Pardon me for prying, are you a native Egyptian? Your grammar and punctuation is better than mine!
Your conversion, may I ask what precipitated it and how your family takes it? I know another muslimwoman, she is in South Africa, raised Christian and converted to Islam as her boyfriend was Muslim, they are now married. Her family had issues at first...hopefully they are reduced by time and love...
How can you pry when I said ask any questions you like?
No I am not native Egyptian, I just fell in love with the country when I was a child reading books and also became intersted in Islam as a child studying comparative religions. So when I decided to convert to Islam as an adult it seemed the obvious place to go to live. I lived there a while before I married an Egyptian and moved to the Nile Delta region.
My families reaction? Firstly you need to understand that I am not a youngster anymore, I am middle aged and jolly pleased about it.
My mother is agnostic and my father athiest (as a child I was a very active Christian, much to my parents mirth). My father was quite understanding, he was worried about who I study with in order not to get "sucked in by the radicals" and I think in a way he was rather pleased by the new found modesty in me. My mother on the other hand went nuts, she tried to talk me out of it, lectured me nonstop, cried, etc. I understand why any parent would be concerned about such a decision, in the west it is tantamount to joining a cult, they have visions of me being beaten by a polygamist husband or stoned in the street. The more I explain the realities of Islam and the Quran, the more accepting they become.
The misconceptions of Islam are really quite astounding (and I accept that a small but loud percentage of Muslims contribute considerably to this). However when I first went to the 'outback' of Egypt people kept asking me what it is like to have sex with animals!!!
They were told in newspapers, on tv and in general gossip that this is a normal practice for western women and they believed it. So misconceptions go both ways. That is why I believe in coexistence, it is time we all talk and break down some of the silly misconceived barriers between us all.
