‘This decision to embrace Islam means you do not drink alcohol or go clubbing like other girls your age. It means you pray. It means you fast. It means you dress modestly. It means you give to charity. It means you work to perfect your character and your manners by showing kindness, giving up arguments and by being patient through every adversity.

None of these are negative in any way. And yet you are made to feel like you have committed heinous crimes. Your decision to convert to Islam was compared to and deemed worse than when a close relative in the family passed away months before. That one hurt the most.

But of course the biggest problem is that I choose to wrap my head in a piece of cloth. ‘Headgear’. Who am I hurting by doing this? What difference does this make, why does a piece of cloth covering my hair make you so uncomfortable and so difficult?’

Confessions of a revert

Categories: Islam, Islamophobia