{"id":1205,"date":"2021-04-07T21:12:27","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T18:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/why-did-these-women-fall-in-love-with-islam\/"},"modified":"2021-04-07T21:12:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T18:12:27","slug":"why-did-these-women-fall-in-love-with-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/why-did-these-women-fall-in-love-with-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Did These Women Fall in Love with Islam?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"But<\/a><\/p>\n

But what would make someone want to change their lifestyle so dramatically?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018I wasn\u2019t looking for a religion … I just fell in love with Islam\u2019, this is how one single British woman from the 5,000 Brits who become Muslims each year described her life choice of Islam.<\/p>\n

More than half of those who make the switch are white \u2013 and 75 per cent are women, revealed a late report.<\/p>\n

But what would make someone want to change their lifestyle so dramatically?<\/p>\n

Police Community Support Officer Jayne Kemp left her Catholic roots behind after \u2018falling in love\u2019 with Islam while helping victims of so-called honour violence.<\/p>\n

PCSO Jayne, 28<\/b><\/p>\n

Jayne Kemp patrols her beat wearing a traditional hijab (headscarf) and even works extra time after shifts so she can attend Friday prayers at her mosque.<\/p>\n

Devout Jayne converted to Islam last April and even plans to change her name to Aminah.<\/p>\n

The single mum, who patrols Eccles, Gtr Manchester, as a Police Community Support Officer, says: \u2018I thought Islam was all about women being forced to slave away in the kitchen \u2014 but I found out it was about being generous with your time, and patient and respectful of others.<\/p>\n

\u2018As I looked into it, I saw similarities with Catholicism and noticed values such as looking after your neighbours and cherishing the elderly, which is something older people say younger people don\u2019t do any more.<\/p>\n

\u2018I wasn\u2019t looking for any religion at the time but for every question I had answered about Islam, I had five more. I think I fell in love with it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Devoted Jayne even missed out on celebrating Christmas with her son, nine, and daughter, seven. She sent them off to their dad\u2019s and cooked her own meal so it would be halal<\/i> (the meat slaughtered in the manner prescribed by Islamic Shari`ah law).<\/p>\n

And despite the drastic change, Jayne says colleagues at Greater Manchester Police and her family have been supportive. She is now helping to design a regulation police hijab and tunic \u2014 as one has never been needed before.<\/p>\n

Jayne says: \u2018I was worried about what my colleagues would think but they have been so understanding.<\/p>\n

\u2018People in Eccles have been great too \u2014 most don\u2019t even mention it. If my children had struggled with me covering my hair I wouldn\u2019t have done it.<\/p>\n

\u2018They have both asked a lot about it but I would never push Islam on them and they will be brought up Catholic.<\/p>\n

\u2018I just hope by speaking out I can show it is OK for a Muslim woman to work in the police force and change negative Islam stereotypes.<\/p>\n

\u2018My family members, in general, are supportive. If I\u2019m happy, they\u2019re happy. My sister said I\u2019m the happiest she\u2019s ever seen me.\u2019<\/p>\n

Jayne was inspired to convert to Islam after chatting to other Muslims on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Muhammad Manzoor, who runs Muslim Twitter account Local Masjid from his home in Whalley Range, Manchester, helped her make the transition.<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018I was humbled Jayne was asking me these questions.<\/p>\n

\u2018She has found this religion for herself and hopefully it shows Muslims can mix in society without compromising their faith.\u2019<\/p>\n

Student Alana, 21<\/b><\/p>\n

Alana Blockley, a media student who lives in Glasgow, converted to Islam after meeting her husband Abdul on holiday in June 2010. She says:<\/p>\n

\u2018My family are all travellers and we live on a caravan site. I was baptized as a Christian but church and religion were never a big part of my life.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was 18 when I decided I wanted to go out to the Canaries. I wanted to work as a club rep and have the experiences people say you should when you\u2019re young.<\/p>\n

\u2018I arrived in Fuerteventura and after a couple of days, a hotel maintenance man offered to take me out for a coffee. He was Abdul, a Muslim from Morocco.<\/p>\n

\u2018When I got home he asked me to come back and visit him \u2013 and after three visits we knew we wanted to be together.<\/p>\n

\u2018I started to research Islam because I wanted to know more about his life.<\/p>\n

\u2018I decided I wanted to convert. I was worried about telling my parents and burst into tears. Mum thought I was pregnant and my dad thought I\u2019d crashed my car.<\/p>\n

\u2018I started to wear the hijab last summer. We got married in a Muslim ceremony earlier this month in Fuerteventura.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t eat ham or drink alcohol now.<\/p>\n

\u2018I celebrate `Eid (the Islamic public celebration) now, but I compromised with my parents and we all had a halal<\/em>\u00a0(permitted by Allah) Christmas dinner.<\/p>\n

\u2018I hope I\u2019m going to heaven now and I like the rules of Islam.\u2019<\/p>\n

Jobseeker Claire, 24<\/b><\/p>\n

Claire Evans, from Bridgend, South Wales, converted to Islam last July after researching it following a break-up.<\/p>\n

\u2018After my heart was broken by a Muslim man, I wanted nothing more to do with the religion \u2013 I thought it was cruel and unkind.<\/p>\n

\u2018But my mum started looking up more about Islam and pointed out the way this man had behaved was contrary to the faith\u2019s teachings.<\/p>\n

\u2018I read up on it and discovered that Islam actually promotes tranquility and peace.<\/p>\n

\u2018I wasn\u2019t religious before I converted. I didn\u2019t really believe in God. I now cover my hair and wear a hijab, which was a big decision. My dad doesn\u2019t like it, though, and I don\u2019t wear the hijab when I\u2019m with him.<\/p>\n

\u2018At first I got some stares and nasty comments but in the past six months I\u2019ve grown in confidence. Now I go to the mosque once a week and I pray every day.<\/p>\n

\u2018I also took a Muslim name, Safir, but I still use my old name of Claire too. I have a new partner too, who is a Muslim, but we\u2019re not settling down just yet.<\/p>\n

\u2018Islam has made me calmer and, for the first time in my life, I feel accepted.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s not much I miss about my old life- I can\u2019t eat pork now.\u2019<\/p>\n

Model Ayesha, 24<\/b><\/p>\n

Ayesha Olumide, from Edinburgh, is a model who works under her original name of Eunice. She converted to Islam in 2009 while at university. She says:<\/p>\n

\u2018Before converting to Islam I was a Christian \u2013 but where my family is from in West Africa, Islam and Christianity are both practiced. But it wasn\u2019t until I started studying philosophy at university that I began to learn more about Islam.<\/p>\n

\u2018At first I was worried it would be too extreme but when I studied the Qur\u2019an it blew my mind. The theories about nature and science appealed and I felt enlightened. You can\u2019t always explain everything in a scientific way and Islam helps me with that.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was first scouted as a model while a 15-year-old tomboy. I was into football and athletics \u2013 but a career in fashion is all about looks. Converting to Islam made me realize how much we value people if society thinks they\u2019re beautiful.<\/p>\n

\u2018At the mosque, women cover their head and dress modestly, so no one is judging you on what you look like. At first I found it hard to square being a Muslim with being a model. But I spoke to a Muslim sister and she said Islam is not an extreme religion, so if it felt too extreme to me it probably wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n

\u2018Now I cover my hair for 99 per cent of the time. And I don\u2019t do any bikini or underwear shoots.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t have set days at the mosque but I do go often and I pray every day. I would like to start a family in the future but don\u2019t think I\u2019d marry a non-Muslim.\u2019<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

Source: thesun.uk<\/p>\n

[ica_orginalurl]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Islam is about oppression, then why did these women choose it? What did Islam give them? What would make a woman badly want to change their lifestyle upside down?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[510,2],"tags":[5844,167,564,5845,649,566,2495,5846,2600,5847,852],"class_list":["post-1205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversion-stories","category-new-muslims","tag-british-convert","tag-featured","tag-hijab","tag-international-woman-day","tag-islamic-lifestyle","tag-muslim-woman","tag-new-muslim-woman","tag-true-nature-of-islam","tag-woman-in-islam","tag-women-convert","tag-women-status-in-islam"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Why-Did-They-Choose-Islam....jpg?fit=500%2C391&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ZvKT-jr","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}