's from Allah (swt) that I reflected on these things very seriously at a very young age. May be it's due to the fact that I have been brought up by my father and left alone a lot. He worked 2 jobs and my companion was to read. I was constantly searching but in the end I found everything was too alien compared to my Christian doctrine. I believed very much in prophets and in the revelations that they brought.

I also believed that another Prophet would come after Jesus. When I was 14, a number of us sat in college and used to ask about the trinity concept and explain to our teacher that it was very difficult for us to understand. We are constantly told to accept without asking. Our questions were quite persistent. Finally we were told that we would be excommunicated by the Church. I thought "How is that God has given us a mind and we can't use it freely?" By the time I was 16, I thought there was no answer to the missing link in my search.

I decided to travel overseas alone at 16. I came back 6 months later. I wanted to know what life was about - the meaning of our existence. I wanted to do something valuable, to contribute something to mankind. I travelled again when I was 19. I met Muslims everywhere I went, in Holland and U.K. I worked in a Muslim family restaurant in London during the oil crisis in 1974. Hundreds of people were put off work for a short period. I was one of them, I took advantage of this to travel again until the crisis was over.

I visited Egypt. As soon as I arrived at Cairo Airport I was hit by this enormous spiritual atmosphere. while I was waiting to be collected from the Airport, I heard the azan (Call to prayer). It was a sudden impact on me. It went to my inner core. My body started to shiver. I was fascinated by this beautiful sound and even today the azan has the same affect on me. I was there for six weeks and I started to ask the students questions on Islam.

They told me that they believed in all the previous prophets, the miraculous birth of Jesus (pbuh), that there is no original sin, there is no need for a mediator, that Jesus (pbuh) was a prophet and that there was another Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). I found that I had discovered all the missing pieces that I had been searching for. It just fitted like a glove. I thought I had been born in the wrong country and that I should have been born in a Muslim country.

I went back to London shortly afterwards and I did my shahadah to myself. It was between me and Allah (SWT). I wanted it to be official, so I went back to Egypt to Azhar in 1974 and said my shahadah in front of Muslim witnesses. I didn't become very active Islamically until some years later due to lack of Islamic English literature. The important thing for a Muslim to know is the Tawhid (oneness of God). I didn't learn the importance of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), shariah (Islamic Law) and hadith (Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)) until much later.

10 years ago I made a conscious decision to spend the rest of my life learning Islam and committing myself to Islam. 6 or 7 years ago, I gave up work so that I could commit myself to spreading the word of Allah. Subhan Allah; Allah answered my prayers and provided for all my financial needs.

21 years ago when I accepted Islam, the mosque in Preston, Victoria was just a weatherboard house on a block of land. There were no Qur'an translated in English. There were hardly any books in English and it was very difficult for me to learn about Islam. I managed to obtain a copy of the Qur'an with English translation from the Minister of Religious Affairs in Egypt. This was his own personal copy. Alhamdulillah now it's easily available in every mosque and Islamic Centre.

The majority of people would agree that the problems of today's society stem from a lack of spirituality. This creates a painful void in their lives. I believe that this void can only be filled by Islam.

In conclusion, let me recite this version from the Holy Qur'an:

When thy Lord drew forth from children of Adam from their loins-
Their descendants, and made them testify concerning themselves (saying):
"Am I not your Lord (Who cherishes and sustains you)"
They said: "Yea! We do testify!" (this) lest Ye should say on the Day of Judgement:
"Of this we were never mindful".
Or lest ye should say:
"Our fathers before us may have taken false gods, But we are (their) descendants after them: wilt Thou then destroy us because of the deeds of men who were futile?". (Qur'an 7:172-173)

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