Anwar Abdolmalek Melendez is an American Muslim convert from Pennsylvania who was a guest of the “Aqiq” program on Tehran TV with his Colombian wife.
According to the Estbasar revert world, Melendez, who has a Muslim father and a Christian mother, said in this program: I had become a Muslim through my grandfather, but I only had the name Islam and I did not know anything about it because I had grown up in a Christian atmosphere. I was seventeen years old when God wanted me to get acquainted with real Islam because my aunt’s husband was a Shia Muslim and his children were also Muslims. My cousin told me about Islam, and this made the light of Islam shine in my heart.
Melendez considered two important principles effective in his Islamic awakening, one was the unity of God and monotheism, that God is one and greater than everything in the world, and the second was the prophecy. Prophets from Adam to Mohammad (sawas) have been sent from God towards all people, I think the light of Islam has been in the whole world and in all times and it cannot be limited to Arabia or a specific place.
The young American, who had tasted the sweetness of Shiism with all his heart, said:
Becoming a Shia Muslim was the most significant event in my life. My main proof to be a Shia Muslim was Ghadir Khum incident, because it indicates the truthness of Shiism in the best way and that and was very interesting to me.
Today I am in a Shia country and I like living in this country because we can easily go to prayer and do our religious and spiritual affairs without any problem or danger.
Sheikh Anwar said about meeting his wife: I was in Chile for a while and I used to go to the mosque for prayers. There I met a Colombian Muslim. He told me that there is a young girl who is looking for the truth of Islam. Can you help her? I accepted and that’s how we met for the first time. When I returned to America, I kept thinking about whether I would be able to see her again or not until she sent me an email and said that she had converted to Islam.
The result of this marriage was a little girl named Fatimah Halima. The new Muslim wife of Sheikh Anwar said in this program about their daughter: When I was pregnant, I didn’t know if my child was a boy or a girl. Once I saw some strange person in my dream who told me your child is a girl, her name is Fatima Halimah. It was interesting to me when I found out that my child is a girl, that’s why we named her Fatima Halima and we want her to grow up good and righteous.
Melendez’s wife did not know Farsi well and spoke in Spanish and her husband translated. She said that she loves Hazrat Fatima Zahra (peace be upon her) very much because she is the most perfect role model for all women. She had a complete and universal character that alongside her high status and greatness, she was so humble and kind.
Anwar Abdolmalek Melendez is a resident of the city of Qom. He said that the best place in Qom is the holy shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh (peace be upon her), which is so peaceful and I usually go next to the grave of Ayatollah Behjat.
Imam Khomeini is a great personality that is difficult for me to fully understand, and the fact that such a great scholar had a gentle and soft soul and used to write poetry is very exciting and interesting.