WHY have you become Muslim?!...
The other day, a work colleague who had only recently realised I was Muslim asked me this question. "Why have you become Muslim?!.." In an attempt to answer I felt the need to check I had correctly heard the question. I asked her " did you say How? or Why? ".
I guess I was hoping she might have said How? in which case the answer would have been nice and short. After all, it doesn't take a great deal of expertise nor some kind of complicated ceremonial ritual to become Muslim... If anything it starts with a hygienic routine most of us practice several times a week...I mean a SHOWER or bath, followed by the following declaration of faith, which doesn't necessarily have to be done in public. " Ashhadu a-llaa ilaaha illaLLaah, Muhammad rasooluLLah" meaning " I bear witness there is no one/thing worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger. Pretty straightforward and simple answer to give, don't you think?...
However, having finally understood my colleague was interested in the reasons rather than the ways I had become a Muslim, I initially thought it virtually impossible to phrase in a few words and in a minute or so all the reasons, chain of events and personal realisations on the meaning of LIFE which in an amazing and unexpected way led me to freely taking the best decision of my life.
It's important to insist it has been a free choice because people's perception of a women being or becoming a Muslim is unfortunately twisted and limited by mainstream media coverage, which when it deals with Islam tends to do so with a bias. I mean by this that unfortunately rarely do Muslims who are helpful & peaceful, compassionate & fair make the headlines, instead editors choose those ill-informed, bad mannered and misogynist extreme Muslims, whose practice of Islam is flawed, to splash across our TV screens and Newspaper pages. Not only that, but since many countries with a majority Muslim population are today either very poor, invaded and/or occupied or led by dictatorial leaders and regimes, it's hardly surprising that all we hear about them is the state of war, social & political unrest they or any other country in the same circumstances would experience.
The truth is anyone repeatedly exposed to negative images & tales of a particular concept and group of people whilst simultaneously & constantly told that the way they live is the only good one will de facto very likely hold a prejudice against anything or anyone challenging their view of things. And that is what is happening in the minds of those who fear and or dislike Islam and hate or fight Muslims.
I was beginning to understand why my colleague whom I 've been meeting at 11 a.m. every morning for a 10 minute friendly coffee break in the office kitchen, had this disapproving and surprised look on her face as she asked me again "Why have you chosen Islam?"
So as I went over to the draining board to pick up 2 cups and put on the kettle, I made a silent supplication to the only one worthy of worship to gather my thoughts and make them come out clear and concise.
I replied: "I suppose there was a time, many years ago where I too, like many today, didn't view Islam favourably but as I was the kind of person who questioned ideas and the world around me, by my late teens I began to have serious existentialist questions which were no longer answered by the Atheist/Christian moral status quo characterising our modern societies ... Next, 9/11 happened so I started to look closer at what / who had caused such a terrible act of violence and wondered why? As Afghanistan was being attacked in reprisal for the tragedy I grew more and more uneasy with the legitimacy of such invasion as the number of deaths quickly surpassed that of the twin towers.
Something was set in motion, here again I started to look for answers and it wasn't long before I picked up a Quran and started to read about Islam in order to understand the deeds of those "extremists".
I guess I was hoping she might have said How? in which case the answer would have been nice and short. After all, it doesn't take a great deal of expertise nor some kind of complicated ceremonial ritual to become Muslim... If anything it starts with a hygienic routine most of us practice several times a week...I mean a SHOWER or bath, followed by the following declaration of faith, which doesn't necessarily have to be done in public. " Ashhadu a-llaa ilaaha illaLLaah, Muhammad rasooluLLah" meaning " I bear witness there is no one/thing worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger. Pretty straightforward and simple answer to give, don't you think?...
However, having finally understood my colleague was interested in the reasons rather than the ways I had become a Muslim, I initially thought it virtually impossible to phrase in a few words and in a minute or so all the reasons, chain of events and personal realisations on the meaning of LIFE which in an amazing and unexpected way led me to freely taking the best decision of my life.
It's important to insist it has been a free choice because people's perception of a women being or becoming a Muslim is unfortunately twisted and limited by mainstream media coverage, which when it deals with Islam tends to do so with a bias. I mean by this that unfortunately rarely do Muslims who are helpful & peaceful, compassionate & fair make the headlines, instead editors choose those ill-informed, bad mannered and misogynist extreme Muslims, whose practice of Islam is flawed, to splash across our TV screens and Newspaper pages. Not only that, but since many countries with a majority Muslim population are today either very poor, invaded and/or occupied or led by dictatorial leaders and regimes, it's hardly surprising that all we hear about them is the state of war, social & political unrest they or any other country in the same circumstances would experience.
The truth is anyone repeatedly exposed to negative images & tales of a particular concept and group of people whilst simultaneously & constantly told that the way they live is the only good one will de facto very likely hold a prejudice against anything or anyone challenging their view of things. And that is what is happening in the minds of those who fear and or dislike Islam and hate or fight Muslims.
I was beginning to understand why my colleague whom I 've been meeting at 11 a.m. every morning for a 10 minute friendly coffee break in the office kitchen, had this disapproving and surprised look on her face as she asked me again "Why have you chosen Islam?"
So as I went over to the draining board to pick up 2 cups and put on the kettle, I made a silent supplication to the only one worthy of worship to gather my thoughts and make them come out clear and concise.
I replied: "I suppose there was a time, many years ago where I too, like many today, didn't view Islam favourably but as I was the kind of person who questioned ideas and the world around me, by my late teens I began to have serious existentialist questions which were no longer answered by the Atheist/Christian moral status quo characterising our modern societies ... Next, 9/11 happened so I started to look closer at what / who had caused such a terrible act of violence and wondered why? As Afghanistan was being attacked in reprisal for the tragedy I grew more and more uneasy with the legitimacy of such invasion as the number of deaths quickly surpassed that of the twin towers.
Something was set in motion, here again I started to look for answers and it wasn't long before I picked up a Quran and started to read about Islam in order to understand the deeds of those "extremists".
To my big surprise, what I found whilst reading the Quran & about Islam baffled me. Not only did I not encounter coherent reasons and justification for the acts of indiscriminate violence, abuse, machism of those individuals identfying or identified as Muslims who are regularly portrayed to us as the epytomy of Islam; but I also found Islam gave me answers to those deep questions that everyone of us has at least once in their lifetime.": Why am I here? Where am I going to? What about death?....
Louise H.
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