The Islamic Bulletin Volume X X II No. 27 Page 10 HOW I EMBRACED I SLAM This issues’s “How I Embraced Islam” describes a woman’s journey to Islam. May Allah (SWT) continue to bless her and her family and reward them with the highest level of paradise. Q: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Where were you born and your background? My name is Sarah; I was born in 1975 in the United States of America. I am one of 3 children and grew up in middle class neighborhoods. My parents are teachers; my dad has a Master’s in Education and my mom a BA in English. My great-grandfather came from Russia on a boat to New York. He was a physically small man (due to lack of food), maybe 5ft 3 in. When he came to New York he was a young teenager without a sponsor and had no money, so they were going to send him back to Russia on the boat. Then a nice lady saw him crying and said that she would be his sponsor which allowed him to enter America. My dad used to tell me this story a lot. My great-grandpa was a glass maker and because immigration o cials couldn’t pronounce his Russian last name when he got o the boat, they changed his name according to his occupation. They did this to all the Jews that got o the boat. If you notice the last names of a lot Jews they are Corn eld, Shoemaker, Glasser, etc… Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your religious upbringing? We were Jews by name. We were brought up with the belief that being Jewish was more of a nationality than a religion. In fact, we weren’t o cially practicing until I turned 17 and my dad became the president of an Orthodox temple. We had a mezuzah which is a small parchment inscribed with short Torah passages in Hebrew. The parchment is rolled up, placed in a decorative case, and attached to the doorpost of Jewish homes. We never had a Christmas tree and mocked Jesus Christ; we were led to think Christians were the “blind” followers. Yet we never prayed or went to a temple ourselves. My dad was rst an active communist who was arrested for attending protests. He then became a rallying socialist and ran a socialist paper. He then became an atheist. It wasn’t until I moved out and years after I became Muslim that I found out that he was a Zionist and had been subscribing to a Zionist paper for years. Q: Can you tell us about your conversion to Islam? The rst time I saw a Muslim was when I was in middle school. We had Palestinian neighbors who went to the same school as us. The girls wore hijab by 8th grade and in gym class when we all wore short shorts they wore sweats under their shorts. I remember thinking they were poor and oppressed girls. My brother made friends with their brother and used to go to their house. When their grandfather found out my brother was a Jew he forbade him from coming into their house. So my dad in exchange forbade my brother’s friend from entering our house. I remember my dad explaining to my brother he didn’t care they were Muslims but since he was banned from their house for the sake of principle he had to do the same. When I entered college I enrolled in an acting class for General Education. The class was divided into teams to complete a skit together. My partner was a Muslim Palestinian guy. He would talk a lot about Islam. I was young (19 years old) and was not looking for religion. Since we were doing a skit together I had to frequently see him. He would just babble on and on about Islam. I told myself since I am stuck with him, I would try to ignore it. But he wouldn’t stop talking! I would then go home and tell my dad what he was saying. My dad is educated and knows a lot about other religions. I gured my dad would know how to corner him and then maybe this guy would stop talking about religion. I continued to go back and forth between my dad and my acting partner. It wasn’t until I got tired of being a middle man that I invited him over to have a discussion with my dad. They talked for hours. This triggered more questions for me. I went to a lecture on Judaism in the temple and was asking questions that Islam had the answers to. For example, Jews believe that Adam is not a Jew. I asked the Rabbi didn’t Adam (AS) have an interaction with God? He said Yes, but he was not a believer. I asked how someone could talk to God but not believe in Him. He replied he just wasn’t a believer. The whole class was impressed with this question and they were all ba ed with the Rabbi’s answer. They asked my dad if I was studying Kabala. After a year of thinking and learning about Islam I decided to convert. I went to the mosque on Divisadero St. in San Francisco and took my Shahada. I remember after I took my shahada all the women came up to me and hugged me. I was so embarrassed. As Americans we don’t usually hug each other so the concept was weird. That was about 18 years ago. I ended up marrying my Palestinian acting partner. We have been married for 17 years and have 5 wonderful children, Alhamdulilah. We left the States about 10 years ago to raise our children in an Islamic country and to teach our children Arabic. We lived in Jordan for 3.5 years and now reside in Egypt. My family became distraught with my relocation to the Middle East. My parents took it as I was falling deeper in my Islam (which was true). They wanted to save my younger brother before he lost his “Jewish identity,“ so they moved to Israel to try to get closer to their roots. I don’t really know what happened to my younger brother other than he became a religious Jew and doesn’t want me to know anything about him since I am a “traitor.” My mom contacts me from time to time and tells me that my brother doesn’t use the computer or cameras due to religious reasons. She says she doesn’t want to betray him by telling me anything else about him. Alhamdulilah how lucky I am to be Muslim and have a clear picture of life. Q: How did your parents react to you accepting Islam? When I told my dad that I was interested in converting to Islam, he looked very hurt. I told him I had saved my money from work and would be willing to go to Israel and check it out to be fair before I converted. He told me if I went to Israel I would come back bad-mouthing Judaism and I had better use the money instead to move out.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUxNjQ1