Look at the Indonesians we never hear about...

Look at the Indonesians we never hear about, and their numbers are far greater than the Arabs. I am willing to communicate with them and answer questions if they are respectful of my opinions and beliefs. I became a Muslim of my own free will. I am a person with my own mind. I study the facts before commit to something. Islam is the best choice I could ever make. I am happy being a Muslim woman.

It is very hid to communicate with your family after such a big and complete change I would like to encourage parents of Muslim converts to ask their children why they changed and try to understand them. It's not easy to live in this society after becoming a Muslim. You see things and people differently, and they see you as different, too.

It helps a whole lot if you know that your family is at least talking to you about it and trying to comprehend what you are going through and how important this change is to you. We are changing for the better, for the sake of Allah. The only thing I feel Americans need to know is that if a person or a woman converts to Islam, that it is not because we are being forced into it.

No one can force another person to pray, learn Arabic, to put on long sleeves, dresses, cover the hair, or any other practice that a Muslim must do. We are Americans. We have rights just like anyone else to work and to support what we believe in. I would like to remind the American public that I am a human being just like them. I do not like to be ridiculed. I feel sad when someone mocks the clothing I wear.

Would you mock a Christian nun for wearing her habit or an Amish or Mennonite woman for wearing her bonnet? I have not been brainwashed by my husband. I am an intelligent person who chose to become a. Muslim. Islam is founded on the precept that there is no force in religion. You can believe your way and I need to believe my way. Some people who want to discredit Islam suggest that women are treated like second-class citizens or as inferior to men.

They say that Muslim women must feed the men and children first and only eat what is left. This is a gross distortion of the truth. Yes, sometimes women eat later than others do, but it is not a punishment or a sentence imposed on her because she is a woman. When a woman feeds others first, she is doing so because of her love and concern. She knows that children need to eat often to stay healthy and grow normally.