"It's scary telling another person, 'This is who I am. This is what I want.' Scarier still is standing by the truth about ourselves – our integrity – as we must when we give the other person a choice to accept
or
not accept our decisions and differences."
-- Susan Forward, Emotional Blackmail
The intention behind this series is to clarify Muslim beliefs in response to the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. Faith is not a sport or game. There is no winning over intended. It is a matter of guidance and conviction. The aim of this series is not to win people over, but to clarify Muslim beliefs given the tension. In this blog, I will introduce the teacher, Qays Arthur who will help me in the next few blogs given his background and knowledge.
There is an interview by Qibla that I wanted to add to help in the introduction of the teacher. However, I am facing problems inserting the youtube video, but click here to see it. I will try to insert it later.
Tell me about yourself.
I am a 33 year old Guyanese Muslim convert from an essentially Catholic background who studies and teaches Islam in Jordan and is passionate about God, His final Prophet Muhammad, His other prophets (peace be upon them all), the Sahaba(companions of Prophet Muhammad), and Muslims in general and Arabs in particular.
What was your first encounter with Islam or Muslims?
I consider my first encounter with Muslims to be reading stories of the prophets from the Old Testament as a child. In particular there is a Jehovah's Witness book for children called, "My Book of Bible Stories" which gave me a strong attachment to the prophets and the morality of the Old Testament and also to the Middle East. Later when my mother, who along with my father (Allah bless them and grant them long life) who had become Muslim, began to take us (my younger brother and me) to a Mosque I was able to recognize the ways of Muslims as very "Biblical". That was in my pre-teen years later in high school I had made a conscious decision to be Muslim.
