14th Rabi ul Awal, 1431 AH at Queens, NY.
I met Adelfy today at 6:15 PM after Maghrib Salah in Masjid Al-Furqan. Sakeeb introduced him to me, as they had met last week at York College MSA after Jawla, a weekly visit to local Muslim brothers organized by Tablighi Jamaat.
Adelfy, originally from the Dominican Republic, recently moved to Staten Island, New York. He’s around 22 years old and was previously a Catholic, but he accepted Islam about three months ago. His journey to Islam is deeply personal and rooted in his family’s diverse religious background, including a Pakistani Muslim grandmother.
Whoever Allah wills to guide, He opens their heart to Islam. But whoever He wills to leave astray, He makes their chest tight and constricted…
Quran 6:126
Reason for Accepting Islam
Adelfy comes from a Dominican Catholic Christian family. Both of his parents are Christians. His grandmother, however, was a Pakistani Muslim who immigrated to the Dominican Republic. According to Adelfy, his father is somewhat indifferent about religion, while his mother has been a singer since childhood. Adelfy used to attend church and often pondered, “If there is only one God, why do they speak of three?”
He began to study Islam and learned about it from his Muslim friends. Initially, he didn’t pay much attention to their discussions about Islam. One night, he had a vivid dream where a man was trying to kill him by putting a gun in his mouth. Adelfy asked the man, “Are you going to kill me?” The man replied, “I won’t think twice about it,” and then shot him. Adelfy felt blood spreading all over his body and shouted, “Allahu Akbar!”
When he woke up, he was puzzled by the dream and wondered why he had said “Allahu Akbar.” He asked his Egyptian Muslim friend about it, and his friend explained that it means “Allah is the Greatest.” Adelfy realized that Allah was sending him a message, and he decided to accept Islam.
Adelfy’s Point of View
Adelfy believes that guidance (hidayah) is given to whoever Allah chooses. From the moment he accepted Islam, everything became clearer to him. He felt he could see and understand reality more profoundly. Looking at his hand, he said, “Why can’t people see what I see? There are five fingers right here. If someone can’t see them, it means nothing except that they have become blind.”
