- I was doing prostate and he came in,
and he said, screaming at me, "what are you doing?
"Stop kissing the floor!"
It's not easy when your parents are screaming at you.
- [Interviewer] Oh, where's the mic?
Okay.
- Hi, my name's Laila, originally Laticia,
I'm from Mexico, my mom and dad are from Mexico.
I was raised in California, small town, Santa Barbara.
I always been there, my whole life.
My family are Catholic, like generations,
generations of Catholic.
But at the age of 13, I left the Catholic church.
I just, I didn't understand it.
I would go to the nuns and I would say
"I don't want to confess to the priest,"
and they said, "Don't be insolent."
I would go to the priest, and I said,
"Why can't nuns get married?
"Why can't you get married? It's natural."
And they said, "You're being insolent."
So I just had it, I just had it.
And I just, my mom would drop me off
in the front of the church, and I would go to the back.
And I started going to different denominations.
I was a Pentecostal, I was a born again Christian,
I was a Jehovah Witness, I was a Christian Scientist.
Literally I was just going, looking.
At 13 I was looking for something
that was missing in my life.
At the age of 17 I went to the University of San Francisco,
and I met an American lady with the scarf.
And I said, "Are you okay?"
She said, "Yeah."
I said, "Do you have cancer?"
She said, "No! Why would you say that?"
And I said, "Well, your scarf, you know,
"you're hiding your bald head."
She said, "No, I'm a Muslim."
And when she said Muslim, I went...
And she said, "Why do you say that?"
And I said, "I know about Islam."
She said, "What do you know?"
And I said, "I see them hitting themselves
"and the blood going."
And she said, "No, that's not Islam."
And she gave me books, she gave me cassettes.
And I was shocked.
I never realized how beautiful the religion was.
So one time I was at the university
and I was running late for class.
And I was on my bicycle, and this was later,
like around seven, 7:30, and it was dark.
And I was just running in my bicycle
and I was thinking about Islam,
and I was thinking all the other religions
and I had that how, am I doing the right thing?
Am I, because I was ready to convert.
So I was going really fast on my bicycle,
and all of a sudden this voice, this loud voice.
But I don't remember what it was, I just,
I heard this loud voice, and I stopped.
And I looked around, and there was no one.
It was completely deserted.
The cones had fallen in this huge pit.
And I had stopped at that second.
And I knew this was God telling me
"If you don't come to Islam,
"something else is going to be in your life
"that's not gonna be a good thing."
I was just like...
And I, yeah, I just like stopped, I just stopped.
And it was, at that moment I knew.
So I went back to my American friend, Meriam,
and I said "I want to be a Muslim."
And then she said, "Read, read more about it."
So I read Sura to Meriam, and that was it.
I just knew.
If women had such a high degree in Islam,
I wanted to be part of that.
I could see that Islam has made me a better person,
gave me more patience.
I'm more sympathetic.
I have more empathy for people.
If someone asks me to borrow money,
I said, I'm giving the money.
I'm going to lend, but I give it as a gift.
I don't expect it back,
although I'm not telling the person that
because it's their responsibility.
I never would have thought of doing this 30 years ago.
I want my money, where's my money!
(laughs) It's gone.
All that's gone.
Materialistic aren't that important anymore.
I didn't have any concerns when I became a Muslim
because I did my research.
I had gone to so many other religions,
and I saw all the holes, and it just wasn't complete.
So when I came to Islam, I did my research.
I did my reading and asking questions,
and anyone who would answer me was very helpful.
The only concern I had was my parents accepting me.
That was hard, I mean, those are your parents.
Those are the ones who raised you,
and they felt like they did something wrong
for me to go in a different path.
But once they started seeing that I'm a better person,
they have grasped it, they loved it.
They wanted to know about it.
That was the most exciting.
My mother asked me for the Qur'an in Spanish.
My mom wanted to pray when I,
she wanted to sit there and watch me pray.
And she's told me it's so peaceful, it's so beautiful.
And when I put the call for prayer
she said she had goosebumps.
Imagine having a chance
from day one to start with no sins on your conscience.
And you come with a clean soul.
Because Allah guarantees that everything is forgiven.
This is your chance
to start and have a purpose in life.