Ahmed ibn Ibrahim
alhamdulilah
Asalaamu Alaikum
I'm in Canada just like the writer of the article. Yeah its true about not being trusted. This happened to me a few years ago..I was accused of being a spy in front of all the women by two women. No one stood up for me..no one said it was an outrage which it was. Man you give up your family (they hate you when you convert), your friends..also hate you and the whole society hates you and then you go to the mosque for some understanding and you get kicked to the curb big time. To accuse me of being a spy is to say I am a kufr after all the hell I suffered to become a muslim. I heard about another guy in another city who went through the same thing.
Oh I do go to the muslim gathering and I get to hear arabic at one table and urdu at the other..so I sit with the kids who don't ignore me or judge me..how sad is that? When they do talk to me , here is what they say...
1. Why do you have so many kids? You shouldn't have lots of kids.
2. Why do you watch your kids all the time? ( they want me to let my kids run around the mosque like hooligans unsupervised..beating each other up, running out into the street, playing with dangerous things etc while I sit and drink tea..sorry not happening..that's called neglect people!)
3. Why don't you buy a house with interest?
So I am really sick of socializing with people like that.. I want to be openminded but years of experience have shown me that I will never be accepted into their culture club!
Wa salaamu Alaikum
D4E
WaAlaikum Salaam, Sister D4E,
Hehe, that made me smile - I say: Good for you! I'm doing the same thing with the interest, even though lots of the Brothers I know do it and give all sorts of excuses from all sorts of sources. ::shrug:: I heard a Haddith from a pious Brother once which went something like, "Paying one unit of interest is equivilent to sleeping with your mother and a camel." So instead I'm renting this house from my father-in-law and InshaAllah he will help us out down the road, and my wife and I will get an "Islamic mortgage" (without interest) soon.
And good for you to be blessed with so many children and to watch over them at the Masjid. I know my wife finds it very distracting and annoying the way that so many Sisters there seem to just let their kids run rampant throughout the property, yelling and play-fighting and getting into trouble.
Sure it's recommended for women to pray at home, but being at the Mosque is also important for the Sisters to engage in fellowship, making new friends, and welcoming newly reverted Sisters.
... As for people accusing reverts of being spies, that made me a little mad. I mean, Sister D4E is absolutely right: We make all of these sacrifices, embark on a new journey in a totally new perspective, put ourselves out there in good faith and good intentions... and then some dingbat starts gossiping and has the nerve make accusations based on nothing! If the social issues remain strained enough, then we can end up in a situation like the Brother Salmon is in (may you take the innitiative to turn back to Allah SWT in repentance and submission, Brother. Surely you know this life is just an illusion, as well as the purpose.)
WaSalaam
Br. Ahmed