Factors preventing people from conversion to Islam

[jasem]

What are the main factors that makes non-muslims be hesitated about converting to Islam?

I: Propaganda of western media about the stereotype of Muslims with radical-fundamental attitudes?

II: Difficulty of avoiding most of the forbidden habits like drinking alcohol and ...?

Please share your thinking specially the ones who have converted to Islam or are willing to convert.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

`Whist this is in the Islam DIR People who might answer this question can not reply.

However The prime reason one would not convert is lack of Belief in Islam.

 

[Caladan]

What are the main factors that makes non-muslims be hesitated about converting to Islam?

You know, ironically many of us are studying Islam and the Qur'an as it is. some of us have been studying and visiting the cultures who practice Islam.
the one crucial issue that many attempted conversions fail again and again to confront or even fail at seeing, is that many of us have also been studying and facing the social concerns of our own countries or communities
We have to study and debate the current social issues. these studies keep us informed, and battle tested, they reassure us much more than converting to the faith of a community neither you nor them are accostumed to each other's habits or cultural baggage.
many people have studied hard the matter at hand, and are firm and opinionated. they have their base pillar already. when it comes to religious studies, social studies, or international studies.
they stick to what they know. these people have no desire to leave the ship they are sailing on.
they have no dreams of an island of paradise, but they are focused on their job, on their work, and on their study.
they use their ship and sail on her to travel to the same destinations they are accostumed to, they use her to handle the same trade.
for example, taking the Hebrew Bible from under the feet of Western cultures, is like deciding not to use the city grids the Romans have left for us. it would mean changing to different calendars, it would mean examining your own political mindset. the mere thought of uprooting all these every day essentials and realities, and miserably failing to place them on another Abrahamic faith is not very reassuring, nor does it give you a promise for a better tomorrow.
stick to what you know. is what most professors would say.
We all have a long cultural and historical platform. we should all use it. stand on it. debate it, and return to it, at the end of each debate.
trust me it would make life much more interesting.

I: Propaganda of western media about the stereotype of Muslims with radical-fundamental attitudes?

we all recognize this.

II: Difficulty of avoiding most of the forbidden habits like drinking alcohol and ...?

Most people I meet on a day to day basis seem to have an exessive behavior of some sort, non-muslim and Muslim alike. conversion will not make this go away.
Studying Islam is a reassurnig process. debating or discussing it also reassures me, that despite many disagreements, people are making the efforts to amend the misconceptions and holes they hold about the major players in politics and culture. both the contermporary and the historical.
You want to know Islam?
then study it.
converting as an act of desperation will not fill in the hard labour of studying. I can guarantee you, that what you will find in Islam, you can already find by reading the material of the your own civilizations or general civilizations, and by reading a body of literature which gives you a decent spinal cord. the library keeps you firm when you stray from your main body of studies to neighbour disciplines.

 

[zenzero]

Friend jasem,

As friend Terry has mentioned if you are serious kindly request the moderators to move this thread to religious debates where everyone can participate which will enrich every practitioners of all faiths!

Love & rgds

 

[beenie]

What are the main factors that makes non-muslims be hesitated about converting to Islam?

I: Propaganda of western media about the stereotype of Muslims with radical-fundamental attitudes?

II: Difficulty of avoiding most of the forbidden habits like drinking alcohol and ...?

Please share your thinking specially the ones who have converted to Islam or are willing to convert.

Friend jasem,

As friend Terry has mentioned if you are serious kindly request the moderators to move this thread to religious debates where everyone can participate which will enrich every practitioners of all faiths!

Love & rgds

You are more than welcome to ask for the thread to be moved, but this question could also be used as self-reflection for Muslims to discuss what our shortcomings are as Muslims (ie, what do people see that we do that turn them away from Islam)...just a thought.

