Celebrity Preacher & New Convert

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

A sister I know, just before her conversion, did not exactly have it easy trying to find out about Islam.  She said, “It was just after I left ‘Turn to Islam’ forum, which was a Wahhabi forum, where I was accused me of being paid by the Zionists for simply asking questions about things I did not understand.  I joined the chat forum run by Yusuf Estes.  They would have weekly question and answer video chats with various ‘scholars’.  Great, I thought.  I would be able to learn from the boys in the know. 

At the time, I did not feel comfortable referring to myself as a Muslim.  I just felt that I did not want to take on a moniker that I might be able to live up to.  It felt like cultural appropriation to me, a big no-no in the native world.”  She is Native American. 

“Anyways, Nu’man Ali Khan was the featured speaker and to ask questions, you sent an email to the site.  I addressed him appropriately, notified him that I had been studying for over a year and I was supportive of Islam.  I then posed my question.  While other sisters asked questions and he was kind and patient, with me, he was terse and abrupt.  When I asked a follow-up question, he told me that he had already answered that question and then said that if I took that shahadah, then all would be made clear, like giving the shahadah suddenly makes you intelligent!  What an ass!”