The Changing Face Of Germany

The Story Of A Muslim Convert

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world. All across the globe different individuals from different cultures and backgrounds are embracing Islam. Many are from Western countries. Each new convert has a story, a journey and a reason. And each has experienced significant changes in their lives. Many describe the experience as being born anew and some simply can’t find the words to explain. 

Isabelle Wachter is amongst the many Muslim converts in Europe. She is a German lawyer and mother of three. In this documentary she will share her story of converting to Islam and her new life as a Muslim woman in the German society.

4 Men Who Converted To Islam Arrested In India

Four members of a family arrested in Madhya Pradesh under the Freedom of Religion Act.

Four members of a family who have converted to Islam were arrested last night in Madhya Pradesh, hours after they told a court that they had not been forced into adopting another religion. Seven others have been held for questioning.

Tularam Jatav, his son Keshav and relatives Manikram and Makhubhai Jatav were arrested on Wednesday under the state's Freedom of Religion Act, which allows conversions only if the district administration has verified that they are not forced. Those wanting to change their religion have to seek the state's permission.

All four, if found guilty, face two years in jail.

On Tuesday, when the Jatav family went to a district magistrate with affidavits affirming that they were converting willingly, a large group of activists from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal arrived too, and started protesting and chanting slogans. 

Later, an FIR was filed against the Jatavs and a team was sent to their house.

The VHP and Bajrang Dal are both part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-led pro-Hindu conglomerate that includes the state's ruling BJP. 

Officials say the Jatavs appear to have violated the law, as the probe team had learnt that they had switched to Islam months ago without informing the government.

Others in their village went to the police on August 28 and alleged that forced conversions were taking place in the family. The Jatavs denied it twice, but yesterday, shortly after they tried to submit affidavits in a court, they were held.

"We have not been forced to convert; we were inspired by the teachings of Islam. This is an unnecessary controversy," said Keshav Jatav, before being taken into custody.

A police team will now investigate the villagers' allegation.

Source: NDTV

"Islam Has Given Me Happiness"

New Zealand’s Sonny Bill Williams reflects on his return to rugby league after a successful spell playing union, where he won the World Cup with the All Blacks.

He says Islam is important to him, adding that he “wouldn't be half the man I am today without my faith”.

Samaritan Jewish Rabbi Recognizes The Prophethood Of Muhammad (PBUH)

(كبير كهنة يهود السامره يعترف بنبوة الرسول الأمين محمد بن عبد الله (صلى الله عليه وسلم

In Arabic Only.

Why I Accepted Islam

After twenty-five years as a writer in America, I wanted something to soften my cynicism.  I was searching for new terms by which to see. 

By Michael Wolfe

The way one is raised establishes certain needs in this department. 

From a pluralist background, I naturally placed great stress on the matters of racism and freedom.  Then, in my early twenties, I had gone to live in Africa for three years.  During this time, which was formative for me, I rubbed shoulders with blacks of many different tribes, with Arabs, Berbers, and even Europeans, who were Muslims.  By and large these people did not share the Western obsession with race as a social category.  In our encounters, being oddly colored, rarely mattered.  I was welcomed first and judged on merit later.  By contrast, Europeans and Americans, including many who are free of racist notions, automatically class people racially.  Muslims classified people by their faith and their actions.  I found this transcendent and refreshing.  Malcolm X saw his nation’s salvation in it.  “America needs to understand Islam,” he wrote, “because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem.”

I was looking for an escape route, too, from the isolating terms of a materialistic culture.  I wanted access to a spiritual dimension, but the conventional paths I had known as a boy were closed.  My father had been a Jew; my mother Christian.  Because of my mongrel background, I had a foot in two religious camps.  Both faiths were undoubtedly profound.  Yet the one that emphasizes a chosen people I found insupportable; while the other, based in a mystery, repelled me.  A century before, my maternal great-great-grandmother’s name had been set in stained glass at the high street Church of Christ in Hamilton, Ohio.

By the time I was twenty, this meant nothing to me.

These were the terms my early life provided.  The more I thought about it now, the more I returned to my experiences in Muslim Africa.  After two return trips to Morocco, in 1981 and 1985, I came to feel that Africa, the continent, had little to do with the balanced life I found there.  It was not, that is, a continent I was after, nor an institution, either.  I was looking for a framework I could live with, a vocabulary of spiritual concepts applicable to the life I was living now.  I did not want to “trade in” my culture.  I wanted access to new meanings.

After a mid-Atlantic dinner I went to wash up in the bathroom.  During my absence a quorum of Hasidim lined up to pray outside the door.  By the time I had finished, they were too immersed to notice me.  Emerging  from the bathroom, I could barely work the handle.  Stepping into the aisle was out of the question.

I could only stand with my head thrust into the hallway, staring at the congregation’s backs.  Holding palm-size prayer books, they cut an impressive figure, tapping the texts on their breastbones as they divined.  Little by little the movements grew erratic, like a mild, bobbing form of rock and roll.  I watched from the bathroom door until they were finished, then slipped back down the aisle to my seat.

