If not at home, how do converts find Islam? Danielson was in her first year at Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa. She intended to lead missions targeting Muslims. To prepare, she studied the Quran and was deeply moved by it. It was through my personal reading of Quran that I had my own private conversion, she says. I felt like my questions were answered. The deep bigger questions about justice and life in general. What is the universe all about? What does everything mean? She says she never found this type of spiritual guidance in the Bible and converted to Islam one month after. Caldwells story of coming to Islam is strikingly similar. An altar boy in his youth, Caldwell looked up to his Episcopal priest and wanted to follow in his footsteps. While an undergraduate at Emory University, he learned that seminary students studied Greek but not Hebrew. In order to understand the Old Testament, he started taking Hebrew classes. These led him to Jewish studies classes. Judaism introduced him to the possibility of practicing other religions, but it was too connected to an ethnic and cultural history for him to fully embrace it, he says. I guess in a lot of ways Islam is a natural place to look at that point. He started reading the Quran and spent the summer and fall of his junior year in Jerusalem. He promised himself that he wouldnt make any big decisions until he finished it. One month into his studies in Israel, he finished the Quran and converted to Islam. Ingram has noticed a trend in why people like Danielson or Caldwell may gravitate toward the religion. Ive spoken to a few white converts over the years who said Christianity never made sense to me, the trinity never made sense to me, the idea of God being one and three at the same time never made sense to me, he said. Islam doesnt have that problem. People are attracted to the comparative simplicity of Islams notion of God. Their strong connection to Islamic theology helps converts deal with stigma. We know that Islam does not preach terrorism. We know Islam does not preach extremist radical thought. Those things are not linked to Islam. Theyre linked to Muslims, says Danielson. Muslims are people. They have so many factors that motivate who they are. Yes, Islam influences them, but they have their economic condition and their political situation, too. Gauthier puts this idea concisely. A saying Ive heard often — and I think it applies to all religions — is Dont look to Muslims to understand Islam. Look to Islam itself, she says. But, according to Danielson, converts need to change peoples preconceptions about Muslims. We have to get our voice heard better. Islam should be understood better, and thats a difficult position to be in, she says. First-hand knowledge of Islam and Muslims needs relationship building and a genuine commitment to long-term cooperation.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 20:07:47 +0000
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