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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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Mum, I've decided I want to follow Allah
uploaded 10 Mar 2002
Western women are turning to Islam in
rapidly increasing numbers. KAY JARDINE
discovers why they are so keen to become
Muslims
Bullying, depression, and insomnia made
Kimberley McCrindle's teenage years particularly
difficult. Taunts from classmates about her weight
and how she looked left the 19-year-old student
feeling like she didn't really fit in, and always
searching for something that would make her feel
happy, that would make her feel she belonged.
McCrindle, from a family of atheists, did not
encounter religion until she began religious
studies
at high school in Penicuik, when her new interest
prompted her to start going to her local church
on
Sundays. But the peace and happiness McCrindle
was looking for eluded her until she started
college
in Edinburgh, where she made friends with some
Muslim people and discovered Islam.
"I was looking for peace," she says. "I'd had a
rough past. My teenage years weren't great: I was
bullied at school, people called me fat and ugly,
and I was looking for something to make me
happy. I tried to go to church once a week but I
wouldn't class myself a Christian; I was just
interested. But it wasn't for me, I didn't feel
in
place there.
"When you walk into a mosque you feel really
peaceful. Praying five times a day is really
focused. It gives you a purpose in your life. The
Koran is like a guide to help you: when you read
it, it makes you feel better."
McCrindle became a Muslim three years ago and
is now known by her married Arabic name, Tasnim
Salih. She is one of a rapidly increasing number
of
British women turning to Islam, thought to be the
fastest growing religion in the world. Although
there are no official figures on the subject,
there is
no doubt that the number of converts is on the
rise
and the majority are women, according to Nicole
Bourque, a senior lecturer in social anthropology
at Glasgow University and an expert in conversion
to Islam in Britain.
"There are people converting all the time," she
says. "I would estimate that there are probably
around 200 converts to Islam in Glasgow alone,
but that's just a rough estimate. The data is
difficult to acquire." Other estimates put the
Glasgow figure closer to 500.
Mohammad Faroghul-Quadri, imam at the Khazra
mosque in Glasgow, says that whichever religion
people choose to reach God, whether it's
Christianity or Islam or something else, the
important thing is that they are getting peace of
mind and heart, and proper guidance from God.
The appeal of Islam to liberated western women is
difficult for many to understand, largely because
of
the widespread perception in the west that it
treats
women badly. A forthcoming documentary, Mum
I'm a Muslim, addresses this very issue by
talking
to converts in Sheffield about their experiences.
At
a preview in Glasgow, I asked a group of converts
from Glasgow and Edinburgh what motivated them
to change every aspect of their lives, including
their names, to become Muslim.
For 27-year-old Bahiya Malik, or Lucy Norris to
her
parents, it's difficult to explain. Bahiya, who
lives
in Edinburgh, her twin sister, Victoria, and
their
brother, Matthew, grew up as practising
Christians
in a rural area in the West Midlands, where they
attended Sunday school in the little church at
the
top of their road. As they got older, the three
stopped going to church and seven years ago, at
the age of 20, both Bahiya and her sister
converted to Islam - six months after their
brother.
"Maybe all through our teenage years we hadn't
been that happy. I can't really say what it was.
I
don't know if we felt there was something missing
or that we didn't fit in. We were a little bit
shy and
we weren't really outgoing sort of people," she
says. At the time, Bahiya was two years into a
media and television course in Edinburgh but was
feeling uninspired. After around six months of
learning about Islam, Bahiya realised that living
her life according to the rules of Islam was what
would make her happy and, during an emotional
visit to a mosque in London, made her declaration
of faith.
"I think it's something you feel in your heart,
this
pull," she says. "You can't really put it into
words.
It's like your heart speaking, something you feel
inside and you know it's for you. Allah has
chosen
this for you, it's out of your power."
Women who turn to Islam are aware of the
widespread western perception that they are
oppressed and discriminated against, but insist
that the depiction is a false image. For many it
is
a spiritual journey, which, far from repressing
them, improves their social status and gives them
new rights.
