Rosnah Bakar and Latif Lai Abdullah

At the beginning, Latif didn’t believe in Islam. He was still not convinced to convert. So I told him, ‘If you are not convinced, you don’t convert.’ So that’s why I didn’t rush him into converting.

I was not convinced within three months. In Singapore, if you want to convert, you have to go through three months of courses. Every week you go once. And every week is only two hours. So three months and two hours is only 24 hours...24 hours to believe a religion is impossible! So I told her, ‘I don’t believe.’

I went to another class and after three months I proceeded to other classes. So from there, certain things hit my mind because the ustad [expert, teacher] asked me, ‘Who created your body?’

I said, ‘I’m not sure.’ If a person who’s so powerful can create a person with everything— organs, brains which can control all your nerves, everything—it’s not just a minor thing. You open up a body—it’s so perfect. So from there I really thought about it...whether it was this someone who created us that has great power which we call it Allah or God. I was convinced that someone is behind our creation. So I converted and I married my wife!

My brother is a Christian pastor and he asked me not to convert to Islam. I told him, ‘Brother, we know each other so well. You are such a stubborn type of person. You decide what you want to do, you decide. And what I decide, I will do what I want to do.’ And so, at the end of the day we are still brothers. We mostly share the same blood even though we are different religions. And I think now he accepts us.