A convert named Renaldo Abdoellah Fernandez shared the story of his life journey until he was convinced to embrace Islam. He admitted that he received guidance to become a Muslim through a dream.
If someone receives guidance from Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala, they will receive guidance. This guidance is a destiny given by Allah Ta’ala.
Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala says:
فَمَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَهدِيَهُ يَشْرَحْ صَدْرَهُ لِلإسْلامِ وَمَنْ يُرِدْ أَنْ يُضِلَّهُ يَجْعَلْ صَدْرَهُ ضَيِّقًا حَرَجًا كَأَنَّمَا يَصَّعَّدُ فِي السَّمَاءِ كَذَلِكَ يَجْعَلُ اللَّهُ الرِّجْسَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ
Meaning: “Whoever Allah wills for Allah to guide him, He will surely expand his chest to (accept the religion of) Islam. And whoever Allah wills to mislead him, Allah will surely make his chest tight and narrow, as if he were climbing to the sky. That is how Allah inflicts punishment on those who do not believe.” (QS Al An’aam: 125)
Quoted from Kevin Hendrawan’s YouTube account, Friday (24/7/2020), Renaldo told how noble the Islamic religion is in embracing its people. Before converting to Islam, Renaldo was an activist from his previous religion.
Renaldo was born into a Catholic family. His family is very active in church activities, as is Renaldo. He joined a Catholic organization when he was in elementary school.
Meanwhile, Renaldo began to know Islam when he was in high school. Because before that, when he was in elementary school until junior high school, he studied at a Catholic school. In high school, Renaldo found various friends and was able to learn about Islam from his friends.
The beginning of his closeness to Islam was when he worked at a television station in Manado. At that time, Renaldo was often assigned to the Ramadan program. From there, he got to know many ustadz.
“I worked at a private TV station in Manado. Even though I am a Christian, I often took care of Ramadan programs several times, and from there I started to know ustadz,” said Renaldo.
He also said that he was convinced to embrace Islam after receiving guidance through a dream.
“Almost every year I have dreams. From dreams of praying, dreams of seeing a mosque, and I once dreamed of meeting the Prophet Muhammad and the Prophet Jesus,” he said.
Renaldo considered that the dreams were a sign of how Muslims and Christians could live side by side. He also considered that the dreams were a test of Christian faith in him.
Renaldo often discussed this, making his friends feel goosebumps, but they did not force him to convert to Islam immediately. Many of his friends considered it a guidance, but Renaldo still considered it a test of faith that he received.
At that time Renaldo often watched Islamic studies. He also often watched videos about conversion, how Islam views the conversion of Catholics to Islam, and vice versa, how Catholics view it. At that time Renaldo was still closed off.
source : muslim.okezone.com
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