I think it is not just becoming anti-Jewish, it is becoming anti-Shi’a, anti-American, in some cases anti-white. I think becoming “anti-anything” for a new convert should be a cause for concern.
But hey, I dont think Islam has the corner on whacky converts. A convert, by their very nature, is someone who is seeking answers to the questions and problems that they have in life. Some have more problems than others.
We cannot blame Islam, as some try to do, for that actions of some it’s followers. When Gibson went off on his anti-Jewish rant, did everyone blame Catholicism? Even though for hundreds of years the Church in Rome had a lot of very anti-semetic teachings.
It is the nature of things today that even if the American Muslim community experiences the same exact thing as other communities in the USA, we will be the ones brought to book for it.
Of course I’m not saying that Islam is to blame, but there is something fundamentally wrong with our approach. And I am saying that this approach can potentially spark lunatics to do something outrageous
These people shouldn’t be categorised as Muslims. They probably convert to islam in a state of insanity not initially knowing the essence and principles of the faith they’re submitting to.
very interesting article. i actually experienced some of these khutbahs recently in consecutive weeks. 2 of them were focusing on politics, in one of them the khateeb focused on the need to make du’a and increase our ibaadah to help muslims, and people came away with a good impression. standing with the khateeb afterwards i was privy to a lot of people’s comments and they were very thankful as many of them actually came to juma with the intention of trying to seek guidance on what to do. subhanallah. it really worried me to think that if he had given a bad message, what kind of effect it would have had, not just on new converts, etc, but just on your avg everyday muslim who may not be that aware of his deen.
the other political one was just making fun of the situation more or less and pointing out the inconsistencies in foreign policies,etc. in reality i felt this didnt accomplish much and people it seems just came out of it feeling good about themselves and fired up with a little more hatred for the west.
the last one was on raising children and raising them with the deen (kind of stepped on a few toes) and it seemed people were kind of shocked because it was a wake up call they were not expecting, especially because they were probably expecting something politically motivated.
i think you hit the nail on the head though about showing concern for muslims without the angry rhetoric.
Since some prefer to work with different demagraphics, some will see different results. Some in our communities focus on middle/upper class folks, college students and/or graduates, professionals, etc. and will find that converts (no matter what race) are understandibly more stable. That’s not to say that being in college or being middle to upper class protects one from mental illness. However, there are reasons that some of these illnesses are less pronounced such as access to the proper treatment, qualified therapists, emotional support from family and friends, proper diet and excercise, etc.
Those who work in prisons or in areas where poverty is high will come across more instances of untreated or misdiagnosed mental illnesses due to the lack of access to the resources stated above. Just observe just how many ‘institutionalized’ brothers and sisters either NEED to take meds or are taking some form of medicine for various mental/emotional disorders. As Tariq mentioned, we’ve come across plenty.
One brother at a masjid in Tariq’s former city claimed he was ‘Isa in the parking lot. He was cool for a couple months. He admitted that he had some ‘issues’ when he first came around…then he stopped taking his meds. we had to scour the surrounding neighborhood to make sure that he went back to the halfway house that his mother had him assigned to. W’Allahi in the jail brothers had multiple distinct personalities. Tariq may remember that on one day, the guy was a mushrik…then the next he was a muwahhid…then he went back to being a mushrik. Then the med tray comes…and 15 brothers are assigned meds. These are the ones that may drift into the masjid and hear (or think they hear) some craaazey stuff and act on it. Not all though. Some may be able to function to some degree. But it’s clearly irresponsible to not only deny that we all have emotional baggage and may suffer from it but to also aggravate it by giving irresonsible sermons from those who are supposed to be the leaders of our communities. I do agree with the observation that the pen may be lifted on most of these cases and that they may not even be Muslims given that one should have control of his/her faculties to be taken to account. That still does not protect the larger population from the potential danger that left unchecked, they may present.
This is something I have thought about for a while after noticing a lot of mentally unstable brothers at the masjid in St. Louis. I asked Sheikh Nur why we had so many nuts in the masjid and he said
Excellent post Tariq, it is definitely an important issue. I remember sitting in a shura with some oldheads once discussing the topic of the Jama’ah. They told us that in the old days a person could not just come up in the masjid and call it his own with out being known who he is, where he is coming from, and what he is about.
I thought alot about this in now-a-days application, especially after returning the the masjid that I took shahadah in during the summer. After speaking with some brothers there, they told me that they were concerned that after I took shahadah at an age under 18 that my family would sue them or something.
