Yep! You got it! My imaginary husband who put this invisible ring on my finger is Muslim so I just wear this on my head to make him happy. Umm .... no. You're stupid, and by the way, it's a 22 carat invisible ring. And my imaginary husband is the guy that got kicked out of Saudi Arabia for being too hot. Duh.
After the Boston Marathon tragedy a lot of people were speaking out about the widow of one of the attackers as she is a convert and making this accusation of her.
It made me really mad.
And I feel terrible for that poor girl bless her little soul.
I think I have it rough with my friends and family? Imagine if I married someone accused of something like Boston.
The amount of judgment I can imagine is intolerable.
May Allah (swt) relieve her of her burdens and may she fight through the ignorance to become a voice for all of us.
What I found the worst was that I read an article (or watched a TV segment - I can't remember) where her old professor said that she was a bright girl with a great future, it's a shame she became a Muslim because of that guy.
What killed me is that I can totally see something like this happening to me and reporters calling up like my freshman year Geology professor who thought that I should be a geologist and was pissed when I told him that I could not imagine my life spent with rocks all day.
Yah, he was offended. He looked like an angry version of Danny Tanner. I insulted his passion. He would claim "Muslim" on me.
And, they showed pictures of her with hair... what the hell? That's so messed up. That's her choice to wear hijab, why do you think it's appropriate to show pictures of her without hijab just because her husband messed up? I'm sure they'd find some ridiculous pictures of me and post them all over the internet. (By the way, before anyone judges me for this sentence, I don't care if you're a 53 year old niqqabi, you have a skankalicious picture SOMEWHERE).
I would flip.
You can't assume that we all became Muslim because we married some guy.
(Who are these persuasive men? I want them on my dawah team!)
I would do a lot for someone I really loved, that's true. Give up my favorite food perhaps, do a symbolic dance of sorts, dye my hair red. But change my religion? No chance in hell.
And last week, at my open house, a woman came up to me and said "your husband must be Muslim right? What's your story?" No. Not right. I'm not married. I'm Muslim on my own choosing. No guy in my ear. No threats. Just Muslim because I want to be.
Like I've said before, some girls meet some 7/11 owner named Firas, fall in love with him and "convert" to Islam because he says so and they can't marry anyone else otherwise. And he wants his greencard.
But that's not every person.
Look, I don't LOVE these stories, it wasn't my path, but who am I to judge those girls?
Maybe they really believe it. Maybe Firas is meant to be a Muslim missionary. I don't know. You don't know.
Most people just follow the religion of their parents, so why is it SOOO wrong to follow the religion of your husband?
It's not my choice. But it's a choice.
I also have spoken to a lot of my friends that converted after falling in love with a guy and what I realized is that it wasn't because their husbands are Muslim that they converted. It was because it's the first time they ever had a deep conversation about religion with someone that was Muslim and they finally understood it. You probably aren't going to talk to your girlfriends about the secrets of life, religion, faith, etc... in a deep way. You're gonna talk about shoes. But, you will talk to a potential spouse that deeply. So, that's when Islam comes up. When you're deep in conversation.
But, please, don't assume it's because of some controlling Muslim guy that these women would change their faith. Islam is the fastest spreading religion - it's not because there's a lot of controlling dudes and weak women. It's because it's beautiful.
There's a LOT of male converts as well so riddle me that one....
And Muslim people - that were born Muslim - don't be so quick to ridicule converts who convert after falling in love with a Muslim guy. You're not God. And, there's no reason to be skeptical.
Again, I suck at history, but I remember this story: In battle a man took his shahada when he was about to be killed by the army of the Prophet Muhammad (saws) and the solider killed him anyway. Prophet Muhammad (saws) told that soldier that it was wrong of him to kill him as even if he is in a pressured situation, the solider, a mere man, is not the one to say whether or not the man was Muslim.
Similarly, we can't judge.
Finally, know that no, I'm not brainwashed. I didn't come to Islam with some "kumbaya" (no, I can't spell it!) lovey -dovey attitude towards it. I came to it critically, harshly, like every other "average American" would. And after fact checking, understanding, and building my knowledge then - and only then - did I fall in love with it and convert.
May Allah (swt) protect this woman, Katherine Russell, from all of the negativity in this world. May He open peoples eyes to Islam. May He help everyone that converts to do so willingly and for His sake only. And may everyone that takes his or her shahada die a Muslim. Ameen.
