Critical Questions for ‘Convert’ Muslims

Who Seek Nothing But the Truth

You shall not accept any information, unless you verify it for yourself. I have given you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brain, and you are responsible for using them. [17:36]

I was a so-called Sunni or traditional Muslim for four years prior to becoming a submitter, and worshiping God alone. As a traditional Muslim, I was known among Muslim scholars in America and abroad. I worked with the Islamic Society in North America (formally known as the Muslim Students Association), writing ar-ticles and giving lectures about Is-lam and Psychology.

The questions below reflect the advice and instructions I was given when I initially embraced Islam. I experienced on-going subtle and direct pressure to conform to what was presented as Islam. In my early years as a Muslim, I had no real sense of the contradiction between some of my beliefs and behavior,

and the Quran. But, having discarded Christianity and becoming a traditional Muslim, I continued to pray to God to protect me from accepting false religious teachings. God Almighty guided me to True Islam — submission to Him alone.

Critical Questions

1. Do you hold fast to the ulamah (religious scholars), the writings of Muslim scholars, etc. as much as the Quran?

2. When you reverted (to go back to an original place) to traditional Muslim practices (presented as true Islam) from Christianity, Judaism, or another religion, were you advised to change your birth name and take a so-called “Muslim” name?

3. Were you told that you had to discard some appropriate clothing in your culture, and not wear a tie (for men) or cover your head (for women)? Were you expected to wear specific clothing (e.g., a jalabiyah and a kufi for men, carry zikr beads)?

4. Were you told that changing your dress and adopting the above dress makes you “ a real Muslim”?

5. When you met Muslims from traditional Muslim countries, did you initially think that they know everything about Islam and the Quran? Were you ever told that you could not really understand the verses of the Quran until you learned Arabic?

Cont’d on Page 2