buriedaway_4536
Junior Member
Source: http://myresourceislam.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-muslim-bully.html
More Stories: http://myresourceislam.blogspot.com/p/convert-stories.html
More Stories: http://myresourceislam.blogspot.com/p/convert-stories.html
My Muslim Bully
Asalam alaykum.
I am Paul, a brother in Islam. I came to Islam in 2002 alhamdulillah (yes, not long after 9/11!)
My story is long and complex, so please assume nothing until you have finished it. I'd like to say my bully and I are very close friends to this day (you'll understand what I mean by the end of the story.)
Back in school I was a nerd. In a lot of ways I seemed to be bully-bait. I did not and still do not know why but I was bullied very badly. It made me hate myself, it made me wish I could hide from society.
"Mick" (Mohammed), was a new kid in school. He fit right in with the popular kids. He was just like anyone else, another person who ganged up on me.
I had no idea "Mick" was a Muslim. In fact, he hid it. He'd do what all of his friends would do. And yes, that even meant going out to parties, drinking. Just what you'd expect I suppose.
I also had no idea why "Mick" left his old school and came to ours, or that it was linked to being bullied for being Muslim after the turbulance of 9/11.
He had since told me that he would hide his actions from his parents (the partying etc.) whom he loved. But he always knew if they found out he would be in a lot of trouble with them. He had to do it to fit in at school, he felt. But he had to hide it to fit in at home.
After a while, "Mick" came to me and apologised and asked to start over. He's told me that this came from him reflecting on what he went through, and how he couldn't stand inflicting it on someone else. He wanted to make up for all the pain he had caused me, but wanted to keep it secret from all of his friends.
In school, things changed a little bit. He wouldn't involve himself when people were being mean to me, but he wouldn't stand up for me either. Outside of school soon after though we met up, kind of part of his reaching out to me.
Before long, we became rather good friends outside of school. He was coming over to my house all of the time, but I never went to his or met his family. Until one day he asked me over. I still had no idea "Mick" was actually Mohammed. I didn't know he was a Muslim either, so I was of course shocked. I didn't know what Islam was, but I noticed cultural differences from the time I spent with his family.
I asked him about who he is, where he is from, and all was revealed. He actually opened upto me and explained everything. He had become a nice guy, and for the most part a friend, I trusted him and wanted to keep up the friendship. Even if things at school were still the same, with him not defending me. (I guess I kind of understood why.)
Over time, things changed. We started hanging out at school, and as a result he lost all of his friends. No one spoke to him they thought he was uncool like I was.
He was never asked to parties. We only had each other, and we were the victims of some brutal remarks. He was still "Mick" at school, and that didn't change. He was too shy too. Though he began to leave the haram behind, without the influences of others and started to explain to me how it felt better for him, he was happy to lose all of the friends he had to be closer to his God and to please his God. I started asking him about Islam and what Muslims believe. He responded by giving me books, which I read and came back with more annoying questions. This went on, for a long time. I just kept reading and learning.
One day I went to the Mosque with him. He was praying and I was sitting behind, I started talking to a few brothers and they began questioning my knowledge and conveying more and more on Islam. Everything I knew had rubbed me the right way. I felt my heart make a shift. By the time he had returned, I had said the shahada in front of one of the brothers in the Mosque.
:mashallah: