a guide for the beginning
Hello beautiful human. Welcome to Islam. I'm Alesia and I reverted a little more than a year ago, so my feelings are still fresh — I went through everything I will mention in this guide, and I want you to know that you're not alone! You are part of an Ummah of millions of brothers and sisters, even though you might not feel that yet.
Based on my own experience and scholars' guidance, I'm sharing a little guide and a list of information which will help you on your path. I have a lot of videos about my experience and my journey on my page in case you haven't seen it yet — @alesia.haidai.
Let's start.
If you're reading this, you've either just said the Shahada, or you're standing right at the edge of it — heart pulled toward something, mind maybe still asking a hundred questions. Wherever you are in that moment, take a breath. You're not behind. You're not late. You're not doing this wrong.
First week after I reverted, I had all the feelings… overwhelmed, guilty, anxious, wanted to be the perfect Muslim, didn't know where to start.
There's a quiet myth that you have to arrive at Islam already knowing the prayers, the Arabic, the rules, the rhythm. You don't. Nobody does. Every person who has ever reverted started exactly where you are — figuring out everything one day at a time.
This is a journey, not an exam. There is no committee deciding if you're "Muslim enough" yet. You said the words, you meant them — that's it, that's the door, and you're already through it.
Before we get into anything else — give yourself permission to learn slowly. The Quran was revealed over 23 years. You're not going to learn it all in a week, and you're not supposed to. What matters right now is the foundation. Everything else builds on top of it, gradually.
You may have already said this, or you're about to:
This isn't just a phrase — it's the whole foundation. It means:
That's it. That's the door. Everything else you learn from here is about understanding and living out what you already believed the moment you said those words.
These are the actions that structure a Muslim's life. Tap any of them to read more on New Muslim Guide, a trusted resource for new Muslims:
You don't have to master Zakat calculations or memorize everything this week. Right now, the most useful thing you can do is learn to pray. That one action will do more for your heart than any amount of reading.
The last thing I want you to feel from this section is pressure. So instead of rules, let me just tell you what actually happened to me.
When I reverted, I started covering almost immediately — maybe my first or second week. I was surrounded by Muslim girls, it was Ramadan, everyone around me was covered, and it just felt easy at first. But underneath that ease, there was also pressure. I was visiting Islamic centers and gatherings where everyone was covered, and I wasn't yet — people would ask why, and I felt so uncomfortable being the one who stood out. So I covered. But if I'm honest, it wasn't really my decision yet. It was me trying to fit in.
Months later, I realized that decision wasn't really mine yet — and I stopped. For a while after that, I'd wear a scarf only randomly, here and there, no real pattern to it.
Then, about two months ago, something shifted. I kept seeing women who covered and finding them so beautiful — not just outwardly, but something about it touched me every time. I felt this pull in my heart that I genuinely wanted to cover, for me this time.
I was still scared, though — I live somewhere where almost no one covers, and I felt shy about it. So I started slowly.
I still can't say I cover 100% of the time. But I'm really trying, and that trying is its own kind of progress.
If you take one thing from my story: covering isn't a box you check on day one to prove you're a "real" Muslim. It's not a deadline. For some people it happens fast and stays easy. For a lot of us, it's messier — we start, we stop, we start again, we do it for the wrong reasons before we do it for the right ones. None of that makes you less sincere. It just makes you human, walking a real path instead of performing a perfect one.
Salah is the most direct line you have to Allah, five times a day. It's also the thing that turns "I believe" into a daily practice. In the beginning you might feel lost, annoyed because you can't remember things. That's normal.
I prayed with a piece of paper, or with my phone, the first couple of days. I genuinely couldn't remember the order, and I'd lose my place halfway through and just start over. I felt a little silly about it at the time — but it's all a journey.
For the full how-to on purification — what it means, cleanliness after using the bathroom, and the complete steps for wudu — New Muslim Guide has a dedicated section:
You can also check all the steps with pictures in the Namazvdom app:
There are 5 prayers a day, each tied to the position of the sun rather than a fixed clock time, so they shift slightly every day:
| Prayer | When |
|---|---|
| Fajr | Dawn, before sunrise |
| Dhuhr | Midday, after the sun passes its peak |
| Asr | Late afternoon |
| Maghrib | Just after sunset |
| Isha | Night |
You don't need to calculate any of this by hand — an app will tell you the exact times for your location every day. Use Sajda, Muslim Pro, or any other app to check the exact time and set notifications:
Muslims pray facing the Kaaba in Mecca. This direction is called the Qibla, and it's different depending on where you are in the world. Use Sajda, Muslim Pro, or any other app to check the direction for your exact location:
Prayer is the foundation of our religion — it's the real connection between you and Allah, which is why it's the greatest act of worship in Islam. Allah asks us to pray no matter what's going on — whether you're home or traveling, feeling great or feeling sick.
For a full, scholar-reviewed walkthrough with pictures for every single step — standing, reciting, bowing, prostrating, sitting, all the way to the closing salam — New Muslim Guide has a dedicated page just for this:
I truly recommend to download Namazvdom app to help you to learn how to pray:
Your first prayer will probably not feel polished. You might forget a step, mix up the order, feel awkward standing there. That's completely fine — every single Muslim's first prayer looked like that. What matters is that you showed up.
Out of everything in this guide, the Quran is the one thing you'll keep coming back to for the rest of your life — not just as a book of rules, but as something that actually speaks to whatever you're going through, whenever you open it.
You don't need to own a physical copy right away, and you definitely don't need to understand the Arabic yet. What you need is a way to read it in a language you understand, alongside the original — and a willingness to sit with a few verses at a time rather than rushing through.
You don't need to start at page one and read straight through — that's actually not the easiest entry point for a lot of new Muslims. A gentler way in:
Dua is talking to Allah in your own words, in your own language. You don't need Arabic for this part — Allah understands you exactly as you are. It is your manifestation, your dreaming, you name it. You can ask for forgiveness, be grateful for everything you have (like your gratitude diary), and ask for what you want and need.
Dhikr is short, repeated remembrance — phrases said quietly throughout your day. Many new Muslims find this is what carries them through hard moments, far more than long study sessions do.
I like to do Tasbih (99 times) before I go to sleep.
You can find examples in the Muslim Pro and Sajda apps as well. My top combos:
This might be the single most healing thing you can do early on:
Doubts are not a sign you're a bad Muslim or that your faith is weak. Almost every Muslim, born or reverted, has moments of doubt or hard questions. The healthiest thing to do isn't to panic or suppress them — it's to ask. Find a knowledgeable person, a reliable scholar, or a trusted source, and bring the question to them directly instead of sitting alone with it.