For Converts: Proceed With Caution

 Converts apostatizing,in and of itself, is not a unique phenomenon. As easily as some join Islam, others exit. What is interesting to me, however, is the scorn that is heaped upon infamous converts who become murtads. In our digital age, it’s quite easy for converts to Islam to become internet celebrities and potent instruments of ‘dawahganda’. All one needs is a computer and/or a webcam and voila-a star is born. You can search YouTube and come across numerous videos of abaya-clad converts, waxing poetic about the virtues of Islam for women(yes, I was once one of them). You can peruse blogs on WordPress and Blogger and read the posts of converts engaging in the usual asinine apologetics. And underneath such posts you can often read gushing, congratulatory comments from fellow Muslims.

 ‘Mash’Allah for your conversion, sister!’

 ‘Keep spreading the truth of Islam, akhi! I love you for the sake of Allah!’

‘Alhamdulilah, wonderful to see you exposing the lies about our beautiful deen, ukhti! Keep up the good work.’

 When converts get this kind of reaction, I think it’s easy for their ego to become inflated. They may even start to believe that their fellow Muslims leaving these comments truly care for and appreciate them. The harsh reality is that most-not ALL but MOST-of these commentators do not. You don’t matter to them as an individual being. They only care for you for the ‘sake of Allah’. Once you start to question the deen of Islam and criticize it, not only does their support dry up, but they can turn on you. Your most avid fans will become snakes,attacking you with a fervor that exceeds their initial cheerleading. Study what happened to converts like Kimdonesia and PrinceHakeem when they left Islam and learn from it. I’m not telling you to walk the same road as myself and other apostates, and abandon Islam. What you believe is up to you. However as a former convert I simply want to give you a word of caution: don’t believe the hype. Not everyone who claims to support you and love you for the sake of Allah is genuine.