 I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed shaytan. In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah, the Merciful. Welcome to this unique series in which we are exploring a question that is becoming increasingly important to many of our communities. But it is a question which is rarely addressed in depth. And that is, how can we welcome newcomers into our community? How can we welcome new Muslims into our community? Or even not so new Muslims. Those proverbial reverts and converts who pop up at Medjilis once in a while, they might show up on Eid or for Salat al-Juma'ah. How can we help to integrate them into the community, not only for their sake, of course that's very important, and not only for the sake of Thawab, although that's very important, but for the sake of the entire community so that we can grow and flourish, building on each other's strengths and inborn talents. In this episode, I'd like to take a step back from some of the discussions we were having. And I would like just to look at a very simple thing when it comes to people who adopt Islam. And that is stereotypes. I would like to explore stereotypes. We all have them. We have stereotypes of what a doctor is. We have stereotypes of what an astronaut is. We have stereotypes of what a Chinese person is and what an Egyptian person is and what a Norwegian person is. And most of us also have stereotypes about converts to Islam. It is natural. But do we like stereotypes? Do we like it when people look at us and use stereotypes? They say, oh, you're from Pakistan, so you must be this and that. Or you're from Iran, so you must be this and that. We don't like it when people look at stereotypes. We like people to look at us as human beings. And converts to Islam also come in many varieties, like flowers in a garden. They are not all the same. And once we move beyond seeing people as stereotypes and assuming certain things about them because of their skin color or ethnicity or religion of origin, as the case may be, then we can, inshallah, begin to understand more about people's hidden talents, their depth, their contributions, and how everyone is an asset to the community. Indeed, Allah Ta'ala has made people of different types. Why? Why has he made us all different? Some of us come out sort of brownish. Some of us come out sort of pinkish. Some of us come out more blackish. We will come out different colors. Why is that? As Allah Ta'ala says, وَمِنْ عَيَاتِهِ خَلْقُ السَّمَوَاتِهِ وَالْأَرْضَ Okay, so the creation of the heavens and the earth is from his sign. وَأَاخْتِرَافُواْ أَلْسِنَاتِكُمْ وَالْوَانِكُمْ And the difference in your languages and in your colors, that all of this is part of the signs of Allah Ta'ala. It's not something we're supposed to make stereotypes or value judgments about, but of course, it does happen. So let's look a bit at some of these stereotypes that sometimes circulate about the quote, converts, reverts in the community. I would like you to imagine in your brain a stereotypical convert to Islam. No, no, don't look at your television screen in your brain. Just close your eyes and imagine for a second. Who are you thinking of? Is it a male? Is it a female? An old person? A teenager? A doctor? Lawyer? Farmer? Prisoner? There are many ideas you could have in your mind. Ethnicity, of course, is a big one. Are you thinking of someone who is darker skinned, lighter skinned, maybe looks like they might be Hispanic? Probably there is some image in your mind. However, the important thing to remember is, masha'Allah, Islam is spreading all over the world. Now, a couple of the places where Islam is spreading rather quickly are sub-Saharan Africa as well as the United States and to a lesser extent, Canada. However, Islam is spreading around the world and I myself have had the honor of meeting people who converted to Islam from places as diverse, as Palestine, India, Japan, all over the place. So, in short, there is no one stereotype. There are males who adopt Islam. There are females. Albeit, it's been suggested in the West there are more females than males, but nonetheless, there are both males and females. People from virtually every country, whether it's East Asia, there's been increasing media attention on the Hispanic Muslim population, which is growing, and that's of interest to some media outlets. The African-American community in the U.S. and also the Afro-Caribbean community in the United Kingdom. Islam does tend to spread in these populations as well. Caucasian community. Yes, indeed, we are here. But also others as well. People, as I was mentioning, even from the Arab world sometimes convert to Islam. Not everyone whose Arab is born Muslim, obviously. People from European countries, South America. You name it, they're probably there. Native Americans in America. So, there are people who become Muslim from virtually every ethnic group. Similarly, from all cross-sections of society. Now, as you may know, in America, there is a rather large Dawa movement in the prisons. So, that's why I mentioned prisoner, because Islam does actually spread in the prisons. I say probably two of the main places Islam spreads are the prisons and the universities. Both places where you have a lot of people congregated together. However, these are not the only places where Islam spreads. And you certainly can't look at someone and assume, oh, you must have become Muslim in a prison, or you must have become Muslim in a university, because God knows there are so many different ways that Allah Ta'ala invites people to his path. Similarly, people of all sorts of educational levels and all sorts of jobs. Now, one of the big, frequently asked questions that first-generation Muslims, that is to say, people who don't come from a Muslim family, get asked, how did you become a Muslim? Have you ever asked that to someone? Yes, you get asked that quite a bit. Is there a stereotypical answer? Is it because the lady met a nice Muslim brother or the male met a nice Muslim sister and they wanted to get married? Or is it because of friends? Is it because of a trip to a Muslim country? Is it because of books? Is it because of television? And again, there are so many different answers. The best way to know is simply by listening to people and hearing their story for themselves. And for those who are interested, there is in fact a lot of information available about this online. There are so many videos nowadays on YouTube of people telling personal stories. There are television series about this. There are websites. There are books people who have converted to Islam have written. You may be familiar with some of these books. And the accounts they give are very, very diverse. But I know because this is such a burning and pressing question for some people that they really want an answer. Let me just summarize some common answers. One commonality that we oftentimes see and yet for some reason tends to be overlooked in a lot of discussions about Islam in the modern world is the most basic aspect. And that is the theological aspect. Islamic monotheism. Many people simply convert to a religion because they believe it is the truth. There aren't any more complicated