{"id":621,"date":"2018-03-08T22:16:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T19:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/08\/islam-the-true-emancipator-of-women-converts\/"},"modified":"2018-03-08T22:16:48","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T19:16:48","slug":"islam-the-true-emancipator-of-women-converts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/islam-the-true-emancipator-of-women-converts\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam: The True Emancipator of Women Converts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"True<\/a><\/p>\n

Contrary to the sneering stereotypes of some sections of the press, British women converting to Islam do not enter the realm of the socially immobile and culturally policed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Many may think that, being a new female Muslim is so riddled with fault lines, but it\u2019s not really. My recent interviews with Muslim converts offered a rare glimpse into the lives of three women who would flatly reject such comparisons. And they\u2019re all buzzing with spiritual ecstasy, retelling what caused them to Islamize their wardrobes and dress codes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing Muslim keeps me from wanting to impress others and gives me more personal confidence,\u201d says Chantelle, a 19-year-old Muslim convert from Hackney.<\/p>\n

Today, she goes by the name Khadija, as a sign of respect for Prophet Muhammad\u2019s (peace be upon him) first wife and insists there\u2019s more to British women trading bare midriffs for `abayas<\/i> (Islamic outer garment) than what meets the eye.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wear the hijab because I want to. Because it is between me and Allah. It\u2019s not a fashion statement. Yes, I do not go to clubs and do not sleep around. It gives me a comfort which I know so many of my friends would love to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those friends is Monique, who recalls how Chantelle\u2019s embracing Islam inspired a raw honesty and emotion in her, helping her sense power and security in a head-to-toe cover-up:<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t really say for certain that I became Muslim because I read the Qur\u2019an. But in a weird way, I felt Chantelle had more freedom than I did by covering herself, instead of letting it all out like me. I thought to myself \u2018this was worth trying\u2019. I can\u2019t say I do not miss our clubs and parties, but I\u2019d rather live like this. We still do what other girls do but it\u2019s more toned down if you catch my drift. I haven\u2019t looked back since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspirations & Challenges<\/b><\/p>\n

Both girls were gearing up for a lifetime of prostration, meditation and single-sex socializing and offered gleaning insights into how their lives had taken a better turn from the moment they embraced Islam. As we entered deep into our discussions, they also took a moment to discuss the challenges which lay in their wake.<\/p>\n

We talked about everything from relationships, sex and family, and it was clear the prospect of love and marriage lingered heavily over their heads. Chantelle spoke candidly about some common anxieties with converts: \u201cIt\u2019s not just what friends and family are going to say. \u2018Oh my God, why are you dressing like that, etc.\u2019 I do not care about being unpopular. But I do wonder what my chances of marrying a native Muslim will be. I guess I\u2019ll have to stick to another convert\u201d.<\/p>\n

Similar emotions skittered across Monique\u2019s face when I asked her the same question. Despite being saddled with the weight of conversion, theirs was a genuine humility and grace with which both accepted their \u201cgood fortunes\u201d of becoming Muslim and as Chantelle put it, \u201cWomen who can at last be themselves and please themselves and not men\u201d. Neither of them was borne of any resignation, and were at pains to convince others that their new identities hadn\u2019t sapped their career ambitions or aspirations in the slightest.<\/p>\n

Contrary to the sneering stereotypes of some sections of the press, British women converting to Islam do not enter the realm of the socially immobile and culturally policed. Like those I interviewed, they\u2019ve found a new lease of life as teetotalling Brits, dragging women from under the voyeuristic yoke. If Chantelle and Monique are anything to go by, then sex doesn\u2019t have to sell for women to compete on the same terms.<\/p>\n

Then there was 32-year-old mother of two, Jessica. Defiant, unrelenting and unapologetic, she sat before me, niqab-clad. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m just so thankful to Allah that I\u2019ve left everything behind; the hangovers, the guilt, the promiscuous sex. Basically, I feel completely transformed and hate to be reminded of my past because that was me then, and this is me now\u201d.<\/p>\n

She claimed becoming Muslim was a \u201cwelcome distraction\u201d from her previous, unspiritual lifestyle and was relieved to be confronted by a siege of female converts after she took her Shahadah (Testimony of Faith). There was a lot of frenzy surrounding her conversion, not least from her family: \u201cMy mum dismissed it as a case of teenage rebellion,\u201d says Jessica, who spends much of her spare time buying and selling the intricate embroideries and jewel works of hijabs and jilbabs <\/i>(wide long dresses).<\/p>\n

True Freedom<\/b><\/p>\n

As I probed a little deeper, I realized the reason why she, like some other converts I\u2019ve met in the past, came across as a lapsed Briton, cut off from their indigenous culture: \u201cNo one from our politicians to our newspapers are doing anything to fight the prejudice against women. Our culture has become so sex obsessed, its making parenting tougher than I thought\u201d.<\/p>\n