We landed together later that night in Brussels.  Reboarding, I found a discarded Yiddish newspaper on a food tray.  When the plane took off for Morocco, they were gone.

I do not mean to imply here that my life during this period conformed to any grand design.  In the beginning, around 1981, I was driven by curiosity and an appetite for travel.  My favorite place to go, when I had the money, was Morocco.  When I could not travel, there were books.

This fascination brought me into contact with a handful of writers driven to the exotic, authors capable of sentences like this, by Freya Stark:

“The perpetual charm of Arabia is that the traveler finds his level there simply as a human being; the people’s directness, deadly to the sentimental or the pedantic, like the less complicated virtues; and the pleasantness of being liked for oneself might, I think, be added to the five reasons for travel given me by Sayyid Abdulla, the watchmaker; “to leave one’s troubles behind one; to earn a living; to acquire learning; to practice good manners; and to meet honorable men”.

I could not have drawn up a list of demands, but I had a fair idea of what I was after.  The religion I wanted should be to metaphysics as metaphysics is to science.  It would not be confined by a narrow rationalism or traffic in mystery to please its priests.  There would be no priests, no separation between nature and things sacred.  There would be no war with the flesh, if I could help it.  Sex would be natural, not the seat of a curse upon the species.  Finally, I did want a ritual component, daily routine to sharpen the senses and discipline my mind.  Above all, I wanted clarity and freedom.  I did not want to trade away reason simply to be saddled with a dogma.

The more I learned about Islam, the more it appeared to conform to what I was after.

Most of the educated Westerners I knew around this time regarded any strong religious climate with suspicion.  They classified religion as political manipulation, or they dismissed it as a medieval concept, projecting upon it notions from their European past.

It was not hard to find a source for their opinions.  A thousand years of Western history had left us plenty of fine reasons to regret a path that led through so much ignorance and slaughter.  From the Children’s Crusade and the Inquisition to the transmogrified faiths of nazism and communism during our century, whole countries have been exhausted by belief.  Nietzsche’s fear, that the modern nation-state would become a substitute religion, has proved tragically accurate.  Our century, it seemed to me, was ending in an age beyond belief, which believers inhabited as much as agnostics.

Regardless of church affiliation, secular humanism is the air westerners breathe, the lens we gaze through.  Like any world view, this outlook is pervasive and transparent.  It forms the basis of our broad identification with democracy and with the pursuit of freedom in all its countless and beguiling forms.  Immersed in our shared preoccupations, one may easily forget that other ways of life exist on the same planet.

At the time of my trip, for instance, 650 million Muslims with a majority representation in forty-four countries adhered to the formal teachings of Islam.  In addition, about 400 million more were living as minorities in Europe, Asia and the Americas.  Assisted by post-colonial economics, Islam has become in a matter of thirty years a major faith in Western Europe.  Of the world’s great religions, Islam alone was adding to its fold.

My politicized friends were dismayed by my new interest.  They all but universally confused Islam with the machinations of half a dozen middle eastern tyrants.  The books they read, the new broadcasts they viewed depicted the faith as a set of political functions.  Almost nothing was said of its spiritual practice.  I liked to quote Mae West to them:

“Anytime you take religion for a joke, the laugh’s on you.”

Historically, a Muslim sees Islam as the final, matured expression of an original religion reaching back to Adam.  It is as resolutely monotheistic as Judaism, whose major Prophets Islam reveres as links in a progressive chain, culminating in Jesus and Muhammad (s), may God praise them.  Essentially a message of renewal, Islam has done its part on the world stage to return the forgotten taste of life’s lost sweetness to millions of people.  Its book, the Quran, caused Goethe to remark, “You see, this teaching never fails; with all our systems, we cannot go, and generally speaking no man can go, further.

Traditional Islam is expressed through the practice of five pillars. 

Declaring one’s faith, prayer, charity, and fasting are activities pursued repeatedly throughout one’s life.  Conditions permitting, each Muslim is additionally charged with undertaking a pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime.  The Arabic term for this fifth rite is Hajj. 

Scholars relate the word to the concept of ‘qasd’, “aspiration,” and to the notion of men and women as travelers on earth.  In Western religions, pilgrimage is a vestigial tradition, a quaint, folkloric concept commonly reduced to metaphor.  Among Muslims, on the other hand, the Hajj embodies a vital experience for millions of new pilgrims every year.  In spite of the modern content of their lives, it remains an act of obedience, a profession of belief, and the visible expression of a spiritual community.  For a majority of Muslims the Hajj is an ultimate goal, the trip of a lifetime.

As a convert, I felt obliged to go to Makkah.  As an addict to travel I could not imagine a more compelling goal.

The annual, month-long fast of Ramadan precedes the Hajj by about one hundred days.  These two rites form a period of intensified awareness in Muslim society.  I wanted to put this period to use.  I had read about Islam; I [attended] a Mosque near my home in California; I had started a practice.  Now I hoped to deepen what I was learning by submerging myself in a religion where Islam infuses every aspect of existence.

