Troubles deciding whether to accept Islam and take shahada.

I've been raised in an atheistic family and taught not to trust religion for my 21 years of living.

Years ago when I first learned about Islam and made Muslim friends, something resonated with me and always attracted my attention. When I turned 15, I went deep into atheism/nihilism (bashing religion, watching atheist speakers, becoming convinced that there's no meaning to anything). And this lead me to become a severe skeptic of anything to do with religion.

When I turned 18, I began to notice that my personal inclinations didn't really reflect atheism and had slowly started to change, they reflected monotheism to a much greater extent, and this thought progression has only continued. I'm at a point where I believe in one omnipotent God behind everything which determines reality by simply being. I have genuine belief in angels and miracles and that the message of God has been passed to humanity through various scriptures and messengers.

I've been lucky enough to meet good people and discuss Islamic life with them, and my own views are extremely similar in this aspect too (family, community, morals, responsibility). An Islamic lifestyle is very close to the ideal life I would imagine for myself.

Here are where there are some issues.

I've been speaking to a Muslim woman for about 3/4 months now, and we have become very close. She's been very open with me about her religion, and my understanding has really grown under her influence. But I have fallen in love with her. And I worry that this poses a serious problem. I can't accept Islam because I have fallen for a Muslim (we don't really have a chance of being together either). My belief has to be genuine, and I am concerned that my love for her has increased my interest in Islam.

My family would be against me becoming Muslim. My brother said that he would be distant from my wife and children if we were Muslim. And my mother is very anti religion (from a seriously uninformed, ignorant perspective). This may not seem like a real issue, but the possibility of losing my family if I become Muslim is a genuine possibility, especially when I have a family of my own.

I am interested in speaking to an Imam at my local mosque, but I'd like to have a clearer understanding of my situation before I do this.

If anyone has anything to say that might be helpful, I'd really appreciate it.

submitted by /u/lilwan7
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from Islam http://bit.ly/2vyDVPn