Sunday, April 3, 2011

The Favoured Ones

Recently during a session of our women’s workshops we got into a very important discussion. Two of the women present were reverts to Islam. They both married men who were born Muslims and they became Muslim before they married. These women shared a little bit about their lives with us, and they mentioned that as a revert into Islam, things are not very easy. They explained how certain people in their families and community were not willing to accept them as equals and how they always had to work hard to prove themselves as worthy Muslims.

It was disappointing to hear their accounts of the negative reactions they receive from fellow Muslims, especially because those people who are fortunate enough to be born as Muslims are supposed to be the one’s working harder to attract people towards Islam instead of turning them away. In any case, I loved the reply that was given to them by one of our very knowledgeable and experienced facilitators. She told them that they were the ones who had been favoured by Allah. Allah chose them to come to Islam and they were blessed, and they would be given great reward in the hereafter, Inshaa Allah. She then urged all of us present that day to treat our fellow Muslim sisters in the manner set out for us by the Beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). She reminded us that those who have come to Islam should be welcomed with open arms, and these people will indeed be favoured by Allah on the day of Judgement, and she emphasized how we shouldn’t take things for granted simply because we were born as Muslims because we all have to work hard to attain Jannah (Paradise). Alhamdullillah, I thought that was an amazing answer, and it seemed like it really helped our two sisters to feel more positive about their lives.

I decided to write about this because it really is such an important topic. I have always admired people who have come to Islam. I find it amazing that they have such a zeal for knowledge and they follow the rules of Islam with such urgency and strictness that you can’t help but be amazed. The thing I’ve noticed is that those of us who were born as Muslims have tended to become too comfortable in our lives, and we take many things for granted. Sometimes we even carry out acts of worship in ritual fashion, and we believe that since we are Muslims all our lives we don’t need to gain more knowledge about Islam. We thus tend to become complacent and remain in a static state.

In contrast, those who have reverted to Islam are continuously striving to better themselves. They regard the religion as a beautiful gift; they hold fast to it and work hard not to ever lose it. They appreciate what they have been given and they see the true beauty in it, and what’s more, they want to share it with everyone so they tend to do more daw’ah work. In fact, most of the people who work the hardest to spread Islam in today’s times are revert Muslims. This should make us wonder, shouldn’t it? Especially when it is the duty of every single Muslim male and female to spread Islam.

Those who revert to Islam read more and learn more, and they insist on doing things exactly how they should be done. The Islam they portray is true Islam because it is not tainted with cultural or familial ideas of things. They focus only on Sunnah and Qur’aan and their understanding of Islam is not based on old traditions. I remember hearing about someone who became a Muslim and within months this person had already learnt Arabic and could speak the language well. SubhanAllah, this is amazing! I am still struggling to learn Arabic and I know very, very little of the language.

I have to agree that those people who have reverted to Islam are indeed the favoured ones! There is so much that we need to learn from them and so much inspiration that we can gain from them. The ideal should be for us all to come together and love one another, as true Muslim brothers and sisters should love one another, purely for the sake of the Almighty Allah. There should be no differentiation, it doesn’t matter if you are a Muslim your whole life, or if you have recently become a Muslim, the only thing that matters is whether you are going to die as a Muslim! (May Allah save us all from death without Imaan (Faith).

I can’t remember whether I heard this from someone or if I read it, but I remember that there are 3 types of people; Those who live with Imaan their whole lives, but die without it. Those who live without Imaan their whole lives, but die with Imaan. And those who live with Imaan and die with Imaan. May Allah make us all of these people who live with Imaan and die with Imaan, Inshaa Allah!

Image from: http://islamandthemoslimworld.blogspot.com/ (Check this site out, it's very interesting)

11 comments:

  1. salamo aleikom wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu

    jazakAllah Khair sis for this wonderful post. I, too, am a revert and I married an egyptian who was always Muslim, alhamdulilah. I also noticed the negativity of many "born Muslims" here in Egypt. They assume I don't know anything just because I'm a revert, they think I don't have any manners and they see me as inferior in Emaan and other religious and non-religious related matters. It hurts me really. I did know many sisters who were born Muslims and they truly wanted to know my ideas and they were shocked that I knew much more than they thought. I did spend my first years of searching for the truth reading a lot. And after some time I reverted to Islam and I still didn't stop reading. It has been 5 to 6 years now, alhamdulilah wa Allahu Akbar. I find it quite hard to give da'wah and forbid the munkar among Muslims in Egypt because they assume I don't have enough knowledge to tell them what's wrong and what's right... in the end, may Allah guide them. I do my part =) jazakAllah Khair ya ukhti... I appreciate your posts a lot =) Wa Salam

