Muslim American reports in the Arab press indicate that Muslim proselytizing efforts have been unusually successful since the September 11 attacks. 'Alaa Bayumi, Director of Arab Affairs at the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), wrote in the London daily Al-Hayat that "non-Muslim Americans are now interested in getting to know Islam. There are a number of signs...: Libraries have run out of books on Islam and the Middle East... English translations of the Koran head the American best-seller list... The Americans are showing increasing willingness to convert to Islam since September 11... Thousands of non-Muslim Americans have responded to invitations to visit mosques, resembling the waves of the sea [crashing on the shore] one after another... All this is happening in a political atmosphere that, at least verbally, encourages non-Muslim Americans' openness towards Muslims in America and in the Islamic world, as the American president has said many times in his speeches..."(1)
CAIR chairman Nihad Awad told the Saudi paper 'Ukaz that "34,000 Americans have converted to Islam following the events of September 11, and this is the highest rate reached in the U.S. since Islam arrived there."(2)
According to Dr. Walid A. Fatihi, instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston has recently become a center of Islamic proselytizing aimed at Christians. On September 22, 2001, Al-Fatihi sent a letter to the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, in which he described the unfolding of events since September 11: "...From the first day, the media began to insinuate that Muslim Arab hands were behind this incident. At noon, the directors and administration of the Islamic Center of Boston held an emergency meeting, and I stayed on the line with them from my clinic. We decided to hold a blood drive, and we set up a committee to contact the Red Cross and organize it for us. We invited the media to cover the event..."
"All of us tried to grab onto every scrap of information that would indicate that Muslim Arab hands were not involved in the loathsome crime. Yes, my brothers and sisters, we tried to prove our humanity on the day we found ourselves attacked from all sides. Our hearts bled and our spokesman said that proselytizing in the name of Allah had been set back 50 years in the U.S. and in the entire world..."
"On Saturday, September 15, I went with my wife and children to the biggest church in Boston, [Trinity Church in] Copley Square, by official invitation of the Islamic Society of Boston, to represent Islam by special invitation of the senators of Boston. Present were the mayor of Boston, his wife, and the heads of the universities. There were more than 1,000 people there, with media coverage by one of Boston's main television stations. We were received like ambassadors. I sat with my wife and children in the front row, next to the mayor's wife. In his sermon, the priest defended Islam as a monotheistic religion, telling the audience that I represented the Islamic Society of Boston."
"After the sermon was over, he stood at my side as I read an official statement issued by the leading Muslim clerics condemning the incident [i.e. the attacks]. The statement explained Islam's stance and principles, and its sublime precepts. Afterwards, I read Koran verses translated into English... These were moments that I will never forget, because the entire church burst into tears upon hearing the passages of the words of Allah!!"
"Emotion swept over us. One said to me: 'I do not understand the Arabic language, but there is no doubt that the things you said are the words of Allah.' As she left the church weeping, a woman put a piece of paper in my hand; on the paper was written: 'Forgive us for our past and for our present. Keep proselytizing to us.' Another man stood at the entrance of the church, his eyes teary, and said, 'You are just like us; no, you are better than us.'" (3)
"On Sunday, September 16, the Islamic Society of Boston issued an open invitation to the Islamic Center in Cambridge, located between Harvard and MIT. We did not expect more than 100 people, but to our surprise more than 1,000 people came, among them the neighbors, the university lecturers, members of the clergy, and even the leaders of the priests from the nearby churches, who invited us to speak on Islam. All expressed solidarity with Muslims. Many questions flowed to us. Everyone wanted to know about Islam and to understand its precepts."
"Of all the questions, not a single one attacked me; on the contrary, we saw [the people's] eyes filling with tears when they heard about Islam and its sublime principles. Many of them had never heard about Islam before. Well, they had heard about Islam only through the biased media. That same day, I was invited again to participate in a meeting in the church, and again I saw the same things. On Thursday, a delegation of 300 students and lecturers from Harvard visited the center of the Islamic Society of Boston, accompanied by the American Ambassador to Vienna. They sat on the floor of the mosque, which was filled to capacity. We explained to them the precepts of Islam, and defended it from any suspicions [promulgated in the media]. I again read to them from the verses of Allah, and [their] eyes filled with tears. The audience was moved, and many asked to participate in the weekly lessons for non-Muslims held by the Islamic Center..."
