Coming Home

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

About ten years or so, there was a female convert who suddenly dropped off the scene.  She became uncontactable and no one really knew where she was.  My friend, who taught her when she was still learning about Islam, thought it highly unusual.  So he turned detective and roped in a few others to look for her.  Like more than few, she converted because of a relationship with a Muslim.  Unfortunately, in this case, the Muslim boyfriend was far from an exemplar of the faith.  He had managed to get her pregnant and then claimed that the child was not his.  When her Hindu parents discovered her conversion and her pregnancy, she was thrown out of the house.  She had disgraced her family.

Pregnant, rejected, with no place to go; she severed all links with the Muslims as well since she felt ashamed.  Like most people, she had thought herself alone.  An island of pain and misery in a sea of humanity.  So, she tried to kill herself but failed.  As a result of the attempted suicide, she ended up at the Institute for Mental Health.  It was several weeks later that my friend and his Muslim posse managed to track her down.  By that time, she was discharged from IMH and was staying with her aunt.  Eventually, it was through the efforts of the resident social worker that she was eventually reconciled with her mother.  She was also persuaded to keep the baby.  What is heartening is that the people involved knew enough not to judge, but to help.  And that is what we need sometimes, to suspend judgement.

Muslims glorify da’wah, and then, once they have converted, forget about them.  In reality, that is when the real work begins.  Over the years, I have known many converts, and even born-Muslims, who have undergone great challenges, and drifted in and out of Islam.  Eventually, we gathered them all, and started  The Sharing Group.  What began as a place for converts who came to Islam in Singapore, eventually grew to the group it is today.  This is the place where we keep the toxic elements of the ummah at bay, an oasis where people can heal, and correct notions of exceptionalism.