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Jun 24 Transforming Your Reality Jun 17 A History of Muslim Americans’ Political Engagement Jun 17 My Brother is Gay: Navigating the Intersection of Religion and Family An interview with Imam Wesley Lebron Jun 10 Islam and the Romans: Early Muslim-Byzantine Interaction May 20 Reclaiming the Sunnah of Adoption and Foster Care: An Interview with Basmah Salam Apr 29 National Poetry Month: An Ode to Faith, Visibility, and the Conversations We Don’t Forget Apr 15 Beyond Ramadan: Taking Its Lessons Farther  Apr 15 The Power of Saying No: A Reflection on Boundaries

Tag: reverting to Islam

  • Embrace: Convert Care During the Pandemic

    Embrace: Convert Care During the Pandemic

    The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the entire world, with more than 250 million infections and over 5 million deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. The pandemic caused many countries, including the U.S., to implement in 2020 emergency shutdown protocols, forcing everyone to stay at home. Our masajid were closed for much of last year, including all of Ramadan. Instead of having iftar at the masjid and praying Taraweeh together with our brothers and sisters in faith, we ate and prayed at home, missing the bonding experiences of sharing meals and praying side by side. And instead of having big community celebrations for Eid, we had a quiet Eid at home with our families. Those who live alone, and especially new Muslim converts, spent Ramadan and Eid alone.

    So, many say that Ramadan 2020 was the “loneliest Ramadan” they ever experienced and how difficult it was to achieve their Ramadan goals without the spiritual boost of congregational prayers at the masjid and breaking bread with their brothers and sisters. What many of us may not realize is that the feeling of loneliness and isolation is how many converts to Islam feel on a daily basis. Embrace is a convert care and empowerment organization, led by converts for converts, that establishes social and educational spaces for Muslim converts to grow, connect, be empowered, and establish long-lasting brotherhood and sisterhood connections that many converts have difficulty finding in the larger Muslim community.

    Founded in the Dallas – Ft. Worth area of Texas in mid-2017, Embrace has been establishing consistent programming for converts that addresses both their social and educational needs. Such programs include weekly study circles where both traditional and contemporary topics are discussed, classes for recent converts, monthly community building programs and events such as potlucks and family game nights, our annual convert conference, and the like. Ramadan was a very special time for Embrace, conducting daily iftars for the converts in the DFW area at either the home of one of our Embrace members or at our weekly study circles. We would then conclude the Ramadan season with an Eid celebration, giving gifts to the children and a holding a raffle for the adults. Converts experienced a busy and connecting time, sharing the beautiful meaning and purpose of fasting and celebration with their brothers and sisters. Seeing Embrace’s work in DFW inspired converts in other areas to emulate the effort and they established chapters in Texas, Connecticut, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and California.

    Then the pandemic happened, forcing Embrace and all other organizations and masajid to shut down in-person events and programs. This caused concern for many converts, worrying that they would feel isolated, perhaps even more so than after their embrace of Islam. Embrace leadership knew something had to be done to continue caring for the convert community despite the new limitations brought about by the pandemic. The following are details of the various virtual programs Embrace launched to keep the convert community engaged and connected during the pandemic.

    Staying Connected During a Pandemic

    First and foremost, Embrace needed to adapt the regular weekly study circles to the online environment. Zoom was utilized to continue Embrace’s weekly studies, but instead of a lecture, Embrace focused on book discussions. Each participant was encouraged to read so as to contribute more actively to the discussion. Embrace covered a variety of books, covering topics like the fundamentals of fiqh to contemporary issues like mass incarceration in the U.S. Discussions were livestreamed on Embrace’s social media platforms for those who could not utilize Zoom.

    These study circle discussions were increased to multiple study circles a week, led by various Embrace chapters across the country on different days. Since discussions were happening online, anyone could participate regardless of where they lived. This allowed converts of different regions to connect with one another, building brotherhood and sisterhood across state borders. This approach allowed Embrace to cover many topics a week, providing converts with a broad-based education. “Hadith Rush” was launched for Thursday evenings, during which individual Embrace members were given the opportunity to lead a discussion on various authentic Bukhari ahadith, with the supervision of one of Embrace’s educators.

    After “Hadith Rush” concluded, it was followed up with “Seerah Rush.” Using a biography of Prophet Muhammad, “In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad,” one chapter was covered by a different Embrace member each week. These programs were focused on providing leadership opportunities for converts by giving a platform for them to lead discussions and teach what they’ve learned. For Fridays, Embrace launched its weekly “Friday Reminder” to fill in for in-person Jumuah prayer. For weekends, Embrace established a Saturday morning “Virtual Coffee/Tea Chat” for sisters, focused on promoting sisterhood and individual growth. This weekly event provided a welcoming space for sisters of varying spiritual levels to grow together. With these programs and others, Embrace was servicing the convert community during the pandemic virtually every day, connecting with converts from across the nation and even internationally.