dynamics than that. And for many people, Islamic monotheism is attractive because it makes sense. Particularly former Christians. I've met a lot of former practicing Christians who said that they never really got straight answers that were satisfactory about the Trinity, what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God. And they felt that they preferred to have a religion where simply monotheism was straightforward. Does this mean Islam is simple? No, we have a lot of depth in our texts, particularly the texts from Ahl al-Bait, alayhum as-salam. However, the basic belief is something we can wrap our head around. Even if we can't wrap our head around the essence of Allah, we can understand the basics of Islamic monotheism, the basics of following the Son of the Prophet, the basics of the progression of religions. And another thing that I think many people do like about Islam is the fact that it doesn't just reject the other religions, especially the Abrahamic religions. That is to say, there is a place for Christianity in our global worldview, an historical worldview. There is a place for Judaism. Now, we get out of these religions, there's maybe differing views about what the place of Zoroastrianism is, for example. But the point is, there's a harmonious sense that these things have their place in history and they're all not necessarily completely wrong, even if we don't uphold them now as the correct religious path. So this is also something that some people find attractive about Islam. And of course, some people come to Islam because they like the sense of brotherhood and sisterhood that it promises, the idea that all human beings are equal before Allah. That when we stand in prayer, we stand side by side, we go around the holy Ka'aba together, everyone is wearing the same clothing, and ideally we should all be sisters and brothers in faith. For some people, this is very attractive. Also, something you may not be aware of is that many people who convert to Islam are inspired to better themselves or better their situation in life because they've become a Muslim. Education is a key area. I've met so many people who came from families, I mean people who converted to Islam, who came from families where education was not really respected or not a priority, and yet they felt inspired to pursue their education. I know people even with advanced degrees or formal religious education as well because it is the sunnah of the Prophet and the sunnah of Ahlul Bayt, alayhim as-salam, we say, rabbi zidni al-man. And so this pushed them to reach a much higher level in life than they would have otherwise. This of course should be the essence of Islam, this inspiring people to develop themselves, to develop themselves that not only they strengthen their character and also their spirituality, but also can make a bigger difference in the world around us. As well as other aspects of perfection, obviously education is not the only thing. For example, ahlaq, ethical perfection, improving our morality, finding an example in the sunnah of the Prophet, alayhim as-salam. Now sometimes when we talk about Islam, if I may, Islam in the West, although that's a very problematic phrase because there are Muslims in the West, many Muslims, and there's always been a historical interchange between Islam and the West. But if we talk about it, we often think of it as a dialogue between Islam and Christianity, right? There's a sort of subconscious assumption sometimes in our dialogue that if we're talking about the West, we're talking about Christians, which of course is not necessarily the case. Yes, obviously Christianity has had a big impact in the development of Western culture. However, today, first of all, not everyone in the West is a Christian, right? And hence, not everyone from the West who becomes a Muslim, and definitely not everyone else around the world who becomes a Muslim is a Christian. They might be Jews, they might be Buddhists, they might be Hindus, Confucians, and so on and so forth. People do come literally from all religions to Islam, so we can't assume necessarily they're a Christian. Secondarily, we have to remember that, especially in the West today, an increasing number of people are not raised with religion. So their name might be Christian, but they might not have had any exposure to Christianity whatsoever, but they may not even know the basics of it. They may be an atheist, or they may be agnostic. And so, you can't assume that they've come to Islam from practicing any other religion. They may have, they may not have. And again, there's a lot of diversity. You meet people who are sons and daughters of priests who convert to Islam. Christian priests, even I knew someone who was a son of a Hindu priest who had a very difficult time converting to Islam. Rabbis, too, sons and daughters, it does happen. And then you find people who have no interest in religion, maybe their family is completely secularized or even atheist, but then they do decide to go down a religious path. So again, what is the stereotype? There is no stereotype. And then there is the sensitive issue of having a past. Yes, there is that stereotype in some facets of our community that sometimes the person who converted to Islam has this lurid past full of haram activities which are horribly indecent to say on camera and from a very young age they began doing this and that and then when they become Muslim they clean it all up. Now I have a theory. I think people like some of those stories just because they're very entertaining. There's a certain shock value, look at so and so and their list of boyfriends and girlfriends and selling drugs and God knows what else and then they became a very perfect Muslim. It happens. There are people who have challenging pasts including selling drugs who then reform after becoming a Muslim. I don't want to always say reform I always think through economics circumstances they don't have opportunity but they change their life and they make a commitment not to do these things and then there's people who are living very Islamic lives before they become a Muslim for example that son or daughter of a priest who was thinking of becoming a nun for example if it's a daughter they're not likely to have been having that stereotypical lurid past that we sometimes assume converts to Islam have. So again, you don't know unless you ask someone unless you speak to someone to let them speak for themselves rather than being a stereotype for them being a human being and this is true also for people all people in the Muslim community just as we don't want to stereotype people who convert to Islam we also don't want to stereotype people who are born into Islam Everyone has a unique story and the unique experience that enables them to make a special contribution to the community and to the society and so insha'Allah with the help of Allah Ta'ala we can come closer as sisters and brothers in faith and insha'Allah go beyond looking at each other as stereotypes making assumptions about people based on the skin color or the name or the height or what not and begin to work together as a community in the cause of Allah as one ummah for the sake of Allah Ta'ala