We spoke in length about the misogynistic gaffes served up by the media, and the recent description by The Daily Mail of an eight-year-old as a \u2018leggy beauty\u2019 unwittingly added fuel to her fire. \u201cYou see that\u2019s exactly my point. My decision to become Muslim was a safety net from all this filth. My children are not going to grow up without realizing that although we\u2019ve got a lot of things right in Britain we\u2019ve also messed a lot of things up, especially when it comes to respecting our girls\u201d.<\/p>\n

For Jessica, accepting Islam was a way of her silently reproaching the cultural failure to improve the lot of women: \u201cWhy do you think so many women are becoming Muslim in this country? Because the \u2018wonderful\u2019 freedoms in the West have only enslaved us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As interesting as it was hearing these converts share memories from the past and express delight at their leap of faith, I was looking more forward to interviewing native Muslims who had grown up in British Muslim families, to find out what they thought about their convert sisters in faith.<\/p>\n

Spiritual Bonus, Spiritual Guidance<\/b><\/p>\n

Like me and Shanna Bukhari, the documentary\u2019s presenter, Fatima felt converts to Islam claimed an ambiguous spiritual advantage: \u201cSeeing them offer voluntary prayers and study the Qur\u2019an led me to a lot of soul searching and reflection. They\u2019re much better at being Muslim than I could ever have imagined\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n

For practicing Muslim Lutfa, the no-nonsense hardline exteriors of some converts bring a certain noise and colour to the religion which she feels can only be good for the faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at Islam from a historical point of view, then you will see that we really owe a lot of our genius to the energy of converts\u201d.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t agree any more. Among my Muslim friends, we\u2019re often left feeling that converts have seized the initiative and run with it and to keep apace, we\u2019ve got to step our God-game up so to speak. Lutfa also agrees that women converts offer Muslims a refreshing change of pace: \u201cconvert sisters are definitely setting a standard for others to follow\u201d.<\/p>\n

Whatever we may think of these converts, their decision to become Muslim may be a powerful indictment of some women\u2019s lives in the west. That\u2019s the impression they all left me, especially Jessica who would repeatedly ask whether feminism had delivered on its promise.<\/p>\n

So amidst all the everyday sexism and cultural creepiness hounding British women, is Islam somehow squaring their circle?\u00a0 Are burqas, niqabs<\/i> <\/i>(face-veils) and hijabs breathing soul in the lives of girls which desperately lack a higher calling, helping them reclaiming the watchwords of feminism? Does the conversion to Islam among British women bode healthily for Britain\u2019s future?<\/p>\n

For Chantelle, Monique and Jessica, the answer to these questions is a resolute yes.<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

Source: <\/i>independent.co.uk.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

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

Does Islam suffocate women\u2019s freedom and rights to live properly or does it help them reclaim their true feminism? Here\u2019s the answer from their own lips\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":622,"comment_status":"open","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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[510,2],"tags":[1674,644,513,202,516,2187,2314,519,10,559,240,560,522,2315,561,524,599,525,527,528,167,604,647,648,2316,531,2318,533,2317,534,535,670,536,650,2319,537,136,2320,2321,539,567,569,570,145,652,571,573,574,544,410,546,312,575,547,997,548,655,552,553,919,2322,964,851,2323,554,579],"class_list":["post-621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversion-stories","category-new-muslims","tag-accepting-islam","tag-american-muslim","tag-american-muslims","tag-be-better-person","tag-belief-in-allah","tag-british-muslim","tag-challenges-for-new-muslims","tag-christian-belief","tag-concept-of-god-in-islam","tag-conversion-to-islam","tag-converts-to-islam","tag-creator-of-universe","tag-day-of-judgment","tag-decency","tag-declaration-of-belief","tag-devout-adherents-to-islam","tag-doubts-about-trinity","tag-eternal-happiness","tag-family-and-friends","tag-family-reaction","tag-featured","tag-from-catholicism-to-islam","tag-from-christianity-to-islam","tag-gods-messengers","tag-international-womens-day","tag-islam-in-america","tag-islamic-ethics","tag-islamic-way-of-life","tag-islams-impact","tag-learning-about-islam","tag-meaning-in-life","tag-merits-of-islam","tag-message-to-all-people","tag-mississippian-muslim","tag-moral-values","tag-multi-cultural-religion","tag-muslim-community","tag-muslim-families","tag-muslims-in-britain","tag-my-journey-to-islam","tag-new-muslims-experiences","tag-peace-in-islam","tag-practicing-muslim","tag-prophet-muhammad","tag-reading-quran","tag-religion-of-peace","tag-search-for-god","tag-search-for-truth","tag-shahadah","tag-submission-to-the-creator","tag-submit-to-god","tag-teachings-of-islam","tag-testimony-of-faith","tag-the-one-god","tag-true-freedom","tag-true-religion-of-god","tag-what-islam-means","tag-why-i-became-muslim","tag-why-i-chose-islam","tag-why-islam","tag-women-hijab","tag-women-in-islam","tag-women-rights-in-islam","tag-womens-day","tag-worship-god","tag-worship-god-alone"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Islam-the-True-Emancipator-of-Women-Converts-...jpg?fit=570%2C238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ZvKT-a1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621","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=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}