My name is Cassie, I’m 23 years old. I graduated as a qualified nurse and I was given my first position as a home nurse. My patient was an English gentleman in his 80s who suffered from Alzheimers.

In the first meeting, the patient was given his record and from it I could see that he was a convert to Islam, therefore he was a Muslim.

I knew from this that I would need to take into account some modes of treatment that may go against his faith and therefore I tried to adapt my care to meet his needs… I brought in some halal meat to cook for him and ensured that there was no pork or alcohol in the premises as I did some research which showed that these were forbidden in Islam.

My patient was in a very advanced stage of his condition so many of my colleagues could not understand why I was going through so much effort for him but I understood that a person who commits to a faith deserves that commitment to be respected even if they are not in a position to understand.

Anyway, after a few weeks with my patient I began to notice some patterns of movement. At first I thought it was some copied motions he’d seen someone doing, but I saw him repeat the movement at particular times in morning, afternoon and evening.

The movements were to raise his hands, bow and then put his head to the ground. I couldn’t understand it… he was also repeating sentences in another language. I couldn’t figure out what language it was as his speech was slurred but I know the same verses were repeated daily.

Also there was something strange, he didn’t allow me to feed him with my left hand. Somehow, I knew this linked to his religion but didn’t know how.

One of my colleagues told me about paltalk as a place of debate and discussions… and as I didn’t know any Muslims except for my patient, I thought it would be good to speak to someone live and ask questions.

I went on to Islam section and entered the room “true message”.

Here, I asked questions regarding the repeated movements and was told that these were the actions of prayer. I didn’t really believe it until someone posted a link of Islamic prayer on YouTube, I was shocked… a man who has lost all memory of his children, of his occupation, and could barely eat and drink was able to remember, not only actions of prayer but verses that were in other language.

This was nothing short of incredible and I knew that this man was devout in his faith which made me want to learn more in order to care for him the best I could.

I came into the paltalk room as often as I could and was given a link to read the translation of the Quran and listen to it.

The chapter of the Bee gave me chills and I repeated it several times a day. I saved a recording of the Quran on my iPod and gave it to my patient to listen to… he was smiling and crying… and in reading the translation, I could see why.

I applied what I gained from Paltalk to care for my patient but gradually found myself coming to the room to find answers for myself. I never really took the time to look at my life, I never knew… my father, mother died when I was 3. Me and my brother were raised by my grandparents who died 4 years ago.

But despite all this loss, I always thought I was happy, content… it was only after spending time with my patient that felt like I was missing something. I was missing that sense of peace and tranquility my patient, even though suffering, felt. I wanted that sense of belonging and a part of something he felt even with no one around him.

I was given a list of mosques in my area by a lady on Paltalk and went down to visit one. I watched the prayer I couldn’t hold back my tears… I felt drawn to the mosque everyday and the Imam and his wife would give me books and tapes and welcome any question I had.

Every question I asked at the mosque and on Paltalk was answered with such clarity and depth that could do nothing but accept them.. I have never practiced a faith but always believed that there was a God, I just didn’t know how to worship Him.

One evening, I came o paltalk and one of the speakers addressed me, he asked me if I have any questions, I said “no”. He asked if I was happy with the answers I was given, I said “yes”. Then he asked what was stopping me from accepting Islam, I couldn’t answer.

I went to the mosque to watch the down prayer, the Imam asked me the same question, I couldn’t answer. I then went to tend to my patient, I was feeding him… and as I looked in his eyes I just realized he was brought to me for a reason and the only thing stopping me from accepting was fear… not fear in the sense of something bad, but fear of accepting something good and thinking that I was not worthy like this man.

Saying My Shahadah

That afternoon, I went to the mosque and asked the imam if I could say my declaration of faith that there is no god except Allah and Muhammad is his messenger. He helped me through it and guided me through what I would need to do next.

I can’t explain the feeling I felt when I said it. It was like someone woke me from sleep and sees everything more clearly. The feeling was overwhelming joy, clarity and most of all, peace.

The first person I told was my patient… I went to him and before I even opened my mouth, he cried and smiled at me. I broke down in front of him, I owed him so much.

I came home and logged on to paltalk and repeated the shahadah for the room. They all helped me so much and even though I had never seen a single one of them, they felt closer to me than my own brother.