Writing for the National Post (1/19/02) Marina Jimenez reports: ?The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have served as a catalyst to conversion for some Americans attracted by Islam?s ?mysticism and clear theology.?'
Jimenez tells of a 46-year-old woman, a Boston native whose Christian ancestors arrived here in 1649, who felt a strange sadness for Islam, ?a faith she felt had been grossly abused by the terrorists to justify their own actions?. The women wrote a note of sympathy, slipped it under the door of the Islamic students? group at the University of Massachusetts where she is a music student. Less than a month later the woman made it official. In a simple ceremony that only took a few minutes she said the shahadak (?There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet?) in Arabic, a testimony that she will have to repeat five times a day for the rest of her life. ?Americans have bought more flags since 9/11, but they have also bought more Korans, says Imam Sfraj Wahaj, who leads a mosque in Brooklyn, New York ?I?ve had more converts since 9/11 I and I?ve spoken in so many different forums and inter-faith meetings.?
?These new Muslims,? reports Jimenez, ?like the approximately 25,000 Hispanic converts in New York City and California, are surprise converts to a religion that is the fastest growing in the United States. There are now six million adherents across the country and more than 30 percent of mosque attendees are converts, according to a recent survey by four Muslim-American groups. Some had studied Buddhism, flirted with Roman Catholicism, or spent time with Quakers, but ultimately found them lacking.?
There are many unanswered questions about the strange drawing power of Islam. Jimenez asks, ?Why would people choose to embrace the faith at this time in history, when it suf-fers from such a public relations problem that Muslims can be spit on for wearing a hijab, called ragheads and taunted in the street? And, a more fundamental question: What can a religion that segregates genders, bans dancing and drinking, and requires women to cover up not just their hair but their elbows and knees, offer to liberated American women??
Jimenez tells of a 46-year-old woman, a Boston native whose Christian ancestors arrived here in 1649, who felt a strange sadness for Islam, ?a faith she felt had been grossly abused by the terrorists to justify their own actions?. The women wrote a note of sympathy, slipped it under the door of the Islamic students? group at the University of Massachusetts where she is a music student. Less than a month later the woman made it official. In a simple ceremony that only took a few minutes she said the shahadak (?There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet?) in Arabic, a testimony that she will have to repeat five times a day for the rest of her life. ?Americans have bought more flags since 9/11, but they have also bought more Korans, says Imam Sfraj Wahaj, who leads a mosque in Brooklyn, New York ?I?ve had more converts since 9/11 I and I?ve spoken in so many different forums and inter-faith meetings.?
?These new Muslims,? reports Jimenez, ?like the approximately 25,000 Hispanic converts in New York City and California, are surprise converts to a religion that is the fastest growing in the United States. There are now six million adherents across the country and more than 30 percent of mosque attendees are converts, according to a recent survey by four Muslim-American groups. Some had studied Buddhism, flirted with Roman Catholicism, or spent time with Quakers, but ultimately found them lacking.?
There are many unanswered questions about the strange drawing power of Islam. Jimenez asks, ?Why would people choose to embrace the faith at this time in history, when it suf-fers from such a public relations problem that Muslims can be spit on for wearing a hijab, called ragheads and taunted in the street? And, a more fundamental question: What can a religion that segregates genders, bans dancing and drinking, and requires women to cover up not just their hair but their elbows and knees, offer to liberated American women??
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