"You seem to be really looked after," says
Tasnim. "As a Muslim woman, Muslim men really
respect you; they do everything for you. You're
highly thought of and protected." Bahiya says: "I
feel that because you cover yourself up you're
not
seen as a sex symbol, and because people can't
judge you on your appearance, they have to judge
you as a human being. That's quite liberating."
As an act of modesty, many Muslim women don't
wear make up outside the home and it is often a
part of their old life that new female converts
are
happy to discard because of the liberating
feeling
that comes from knowing their appearance doesn't
matter. They resist being shown as they were
before their conversion.
Hafsa Hashmi, who lives in Glasgow, converted to
Islam 24 years ago and felt life outside Islam
was
like having to "keep up with the Joneses". Under
Islam, however, she says: "Your aim is not for
this
life, your aim is for the afterlife. To some
people
that sounds pretty horrific: they can't think
about
death, but in Islam belief in the afterlife is
one of
its main features, because you know if you're
doing the right thing you've got a better life to
come. So why go for all the material things?"
Converting to Islam usually means a complete
change of lifestyle for those who take the
plunge,
including a different diet, often a new Arabic
name,
and your time revolving around the five daily
Islamic prayers. In the workplace, some people
organise with their employer a room where they
can have some peace and quiet to pray. Wherever
they are in the world, all Muslims face in the
direction of the Kab'aa, or the Holy House in
Makkah, Saudi Arabia, during prayer.
For female converts, the experience can also
involve a quite dramatic change in appearance.
Muslim law provides that women must dress
modestly. The hijab, or the head scarf, is a
particular focal point and can be a tricky area
for
new Muslim women to deal with. Dr Bourque
suggests this is because it is such a visible
symbol of the faith. Tasnim wore the hijab
straight
away, although she found wearing it in public
scary at first because she felt people were
looking
at her. She was then forced to take it off when
she
was out because of some of the comments
directed at her.
"People would shout, 'Go back home to your own
country'. I had someone spit at me once when I
was standing at the bus stop at college."
Now, though, she wears it all the time and says:
"People don't say anything to me now and I feel
more confident about wearing it." Bahiya was
happy wearing the hijab from the beginning, but
her parents found it quite difficult. She says
her
sister, her brother, and herself were lucky
because
their parents were "quite good" about their
conversion. For others, however, families are not
always so accepting, often because they know
little about the religion and why their loved
ones
want to follow it. For Tasnim, telling her
parents,
who are atheist, was nerve-wracking. "They
thought I was going through a phase at first but
they realised when I started wearing the hijab
that
I was serious. They started getting angry when I
began to talk about getting married. They weren't
too pleased that I'd met someone older than me,
who was Muslim as well, and a different
nationality."
While Tasnim and her mother are still close and
enjoy a good relationship, they tend not to talk
about her faith much. She and her father no
longer
speak. For Hafsa, telling her parents 24 years
ago
was perhaps even more difficult because
converting to Islam then was anything but a
common occurrence. The reactions of her parents
were totally opposite. "I think my mother felt
that I
was only becoming a Muslim because of who I
was marrying, but that wasn't the case because I
had been introduced to Islam about four years
previously although I didn't convert until I got
married. It took her practically her whole life
to get
over it. When we got married, my mum said, 'If
you're happy, I'm happy', but obviously she
wasn't.
My dad said it and he meant it, that was the
difference between them."
Tasnim has been married to Sabir, who is
Sudanese, for two years, and says she has never
been happier. "I met my husband at college and it
seemed like the right thing to do. I was teaching
him English and he was talking to me about Islam,
and we just fell in love," she says. Bahiya's
husband, Sharafuddin, is also is also a convert,
formerly known as Cameron. They have two
children, aged two and four.
For Tasnim, Bahiya, and Hafsa, life revolves
around the five daily prayers, they cannot eat
certain foods, or drink alcohol. But the women
say
they miss nothing from the days before they
converted to Islam. "Islam is enough for me,"
says
Bahiya. "You don't need anything else once you've
found it."
Becoming Muslim has provided Tasnim with the
happiness and belonging she was looking for.
"It's
a complete change in your attitude, behaviour,
and
the way you think," she says. "I'm now more
confident, happy and satisfied. I've achieved the
fulfilment I was looking for."
Source: The Herald
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