I was born in a Tatar village in Russia, where my father, a Roman Catholic Pole and an exile from Poland, was a doctor. He married a Muslim woman who became a Christian in order to marry him, as in old Russia marriage between Christians and non-Christians were not allowed. My mother never went to church or took part in any religious service elswhere, and my earlist recollections are of her whispering to herself the Muslim prayers whenever she was alone. I grew up in the shadow of a Mosque, and all my childhood memories are bound up with the call of the Muezzin, the Tatars saying their prayers at home and in the fields, and the whole sober, clean and decent life of the Muslim community which I subconsciously compared with the drunkenness, brutality and filth of neighbouring Russian villages.

Both my parents died early, and I was brought up among the Russian intelligentsia without any religion, principles or traditions. I must say I never gave much thought to spiritual matters until, after having lived in England and America, I impercptibly became convinced that one must have some guiding principle in one's life and some kind of moral code. I studied Christianity, but, even stripped of all the trappings of ritualism and superstitions, it could not satisfy because I could not accept the fundamental principles of Christianity--the divinity of Jesus and the doctrine of the original sin and redemption. It seemed to me that the true God was compeletly overshadowed by the tremendous figure of Christ, and I could not believe that the suffering and death of one person, however saintly, even divine, would redeem the sins of the whole world, especially as the world went on sinning as if nothing happened. So naturally I turned to Islam. I say naturally because I always had a sort of nostalgia for Islam, brought up, as I was in its atmosphere from my earliest childhood. It was lide coming home, and the more I read the Quran and the books on Islam by Muslim writers,--the most lucid and convincing of them being those of the Khawaja Kamal-ud-Din,-- the more I became convinced that it is the only true religion,-- a religion for people who think and do not want to shut their eyes to the realities of life and the discoveries of science. I could not help comparing it to the teaching of Jesus which, lofty as it is, either leads to asceticism and virtual denial of life, or demands an enormous structure of casuistry and sophistry in order to adapt it to the earthy life of mankind. How could it stand in comparision with the pure logic of Islam--submission to the will of God and striving towards His perfection? There, one has not the theological dogmas and magic formulas for salvation, but a perfect guidance and a moral code for the whole conduct of life, which does not demand denying the evidence of one's reason, nor the violationof one's natural feelings. Indeed, I cannot understand how any thinking person can fail seeing it. That is why so many critics of Islam fall back on the "bad life" of the people in Muslim countries, willfully shutting their eyes to the fact that their vices are due not to the teachings of Islam but to the dire poverty and ignorance in which they live owing to the physical and political conditions of their countries. My only regret is that I did not see the truth earlier, as it would not only have made me happier, but would have helped me to become a more useful member of the community.

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Bliss of my new Faith: Islam
I had worked as a missionary for nearly seven years in America. When I felt I must "go out on my own." I felt the Almighty was leading me to somewhere and that I must follow until I found the answer. I always wanted to travel to another country, so I decided just to go. I went to Germany, and there I met my husband who introduced me to Islam. Together we went to Pakistan where I lived for 18 months in a small village called Mahji. It was quite a big change for me, being away from large cities I lived in throughout my life. The way, the people lived here was the thing that impressed me the most and inspired me to believe so strongly in the Islamic way of life. In my past life I had lived with Christian and Jewish people, but I could not find them up to the ideals they were teaching. It was only in Pakistan that I found people who were really living up to what they believe. Being reared in America, I know at first hand the hell the daughters have to go through. There is no control, no moral standard, and the girls are let loose at the age of 18 to "find their own way", just like an animal. Where is the love in such actions? But in Pakistan, you can't find a girl alone on the street. The parents have strict control over them. According to Islam, they are married at the appropriate time. There is no room for Satan to invade. Now I have been blessed with two daughters of my own and I am proud to say that when they grow up, they will be protected by the Islamic faith and traditions and won't have to go through the terrible hell that I experienced. To me, this is the essence of purity and faith, restored on earth by man. For in the beginning it was the failure of Adam to protect Eve from Lucifer and thus the Fall of Man occurred. Through Islam we can keep ourselves away from that failure by protecting our daughters from Satan and leading them to Allah. It is my firm faith that Allah has chosen Isalm to correct this present-day world and lead it back to the original purpose of Creationof the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Ameen!

Virginia Hajarah Mir