The point i want to make is that there needs to be a survey process and an iniatition process other than “mashallah this brother just took shahadah, now change your name akhi.”
We should have some time of document whose legalities are thought out so that both the person, the masjid, and the jama’ah can take proper actions in a time of need. This was one benefit of the NOI and the Dar movement.
The insanity issue has got my brain churning now, and inshallah I plan to write somehting on it in the next few days.
Jazakallahu khairan for the post,
salam
about dealing with brothers, be it converts or not, whose mental health has been affected….
in traditional Muslim societies, it always had been the culture of imams to gauge or evaluate the level of the congregation or class or individual before putting forth a khutbah or lecture or advice etc. this is to ensure the person when receiving from the imam has the capacity to receive it and hereby avoid burdening him with it.
two levels of support kicks in. firstly the imam who has to maybe isolate this individual and/or given other forms of attention. secondly those around this individual bring him to the attention of the imam.
i myself am experiencing this now with a good friend of mine who is not a convert. He is a very pious person. He had experienced something frightening during our boot camp when we were in the security services about 10 years ago which had traumatised him terribly. till recently whenever he gets stressed up or when he watches something horrifying on tv, he gets very emotionally and mentally upset and needs attention. he was distant from me for a while when he chanced to see something scarry which upset him mentally again and eventually after two weeks while he had not recovered, he confided his problem to me. being in healthcare industry, oddly i dont trust western medicine for these kinds of problems. anti-depressants are commonly what psychiatrists or psychologists will prescribe for this but it does not quite work beyond temporary relief.
i suggested to him something and i told him its up to him if he wants to belief me in this. i guess he was a little desperate too and so he did. i offered to bring him to one of our local imams who knows how to handle these cases. the imam will assess the condition, recite verses and blow on the person and also recite verses and blow onto bottle of water. this is something no rational explation can offer any wisdom. wahabis reject this as bida. rationalists reject this as superstition. i had seen this far too often work that i cannot reject it as bida or supersition. anyway my friend who is quite a rationalist surprised me by willing to try. the imam understand what is wrong after assessing his condition, did what i said above, also the imam told him to follow a specified routine of zikr. now my friend feels so much better. i can quote numerous other cases but i thought this being the most recent and relevant to our topic i might as well stick to this.
in america, i guess what’s lacking in what i described above are
1) imams sometimes dont understand that they may burden the listener with their khutbah, class, advice etc. in other words there is little meticulous effort to gauge the capacity of the receiver. for example some topics during khutbah do tend to work up certain people pretty badly. since khutbah’s main purpose is ‘to remind’, these topics can very well be avoided.
2) those around the affected one need to bring this person to the attention of an imam or rightful person who can help. often in US this is tricky as issues of privacy and space gets greater priority
3) its really difficult to find imams who can really ‘treat’ such people. in my six years in canada i only came across one imam.
it will be worthwhile to work to establish this…..
Alongside race, gender, and class, mental illness is something that it seems the Muslim community can not handle and will not discuss. In add’n to that, you get some of these extreme people saying that it is kufr to seek psychological help or take medications. MI is a problem among converts and “born” Muslims alike, but too many of us say things like “If your ‘iman was stronger…”
It is a problem among women too. I don’t know how many sisters I’ve dealt with who’ve gone off their meds and became extremely difficult to speak to. One sister really went over board and started obsessing on me and it got ugly, etc. (I don’t really want to talk about it)
In add’n, I’ve seen personally another dimension of our unwillingness to confront this issue and that is eager imams and walis turning a blind eye or saying, “If he has a wife, she can take care of him… that’s all he needs.”
Re: what the person above said on point #3: We also have to stop importing imams who can’t speak our languages and don’t understand our culture and all it’s problems and benefits. I’m not against immigrant imams, I’m only talking about those who can’t speak English and aren’t familiar at all with our culture. I know of one institute in the Arab world that is starting a training program for future imams to teach them how to deal with contemporary social problems like drug abuse, MI, etc.
I just came across this by accident - I’m from London, United Kingdom and am assuming that the author of this site must be american as much of it is about events in the states.
Anyway - there has been alot of emphasis in the last few weeks on Muslim converts particularly since the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic flights here in England. It seems as always the media sensationalises everything and no one questions it. I agree with alot of what you’ve said and a do believe that people do not think to question what they read.
There are alot of unstable, gulable and naive people out there - converts and born muslims. Alot crazy things people do are not necassarily because of their faith, they’re just..well…crazy, lost..whatever.
