Malisa Stobe AKA Aisha Malisa Osman

Malisa Stobe AKA Aisha Malisa Osman

I was raised as a Christian, and both my Grandfathers were Ministers. But before I came to Islam I wasn't even that. I had turned away from Christianity and was living a rather unhealthy life. But when I met Rasheed (my husband) things started to change. This is My Story.
My name is Aisha Malisa Osman, but where my story begins I was Malisa Stobe. Before I met Rasheed I was, like I said earlier, living an unhealthy life, I was going out to clubs, several one night stands, I was even envolved in the fettish scene.



Rasheed and I were working at Wal-Mart, me in the photo lab and him in shoes. When I first met him, it took me a month to get the courage to talk to him, because even then I was trying to turn my life around. And it was another month after that that we started dating. It was while we were dating that I told him, that if he thought that I was going to convert to Muslim that he had another think coming because it was NOT going to happen. I would not ever change my beliefs just to make someone happy anymore. He looked at me and with a serious face said, that’s okay, Muslim men can date non-Muslim women. Then he corrected me and said it’s not converting its “RE”verting, and its not Muslim, its Islam. Well, that did it. Just with him being okay with me NOT being Muslim, and him correcting my wording, he got my curiosity up, and I started asking questions first about the religion, then later what I could do, so that I didn't embarrass him when we are out a functions where other Muslims were present.



He talked to his sister and the two of them gave me a book called towards understanding Islam, and I started reading it. While I was still reading it, the dating progressed, and I found that he had all the criteria that I was looking for in a man that I wanted to spend my life with, and I finally got the courage to tell him that I loved him. It was a month after that, and SEVERAL questions about the book, that he asked me to marry him.



So here it was, we were making plans for the wedding and I was STILL asking questions about the book, and Islam, then one night I was just finishing reading it, when it all seemed to fall into place. When they say you finally get something, like the tumblers of a lock falling into place, I didn't think that they meant it literally, but that was how it was for me. By the time I finished the book, it really felt like the tumblers of the lock inside me all fell into place (thunk, thunk thunk), and this feeling of contentment came over me. Rasheed and I were in bed at the time and I looked at him, and said, "I want to become Muslim". He sat up and looked at me with shock, and joy in his eyes and said, " Are you sure?" I looked back at him and said "yes, I'm sure". Are your sure!! he said again. I smiled and very calmly said Yes, I am sure. No, he said. Are you sure HERE, as he put his hand over his heart. I smiled at him again, and said, yes, and placing my hand over my heart I said I am VERY sure HERE. When he heard me say that, he started to cry, and held me, and said, welcome home.



Because my decision to become Muslim was so close to our wedding date, I decided that I wanted to take Shahada before we got married. So it was May 19, 2005, that I took Shahada, and performed the Nikka.


Now I'm not saying that my family didn't have a problem with it. When I told my dad that I was thinking about it, he was not very happy at all. It was my mother who seemed to handle it better then my dad (I had thought it would be the other way around). But after I took Shahada and we got married, I wrote my parents a 8 page letter, explaining what I had done, and my reasoning for it, and if they felt that they didn't want to have any further contact with me I would understand. It would hurt but I would understand.


It seems that I didn't have to worry because they LOVE Rasheed, and after the letter they are okay that I chose Islam for my religion, Or did it choose me? lol