My name is Muhammad Ali Carter, I’m an English revert to Islam and this is my story of how I came to the conclusion that Shia Islam is the true path.

I have been a Shia Muslim for over 4 years now and have found true happiness in my life without a doubt. I chose to become a Shia Muslim and accept the religion of Islam from the age of 16 or 17, which is considered by many to be quite a young age for an English born westerner living in London. I will admit as a youngster before the age of 16 I never would have believed that I would accept or even consider Islam as something which would interest spiritually but here I am.

My family are all English going back generations, my parents came from church of England background but where never very religious and never used religion in day to day life at home. I was baptized as a baby and  I went to Sunday school as a very young boy and took part in some local church sports days and seasonal plays Christmas etc but apart from this there wasn’t much more religion in my life. I always believed in God and a creator but Christianity was dull and uninspiring to me and I found it hard to find the closeness to God that I seeked.

I was very touched by daily prayers, protecting the modesty of women, fasting, ... were to achieve a closeness to God

Overall, growing up in north London I lived in a very predominantly English area but made very close friends with Muslims at school. Secondary school was when I really started to realise in more detail who Muslims where and what there beliefs are. As is usually the case with many Muslims once you start asking a few questions about Islam, there answers come flowing out and I loved everything I was hearing. I was very touched by the 5 times a day prayers, protecting the modesty of women and men, and the fasting during Ramadan, all of it was to achieve a closeness to God and to satisfy him through good behavior and deeds on this earth.