I think there are lost of things that we need to do to improve our situation and the first before we start blaming our imam’s, our community, our parents and the air we breath - its time for us to reflect about what we do as individuals. Its the little things that we do that will make a diffrence, there is no point in blaming others when we our selves don’t do much to make a change.
Although we still love Bro. Abdur - Raqeeb and live with the pain of his transition, let us remember that Allah, Subhana wa ta Ilah is in charge of life and is in charge of death and that we (humans) come forth and involve ourselves in an event and cause sin upon our souls. Know that my husband and father of my sons was to die on that day, at that time, in that Masjid, for Allah had decreed this upon his conception, no matter who came with the gun.
We don’t believe the killer was insane, but was sent by the Almighty Alim who is the Arranger of all Affairs, to bring his faithful servant back to Him. It became obvious to us that Allah, Subhana wa ta Ilah was ready for his precious servant to return to his rightful place in the Jennatul Firdaus. It also became obvious to us that Allah was not pleased with the killer and wanted this man locked up for some unknown serious reason. Allah could have taken our loved one without the action of any human being but this man was chosen for the sin and Allah knows best why he was chosen.
Please know that Bro. Abdur Raqeeb died a beautiful death in the Masjid with Shahadah being his last spoken words, with many signs of a good death, with members of the entire world having lost a very special human being. Brother Abdur Raqeeb attained the status of Shahid (martydom) by living Islam and dying in Islam, literally. And his killer is the one who told him to say his Shahadah. This could only be from Allah, the Merciful. And, as Allah has told us, they are not dead, but are alive, and on them is no fear and neither shall they grieve ( Holy Quran). Let us keep in mind that Allah is Al-Muhyi and Al-Mumit.
Anyone who witnessed the scenary that night would know that the scenario was strictly from Allah relative to our loved one and brother in Islam. You could hear a pin fall as the atmosphere was so serene. As for the supposedly insane one, there was only trouble for him following his actions.
Brother Abdur Raqeeb lived each and every day of his life preparing for his death. He was not surprised or caught off guard. Abdur Raqeeb was always waiting for this day. Alhamdulilah Ar-Rabbil-Ilameen. Shukran for allowing my response.
Forgive me for never getting back to you akhi I have been a bit busy and likewise I am not in the States so I cant really contribute on a grassroots level to the improvement of our community so I opt for spreading a good word if I can.
I thought this post was very well placed. This is an issue that has preoccupied my thinking for some time. I studied a good deal of psychology formly and informly and likewise sociology so given that background there is more than one occassion that I have concluded that the new Imam, the Imam of the now and future must be a counselor.
I studied to be a Catholic priest for two and a half years and noticed that this is the trend in the realm of people of the cloth or clergy or whatever you want to call them and this because the mental health of the community at large and we can speak baout Muslims in particular has come under a degree of strain.
One thing that rarely is spoken about is the effects of drugs and even television in the minds of converts and how that impacts the way that they carry themselves. There is a masjid I know that is like a recovery house for druggies and we see that tablighi jam’aat is a refuge for a good many brothers with personal issues whether they be familial or drug abuse. Going out for 40 days or even 3 days provides an outlet and a chance to get a break from the problems that plague the self.
This akhi, is what I mark the failure of Sunnis. Look when the Nation of Islam was really involved they cleaned people up but I just can not understand why we Sunnis in the ghettos of North America or in the Suburbs are not promoting self-transformation lest to say aiding the process.
We have to bring the issues in the community up. How many us talk about making STD tests a mandatory before marriage? Serious. It is not a nice thing to wake up with an STD and know your spouse gave it to you do you know the mental impact of that?
In any event all converts should go through a process before fully being integrated into the community one for the sake of the person and second for the sake of the community. we want quality not numbers. For some it may sound harsh but this is true we want healthy Muslims in all senses and we want to ensure a certain standard of living for the community.
So we come back to your end Shaikh Tariq and that is grassroots efforts.
[...] Leaves Fake Nail Bomb Posted on June 30, 2008 by Tariq Nelson Looks like another mentally disturbed convert…You have to be mentally disturbed to leave a fake bomb on a bus in the name of a [...]
I think it is not just becoming anti-Jewish, it is becoming anti-Shi’a, anti-American, in some cases anti-white. I think becoming “anti-anything” for a new convert should be a cause for concern.
