Just curious - how many muslims are on mumsnet?

[Galvanise]

Hello/Salaam,

I know mumsnet has a wide and diverse population and I tend to recognise some MN usernames as regulars. Just intrigued to know how big/small a community it may be.

Of course, I respect that there may be those who do not wish to even identify themselves for various reasons - which is fine too.

I am not asking for 'religiousness' levels or any vital stats! Nor is this a muslim-only thread or an 'no non-muslims' thread.
If you really wish to tell me that you are not a muslim, that is fine too :)

:)

Waynetta, I have a friend whose husband is a born Muslim and no one salaams him in the masjid as he is black, my husband has seen people say to others why are you coming to this masjid you are not Bengali, that type of mentality is about anyone who is culturally different from yourself including born muslims from other tribes/nationalities/ethnicities.

Again when it comes to marriage, if you are a born muslim of a particular country, living in an area where there are not others from that country it is hard for you to get married. In fact all people say it is hard to get married these days. I have a niece who has being looking for rishtas for 2 years and none have worked out. Born Muslims are using these singlemuslim.com and forums and stuff to get married.

Born Muslims can also get that pivitol time in their life when they conciously decide to want to follow islam and learn and stuff, most of my friends have been through this, so they also go to lectures, study, learn, organise etc

Born Muslims can also have to deal with the attitudes of their dads friends down the pub when they start wearing niqaab, I have seen this happen. Most girls parents are not happy for them to wear niqaab, someone I know who lives in Pakistan in her fourties her sister gets offended that she wears niqaab in front of her husband.

There are also born Muslims who are alone on Eid, my friend who escaped an abusive marriage would be one of them. She is a born Muslim, but has no family in this country. We do not see these people as we dont ask everyone these types of questions when we see them walking down the street, we just see an accented woman in abayah with kids and assume she has extended family here and so on.

We all go through the same sort of stuff. There doesnt have to be a divide.

you know what IME when everyone sees a white revert they jump up and down, i remember going in to the masjid for a talk and seeing all these sisters circle this white girl and being friendly to her etc, and I hardly even got a salaam.

One of my friends mums told me that they cannot look for a husband for their daughter (born muslim) as the community would think something was wrong with her, why they trying to get rid of her, the girl had to find her own husband or just wait.

another of my friends has a mum and 2 brothers but the 2 brothers are off being rude boys, so she has to find her own husband through the same methods that the sister on the documentary used.

I never said there had to be any divide and note how I said in 'some' cases that there can be problems on the sides of reverts, I didn't say all or that born Muslims have an easy time of it. You obviously don't feel the divide and that's due to your personal circumstances but I and other reverts I know have felt it and found it hard to integrate with born Muslims. It's easier where I live to integrate if you are black or Asian, due to the masjids being predominantly these ethnic mixes. People don't mean to stare but they do. The amount of times I and other white sisters are routinely blanked by Somali sisters in our area is crazy, but it's the norm. I do think it has a lot to do with area though. Inshallah this kind of ignorance dies out with the coming generations.

Admittedly, i do like to jump up and down when i meet a revert - i am in awe! I would like to think that I jump up and down in equal measure regardless of whether she is black, white, asian etc

There are huge issues in the Asian society and it is unfortunate that islamic principles do get forgotten. If only we could all abide by Islamic principles then soooo many of the issues that affect muslims today would be non-existent.

i understand what you are saying sisters, I am just saying in some cases born Muslims can also face these issues that reverts face, so it is not an issue of being a revert or not, it is an issue of racist, divided, self absorbed communities.

Salam girls. Crescent no msg as of yet? Yes recent niqabi here only been a month and mainly travel in the car and only to the school and occasional shopping but had one incident already . Lil boy at the doctors was pointing and laughing at me- lol I was mortified so was his mum .
Re: reverts I do feel for them- so sad to hear abt the lonely times experienced and so unnecessary. I'm a jump up and get excited kind of girl too lol but find often reverts are more interested in other reverts naturally as more in common so I don't get a look in lol.

Walikumasalaam ninja, actually you know most if my friends are actually born Muslims. I love reverts too and yes we have lots in common but a lot of the reverts round here are extremely strict so it puts me off being close friends. Think having to hide your baby's musical toys away when they come over or being reprimanded in summer for wearing flip flops ;) lol. I find the born Muslims in general a bit more relaxed but I'm well aware this is not in ALL cases, just particularly who I'm in contact with personally. Crescent you forgot to pm us!! I really wanted to see the fatwa inshallah. Thought your last post was very insightful as always. Love the variety on here

Personally I think the strict reverts have got it right. There's a lot of culture that had mixed into Islam that makes it so hard for born Muslims to practise properly , extended family and the mahram issue being just one of many. Also interest based transactions have become somewhat the norm but I read it is ten times worse than adultery ( no references I'm afraid ).
I've also recently started covering feet aswell , I know of the difference in opinion on this but I did if cos my husband finds my feet attractive (lol) and asked me to cover it and now it seems strange not too. Flip flops and socks look so wrong tho so I've bought sandals that are sock friendly !
I now want to be among the more practising sisters so that I can better myself and get inspiration from them. It's true that your friends influence you greatly.

Yes I think the company you keep is very important and can have a big effect on you. With strictness versus relaxed, there has to be a balance however, and sometimes it's either one extreme or the other. For me personally, as long as I'm around people who pray the daily salah, are always in dhikr of Allah SWT and fast, have a good healthy attitude and are kind, I feel great. It's when you're around those who either tell you it's ok to uncover completely around male cousins and fine to wear perfume, or that you aren't allowed to wear colours or go to a mixed university...then the problems start. Balance is everything in life. There's the Hadith which prophet Mohammed (saw) advised: "do not be extreme in your religion. If you become extreme then you will no longer be able to continue." I'm trying to be balanced these days as its very possible to be strict and adhere to all rules but at the same time give a good impression of islam to non Muslims.

