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Welcome To Islam: A Convert’s Tale Of Embracing Muslim Faith
10 July 2009
Many Western converts to Islam will sympathize with Lucy Bushill-Matthews’ engaging story about her conversion to Islam. When she mentions how her parents were the most affected, I could clearly see myself in the same position albeit some 33 years ago. Her problems with praying without being disturbed by family members echoed what I went through. I simply locked myself in and had to put up with endless knocking on my bedroom door! Lucy’s infectious sense of humor contributes to making “Welcome to Islam,” an entertaining read. Soon after her parents learned that she had embraced Islam, she found letters of condolence addressed to her them: “ ‘How terrible for you’ wrote one lady whom I knew well: She used to baby sit me when I was a child. I thought somebody might have died until I continued reading. Nobody had died. She was writing about me.” Lucy also observes that her parents did not challenge her Muslim beliefs but they had problems with her no longer drinking alcohol, refraining from pork and wearing the scarf (hijab). She is so right; most converts’ parents rarely discuss theological differences but they bitterly resent the most visible signs of Islam which clash with their traditional lifestyle. The idea for this book came while Lucy was living with her husband and three children in South Africa. In an interview with Remona Aly published by Emel, Lucy acknowledged that she not only had the time but she also found it easier living in a different country. That gave her the mental space and physical space to write about her experience: “I didn’t just want to write a book about conversion; it is more about what happens after that. I wanted it to be much more about the reality of living everyday life as a Muslim convert. For me the book is a plea for both tolerance and respect for our differences.” In the introduction, we are told that in a YouGov survey conducted a few years ago, 60 percent of those questioned said that they did not know very much about Britain’s Muslim community and a further 10 percent said they knew nothing. This lack of knowledge becomes particularly obvious when Lucy covers her hair. Some people think she is a nun while others feel sorry that she has brain cancer. Furthermore, her daughter Safiya, despite a request not to feed her pork at lunch, was given pork. Members of the school staff thought that with her white skin, she could not be a Muslim. Lucy is also surprised one day to hear her six year old son asking her if he was born a Christian because one of his friends assumed that with his blond hair he must have been first a Christian and a Muslim later. Identity is an issue that Lucy takes seriously; she believes that children should be given the necessary tools to deal with it: “My daughter doesn’t like to be different so I’m trying to surround her with a mixture of people, children of converts like her, Muslims from other backgrounds, and plenty of non-Muslims. I’m just trying to open her eyes to the fact that we are all different in our own way. The challenge is for us to be able to bring children up as Muslim so they can function anywhere in the world.” The continuous flow of Western converts to Islam not only highlights the importance of the concept of “Ummah” but it also brings to the forefront the issues that Muslims of all backgrounds face in Western countries. Dr. Jeffrey Lang, an American convert to Islam, warns of two divergent trends dividing Muslim scholars and thinkers: “Liberal interpretation that rationalizes established Western cultural practices on religious grounds, and the formulation of ‘ideal’ Islamic solutions that are far-removed from the daily realities of the Muslim masses... There is a danger of taking these trends too far, and this must be guarded against by all Muslims. This is why we must discuss sensitive issues openly now, especially during this rooting stage of Islam in the West.” Many parents of Western converts, despite their doubts and ignorance of Islam, rejoice in the fact that they have a better relationship with their child. Islam, indeed, pays great attention to one’s obligations toward the family and that includes grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Lucy recounts in her book how she resolved the problems of celebrating Christmas, wearing the hijab and fasting without ever severing her ties with her family. Her dedicated love of her parents reached a climax the day her book was launched in their presence. As she told the crowd how special it was for her to have her parents, she completely broke down: “Afterwards my father said how proud he was and explained that we are on paths that are different but parallel. I really loved and appreciated what he said.” “Welcome to Islam” will certainly appeal to all Western women who have converted to Islam and to those who are considering becoming Muslim. It certainly shows how Islam’s eternal truths are attracting an increasing number of believers.
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