by Dr. Ali Shehata
Why Many American Women Choose Islam
By Julie S. Mair, JD MPH
Each year thousands of American women convert to Islam. One study estimates that of the nearly 20,000 US converts in 2000, nearly 7,000 were female. These women are diverse in ethnicity, race, and socio-economic status. A common assumption is that most women who convert do so because they are engaged or married to a Muslim. Muslim men, though, are specifically permitted to marry chaste Christian or Jewish women. Thus, a woman does not have to convert to Islam to marry a Muslim. Of course, the fact that a woman does not have to convert for a man does not mean that she does not do so.
I graduated from a liberal women’s college in the Northeast—one of the Seven Sisters. I practiced law for over eight years including a position with a large urban prosecutor’s office and then conducted scientific research in a leading university for nearly seven years. A number of people whom I meet cannot understand how someone with my academic background and presumed intelligence could convert unless I was married to a Muslim man. I did not convert for a man, and the available evidence suggests that this reason is not prevailing in other women either.
What then attracted me and so many other women to Islam? While spirituality is a very personal matter and the factors that most influence a particular individual’s decision to convert vary, common themes emerge when American converts, both male and female, are asked why they chose Islam. Some of the main factors that emerge when talking with converts include: “Islam makes sense” and it resolves issues in their prior religion or belief system that either confused or disturbed them; Islam prohibits blindly following the faith and requires Muslims to use their intelligence to increase their understanding of God; Islam provides a complete way to live one’s life with clear guidelines; and Islam promotes values that appear to be lost in the dominant, non-Muslim secular society.
With respect to women converts in particular, one of the most intriguing aspects of conversion concerns those women who begin to investigate Islam more closely in an effort to confirm their already negative attitudes toward the religion--specifically, that Islam oppresses and devalues women, and promotes violence, intolerance and hate. To their surprise, they discover quite the opposite. Islam not only promotes peace, tolerance, and love, but in Islam women are highly regarded, equal before God with a pivotal role to play in both their families and society-at-large. They learn that from the beginning, women contributed to Islam’s success and the spread of Islamic knowledge, and that some of the earliest and most influential scholars of Islam were women like ‘Aisha, a wife of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh (May Allah be pleased with her). Far from oppressing women, Islam produces and nurtures strong female role models of piety, intelligence, and dignity.
These women also discover the truth about the beloved Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him abundant peace) and the unjust vilification against him. The Quran has been translated to describe the Prophet as having an “exalted standard of character” (68:4) and a “beautiful pattern of conduct” (33:21). Muslims believe that the Prophet reached the highest attainable stage of human perfection and that he exemplifies beautiful behavior. He treated women with respect, love, and appreciation and instructed his Companions and followers to do the same.
To the extent that women are devalued or abused in countries inhabited by mostly Muslims, they find that this attitude or conduct toward women is not inherently part of Islam but results from cultural factors and the misinterpretation of Islam often for secular ends. Of the few countries that apply Islamic Law, none do so completely or without error. Perhaps, this should not be too surprising as the Prophet is reported to have said: “The best of my people is my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them.” It would be a mistake to hastily reject Islam based on the incorrect practice of others when you yourself could be among the guided.
After prior misconceptions about Islam are shattered, American women investigating Islam often look more critically at their own reality. They begin to ask exactly what does “liberation” and “equality” mean and whether the American lifestyle truly delivers what it professes. Studies consistently show that women in the United States earn less than men; that of the hundreds of thousands of rapes and sexual assaults each year in the U.S., the vast majority involve men as perpetrators and women as survivors; that intimate partner violence against women is epidemic often with fatal consequences; and that beauty, youth, and sex appeal appear to be more valued than piety, character, intelligence, and societal contribution. Although such facts do not lead to the conclusion that America is morally bankrupt or has nothing worthwhile to offer the rest of the world, they do suggest that all is not perfect in the land of milk and honey.
In the final analysis, many American women find Islam liberating--freeing their minds, bodies, and spirits from veils of ignorance and guiding them to a harmonious existence in this life and ultimately the presence of the Lord in the next. Conversion though transcends logic and explanation, and words can only express what is in our thoughts. The light of Faith is a blessed, undeserved and indescribable gift that illuminates our hearts. And for that, all praise and gratitude is due to Allah.
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