October 15, 2020
They say completing half your deen is a beautiful experience, but as a revert, I’ve experienced so much scrutiny and judgement that it has become the most dis-heartning experience.
For some background context: My mother married my stepfather who is a born Muslim from Pakistan. At the time, my mom was divorced with two children (myself and my brother). Upon marriage to my stepfather, she converted to Islam. I was still an adolescent at the time, so being exposed to Islam I essentially transitioned into the religion and began practicing. It has been so long now Alhamdulillah that I can’ t even tell how long it’s been. I was born in Vancouver, BC as half Hindu/half Sikh but was given the name Angela. My father chose to give me an Islamic name of Zainab, but I chose not to legally change my name and introduced myself to people as Angela.
You won’t find your soulmate on this blog post but you might find them on Muzz - the world’s biggest Muslim dating and marriage app.
Disclaimer – I’m not sharing these experiences I’ve had to make the other person sound bad, it’s strictly associated with the experience I had in the hopes that others could learn from them, and not make the same mistakes. Regardless of the experiences, I’ve always wished them well and do not end things on a negative note.
One of the biggest questions I get from people on this platform is “is your real name Angela?”. These questions are directly shot at me, sometimes from the odd person who is polite enough to ask if I feel comfortable answering these questions, and sometimes from a stranger I just “matched” with.