That's a good stance to take waynetta. I've just been out to the shops and got 2 salams off fellow sisters lol think it was the niqab.
Re colours: my abaya is cerise pink not through choice mind, wanted a slightly shorter one for rainy weather and this was only colour left but it contrasts well with black niqab. I personally prefer black but then you get seen as even more oppressed ( not that I care what's thought- ha!)

Thanks for the pm crescent, I actually made dua for my eyebrows not to become hairy and out of control when I made the decision to stop plucking them lol!! Praise be to Allah, it worked!! Ninja your abaya sounds lovely mashaallah, I love pink. I'm well used to seeing sisters all in black but if they wear niqab too then we both have to speak up a bit when we salaam lol. Who drives here? I'm learning and it's soooo scary!!!

Plenty of women wear coloured niqaabbs round here.

In hanafi madhab nothing you touch breaks your wudhu, the principle is impurity coming from your body breaks wudhu.

You also just need to wipe a quarter of your head so hair doesn't need to be dripping.

I' haven't got any brightly coloured ones yet as I'm fairly new to this but got grey, black and white mixed. I don't feel they have to be black .

Jazakallah khair for pm crescent . I think people will just use this as justification whenever they want to pluck their eyebrows . It does state the conditions which are quite rare to have abnormally bushy eyebrows , mini brows etc. yes they may feel bushy to you but doesn't mean that they are . It's dangerous territory if you ask me and best avoided altogether .
I have a niqabi friend who clearly plucks into shape and doesn't even hide the fact that she plucks - I've always wanted to ask her why she does something that is clearly haram yet is otherwise very practising , but never have.

Waynetta, I actually feel quite 'young ' wearing it. I once bought a grey abaya but dh and mum kept saying I looked like an old lady lol. I love grey.

I drive , tho I hate driving to unknown territory. Mainly drive locally and only drive automatic now as far easier . First car was a manual but the rest after have been automatic. How many lessons have u had? Worst thing u can do us stop and start with lesson taking.

I have often thought there are other things that change creation ie women removing other facial hair but as eyebrows are so explicitly mentioned I personally wouldn't take the chance of getting cursed! ESP when I can
Live without eyebrow plucking quite easily alhamdulilah .

Ooh ninja, I reckon niqab, socks and sandals could be the next big trend!
In Jordan a lot of the women wear lighter coloured niqabs, it's nice. I also like when people use their scarf as a niqab, though I tried that once, then attempted to eat something and realised I'd completely blocked access to my mouth . (I don't wear niqab by the way but have done in certain countries and situations).

Crescentmy understanding of what breaks wudu in the hanafi madhab is exactly as nailak says. I thought it was universal that something had to exit from your body to break wudu, is it not?

Nailak I agreed so much with your posts about the convert/born Muslim divide. It gets really annoying to be treated as a 'new muslim' ten years down the line, I still get people attempting to 'help' me after 10 years. Of course I still need to learn a lot, but no more than the average born Muslim. What annoys me is that people make no attempt to find out if you actually need any help. One example is when I went to an Arabic class where me and the teacher were the only Muslims, so in the first class at coffee break I went to pray with her in her office. She read the whole prayer aloud, even the quiet bits, which made it very hard to read my own prayer (and I think actually invalidated hers?). I asked her afterwards why she had done that, thinking this was some other madhab thing I wasn't aware of, and she said she thought it would 'help' me. It was only after that she thought to ask how long I had been Muslim (5 years at that point). She had the decency to look rather embarrassed.
I have probably about half and half convert/born Muslim friends. Right from the start I found that if people were just friendly, and perhaps pointed me in the directions of useful books/courses, rather than trying to be my 'teacher', it was much easier to develop a meaningful and lasting friendship, otherwise it always feels quite unequal.

And you are sooo right about the non-white converts. I always think of you guys as the 'invisible' converts, as you are much less noticeable as converts. Something about a white face in a hijab seems to send people slightly bonkers!

crescent if you touch a member of the opposite sex your wudhu is broken in shafi though?

I dont tell people I am a new muslim anymore, that is the good thing about it, people assume I am Bengali or Somali or something lol I have a somali friend people always ask if we are sisters, and also a Bengali friends people ask if we are sisters.

has anyone seen this magazine www.sisters-magazine.com/Discover_Kids/Print_Single_Issue i subscribe to little explorers, but this is a new one.

Not seen this magazine before nailak, but looks worth subscribing to. I remember years ago, I used to read a magazine called jumuah (i think thats what it was called) but it was more geared towards youth and adults rather than kids. Some articles were very good i recall.

Ok, just interested to know, which islamic personality from around the time of prophet muhammed is amongst your favourite and why? You are not allowed to say Muhammed (saw) as we all know his great status. I mean they are all amazing for many reasons, but wondered if someone stands out to you personally for whatever reason.

I shall go first, Bilal (R.A) - his love for our prophet (saw), his ordeal upon accepting islam and the love he had for our prophet.

This story always makes me cry...when he refused to do the call for prayer after our prophet (saw) passed away - then the reaction when he did do the call for prayer makes me cry every time. It is actually making me cry again as I type.

Sumayyah Ra

Nusaybah Ra

Saffiyah bint abdul mutalib, ra Hamza's sister she cut of a mans head and rolled it down the hill at the battle of the trench, and when the archers were running away at the battle of badr she rode out and started shouting at the men.

muslimahdirections.wordpress.com/category/sahabah/