Muslim converts stay true to religion even in the face of hardship

1/27/2005 3:30:00 PM GMT

Source:dailybruin.ucla.edu

A common stereotype is that most Muslims today are Arab, when in reality Islam draws people from different ethnicities.

"The majority of people feel that all Muslims are Arab, but in reality only a small percent – 15 percent – are of Arab descent," said Faryah Humkar, a member of the UCLA Muslim Student Association. The Muslim population, she adds, includes people from many different backgrounds and ethnicities.

Reymund Nur converted to Islam thirty-five years ago when he was just a 12-year-old boy living with his parents in a Methodist household.

Some five years ago, Boni Bee was a young Hindu woman who sought clarity and purpose in her life while Leilani Downing was looking for meaning in Christianity her birth religion.

Today, all three are devout Muslims who live their lives according to the teachings of the Muslim religion.

Nur is a Hispanic man who at the age of 12 was more concerned with religion than with sports and comic books as most young boys of his age were at the time.

"I was always serious about life and how people are supposed to be, and I guess I was looking for a way to be and live," Nur said. "(Islam) was something that I could hold on to ... with morals, values."

Rather than reading about superheroes and villains, Nur was reading about religion, and in his reading he came across Islam.

"From what I read ... it felt like the right thing to do. It seemed like a good life," Nur said. After his conversion to Islam at age 12, Nur began to follow the customs of his new religion, such as praying the prescribed five times a day, while still living at home.

And though Nur called the transition to Islam "smooth sailing," reconciling his personal beliefs with those of his family was hard. When he first told his parents of his decision, he was kicked out of his home for a week. He lived with his older sister for a week before his mother welcomed him back.

"Letting the family know that you were no longer part of that faith is where most of the difficulties were," Nur said. "In the beginning, I got some opposition, especially from parents. But eventually things warmed up."

But to many Muslim converts, the hardest part they face is the leaving of their families religions and traditions.

Boni Bee has not told her extended family of her conversion to Islam, saying she does not expect them to understand nor accept the religious change. She uses the pseudonym of Boni Bee to prevent her family from finding out about the conversion.

Bee says that the relationship with her family has been the biggest challenge in converting to Islam, "Keeping it a secret from my family was always a struggle."

Her mother is the only member of the family who knows about her conversion, and her father died before she could tell him, something which she wishes could have been different. "That's something that also is difficult for me, because there is a part of my life that he didn't know," she says.

Along with the normal trials anyone experiences when converting to a new religion, Bee has also experienced the difficulties of being a Muslim in American society.

"It's difficult for me because, as a Muslim, especially in this country right now, I'm questioned on a daily basis why I wear a hijab, and I'm often stereotyped as a terrorist," Bee said.

But having lived life both as a Muslim and as a non-Muslim, with the hijab and without it, Bee has noticed a difference in the way she is treated.

"I know how I was treated before I wore a hijab, and I know how I'm treated now," Bee said. Since she donned the hijab, Bee said she has been the recipient of a hostile attitude some Americans have toward Islam, receiving cold stares and having people walk away from her upon seeing that she is Muslim.

But at the same time, she said she is sometimes treated with more respect from both strangers and people she knows.

Keeping Muslim practices

Many on the outside may think that some of these Muslim practices, such as wearing the hijab and praying five times a day, are a bit overwhelming. And to many converts, in the beginning following these practices can be hard.

One of the most important transitions is praying five times a day at prescribed intervals, as is Muslim practice.

Downing said that she has still not integrated this fully into her life and is working toward doing so, as it is a vital part of being a Muslim.

"I'm still new to Islam. ... I'm still learning how to pray," she said.

What she finds difficult is fitting in the prayers with a schedule that is geared more towards a mainstream secular society.

"When I'm at work, it may be a challenge to step out and do what I need to do to pray," Downing said. But Bee say's the key to making this transitions is to take each new practice one step and one day at a time.

Though there were hardships with converting to Islam – the tension it can cause with family or the prejudices a person faces as a Muslim – none of these converts remember the process as difficult.

They also agree none of the problems posed by family tensions or outside prejudices dissuaded them from accepting Islam.

"It's just part of my own daily struggle to become closer to God and not worry about what other people think," Downing said. "I think that Islam is the culmination of my journey in coming closer to God."