    For Ramadan 2020, Embrace conducted regular online programs to ensure converts stayed connected during this precious time. While no one was able to have in-person iftars, Embrace conducted virtual iftars every day during Ramadan. With virtual iftars, converts from across the nation could enjoy each other’s company during iftar, through Zoom. Attendees were encouraged to turn on their cameras and a different Embrace member would introduce a topic of conversation every day, keeping the conversation casual and light-hearted. After the virtual iftar, converts’ spiritual hunger was satisfied through Embrace’s “Qur’an Rush” program. An Embrace member would lead a discussion on a juz (one of thirty roughly equal sections) of the Qur’an, covering primary themes found in that juz. A document developed by a reputable scholar was utilized by the presenter to lead the discussion. Through “Qur’an Rush,” Embrace’s convert community was able to have discussions on all thirty juz of the Qur’an.

    Embrace’s Eid celebration was also adapted for the virtual environment, conducting various performances and “My First Ramadan” testimonials from Muslims who recently converted. Eid gift packages were created by Embrace members and delivered to convert families in DFW or shipped to convert families in other states. In many ways, Embrace has been able to serve the convert community across a wider spectrum than before the pandemic. Converts from across the nation were able to interact and build long-lasting friendships with Muslims in other states, creating a broader foundation of mutual support.

    Many were introduced to Embrace during the pandemic and now consider themselves a proud member of Embrace’s growing family. Still, converts are an underserved demographic in the Muslim community, with too many eventually leaving Islam due to lack of support. Our American Muslim community, however, needs converts as much as they need us, as they are our best means of connecting with the general American populace. With Allah’s permission, Embrace will continue to do its utmost to serve the convert community and help them grow, ready to adapt to any situation that may come our way to ensure that this important part of the Muslim community continues to grow.

  • From Valentine’s Day to Islam for Life

    From Valentine’s Day to Islam for Life

    Twenty years ago I gave a girl a Valentine’s Day card. We were high school seniors and I misspelled her name on the card. I was a mere month out of drug rehab, where I had been placed due to my daily consuming of a concoction of marijuana, alcohol, LSD, PCP and other chemicals. During the previous four years, I had developed a bad habit of breaking into cars and taking other people’s belongings. A former girlfriend of mine had carved my initials into her wrist with a razor blade and then cut the veins. She lived. On more than one occasion I woke up covered in my own blood, urine, and vomit with no clue where I was or what had led me there.
    The girl who I gave the card to, who I had known since the tenth grade but not really interacted with much, had her own history. She was from Afghanistan. She was in Kabul, the capitol city, when the Soviets invaded. She went to school one day to find a whole new set of teachers who idolized communism. She threw rocks at occupiers and had assault weapons pointed her way. Her core memory of her family’s escape from the war is looking at her longtime nanny running after their car begging for a chance to say goodbye. For security, her parents had told no one of their plan. When she got my card on Valentine’s Day, she responded by giving me a book on Islam, her faith. I tossed it aside with a comment about religion being for weak people.

    Embracing Islam probably saved my life

    When I later read the book, I found it appealing. Islam’s approach to life — essentially do your daily prayers and then go live your life and try to make the world a better place — was pragmatic and simple. I embraced Islam two years later. I went alone to her parents to ask their permission to marry her. I was invited to eat dinner with the girl’s mother and father and felt quite intimidated. I was served lasagna (not an expected Muslim-world dish) with superhot cheese in the center. It felt like it was inflicting second degree burns on the inside of my mouth but I managed not to spit it out. My culinary heroics worked and I received their blessing. We had a religious marriage ceremony while we were still in our teens. Shortly after the ceremony, her father had me in their backyard digging a ditch with a pickax in the cold. He was illustrating the consequences of anything less than my absolute best behavior when it came to his daughter.

    My wife’s first encounter with my world involved meeting a friend of mine whose father had just been angrily ramming this friend’s head into a wall of their house. The stream of cursing was awful. The idea of a father inflicting that kind of abuse on a child was totally alien to my wife. It was common among my friends. One of my first encounters with her world was at a dinner party at her parent’s home. Men and women were in separate rooms. I saw the men eating while my mother-in-law and a couple other women cooked. I drew my own conclusions and vocally refused to eat until the women did. I was taken aside and made to understand that the women had already eaten.

    Giving my wife that card has opened me up to a number of such assumption-changing encounters. I have been told to go back to my country, based on the assumption that any Muslim must be a foreigner. I have been complemented on my excellent English, based on the same assumption. My life has been threatened, on the assumption that as a Muslim, I must have had advance notice of the 9/11 attacks. I have been identified for extra security screening because of who I was traveling with, on the assumption that someone who looks foreign is more likely to be a threat than white Americans, even though terror acts have been committed by Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City bombing), Terry Nichols (Oklahoma City bombing) and Eric Rudolf (Olympic Park and abortion clinic bombings).

    Embracing Islam probably saved my life. I had a rather wide range of unreasonably self-destructive behaviors that faded away in view of the faith’s message about respect for life, and the benefit and blessing of living in a wholesome way. Certainly it has made me a better citizen. I am law-abiding (except for sometimes speeding when I drive). I no longer steal. I no longer abuse people. I do an honest day’s work which I believe serves the public good. That, however, is not the image of Muslims, whether American-born, convert, or immigrant, that you get through the media these days.
    Today I will give my wife the exact card I gave her twenty years ago, misspelled name and all. This time, I am Muslim. And in addition to her being my every-day sweetheart, I am expressing my appreciation that in response to that very card, she helped guide me to a faith that gave me back my life.