Many of us are studying Islam and the Qur'an. many of us have been studying and have been visiting the cultures who practice Islam.
however a crucial issue that many attempted conversions fail again and again to confront or even fail at seeing, is that many of us have been studing and faced the social concerns of our own respective countries or communities, many of us have also been studying the respective scriptures which our religious sectors adhere to, and have been studying the long time span of history behind these challanges. a time span which commonly includes Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
many atimes, we find our studies to contain dilemmas. we face the dilemmas of our own faith, and of our own philosophies.
the task of studying is by all accounts life lasting. many of those you call non-muslims, have a long religious and historical baggage behind them.
you could say that many people of the major faiths, the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and even the Dharmic faiths, especially Hinduism, take on the Islam and treat it as an active principle in current social affairs. most people who hold a rational political view are studying about Islam to some degree.
This is why you find many members who debate current social issues which involve Islam and society.
they also debate current affairs of Judaism, and current affairs involving the main Christian bodies and churches.
we have to study and debate the current social issues. these studies gain us the world, they keep us informed, and battle tested, they reassure us much more than converting to the faith of a community who is simply not accostumed to your cultural baggage, to your habits, nor you to their habits or baggage.
many people have studied hard the matter at hand, and are firm and opinionated. they have their base pillar already.
they stick to what they know, to what they have been brought up with, to what they have known through the years of their lives. these people have no desire to leave the ship they are sailing on.
they have no dreams of an island of paradise, they are focused on their job, on their work, on their study.
they use their ship and sail on her to travel to the same destinations they are accostumed to, they use her to handle the same trade they are accostumed to.
for example, taking the Hebrew Bible from under the feet of Western cultures, is like deciding not to use the city grids the Romans have left for us. would mean changing to different calendars, would mean examining your own political mindset. the mere thought of uprooting all of this and placing all these every day essentials and realities, and miserably failing to put them on another Abrahamic faith is not very reassuring.
stick to what you know. is what most professors would say.
all of us have a long cultural and historical platform. we should all use it. stand on it. debate it, and return to it.

we all recognize this.


Most people I meet on a day to day basis seem to have an exessive behavior of some sort, non-muslim and Muslim alike. conversion will not make this go away.
Studying Islam gives me a peace of mind. debating or discussing it also reassures me, that despite many disagreements, we are making the efforts to amend the misconceptions and holes we all hold about the major pillars of politics and culture. both contermporary and historical.
You want to know Islam?
then study it. converting as an act of desperation will not fill in the hard labour of studying. I can gurantee you, that what you will find in Islam, you can already find by reading the material of the general civilizations, and by reading a body of literature which gives you a decent spinal cord. this library keeps you firm when you stray from your main body of studies to neighbour disciplines.

This is simply the best answer I've seen on the subject. Well said.

 

[Onkara]

This is potentially a very interesting thread!
One reason for me is the Creator - creation relationship, where does one stop and the other start, from a theological perspective? I would like more information but not sure where to look (other than the Quran)?

I am not even sure if we can go further afield than the Quran and still confirm it to be valid answers?

 

[Nerthus]

I have considered Islam, still am really.

I think the main factors preventing me are the amount of rules that there seem to be. I am not good with rules, and it seems within Islam you have to be quite strict with yourself.

Also, the OT is a major problem for me. As is the idea of hell.

And I heard that the reason the human race was created was purely to worship Allah... that's something I don't like the sound of.

Oh, and I love dogs too much. I could never give mine away or not have another one in my life time.

 

[jasem]

How can I move this thread to religion debate section?

 

[earlwooters]

I don't know about other countries, but in the U.S.,
1. 40% of households have at least one dog.
2. Americans eat 100 million tons of pork every year.
3. Americans drink 35 billion gallons of beer every year.
4. About 5-10% of America is gay.
5. Most Americans like to eat with either hand.

I believe that Quaranist would have much better success at converting people to Islam, because lots of things Muslims believe in are not in the Quaran, but in books written much later.

 

[Panda]

I don't know about other countries, but in the U.S.,
1. 40% of households have at least one dog.
2. Americans eat 100 million tons of pork every year.
3. Americans drink 35 billion gallons of beer every year.
4. About 5-10% of America is gay.
5. Most Americans like to eat with either hand.

I believe that Quaranist would have much better success at converting people to Islam, because lots of things Muslims believe in are not in the Quaran, but in books written much later.

What does any of those statistics have to do with anything?

There are many reasons why I am not a Muslim but the main one is simplifying that I do not think that any form of God exists and no amount of "holy books" will change that.

 

[Levite]

For us Jews, there's also the fact that Judaism forbids conversion to other religions. Even other monotheistic religions.

 

[Twig pentagram]

What are the main factors that makes non-muslims be hesitated about converting to Islam?

I: Propaganda of western media about the stereotype of Muslims with radical-fundamental attitudes?

II: Difficulty of avoiding most of the forbidden habits like drinking alcohol and ...?

Please share your thinking specially the ones who have converted to Islam or are willing to convert.

