His parents raised him as a Lutheran. But he said he stopped going to church when he was 16.
Two years later, he began his spiritual quest. He is active by reading about Buddhism, Hinduism and American Indian religions. But, he said, none of them was what he sought. "I'm very disappointed," he said, "I know that there is true religion, but I do not find it. But I believe in God. I reject atheism from the beginning," he said.
In the mid 30s years, after two failed marriages, he is raising his own two daughters - now 27 and 33 - was in desperate need for spiritual guidance. In that quest, he encountered Islam through some of the literature. "This is what I've always been looking for this," he said.
For about three years he studied religion, he began to reduce a date and to cover his head occasionally when out of the house. He felt comfortable with this way. "This same sense of comfort that makes me believe Islam is a religion that fits me," he said.
Then he went to a mosque in Manhattan. There, more rounded his determination to berislam. "I see women from different countries and from different races praying together," he said, "I think this is how it should be on earth."
He is now with the Sunni Rumsey berkarib Amatullah, a white Muslim convert. Amatullah, who lives in St Albans, has been married and divorced three times since he converted to Islam. Her first husband was from Sudan, the second is from Egypt and the third is the Italian-American, all were Muslims. "God gave both men's and women's rights to divorce," he said.
Differences with Amina, Amatullah choose Islam as a form of cultural critique of Western materialism. Islam truly authentic, beautiful, traditional, and down to earth. "
When discovered Islam, he claimed as God guided. Director of the HIV prevention program at the Iris House, a healthcare organization in Harlem, said his past was murky.
He repented after satisfied downed wild hedonistic lifestyle for several years. "I call it revival. Imagine what happens with me is like you are in a fog, and you do not know you are in a fog, and then clean up," he said.
Early persinggungannya with Islam as a slap. "My friend's husband gave me a Quran in my early age of 20 years, because she thought I was too wild," he said.
At first, Amatullah said, he was a little concerned, but he was deeply affected when he started digging into it.
However, it took about five years and a lot of contemplation, before he became really interested in Islam. He admitted that he was impressed with the women's rights in Islam.
"Imagine that happening in the seventh century AD, when women in other cultures, most of do not have power over their lives," he said.
He was eventually bersyahadat.
Being a Muslim, he says, is to carry out mandated as a mercy for others. He found his field now: to give awareness to the younger generation how meruginya promiscuity, especially for women.
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