Why Some People Convert to Islam

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is Saudi so we know lots of Saudis who marry American girls and take them back to KSA. From what I've seen, conversions in this crowd are driven by the fact that life in KSA is 100% less troublesome for a Muslim.

This reminds me a goodbye party we had for friends of ours who were leaving. The woman is a social animal who loves good red wine, so we gave her a good rubbing about her conversion. She said, laughingly, "everyone assumes if you convert, you become some kind of zealot. I'll convert and be a bad Muslim, like at least 50% of them!"

I always thought that was a neat approach.

Yes, life is less troublesome. But more to the point is that if a non-Muslim wife does not convert to Islam cannot inherit from her husband if he dies. Financial security requires conversion unless she is independently wealthy.

The prohibition against drinking in Islam is not absolute like the prohibition against pork. The Koran says something along the lines of (and I refuse to look it up for this discussion): "In both drinking and gambling there is some that is good and much that is bad so it is better to refrain." Many Muslims I know drink, but will not do so around Muslims they don't know well (who could be flaming fundamentalists).

We actually have a couple of friends, both doctors, he Saudi, she Indian. They had to do a stint of a few years in Jeddah. The way they worked around that is keep all assets and money outside of KSA and have a power of attorney for custody of children executed for a cousin in Canada who was ready to fly in on a moment's notice if something happened to the husband and the wife lost custody of kids.

Yes--good point about the kids. If the husband died, the wife would not get custody if she were not Muslim. Typically, it would go to her husband's brother.

Yes, exactly. The husband figured it all out and actually put that all in place before they went there. The wife didn't know for a while, and at some point thought he might be hiding assets or something. Until one day he sat her down and said, listen, if I get run over by the truck tomorrow, you will be screwed by this country. Here is what I arranged, and if I die unexpectedly, do this, call this person, keep this paper (permission to leave the country, blanket) safe and close, get the kids and get on a first plane out within three days.

The stint was very lucrative but she just couldn't take it after that and they left soon after.

[Anonymous]

She had an incredibly thoughtful and loving husband--kudos to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband is Saudi so we know lots of Saudis who marry American girls and take them back to KSA. From what I've seen, conversions in this crowd are driven by the fact that life in KSA is 100% less troublesome for a Muslim.

This reminds me a goodbye party we had for friends of ours who were leaving. The woman is a social animal who loves good red wine, so we gave her a good rubbing about her conversion. She said, laughingly, "everyone assumes if you convert, you become some kind of zealot. I'll convert and be a bad Muslim, like at least 50% of them!"

I always thought that was a neat approach.

This is "neat?" At best, it's a lack of integrity. They are professing a bunch of stuff they don't actually believe in to make life more convenient. There are Muslims around the world who decide to change religion, and face death because they won't take this "approach."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is Saudi so we know lots of Saudis who marry American girls and take them back to KSA. From what I've seen, conversions in this crowd are driven by the fact that life in KSA is 100% less troublesome for a Muslim.

This reminds me a goodbye party we had for friends of ours who were leaving. The woman is a social animal who loves good red wine, so we gave her a good rubbing about her conversion. She said, laughingly, "everyone assumes if you convert, you become some kind of zealot. I'll convert and be a bad Muslim, like at least 50% of them!"

I always thought that was a neat approach.

This is "neat?" At best, it's a lack of integrity. They are professing a bunch of stuff they don't actually believe in to make life more convenient. There are Muslims around the world who decide to change religion, and face death because they won't take this "approach."

Better be without integrity but with your children and your husband' money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is Saudi so we know lots of Saudis who marry American girls and take them back to KSA. From what I've seen, conversions in this crowd are driven by the fact that life in KSA is 100% less troublesome for a Muslim.

This reminds me a goodbye party we had for friends of ours who were leaving. The woman is a social animal who loves good red wine, so we gave her a good rubbing about her conversion. She said, laughingly, "everyone assumes if you convert, you become some kind of zealot. I'll convert and be a bad Muslim, like at least 50% of them!"

I always thought that was a neat approach.