But hey, I dont think Islam has the corner on whacky converts. A convert, by their very nature, is someone who is seeking answers to the questions and problems that they have in life. Some have more problems than others.
We cannot blame Islam, as some try to do, for that actions of some it’s followers. When Gibson went off on his anti-Jewish rant, did everyone blame Catholicism? Even though for hundreds of years the Church in Rome had a lot of very anti-semetic teachings.
It is the nature of things today that even if the American Muslim community experiences the same exact thing as other communities in the USA, we will be the ones brought to book for it.
Abu Sinan:
Of course I’m not saying that Islam is to blame, but there is something fundamentally wrong with our approach. And I am saying that this approach can potentially spark lunatics to do something outrageous
These people shouldn’t be categorised as Muslims. They probably convert to islam in a state of insanity not initially knowing the essence and principles of the faith they’re submitting to.
very interesting article. i actually experienced some of these khutbahs recently in consecutive weeks. 2 of them were focusing on politics, in one of them the khateeb focused on the need to make du’a and increase our ibaadah to help muslims, and people came away with a good impression. standing with the khateeb afterwards i was privy to a lot of people’s comments and they were very thankful as many of them actually came to juma with the intention of trying to seek guidance on what to do. subhanallah. it really worried me to think that if he had given a bad message, what kind of effect it would have had, not just on new converts, etc, but just on your avg everyday muslim who may not be that aware of his deen.
the other political one was just making fun of the situation more or less and pointing out the inconsistencies in foreign policies,etc. in reality i felt this didnt accomplish much and people it seems just came out of it feeling good about themselves and fired up with a little more hatred for the west.
the last one was on raising children and raising them with the deen (kind of stepped on a few toes) and it seemed people were kind of shocked because it was a wake up call they were not expecting, especially because they were probably expecting something politically motivated.
i think you hit the nail on the head though about showing concern for muslims without the angry rhetoric.
Since some prefer to work with different demagraphics, some will see different results. Some in our communities focus on middle/upper class folks, college students and/or graduates, professionals, etc. and will find that converts (no matter what race) are understandibly more stable. That’s not to say that being in college or being middle to upper class protects one from mental illness. However, there are reasons that some of these illnesses are less pronounced such as access to the proper treatment, qualified therapists, emotional support from family and friends, proper diet and excercise, etc.
Those who work in prisons or in areas where poverty is high will come across more instances of untreated or misdiagnosed mental illnesses due to the lack of access to the resources stated above. Just observe just how many ‘institutionalized’ brothers and sisters either NEED to take meds or are taking some form of medicine for various mental/emotional disorders. As Tariq mentioned, we’ve come across plenty.
One brother at a masjid in Tariq’s former city claimed he was ‘Isa in the parking lot. He was cool for a couple months. He admitted that he had some ‘issues’ when he first came around…then he stopped taking his meds. we had to scour the surrounding neighborhood to make sure that he went back to the halfway house that his mother had him assigned to. W’Allahi in the jail brothers had multiple distinct personalities. Tariq may remember that on one day, the guy was a mushrik…then the next he was a muwahhid…then he went back to being a mushrik. Then the med tray comes…and 15 brothers are assigned meds. These are the ones that may drift into the masjid and hear (or think they hear) some craaazey stuff and act on it. Not all though. Some may be able to function to some degree. But it’s clearly irresponsible to not only deny that we all have emotional baggage and may suffer from it but to also aggravate it by giving irresonsible sermons from those who are supposed to be the leaders of our communities. I do agree with the observation that the pen may be lifted on most of these cases and that they may not even be Muslims given that one should have control of his/her faculties to be taken to account. That still does not protect the larger population from the potential danger that left unchecked, they may present.
This is something I have thought about for a while after noticing a lot of mentally unstable brothers at the masjid in St. Louis. I asked Sheikh Nur why we had so many nuts in the masjid and he said
Salam Alaikum
Excellent post Tariq, it is definitely an important issue. I remember sitting in a shura with some oldheads once discussing the topic of the Jama’ah. They told us that in the old days a person could not just come up in the masjid and call it his own with out being known who he is, where he is coming from, and what he is about.
I thought alot about this in now-a-days application, especially after returning the the masjid that I took shahadah in during the summer. After speaking with some brothers there, they told me that they were concerned that after I took shahadah at an age under 18 that my family would sue them or something.
The point i want to make is that there needs to be a survey process and an iniatition process other than “mashallah this brother just took shahadah, now change your name akhi.”
