Do you judge/ pity converts to Islam?

[Candyapplesandhearts]

Firstly I’m a convert to Islam. White European, so more than likely if you saw me you’d assume I was a convert, plus my name would definitely give the game away.

i live in a metropolitan area where converts are yes rare but not too too share whereby it’s shocking.

well keeping this in mind, I bought a block of sessions for a beauty treatment, and the aesthetician was visibly taken back by me firstly, fine it happens because I wasn’t what she was expecting, with my name and I show up in a headscarf.

but the questions, not only were they pretty inappropriate but also steeped in judgment. I was shocked. I could tell that she wasn’t necessarily being malicious or even hateful, but she clearly had a very pre conceived notion about my motivations and my choices. Ie several questions about my husband and how he made me convert, or as she said ‘become Islamic’, lots on clothing and how she often feels sorry for a lot of Muslim women.

truthfully MN, is this a thing? Deep down are these thoughts people have but maybe don’t voice.

in general even at work I do have questions asked but they are more diplomatically phrased- so now I’m wondering am I actually being judged/ pitied?

Is he even still around? Since he did the circles on the same chat shows that invited anjem chowdary on, I’ve not heard or seen much of him

OP you don't seem to understand why people in this country have a problem with Islam. A teacher still in hiding, several years after showing a picture of Mohammed, a mother cowering in a mosque, begging forgiveness for her child who dropped a copy of the Koran in the playground, angry men protesting and threatening violence at the suggestion Islam has been disrespected, a writer permanently disabled for writing about Islam, little girls hidden away in muslim schools, covered from head to toe with no opportunities to integrate in this country. Just to name a few. This does not happen with Christianity. It really doesn't.

Westburo baptist church?

That's a tiny church, essentially one family and a few converts. At least one of their own daughters even thinks they are deluded.

"Whataboutary' is very poor argument. That is a small cult in the USA that primarily protests. They haven't done anything remotely like Islam and besides, I'm talking about this country, the UK.

Come on, I just googled church of England scandals and the first one was about decades of child abuse, the second was about them being deeply institutionally racist. Not to mention the fact when a Christian does something wrong like kills his wife or beats up his girlfriend nobody is screeching about how he is Christian and this is what Christians do. As soon as a name that might possibly belong to someone who is Muslim comes up in a case like that that is all people focus on. Christians kill people, treat women like shit, beat people up, harass people all the time. The only difference is that their religion isnt made into the headline.

Who is the slave owner you talk about?

The problem is not Islam, the problem is misinformed people coming up with their own conclusions about the best way to deal with things.

Thanks for explaining Candyapples. It’s still a bit difficult to get my head round why covering yourself is a prompt to adjust your language, behaviour around men and how you conduct yourself in the world. But I accept what is helpful for one person may not be to another.

I do feel sad (and angry) when I see primary age girls (and younger) in hijabs and girls doing PE and games in them in hot weather and little Haredi Jewish boys wearing tzitzit and wide brimmed hats especially in summer, and young girls with tight long sleeved tops under short sleeved blouses. They’re young kids and should be able to keep cool and move about freely without thinking about their faith and modesty at all times.

Yes I think it is wrong

If little children are being forced to wear too many clothes in PE and aren’t allowed to remove them then of course this is unfair, but it is also the case that lots of girls want to wear/have a go at wearing a scarf and their families are quite happy for them to remove it as and when they wish in primary school. I also feel sorry for all the Eastern European children who wear a vest, 2 tshirts and a jumper to keep them warm in class when they are boiling, and the teenagers who dont like to wear coats in the middle of winter and the junior school boys who like to be hardcore and continue wearing their shorts rather than trousers when it is February…

So I think here is the problem is the logic, because Muslims have done it (insert batshit action) it’s because Islam tells you to, therefore Islam is bad.

and honestly I can see how that connection is made BUT if islam really was like that and was telling us to behave in such a way then we’d all do it. But the truth is, people like myself wince and cringe when we hear these stories because it adds more fuel to the fire that Islam is the problem, Islam isn’t compatible with British values/ democracy/ secularism/ feminism (insert whatever here) and it where I get, and I’m sure other do too, really frustrated with these Muslims sometimes for becoming so hysterical over either blatant antagonism (all the cartoons and bating we see in the media sometimes) or genuine mistakes (dropping a Quran for instance, although I’ve not heard this story). The hysteria is often such that we basically become a caricature of ourselves and cannon fodder for the daily mail

the problem is nutters. And to be honest relatively low levels of robust Islamic education. From what I’ve witnessed and admittedly this is anecdotal, what’s been absorbed is dogma and piecemeal whereby what people think they know isn’t textually based but it’s based off what other people have told them. On a relatively minor level, I often have conversations with born Muslims telling me I have to change my name, who are shocked that’s not what the Islamic ruling is, or are shocked to learn that Muslims can eat kosher meat, or that a ‘white’ (read as Christian) woman wouldn’t need to convert into order to marry a Muslim man. On a more serious note you saw this in the people who went to fight for Isis, they were pretty illiterate on all matter Deen.

I would feel sad for any future daughters you may have.

Seems strange to me why anyone would choose to make difficulties or restrictions for themselves. That applies to any religion though. A medieval design to control to masses.

@Moonmelodies I'm glad your previous post was deleted. It's very offensive.

Well I have a daughter, she lives a very charmed little life. She doesn’t need your pity

Please don’t do that, don’t use a snippet to make it look like I said Islam is the problem when I clearly clearly said, some Muslims who have very low levels of Islamic knowledge are the problem

How come so many people are incorrect? How come every Islamist country is incorrect? That's millions of people who are incorrect who have vastly different interpretations to you and why are they all so similar in their incorrect interpretations?

they aren’t so similar in their interpretations though… they are actually very different.

there isnt one version or one main interpretation of Islam. In sunni Islam there’s 4 schools of thought all of whom have different interpretations. Oman a Sunni country follows another school called ibadi I think and then there’s different schools and factions within Shia Islam.

I’m not friends with bigots so yeah you’re not ❤️

You're not answering the question. Whenever Islam is criticised the answer is invariably, that's not Islam, that's incorrect.

How come so many people are incorrect? For example gender apartheid in the middle east, stoning women, killing gay people, FGM, child marriage, women having to be chaperoned, the superiority of men, women being punished for being raped, fatwas, honour based abuse and so on.

How come all those countries and all those people are so wrong?

You've taken this sentence out of context to suit your narrative.