I planned to begin in Morocco, because I knew that country well and because it followed traditional Islam and was fairly stable.  The last place I wanted to start was in a backwater full of uproarious sectarians.  I wanted to paddle the mainstream, the broad, calm water.

Michael Wolfe (born 3 April 1945, United States) is a poet, author, and the President and Executive Producer of Unity Productions Foundation.

He is also a frequent lecturer on Islamic issues at universities across the United States including Harvard, Georgetown, Stanford, SUNY Buffalo, and Princeton. He holds a degree in Classics from Wesleyan University.

Women and Islam: The Rise and Rise Of The Convert

Three-quarters of Britons who become Muslims are female. Now a major new study has shed light on the difficulties they face in adjusting to their new life. 

By RICHARD PEPPIATT 
SUNDAY 06 NOVEMBER 2011 
Courtesy Of "The Independent"

Record numbers of young, white British women are converting to Islam, yet many are reporting a lack of help as they get used to their new religion, according to several surveys.

As Muslims celebrate the start of the religious holiday of Eid today and hundreds of thousands from around the world converge on Mecca for the haj, it emerged that of the 5,200 Britons who converted to Islam last year, more than half are white and 75 per cent of them women.

In the past 10 years some 100,000 British people have converted to Islam, of whom some three-quarters are women, according to the latest statistics. This is a significant increase on the 60,000 Britons in the previous decade, according to researchers based at Swansea University.

While the number of UK converts accelerates, many of the British women who adopt Islam say they have a daily struggle to assimilate their new beliefs within a wider culture that both implicitly and explicitly positions them as outsiders, regardless of their Western upbringing.

More than three-quarters told researchers they had experienced high levels of confusion after conversion, due to the conflicting ways Islam was presented to them. While other major religions have established programmes for guiding new believers through the rigours of their faith, Islam still lacks any such network, especially outside the Muslim hubs of major cities.

Many mosques still bar women from worship or provide scant resources for their needs, forcing them to rely on competing cultural and ideological interpretations within books or the internet for religious support.

A recent study of converts in Leicester, for example, found that 93 per cent of mosques in the region recognised they lacked services for new Muslims, yet only 7 per cent said they were making efforts to address the shortfall.

Many of the young women – the average age of conversion is 27 – are also coming to terms with experiences of discrimination for the first time, despite the only visible difference being a headscarf. Yet few find easy sanctuary within the established Muslim population, with the majority forming their closest bonds with fellow converts rather than born Muslims.

Kevin Brice, author of the Swansea study A Minority Within a Minority, said to be the most comprehensive study of British Muslim converts, added: "White Muslim converts are caught between two increasingly distant camps. Their best relationships remain with other converts, because of their shared experiences, while there is very little difference between the quality of their relationship with other Muslims or non-Muslims.

"My research also found converts came in two types: some are converts of convenience, who adopt the religion because of a life situation such as meeting a Muslim man, although the religion has little discernible impact on their day-to-day lives. For others it is a conversion of conviction where they feel a calling and embrace the religion robustly.

"That's not to say the two are mutually exclusive – sometimes converts start out on their religious path through convenience and become converts of conviction later on."

Another finding revealed by the Leicester study was that despite Western portraits of Islam casting it as oppressive to women, a quarter of female converts were attracted to the religion precisely because of thestatus it affords them.

Some analysts have argued that dizzying social and cultural upheavals in Britain over the past decades have meant that far from adopting an alien way of life, some female Muslim converts are re-embracing certain aspects of mid-20th-century Britain, such as rigid gender demarcation, rather than feeling expected to juggle career and family.

The first established Muslim communities started in Britain in the 1860s, when Yemani sailors and Somali labourers settled around the ports of London, Cardiff, Liverpool and Hull. Many married local women who converted to Islam, often suffering widespread discrimination as a result.

They also acted as a bridge between the two cultures, encouraging understanding among indigenous dwellers and helping to integrate the Muslim community they had joined. Today, there is growing recognition among community leaders that the latest generation of female converts has an equally vital role to play in fostering dialogue between an increasingly secular British majority and a minority religion, as misunderstood as it is vilified.

Kristiane Backer, 45

Television presenter and author, London

I converted to Islam in 1995 after Imran Khan introduced me to the faith. At the time I was a presenter for MTV. I used to have all the trappings of success, yet I felt an inner emptiness and somewhat dissatisfied in my life.

The entertainment industry is very much about "if you've got it, flaunt it", which is the exact opposite to the more inward-oriented spiritual attitude of my new faith. My value system changed and God became the centre point of my life and what I was striving towards.

I recognise some new converts feel isolated but, despite there being even fewer resources when I converted than there are now, it isn't so much an issue I've faced. I've always felt welcomed and embraced by the Muslims I met and developed a circle of friends and teachers. It helps living in London, because there is so much to engage in as part of the Muslim community. Yet, even in the capital you can be stared at on the Tube for wearing a headscarf. I usually don't wear one in the West except when praying. I wear the scarf in front of my heart though!

