Converting to another faith or from no faith at all is meant to be a happy time, especially in so called 'Multi-faith' Britain right? Wrong. I have lived in this country for years now, most of those years, were spent as a practising Catholic, and my time in Britain was going well, I had a supportive family and was doing well at University, but when I took a life changing decision to become a Muslim, everything seemed to slowly change.
My family even struggled to accept my decision, I think mostly they were confused, as to why I suddenly decided to convert, changing from a faith that I had been brought up to believe in. And there seemed to be no questioning these beliefs. One main thing I have discovered during my time as a Muslim, is that it is human nature to feel the need to make others believe what you believe, and we seem to find it very hard to accept people's different beliefs. I feel like my choice is not socially accepted in even in this apparent multi faith society. I am 'randomly' searched more often, making me try to avoid travelling when I can, whereas before my intentions were the opposite, to travel as often as possible. After events like 9/11 and 7/7 the Muslim faith was generalised, making some Muslim's lives a living hell, now I'm beginning to experience that hell.
Trying to convert followers of other religions when you are living in a multi-faith society is a form of prejudice and discrimination against others with other faith's to you. Yet I am still asked frequently when I'm going to snap out of this 'faze', by my own friends and family.
Some find it very easy to judge other religions when they know barely anything about them. How can you regard a religion as wrong, or useless, unless you have studied them and compared the differences? Well some find this very easy.
SC
A very interesting post - well done!
ReplyDeleteIt would be fascinating to hear from the family of the convert... how do they feel now? How did his/her friends feel?
Quite an informative post that highlights the key issues of how muslims are treated. You have also clearly explained the point of the treatment recieved from others if you are from a different religion. Why he/she made the decision to become a muslim - the factors that influenced his/her decision - would be interesting to hear.
ReplyDeleteE.L
This is a very realistic blog post, I also think that you have explained and described very well and with great detail what a convert would be going through. You have conveyed feelings very well. It is interesting how you have explained why the convert is starting to experience a 'living hell.
ReplyDeleteET
This is really interesting and just shows how easy it is to discriminate against other religions. I like how you, you have used the format of a personal blog, because it makes the point that you're trying to make very clear and invokes the readers emotions. I Also like how you have raised many key issues about how Muslims are treated in a multi-faith society.
ReplyDeleteN.K