By Aya Sophia

My name is Aya Sophia. I am a 22 year old student and I live with my family in London. My parents are of different races and adhere to entirely different belief systems. My mother is an atheist and my father deeply embedded in his native cultural traditions. I have a vast mixture of friends. Throughout my life I have periodically denied God, ignorantly followed the traditions of my father, raved, drunk and acted recklessly. Fortunately, I have found minute instances of solace in all these ‘ways’ of life. Lost in what appears to be normality, I began to search for meaning.

This is the diary of a soul and its spiritual awakening. An emotional and often erratic unfolding of what is, what is not and what could be. In an attempt to decode the inner workings of the mind, it will be contradictory, rife with passion and on many occasions silent.

This is an account of what I hope will be my glorious journey to Islam.

[‘Aya Sophia’ is a pseudonym]