I always try to explain to people that I've converted to Islam, not to any culture. Suppression of women, honour killings or forced marriages are all cultural aberrations, not Islamic ones. Islam is also about dignity and respect for yourself and your femininity. Even in the dating game, Muslim men are very respectful. Women are cherished as mothers, too – as a Muslim woman you are not expected to do it all."

Amy Sall, 28

Retail assistant, Middlesbrough

I'd say I'm still a bit of a party animal – but I'm also a Muslim. I do go out on the town with the girls and I don't normally wear my headscarf – I know I should do, but I like to do my hair and look nice! I know there are certain clothes I shouldn't wear either, even things that just show off your arms, but I still do. My husband would like me to be a better Muslim – he thinks drinking is evil – so it does cause rows.

I haven't worshipped in a mosque since I got married, I find it intimidating. I worry about doing something wrong; people whispering because they see my blonde hair and blue eyes. Middlesbrough is a difficult place to be a Muslim who isn't Asian – you tend to be treated like an outsider. Once, I was out wearing my headscarf and a local man shouted abuse. It was weird because I'm white and he was white, but all he saw was the scarf, I suppose. It did make me angry. My family were surprisingly fine with me converting, probably because they thought it would rein me in from being a bit wild.

Nicola Penty-Alvarez, 26

Full-time mother, Uxbridge

I was always interested in philosophy and the meaning of life and when I came across Islam it all just clicked. In the space of four or five months I went from going to raves to wearing a headscarf, praying five times a day and generally being quite pious – I did occasionally smoke though.

I felt very welcomed into the Muslim community, but it was a mainly white convert community. My impression of the Asian community in west London was that women felt sidelined and were encouraged to stay at home and look after the men rather than attend mosque. I think this was more a cultural than religious thing, though.

Non-Muslims certainly treat you differently when you're wearing a headscarf – they're less friendly and as a smiley person I found that hard. After a year-and-a-half of being a Muslim I stopped. I remember the moment perfectly. I was in a beautiful mosque in Morocco praying beside an old lady and something just came over me. I thought: 'What the hell am I doing? How have I got into this?' It just suddenly didn't feel right. Needless to say my husband, who was a fellow convert, wasn't impressed. He remained devout and it put a lot of strain on our relationship. We split up, but are on amicable terms now. I'm not really in contact with the Muslim friends I made – we drifted apart.

I don't regret the experience. There is so much that I learnt spiritually that I've kept and I haven't gone back to my hard partying ways.

Donna Tunkara

Warehouse operative, Middlesbrough

I was a bit of a tearaway growing up – drinking, smoking, running away from home and being disrespectful to my parents. I converted 10 years ago because I met a Muslim man but I've probably become more devout than him.

Sometimes, I miss going shopping for clothes to hit the town and then going home and getting ready with my mates, having a laugh. The thing is no one is forcing me not to – it's my choice.

It did come as a shock to my family, who are Christian. They've not rejected me, but they find it difficult to understand. I feel bad because I don't now attend weddings, funerals or christenings because they're often at pubs and clubs and I won't step inside.

There needs to be more resources for women who convert. I know some mosques that won't allow women in. But in the Koran there is an emphasis on women being educated. I've learnt about the religion through my husband's family and books – if you want support you have to look for it. It's taken time to regain an identity I'm comfortable with. Because I'm mixed race and a Muslim ,people don't see me as British – but what's important is that I know who I am.

What Can The West Learn From Islam?

Submitted By "CavalierZee"

With riots, economic crises and soaring crime rates prevailing in Europe & America, what aspects of Islam can western governments apply to improve socio-economic and political ills of their society? 

The Archbishop of Canterbury was attacked savagely in the media in 2008 for suggesting that the Islamic Hudood (punishment system) could decrease crime rates in Britain. 

Many economists have recently suggested that the IMF & World Banking system be replaced by the implementation of the gold & silver currency, absent of interest rates to solidify real worth to money. 

With the west being at its most vulnerable position, questions have been raised over their validity to campaign across the world propagating freedom and democratic values. In this edition of the show we ask the following question: What can the West learn from Islam?

Islam In America ... en Español

By Wilfredo Amr Ruiz 
Muslim Chaplain, Attorney and Political Analyst 
Posted: 11/16/11 07:27 AM ET 
Courtesy Of "The Huffington Post"

America's ever-growing Latino-Muslim population has yet to be estimated statistically. However, it is indisputable that with exponential growth Latino-Muslims find increasing presence and voice in the American Muslim public square.

Latino paths to Islam are as diverse as Hispanic countries of origin and roots: from the Caribbean, Central and South America or even Spain. The conduits to their new spiritual journeys derive from a variety of life experiences that range from the sublime appeal of accidentally listening to Quranic recitation or from a close encounter with a Muslim performing one of his five daily prayers. Many Latinos, men and women, embraced Islam vicariously through their fiancées' faith before marriage; and we find many who decided to adopt their spouse's faith after years of marriage. For others, the pathway to Islam was forged while trying to fill a spiritual void or satisfy some inquisitiveness after initiating formal academic research or an informal Google search on news related to Islam, the Muslim World, Islamist movements, terrorism, ongoing military conflicts or the Arab Spring.

