British Research Scientist Finds Islam in Riyadh::
"I said, "I think I’m ready. I want to become Muslim"
My name is Jon Dean.
People always ask me questions like “Why did you do it?
What did your family say?
What did your friends say?
How has it impacted your life?
What makes someone go from being an English non-practicing Christian to another religion?”
I’m going to just quickly tell you what I went through and what I did. And I’m going to tell you about another message that I’m trying to spread which might be interesting.
My story started in 2008-2009 when I moved out to Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia. I went there to work. I work in the health industry in exercise and nutrition. And I went out there because Saudi Arabia was a place that needed people like me to come and help them move. There are also some big growing industry out here, very fast, and they are very cash-rich people. You know there is money out here.
So I came out here. And as I was working here I had no idea aboutIslam, nothing at all, apart from the fact that I had seen some pictures on TV where I thought what Saudi Arabia would be like and most Middle East which was war-torn and people blowing themselves up here and there. I had no idea and this kind of image I had made me a little bit worried about coming here. But also it kind of gave me the impression that Islam was very strict. If you put a foot out of line you will be in prison, you will be whipped; you will have your hands cut off. You know, you hearall these stories.
So the first thing to me was to start understanding Islam purely to make sure I don’t end up in jail.That was why I started it. I wanted to lead as normal life as I can as compared to what I used to do back home. I didn’t want to get caught doing anything that was too bad that would put me into prison or bad situation. I had no idea what it was like.
So I started reading a bit about Islam. I've lived with lots of different people and lots of different countries. I've lived with Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Catholics and I've had friends that are Jewish and atheists (non-believers) , spiritual people that practice different spiritual practices, things that are not religious but they believed there isa creator and they didn’t believe in the Bible or the Quran or any ofthe other kinds of text we can give them.
I have always known that there is something bigger than what I see. I was never an atheist, I have never been, and I could never believe that boom there was this one big accident and there is no purpose to my life, there is no connection to anything, there is nothing bigger than me, I’m it, this is me, I can do what I want. I never believed in that, and it kept me fairly grounded throughout life but also I was interested in knowing more.
So I guess I always had this thirst for knowledge into the kind of the unseen as such. And I used to read a lot of books, people like Bruce Lee, Mohamed Ali. I was quite interested in martial arts and boxing, and I used to love thespiritual side of these guys; wherethey would get their power, their belief, their guts to keep going. This is what excited me.
In Saudi Arabia
When I came to Saudi Arabia, it’s one of those countries where youlike first ‘Wow’, lots of women are completely covered, all the men are wearing their traditional clothing. It’s very different from where I used to live. And it’s not a very publically smiley country. You go out and people don’t smile thatmuch to you when you are in the street.
But what I noticed is the more I started speaking to people here the friendlier they were. And I kept thinking to myself “Wait a minute. I’m sure these guys are supposed to be really strict and not want to be helpful” and this kind of misconception I had in myhead. It turned out the Arab people in general are probably themost hospitable and friendliest people on the planet. On top of that, it’s the most nonviolent peaceful place I have ever been in my life. I didn’t have to watch my back out here. You can walk past a group of ten 17-18 years old at 2 O’clock in the morning standing outside a mall or coffee shop and you would walk through them and you don’t have to fear anything. These guys would usually be polite and say “Hey how are you? How is Manchester United?” Things like this.
People here are friendly and this kind of friendliness, this hospitality, this kind of giving back, this attitude I found here shocked me and started make me think “Wait a minute. If the peoplearen’t like what they seem on TV, you know, there are no soldiers walking in the street, there are nowars that seem to be going on. there is no one blowing themselves up. If these things aren’t happening like what I was led to believe, then maybe the religion is not so harsh and strict and restricted and prison-like.”

And OP expects me to read this.

^Nice stuff. I can actually hear the writer in my head.