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Anja, Ex-Christian, Germany (part 3 of 4)
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Description: Over a period of two and a half years, this university student grew to take Islam very seriously. Part 3.
By Anja
Published on 23 Aug 2010 - Last modified on 28 Aug 2010
Viewed: 3328 (daily average: 5) - Rating: 4.8 out of 5 - Rated by: 5
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Category: Articles
> Stories of New Muslims
> Women
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_001.jpg) The church? There isn’t any. No organization, no
hierarchy, no sacraments. Every Muslim can preach. Or contract a marriage. Or
pray the death prayer for a deceased.
Interpretation of Scriptures? As far as central
sentences of belief are concerned, Muslims are united. God is God and the
prophets were human. Quran is the word of God, as well as the books revealed
to other prophets. Angels are a reality and the resurrection is a reality. Islamic
scholars are - in contrast to their Christian scholars- more concerned with the
practical appliancation of religious principles. They announce religious
opinions on the basis of Quran and Sunnah, which is the example of the Prophet
Muhammad, may God praise him. Such an expert opinion is called “fatwa”. No
scholar has in any form any God given authority. A fatwa always does reflect
the personal opinion of the scholar that is based on textual evidences. You
can take it or leave it.
About 1 billion people all over the world testify this
belief. And up to today Islam hasn’t lost its attraction. The Arabic word “Islam”
has the same letter root as the word “Salaam”, peace. So the meaning of the
word Islam implies also to find peace, peace with God, the world and oneself.
I learned and understood. But still I wouldn’t accept
the truth. I guess I was just too lazy to become Muslim. It looked much too
hard for me. Islam is something that enters into every walk of life. Christianity
on the other hand tends to be a little bit ignorant of reality these days. Well-measured
piety, which is worn for the church service like the Sunday dress is then
stored in the closet for the rest of the week.
Nevertheless I began to try Islam out. I joined my
Muslim neighbors in the fasting of the month of Ramadan. That means I didn’t
eat or drink between dawn and sunset. And every evening we met to break the
fast together. Sometimes we even cooked together. An Egyptian student by the
name Mohamed turned out to be an excellent cook. Mohamed took me aside some
time in the middle of the month and encouraged me to ask , so I asked many
questions and to each question he gave a superb answer. In those Ramadan nights
I also got the opportunity to watch the prayers. And I tried to imitate what I
saw in the privacy of my home. I bowed and prostrated. As I didn’t know the
words that are said, I improvised by saing “Our heavenly father…” I also began
to reduce my consumption of alcohol and pork. And once I even went for a walk
in the city wearing a scarf over my hair, just to try it out. Finally I learned
why the Palestinians in the student homes put a bottle of water in the bathroom.
For Muslims it is normal to wash after using the toilet. In Germany there are
usually no hand showers or the like installed in the bathrooms as there are in
Muslim countries. So a bottle of water had to do.
Many Muslims around me were wondering why I was
interested in Islam and the reality was that many of them weren’t too concerned
with the Islamic regulations themselves. Again and again I heard: “Of course I
am Muslim. If I would be living in my country, I would live according to Quran.
But here in Europe everything is different. I am still young. I will have
time enough to be pious sometime in the future.”
On the other hand there were also few people that were
trying hard to live their faith properly. One of my neighbors in the student
homes belongs to this category. Mohamed, the excellent cook during Ramadhan,had
a Bachelors degree in Biophysics from Egypt and had come to Germany to do his
doctorate degree. When I got to know him he had been in Germany for 6 months
only and was still attending German language classes at university.
His religion, Islam, meant everything to him. He had
already acquired a broad knowledge on Islamic matters. Among the Arabs in the
student homes he was referred to as “Sheikh”.A nickname, that didn’t seem to be
fitting for a 24 year old, sportive young man with curly black hair. Mohamed
himself didn’t like the name. Once he told me, the responsibility of it was
too big for him.
Actually everybody, who needed advice or help, came to
the “Sheikh”. If a student needed a room, or if someone needed to go to
hospital or just wanted to sell his used books they would all come to Mohamed.
In the beginning our acquaintance developed kind of
slowly, as Mohamed tried hard to stand up to his image as a practicing Muslim.
He stayed away from any possible temptation. And for a Muslim, women
definitely belong in that category. But soon his religious responsibility took
over. Is it possible to send someone away who is interested in Islam?
To me he was indeed an interesting person to talk to. Rarely
had I met someone as open minded as him. We spent our time discussing Islam
and the world; of course only at “neutral” places..We learned a lot from each
other in that time and Mohamed became one of my most reliable friends.
In the meanwhile I had completely lost my interest in my
economics studies. Due to my poor efforts the last exams hadn’t turned out all
too well and so I decided to study Oriental Studies. I figured a good grade in
this subject would be more useful than a bad one in economics. My studies were
going a lot smoother. Some credits from my economic studies could be
transferred for my new minor sociology. And the new classes were so
interesting to me. They offered a whole lot of new subjects for discussions
with Mohamed.
During this time I finally began to support the Muslims.
At university I was more and more annoyed by the ironical way in which Muslims
were treated by non-Muslim Stuff. Still I couldn’t even imagine becoming
Muslim myself. What is good for Arab women isn’t necessarily good for German
women. I thought to myself, how can a German women live as a Muslimah? I did
hear of such women, but had never met anyone personally. At least that is what
I thought. Till shortly before spring break I found out by chance, that one of
the students in my Arabic class was a German Muslimah.
It was still winter and cold outside. Every time this
woman left the classroom, she pulled her long woolen scarf up over her head. One
day I asked her, if that had any other reasons but the cold and she replied
affirmatively.
Heide was a teacher, married to a Muslim from the
Lebanon. When she became Muslim, she took the Islamic name Khadija. She
participated at the Arabic class to collect credits for a graduate course in
teaching foreigners.
From her I learned that in our city there was an
organization for German speaking Muslim women. I accepted her invitation to
accompany her to one of the group meetings. And from there on everything began
to change at high pace.
We agreed on a day to go and Heide offered to give me a
ride. So we met in the city. This time Heide was wearing a “real” headscarf
that she had wrapped quite elegantly around her head. I had brought a scarf with
me as well. I was getting a little nervous. How would I be welcomed as a Non
Muslim? What kind of women was I about to meet? Heide comforted me and said
that guests were always welcome and there really wasn’t any need for me to wear
a scarf.
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