Some Latino Muslim Americans are completely blended into heterogeneous communities, while others claim distinction within their communities of worship. Take, for example, the Latinos of the North Hudson Islamic Educational Center in Union City, N.J., who recently celebrated their ninth annual "Hispanic Muslim Day" at a well-attended ceremony that concluded with various guests embracing Islam.

Another Muslim American phenomenon is the surge in Muslim organizations founded and operated by Latino Muslims, or in which Latinos play a significant role. Part and parcel of the growing Latino movement to embrace Islam is the burgeoning need to cater to this community in Spanish, its native tongue. This explains the advent of various Latino Islamic organizations such as "Islam in Spanish," whose managing coordinator, Abdullah Danny Hernandez, is a Puerto Rican who studied at Al Azhar University in Egypt. Another active organization is the Latin American Da'wah Organization (LADO) whose director, Mexican-American Juan Galván, leads its educational efforts. Various established organizations now included Latino Muslims in their staff. Such is the case of Nahela Alexandra Morales, a Mexican who works in the Islamic Council of North America's "Why Islam?" project, where she assists in the national and international assemblage and distribution of educational materials in Spanish. In past years, other existing organizations have gradually grown to provide significant space for Latino Muslims. Such is the case of the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA), which has distributed more than 20,000 Spanish translations of the Quran and opened a Spanish educational materials distribution branch in Puerto Rico. Also, the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) South Florida Chapter's "CAIR en Español" project aims to provide advocacy services for Latino Muslims in pursuit of their civil liberties.

When it comes to Latino Muslim acceptance in the American landscape, they are not exempt from experiencing challenges and struggles confronted by the broader American Muslim community. They too fall victim to Islamophobic discourse carried out by known bigots like Pamela Geller, Joe Kaufman and Robert Spencer, who devote full-time efforts to demeaning Islam and belittling the American Muslim community. They also suffer continuous affronts coming from certain politicians who have adopted a negative approach to Muslims in America, like presidential hopeful Herman Cain and Congressmen Allen West and Peter King. Their unconstructive discourses vilify Muslims, such as when Cain openly revealed his reluctance to appoint Muslims to his cabinet if elected, or when Peter King conducted congressional investigations specifically targeting the American Muslim community. Another elected politician, Rep. Allen West from Florida, is known for his hateful rhetoric slandering Islam and the American Muslim community.

Latino Muslims are predisposed to exemplify tolerance as their historical circumstances render them champions of interreligious dialogue and acceptance. Often, their beloved parents, brothers and sisters practice Christianity and their families are living examples of interfaith love. What is unquestionable is that Latino Muslims are here in the "hood." Their voice and presence in all socio-political spheres is increasingly palpable and growing stronger. They are here to stay and contribute in many positive aspects. Above all, their presence adds to our national value of spirituality in peace and harmony with others.

Conversion To Islam 1 Result Of Post-9/11 Curiosity

By Omar Sacirbey
Religion News Service
First Posted: 8/24/11 05:42 PM ET
Updated: 8/24/11 06:25 PM ET
Courtesy Of "The Huffington Post"

BOSTON (RNS) Like a lot of other people in the haze and confusion of the 9/11 attacks, Johannah Segarich asked herself: "What kind of religion is this that could inspire people to do this?"

She had studied other religions, but never Islam. So she bought a copy of the Quran, wondering if her notions of Islam as a patriarchal and now seemingly violent religion, would be confirmed.

Then she got to the first chapter, with its seven-line message about seeking guidance from a merciful creator. She finished the Quran a few weeks later, then started reading it again. About half way through, barely 10 weeks after 9/11, "I came to the realization," she said, "that I had a decision to make."

Segarich began studying Islam more intensely, and within a few months, the Utah-born music instructor made her Islamic declaration of faith, or shehadah, at the Islamic Society of Boston in Cambridge.

"It seemed kind of crazy to do. I was a middle-aged professional woman, very independent, very contemporary, and here I was turning to this religion, which at that point was so reviled," Segarich recalled.

Indeed, it seems counterintuitive that Americans would consider joining a religion that many associate with terrorism and violence -- especially after 9/11. But there are more than a few people like Segarich who, compelled by curiosity, became converts.

The majority of post-9/11 converts are women, according to experts. Hispanics and African-Americans, who were already converting well before 9/11, are the most common ethnic groups to convert.

Though exact numbers are difficult to tally, observers estimate that as many as 20,000 Americans convert to Islam annually.

Some conversions make headlines, such as Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist who converted in 2003 after being held captive by Taliban; Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair; or the rapper known as Loon, who converted last year.

Angela Collins Telles grew up in southern California but had a travel bug that took her to Egypt and Syria, where she made friends and found most people generous and compassionate. When anti-Muslim rhetoric flared after 9/11, Collins Telles felt a need to push back.

"I saw my country demonizing these people as terrorists and oppressors of women, and I couldn't think of anything further from the truth," she said, "and I felt a need to stand-up and defend them. But then I realized that I couldn't argue without knowledge."