I practiced Islam for about six years. I stopped practicing Islam for the same reason that I stopped practicing Christianity. There is no reason for me to think that they are one hundred percent correct.

 

[PolyHedral]

For us Jews, there's also the fact that Judaism forbids conversion to other religions. Even other monotheistic religions.

Er...why? I mean, if you're going to believe in something else, you're not listening to Jewish teachings anymore, so...

 

[outhouse]

I: Propaganda of western media about the stereotype of Muslims with radical-fundamental attitudes?

I see no major propaganda

I do see the negative side, allot of other religions dont seem to have. I dont call that propaganda though.


do you want the media to gloss over the truth??

II: Difficulty of avoiding most of the forbidden habits like drinking alcohol and ...?

Might be a small part, I think the majority is cultural differences.


I have 1/3 of my family is muslim and the rest christian. I feel I have no bias one way or the other.

What are the main factors that makes non-muslims be hesitated about converting to Islam?

why convert?? is there something special about islam that makes it so much better then any other religion ???


most people believe in what they do because of where they were born, this amount's "to me" as brainwashing at a earky age. This is hard to reverse no matter how better the percieved other side of he fence may be.

 

[Marble]

1. I regard God as female, Mahadevi
2. Conversion to Islam is a one-way-road: you cannot later say "I was wrong" and leave, as Islam forbidds Muslims to convert
3. Islam is a very patriarchal, sometimes even mysogynist religion
4. I do not believe that Mohammed was a prohpet
5. I do not believe that the Quran contains anything good that cannot be found in other religions too
6. I believe that the Quran contains many bad things that are not found in other religions (such as clothing rules for women, Djihad)

 

[earlwooters]

I agree that they are just words on paper. My point is that Islam is a religion that dictates culture. It is a culture that is considered foreign and to a lot of Americans, Christians or Atheists, it is considered to be a "backward" religion.

 

[jasem]

1. I regard God as female, Mahadevi
2. Conversion to Islam is a one-way-road: you cannot later say "I was wrong" and leave, as Islam forbidds Muslims to convert
3. Islam is a very patriarchal, sometimes even mysogynist religion
4. I do not believe that Mohammed was a prohpet
5. I do not believe that the Quran contains anything good that cannot be found in other religions too
6. I believe that the Quran contains many bad things that are not found in other religions (such as clothing rules for women, Djihad)

Dear Member,

You are welcome to believe in what ever you desire. Make yourself comfortable and don't be mad!!

 

[jasem]

I don't know about other countries, but in the U.S.,
1. 40% of households have at least one dog.
2. Americans eat 100 million tons of pork every year.
3. Americans drink 35 billion gallons of beer every year.
4. About 5-10% of America is gay.
5. Most Americans like to eat with either hand.

I believe that Quaranist would have much better success at converting people to Islam, because lots of things Muslims believe in are not in the Quaran, but in books written much later.

Dear member,

Who said mentioning "other people" just means Americans?!! From population point of view they are just less than 4% of whole world. Also most of the things you are saying about the American society like boundless drinking and homosexuality have been counted as a part of American society characteristics due to media propaganda during recent years. Islam is the religion of mercy and Holy prophet Mohammed ( PBUH) didn't force the new converted Muslims to sudden leave of their previous habits. My question was "Why people hesitate to think about converting to Islam?" Why media is poisoning minds just against the Islam, not for example Hindoes or Shintoes or ...?!!!

 

[jasem]

I have considered Islam, still am really.

I think the main factors preventing me are the amount of rules that there seem to be. I am not good with rules, and it seems within Islam you have to be quite strict with yourself.

Also, the OT is a major problem for me. As is the idea of hell.

And I heard that the reason the human race was created was purely to worship Allah... that's something I don't like the sound of.

Dear member,

You should not be worry about the rules, because God has introduced him firstly as Merciful in Islam not for example district creator. If anybody try to be in God's way Holy God will help him/her through the way.

 

[jasem]

What does any of those statistics have to do with anything?

There are many reasons why I am not a Muslim but the main one is simplifying that I do not think that any form of God exists and no amount of "holy books" will change that.

You are welcome to believe in whatever you like, but have you ever been in a situation that had totally lost your hope to be alive anymore and I mean totally lost your hope?! Who have you think about on that moment? Douglas Adams or someone else that you may not believe in, but you may find it also deep down in your heart difficult to deny?!!