A 40 Years Struggle Towards Islam

An African-American Woman's Long Journey

clipped from www.readingislam.com Salwa Abd-Allah Picture © pluralism.org My name is Salwa Abd-Allah. I was born Edwina Mariea Fauntleroy to Reverend and Mrs. Jerry Cornelius Fauntleroy in Newport News, Virginia, US, in 1946. I have three brothers and I was the third of the four of us. I have been striving to be a Muslim for approximately 40 years. I became socially aware in the 1960s in America during the Vietnam War era and the turbulent years of racial unrest as descendants of slaves in general began protesting the subtle and not-so-subtle discrimination that was spread in America at that time. There was no voice in the mainstream media about the separatist option until the CBS TV news program aired The Hate That Hate Produced. Having studied five years of French, I had an immature idea of how an alternative language offered greater choices. The companionship of the Qur'an has taught me to value every command and every prohibition.