"On Friday, September 21, the Muslims participated in a closed meeting with the governor of Massachusetts. In the meeting, a discussion was held on introducing Islam into the school curriculum, to inform the [American] people and to fight racism against Muslims arising from the American people's ignorance regarding the religion. With the governor's support, measures to examine implementation of this goal were agreed upon..."
"These are only some of the examples of what happened and is happening in the city of Boston, and in many other American cities, during these days. Proselytizing in the name of Allah has not been undermined, and has not been set back 50 years, as we thought in the first days after September 11. On the contrary, the 11 days that have passed are like 11 years in the history of proselytizing in the name of Allah. I write to you today with the absolute confidence that over the next few years, Islam will spread in America and in the entire world, Allah willing, much more quickly than it has spread in the past, because the entire world is asking, 'What is Islam!'(4)
Fatihi's reports of American Christians' crying upon hearing Koranic verses have an historical context. This type of narrative is about part of the ethos of Islamic proselytizing. It comes from the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad's invitation to the Christian community of Najran, located in what is today North Yemen, to visit the mosque. When the Christians of Najran were exposed to the verses of the Koran, the tradition says they burst into tears and converted to Islam.
Fatihi also published an article in the London daily Al-Hayat:
"...There are initial signs that the intensive campaign of education about Islam has begun to bear fruit. For example, the rate of converts to Islam since September 11 has doubled… There is solidarity with the Muslims on the part of many non-Muslims in American universities. For example, dozens of non-Muslim American women students at Wayne [State] University… have put on veils as a symbol of identification with the Muslim women students at the university and at the other universities of America."
"One of the most important topics [in an NPR broadcast] was an interview with several young women at American universities who recently converted to Islam through the Islamic Society of Boston. They hold advanced degrees from universities in Boston, such as Harvard, and they spoke of the power and the greatness of Islam, of the elevated status of women in Islam, and of why they converted to Islam. The program was broadcast several times across the entire U.S..." (5)
Notes and references:
(1) Al-Hayat (London), November 11, 2001
(2) Al-Ayyam (London), November 12, 2001
(3) The phenomenon of sincere Christians shedding tears as they recognize the truth and beauty of Islam is mentioned in the Qur'an:
And thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who believe (to be) those who say: Lo! We are Christians. That is because there are among them priests and monks, and because they are not proud. When they listen to that which hath been revealed unto the messengers, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears because of their recognition of the Truth. They say: Our Lord, we believe. Inscribe us as among the witnesses [Qur'an 5:82-83]
"Islam is the fastest-growing religion in America, a guide and pillar of stability for many of our people..." Hillary Rodman Clinton, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1996, p.3
"Already more than a billion-people strong, Islam is the world's fastest-growing religion." ABCNEWS, Abcnews.com
"Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the country." NEWSDAY, March7,1989, p.4
"Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States..." NEW YORK TIMES, Feb 21, 1989, p.1
"Moslems are the world's fastest-growing group..." USA TODAY, The population referance bureau, Feb. 17, 1989, p.4A
"Muhummed is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities." Encyclopedia Britannica
"There are more Muslims in North America then Jews Now." Dan Rathers, CBSNEWS
"Islam is the fastest growing religion in North America." TIMES MAGAZINE
"Islam continues to grow in America, and no one can doubt that!" CNN, December 15, 1995
"The religion of Islam is growing faster than any other religion in the world." MIKE WALLACE, 60 MINUTES
"Five to 6 million strong, Muslims in America already outnumber Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Mormons, and they are more numerous than Quakers, Unitarians, Seventh-day Adventists, Mennonites, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Christian Scientists, combined. Many demographers say Islam has overtaken Judaism as the country's second-most commonly practiced religion; others say it is in the passing lane." JOHAN BLANK, USNEWS (7/20/98) http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/980720/archive_004363.htm
"In fact, religion experts say Islam is the second-largest religion in the United States... Islam has 5 million to 6 million members, followed by Judaism, with approximately 4.5 million..... And Islam is believed to be fastest-growing religion in the country, with half its expansion coming from new immigrants and the other half from conversions." By ELSA C. ARNETT, Knight-Ridder News Service
"It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Qur'aan about human development. It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from Allah, because almost all of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of Allah." Professor Keith Moore, one of the world's prominent scientists of anatomy and embryology. University of Toronto, Canada.
