I converted to Islam AMA.

[Mvslimah]

10 years ago and not for a man

AMA all the difficult questions, I got some time to kill

How does it feel accepting Jesus didn't die on the cross and he will return?

Which prophets story is your favourite?

Which women inspires you in Islam?

OP, you said upthread that 'Islamically, women are to be educated'. If that is the case, why did the Islamic Revolution in Iran deprive women of many of the rights they'd enjoyed under the Shah? Surely those clerics should be applying Islam in its purest sense?

No they don’t but they are young, they dress, how I’m sure you dress your young children in age appropriate clothes. Dressing modestly is from puberty but children might copy their mothers or their family might encourage the young child to Wear it so they are used to it. I personally don’t particularly like that.

the abayas are quite light, it’s not different from a maxi dress.

I’d like to flip it you for you though, I can’t get over the sexism of the west, with the constant body shaming and huge pressure on women as to how they look should look to look ‘sexy’. The clothes that are marketed at young women, how young women get treated by men on a night out. That’s pretty bad don’t you think?

I think we have more in common that not but it’s not a practice I follow, but I’d like to look into it more I think as the general salafi consensus is that Sufism is innovation

It’s quite hard for me but sort of, I used to go to classes prior to the pandemic and I’ve lost some knowledge in that time so I’d like to go back and learn more, it’s actually very complicated, it’s not just the letters but there’s tajweed which is basically the grammar rules or the rules of reciting which are quite complicated

Have you noticed most of your answers seem to be whataboutery rather than your personal feelings, so you think as a revert you feel obliged to be defensive rather than use your own critical thinking?

How do I feel about not accepting Jesus died on the cross for my sins, I feel fine, I never believed that anyway. Muslims believe Jesus is the messiah so will return.

i actually don’t have a favourite you know

asiya was pretty inspirational, married to a tyrant but still so just and kind and never let his tyranny affect her faith. Aisha ra is pretty interesting too, a huge scholar and authority of her time on religious matters but more than that she had balls and a good sense of humour. It’s one of the things that Muhammad saws loved the most about her

I strongly believe the prophets wife wasn't 10 judging by the way her behaviour is described. Also this

First, the Prophet could not have gone against the Quran to marry a physically and intellectually immature child. Secondly, the age of Hazrat Aisha can be easily calculated from the age of her elder sister Hazrat Asma who was 10 years older than Hazrat Aisha. Waliuddin Muhammad Abdullah Al-Khateeb al Amri Tabrizi the famous author of Mishkath, in his biography of narrators (Asma ur Rijal), writes that Hazrat Asma died in the year 73 Hijri at the age of 100, ten or twelve days after the martyrdom of her son Abdullah Ibn Zubair. It is common knowledge that the Islamic calendar starts from the year of the Hijrah or the Prophet’s migration from Mecca to Medina. Therefore, by deducting 73, the year of Hazrat Asma’s death, from 100, her age at that time, we can easily conclude that she was 27 years old during Hijra.This puts the age of Hazrat Aisha at 17 during the same period. As all biographers of the Prophet agree that he consummated his marriage with Hazrat Aisha in the year 2 Hijri it can be conclusively said that she was 19 at that time and not nine as alleged in the aforementioned hadiths.

The pharaohs wife asiya is my favourite too. Converted to Islam, fought against a tyrant man and knew her worth ❤️

Oh that’s rude, I use my own critical thinking fine thank you! I’m just not giving you the answers YOU want, I’m not going to sit here and say oh yes you’re right, my religion is so backwards, modest clothing IS oppressive, because I just don’t believe it is.

im just pointing out that a lot of these things that are problematic by todays standards didn’t occur in a vacuum and are actually found in all the Middle Eastern religions and are problematic when you directly transpose them to the present day as A ok without any cultural context , contemporary understandings or modernisation. A lot of the time it’s done knowingly by the group in power and it’s used as a means of oppression because it suits their needs, ie the Islamic state, the taliban (except the taliban have pulled the non education of women out of their behinds, but point is its dressed up as religion because it’s such a powerful tool to keep people in line)

Sorry that did read worse than I intended, I didn't word that very wel.

the Revolution that the west was all for right?

because religion is a powerful tool for keeping people in line and if you don’t educate 50% of your population and let the other 50% benefit from that, there’s less chance of people rising up to over throw an oppressive regime.

there is a huge distinction between what ‘Muslims’ do and what Islam says

I'm shocked at many of these posts,especially the ones debating the historicity of Christianity on a thread about Islam.

There was a similar thread on this board and it was respectful rather than antagonististic and really informative. Some posters might like to look it up and refer back to it.

