Summary of a talk by Alice Anwar, 13th November 2007
I’ve been a Muslim for about six and a half years. I was brought up as a Christian but nobody ever sat down with me and explained the existence of a Creator or the purpose of life. The things we did were just cultural; there didn’t seem to be any meaning behind it. Unfortunately I didn’t find any fulfilment or spiritual guidance from the religion and it was something that was separate from daily life.
I went to school with a couple of Muslim girls, but we didn’t talk about their faith; it was just something cultural with them. They prayed and fasted but we didn’t talk about their religion. I also did religious studies at school but it was always from a textbook angle – the Jews do this, the Hindus do this, the Muslims do this, but never why do these people believe this, what does it mean to them.
By the time I got to University in London, in Mile End, I had some knowledge of Islam but it wasn’t in depth. There were a lot of Muslims there and I found out about Islam from discussions with friends. I was doing a science degree and having had evolution drummed into me from my school days it was fascinating that there might be an alternative to this. It seems a shame that when I was growing up evolution was presented as something you have to believe in. It doesn’t allow you to think about alternatives. The more I read, the more interested I became. I read a book called Evolutionary deceit which is what convinced me that evolution didn’t happen and that God must exist. It dispelled all the myths around it.
As I read I gradually became more and more convinced of the existence of God and that God must have given us some guidance otherwise our whole creation doesn’t make sense. What would the point of life be? I looked into the Qur’an which I felt was a real, authentic message that must have come from God. The eloquence, the style, the expressiveness of the Qur’an seemed miraculous; it couldn’t have come from any human. At the time it was revealed to Mohammed (pbuh) the Arabian Peninsula epitomised all that was best in the Arabic language. The Arabs used to compete in poetry, they put their poets up on the walls of the Kaaba and they would debate in prose. When the Qur’an was revealed some of them became Muslim after hearing only one or two verses. I thought that was amazing. It was unparalleled in the history of Arabic literature and I realised that the source had to be divine. I looked into various possibilities; either Mohammed wrote it himself or it came from God or another Arab wrote it. I didn’t find any evidence that another Arab wrote it. It is well documented that the Qur’an was revealed to Mohammed. His whole life has been well recorded and accurately told. I felt that in the 23 years that the Qur’an was revealed if someone else had spoken to him that must have been recorded somewhere.
There is a verse in the Qur’an (Ch 2 v 23) that challenges the reader to disprove it. It says “If you and mankind are in doubt about what was revealed then bring a chapter like it” and that refers to the shortest chapter, just three lines long, so anyone who wants to disprove the whole of Islam just has to reproduce three lines with the same expressiveness as the Qur’an. People have been trying to do that for 1,500 years but they haven’t succeeded and I thought in such a time of linguistic excellence if no Arab could produce anything to rival the Qur’an It must have been revealed by Mohammed. Another thing that convinced me was the content of the Qur’an, how it has things to do with embryology, astronomy, geology, many things that couldn’t have been known at the time. Of course with my scientific background I found that interesting.
By this time I was convinced of the existence of God and the truth of the Qur’an. I realised that Islam was a complete way of life. It dealt with problems and issues of all kinds from how we behave with one another, how we interact, how we have to be good neighbours, to large things like trading and international relations. I felt it answered all my questions – where have we come from? Why am I here? Where are we going? And many things that people are afraid to ask. It also defines how we should worship our Creator, organise our personal affairs, marriage and the home as well as social, economic, political and international affairs.
Since I became a Muslim I have talked to a few people who have converted. Many of them say that this comprehensiveness is one of the things that influenced them.
When I was thinking about becoming a Muslim I used to look round and see a lot of problems in society and I used to think if God created us he must have a greater plan for us; there must be a way we can live peacefully together. Otherwise there didn’t seem much point to us being here. I looked into history and was struck by how amazing it was that from a little desert town in Arabia, one man had completely revolutionised the whole of history in such a short period. In 60 years Islam was taken from the Horn of Africa right up to China and in 200 years it had reached Europe. I thought that if it expanded so quickly there must be something special about it. Also, it crossed all nationalities, creeds and colours, languages and cultures – it encompassed them all and influenced their ideas and values. There was an Islamisation of scientific discovery and inventions.
There were many Jews and Christians who lived peacefully under the Ottoman Empire. They were allowed to practise their religions freely and have churches and synagogues – they were even allowed to have alcohol in their homes. I read letters written by Jews inviting their brothers in Provence and Germany to live under the Ottoman Empire where they would not be persecuted. They wrote about how justly they were treated and how peacefully everyone lived together. When the Mongols invaded Iraq and Syria, after 13 or 14 years they realised the superiority of Islam and converted and took Islam back towards China with them. I didn’t know of any other examples of conquerors accepting the way of life they had been trying to get rid of. So when Islam is implemented justly, it provides a perfect example of how people can get on together.
By the time I graduated I was convinced by Islam but I thought, I can’t do everything, I can’t cover up, I can’t do all the things I’d have to do so I thought I’d put it off, maybe do it in 10 years. First I’d travel and so on. I was doing some temporary care work with the elderly. I used to go into care homes and see old people who were complete vegetables in their beds and it made me cry. I’d see the pictures on their walls and think, is that what life is all about – just to collect memories? They couldn’t remember the wonderful things they might have done. It was upsetting. I didn’t want my life to have no purpose. One day I rushed home and rang up my friend from University and talked with her. I didn’t know if I’d be able to do all the prayers and everything I had to do but I just felt I didn’t want to waste any more time. I wanted my life to have purpose and to follow God’s laws. I can’t describe how much my life has changed. It’s been a complete revolution. I think about what I was like before. It’s like going from darkness to light, like having something lifted from in front of my eyes. Now, I think about all my actions, whether I’m doing them for myself, for somebody else, or for God. In every situation I ask myself what is the right path.
People say to me there are a lot of rules, but as human beings we are limited and do need rules otherwise we end up just living for our own benefit. Before I was Muslim I would lie and be selfish and do things for my own benefit even if it was to the detriment of others. Now, in all my actions I remember that I am accountable to God. I find it wonderful and liberating always to have that reference to come back to.
It’s taken a while for me to do everything, but I try to do my best.
Have I had problems in the current climate? I haven’t really except once somebody drove past in a car and shouted out something about bombs at me, which was upsetting, but nothing. Outside London, in Kent, one friend who is a convert has had things thrown at her and been abused. Another one at the supermarket was told, “Go back to where you came from”. It’s such a shame; she is from London and looks British. Some of my husband’s friends have been forced at gunpoint or had their pictures in the paper and an elaborate story made up about being a terrorist.
There is a general atmosphere of fear around Islam which we are trying to combat with our women’s groups. The Sakinah Forum is for women who have converted to Islam. We do interfaith and dialogue workshops and bring people together and clarify things about Islam. Another organisation, the Women’s Association of Professionals, or WAP, has more resources. They have worked in Tower Hamlets for three years. It’s not just for professional women but for any who want to empower themselves, develop a voice, build a strong community, bring women together. They discuss social or local issues, such as marriage, forced marriages, or international issues like Iraq or Pakistan. It is especially important for Muslim women to belong to such an organisation because there is still the idea that Muslim women are a silent majority who don’t come out of the home. We believe both men and women are needed to bring about a strong community. WAP members have published newsletters, written for magazines, been on TV on Channel 4. A couple have their own show called Bangla TV. We organise debates, round table discussions. At the latest debate Edwina Currie came and we debated whether women are liberated in the 21st C.