We should have some time of document whose legalities are thought out so that both the person, the masjid, and the jama’ah can take proper actions in a time of need. This was one benefit of the NOI and the Dar movement.
The insanity issue has got my brain churning now, and inshallah I plan to write somehting on it in the next few days.
Jazakallahu khairan for the post,
salam
about dealing with brothers, be it converts or not, whose mental health has been affected….
in traditional Muslim societies, it always had been the culture of imams to gauge or evaluate the level of the congregation or class or individual before putting forth a khutbah or lecture or advice etc. this is to ensure the person when receiving from the imam has the capacity to receive it and hereby avoid burdening him with it.
two levels of support kicks in. firstly the imam who has to maybe isolate this individual and/or given other forms of attention. secondly those around this individual bring him to the attention of the imam.
i myself am experiencing this now with a good friend of mine who is not a convert. He is a very pious person. He had experienced something frightening during our boot camp when we were in the security services about 10 years ago which had traumatised him terribly. till recently whenever he gets stressed up or when he watches something horrifying on tv, he gets very emotionally and mentally upset and needs attention. he was distant from me for a while when he chanced to see something scarry which upset him mentally again and eventually after two weeks while he had not recovered, he confided his problem to me. being in healthcare industry, oddly i dont trust western medicine for these kinds of problems. anti-depressants are commonly what psychiatrists or psychologists will prescribe for this but it does not quite work beyond temporary relief.
i suggested to him something and i told him its up to him if he wants to belief me in this. i guess he was a little desperate too and so he did. i offered to bring him to one of our local imams who knows how to handle these cases. the imam will assess the condition, recite verses and blow on the person and also recite verses and blow onto bottle of water. this is something no rational explation can offer any wisdom. wahabis reject this as bida. rationalists reject this as superstition. i had seen this far too often work that i cannot reject it as bida or supersition. anyway my friend who is quite a rationalist surprised me by willing to try. the imam understand what is wrong after assessing his condition, did what i said above, also the imam told him to follow a specified routine of zikr. now my friend feels so much better. i can quote numerous other cases but i thought this being the most recent and relevant to our topic i might as well stick to this.
in america, i guess what’s lacking in what i described above are
1) imams sometimes dont understand that they may burden the listener with their khutbah, class, advice etc. in other words there is little meticulous effort to gauge the capacity of the receiver. for example some topics during khutbah do tend to work up certain people pretty badly. since khutbah’s main purpose is ‘to remind’, these topics can very well be avoided.
2) those around the affected one need to bring this person to the attention of an imam or rightful person who can help. often in US this is tricky as issues of privacy and space gets greater priority
3) its really difficult to find imams who can really ‘treat’ such people. in my six years in canada i only came across one imam.
it will be worthwhile to work to establish this…..
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Alongside race, gender, and class, mental illness is something that it seems the Muslim community can not handle and will not discuss. In add’n to that, you get some of these extreme people saying that it is kufr to seek psychological help or take medications. MI is a problem among converts and “born” Muslims alike, but too many of us say things like “If your ‘iman was stronger…”
It is a problem among women too. I don’t know how many sisters I’ve dealt with who’ve gone off their meds and became extremely difficult to speak to. One sister really went over board and started obsessing on me and it got ugly, etc. (I don’t really want to talk about it)
In add’n, I’ve seen personally another dimension of our unwillingness to confront this issue and that is eager imams and walis turning a blind eye or saying, “If he has a wife, she can take care of him… that’s all he needs.”
Re: what the person above said on point #3: We also have to stop importing imams who can’t speak our languages and don’t understand our culture and all it’s problems and benefits. I’m not against immigrant imams, I’m only talking about those who can’t speak English and aren’t familiar at all with our culture. I know of one institute in the Arab world that is starting a training program for future imams to teach them how to deal with contemporary social problems like drug abuse, MI, etc.
[...] Tariq Nelson: A new threat from Muslim converts? [...]
Salam,
I just came across this by accident - I’m from London, United Kingdom and am assuming that the author of this site must be american as much of it is about events in the states.
Anyway - there has been alot of emphasis in the last few weeks on Muslim converts particularly since the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic flights here in England. It seems as always the media sensationalises everything and no one questions it. I agree with alot of what you’ve said and a do believe that people do not think to question what they read.
There are alot of unstable, gulable and naive people out there - converts and born muslims. Alot crazy things people do are not necassarily because of their faith, they’re just..well…crazy, lost..whatever.