The op isn't an apologist for peadophilia. Islam isn't about the age of his wife, of which there seems to be great debate, and applying modern morals to ancient history is problematic. I guarantee that most people will admire someone or something in history with a similarly problematic aspect to it.

It's a shame that on a thread where people have the opportunity to learn, they instead seem to only want to judge and tear the op apart.

And given by how ballsy she was too right! That’s something that always sticks out in my mind

I’ve found it really telling as well, the things that I’ve referenced about Christianity are things commonly discussed on UG theology courses, like the one I took at a prominent red brick Uni, it’s not shocking, it might not be in line with Christian doctrine though but it appears to have incensed the Christians on this thread. Particularly the reference to jesus’s brother, which Josephus clearly mentions and is taken as a fact in all study of the historical Jesus of Nazareth, as it’s one of the few accounts that Jesus actually existed, because some scholars claim he didn’t.

then look by way of contrast to the vitriol about Islam and how antagonistic some of the posts are.I think it shows how much latent anti Muslim sentiment there is in the UK and how preoccupied people are with how Muslim women dress. It also shows how little people know about Islam, for instance am I buying presents for ‘my prophet Isa’s birthday’ not Christmas though … I mean it’s baffling.

because I’m a Muslim it’s assumed I will force my children into marriage and have no education myself. Anti Muslim sentiment is rife… still. It’s incredibly disappointing

Yes, it was incredibly rude!

Fair point I should have just said do you feel more defensive as a revert.

as an ex Catholic any conversion in to the organised religions puzzles me.

No I don’t, I don’t feel the need to defend oppressive regimes or practices but they are indefensible but I do feel that I should be clear and transparent in terms of the historicity of certain surats, ayats and hadith.

im sure even as an an ex Catholic if someone was saying mistruths about Catholicism based on prejudice you’d probably correct it too

I do for what feels like deliberate misinterpretation I suppose like the trinity and Adam and Eve incest but mostly it's embarrassment about my blind faith and sacred cast thing. I like to think I wouldn't be so quick to accept the obvious stuff now and it makes me wonder if converts (any) don't already have a hole they need filling so are halfway there before religion strikes.

What religious orientation does your children’s school have and how happy are you with their religious teaching at school?

I’m an atheist so deliberately avoided the (many) CofE schools in the area for one that was supposed to be non-denomination but I am very uncomfortable as the Christian syllabus is presented as ‘fact’ and other religious syllabus is presented as ‘followers of x religion believe y’.
I think it’s great to learn about religion as it forms the basis for many society structures but do think that it should be done equally, I guess more abstractly across the board.

It’s non denominational but truthfully more weight is given to Christianity than other faiths, especially seasonally. I went to a coe school and it was exactly that, we learned I can only assume purposefully about Christianity and Buddhism (not sure why the school chose Buddhism as it’s not that widespread in the UK compared to Hinduism, Islam or Sikhism ) and then if you took it for exam level you only learned Christianity.

they are of primary age, and I do toy with sending them to an Islamic school because from an ofsted point of view they perform excellent, but I don’t like the idea of them only Being around Muslims as I doubt Christians or Sikhs would send their kids there. There’s an excellent Sikh school and I’ve wondered whether to send them their for high school because there’s a diverse range of people who attend and it performs
well: But I think grammar school is the way we’ll go

Yes and that’s what I’m doing, correcting clear misunderstandings of the religion and some very hateful comments grounded in prejudice.

as to whether converts to any faith are searching for a missing part of them, think that can be said for any adherent to any faith or universalism, finding something to help make sense of the world

Oh missed the part about am I happy… it’s so so. There are really thoughtless things the school have done, like they did some eid work, arts and crafts as they are young, for eid and all they’d be doing the work for the wrong eid, the school hadn’t bothered to check. So it’s like ascribing the meaning of Easter to x mas.

i wish in general islam had more of a focus in the curriculum, Judaism too and there could be more of a focus on unison and similarities rather than division, I think it could go a long way and dispelling some prejudice, the likes of which have been seen on this thread

I totally agree with you about the sexualisation of women and girls. But my response wouldn’t be to cover up my young daughters in case they arouse men.

I live in an area with a high Muslim population and many small girls wear a headscarf. I’d say from as young as five. But given the age of the prophet’s wife, I guess this fits in.

Tell me harbour anti Muslim sentiment without telling me you harbour anti Muslim sentiment…

that’s really low! Children as young as 5 aren’t wearing the hijab to avoid appearing sexual to adult Muslim men. It’s more likely their parents are encouraging them to wear it young so it’s habit or you’ve seen them coming from madrasah