Like other converts, Collins Telles said some Christian beliefs, such as the Trinity and priests as intermediaries to God -- had never quite seemed right her.

"The concept of God was the most beautiful thing, and that concept fit with what I believe," said Collins Telles, who converted a few months after 9/11.

Chicagoan Kelly Kaufmann had a similar experience. When relatives chastised her for volunteering for President Obama's presidential campaign because they believed, erroneously, he is Muslim, she felt a need to study religion. When she came to Islam, her beliefs finally seemed in sync.

"Once I realized that's where my beliefs aligned, I had that big uh-oh moment that a lot of people have when they realize, 'Uh-oh, the (religion) I align with is the big fat scary one, as treated by the media, and understood as such by the public," she said.

But after nearly a year of study, Kaufmann could find nothing wrong with Islam. She decided to convert after confronting a man at a public lecture who said Muslims hated peace.

"That's when I realized, if I'm taking this personally, I think I must be ready," she said.

Because of a slow but steady number of converts, many mosques have launched programs to help them with learning the essentials: prayer, basic beliefs, and proper behavior.

Vaqar Sharief, who was tapped to create a program for converts at the Islamic Center of Wilmington, Del., estimates his mosque gets four or five converts every month.

Despite their enthusiasm, some converts worry about how friends and colleagues will react, or whether they are exposing themselves to harassment or attack.

"I guess it will always be a concern until the rhetoric changes a little bit," said Kaufmann, whose family has been supportive -- except for an uncle who now forbids his daughter from seeing Kaufmann. "What are they afraid of, conversion by proximity?"

Trisha Squires hasn't been a Muslim for even a month, following her July 31 declaration of faith, and has told only a few people, with mixed results.

Among the disappointing reactions was a close friend who said, "The godmother of my children is going to be a Muslim?" Squires hesitates to wear a headscarf to work, unsure what her employer might think.

Others, however, don't worry at all.

"I never cared about being accepted," said Collins Telles, who now lives in Brazil with her husband, who also converted after meeting her. "I knew that I had found God, and that's all I ever wanted."

Around The Web:

 Religious conversion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 List of converts to Islam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Ramadan Reflection Day 20: Taking Care of Converts

 Converting to Islam - How To Convert to Islam

Latino and Muslim: A Growing Minority

Posted by Audris Ponce
On Aug 22 2011
Courtesy Of "The Venture Online"

Latino and Muslim are two words that come charged with various sentiments in American society. Being a Latino Muslim comes with the challenge of facing both religious and ethnic ostracism.

Juan Alvarado was raised Catholic by his Dominican parents but converted to Islam at the end of his college years.

“My father was the one that didn’t like the idea,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado, one of the first in his family to go to college, felt a new sense of independence when he came back home.

“I left when I was 18 and returned when I was 22,” he said. “You change, and you can’t be the same person anyway.”

When Alvarado told his parents about his newfound faith, it wasn’t easy for them to accept his conversion, particularly his father.

“He told me, ‘Te lavaron el cerebro.’ ‘You were brainwashed’,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado shared how practices that are commonplace, such as everyone getting days off from work for Christmas, remind him of the difference in his religious beliefs from the majority of the people.

“Sometimes it’s lonely because of that,” Alvarado said. “You are basically a stranger in your own world.”

This difference is especially heightened when it comes to the Latino community, where Christmases filled with posadas and midnight church services.

“Sometimes when I’m in my mosque, and a person doesn’t know who I am starts talking to me in Arabic or Turkish, and I’m like, ‘I’m sorry I don’t speak that’,” Alvarado said.

“But then you feel in that weird in-between-place; you’re not quite part of them,” he said. “You feel tri-cultural, not bicultural: American, Hispanic and Muslim.”

Alvarado is part of two groups whose numbers are consistently growing.

In 2007, the American Muslim Council estimated that there were 200,000 Latino Muslims. There is no exact figure because the U.S. Census Bureau does not collect religious information.

Despite the negatively associated belief that women are oppressed in Islam, more Latina women than men are converting to the faith.

Fizah B. Naqvi is a Latina who was born Muslim, whose mother converted to Islam.

“I know my mom and her convert friends, who are Hispanic too, are well respected in the Muslim community because they researched and then found their inner peace,” Naqvi said. “Those women want to find that structure or stability in their life. Islam at its core is pretty peaceful.”

Latinos converting are contributing to the growth of the Muslim community in U.S.

The population projections show the number of Muslims more than doubling over the next two decades, rising from 2.6 million in 2010 to 6.2 million in 2030, according to the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.

The fastest growing religion in the world is Islam, with the Muslim population expected to increase by about 35% in the next 20 years, rising to 2.2 billion by 2030, according to Pew.

Alvarado shares how currently Muslims are looked upon as an oddity, but that will soon change.

“A lot of people want to talk to us, why we want to become Muslims. It’s like a weird popularity contest,” he said.

“They think if you become Muslim, you are not Hispanic. What is Hispanic? It’s not something you can opt out of. We are still Hispanic,” Alvarado said. “I think of myself as a Hispanic or Latino person; because I became Muslim doesn’t mean I reject who I am, I only reject what I see as unrighteous acts.”

From Guantanamo To Makkah

A top view of the Grand Mosque in Makkah.


By NASIM CHOWDHURY
Published: Jun 4, 2011 23:02
Updated: Jun 5, 2011 00:46
Courtesy Of "Arab News"

JEDDAH: The Grand Mosque in Makkah is a very long distance in every sense of the word from Camp Delta, the infamous US Navy detention center at the base at Guantanamo Bay, but life has its ironies and this one involves the journey made by former Guantanamo prison guard Terry Holdbrooks, who performed Umrah last week.

Terry, now known as Mustafa, embraced Islam in 2003 while guarding terror suspects (who have never gone to trial) at Camp Delta and was dismissed shortly afterward. The conduct of the inmates, a Moroccan among them in particular, was a major factor behind his conversion. Prior to that, his only exposure to Muslim culture amounted to seeing actor Morgan Freeman play a Muslim character in the movie "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves."

His interaction with the prisoners drove him to look into Islam and study it for himself, and it was in this journey of reading and insight that convinced him to embrace the faith, he says.

“It (Islam) has kept my life very simple and very military-like with regard to regiment and structure," he said. "I enjoyed the military, and I enjoy Islam for the discipline that it requires of its followers.”

When Holdbrooks, 27, was invited by Shazaad Mohammed, president and founder of the Canadian Dawah Association (CDA), to perform the minor pilgrimage, he jumped at the opportunity. The CDA Celebrity Relations Program, under which Holdbrooks was given the invitation, “is inspired by the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) sending out invitations to regional leaders inviting them to embrace Islam,” says Shazaad Mohammed, who is also a UN Ambassador for Peace and adviser to many celebrities.

Holdbrooks had the opportunity to view the letters for himself when he visited various museums, holy sites and other attractions in Madinah, which he visited prior to his arrival in Makkah last Friday.

Former guests of the CDA Celebrity Relations Program include comedian David Chappelle, former rap stars Napoleon, Philadelphia Freeway, LOON and Jack Frost, and former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.

“When I first saw Makkah and saw the Kaaba, I was a little taken aback; it is sort of hard to take it all in with just one day to do so, or two days. You need a few days to really take it all in. I was in awe and realized that this was the center of my world. Maybe not the center of everyone’s world, or every Muslim’s world, but it is the center of my world,” said Holdbrooks.

After the Umrah, Holdbrooks had the opportunity to meet Sheikh Faisal Al-Ghazzawi, one of the imams of the Grand Mosque, who expressed his delight at meeting the American convert and gave advice regarding remaining steadfast in Islam, the importance of good character and the value of calling others to the faith.

The next day, Holdbrooks visited the Holy Kaaba Kiswah Factory in Makkah and had the honor of putting a few stitches in the new Kiswah that will be placed on the Kaaba in Haj season at the end of this Islamic year.

The trip was facilitated and assisted by the office of the General Affairs for the Two Holy Mosques, and Holdbrooks expressed his amazement at the efforts that the Kingdom has exerted in making sure that pilgrims are well-cared for and provided with every possible service.

Having returned to the United States, and reflecting upon his trip, Holdbrooks says he feels, "rejuvenated, refreshed and making new decisions.”

“Yes, it was an amazing experience," he added. "It has refreshed me and given me more rope to hold on strong. When I feel that rope slipping, Allah does something like this and gives me more rope and allows for me to hold on strong. 

Thank you Allah!”

I'm Now A Muslim. Why All The Shock & Horror?

Lauren Booth . . .'How hard and callous non-Muslim friends and colleagues began to seem'. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

News that Lauren Booth has converted to Islam provoked a storm of negative comments. Here she explains how it came about – and why it's time to stop patronising Muslim women

By Lauren Booth
Wednesday 3 November 2010
Courtesy Of "The Guardian"

It is five years since my first visit to Palestine. And when I arrived in the region, to work alongside charities in Gaza and the West Bank, I took with me the swagger of condescension that all white middle-class women (secretly or outwardly) hold towards poor Muslim women, women I presumed would be little more than black-robed blobs, silent in my peripheral vision. As a western woman with all my freedoms, I expected to deal professionally with men alone. After all, that's what the Muslim world is all about, right?

This week's screams of faux horror from fellow columnists on hearing of my conversion to Islam prove that this remains the stereotypical view regarding half a billion women currently practising Islam.

On my first trip to Ramallah, and many subsequent visits to Palestine, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, I did indeed deal with men in power. And, dear reader, one or two of them even had those scary beards we see on news bulletins from far-flung places we've bombed to smithereens. Surprisingly (for me) I also began to deal with a lot of women of all ages, in all manner of head coverings, who also held positions of power. Believe it or not, Muslim women can be educated, work the same deadly hours we do, and even boss their husbands about in front of his friends until he leaves the room in a huff to go and finish making the dinner.

