Ok to make a long story short, I was sixteen when i was giving a paper to read regarding what they called lessons for a blackman.  The first name on the paper said, Allah= he is the supreme being controller master etc. of the universe, the rest were basic sayings of knowledge wisdom and understanding.....Basically the paper was talking in regards to the black man as being god....This could be broking down as Arm Leg Leg Arm Head, which spells Allah in english....So for years i studied these lessons and evetunally it didn't make no sense to me. I tried to think who is Allah and how can i find out what real Islam is....So years went by and I still had in my heart how can i find out real Islam....Then in the year of 2001 nine eleven happened and they began to talk about Islam...which made me even more curious becasue this is what i was trying to find out about for six years already. Then one day I was told that there are Muslims who were working in a store located at the mall and that they were told that i was interesting in learning about Islam...So i went to this store to find out about Islam...To my amazement the person working i already knew, He used to run laps around the gym while i used to play basketball....So we both started laughing. He told me about islam and that if i was interested to go with him to the masjid to talk with his father....So he used to invite me but my job always got in the way since he wanted me to go on a Friday..Then finally, i lost my job. So now i had no excuse to not go with him...So he took me to the masjid and his father sat me down and explained islam to me and then said if you don't understand this it's ok and I replied listen, If is wasn't supposed to be here i wouldn't be sitting here in front of you, so tell me how i become muslim and let's take it from there...So I took shahada and the journey began....Alhamdulillah Allah guided me to know him....So i used to sit and the masjid and read qur'an and hadith not knowing what they really were....So i have read alot of hadith from sahih bukhari and have read the qur'an a number of times.....Masha Allah........So this is my quick explanation of the road to Islam....Since then Allah has taught me through inspiration the things i needed to know. Still have alot of journey ahead...been through so much and the rest hasn't even come yet.........We are muslims and we shouldn't be divided by race homeland color etc, Are success in in Qur'an and Sunnah, whatever is Sahih we should learn to implimet in our lives....not seperated through madhabs...All the four scholars said" my madhab is whatever is sahih, and if evidence comes to you that points to a judgement i have made and is clear take from that and not from what i have said....This gives us the basis to realize that there were no such thing as shafi, hambali, hanafi, maliki, these were scholars trying to adhere to Qur'an and Sunnah, and some information might have not reached them that other scholars have been able to benefit from..For example when imam shafi lived in Iraq he had a madhab and later on when he moved to Egypt he developed another madhab based on the knowledge which he had come across.....may Allah guide us and unite the Ummah of Muhammad the seal of the prophets, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him....
 respectfully Rasheed Salam your brother in Islam....