An American Teenager Discovers Islam: Islam Is Not a “Sunday-Feel-Good Affair.”

Source: onislam.net

By: Valerie Wright

I could say that my journey to Islam began before I was even aware of it.

I was born with a progressive hearing loss. 

My mother did not realize that I had difficulties hearing until I was 4 years old. 

Once it was discovered, I received my first hearing aids, and began attending a school where hearing and deaf children were integrated.

At first I was placed in classes that contained only deaf children. Then I began to attend some classes with hearing children, and I had a teacher come to help me learn how to integrate. I felt at home there. I did not realize that I was being prepared to leave the school and go to a mainstream public school. 

Imam Suhaib Does the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge With an Added Twist (Video)

 Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. When doing the challenge, please use the hashtags #icebucketchallenge, #alsicebucketchallenge, and #strikeoutals