I was born into a Muslim family and while I grew up observing Muslim practices, I eventually drifted away from God and decided that I didn’t believe in being born into a religion (I always knew in my heart that I’d never truly believe in God till I found him myself and resented the thought of having blind faith in everything religion-related that my parents shoved down my throat). I moved to the UK to start University at 17 and still didn’t believe in God. Drinking alcohol is forbidden in Islam (haram) and as far as my parents knew, was something I would never experience, but because I now lived far away from them that I could drink without having to worry about getting caught and abused/punished, I drank on nights out and felt oddly guilty about it despite self-identifying as an atheist. On a night out and while under the influence, I prayed that if Allah was truly out there, he’d give me a sign and a good reason as to why alcohol was haram (silly, but I was drunk and loved VKs and wanted to make sure that if I embraced Islam, I’d be giving up alcohol for a good reason). That night I got blackout drunk and was sexually assaulted. All I could think about afterwards was how quickly I would’ve got myself out of the situation had I been sober. Couldn’t sleep for nights after until my dad (who still doesn’t know I was sexually assaulted and had no idea I was going through anything at the time) sent me an audio of Quranic recitation and said, “I got a feeling you need this right now”. I cried myself to sleep listening to it. My heart had hurt since the night of the assault and I genuinely felt the pain lighten as I listened. I still wouldn’t say I found God, but I’m sure he found me.