Why Are Women Turning to Islam

Why Are Women Turning to Islam

At
a time when Islam is faced with hostile media coverage particularly
where the status of women in Islam is concerned, it may be quite
surprising to learn that Islam is the fastest growing religion in
the world, and even more ironic to discover that the majority of
converts to Islam are WOMEN

The status of
women is society is neither a new issue nor is it a fully settled
one, and where Islam is mentioned, for many the term 'Muslim Women'
prompts images of exhausted mothers chained to the stove, 'victims'
suppressed in a life of indoctrination, frantic to be westernised
and so on. Others will go to great lengths to explain how the hijab
is an obstacle, clouding the mind, and comment that female converts
are either brainwashed, stupid or traitors to their sex. I reject
such accusations and pose to them the following question: why is
it that so many women who have been born and brought in the so called
'civilized' societies of Europe and America are willing to reject
their 'liberty' and 'independence' to embrace a religion that supposedly
oppresses them and is widely assumed to be prejudicial to them?

As a Christian
convert to Islam, I can only present my personal experience and
reasons for rejecting the 'freedom' that women claim to have in
this society in favour of the only Religion that truly liberates
women by giving us a status and position which is completely unique
when compared with that of non-Muslim counterparts.

Before coming
to Islam, I had strong feminist tendencies and recognized that where
the women was concerned, a lot of shuffling around had been going
on, yet without being able to pin her on the social map. The problem
was ongoing: new 'women's issues' being raised without the previous
ones being satisfactorily resolved. Like the many women who shared
my background, I would accuse Islam of being a sexist religion,
discriminating, oppressing and giving men the greater privileges.
All this coming from a person who did not even know Islam, one who
had been blinded due to ignorance and had accepted this deliberately
distorted definition of Islam.

However, despite
my criticisms of Islam, inwardly I wasn't satisfied with my own
status as a women in this society. It seemed to me that society
would define such terms as 'liberty' and 'freedom' and then these
definitions were accepted by women without us even attempting to
question or challenge them. There was clearly a great contradiction
between what women were told in theory and what actually happens
in practice.

The more I pondered
the greater emptiness I felt within. I was slowly beginning to reach
a stage where my dissatisfaction with my status as a woman in this
society, was really a reflection of my greater dissatisfaction with
society itself. Everything seemed to be degenerating backwards,
despite the claims that the 1990's was going to be the decade of
success and prosperity. Something vital seemed to be missing from
my life and nothing would fill this vacuum. Being a Christian did
not do anything for me, and I began to question the validity of
only remembering God one day a week - Sundays! As with many other
Christians too, I had become disillusioned with the hypocrisy of
the Church and was becoming increasingly unhappy with the concept
of Trinity and the deification of Jesus. Eventually, I began to
look into Islam. At first, I was only interested in looking at those
issues which specifically dealt with women. I was surprised. What
I read and learned taught me a lot about myself as a woman, and
also about where the real oppression of women lies: in every other
system and way of life outside of Islam. Muslim women have been
given their rights in every aspect of the religion with clear definitions
of their role in society - as had men - with no injustice against
either of them. As Allah says:

Whoever does
deeds of righteousness, be they male or female, and have faith,
they will enter paradise and not the least injustice will be done
to them 

[Qur'an Nisa
4:124]

So having amended
my misconceptions about the true status of women in Islam, I was
now looking further. I wanted to find that thing which was going
to fill the vacuum in my life. My attention was drawn towards the
beliefs and practices of Islam. It was only through establishing
the fundamentals that I would understand where to turn and what
to prioritise. These are often the areas which receive little attention
or controversy in society, and when studying the Islamic Creed,
it becomes clear why this is the case: such concise, faultless and
wholly comprehensive details cannot be found elsewhere.