Personal Statement : My Father 's Life

The most impactful event I experienced, was the loss of my father. I lost my father as a result of homicide, but he had made choices that kept him from being in my life. As a child, I saw my father every month and I enjoyed it: I had two sisters, I could hang out with and play with our dolls. My father could be a loving and great person when he chose to be.

Imagine being one of the most powerful and richest ever in the entire world, that was the case for Mansa Musa. Additionally, Musa was an emperor of the wealthy West African Mali Empire in which he was and still is, the richest man in the world with an estimated four-hundred billion. Moreover, he was devoted to the religion Islam and made a pilgrimage to Mecca from West Africa to worship. Therefore, Mansa Musa’s had reasons that demonstrated his devotion to Islam, which are his pilgrimage to Mecca, his elected religion while though his empire, it was populated by a mixture of people with different religions, and with money since he did not need to have a religion or follow one with power and money like he had, yet he believed in it and stayed with it until death.

The rise of Islam is greatly linked with the Prophet Muhammad, believed by Muslims to be the last in a long line of prophet that includes Moses and Jesus. Because Muhammad was chosen by God to be the messenger of his teachings, Muslims strived to follow his example. Alongside the holy book, Qur’an, the teachings of Prophet (or hadith) and his descriptions of way of life (sunna) are the most important Muslim texts. Muhammad was born into a powerful Meccan tribe, known as the “Quraish”, at around 570 A.D. The Quraish were powerful as they were merchants, and made trade along the Arabia, Syria, and Yemen routes, all crossing through Mecca (METMUSEUM, 2000-2016). Mecca, at the time was worshiping two polytheistic groups, whose Gods had protected its trade. After working for a couple years as a merchant, Muhammad was hired by Khadija, a wealthy widow to make

One of the reasons I believe that Muhammad Ali was one greatest inspirations on earth was because Muhammad Ali was vocal about his religion, Islam, which is also my religion. I used to be shy about talking about my religion whenever the subject came up in school, due to the fact that I was the only Muslim at the school, and I was already getting teased about it, and what I now come to think about it was borderline bullied. Once I found out Muhammad Ali's story and how he was a Muslim, it made me more comfortable talking about my religion, after that when the subject came up and people started talking about it, I would then voice my opinion and doing this over time, people started looking at me as a person and not my religion anymore.

By the late 600s, Muhammad has had a huge influence on many people, by teaching the faith called Islam. His influences were taught through his early life, his holy visit to a cave, the time before his death, and the 100 years that followed his death.

The predicament I am in right now is a blessing, considering the trials I have dealt with in the past. Growing up in inner-city Jacksonville propelled me into the man I am becoming today. Some of the circumstances that many inner-city adolescent youth deal with growing up, such as single-parent households, and inadequate financial stability; automatically dubbed me as a product of my environment. Paving a way for my family is what motivated me the most, and like many teenagers, I felt the task could be strictly achieved by athletics. I had a strong aspiration of playing professional sports, and had varying degrees of success in basketball, and football. Honestly, I was never considered the greatest by my peers, but it was hard to debate my work ethic. Seeing my mother work rigorously day in and day out inspired me. She encouraged me and imparted her knowledge on life’s challenges towards me.

After becoming friends with Muslims and seeing their families, I saw

Muhammad is founder of the religion Islam despite very hard times while spreading the religion, this was because of his courage. From birth to death and beyond, Muhammad had people help him through his life start and spread the religion.

Have you ever had a hero in your life, someone that is always there for you when you need them? I did, I called him "my dad." My dad was the only person that could make me laugh when I was feeling down. My dad was that person who had so much love for his family. My dad was the person who I could call and he'd always pick up. My dad was the person who would drop everything just to help me. My dad was the biggest hero in my life and to this day, still is.

My father passed away in 1991, two weeks before Christmas. I was 25 at the time but until then I had not grown up. I was still an ignorant youth that only cared about finding the next party. My role model was now gone, forcing me to reevaluate the direction my life was heading. I needed to reexamine some of the lessons he taught me through the years.

After moving a countless amount of times, my home does not have a roof and windows. My home has become my biggest motivator- my father. I am one of the few, lucky people to be born into and privileged with such a small, but loving family. Not only has my father provided me with a life I can thrive in, the story of his life in China is what gives me the confidence to pursue a career in the medical field. At his high school, he studied every day for more than nine hours and became the top student, despite the fact that his future in education seemed bleak because of the Cultural Revolution. Getting a higher education was his dream, yet illegal. After succeeding in high school, he was forced by the government to attend a labor camp, where he

Muhammad is an extremely important role model to Muslims today because he is the last Messenger of Allah and documented his words in the Holy Book, the Qur’an. He helped guide Muslims on the religion of Islam, and his teachings modeled the 5 Pillars of Islam. His obedience and devotion to Allah is essential and heavily taught in the teaching of Islam, and is expected to influence the necessary lifestyle of a Muslim on an enormous scale. Because he is the prophet who brought revelation and guidance from God to mankind; he is the greatest illustration for all Muslims to follow his way in all aspects. This is especially relevant in the Qur’an quote of Shahadah, the significant first Pillar of Islam: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger." This displays how important and how respected and idolised he is especially how a convert to Islam must Recite this statement three times in front of witnesses, with total sincerity, fully understanding what it means and

When Muhammad was a young boy, he traveled as a camel driver with his uncle. In his travels he learned many aspects of religion through contact with Christianity and Judaism, which proved to be important as Mecca was dominated with idol worship and the Ka’bah, a holy structure, as its center.

My decision was made really quickly because I have notice the fact that despite Islam is the the second largest religion in the world but it still remain a mystery in America. Islamophobia in the media is a huge problem some media mostly cover Islam related topic in a negative light. Thus shape people’s opinion as most Americans do not have contact with people embracing Islam. Some of the causes include the 9/11 attack as some people believe Bin Laden was doing it for Islam.

Prophet Muhammad was orphaned and raised by an uncle from his father’s side, who happened to be involved with long- distance trade. Many even believe Prophet Muhammad accompanied him to Syria. Prophet Muhammad received his first revelation by the age of forty. His revelation was delivered through the angel Jibil (Gabriel.) These revelations would later be put into the book known and the Qur’an. The Qur’an is a religious text in which Muslims believe that this is the word of Allah (God.) Muslims are the followers of the religion of Islam.