Is this patronising enough for you? I do hope so, because my conversion to Islam has been an excuse for sarcastic commentators to heap such patronising points of view on to Muslim women everywhere. So much so, that on my way to a meeting on the subject of Islamophobia in the media this week, I seriously considered buying myself a hook and posing as Abu Hamza. After all, judging by the reaction of many women columnists, I am now to women's rights what the hooked one is to knife and fork sales.

So let's all just take a deep breath and I'll give you a glimpse into the other world of Islam in the 21st century. Of course, we cannot discount the appalling way women are mistreated by men in many cities and cultures, both with and without an Islamic population. Women who are being abused by male relatives are being abused by men, not God. Much of the practices and laws in "Islamic" countries have deviated from (or are totally unrelated) to the origins of Islam. Instead practices are based on cultural or traditional (and yes, male-orientated) customs that have been injected into these societies. For example, in Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive by law. This rule is an invention of the Saudi monarchy, our government's close ally in the arms and oil trade. The fight for women's rights must sadly adjust to our own government's needs.

My own path to Islam began with an awakening to the gap between what had been drip-fed to me about all Muslim life – and the reality.

I began to wonder about the calmness exuded by so many of the "sisters" and "brothers". Not all; these are human beings we're talking about. But many. And on my visit to Iran this September, the washing, kneeling, chanting recitations of the prayers at the mosques I visited reminded me of the west's view of an entirely different religion; one that is known for eschewing violence and embracing peace and love through quiet meditation. A religion trendy with movie stars such as Richard Gere, and one that would have been much easier to admit to following in public – Buddhism. Indeed, the bending, kneeling and submission of Muslim prayers resound with words of peace and contentment. Each one begins, "Bismillahir rahmaneer Raheem" – "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate" – and ends with the phrase "Assalamu Alaykhum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh" – Peace be upon you all and God's mercy and blessing.

Almost unnoticed to me, when praying for the last year or so, I had been saying "Dear Allah" instead of "Dear God". They both mean the same thing, of course, but for the convert to Islam the very alien nature of the language of the holy prayers and the holy book can be a stumbling block. I had skipped that hurdle without noticing. Then came the pull: a sort of emotional ebb and flow that responds to the company of other Muslims with a heightened feeling of openness and warmth. Well, that's how it was for me, anyway.

How hard and callous non-Muslim friends and colleagues began to seem. Why can't we cry in public, hug one another more, say "I love you" to a new friend, without facing suspicion or ridicule? I would watch emotions being shared in households along with trays of honeyed sweets and wondered, if Allah's law is simply based on fear why did the friends I loved and respected not turn their backs on their practices and start to drink, to have real "fun" as we in the west do? And we do, don't we?Don't we?

Finally, I felt what Muslims feel when they are in true prayer: a bolt of sweet harmony, a shudder of joy in which I was grateful for everything I have (my children) and secure in the certainty that I need nothing more (along with prayer) to be utterly content. I prayed in the Mesumeh shrine in Iran after ritually cleansing my forearms, face, head and feet with water. And nothing could be the same again. It was as simple as that.

The sheikh who finally converted me at a mosque in London a few weeks ago told me: "Don't hurry, Lauren. Just take it easy. Allah is waiting for you. Ignore those who tell you: you must do this, wear that, have your hair like this. Follow your instincts, follow the Holy Qur'an- and let Allah guide you."

And so I now live in a reality that is not unlike that of Jim Carey's character in the Truman Show. I have glimpsed the great lie that is the facade of our modern lives; that materialism, consumerism, sex and drugs will give us lasting happiness. But I have also peeked behind the screens and seen an enchanting, enriched existence of love, peace and hope. In the meantime, I carry on with daily life, cooking dinners, making TV programmes about Palestine and yes, praying for around half an hour a day.

Now, my morning starts with dawn prayers at around 6am, I pray again at 1.30pm, then finally at 10.30pm. My steady progress with the Qur'an has been mocked in some quarters (for the record, I'm now around 200 pages in). I've been seeking advice from Ayatollahs, imams and sheikhs, and every one has said that each individual's journey to Islam is their own. Some do commit the entire text to memory before conversion; for me reading the holy book will be done slowly and at my own pace.

In the past my attempts to give up alcohol have come to nothing; since my conversion I can't even imagine drinking again. I have no doubt that this is for life: there is so much in Islam to learn and enjoy and admire; I'm overcome with the wonder of it. In the last few days I've heard from other women converts, and they have told me that this is just the start, that they are still loving it 10 or 20 years on.

On a final note I'd like to offer a quick translation between Muslim culture and media culture that may help take the sting of shock out of my change of life for some of you.

When Muslims on the BBC News are shown shouting "Allahu Akhbar!" at some clear, Middle Eastern sky, we westerners have been trained to hear: "We hate you all in your British sitting rooms, and are on our way to blow ourselves up in Lidl when you are buying your weekly groceries."

In fact, what we Muslims are saying is "God is Great!", and we're taking comfort in our grief after non-Muslim nations have attacked our villages. Normally, this phrase proclaims our wish to live in peace with our neighbours, our God, our fellow humans, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Or, failing that, in the current climate, just to be left to live in peace would be nice.