{"id":3193,"date":"2013-12-11T07:44:29","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T07:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/?p=3193"},"modified":"2013-12-11T07:44:29","modified_gmt":"2013-12-11T07:44:29","slug":"texas-cowboy-finds-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/12\/11\/3193\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Cowboy Finds Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wearing cowboy boots, Ray Allen looks a typical cowboy with a swan white skin tone, small chestnut colored eye and blondish-gray hair, making him an unusual resident of jagged snow-capped mountains of Sulaymaniyah, the capital city for Iraqi Kurdistan.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one in Iraq believes me when I say I am a Muslim,\u201d Allen, a an urban cowboy from Texas who turned Muslim, told The Islamic Monthly magazine on Monday, December 9.<\/span>
\u201cThey want proof so I recite Sura Fatiha,\u201d he added, referring to the first verse in Islam\u2019s holy book.<\/span>
Finding Islam years ago, he used to live in a town outside of Dallas, Texas.<\/span>
In Texas, he used to used to live alone in a large country-style house with his dog, an array of garden tools and a Qur\u2019an.<\/span>
He describes how he struggled to be Muslim, where all mosques give sermons in Arabic a language he does not understand.<\/span>
\u201cI would go to the local mosque and tried to learn Arabic,\u201d he said.<\/span>
His first encounter with Islam was some twenty years ago in Saudi Arabia where he served in the US military during the first Gulf War.<\/span>
\u201cI was nineteen years old in Taif,\u201d he recalled.<\/span>
In Taif, he heard the adhan, or Muslim call to prayer, for the first time ans was wooed by Saudis\u2019 hospitality.<\/span>
\u201cI was in full body armor and invited to tea by locals at the market with my guys. I will never forget it,\u201d he said.<\/span>
Raised to be a devout Catholic, Allen comes from a large family and is now the only Muslim.<\/span>
\u201cI couldn\u2019t have been a Muslim when both my parents were alive. I think it would have hurt them too much,\u201d he confided.<\/span>
In his forties, Allen is eager to learn about a faith he believes helped him regain his strength after a failed marriage and the loss of both parents from cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cowboy Code<\/strong><\/span>
Though Allen was born in New Jersey, he keeps a dream of becoming a cowboy one day.<\/span>
\u201cI\u2019ve never been on a horse. I did try riding a bull three times back in 1992, but it ended in disaster and I was almost killed,\u201d he said.<\/span>
\u201cI like the essence of being a cowboy and I tried to dress the part but I could never shake off the stigma of being a Yankee by blood,\u201d Allen added, referring to his family home in New Jersey, his place of birth.<\/span>
Nevertheless, Allen is cowboy-enough and knows the code; be polite, learn from your elders, do what\u2019s right, never lie to others and be a volunteer.<\/span>
\u201cI learned all this from my parents, and then found these same principles and more in Islam,\u201d he said.<\/span>
Miles away from his home, Allen finds it easier to practice Islam.<\/span>
\u201cI thought I would have more time for Islam but teaching is exhausting. It should be Islam first,\u201d he said.<\/span>
Every week, he attends Friday prayer and sits patiently with swaths of men listening to a sermon in Kurdish, a language he doesn\u2019t know.<\/span>
\u201cIn Suly [Sulaymaniyah], the call to prayer sounds like a garage door opening. I\u2019ve heard more melodious tunes in Istanbul,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/span>
\u201cI will miss using words like Alhumdulilah and Mashallah in daily conversation. I can\u2019t do this in America with everyone,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: OnIslam<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Wearing cowboy boots, Ray Allen looks a typical cowboy with a swan white skin tone, small chestnut colored eye and blondish-gray hair, making him an unusual resident of jagged snow-capped mountains of Sulaymaniyah, the capital city for Iraqi Kurdistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c102-muslim-minorities"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTexas Cowboy Finds Islam - SunniOnline<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2013\/12\/11\/3193\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas Cowboy Finds Islam - 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