This is "neat?" At best, it's a lack of integrity. They are professing a bunch of stuff they don't actually believe in to make life more convenient. There are Muslims around the world who decide to change religion, and face death because they won't take this "approach."

I think it is very sad. Not "neat" at all.

Why would any female align herself with a religion that preaches such hate for gays, women, other faiths and the like? If she truly believed in all of those things that is one thing, but if she is just doing it with a wink and a nod, that is sickening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I think it is very sad. Not "neat" at all.

Why would any female align herself with a religion that preaches such hate for gays, women, other faiths and the like? If she truly believed in all of those things that is one thing, but if she is just doing it with a wink and a nod, that is sickening.

Perhaps. People are sickened by different things. I would be sickened by poverty and by losing my children, which would happen to me if my husband died in an Islamic country.

Your preferences may vary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She had an incredibly thoughtful and loving husband--kudos to him.

would you want your daughter to marry a muslim and live in an Islamic country???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I think it is very sad. Not "neat" at all.

Why would any female align herself with a religion that preaches such hate for gays, women, other faiths and the like? If she truly believed in all of those things that is one thing, but if she is just doing it with a wink and a nod, that is sickening.

Perhaps. People are sickened by different things. I would be sickened by poverty and by losing my children, which would happen to me if my husband died in an Islamic country.

Your preferences may vary.

Perhaps something we can all agree on is it's not a good idea for a woman to go with her husband to an Islamic country to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She had an incredibly thoughtful and loving husband--kudos to him.

would you want your daughter to marry a muslim and live in an Islamic country???

Muslim husbands are not the problem (hey, I have one!), Islamic laws are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I think it is very sad. Not "neat" at all.

Why would any female align herself with a religion that preaches such hate for gays, women, other faiths and the like? If she truly believed in all of those things that is one thing, but if she is just doing it with a wink and a nod, that is sickening.

Perhaps. People are sickened by different things. I would be sickened by poverty and by losing my children, which would happen to me if my husband died in an Islamic country.

Your preferences may vary.

That is her first mistake.

Marry him if she must, but why would any woman with an ounce of sense voluntarily move to one of those countries with her children? She should make the family stay in a country where her individual rights and ability to keep her own faith or belief system are intact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Perhaps something we can all agree on is it's not a good idea for a woman to go with her husband to an Islamic country to begin with.

Sometimes it can't be avoided, sometimes that's where the family or the job is. People are people, there are humans everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Perhaps something we can all agree on is it's not a good idea for a woman to go with her husband to an Islamic country to begin with.

Sometimes it can't be avoided, sometimes that's where the family or the job is. People are people, there are humans everywhere.

It can always be avoided.

There are jobs everywhere, in countries where a woman does not lose all her rights, including the rights to her children, just by crossing the border.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She had an incredibly thoughtful and loving husband--kudos to him.

would you want your daughter to marry a muslim and live in an Islamic country???

Muslim husbands are not the problem (hey, I have one!), Islamic laws are.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Perhaps something we can all agree on is it's not a good idea for a woman to go with her husband to an Islamic country to begin with.

Sometimes it can't be avoided, sometimes that's where the family or the job is. People are people, there are humans everywhere.

It can always be avoided.

There are jobs everywhere, in countries where a woman does not lose all her rights, including the rights to her children, just by crossing the border.

You're being ridiculous. Families aren't everywhere, dying mothers aren't everywhere, family assets and businesses aren't everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Perhaps something we can all agree on is it's not a good idea for a woman to go with her husband to an Islamic country to begin with.

Sometimes it can't be avoided, sometimes that's where the family or the job is. People are people, there are humans everywhere.

It can always be avoided.

There are jobs everywhere, in countries where a woman does not lose all her rights, including the rights to her children, just by crossing the border.

You're being ridiculous. Families aren't everywhere, dying mothers aren't everywhere, family assets and businesses aren't everywhere.

And freedom, the right to worship or not as your conscious tells you, the rights to your children, to property, to your own independent thought, to be gay or straight, are not available everywhere either.

If he loves her and values her as a person, he would never make her choose between her marriage and her possible ability to keep her children, her property and her independence.