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  2. Dear Safyiah

    Jazakallah khair for your comment. Once again I will say that it's very dissapointing to hear that Muslims treat each other with such negativity and assume that another Muslim is inferior. Allah knows best about all His servants and Alhamdullillah for this because Only Allah can never be judgemental. SubhanAllah. Sister, I really admire your strength and courage and I pray that Allah takes you from strength to strength. We can't change other people, but we can always strive to be the best example of a Muslim that we can be, and in the end all our actions are witnessed by Allah.

    All the best sister, stay strong, and May Allah ALmighty always be with you!

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Oh man, I wrote a 'long' comment and it disappeared.
    I watched a really relevant video to this post which I recommend all Muslims to watch:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHJ9nlQV-QQ


    And yes, all to often, we take Islam for granted (those of us raised as Muslims).

    Safiyah, I'm so sorry to hear that. :(

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  5. Very interesting post Zarina. Tolerance and respect are important values.
    I have a question maybe you can help me with, what is the difference between a convert and a revert?

    Hope you are well dear zarina and looking forward reading more of you very soon. Best wishes.

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  6. Thanks Marie

    I am well with the Grace and Mercy of Allah and I hope that you are doing well and enjoying married life.

    A convert and a revert is the same thing, but some people prefer to use the term revert because of the belief that all humans were born in the state of submission to Allah, thus all people were born Muslims, and then they choose to follow another religion. So when someone converts to Islam they are actually coming back to their original state and that's why they use the term revert instead of convert. I hope this answers your question sufficiently.

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  7. Little Auntie

    Thanks for your comment and for the link to the video. I checked out the video but didnt yet watch the whole thing. Inshaa Allah I will give you my thoughts as soon as I hace time to view the whole thing.

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    jazallah khair

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  9. You won an award! :)
    http://rosewater1.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-favorite-things-inspiration-award.html

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  10. Salam all and Safyiah,

    I am a convert and married to a Egyptian. I was loosely follow Islam in the first five years of my convert as I was still doing a lot of thinking and research about Islam. During that time, noone took me seriously as I wasn't cover but I did wear decently - loose long pants and blouse. I thought I was preparing myself at that time. I was never a person who are into fashion and careless about outlook. I was a serious Christian before becoming a muslim.

    Here, I would like to ask any sisters a favour. If you see a muslim who is not veiled, approach them with a smile and accept them as one of you. I was being treated not very friendly by a group of "Arab" muslims. The reason I thought becasue I was unveiled at that time. On the other hand, alhumduillah, another group of Indian/Pakistania sisters are so appraochable and welcomed me to their circle. They invited me to the park gathering, informal chat, etc, etc. I was deeply impressed and moved by their sisterhood. Now I am veiled, I will say i am sort of "in" the circle (even though I don't really care), but still some sisters will treat me "differently" and make me uneasy. I am a older sister in the age of my late 30s, in fact, I do not really care how people should see me. But I just want to ask a simple smile to our unveil sister and new muslim sister.

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  11. Aviation

    Jazakallah Khayr sister for this valuable comment. What you have said is so important, and I would like to join you in your appeal. Rasullullah (SAW) taught us that even a smile is charity, and through our actions we are supposed to attract other sisters to Islam, let alone establish a strong bond between Muslim sisters. It's hard enough for Muslims who have converted, they most of the time don't have the support of their own families, and sometimes their old friends can't even understand their conversion. Our role as Muslim sisters is so crucial. Supporting another Muslim is not difficult, as the sister above has mentioned, all you have to do is accept them, smile, greet, respect and treat them as you would want to be treated. None of us are perfect and we've all had a journey to undergo ourselves, we should remember what it feels like when people look down on us and this should help us to never look down on others.

    To my sisters who have converted, Alhamdullillah, I admire your strength and courage, and you are truly favoured. I would just like to remind you that Allah Almighty loves you, so even if people do not always treat you as you should be treated, Allah knows everything that you have to go through and nothing will go unrewarded.

    May Allah be with us all Inshaa Allah:-}

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