Several months ago, I wrote, I would share how my eyes got
opened. How I became a believer that there is a God and how I end up joining
the Nation of Islam.
Before I joined the Nation of Islam, I was an atheist, a
gang member, a hustler, and a womanizer.
I started gang banging when I was thirteen years old and that is
around the time I grew into disbelief that there was a God due to some of my friends/members of the gang I was in getting killed by rival gangs.
I started to doubt and question if there is a God why is he
permitting my friends/members of my gang to be killed and some of them were just a few years older than me.
I said I would never believe in God until I meet Him in
person and He would have to show and prove to me He is God.
One night, in April of 1995, I became a believer…. One of my friends, who was a Blood like me but from another gang. We stopped at a gas station so he can get some gas and while he was pumping the gas. I got out of the car to talk to him.
All of a sudden, people were running, jumping in their cars,
and speeding off. A woman at the gas pump a crossed from us, said, “y’all need
to get up out of here, they are shooting at y’all!”
I felt some wind passing quickly by my head, not knowing it was
a bullet.
My friend and I started rushing to get in his car and I am
not sure if he got all the gas or any at all, we did not care!!
There were two guys (Crips) with blue rags covering their
faces. I am not sure if they were shooting at my friend or if they were
shooting at me.
All I know, me and my friend could have been killed.
That night…. For the first time in a long time, I prayed
because I knew my life was spared.
I told God or Jesus, whatever, Your name is, thank you
because I know they (the two Crips) could have killed us.
I made a pledge to God, that, I was going to join the
military. A few weeks later, I contacted a recruiter but I did not pass the
test.
Then one day, the voice in my head said, “join the Black
Muslims.” That is what they called the Nation of Islam in my neighborhood.
I did not know much about the Nation of Islam. Mostly what I
heard of them was negative. But, I remember, someone in my neighborhood who was
a Blood but from a different gang who joined the Nation of Islam while in
prison.
I remembered how the Nation of Islam changed his life. So I
began looking for the Black Muslims (the Nation of Islam) and I end up running
across a friend from high school who I thought was a Black Muslim but he only
visited the mosque and it was Orthodox Islam.
He took down my number because he said he had a flyer that he
received on the campus of San Diego State University.
He called me on the three-way with a member of the Nation of
Islam and the Brother got my information and I visited the mosque on a
Friday night for their study group.
I continued to go to the mosque and I end up becoming a
registered member (Damon X) on Sunday, December
24, 1995.
That was and is one of the happiest days of my life. To see,
Brothers (FOI), shed some tears because I got my name in the lamb book of life.
I only spent my first four years as a Muslim/FOI in San Diego
until I moved but that was my foundation, my spiritual birthplace which I will
never forget.
I lived in several different cities and I have been honored
and blessed to serve, either the mosque or study group in those cities but I
can never forget where it all started for me….
I am thankful for all the Brothers and Sisters who played a
part/had a role in my spiritual growth and development.
Mainly the Brothers and Sisters in San Diego (my
hometown/spiritual birthplace) but also those in Oklahoma City, Tulsa
Oklahoma, Dallas, and Fort Worth, Texas.
The picture, I shared are of some of the Brothers and Sisters who made an impact on me in San Diego, and the song I share below: “Look A Devil In His Eyes” is about my spiritual awaking/how my eyes got opened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0JF9ulZguo
