Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. My name is Scott, I'm 15, from England and I reverted to Islam on the 5th of March 2012. My stepdad is Muslim and he is originally from Bosnia. He has been giving me, my younger brother and also my mum dawah for years, and he taught me and encouraged me a lot with Islam. Mostly everything I know about Islam has been taught to me by him. I had been thinking about becoming Muslim for about 2 years, but it took me a long time to decide what I wanted, but I finally did so in March. What convinced me to really seriously consider whether or not to convert was that my mum said in January that she was going to convert, so I decided I should make a decision. My mum hasn't yet converted, but she says she will definitely this year. I don't know why she is waiting but I suppose she has to be sure. I'm really happy to be a Muslim and I just feel a much happier and better person now. Why I became a Muslim, cutting a really long story short… My dad left my mum, me and my brother when we were very small, before I’d started school. I don’t really know why and he has never been in touch since. I was baptised into the Church of England, which was my mum’s religion, but I wasn’t really raised as Christian in a praticising way, but I did (and still do) go to Christian schools (Church of England ones). My mum met my stepdad when I was about 9 years old and he has been a major part of my life ever since. My stepdad is Muslim and his family originate from Bosnia. He took me and my brother on as his own and has been the best dad I could have wished for. He has been such a good dad to me, he’s really been a great role model and has done so much for me (and my mum). I have always looked up to him and respected him. I knew from the age of 10 or so that he was a Muslim, but at the time I didn’t really understand what that meant. But he told me gradually things about Islam, Allah (swt), Mohammed (pbuh), Jesus (pbuh), what Muslims believe and things like that. We were also bought some basic books about similar things too. From those I learned things like the 5 pillars, the prophets and angels and that sort of thing. I think I was about 13 at that time. 13 was the most significant age for me. That is where I really began thinking about it. Before that I saw it as more learning than believing, but that is when things changed for me. My stepdad had taken me to the mosque a number times to show me around and teach me things. I think I first visited a mosque when I was about 11 and we went together infrequently after that. But it was different when I was 13, because that was the first time I saw someone take their shahada at the mosque. I knew what that was by that time and what it meant. I remember it well because after the guy had said it, my stepdad turned to me and asked me if I would like to say my shahada too. I was really surprised and I said no. The reason I said no was because there were so many people there and I didn’t want to get up in front of them, I am a bit shy and I get nervous doing that kind of stuff. If there hadn’t been many people there I might of said it, but I don’t know. That was what started me thinking more about it, because I wondered whether I should have done it, and I think I knew I had made a mistake somehow because I thought about it a lot after. After that I did continue to learn more. The thing that really got me into making a decision was that my mum said to us that she was going to convert this year. I think my mum probably has been wanting to for years, but didn’t because of us, in case we didn’t like it. That is what I think from what she said. So after that I went on YouTube and the internet and read things and listened to things, including bits of the Quran, and I also asked my friends what they thought. After that I talked with my stepdad about it, and he said that what I should do is not think about it too much, just think about how about how I feel, and ask myself if what I feel feels right or not, and I slept on it that night and all I could think about was that it felt right. It kept me awake thinking it. So in the morning I told my stepdad and he asked me what I wanted to do, and I asked him if I could take my shahada and he was really happy. He phoned my mum who was at work and told her and asked her if it would be OK to take me to the mosque after school to do it, and when I finished school that day we went straight to the mosque and I became a Muslim. That was on the 5th of March, but it feels much longer ago. That is the really brief version. I am happy to answer questions if you have any or explain bits which might not make sense. I hope to learn a lot here inshallah