A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Ustadzah Anse Tamara Gray said, “I do not like being corrected by others when I introduce myself as a convert, nor do I appreciate discussing the issues of ‘reverts’ with other Muslims.  The word ‘revert’ has the semantic implication of going backwards.  It can be used instead of the word ‘relapse’ or ‘regress’.  The Arabic translation of the word would be murtad , a horrible word meaning one that has turned back and away from their religion.  The word ‘convert’, on the other hand, implies transformation.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is taken from “Revert or Convert” by Ustadzah Anse Tamara Gray.   “Labeling tells us who we really are, and we describe ourselves in many ways.  I am an American.  I am a teacher.  I am female.  I am a doctor.  I am a reader.  I am a coffee-drinker.  Sometimes we label ourselves, and other times we are labeled by others.  As a person who was not born into Islam, I have been labeled with many names – crazy, Arab-wanna-be, towel-head.  None of these labels, imposed upon me by others has ever had a particular effect on me, yet the twenty-year-old habit of calling me, and those like me, a ‘revert’ has given me pause.   At some point over twenty years ago, someone latched on to the idea that we are all born upon fithrah – or with an inherent tendency toward tawhid , and thus the term ‘revert’ was born.  It was meant to indicate that those who had newly entered Islam had actua...