"But Islam has a still further service to render to the cause of humanity. It stands after all nearer to the real East than Europe does, and it possesses a magnificent tradition of inter-racial understanding and cooperation. No other society has such a record of success uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity, and of endeavours so many and so various races of mankind . . Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of East and West is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition. In its hands lies very largely the solution of the problem with which Europe is faced in its relation with East. If they unite, the hope of a peaceful issue is immeasurably enhanced. But if Europe, by rejecting the cooperation of Islam, throws it into the arms of its rivals, the issue can only be disastrous for both." H.A.R. Gibb, WHITHER ISLAM, London, 1932, p. 379.
"It (Islam) replaced monkishness by manliness. It gives hope to the slave, brotherhood to mankind, and recognition of the fundamental facts of human nature." Canon Taylor, Paper read before the Church Congress at Walverhamton, Oct. 7, 1887; Quoted by Arnoud in THE PREACHING OF ISLAM, pp. 71-72.
"The founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is Muhammed. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he? " Lamartine, Historie de la Turquie, Paris 1854, Vol. 11 pp. 276-2727
"How, for instance, can any other appeal stand against that of the Moslem who, in approaching the pagan, says to him, however obscure or degraded he may be 'Embrace the faith, and you are at once equal and a brother.' Islam knows no color line." (S. S. Leeder, VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT)
"My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular level." Michael H. Hart, THE 100: A RANKING OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS IN HISTORY, New York: Hart Publishing Company, Inc., 1978, p. 33.
"Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty of the Qur'an; it asks you to reflect and reason....When I read the Qur'an further, it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt the only answer for me was the Qur'an and God had sent it to me." Cat Stevens (YusufIslam), former British pop star.
"History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated." De Lacy O'Leary, ISLAM AT THE CROSSROADS, London, 1923, p. 8.
"I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Saviour of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today." George Bernard Shaw, THE GENUINE ISLAM, Vol. 1, No. 81936.
"I am not a Muslim in the usual sense, though I hope I am a "Muslim" as "one surrendered to God," but I believe that embedded in the Quran and other expressions of the Islamic vision are vast stores of divine truth from which I and other occidentals have still much to learn, and 'Islam is certainly a strong contender for the supplying of the basic framework of the one religion of the future.'" W. Montgomery Watt, ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY TODAY, London, 1983, p. ix.
"He was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without Pope's pretensions, Caesar without the legions of Caesar: without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue; if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Mohammed, for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports." Bosworth Smith, MOHAMMAD AND MOHAMMADANISM, London, 1874, p. 92.
"The doctrine of brotherhood of Islam extends to all human beings, no matter what color, race or creed. Islam is the only religion which has been able to realize this doctrine in ractice. Muslims wherever on the world they are will recognize each other as brothers." Mr. R. L. Mellema, Holland, Anthropologist, Writer and Scholar.
I now find what I love about Islam is that as if I’m standing on the beach of this vast endless ocean
Attracted by Muslim Manners (American sister)
My introduction to Islam first and foremost came from Muslims.
My first introduction to meeting a Muslim person was when I was working in college at a restaurant that was owned by a Palestinian.
I was a waitress and a lot of the waitresses including myself were Americans, while a lot of the pizza drivers and the owners were Arab Muslims.
I thought to myself, “Wow, look at these gentlemen, when they laugh they laugh from the bottom of their hearts, they shake their hands warmly with each other". I was very intrigued by an impression like “They are so different", but in a good way.
Naturally I became interested in Islam just from meeting those people. So I took a class in college about Middle Eastern history. Then I started to understand more the political background of that part of the world as well as the religious background, and I was so intrigued by learning about Islam from the historical perspective, as well as being around the people I knew who were Muslims and whom I found something different about their hearts.
"Jill, Islam is Logical"!
At the same time I got a lot of help at my class from my future husband, the gentleman who became my husband in the future. His name is Sufian. Sufian always presented Islam to me from a very knowledgeable base, and never emotional.
I was always looking for what’s wrong with this religion. There has to be something wrong with it. So I would question and I would question and he would always say to me “Jill, Islam is logical”. Every single thing that you want to point out as a problem with Islam, like why do women have to cover their hair or why did men take more than one wife, he would always have the logical explanation for it.
For me Islam was a gradual acceptance. I wasn’t the type of person who would just accept it blindly.
Learning the logical explanations for these stereotypical problems that I think westerners see with Islam, when you learn the history behind it or the reasoning behind it you can’t argue. In fact it is the opposite; you see the beauty behind it like why the Prophet (peace be upon him) took the wives that he took. Each one was a lesson for humanity. It’s OK to marry these women, as each of them brought something special to Islam. He was teaching Muslim people that you shouldn’t just marry the most beautiful or the most wealthy, and this type of thing appealed to me.
For me Islam was a gradual acceptance. I wasn’t the type of person who would just accept it blindly. I needed to study it on my own and alhamdulellah (praise be to God) my husband was a good teacher for me, but beyond my husband I would take classes. And I think also becoming friends with other Muslim women and eventually attending the halaqah that I go to, I think fully embracing Islam was a journey for me. And I haven’t fully arrived, but I think again in Islam you never do fully arrive. In Islam, for the rest of your life until the day you die, In-Shaa-Allah you will be progressing and learning.
That’s in short how I became a Muslim.
Crystal Clear Truth (Russian sister)
When I believe in something it must be just clear and big one, not something different. Just one big clear and white fact. Now I found this is one God and alhamdulellah I’m happy too much about this. All the women want to feel protected and strong inside. That’s why a scarf makes a woman feel strong and sure all the time about everything.
Q: What do you think about the position of a woman in Islam? Do you feel she is protected? And what do you think about the woman in the West?
Woman are important to society and in Islam she is more important than anything. All the men in the world must respect women and take care of them. This is very good.
9/11 Sparked My Attention (Russian sister)
The first time that I knew about Islam was through reading a book. Few months later, the 9/11 tragedy took place which highly caught my attention. I started to ask who are those people and what do they want to show to the World through that extreme act? So I started to study Islam and I discovered that Islam is so bigger and larger than the media say to us especially western media. So this was the first contact with Islam.
I studied Islam with myself for two years because in my country it’s too difficult to find Muslims to help. After two years, I got a Quran and I read it so fast. I remember that I finished reading it, of course its interpretation in my language, on a Thursday night. I thought like I was making a small shirk because I was putting my parents above Allah. I didn’t convert at that time because they didn’t like it in terms of wearing a scarf and such things. So I thought tomorrow I will go to the mosque and convert. Then the next day, I took the table’s cover, I put t on my head and I went to the mosque. It was very funny because everybody was looking and wondering what I was wearing, but alhamdulellah I’m a Muslim now.
My initial attraction to Islam was for instance the sense of brotherhood of humanity
The position of women in Islam is very important to me because through the whole of my life I thought the position of women in western countries is so hard. I was an engineer and I worked like a man and I earned like the third of a man’s salary even if we had to work outside home and inside home taking care of the family. So it was too hard and wasn’t normal. Every person whether woman or man has his/her roles and it’s very important because we can’t take all of the work by ourselves, so we must share this.
A Journey of Spiritual Growth (American brother)
The things that I find in Islam to be attractive have actually changed as I’ve grown.
I’ve been a Muslim now alhamdulellah for over 25 years. My initial attraction to Islam was for instance the sense of brotherhood of humanity. In the United States, we have a long tradition of racial separation and segregation- which nowadays has kind of dissolved for a number of reasons- but I find that when I met Muslims and later when I traveled to the Muslim world, this absolute disregard for the outward features of human beings whether it be the color or other things, and that mankind was actually united together under a single religion.
When I first embraced Islam, it was something very straightforward and very simple kind of theology and doctrine. But as I’ve grown I started to read more and discover more and taking a more spiritual path. I now find what I love about Islam is that I see as if I’m standing on the beach of this vast endless ocean, and now when I read the Quran it’s not the same eyes that I read with 25 years ago. It’s this endless sea of meanings with answers for everything. This really amazes me and keeps my himma (zeal) going. So that question has changed as I’m changing and I imagine in the future insha’Allah this may change as well.
Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? Qur'an 55:13
BBC Program - Inside Out (
TrackBack URI for this entry
இந்த ஆக்கத்தின் கருத்துக்களுக்கான RSS Feed