I think there are lost of things that we need to do to improve our situation and the first before we start blaming our imam’s, our community, our parents and the air we breath - its time for us to reflect about what we do as individuals. Its the little things that we do that will make a diffrence, there is no point in blaming others when we our selves don’t do much to make a change.
Wassalam
[...] Just got back to Northern Virginia
As-Salaamu Alaikum.
Although we still love Bro. Abdur - Raqeeb and live with the pain of his transition, let us remember that Allah, Subhana wa ta Ilah is in charge of life and is in charge of death and that we (humans) come forth and involve ourselves in an event and cause sin upon our souls. Know that my husband and father of my sons was to die on that day, at that time, in that Masjid, for Allah had decreed this upon his conception, no matter who came with the gun.
We don’t believe the killer was insane, but was sent by the Almighty Alim who is the Arranger of all Affairs, to bring his faithful servant back to Him. It became obvious to us that Allah, Subhana wa ta Ilah was ready for his precious servant to return to his rightful place in the Jennatul Firdaus. It also became obvious to us that Allah was not pleased with the killer and wanted this man locked up for some unknown serious reason. Allah could have taken our loved one without the action of any human being but this man was chosen for the sin and Allah knows best why he was chosen.
Please know that Bro. Abdur Raqeeb died a beautiful death in the Masjid with Shahadah being his last spoken words, with many signs of a good death, with members of the entire world having lost a very special human being. Brother Abdur Raqeeb attained the status of Shahid (martydom) by living Islam and dying in Islam, literally. And his killer is the one who told him to say his Shahadah. This could only be from Allah, the Merciful. And, as Allah has told us, they are not dead, but are alive, and on them is no fear and neither shall they grieve ( Holy Quran). Let us keep in mind that Allah is Al-Muhyi and Al-Mumit.
Anyone who witnessed the scenary that night would know that the scenario was strictly from Allah relative to our loved one and brother in Islam. You could hear a pin fall as the atmosphere was so serene. As for the supposedly insane one, there was only trouble for him following his actions.
Brother Abdur Raqeeb lived each and every day of his life preparing for his death. He was not surprised or caught off guard. Abdur Raqeeb was always waiting for this day. Alhamdulilah Ar-Rabbil-Ilameen. Shukran for allowing my response.
Nice observations, and for most parts I agree.
Especially that one should be focussing in giving out an positive message in khutbas.
AS
Forgive me for never getting back to you akhi I have been a bit busy and likewise I am not in the States so I cant really contribute on a grassroots level to the improvement of our community so I opt for spreading a good word if I can.
I thought this post was very well placed. This is an issue that has preoccupied my thinking for some time. I studied a good deal of psychology formly and informly and likewise sociology so given that background there is more than one occassion that I have concluded that the new Imam, the Imam of the now and future must be a counselor.
I studied to be a Catholic priest for two and a half years and noticed that this is the trend in the realm of people of the cloth or clergy or whatever you want to call them and this because the mental health of the community at large and we can speak baout Muslims in particular has come under a degree of strain.
One thing that rarely is spoken about is the effects of drugs and even television in the minds of converts and how that impacts the way that they carry themselves. There is a masjid I know that is like a recovery house for druggies and we see that tablighi jam’aat is a refuge for a good many brothers with personal issues whether they be familial or drug abuse. Going out for 40 days or even 3 days provides an outlet and a chance to get a break from the problems that plague the self.
This akhi, is what I mark the failure of Sunnis. Look when the Nation of Islam was really involved they cleaned people up but I just can not understand why we Sunnis in the ghettos of North America or in the Suburbs are not promoting self-transformation lest to say aiding the process.
We have to bring the issues in the community up. How many us talk about making STD tests a mandatory before marriage? Serious. It is not a nice thing to wake up with an STD and know your spouse gave it to you do you know the mental impact of that?
In any event all converts should go through a process before fully being integrated into the community one for the sake of the person and second for the sake of the community. we want quality not numbers. For some it may sound harsh but this is true we want healthy Muslims in all senses and we want to ensure a certain standard of living for the community.
So we come back to your end Shaikh Tariq and that is grassroots efforts.
AS
Abul-Hussein
Always glad to see that there are reasonable Muslims like you that are fighting extremist ideology
[...] Leaves Fake Nail Bomb Posted on June 30, 2008 by Tariq Nelson Looks like another mentally disturbed convert…You have to be mentally disturbed to leave a fake bomb on a bus in the name of a [...]