Re: Personality traits of converts
Reply #6 - October 30, 2008, 04:43 AM
I read his post; he doesn't seem to have been obsessed with it at all until he felt challenged on it by the post-9/11 world. Being obsessed with Islam after half heartedly making a decision to leave it? His source was the prophet of doom site - while he was still a Muslim. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, I'm just saying that this guy who was already very ignorant about his own professed religion already had one foot out the door and seems to have just gone crazy with the book buying as a means of making that final decision.
Personally, I don't get this thing about converts from non Muslims. Not all converts to Islam are the same, not all of them convert for the same reasons, just like not all of us ex Muslims left for the same reasons or had the same experiences in leaving. Jan Janssen's experiences as a white male convert from Europe would be different than those of a white guy from Washington state, and different than Black woman in Canada, and so on. As for the reasons they convert, I suppose those are as varied as they are. Jan Janssen thinks people do it for marriage, but maybe that's because it was his situation and he natural focuses on things that speak to his own experiences. As amazing as it might sound, each person is different.
I also don't buy into this 'converts are the most Islamic' thing. It's a meme, but only because those converts who do get really into knowledge and such tend to be more visible because of race than an Asian or Arab who gets 'really into it'. You see an Asian really into it, and it's 'Oh right, yeah,' but if you see a convert who's really into it, it's 'Oh, they converted and now they're more Muslim than the Muslims'. The converts who don't get into the religion too much, and there are a lot of them, are much less visible, on the other hand, because they do blend into the regular society. Also, I have to point out that there is a lot more pressure placed on converts by the Muslim community to be super-religious, whereas an Arab or Asian brother can go off and sell liquor in his store and have a girlfriend and nobody bats an eye. Because of the natural lack of knowledge, it's probably natural then for a convert to be 'super Islamic' at least for a while. I knew plenty of converts who started out 'super Muslim' and gradually became more relaxed or liberal the way lots of Arab, Turkish, and Asian people were as they learned more or practised more of the religion.
However, to be honest, I think that a lot of people who convert to Islam do have emotional and mental issues. Not all, but a fair amount. Is that a cause? I have definitely seen a lot of people who converted to Islam with mental illnesses, and I think they desired the comfort of a highly structured life where decisions are made for you - how to dress, how to eat, and so on.
Also, on the idea of 'experiencing it to death', I don't think that's true of converts or convert ex Muslims as a whole. It's true of some, just as it is true of some 'born Muslims'. I've come across some convert ex Muslims who never bothered to learn even the basics of the religion. In fact, this board is the first place I really found ex Muslims who actually seemed to have practised the religion and learned it to some extent in all my searching.
Women leaving more than men - This assumes a greater visibility for women to begin with. The truth is that no one knows how many people convert each year or how many people leave each year and what gender or race they are. Plenty of people convert, live, and leave as solitary Muslims on the fringe of a community. But based on what I've seen over the years of my adulthood, I think the reason female converts who leave seem more obvious is because it often coincides with the end of a marriage. Not that women are leaving just because they get divorced, but rather, the divorce is the result of the apostasy. Also, again in my experience, you see women waiting until their kids are grown and then 'suddenly' they get a divorce and leave Islam. Of course, they were just waiting until they could be assured that there wouldn't be a 'Not Without my Daughter' situation.
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Topic: Personality traits of converts