foreign
around the dinner table of a traditional
Moroccan restaurant with friends where
food and words are shared with a
beautiful cup of tea
topics were deep and personal and for
many of us it meant remembering our way
to Islam
um
I was born Mario and Mercedes
um
of great origin uh born right here I'm
Italian background you're playing
backgrounds a Chinese European
Philippines Irish Australian Italian and
Irish background I don't know your story
I embraced Islam seven years ago
about in year 11 I think maybe year 11 I
started wondering about God and
about how I'm supposed to you know be
closer to God you know I wanted to be
religious well when I used to go to
Primary School we had religious
education classes and I used to love
being in those classes hearing about you
know the prophets like Moses and Jesus
and Abraham peace be upon them I was I
was like really in love with Jesus the
personality his mission what he did what
he would say this was I was obsessed all
these movies like the Jesus movie they
sent to the turtle countries to convert
people I'd watch all these movies I was
obsessed with and I I really yearned for
wanting to be practicing a religion but
my environment you know my friends
growing up as a teenager I wasn't the
best environment to become a practicing
person but I the dogma of the Pauline
Doctrine I couldn't understand it
because like all through the Bible these
Messengers on these prophets were sent
that teach this to teach that and then
suddenly Jesus message started the same
way and then some guy called Paul comes
along and says no we're going to abolish
this we're gonna go this way and I
couldn't understand this I couldn't at
all understand this I couldn't connect
to being many gods or no gods or your
God I couldn't you stop I couldn't we
just didn't pick with me and I'd have
more questions and I'd ask and ask
because my mother was a Bible teacher we
knew the Bible and I was studying the
Bible
so it had these questions these
extraordinary questions and no one could
answer them but then I met Muslims and
they would answer these questions and
they would say the purpose of life is
the worship God Almighty on his terms