Alhamdulillah in the last 24 hours Allah has blessed me to perform two shahadas in our masjid (a man and a woman, both Caucasian, unrelated to one another). This was not due to any dawah efforts on my part. They both researched Islam via books and online, and then decided to convert in our masjid. Truly, Allah guides whom He wills. What worries me, though, is that we as a community have failed to provide an adequate infrastructure for our converts. No one befriends them. They face too many internal challenges (different groups within Islam; different fiqh rulings; different language(s); different cultures and mores). Typically, their families and societies reject them, or at least make life awkward and difficult for them. We clearly need to do a lot in this regard, or else a good percentage of such converts end up leaving the faith (and I pray these two do not become such examples!) This is a reality that the majority of Western Muslims have long realized. Another matter that troubles me is the loud takbeers that always occur, and the exuberance that is felt amongst us, when people convert. I question the *motivation* of such joy. Hear me out here before you jump in and protest. I think it is safe to say that our rejoicing at others conversions is a reflection of our own religious insecurities at not being good Muslims. We project our own inadequacies onto new converts, reasoning, Surely, Islam must be such a great religion if these other people find it so, even if Im not living it so. This is not to deny that there is an element of truth in this sentiment. However, the Companions and early Muslims primarily rejoiced at the conversion of others because of the benefit to those *others* at having found guidance, not because of self-validation or internal complexes. My last point: these two matters that trouble me are in fact related. It is because of the second that the first exists. Had we truly been happy *for* the person who converted, we would have, as a community, taken care of his/her spiritual and social needs. But because we selfishly rejoice at his conversion in ourselves and for ourselves, it appears we dont do much for the actual converts themselves - and refuge is sought in Allah alone. I realize my comments are somewhat harsh and controversial. I might be wrong, and would love to hear your thoughts. Please share this post with others, and then comment below. I will read every comment insha Allah.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 09:09:41 +0000